Volunteers Rocked BIKE THE BLOCK

Neighbors bike forth! NOPA's BIKE THE BLOCK party last Sunday spun forward with the help of dozens of neighbors and friends of NOPA. Their overlapping affiliations with community organizations helped tie the groups together even more in a shared committment to a more livable neighborhood and city. A few examples:

• Max Poletto and Kara O'Keefe are bicyclists, NOPA residents, and San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) members. Max helped with bike repairs while Kara worked the bike decorating table.
• Mollie Poe serves on the Board of Directors for Pacific Primary School and is a huge supporter of NOPNA. She helped the bike block party in so many ways, along with her husband, Declan Hickey, and her brother KJ Johnson.
• Rose Johnson works with YBIKE and guided kids through the skills course Sunday; she's also a member of the SF Bicycle Coalition and an advocate of sustainable living in NOPA.
• Nathan Frankel is an avid vendor at weekend farmer's markets, a prime bike parker for SFBC, and long-time NOPA neighbor. He set up the bike parking operation for us.
• Sarah June Crockett co-organized the block party; last school year she and her husband, Sandy Crockett, biked with one of their kids to his classes at Pacific Primary. Both Sarah and Sandy are SFBC members.

Lots of kudos for these other great volunteers: Doug Diboll, Jim Cowan, Tom Brown, Suzanne Cowan, Jen Grant, Dan Nguyen-Tan, Jarie Bolander, Janel Sterbentz, Justin Connolly, Marc Caswell, Chris Hogg, Lenore McDonald, Matt Dove and Lily, Kareem, and Raquel of the YBIKE team, Kathy O'Brien, Leela Gill, Holly Ames, Leigh Culpepper, Kyle Brunner, J.P. Collins, Meligrosa!, Will Valentine, Cliff Courrier, Robbie Socks, Jerry Kirwan, Larissa Zimberoff, Jane Catherine Zimmerman, Bill Rivers, and Dale Danley (who helped with everything).

A salute to the individuals behind the C0-Sponsorships:

• Belann Giarretto, Executive Director of Pacific Primary, for tables, art supplies, the essential Porta-Potty, and so much enthusiasm for the event;
• Ben Caldwell, Bike Program Coordinator at the Presidio Community YMCA, for his rapid response to our request for a skills course with great staff help;
• Kevin Rafter, NOPNA President, and all the NOPNA board members for approving the application fee payment, and their day-in, day-out work for our neighborhood;
• Neal Patel, SFBC Community Planner, for bike ed materials, event promotion, and sharing SFBC's experience and commitment to greater livability.

An enthusiastic round of applause to:

• Len Rogers, owner, Electric Bicycle Outlet, for bringing his cool rides for neighbors to try;
• Ali, superb owner of Central Coffee & Tea, for keeping neighbors fortified.
• Amy D'Auria of Pink Buttons Patisserie, for keeping neighbors sweet.
• Rev. Will Scott and Rev. Dr. Sue Singer for the best bicycle blessing.
• Remy Nelson, owner of Mojo Bicycle Cafe, for cool raffle t-shirts, and bike service gear.
• Kash for the generous loan of bike parking gear from Warm Planet Bikes.
• Dmitrius Spartos, manager of the Divisadero Farmers Market, for our "cross pollination" of events.
• Beth Byrne, a superb graphic designer, who gave BIKE THE BLOCK its great poster and printed all the copies at her office -- with her boss's enthusiastic approval.

"I was thrilled with the turnout and so happy to help a little." Kyle Brunel.

"It was amazing to see the diversity and all the families turn out for our mini-Sunday Streets on one NOPA block." Dan Nguyen-Tan.

Let's all keep Biking the Blocks and celebrating NOPA livability.