This article was in Sunday's Wisc State Journal: (If you want to read it on-line or save it - use Badgernet.net and look it up under the State Journal)
A LINK FOR BIKE COMMUTERS ; JOHN COLEMAN HAS BEEN A TIRELESS ADVOCATE FOR THE BIKE PATH PROJECT. Wisconsin State Journal; Madison, Wis.; Nov 10, 2002; Matt Mullins Wisconsin State Journal; When in 2005 the final foot of asphalt is laid on a seemingly insignificant little bicycle path between Camp Randall Stadium and North Shore Drive, it might as well bear the moniker Coleman Corridor. Because without John Coleman's dogged and level-headed devotion, this critical gap in the city's bike and pedestrian paths might not have been filled. "I don't think we would (have) embarked on the project without his involvement," says city engineer Larry Nelson. "John was the one who really generated the excitement for (it)." Last month the governor's office announced federal funding allocations for various transportation projects, including $1.5 million for Coleman's little path, a passage planners expect to cost about $1.8 million to build. Nelson expects design work to commence next year, and construction in 2005. The only foreseeable problem is right-of-way on property owned at the path's south end by JH Findorff and Son, which has concerns about path placement. But even that is unlikely to block the way. "I think it will all be done within the time frame (projected by the city)," says Findorff vice president Dan Petersen. A path not even 1.4 miles in length hardly seems deserving of civic pride in a city with well more than 100 miles of designated bike routes. But consider this: If you wanted today to travel on paved bike paths from the Randall Avenue end of the Southwest Bike Path to the bikeway along North Shore Drive at Bedford Street - the end points of Coleman's plan - you'd have to travel about 15 1/2 miles on the Southwest Bike Path, the Capital City Trail, and the Isthmus Bike Path. That is why Coleman has always called the project the Missing Link: It is the only automotive-free way for walkers and cyclists to get from the stadium to Monona Terrace in less than hours. Coleman, a geographic information specialist at UW-Madison, has been commuting by bicycle from his near East Side home since the early 1990s. One day in the fall of 1999, he was biking to campus through parking lots near the rail beds just north of West Washington Avenue, and he realized almost all the lots he saw were publicly owned. In his office on the bottom floor of Steenbock Library, Coleman looked up the lots, and found that most of the route he rode was on rights-of-way owned by the city or the state. "All you'd have to do is put a strip here, and it's a bike path," Coleman recalled thinking. Coleman, who says he has been struck by cars while pulling the bike trailer he often used for transporting his young daughters to day care, firmly believes bike paths to be imperative to a safe commute. So he pored over maps and put together a plan for a path that could link the coming Southwest Bike Path from the south side of campus to the Isthmus Bike Path near John Nolen Drive. In April 2000, he presented his Missing Link to the UW-Madison bicycle-pedestrian committee. Buoyed by the committee's enthusiasm, he presented the proposal to the city bicycle-pedestrian committee two weeks later. Arthur Ross, the city's bicycle-pedestrian coordinator, recalls early meetings with Coleman. "John was very effective," Ross says. "He came with incredible maps and drawings and information." In June of the same year, Coleman had a World Wide Web site devoted to the project, and was presenting it to any committee that could have influence on development in that area of town. He culled support from the city's engineering office, called alders, and soon had Assembly Minority Leader Spencer Black, D-Madison, promoting it and Madison Mayor Sue Bauman touting it in her plans for the city. Now a missing link will be soldered into place. Coleman figured it would take at least five years just to gain approval for the path. Instead, the project might be done shortly after the five-year anniversary of his first presentation to the city. "Three years from now, they'll actually have the thing done," Coleman says, a touch of wonder marking his voice. Ross shares in Coleman's amazement. "Typically a major project like this is going to take quite a while," says Ross. "It took close to 20 years to get the Blackhawk (Bike Path on the West Side) completed." For his part, Coleman cites good timing as a key ally. "The land hadn't yet been permanently allocated to use that it would be impossible to reverse," he notes. With the popular Southwest Path project on the drawing board for the past few years - it was finished in July, and recently extended 1,000 feet - Coleman's idea seemed sensible. Furthermore, during the building of the Kohl Center the city was protecting wide berths along the rail corridor with an eye toward a future path, so pieces were in place for an idea like Coleman's to become concrete. But even with all this, Ross considers a coalition-building force like Coleman was fortuitous."He's been exemplary in the way he's handled himself," observes Ross. Curiously, Coleman's pedigree suggests civic firebrand rather than cool rationalist and effective lobbyist. Raised for the most part in Baltimore, Coleman admired his mother, a school teacher and a civil rights activist. "The whole family was arrested when I was about 6 years old, trying to get an amusement park integrated," Coleman recalls. Along with his father, mother, baby brother and older brother (age 8), and 200 others, Coleman was escorted to jail for a night following a protest. "We all got arrested for a day," says Coleman. "It was fun." Despite this experience, Coleman hasn't grown to sound or look the radical. At 46, his graying hair is thin, his salt-and-pepper beard looks a little gruff, but short and mainstream. He has a quiet, almost languid speaking style, turning to look out windows, and keeping his voice soft and steady, his emotions withheld. Coleman doesn't claim the bike path as some major achievement, a greening of Dane County or a step toward world peace. He doesn't quiver with holy fervor or moral certainty. Rather, he simply states a credo of empowerment, one he learned from his mother. "You can make a difference," he says matter-of-factly. "People don't realize how much difference they can really make." Profile: John Coleman * Occupation: Environmental modeler, Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission. * Age: 46. * Marital status: Married to Becky Abel; children Cora, 12; Grace, 7; Sam, 1 month. * The best part of my job is: The diversity of interesting things I get to work on - like the Crandon Mine project. It combines my interests in protection of the environment with the protection of communities from corporations. * The worst part of my job is: Having an office two stories underground. * If I could change one thing in Madison, it would be to achieve: To see more than one person in each car. * The person I admire most is: My mom, because of her dedication to what she believes in. * I've always envied people who: Can remember people's names. * The accomplishment I'm most proud of: My involvement in the Witness for Peace Program. I was involved in going to the boat landings (in 1988 and 1989). I was very proud to work with people who were dedicated to nonviolence and followed through on it. * For information on the Missing Link: Check http:// www.lic.wisc.edu/bike.htm. "Never doubt that a small group of dedicated individuals working together can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -- Margaret Mead _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
