2009 - Q2 Barton Award winners. Students at SJA and CHS join to ...

coda
Mark Martin
PEDAL PUSHER
TIm Mueller
58
Your bike riding childhood was about wind
blowing through your hair and adventures.
But the two-wheel ride sparks a different
scenario to Mark Martin.
He knows it’s the best way to see a city: “You
know what’s blooming.” But in a place laced with
few crosswalks or bike paths, Martin also realizes it’s
practically written in concrete that navigating without
an internal combustion engine is difficult, even
treacherous. He has endured honking and yelling,
and motorists in motion have even grabbed his arm
while screaming at him to get on the sidewalk.
With gauged ear piercings, tattoos and a salty
beard, Martin looks like a motorcycle rider. But he
hasn’t owned a motor vehicle in 20 years. Instead,
he loves his two wheels so much that he’s become a
leading advocate for bicyclists.
The message he promotes is that bikers legally
have the right to use a full lane of the road.
Beyond sharing public thoroughfares, Martin says
it’s about keeping bike riders from harm. In 2006,
he founded BRASS, Baton Rouge Advocates for
Safe Streets. The group focuses on key aspects of
cycling, such as safety, education, recreation and
sustainability.
With a growing membership, BRASS has been
working with the city to improve safety and to develop
more options for transit. Martin says there is
a sincere desire, both among residents and government,
to transform Baton Rouge into a model for
other cities. He sees his hopes coming to fruition as
the city adds bike lanes.
Among many accomplishments of BRASS, he recalls
the most memorable with an infectious smile:
“At the end of a group ride, a woman in her 70s
said ‘I wish I could do this every month’… you know,
hearing that made me believe it’s not just me, I’m
not that crazy.”
—Sarah Landry
Baton Rouge Area Foundation