Livingston '96 Profiled by Balingit '75 in The Squeaky Wheel
Aron Livingston '96 was profiled by Albert Balingit '75 in the November 2006 issue of The Squeaky Wheel, a newsletter for Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates.
Member Profile: Aron Livingston
by Albert Balingit
You will never hear the excuse, "I have three kids! How am I going to bike commute?" from Aron Livingston, Sacramento Area bicycle Advocate's (ABA) founder.
As a law student in the early 1990s, Aron, with two children in tow, commuted by bicycle from his home in Davis to the University of California, Davis, School of Law. Leaving home with his then youngest child Hillary in a bicycle trailer, he made his first stop at her day care. His second stop was at the school of his older child, Katie. He then rode on to law school.
"After getting the kids ready for day care and school, the easiest part of my day started, the study of law," Aron said.
His use of cycling as his primary mode of transportation continues to this day. Aron now lives in East Sacramento with his wife, Britte, daughter Hillary and son Elliott. Most days, Elliott rides with him to Phoebe Hearst Elementary in East Sacramento. Aron's route then takes him to the Guy West Bridge, where he rides at a quick pace to his downtown office at the Air Resources Board. Aron also uses his bicycle (by attaching a trailer) to shop for groceries and wonders if he's the only governmental attorney who does so.
With his average mileage of 15 miles per day, Aron can stay conditioned to ride a century. At age 42, Aron can still ride a century in six to seven hours, a fairly quick average speed of 16 miles per hour. Last year, riding on a tandem bicycle, he and Britte finished the Davis Double Century a respectable 250th out of the more than 1,000 participants. He also does short self-supported tours alone or on the tandem with Britte or Hillary.
As a senior attorney with the Air Resources Board, Aron works to reduce pollution from cars, trucks, and off-road engines, including global warming pollutants. He helps frame and enforce the board's regulations. He has been Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn's representative on the city's Transportation Programming Guide Citizen's Advisory Council for the last two years.
Before moving to the Sacramento area, Aron was the executive officer of the Washington Area Bicycle Advocates (WABA). When Aron moved to Sacramento in 1990, he noticed that Sacramento did not have an organization advocating the use of bicycles as a mode of transportation. He approached the then American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails (now Breathe California) to start a bicycle advocacy group that became SABA.
In 1993, due to rigors of law school and family, Aron needed to curtail his outside activities and became an inactive member of SABA. In 2002, Aron returned to SABA initially to help it incorporate as a nonprofit and then as a member of the Board of Directors and chief financial officer for two years. In that position Aron prepared budgets and helped get the organization going as a bona fide nonprofit. Thanks to Aron, SABA today is a strong and active advocate for cycling.
While Aron can't spend the time he used to working directly on bicycling issues, he believes the most important part of bicycle advocacy is simply being a bicyclist sharing the road--any and every legal road--as often as possible to as many destinations as possible. "Unless more people do the same, and teach their children similarly, we'll just be a dwindling bunch of aging bike advocates talking to each other in a room," he said.
The Squeaky Wheel/November 2006
Member Profile: Aron Livingston
by Albert Balingit
You will never hear the excuse, "I have three kids! How am I going to bike commute?" from Aron Livingston, Sacramento Area bicycle Advocate's (ABA) founder.
As a law student in the early 1990s, Aron, with two children in tow, commuted by bicycle from his home in Davis to the University of California, Davis, School of Law. Leaving home with his then youngest child Hillary in a bicycle trailer, he made his first stop at her day care. His second stop was at the school of his older child, Katie. He then rode on to law school.
"After getting the kids ready for day care and school, the easiest part of my day started, the study of law," Aron said.
His use of cycling as his primary mode of transportation continues to this day. Aron now lives in East Sacramento with his wife, Britte, daughter Hillary and son Elliott. Most days, Elliott rides with him to Phoebe Hearst Elementary in East Sacramento. Aron's route then takes him to the Guy West Bridge, where he rides at a quick pace to his downtown office at the Air Resources Board. Aron also uses his bicycle (by attaching a trailer) to shop for groceries and wonders if he's the only governmental attorney who does so.
With his average mileage of 15 miles per day, Aron can stay conditioned to ride a century. At age 42, Aron can still ride a century in six to seven hours, a fairly quick average speed of 16 miles per hour. Last year, riding on a tandem bicycle, he and Britte finished the Davis Double Century a respectable 250th out of the more than 1,000 participants. He also does short self-supported tours alone or on the tandem with Britte or Hillary.
As a senior attorney with the Air Resources Board, Aron works to reduce pollution from cars, trucks, and off-road engines, including global warming pollutants. He helps frame and enforce the board's regulations. He has been Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn's representative on the city's Transportation Programming Guide Citizen's Advisory Council for the last two years.
Before moving to the Sacramento area, Aron was the executive officer of the Washington Area Bicycle Advocates (WABA). When Aron moved to Sacramento in 1990, he noticed that Sacramento did not have an organization advocating the use of bicycles as a mode of transportation. He approached the then American Lung Association of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails (now Breathe California) to start a bicycle advocacy group that became SABA.
In 1993, due to rigors of law school and family, Aron needed to curtail his outside activities and became an inactive member of SABA. In 2002, Aron returned to SABA initially to help it incorporate as a nonprofit and then as a member of the Board of Directors and chief financial officer for two years. In that position Aron prepared budgets and helped get the organization going as a bona fide nonprofit. Thanks to Aron, SABA today is a strong and active advocate for cycling.
While Aron can't spend the time he used to working directly on bicycling issues, he believes the most important part of bicycle advocacy is simply being a bicyclist sharing the road--any and every legal road--as often as possible to as many destinations as possible. "Unless more people do the same, and teach their children similarly, we'll just be a dwindling bunch of aging bike advocates talking to each other in a room," he said.
The Squeaky Wheel/November 2006