Occidental College’s UEPI Blog announced earlier this morning that this year’s keynote speaker for the Bike Summit will be none other than New York City’s Livable Streets Hero Janette Sadik-Khan.  For those of you that have never read the original Streetsblog or any of my New York-related stories; Sadik-Khan rose to be Commissioner of NYCDOT and immediately changed the department’s goals from car-culture defenders to Portland-esque urban planners.

The recently announced completion of two hundred miles of new bike lanes over the last two years is but one of the high-profile changes that the city’s streets have undergone during her tenure as commissioner, but rather than gush for paragraphs and paragraphs, I’ll let Bike Summit Planner Joe Linton take over:

Sadik-Khan currently serves as the Transportation Commissioner for New
York City. She has overseen an unprecedented effort to make New York
City friendlier for bicycling and walking. From Summer Streets ciclovia-events to Madison Square to Ninth Avenue,
New York’s streets are being transformed from auto-centric to
people-centric. It’s an inspiring story, and Sadik-Khan is the
department head that’s making it happen

There’s no date or time officially announced for her public appearances, but both UEPI and Streetsblog will keep you posted.

(Full disclosure: Sadik-Khan served on the Board of Directors for the Tri-State Transportation Campaign for most of the time I worked as their New Jersey Coordinator.)