We are excited to have Baltazar and Julia share information about the Wisconsin Bike Feds "JUST Bikes" initiative.
Baltazar is an immigrant who grew up in Mexico and came to the United States when he was 23 years old (He is now 41). Because of biking and a healthy life style, Baltazar lost 95 pounds and reversed a pre-diabetic diagnosis. Some years ago, when Baltazar's drivers license expired (and because of his immigration status he was not able to renew it) he started using biking as his main means of transportation. Baltazar is now able to get a drivers license (he became a Legal Permanent Resident in 2016) but he has chosen not to buy a car and continue using biking as a main means of transportation. In the short time that Baltazar has been biking in Madison, he has found that unfortunately there is a bike racial disparity and bike inequity in the city of Madison. Baltazar does not want to be one of the few Latinos who bike. His goal is to bring more people from the Latino/African American/Hmong communities into biking. As more people bike, there is going to be a yet higher need for better biking infrastructure in Madison. Madison is currently a great place for biking. Unfortunately it is only a great place to bike for just few members of the community. Baltazar believes this can change. Baltazar currently works as the Dane County Program Director with the Wisconsin Bike Federation.
His full contact info is below:
Baltazar De Anda Santana
Dane County Program Director
Currently working with the following programs:
Safe Routes To School
Share & Be Aware
Wisconsin Bike Federation
Cell: (608) 469-5448
baltazars@WisconsinBikeFed.org
www.WisconsinBikeFed.org