rails
to
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fall.14
25
after things for me. I come back and he’s
running the place! Three of my volunteers
are in the master’s in electrical engineer-
ing program at Florida State University.
One is from India and one is from China.
They and a couple others are talking to
him about electrical engineering while
working on a bike for a homeless gentle-
man who needed assistance.
“
He asked if he could show his slides
from his trips around the world, so we
threw an impromptu show-and-tell and
promoted it through Facebook. Fifteen
people came and enjoyed his slides over
a beer. That’s Bicycle House. That’s how
we work.”
Minnesota
In Memory of the
Hon. James L. Oberstar
RTC was deeply saddened by the passing
of James L. Oberstar, 18-term, former
Congressional representative for the state
of Minnesota and a passionately devoted
supporter of trails and active transporta-
tion in America.
During his 36 years in the U.S.
House of Representatives, Oberstar
did much to encourage and solidify
federal support for biking and walking
infrastructure.
“
He had a vision that included the
role of trails and walking and biking in
every setting,” said Marianne Wesley
Fowler, RTC’s senior strategist for policy
advocacy. “For his home community,
and any community—whether small
town, suburban or downtown—he saw
an interconnected active-transportation
system.”
In 1991, Oberstar served as the lead
sponsor for the part of the Intermodal
Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of
1991
bill (ISTEA) that resulted in the
inclusion of a Bicycle and Pedestrian
Coordinator in all 50 states. Oberstar
was also a supporter of the initial legisla-
tion that launched the Transportation
Enhancements (TE) and Recreational
Trails programs, thus ushering in a new
era of federal support for walking and
biking in U.S. communities.
Oberstar’s other significant accom-
plishments include his lead role in the
2003
battle in Congress to save dedi-
cated funding for biking and walking
projects in the federal transportation
budget, and his 2005 authorship and
co-sponsoring of SAFETEA-LU, a $295
billion program that funds transpor-
tation infrastructure. The act would
establish two game-changing programs
for active transportation, including the
National Safe Routes to School Program
and the $100 million Nonmotorized
Transportation Pilot Program—the lat-
ter of which resulted in 85 million miles
of active transportation as opposed to
driving between 2009 and 2013.
He was an ardent public supporter
of the development of the Mesabi Trail,
which—when complete—will traverse
132
miles across Minnesota, and he was
known for riding the Paul Bunyan State
Trail with vigor and joy.
“
He had a love of all trails—rail-trails
included—and believed in biking and
walking for community and personal
health and vitality,” affirms Fowler.
Oberstar is well-known for his public
statement advocating for the transforma-
tion of the country’s transportation sys-
tem “from a hydrocarbon-based system
to a carbohydrate-based system.”
“
He was a gentlemen and a gentle
man,” Fowler states. “He was an incred-
ible supporter of all the advocates who
worked on these issues, and he showered
us with praise for our efforts. You really
wanted to deliver; you just couldn’t let
Mr. Oberstar down.”
When his father finally encouraged
him to move out, it sparked a series of
events that led to the opening of Bicycle
House in 2009. (Bicycle House obtained
nonprofit status officially in 2011.) Since
its launch, the organization has—with
the support of hundreds of volunteers—
helped thousands of people repair, reha-
bilitate and construct bikes.
As the organization continues to
grow, so too does Benton’s vision for
Bicycle House. His goal is for the facility
to become a full-fledged hostel. During
its first couple of years, Bicycle House
annually served 20 or 30 tourists who
stopped in. It began hosting travelers
overnight, providing a hot shower, some
rudimentary sleeping gear and, eventu-
ally, a kitchen. In 2013, Benton counted
approximately 350 stop-ins.
The diversity and camaraderie—in
the form of volunteers, riders and visi-
tors—is what Benton highlights as the
essence of Bicycle House.
“
We had a guy come in a couple
months ago from Holland who decided
to stay the night. He’s an electrical engi-
neer. When he woke up the next morn-
ing, he asked how he could help. I want-
ed to go for a bike ride, so he told me to
take the day off and volunteered to look
At Bicycle House Tallahassee, volunteers have
helped build, repair and refurbish thousands
of bikes since 2009.
Oberstar