Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá

I just received word that the Texas Bicycle Coalition, aka Bike Texas, is sponsoring a luncheon called Shifting Gears on Wednesday, January 21. The focus of the luncheon is to learn how we can change the dynamics of transportation in Texas, while building healthy communities and reducing traffic. There will be a ride after the luncheon as well with 50 loaner bikes available to early registrants (like I need a loaner bike!)

The guest speaker will be Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá. For those of you unfamiliar with Peñalosa, he is most famous in the cycling community for popularizing the ciclovía, the temporary, often all day closing of streets to automobiles to allow pedestrians and cyclists full use of the streets. Mr. Peñalosa will describe his accomplishments in transforming and revitalizing the city of Bogotá by implementing his vision of a city energized with alternative transit, public spaces, sidewalks, bike paths and pedestrian streets.

The luncheon is $60 and sponsorships are available. You can register online at BikeTexas’ website.

For more on ciclovías, check out this great video. What do you think Austin? If Bogotá can pull off something like this, why can’t we?