Lana Bellamy

lBellamy@th-record.com

CITY OF NEWBURGH – Newburgh business owner Terry Harrigan couldn’t afford a bicycle growing up in Anguilla, a group of islands in the Caribbean. So for the past five years, he has given away bicycles to Newburgh children for free.

Harrigan has fished bicycles out of dumpsters, picked up abandoned bikes on street curbs or accepted donated bicycles that he would fix up and give to kids.

He would also donate his time to do small repairs for children who already have their own bikes.

“I give them (kids) tubes, pedals, tires, whatever they need,” Harrigan said.

Harrigan runs a small wholesale jewelers business at 195 Broadway, but his passion for bicycling has inspired him to start a new bike retail and repair shop nearby at 221 Broadway called Pedal and Floor that should be ready to open in about a month.

Harrigan is excited when he talks about the growing bicycle movement in Newburgh that he is part of.

“I want to get people healthy again,” Harrigan said. “I want them to get back into riding, get people together to get more acquainted.”

He sees bicycling as the future of transportation. It’s affordable, ageless and healthy for riders and the environment.

In a city like Newburgh, where federal census data indicate nearly 30 percent of residents do not own a personal vehicle and about 30 percent of residents are living in poverty, bicycling could also be seen as an equitable transportation option.

“Bicycling in many ways equals freedom,” said Jeff Anzevino, director of land use advocacy for the regional nonprofit Scenic Hudson.

Scenic Hudson is working to connect cycling initiatives in Newburgh, Kingston and Poughkeepsie to share ideas for how to improve riding conditions and increase ridership.

“It’s easier for communities to solve their problems if they work together to share ideas and think of themselves as a region, not separate, isolated municipalities,” Anzevino said.

Scenic Hudson recently teamed up with the Orange County Creating Healthy Schools, Orange County Planning, Department of Small Interventions, City of Poughkeepsie, sPOKe, Cornell Cooperative Extension of Dutchess County and the Transportation Advisory Committee in Newburgh to host regional bicycling events, including a youth event at the Newburgh Armory Unit Center.

Anzevino said committees like Newburgh’s Transportation Advisory Committee play a critical role in making bicycling safer and more accessible in a city that’s not necessarily designed for riding.

“Sometimes, it’s very simple what a city institution can do to promote bicycling,” said Newburgh TAC member Naomi Hersson-Ringskog, noting how having more bicycle racks or lock rentals at the Newburgh Free Library can encourage riders.

The TAC’s focus is creating an environment in Newburgh that is open to all forms of transportation, be it personal vehicles, buses, walking, skateboarding and bicycles.

The City of Newburgh has worked for years on “Complete Streets” projects that make local roads accessible and safer for multi-modal transport.

Hersson-Ringskog said they have applied for a grant to complete a community action plan for bicycle lanes that will look at popular riding areas and hotspots for bicycle crashes.

“It’s not a full-fledged bicycle plan,” Hersson-Ringskog explained. “That’s a much more expensive endeavor, but it’s more about getting community voices heard on this type of work. … We’re still sort of building this groundswell for bicycling.”

lbellamy@th-record.com