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Mere weeks after Alan Snel and the Southwest Florida Bicycle United Dealers (SWFBUD) won a coveted “BRAINy” award at the 2009 Bicycle Leadership Conference in Monterey, California, he turned around and presented an award on behalf of SWFBUD to a local woman with a passion for bicycle commuting.

Here’s the press release:

TAMPA — SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers) is proud to announce Wednesday the inaugural winner of the SWFBUDdy Award is Sandy Ballestra, building manager of the Tampa City Center office building at Jackson and Franklin Streets in downtown Tampa .

SWFBUD — a Tampa Bay area coalition of eight bicycle stores and one lawyer — is awarding the honor to Ms. Ballestra for installing a new bicycle-storage area for bike commuters who work in the Tampa City Center in downtown Tampa .

“The new storage area for bicycles in the Tampa City Center building provides a safe and secure place for bike commuters to store their bicycles in the building. They have easy access to the room and it’s extremely convenient for workers who bike to that building,” said Alan Snel, director of SWFBUD.

“This is a tremendous example for other buildings in the Tampa Bay area to follow,” Snel said. “There are a lot more people who bike to work than the public might think. These types of projects can motivate people to bike to work ”

SWFBUD found out about the bicycle storage rooms when Snel attended a recent bike commuter meeting held at the HOK architects office in the Tampa City Center .

HOK employees who bike to work and use the new storage room for their bicycles welcomed the secure and safe space to park their bicycles.

“I can ride my bike daily to work without worrying about where to store it. It’s very convenient and the storage space is time saving,” said Anna Vasquez, a bike-commuting architect at HOK. “It’s very efficient for me and I know it will be safe.”

Fellow HOK employee and bike-commuter Brent Cutshall echoed those thoughts: “It’s very effective.”

SWFBUD Director Snel will present the SWFBUDdy award to Sandy 2 PM Friday, May 8, at the Tampa City Center building.

SWFBUD is a nationally-recognized bicycle-advocacy coalition of eight Tampa Bay area bicycle stores and one lawyer committed to growing bicycling in the Tampa Bay region. SWFBUD puts on the annual Bicycle Bash by the Bay bicycle festival, winner of the 2007 Florida Bicycle Event of the Year.

sandy

Congratulations, Sandy! Hopefully, other Tampa-area businesses will follow your lead and encourage their own employees to consider bicycle commuting by providing safe, secure lockup areas and other incentives.

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