Activists, colleagues
Tim Baldwin, Executive Director, Massbike
Dick and Jill Miller, community activists
Madeleine Noland and Andy Rubel, Rubel Bikemaps
Past national presidents, LAW/LAB
Dr. Ralph Galen
John Forester
Other League Directors and volunteers
Ted Hamann, former Regional Director
Steve Gottlieb, former League vice-president
Bill Hoffman, former Regional Director
John Schubert, former Regional Director (promised)
 Tim Baldwin,
Executive Director, Massbike
I am writing to recommend the talents of John Allen for the League or American
Bicyclists Board of Directors. John's résumé speaks for itself, and his knowledge of
cycling has had immense impact in the bicycling community. One of his greatest
accomplishments is Bicycling Street Smarts, the indispensable guide to confident
bicycling.
I come in contact with a lot of cyclists - many of whom are opinionated on a wide
variety of issues - and I have never heard anything but unadulterated praise for Bicycling
Street Smarts.
I have also had the opportunity to work with John on a Police Bicycle Education Program
that MassBike is developing, and John's input has been invaluable to the process. The
content and presentation are much more accurate and useful because of John's attention to
detail and passion for cycling.
In general, I think John would be valuable to the League because he brings nearly
unparalleled knowledge to bicycle advocacy and education issues, and he often acts as an
auditor towards different ways of improving cycling. John has the uncanny ability to take
a proposal for a facility or education program, and through his comments make the end
result much better and safer.
Tim Baldwin
Executive Director, MassBike
 Madeleine Noland and Andy Rubel,
Rubel Bikemaps
Rubel Bikemaps is proud to be publishers of John's Bicycling Street Smarts. We have
worked closely with him in advocacy, and we are impressed with his ability to represent
cyclists' interests diplomatically and effectively. As President of the Boston Area
Bicycle Coalition, John was instrumental in its transition into the Massachusetts Bicycle
Coalition, and in increasing the organization's scope and effectiveness. His route surveys
laid the foundation for our series of maps of Massachusetts. We strongly endorse John
Allen for the position of LAB Regional Director.
Andy Rubel
Madeleine Noland
Rubel Bikemaps
 Dick and Jill Miller, community
activists
Hi, John:
As 2002 ends, I am sending thanks to some special helpers of the Natick Bicycle and
Pedestrian Advisory Committee.
Extra BIG thanks, in your case, for the extra valuable help you've consistently
provided on our Cochituate Rail Trail project, on the Route 135 reconstruction project,
and more. For safe and enjoyable bicycling, on street and off, your excellent and
practical advice is much appreciated.
Jill, I and the entire NBPAC look forward to working with you in 2003!
Cheers from
--Dick Miller, http://www.millermicro.com
Chairman, Natick Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
(also, Vice Chairman, Cochituate State Park Advisory Committee)
 Dr. Ralph Galen, past national president, LAW
When you vote for New England Regional Director of the LAB please consider John S.
Allen. John will be my choice.
John Allen, a virtual "Who's Who" of bicycling, will be a tremendous asset to
the Board of Directors of the LAB. Not only is this MIT graduate a theoretician but he is
also a hands-on bicyclist. To gain a full appreciation of this man's accomplishments in
bicycling as well as other fields, I suggest that you click on http/www.bikexprt.com/witness/bikeres3.htm. You will be
amazed!
John serves the LAB as a Certified League Cycling Instructor, as well as his home club,
the Charles River Wheelmen, and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. An author and inventor,
he finds the time to service his stable of bikes, each one designed for a different
purpose. Over the 15 years that CRW has kept mileage records, he has accumulated over
26,000 miles, about evenly divided between recreational riding and urban utility trips.
Last but certainly not least, John has served as an Expert Witness and consultant in the
field of cycling. The League can be well served with John on the Board of Directors.
Ralph W. Galen, D.D.S.
Co-founder, Charles River Wheelmen
Past National President LAW
LAB Life Member Number One
 John Forester, past national president of
the League and founder of the Effective Cycling program
For many years, John Allen has demonstrated his knowledge of cycling, cycling policy,
and cycling organizations, and has disseminated the traffic-cycling portion of his
knowledge in the delightful small book "Street Smarts" and his participation in
cyclist training. John not only understands vehicular cycling, but he understands that the
basic reason for the League's existence is to defend and promote the interests of lawful,
competent cyclists. That task is difficult in a nation whose public misunderstands
vehicular cycling and whose governmental programs promote improper and unsafe cycling
instead.
The League has recently been working contrary to cyclists' interests, while mismanaging
its education program. The League must correct these errors to return to representing the
core cycling issues for its core members. Correcting these errors can only be done by
election of new Directors such as John Allen. John is not only a dedicated advocate, but
he has the ability to present his advocacy in interesting publications and the tact to do
so in persuasive ways.
I have viewed the League's continuing problems for thirty years, including terms as a
director for 1976-83 president 1979-80. The League can defend and promote the interests of
lawful, competent cyclists only if the Board of Directors continually exercises its power
to keep the Staff running in the proper direction. Directors must not only understand
vehicular cycling but also know the extent to which it is under attack from outside, and
recognize that the League is the only present organization to defend and promote the
interests of lawful, competent cyclists. The League has to regain the loyalty of its core
members, and use their enthusiasm to defend and promote their interests. John Allen, and
his associates in other areas, are the candidates who understand what they have to do. If
enough of them are elected, over the years if necessary, the League can be turned around.
John Forester MS, PE
7585 Church St.
Lemon Grove CA 91945-2306
619-644-5481
www.johnforester.com
Ted Hamann, former Director, Region 1
I support John Allen's election to the Board of American Bicyclists because he is an
expert on the rules of the road — for cyclists as well as motorists. John has been a
consistent and persistent advocate for safe cycling. His long campaign to have traffic
signal actuators make sensitive to bicyclists as they approach intersections, for example,
paid off in his home state of Massachusetts when the Highway Department inserted this
requirement into its highway design specifications. John, I know, will apply himself
energetically in his role as a Board member and will work hard to further the cause of
effective cycling in America.
Ted Hamann
 Steve Gottlieb, former League vice-president
John Allen has been a key member of the League for over 20 years. I first became aware
of John through his book "The Complete Book of Bicycle Commuting," from which I
learned a great deal. I give his booklet "Street Smarts" to friends who wish to
improve their riding. John will bring much needed knowledge of the League and of
cycling to the League board. While I was vice-president, John made important
contributions to the League's policy on helmet legislation. He is articulate and
thoughtful, and as board member will have the opportunity to improve the League is many
ways. I urge you to vote for John!
Steve Gottlieb
 Bill Hoffman, former Regional Director and
holder of numerous volunteer positions
Dear LAB Member,
As probably LAB’s second-longest-serving volunteer, after Honorary
Director Phyllis Harmon (a list of some of my positions appears below), I am deeply
concerned about the League. While I rarely get involved in LAB elections, this one is
different. I’m working on behalf of John Allen for Region 1 Director, who decided to
run partly on my suggestion. Here’s why I support John, and why I’m asking you
to vote for him:
John will be a forceful voice to get LAB to refocus on its core
missions. These missions—protecting and defending the rights of cyclists on the
roads; training cyclists to ride properly in a full range of road and trail environments;
educating motorists to better share the roads with cyclists; working for an end to
institutionalized discrimination against cyclists in road and facilities building, and in
law enforcement—have largely been abandoned in an attempt to appeal to groups and
organizations that have neither much understanding of, or interest in, LAB’s goals.
John will work hard to restore quality to the League’s education
program. That key program has suffered a serious decline in the past two years. LAB staff
has not made sufficient effort to fix the problems that some of the longest-serving
instructors (LCIs) have identified, and the Board has not given the staff clear
instructions to do so. John has a national reputation as a bicycling educator. He has been
an LCI for 20 years and is the author of Bicycling Street Smarts, an
outstanding handbook for learning safe on-road cycling. At least two state Transportation
Departments, including my own, have adopted Bicycling Street Smarts as
their publicly distributed cycling handbook.
Through his writings, expert witness work, and consulting, John knows
bicycling inside and out. He has helped communities improve cycling conditions through a
variety of measures, not simply paths and bike lanes, but viable on-street improvements
that do not sacrifice cyclists’ safety, mobility, or legal status.
John’s candidacy provides Region 1 members with a choice. Usually,
elections are ratifications of the Board’s slate because there is rarely more than
one candidate. For the first time in recent memory in your region, you have a voice in
LAB’s direction. He will not be a rubber stamp for the Executive Director’s
misplaced priorities (her priorities are misplaced, in my opinion, because the Board has
failed to give her adequate direction and supervision).
There has been a tendency in recent years in LAB to remove from positions of authority
people who disagree with the established dogma, rather than dealing with the issues
raised. John Schubert, the Region 2 Director, was forced off the Board and Education
Committee in 2001 (I was appointed to serve the remainder of his Board term). Then, this
past December, I was removed from the Education Committee by the President for
co-authoring and distributing at the 2002 rally a letter titled "Which Way LAB?"
This letter described the problems in League operations that some of us long-term members
have found. If you would like a copy of the letter, call or email me and I’ll send it
to you. I had been on the Education Committee for eight years and had chaired it for four,
and was essentially the unpaid education director while there was no staff at
headquarters. I had a longer tenure with the program than anybody else, including the
present staff. Therefore, I knew how well the program was working, and how its quality has
declined.
But my work on John’s behalf (he is one of the co-authors of "Which Way
LAB?") is not my personal vendetta nor is it a blind wish to return to the old days.
It’s an attempt, through legitimate channels, to elect directors who will fix the
problems we’ve identified. When you receive your spring issue of the LAB magazine
(the Almanac and Tourfinder), please look for the ballot inside, cut it out or make a
photocopy, and vote for John Allen. Be sure to follow the voting instructions precisely so
your ballot is not invalidated.
Thank you very much.
Bill Hoffman
624 Candlewyck Rd.,
Lancaster, PA 17601-2852,
phone (717) 560-3636,
email: sgpc@infi.net
LAB Member since 1971; Life Member #34 (since 1976); LAB volunteer
1972-Dec., 2002
ECI/LCI #33 (since 1980); Member of LAB Education Committee 1994-2002;
chair 1996-2000
LAB Regional Director 1974-82 and 2001-02; Board Secretary 1974-76 and
1979, Treasurer 1977-78
Rally Advisor c. 1978-90 (position eliminated about 1990)
Touring Information Director for NY 1976-90; for PA 1990-97? (program
eliminated about 1997); chair of Touring Information Committee c. 1992-97
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