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Draft Minutes of Board Meeting and General Meeting March 17

Author: bcomadmin

Date: March 26, 2010

Minutes of the Board Meeting on March 17, 2010, Rockridge Branch Library, 5366 College Ave., Oakland.

Board members present: Tom Ayres (chair), Dave Favello (Vice Chair), Leo Dubose, Craig Hagelin, Morgan Kanninen, Sylvia Paull, Hal Keenan, Bill Pinkham, Rick Rickard, Susan Stewart

Staff: Carrie Harvilla, Dave Campbell, Robert Raburn

Tom Ayres convened the meeting, and the board approved February minutes. Rick Rickard gave the treasurer’s report: we received an ACTIA grant for our street skills classes and we are pacing our expenditures for Bike to Work Day activities ($87,900) to match the money that we have received from sponsors so far ($16,500).

Leo Dubose reported that the membership committee is committed to doubling membership this year to add 2,500 new members. He wants each board member to bring in five new members this month and all members to bring in five new members during the course of this year.

Tom Ayres said an ad hoc committee is examining ways to improve EBBC operations after the resignation of Irene Nexica, our recently hired educational coordinator. The board approved hiring Isaac Rodriguez, founder of Cycles of Change, on a 60-day contract at 25 hours per week to oversee the bike safety program for which Nexica was hired. We now have five people working on our staff.

The Alliance for Biking and Walking has offered our organization the opportunity to apply for a grant that would give us the equivalent of $5,000 worth of leadership, ethnic diversity, and organization training for strategic planning in a two-day workshop. The board voted to approve expenditures, such as paying for travel expenses for the trainer, that might be involved should our grant application be accepted by the Alliance.

Rick proposed we move to a quarterly rather than a monthly newsletter. It was moved and passed that we commit to a quarterly newsletter once the PR/Media committee and EBBC staff set in place infrastructure on our web site and the Internet to keep members informed of ongoing EBBC events.

Minutes of the General Meeting, March 17, 2010, Rockridge Branch Library.

After approving the February 17 meeting minutes, committee members – membership, PR, and hazards – made their respective reports. Membership wants to double our membership to 5,000 by asking each member to bring in five new members. Hazards committee chair Ian McDonald has assigned volunteers specific regions and developed protocols. The committee still needs someone to cover southern Alameda County.

Dave Favello reported about his and Robert Raburn’s attendance at the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C., March 8-12, when California brought the largest delegation. Our team got to meet with legislators and their staff and encourage them to support the Complete Streets Act as well as Safe Routes to Schools. They also got California legislators George Miller, Barbara Lee, and Pete Stark to support Loni Hancock’s measure for funding of the west span of the Bay Bridge. The Obama Administration is actively promoting cycling and walking to the tune of $2 billion in grant funding for bike projects. Robert said he came away with “more optimism than I have had in many years.”

On the state level, it was moved and passed by the membership to support Senate Bill 1061 to allot funds for the west span of the Bay Bridge. Robert also reported that the 2002 passage of Measure DD, a $188 million bond issue to replace the freeway in Oakland with a street, will result in the demolition of the 12th St. dam on May 6.

Dave Campbell gave an update on Back to Work Day events. His committee is accepting nominations for bike friendly businesses and bike commuter awards. He encouraged everyone to ask his or her local business to place an ad in the Bike to Work Day insert to appear in the East Bay Express during May. He then announced a Kidical Mass in Berkeley and a Bicycle Friendly Berkeley Coalition street party this March.

Guest speakers from the Alameda County Transportation Improvement Authority — Christine Monsen, Executive Director, and Tess Lengyel, Programs and Public Affairs Manager – talked about the use of the ½ cent sales tax that voters approved in Alameda County in 1986. A resounding 80% of voters approved a 20-year extension of the tax in 2002. Most of the money goes for city-initiated programs to improve local streets for bicycle and pedestrians (and even cars!). Because of the economy, the $3 billion planned for expenditures is $1 billion short, so in November 2012, the Authority plans to introduce a ballot measure to get more funds. For more information, check out www.actia2022.com.