I would like to thank all of you for your support of the Bicyclists Safety Memorial Dedication which was held on the evening of Saturday, May 9th. The turnout was great! I hope all of you enjoyed the ceremony. I personally found it to be very moving, particularly Lauri Triulzi's and Jessica Green's description of how the deep community support that they received after the accident helped them make the transition from bitterness and anger to acceptance and hope. I think that is our main strength as a bicycling community. We cannot prevent accidents like this one from happening, it was the result of a truly careless individual, but we can be there for the survivors and families.
The ceremony ended in a beautiful candle lighting ceremony with Kali Blount leading us in singing "Amazing Grace" - Wow!, what a voice that gentleman has!
I would like to thank everyone involved in planning and carrying out this event as well as the speakers and guests. The list of names is just too numerous! Also, the over 100 people involved in the Memorial construction. It shows that a small, grassroots effort can move mountains (well, at least a lot of rammed earth).
I encourage those of you who have not been to the Memorial site to visit it. The site is just east of the intersection of Main and Depot, along the rail trail. The city is planning to purchase the Depot Building and renovate it into a community center. There are also plans for creating a park in the open space in front of the memorials. We are very lucky to live in a city which supports cycling! Those of you who have cycled in other cities in Florida understand how bicycle friendly Gainesville is. It is our responsibility to make sure Gainesville stays bike friendly as it grows and to support other communities efforts in this area.
The Share the Road Campaign's goal is to promote bicycle and pedestrian safety by combining our manpower with other cycling advocacy groups in the community. If you are interested in becoming involved with our group, we meet the second Wednesday of every month, 7 pm at the downtown library.
Letter to the editor:
May 12, 1998
Dear Board of the Gainesville Cycling Club,
Lauri Triulzi and I would like to thank you all very much for your support of the Bicyclists Safety Memorial and its dedication which took place on Saturday, May 9, 1998. We were very heartened by, and appreciative of, the number of people that attended the dedication, and realize that many people were members of the GCC. The GCC has an important role to play in the community as a representative of bicyclists and bicycling issues and we appreciate the hard work of the Board in its role as a group of community-minded individuals giving time and commitment to this work.
Sincerely,
Lauri Triulzi
Brad Guy
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