John from Pedestrians.org recently posted a comment about videos from the National Bike Summit. They really deserve a bit more visibility.

And this probably is the next best thing to being there.

Perhaps the best is of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood:

What a striking improvement over the former Transportation Secretary Mary Peters who tried re-defining “transportation” and “infrastructure” to exclude biking and walking.

Other videos from the Summit include:

• US Representative Earl Blumenauer
• US Representative Daniel Lipinski
• US Representative Doris Matsui (Complete Streets)

You’ll also want to check out this video from the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. Blumenauer’s breakfast speech beginning at :40 seconds captures a great moment from this event. Congressman Tom Petri of Wisconsin also provides some interesting commentary.

Secretary Ray LaHood

LaHood is the Secretary of Transportation, and although there was some hesitation in the cycling blogosphere when Obama nominated him. After today’s presentation, that hesitation should be gone.

He told the crowd at the opening session that we’ll build on our successes in pedestrian and bicycle promotion. He noted we’re on the verge of making more progress in doing the things America really wants to do. Creating livable communities is becoming the priority.

And finally, he assured us that we have a full partner at the Department of Transportation.

Congressman Earl Blumenauer

Blumenauer started with the rhetorical question: “How many people right now are stuck in traffic on their way to a health club to ride a stationary bike?”

He added:

• Families biking are an indicator species for livable communities
• With Congressman Oberstar chairing the transportation committee, the “table is set for us” when it comes to writing the next transportation bill.
• We need to be relentlessly bike-partisan. There are no blue or red bikes.
• There are currently 213 legislators in the bike-partisan caucus. 218 would be a majority — and that’s a Summit goal.
• The Commuter Choice act will be taken up in this legislative session. The gist is it adds flexibility to the commuter tax benefits and allows the mixing of modes, e.g. biking and transit.
• New Clean-TEA legislation would set aside 10% of a carbon tax to help communities reduce the carbon-footprint of their transportation, making it more sustainable in the long term. The justification? One-third of greenhouse gas emissions are from transportation. ?Cycling and walking can offset that. Clean-TEA would be an amendment to a climate change bill.

Also, Congressman Blumenauer biked to the Summit from the Capitol and was sporting a pant strap.

Congressman Dan Lipinski

Congressman Lipinski touted the fact that he’s not only a cyclist, but a card carrying of the League of American Bicyclists.

Lipinski did warn us that we must remain vigilant as there is still a mindset out there that bikes are not transportation.

Congresswoman Doris Matsui

Congresswoman Matsui spoke about the Complete Streets legislation that is on the verge of being introduced in the House and Senate.