This morning, we cut the ribbon on Downtown Las Vegas’ first cycling mural as part of the Southern Nevada Bicycle Coalition’s Let’s Get There Together Campaign launch. This piece of art created by Las Vegas’ Shan Michael Evans is about more than cycling.
The mural and campaign are about hope.
Often after a massive tragedy, we take action to create hope. In Las Vegas, people put their heads together to make a change in the weeks and months after the Dec. 10 cycling tragedy where an impaired driver killed five local cyclists.
Since then, SNVBC has rolled out two public education campaigns, Change Lanes for Bikes and Ride Safe. Yet things kept getting worse.
By summer, 2021 was shaping up to be one of the worst years on record in Las Vegas for traffic fatalities. Turning things around meant more than just cyclists; it meant including everyone.
Months ago, I emailed Brian Paco Álvarez, a leader in the DTLV art community whom I’d never met. I outlined the Coalition’s vision.
We wanted to use art as a way to get Las Vegas to reimagine itself as a city where everyone is invested in one another’s safety.
The art should be bright and hopeful. And the “there” in Let’s Get There Together means Zero Fatalities and our respective final destinations.
He responded with, “Call me.” It turns out Paco grew up in Las Vegas racing mountain bikes. The artist he engaged, Shan, chooses to walk rather than drive. They quickly understood the message and our challenge.
So this morning was the big “Ta-Da” moment– media showed up (phew), and billboards and bus shelters with the campaign art (which is different from the mural) are in place.
But the real work starts every time we get in our cars, on our bikes, or walk down the street. #LetsGetThereTogether
Thanks to Commissioner Justin Jones & David Swallow of RTC for joining our speaker lineup today and for the photo opp!
Thanks to Andrew Bennett of Nevada Dept. of Safety, Councilwoman Olivia Diaz, Chris Armstrong of Olympia Companies, Keely Brooks and Tony Capsouto of SNVBC, and Pat Treichel of Ghost Bikes Las Vegas.
#LasVegas#safety#art
