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WBWC September 2011 Board Meeting Notes
Ecology Center Conference Room
Thursday, September 1, 2011 at 7pm
Board Members in Attendance: Pete Hines (Chair), Tim Athan (Secretary), Carolyn Grawi, Joel Batterson, Larry Deck
There are a number of people being considered for board membership. They were not invited to this meeting, and there was discussion over whether they should have been. The meeting notice was sent only to the board. Tim suggested that additional invitations could be sent in situations like this (without necessarily adding the names to the board e-mail list). Carolyn noted that as a 501(c)3 our meetings must be open to the public, and so we should send the invitation to the full membership e-mail list, and post it to our web site.
1. Introductions
None.
2. Treasurer's Report
Karen was not in attendance.
3. New Business
a. John Beranek nomination
There was a motion to nominate John to fill the remainder of the board seat vacated by Jim Nieters. The motion was tabled because the majority of the small group in attendance had never met John and there was an interest in getting better acquainted with him.
4. Old Business
a. Pedestrian Grant
Pete reported that work is ongoing. Larry said that the project will formally end at the end of September. There is a possibility of additional funding.
b. Are both Minutes and Notes Required?
Tim reminded us that a few meetings ago there were questions about whether it is necessary to have both meeting minutes and meeting notes. Someone volunteered to look into this, but no one at tonight’s meeting had.
5. Organizational Development
a. Strategic Plan Update - We want to have a draft by the October meeting.
Pete asked who is working on the strategic plan update. Joel said that he and Erica have been working on it but not much has been done over the summer. He said that Kris and Karen have expressed interest in working on it, too. Perhaps this can be discussed during next week’s meeting with Emma, Joel suggested.
b. Board Elections and Recruitment
Pete noted that several new people have been identified as candidates for our board: Chris, Emma, Matt, Grace and John. Joel asked how many board members we want to enlist. Pete said that our goal is to increase our board size. Pete reminded us that we need a new secretary and also someone to maintain the newsletter. Joel said that he believes that a Facebook presence is more important than a newsletter. Pete remarked on the importance of a good web site, too.
Pete noted that there was talk of having a newsletter that could be distributed at bike shops, but that never was done. Joel noted that that would require regular distribution chores, but he thinks it would be good to get brochures out to bike shops.
Carolyn said that a bigger board could be beneficial because more work will get picked up. Pete said that we want people on the board who want to get involved, not just sit on the board. Larry said that we opened up the potential size of the board to 15.
6. Upcoming Events
a. Moving Planet: September 24th event with Ecology Center & Transition Ann Arbor
Moving Planet is a day of action to demand leadership from elected officials on the issue of climate change, Joel reported. There will be bike rides and other events around the planet. Last year there were several thousand events. Planning in our area has been going in “fits and starts” because it conflicts with a home football game and also Tour de Troit. Now the plan is to delay it to the following day.
Joel said he thinks it would be helpful if we hosted an informal, small gathering to present what we would like to see in the city’s update to the Non-Motorized Plan. He wondered if that Sunday afternoon would work, and attendees could attend the bike ride afterwards.
Joel talked with Eli last week and learned that there will be an update to the plan next year. The idea of this event would be to share ideas. Carolyn said it might be a good idea to also point out what has been achieved so far. Pete reminded us that there has been WBWC interest in evaluating how well the plan has been followed.
Pete asked where the final event after the bike ride will occur. Joel said possibly on a closed Washington street, but that hasn’t been settled. There will be issue tables, and the WBWC could present information about the non-motorized plan and the pedestrian ordinance. Larry suggested that this could be a chance to present ourselves and recruit members. Joel would like us to have a table.
It will be publicized through the Ann Arbor 350 list, and there are other groups involved. Carolyn wondered if Joel as a student could arrange for advertisement on the U-M stadium LED board.
b. IRide
Carolyn would like to figure out how to get the AABTS and other groups to support non-profit rides like IRide and others. PEAC has been supportive of IRide. She has not talked directly to the AABTS, (she said in answer to a question from Pete). Pete said that a suggestion to AABTS might get it into their newsletter.
Pete said that the various groups should make sure their events are listed in each other’s lists. He said he would be willing to talk to AABTS about IRide next year.
Carolyn said that sometimes she hears of groups being very successful in raising funds here even though they aren’t local groups. She would like to see local groups tapping into local resources better.
c. Ribbon cutting for the multi-use path (see e-mail)
The new segment of shared use path along Washtenaw Avenue will be dedicated next Wednesday, at 2:30.
Larry said it would be nice if someone from the WBWC could attend in support. Carolyn said that she might be able to attend. Joel thinks he can attend.
d. PEAC has a ride on August 17th with a range of ride distances. Carolyn is hoping to ride in it.
7. Non-motorized Projects
a. Crash data analysis: Update on this project
No update.
b. Fuller Station: PAC resolution and WBWC involvement
Larry and Joel made a presentation to the City’s Park Advisory Commission. The Commission passed a resolution calling for bike lanes to be incorporated in the project. Amy Kuras of the City’s Parks Department seconded their remarks at the meeting.
8. Fall Pedestrian Focus
a. A2 Walks Campaign: Update and Next Steps
The intent is to lay out a work plan for the next year (beyond the formal end of the project), reported Larry. There has been discussion with engineers about changing crosswalk design rules.
b. November Sidewalk Millage: Identify our role in supporting this millage
The city proposes a sidewalk millage to enable the city to take responsibility for sidewalk maintenance. Pete says they are looking for our help in promoting this. Larry noted that it is a renewal of the existing street millage with an add-on for sidewalks. When Larry and Erica met with city engineers they said that they would appreciate help promoting this. Carolyn has been asked for support from CIL, too. She said that its passage could make it more likely that sidewalks are accessible if the city is in charge.
Larry said that we could put an article on our web site that explains the issue and why people should vote for it. Pete wondered if Erica would write an article in AnnArbor.com.
Larry said he thinks that there will be community outreach meetings for this, and perhaps we could attend them in support.
We passed a resolution to support the millage.
9. Fall Bicycling Focus
a. What is our top priority?
Larry suggested: We should continue to push on Fuller Road, and, secondly, tie it in to Bikes Belong (a national organization of bicycle industry people that funds projects); if we could manage to get $20k that could be used to pay for about a tenth of the bike part of the project, and that could make things happen. The grant deadline passed but they have grants twice each year.
Larry said that we should update our project priorities list, and Bob Krzewinski is interested in working on that. It was put together 3 years ago, and almost half have been implemented or are scheduled for implementation. Carolyn said that we should advertise those successes on our web site, and thank those who made it happen. Larry said that they may start this in October. Joel said he would like to be involved.
Joel said that this should be worked with our strategic planning effort.
Larry suggested another priority for us: Review of the Non-motorized plan, and planning for the next plan.
Carolyn thought that we could do something like the Pedestrian Forum for this.
Larry and Erica have talked about bringing in a speaker for the Pedestrian Ordinance project. Larry contacted a non-motorized issues expert, an emeritus professor from Boulder, and learned that he needs $2 – 5k to undertake involvement. He would not have just one meeting but would have multiple community meetings, and meetings with elected officials. Larry asked Joel if he would have access for university funding for this, and Joel said “It is possible, I am not sure.” Joel said that it is too bad that there is no one at U-M with expertise in non-motorized issues.
Carolyn talked of CIL’s experience of trying to bring in a motivational speaker and they tried to get the athletic department on board, but they weren’t interested. They had more success with another university department. She concluded that maybe if Joel could identify U-M researchers in related areas they could get tied into this and perhaps help with funding.
Pete asked for a title for this project. Larry said he would ask if the professor has an idea for a title and pitch. Maybe “sustainable transportation resource for community education opportunities.”
Joel asked if there are particular projects we would want to promote with this. Larry said he would like to explore how the priority given non-automobile projects could be changed in our area.
b. First Annual Community Bike Count: http://bikepeddocumentation.org/
September 13 from 5 to 7 pm Joel will lead the first annual Ann Arbor bike count session. He says he still needs to publicize it. He hopes to enlist a one or two dozen people to help. They will focus on highest traffic areas.
He met with the City’s Eli Cooper last week who suggested some locations of interest.
Joel said that it could be useful to get Saturday data, but the next few Saturdays are football game days.
The goal is to have a finer metric of how the volume of bike traffic increases over time.
Tim voiced concerns about the reliability of data from a once-per-year 2 hour count. He noted that poor data can be misleading and can be misused. Before conclusions can be drawn from data that is subject to many uncontrolled influences, there must be an assessment of data variance.
Pete suggested that instead of having all volunteers take measurements at the same time (at dispersed locations), it could be advantageous to measure at just a few locations, but at multiple times during the week. This could provide an assessment of data variance. Tim endorsed this idea. Alternatively, Tim suggested that there might be more trustworthy indicators of bike usage, such as area bike sales.
Larry noted that there was a count on the B2B trail a couple years ago.
10. Coalition Building
a. Working Sessions/Community Meetings
No report.
b. Bicycle Ambassadors
No report.
11. Communication
Already discussed.
a. Website
b. Newsletter
c. Facebook
We adjourned at 8:48.
