WABA gear sale & other moving-related events

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Kate Schwarz

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Feb 6, 2026, 3:17:04 PMFeb 6
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  1. gear sale -- that means everything from t-shirts to indoor bike racks to boxes of paper clips -- come by! 2599 Ontario Road NW, Saturday, February 21, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
  2. space-limited hard hat tours of the new space: sign up to come and see it! 
  1. Capital campaign to raise the last $40,000 we need to build the bike parking and finish the space. You can name a bike rack or an office if you'd like! Email me for details. 

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Welcome to WABA's weekly newsletter! A reflection or two, events to check out, actions to take, and a weekend ride suggestion—all delivered fresh to your inbox around lunchtime on Friday because you weren't going to get any more work done today anyway. You can manage all your emails from WABA here (it sometimes takes a minute to load).

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I started at WABA in April 2023, and the office set aside for the executive director had a 'window.' It is glass, and has access to the outside, but there's a bush in front of it, obscuring all the light. I walked around the entire office and that was true about most of the windows in the space. Then I got to hear about the time a former executive director had to come in at 1am to clean up a sewage leak coming in through the wall of the conference room. WABA has been at this address for 16 years, and we have been able to rent more space as we have grown but there are … some issues with the space. 

So, a generous anonymous donor offered $250,000 for a downpayment, and the board approved a search for better real estate for our permanent headquarters. We needed indoor space for the Trail Ranger e-bikes and all of their tools, and also space that has meeting areas and natural light for our 30 staff to work and flourish in. Those are two hard asks—sunny offices AND indoor bike parking—many spaces were one or the other, but not both.

Then! April 2024, we found it! 1110 Hamlin Street NE—plenty of space to park e-bikes downstairs as well as plenty of light and room for conference rooms and offices upstairs! And it was in our price range. Furthermore, the mortgage would take our monthly payment from $8,000 (rent) to $4,000 (mortgage). Whew!

Then one year passed. The land was half zoned for residential, and half for mixed use, so we had an incredible pro bono land use firm working on our behalf, and, in March 2025, we got the zoning waiver for WABA to make the building our headquarters.

Then ANOTHER year passed. We had to get a certificate of occupancy, and because it had been residential, it needed to be certified for business use. Finally, in December 2025, we got the Certificate of Occupancy. We are finalizing a couple of small changes—adding LOTS of outdoor bike parking as well as picnic tables for staff to meet at in nicer weather—and hope to move in before the end of March!

So— three moving things: 

  1. We are having a gear sale -- that means everything from t-shirts to indoor bike racks to boxes of paper clips -- come by! 2599 Ontario Road NW, Saturday, February 21, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
  2. We are having space-limited hard hat tours of the new space: sign up to come and see it! 
  1. We are having a capital campaign to raise the last $40,000 we need to build the bike parking and finish the space. You can name a bike rack or an office if you'd like! Email me for details. 

Snowcrete Update: 

Most roads are passable and dry during the daytime, but still lots of icy spots at night as snowmelt refreezes. More and more bike lanes are clear but continue to watch out for snow piles at intersections. Trails are rideable in some patches but not others. More in-depth reports from the field on the Trail Ranger's instagram stories. If you're not comfortable taking a lane, it's probably still wise to stick to trails that you know are clear.

Legislative Updates: 

Legislative sessions are underway in Virginia and Maryland, and its Performance Oversight Hearing season in DC. Here's what's we're following this year:

Virginia

A quiet but quite consequential week in the General Assembly. Let’s jump right to it.

Bike Safety Omnibus advances once more. Del. Willett’s HB661 allowing bicyclists to ride two-abreast,make use of the pedestrian walk signal at crosswalks, and utilize the Safety Yield passed unanimously (21Y-0N) out of the House Transportation Committee and heads to a full House vote next week. While we’re cautiously optimistic, we still need your help to ensure success in the Senate.

  • Send a short email to your state Senator and encourage them to support the bike safety bill. Fairfax area Senators Marsden and Pekarsky are particularly important swing votes on the Senate Transportation Committee who have voted NO on previous iterations. We need them to hear from bicyclists like you.

  • If you live in Fairfax County, we also encourage you to contact your local Supervisor. State legislators often defer to County leaders, and County leaders often defer to agency and police leaders. We can’t control agency or police testimony but we can ensure Supervisors hear from constituents like you. Supervisors Jimenez, Lusk, and Chairman McKay are the big ones to contact.

A more sensible path to addressing e-bike concerns. The other big news is that Del. Reid tabled his HB269, a bill that would have swept up many e-bikes in a heavy-handed regulatory regime aimed at problematic e-motos, until 2027. Del. Reid will instead co-patron Del. Singh’s HB1120, a bill calling for a stakeholder group to properly study how best to address the safety concerns of overpowered e-motos (particularly among young riders) without undermining the e-bike boom that has more and more Virginians swapping their car keys for their helmets. 

For more in-depth coverage of the General Assembly each week, visit here.

Maryland

There was lots of positive activity in the last week of the Maryland Legislative session.

  • A bill to implement the Bicycle Safety Start (allowing cyclists to use leading pedestrian interval signals) had a good hearing in the House Environment and Transportation Committee.
  • Intelligent Speed Assistance (mandating placement of devices that prohibit Super Speeder drivers from speeding) had good hearings in both the relevant House (ENT) and Senate (Judiciary Proceedings/JPR) Committees this week. 
  • Advocates also heard from bill sponsors that the No Stopping, Standing or Parking in Bike lanes bill is about to be filed in the House. This shows progress on the three top priority bills in the General Assembly. 
  • In addition the Ignition Interlock Devices bill that would make it easier to place such devices on the cars of repeat DUI drivers, also has now had hearings in both the House and the Senate.
  • Next week, theTransportation & Climate Alignment Act which will mandate mitigation projects for any large (over $100m) transportation projects that would increase greenhouse gas emissions will get its first hearing the House Appropriations Committee on February 10. 

DC

It's Council Performance Oversight hearing season. Read the testimony we've submitted so far here: 

Things to do: 

Other News & Updates: 

A fun route-planning idea for the weekend: 

Scope out your neighborhood trails and let us know what's clear.

Save the Date: 

Have a great weekend,

—Elizabeth

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Washington Area Bicyclist Association
2599 Ontario Rd. NW, Washington, DC 20009
202.518.0524 | waba.org

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