go!pass dash winner Laudra Konwinski

Laudra Konwinski recently won our go!pass dash contest.  Just by riding the bus once during the week of Sept 7th, Laudra won FREE lunch for a week at several downtown restaurants.  This is just one of the great benefits you get when you have a go!pass.

I decided to visit Laudra and learn a little more about her.

Have you recently joined the Ann Arbor YMCA and wanted to know more about what the Y has to offer?  If so, you might recognize Laudra.  Laudra is an Enrollment Specialist at the Y, which means she gets to meet all kinds of great people and learn about how the Y can best meet their needs.

Laudra is from Greenbush, MI. She went to school at Eastern Michigan University and studied teaching.  In addition to her job, she also teaches Art Classes for kids at the Y.

Laudra commutes to her job in several different ways, including driving, busing and biking.  As you can tell from her picture, even thought she’s a grandma, she keeps quite fit.  One of the reasons she’s in such great shape is her 6 mile bike ride to work.  And since she doesn’t like biking in the dark, she’ll put her bike on the bus on the way home

What inspired Laudra to start commuting by bus and bike?  It actually started during the Commuter Challenge last year.  Now she bikes and/or buses at least once a week.

For fun, Laudra enjoys tending her garden plot at County Farm Park, which she’s been doing for 4 years.

And Laudra has nothing but good things to say about working at the Y.  The Y allows her to be flexible and she loves meeting new people.  She loves the diversity of people who use the Y.

She also loves working in Ann Arbor.   One of her favorite places for coffee is Sweetwater’s Coffee and Tea which, I might add, offers a 10% go!pass discount!

Congratulations, Laudra for winning the go!pass dash.

Last year, Washtenaw County employees had a really great time participating in the Commuter Challenge.  Many people who never bus, biked, walked, or carpooled before decided to check it out in May.

But the excitment and enthusiam didn’t stop on April 1.  Instead, the County began looking into ways to continue to encourage their employees to use sustainable transportation to get to work.

One idea was to have bike lockers for employees to use so that they would have a safe and dry place to store their bikes.

Well I am happy to report that the DDA recently installed 3 sets of bike lockers by the County Building, which hold a total of 6 bikes.  These lockers are free to use for County Employees.

I snapped some pics so you could check them out.

One is right next to the Main Street Building on Catherine:

Bike Lockers for Washtenaw County Workers

The other is across the street from the Sculpture Plaza on Fourth Ave:

Bike Locker for County Employees on Fourth Ave

This is one of many initiatives that the County is working on to encourage their employees to use sustainble transportation.  I say yeah to that!

The Michigan Municipal League, Detroit Regional Chamber, The Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce, Transit Riders United and others were held a press conference in Lansing today to show their support for House Bill 6114.

The conference was covered by the Free Press, TV 7, TV 10, and several radio stations.

According to their press release HB 6114 “would create geographic ‘transit revitalization investment zones’ around rapid transit stations. As commercial and residential development occurs in the zones, the resulting growth in property tax revenues would be used to fund the operation, maintenance or infrastructure of the transit station and related facilities.”

The press release also has some video footage and some quotes in case you want to check it out.

Sound like something you’d like to support?  You can take action today by calling your State Senator. I did it and it really doesn’t take much time.

I’m excited to see this bill being highlighted by the business community.  Let’s hope something positive will come of it.