Candidates, Activists Go the Extra Mile for Health, Environment
Friday, May 21, 2010
If you’re driving to work today, you might pass by the future governor of Rhode Island—not in a sleek black minivan, but decked out in his workout clothes, riding a bicycle.
Today is Bike to Work Day and Moderate gubernatorial candidate Ken Block is going the extra mile—at least 10 of them, to be exact—to show his support for the cause. Block, who used to ride his bike to his business in Warwick every day, will be making the trek from his home in Barrington to downtown Providence, where the Rhode Island Bicycle Coalition, or RIBC, is holding an event.
“This is a chance for him to give it another go,” said campaign director Christine Hunsinger. “He’s actually very excited.”
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBlock is listed as a speaker at the RIBC event, along with one other gubernatorial candidate—Republican John Robitaille, who lives in Portsmouth and will not be biking to the event, according to his campaign office.
One state lawmaker who also will be biking to the event said it will celebrate the many benefits of biking—everything from better health and a cleaner environment to avoiding the hassles of traffic jams. “You’re going to meetings and you’re improving your health and at the same time you’re doing a lot for the environment,” said Art Handy, a Democratic state rep from Cranston.
Other political figures are expected to turn out as well, including Providence mayoral candidate Angel Taveras and current Mayor David Cicilline.
For Save the Bay Executive Director Jonathan Stone, riding his bike to work is a near-daily occurrence. In fact, Stone not only takes his bike, he sometimes even kayaks from his home on the East Side of Providence to the Save the Bay offices at Fields Point in Providence.
For those who can’t bike to work—not to mention kayak, Stone said there are other options, such as carpooling and public transit. He said Save the Bay has developed a formula to calculate how much each employee can reduce their carbon footprint by taking an alternate form of transportation to work.
The Bike to Work Day event will be held at the World War I Memorial near College and South Main streets in downtown Providence from 6:30 to 9 this morning. For more information about Bike to Work Day, visit the site of the Providence Bicycle Coalition.
