RELEASE: Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Commission Announces Inaugural Award Winners

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Bernard C. “Jack” Young

Mayor,

City of Baltimore

250 City Hall • Baltimore, Maryland 21202 • 410-396-3835

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

September 22, 2020

Contact:

James E. Bentley II
james.bentley2@baltimorecity.gov
443-257-9794 (Mobile)

PRESS RELEASE

Mayor's Bicycle Advisory Commission Announces Inaugural Award Winners

BALTIMORE, MD.  — The Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Commission (MBAC) is proud to announce the winners of its inaugural Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Commission Awards, which honor the efforts and contributions to the Baltimore City community made by organizations, businesses, individuals & volunteers, and youth.

The Commission, established by Executive Order of the Mayor, advises the Mayor’s Office and City Departments on issues related to promoting bicycling as a safe and convenient form of transportation and recreation. It also supports and advocates for other forms of multi-modal transportation in Baltimore.

“It is essential that we improve our transportation options in Baltimore City,” said Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young. “Bicycling provides a great and healthy alternative for more residents to get to work, to exercise, and to travel from place to place and enjoy our amazing city. These awards recognize individuals and organizations who are making bicycling, and our city, better for all.”

Added Jon Laria, Commission Chair: “Through the efforts of our winners and many others, bicycling in Baltimore continues to thrive.  Not only does it promote good health, but it’s a practical and inexpensive form of transportation in a transit-challenged city.”

Organization Award Winner -- Baltimore Bikers.  Baltimore Bikers focuses on the Black cycling community in Baltimore City. In just three months, in the midst of Covid-19, the organization has brought over 2,000 people in Baltimore together to promote a healthy lifestyle through cycling.  Through an active Facebook page, Baltimore Bikers organizes both weekly rides and classes.

The Baltimore Bikers community includes riders with varying skill sets, so new riders and veterans can come together to share ideas, build partnerships, discuss biking techniques and cycling aspirations. Baltimore Bikers also supports other businesses in the greater Baltimore metro area.

Business Award Winner -- Baltimore Bicycle Works. Baltimore Bicycle Works (BBW) is a leading cycling shop in Baltimore, with two locations. BBW is committed to democracy, and so has organized its shop as a worker’s cooperative. At BBW, every person in the shop is either an equal owner of the business or working towards becoming an owner.

BBW is also a diversity trailblazer, with diverse and LGBTQI employees, as well as employees with disabilities. BBW partners with diverse cycling and advocacy groups including Black People Ride Bikes. 

BBW also encourages Baltimore cyclists to explore Baltimore, providing suggested routes throughout the city to explore, and it leads city rides throughout the year and participates in bike-to-work programs within the city.

Individuals and Volunteers Award Winner – Andy Dahl. Andy Dahl is an artist, filmmaker, and organizer with an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He is an Innovation Fellow with the Warnock Foundation and winner of the Saul Zaentz Innovation Fund in Film and Media. Andy works as a community organizer focused on connecting resources to undocumented communities in Southeast Baltimore as well as a public artist producing large-scale works focusing on the theme “connection.”

In 2015, Andy co-created the Bicyclist of Baltimore social media project with his now-wife Marissa O'Guinn, which evolved into a documentary project titled ¨Mobility¨. Mobility is a feature-length documentary that highlights the lives of individual bicyclists while also showing how bicycling can assist in addressing social and economic barriers. In 2013 he launched, with friend Nima Shahidi, the Baltimore Bike Experience youth and community-focused bike project at Digital Harbor High School and the Creative Alliance. This project currently operates under the Southeast CDC umbrella in Highlandtown, which he leads with local barbers Serbando Fernandez and Wilmer Moreno. This project is actively fundraising to renovate a former gas station into its new dedicated community workshop.

Youth Award Winner – Monty Johnson. Montaze (Monty) Johnson has been a youth member with BYKE Collective for nearly four years, where his leadership and bike mechanic skills have been astonishing.  Recently, Monty submitted a video entry to the Better Bike Share Partnership (BBSP) about how young people in his community ride bikes. BBSP is an annual multi-day workshop event for government practitioners from across the country, who manage and regulate shared bike/scooter use, and design bike infrastructure for our streets.

Monty was grateful to be able to share his community's perspective in a space that typically doesn't uplift his culture. “I wanted to show how people in my community ride bikes every day and show that people my age ride bikes just as much if not more than other people". Monty also helped create a quad-bike (4-person bike) for the Kinetic Sculpture Race to reflect the image of Baltimore youth, which was showcased at the Black Lives Matter bike ride. Monty engaged youth members with games, races, and dropped a great playlist.

City Employee “Above and Beyond” Award:  The Commission gives special recognition to Molly Gallant, a former employee of Baltimore’s Department of Recreation and Parks who initiated this Awards program. More importantly, Molly spent many (often thankless) years encouraging City bike ridership, all while managing numerous other duties at BCRP.

Mayor Young and members of the Commission congratulate the 2020 Mayor’s Bicycle Advisory Commission Award winners.