We’re so grateful to each and every one of our over 10,000 members for keeping our organization strong and for helping to guide our work. We’re also grateful to our over 1,000 members who directly contributed to our strategic planning process over the past year.
Member input guided the creation of our coming Strategic Plan at each stage of its development. In April 2017 members attended an open house to provide feedback on potential topics and themes for the plan.
After months of information gathering and analysis, the Strategic Planning Committee presented a draft of the plan to members as part of a survey. Over 900 members participated, providing rich input on every element of the plan. Member input strongly reinforced that the Strategic Plan was headed in the right direction and provided insight into the aspects of the plan that members found most important. The following, in order of importance, are the values and goals of our draft Strategic Plan:
Draft Values
- Transportation Justice: We believe in the equitable support and treatment of all people, and that everyone should have access to safe, affordable and healthy transportation options.
- Sustainability: We fight climate change and promote a more sustainable world by getting more people to bike more often.
- Joy: We value the bicycle as a healthy, fun way to get around the city, connecting us with each other and our communities.
- People Power: We are committed to building an inclusive grassroots coalition of people to create positive change through collective action.
Draft Goals
- Demand the highest-quality bike infrastructure and push for visionary bike improvements across the city.
- Build public support and exercise political power to win affordable and sustainable transportation for all San Franciscans.
- Introduce San Franciscans of all ages to the joy of bicycling and encourage more San Franciscans to bicycle more often.
- Grow, engage and empower our membership to strengthen our organization and deepen community support for bicycling.
As part of the survey, members were presented with the following draft objectives to guide the organization as it takes action to achieve the goals of our Strategic Plan. The input we received was instrumental in honing in on what matters most to our members and their communities.
Top objectives identified by members
- Establish physically protected bike lanes as the standard for bike improvements, especially on Vision Zero high-injury corridors.
- Improve safety at intersections to reduce collisions.
- Secure more funding for bicycle infrastructure by winning local and regional funding measures.
- Decrease double-parking and illegal loading and unloading in bike lanes.
- Work with and educate City officials about bicyclists’ rights.
The findings from the member survey directly impacted revisions to the Strategic Plan, which were presented to members in two member forums last August. In those forums, members worked in small groups to focus feedback on each section of the plan. Members were asked to state what was strong about the plan, what may be missing and what was unclear. The forums largely reaffirmed that the plan was headed in the right direction, but also identified sections that needed additions or revisions.
Top Findings from Member Forums
- More emphasis on connectivity of the bicycle network was needed.
- More clarity around our work on emerging technologies, such as Uber and Lyft, was needed.
- Creating an organization that reflects SF demographics is a top priority.
- Objectives around joy and safety may present a contradiction and deserves careful consideration in the plan.
The time, talent and perspectives of our members is invaluable. We are so grateful for the depth, passion and thoughtfulness of each and every piece of feedback we received throughout our strategic planning process. With the guidance of our members, we’re ready to take on new challenges, bigger campaigns and visionary improvements to transform San Francisco’s streets and neighborhoods into safe, just and livable places. And we have a Strategic Plan on the way to help get us there.
We anticipate approval of the final draft plan at the Nov. 28 board of directors meeting. As always, members are welcome to attend all of our board meetings.
Want to help kick our new plan into high gear in the year ahead? Make a year-end gift today.