Occidental College's UEPI Blog announced earlier this morning that this year's keynote speaker for the Bike Summit will be none other than New York City's Livable Streets Hero Janette Sadik-Khan. For those of you that have never read the original Streetsblog or any of my New York-related stories; Sadik-Khan rose to be Commissioner of NYCDOT and immediately changed the department's goals from car-culture defenders to Portland-esque urban planners.
The recently announced completion of two hundred miles of new bike lanes over the last two years is but one of the high-profile changes that the city's streets have undergone during her tenure as commissioner, but rather than gush for paragraphs and paragraphs, I'll let Bike Summit Planner Joe Linton take over:
Sadik-Khan currently serves as the Transportation Commissioner for NewYork City. She has overseen an unprecedented effort to make New YorkCity friendlier for bicycling and walking. From Summer Streets ciclovia-events to Madison Square to Ninth Avenue,New York’s streets are being transformed from auto-centric topeople-centric. It’s an inspiring story, and Sadik-Khan is thedepartment head that’s making it happen
There's no date or time officially announced for her public appearances, but both UEPI and Streetsblog will keep you posted.
(Full disclosure: Sadik-Khan served on the Board of Directors for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign for most of the time I worked as their New Jersey Coordinator.)
