All, I posted this to the W3BA listserv last week, but in case you are not on that, here is some back information about me, Warren Gorlick, the new rep to the District’s Bicycle Advisory Council.
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I wanted to introduce myself as Emily’s replacement as the Ward 3 rep to the District’s Bicycle Advisory Council. I anticipate being sworn into the position in early August. I want to thank Emily, who served Ward 3 with great distinction in this role the past year, and I hope I can do the same. The next BAC meeting is not until September, but please do let me know if you have any issues I should be aware of for these meetings, which take place every other month and I will endeavor to inform you of any issues that may particularly impact Ward 3.
My biggest agenda is to support more bike lanes, and particularly focus on the Connecticut Avenue corridor as a priority. I travel frequently to Manhattan, and my view is that if New York can put protected bike lanes on the congested 1st and 2nd Avenue east side corridors, DC can do the same for all of Connecticut Avenue.
Some fun facts about me. Regrettably, I am old and fat, but when I was young and fit, I did many long bike trips, including a x-country journey from NY to Oregon, another excursion from California from SF to San Diego, the Icefields Parkway from Jasper to Calgary AB, and the best bike trip, from Whitehorse, YT, to Haines, AK, and back to Whitehorse via the Chilkoot Pass (if you’ve seen Charlie Chaplin’s “Gold Rush” movie you will know what I’m referring to). I bike every day, rain or shine, to my downtown job at the U.S. Commodity Futures Commission, and I have worked in international affairs most of my professional life, including as an attorney at the CFTC at various points in my career, and at U.S. Treasury where I was an International Economist. When not working, I still am able to manage some short bike rides in RCP, I kayak at the Washington Canoe Club, and read the NYT and other newspapers obsessively on-line. My twin daughters, adopted from China, will start college this fall. I travel frequently to Europe for work and to visit my brother’s family who live in Berlin, and having seen the bike infrastructure in Germany, the Netherlands and other European countries, I know we can do better than we do. I am the Secretary of the Woodley Park Community Association, and outside of local bike advocacy, I also push for some other Ward 3 projects, such as an outdoor pool, which I am disheartened to say was derailed last week by a small group of NIMBY residents near where the pool is to be built. But still trying.
Anyway, too much about me, I look forward to working with you all once I have been sworn in and gotten my feet wet. And thanks again to Emily for her work the past year, we will miss her!
Warren
