Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coaliton Minutes

Washtenaw Bicycling and Walking Coalition
117 North Division Street
Ann Arbor, Michigan
734/487-9058
www.wbwc.org
WBWC Meeting 12/6/05

Meeting came to order at 7:12

Kris Talley conducted the meeting.

Board members Kris Talley, Ken Clark, Tim Athan, Ana Iacob, Bob Krzewinski, 
Erica Briggs were present.

Noted from the annual meeting, the following board members were continuing or 
elected at the last meeting:
Continuing: Bob Krzewinski, Paul Alman, Brenda Bentley-Goenka
Elected at the last meeting: Erica Briggs, Ana Iacob, Kris Talley, Tim Athan, 
Ken Clark

1. There were no minutes taken at the annual meeting.
2. The treasurer reported that our fund balance is $894.60
3. Attendee intro: Sharon Sheldon, Washtenaw Public Health.  She has been at 
the Health Department for three years and is the director of the Health 
Awareness Department.  They are working more and more to promote non-motorized 
transportation as a way to prevent health problems.  She will be making a 
presentation to a group of County managers working on Smart Growth planning 
tomorrow morning.  The County Health Department is currently working with the 
City of Ypsilanti to put in more bike parking.  Ypsilanti received a $3000 
grant from the state to put in bike parking.

4. Actions/News
a. November membership meeting/movie screening - The turnout was fairly good, 
but the cost was about $200.  We discussed possibly holding another 
presentation at the library or on the UM or EMU campus.

b. AA Bike-friendly city presentation (Talley) - 

c. Huron River Drive paving and closing (Alman) - the city is looking at a 
possible reconstruction of the Ann Arbor City portion of Huron River Drive in 
2007.  

d. Bike Winter (Briggs) - Erica presented a flyer for "Ann Arbor Bike Winter 
2006".  Bike Winter is an annual event in other Great Lakes communities and 
she's borrowing a number of ideas from the other communities.  The first events 
are in December, the 2nd, free bike parking during Midnight Madness; the 10th a 
winter cycling skills workshop; and December 10th "Bike and Dine".  This Sunday 
the 4th is the winter parade in downtown Ann Arbor and cyclists can join the 
parade if we can get people interested.

e. SEMCOG Rail Plans (Schwende)

f. Safe Routes to School/Project Health Schools/Walking School Bus (Talley) - 
Sharon Sheldon pointed out that the County Health Department is actively 
working with the schools to promote Safe Routes to School.

g. WBWC sponsorship of 5/17/2006 Ride of Silence - (Alman) Paul Alman has 
listed himself on the LMB website as the contact for this.

h. Giving citations/lights to night-time cyclists? - There was a program in an 
Oregon newsletter about a police department that does this.  Erica discussed 
this with someone in the police department and will discuss the idea with the 
owner of Great Lakes Cycling.

i. "Bicycling for Transportation in Washtenaw County" site/wiki (Clark)


5. WBWC General Business
a. Membership report/outreach - Franke has sent out membership renewal 
applications.  

b. 2005 officer elections - Officers elected were Kris Talley - chair, Tim 
Athan - vice chair, Ana Iacob - treasurer, Ken Clark - secretary

c. Board retreat in January - We agreed to hold a board retreat on the 
afternoon Sunday January 22nd in place of our January meeting.  The place and 
exact time are to be determined.

d. Newsletter (Krzewinski) - December 10th is the deadline for our next 
newsletter.


6. Reports from other groups/events
a. UM Nonmotorized Transportation Committee (Talley) - There was a meeting 
today about this.  They will be working with the new private "dorm" on north 
campus to attempt to get indoor or covered parking.  Each department at the UM 
will have a transportation advisor who will be the goto person for transit and 
nonmotorized transportation information.

b. Friends of AA Greenway (Mitchell) - There is a biweekly Greenway walk this 
Sunday.

c. Washtenaw Area Teens of Tomorrow -- Youth Mobility (Athan) - They have 
finalized a proposal for a local bike reuse center.  WATS is working on a youth 
mobility survey.  They are also working on a way to make bus riding seem 
cooler.  AATA plans to create a youth mobility advisory committee.

d. GetDowntown program (Briggs) - Erica had a few wonderful meetings.  She 
spoke with Sgt. Brad Hill at the AAPD about promoting bicycling and pedestrian 
safety.  He said that the AAPD has done some occasional crosswalk enforcement 
operations and is interested in doing more.  She also spoke with Transportation 
Engineer Les Sipowski in the City of Ann Arbor.  Les has agreed to hold an 
"Engineering 101" presentation in May during Curb Your Car month.

e. AA Environmental Commission Transportation Committee (Clark) - no update.

f. AA Energy Commission (Athan) - Tim pointed out that the Mayor asked the 
Energy Commission to propose ways that Ann Arbor could use more alternative 
forms of energy.

g. League of Michigan Bicyclists (Clark) - The LMB has a new Executive 
Director.  Richard Moeller has run a number of YMCAs in the midwest and 
northeast.  

h. AABTS Safety Committee (Alman) - no update.

i. Non-motorized Transportation Planning Committee (Hritz) - Some kind of 
presentation this Monday at Ann Arbor City Council.

j. Parks and Recreation (Krzewinski) - Bob pointed out that it would be helpful 
to have a group of people who can come to meetings and speak in favor of bike 
paths since there is inevitably opposition to new paths through urban areas.  
The state rejected both bridges that were planned over the Huron River, at 
Hudson Mills and Dexter, so the county parks and recreation department is 
working on getting their proposed bridge at Dexter reconsidered.  

k. Washtenaw County Non-motorized Steering Committee (Talley) - No update.

Adjourned 9:03pm