A fundraiser and organizing night at Midwest Coast Brewing highlighted alder supporters, survivor advocacy, community counter-protests for bike lanes, and a successful fundraising milestone for Chicago Bike PAC.
Chicago Bike PAC held a Campaign Trail Party that gathered advocates, elected officials, and survivors to promote Complete Streets and bike-friendly alderpersons.
Speakers included six alderpersons and family members of traffic-crash victims who tied personal loss to calls for safer street design and protected bikeways.
Local grassroots actions — including organized counter-protests for bike lanes — were presented as an effective tactic to sustain momentum for projects.
Chicago Bike PAC hosted a Campaign Trail Party at Midwest Coast Brewing on the Near West Side. The gathering put elected officials, civic organizations, and street-safety advocates in the same room to highlight alderpersons who back Complete Streets and better bike infrastructure.
Cohosts included Better Streets Chicago (Action Fund), Chicago, Bike Grid Now!, and Chicago Family Biking. Present were Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st), Ald. Julia Ramirez (12th), Ald. Andre Vasquez (40th), Ald. Matt Martin (47th), Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth (48th), and Ald. Anthony Quezada (35th). Mayoral candidate Joe Holberg also attended. Many civilian bike advocates rode to the event.
Chicago Bike PAC announced it surpassed its stated $100,000 goal and had reached $107,508 in contributions to support campaigns of pro-bicycle alderpersons.
Kevin Borgia, a Bike PAC founder who emceed, framed the effort as building streets for all Chicagoans — workers, families, and people who want to ride safely. Ald. Julia Ramirez spoke about how personal tragedy informs her approach: she lost her only brother, Nicholas Ramirez, to gun violence, and said that loss shapes how she responds to traffic violence in her ward. Ramirez recounted advocacy for a $20 million investment in Archer and Kedzie to improve intersections, crossings, sidewalks, and add bike lanes.
Timothy Shambrook spoke about losing his daughter Lily, age 3, in June 2022 when a trucker illegally blocked a bike lane. He has since been active in traffic-safety advocacy, citing how everyday mobility shaped his daughter's independence and sense of place in the city. His remarks connected individual loss to broader policy needs for lane protection and enforcement.
Grassroots tactics and counter-protests
Community organizers described how organized public presence changed debates over proposed projects. Gil "Pookie" Campos and Alfredo Valladares Jr. recounted how they initiated pro–bike-lane rallies in Brighton Park to counter weekly protests against the Archer Complete Streets project. Over nearly six months, their counter-protests eventually outnumbered opponents and the opposition waned.
The party functioned as both celebration and organizing: it highlighted elected allies, amplified personal stories that motivate policy, and showcased local tactics like counter-protests. The fundraising result gives Bike PAC resources to support alder campaigns that commit to Complete Streets principles.
Speakers emphasized continued pressure to implement and protect infrastructure once installed, organizing at the neighborhood level, and supporting elected officials who prioritize safe streets.
This post is sponsored by the Active Transportation Alliance. Chicago BikePAC , a political action committee with the goal of electing politicians who support better bike infrastructure, and Complete Streets in general, launched in August 2025. It was founded by Kevin Borgia, “an experienced political advocate for sust
This post is sponsored by Ride Illinois. As Christina Whitehouse , founder of Bike Lane Uprising , a civic tech platform for reporting bikeway obstructions, recently told Block Club Chicago, September has been a “brutal” month for bicycle, e-scooter, and electric motorcycle (“e-moto”) riders in our region. Here are som
This post is sponsored by Ride Illinois. The Active Transportation Alliance’s annual Bike the Drive , which opens all eight lanes of Chicago’s DuSable Lake Shore Drive for car-free cycling, is the highlight of our city’s sustainable transportation advocacy calendar. It shines a line on the fact this wonderful metropoli
He credited the grassroots group Chicago, Bike Grid Now! with proposing "a roadmap of viable potential connected bike routes that could run throughout the city of Chicago and each of peripheral suburbs."
…or plaza, or transit route, or any other investment in public space
The city of Spokane moved quickly to close a lane at the site where an 18-year-old motorcyclist died in a single-vehicle collision just a few days prior.
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