Meeting of the Eugene
Bicycle Coalition
Monday, February 4, 2008 6:00 p.m.
Attending the postponed January 2008 meeting of the Eugene Bicycle Coalition were Herman Krieger, Bob Ransom, Wayde Johnson, Paul Gordon, Matt McRae, Shane Rhodes, Jackie Murdoff, Webb Sussman, Paul Adkins, Kent Fleming, Paul Moore, Lyndell Wilken, Emily Steel, Sue Wolling and David Roth and Lee Shoemaker (both of the Transportation Division of Eugene Public Works).
Announcements
The meeting started with the following announcements:
Bicycling at the University—The University of Oregon has several programs to promote bicycling. The Outdoor Program held Bike Appreciation Day last week (thank you Paul Adkins, Richard Hughes and Jean Murphy for staffing a GEARS/EBC booth on that bitterly cold day!), and has a week-long program this week to promote bicycling. They are also looking into a loaner bicycle program for the university. The current Bike Coordinator at the University is Jim Kennedy.
Bike Day: The Science Factory will hold its annual Bike Day event on Saturday, June 7.
Media Contacts: Webb will no longer be able to contact the media (Register-Guard, Eugene Weekly, and several radio stations) to publicize Bike Coalition meetings. Anyone who is willing to take over this task (roughly 1-2 hours per month) is asked to contact Sue at bicycle@efn.org.
Walk-N-Roll Week:
BTA: Scott Bricker of the Bicycle Transportation
Alliance, based in
Eugene
Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee: The Public Works Department is accepting
applications for the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee. This committee will work to carry out the new
Bike/Ped Strategic Plan, will evaluate potential bike/pedestrian projects, and
will serve as a liaison between citizens and the Transportation Staff at Public
Works. The committee will meet monthly,
beginning in March. It’s important that the Bike Coalition have representation
on the BPAC, so please consider applying. A copy of the application is attached
with these minutes, or is available at http://www.eugene-or.gov/walkbike. Completed applications must be submitted by
February 29.
Staff
Support of EBC: When the Bike/Ped
Advisory Committee is in place, City will no longer be able to staff the Bike
Coalition. Staff will remain available to
attend meetings upon request to discuss specific topics. This change will also require the Bike
Coalition to find a new place to hold meetings. This issue will be discussed at
the next EBC meeting.
I-5
Bridge Construction:
Construction of a new bridge over I-5 will begin in 2009, and will continue
for three years. During this time, the
Riverbank Trail will be closed east of the
GEARS/EBC Merger
Sue reported on the EBC’s recent
merger with GEARS. The EBC has long
sought non-profit status, and GEARS—which is a 501(c)3 non-profit-- was
interested in joining forces. GEARS’
by-laws already include creation of a committee dedicated to bicycle advocacy,
so a decision was made for the Eugene Bicycle Coalition to be that
committee. Further discussion led to the
following agreements:
While
the new arrangement would allow the two groups to function quite independently,
Sue pointed out that there are clear
advantages to working more closely than has been the case in the past. These advantages include a larger membership,
wider range of services, more name recognition for both groups, and more
funding opportunities.
In conjunction with the merger has
been a discussion of re-organization of the EBC for greater effectiveness. Sue pointed out that in the past the EBC has never
had a clear decision-making procedure, nor a mechanism for setting
priorities. In addition, the vast
majority of EBC members limit their involvement to receiving e-mails and/or
attending monthly meetings. Sue outlined
a proposal aimed at increasing advocacy and participation. This would include:
Jim
referred members to a recent report of the Thunderhead Alliance, and suggested
organizing task forces around three areas which all bike advocacy groups
need: Events, Membership and Grants. In discussion, most of those present
expressed a desire for monthly Bike Coalition meetings, so the monthly meetings
will continue as at present (but a new location will need to be found).
Bike/Ped
In reflecting on the Bike/Ped Summit
held on January 26, members agreed that bicyclists showed a lot of energy, and
they hope to continue and build upon that excitement. Reports from the three break-out discussion
groups included:
Safe
Routes to School: Shane reported a
lively discussion, and said a group will continue to meet to work on expanding
the Safe Routes program.
Share
the Road: Sue reported that
the group broke into two sub-sets: one to refine the message, and the other to
discuss how to get the message out.
While no firm decisions were made, the consensus was that while
volunteers can do some of the initial ground work, it will probably be
necessary to involve the business community and/or hire a professional PR firm
to design the campaign.
Signature
Bike Event: Two different
events were discussed: a Bike Lights
parade like that initiated at last year’s Eugene Celebration, and a
“Walk-N-Roll”
Walk-N-Roll Event
Paul
Moore reported that at the
Crest Drive
A
public hearing on the proposed improvements to the
Next Meeting: Monday, Feb. 25