EBBC Board Meeting – 3/17/09
Board members present: Bruce Ole Ohlson, Craig Hagelin, Rick Rickard, Dave Campbell, Tom Ayres, Leo Dubose, Bill Pinkham, Dave Favello, Mary Norton; also Robert Raburn (Director)
The first part of the board meeting was conducted as a closed-door session. Following that, the following matters were addressed in open-door session.
Bike to Work Day 2009 Budget – Dave Campbell
Motion to approve budget, including ~$60k expenditure – APPROVED
Oakland Catholic Workers – Robert reports on a new neighborhood bicycle center that EBBC proposes to take on as an affiliated organization – similar to our work with Cycles of Change. The program has a dedicated person running it. Rick notes problems that will need to be worked out regarding donations, since they don’t have a 501c status yet. Dave F raises concern about liability if someone is injured using a bike they have worked on at their site; this remains to be investigated.
Motion to adopt as affiliated program (to become fiscal sponsor) – APPROVED.
Treasurer’s report – Rick Rickard
Motion to adopt: APPROVED
Meeting adjourned 7:45 pm
EBBC General Meeting
The board members were joined by about 15 other EBBC members and interested visitors for the general meeting at 7:45 pm. Introductions were made.
Motion to adopt February minutes – APPROVED
Federal Complete Streets Act of 2009
Robert: This was introduced last year by Harkin and Blumenhauer; it came very close to passing in the Senate. There is hope that it could pass this year. Ellen Tauscher (District 10 representative) supports it as a co-sponsor. Robert has put together a letter of support for this act, see it attached to the agenda for tonight’s meeting. He urges all of us to contact Ellen to express our support, especially by paper letters. Motion for EBBC to support the Federal Complete Streets Act and Robert’s letter: APPROVED
Legislation to allow standard 40′ coaches (AC Transit) to use triple bike racks in place of the doubles currently used; sponsored by Nancy Skinner (represents Berkeley-Richmond area). Robert urges support for this legislation, in his letter to Skinner and in letters to other assembly representatives. Motion to support: APPROVED
Pleasant Hill BART shortcut path
Cyclist or pedestrian needs to go about 1 mile out of the way to get from the David/Bancroft intersection to Las Juntas Way and the BART station. A shortcut path would greatly help, but has been opposed by local jurisdictions, including the City of Walnut Creek which was displeased with having to take responsibility for annual maintenance. Robert urges support for this shortcut path. Motion to support the shortcut path: APPROVED
Bike Month plans – Dave Campbell
Bike commuter of the year nominations are open, until April 25, for each county in the Bay area; see our website for a link.
Ads for our bike safety classes have been placed in all east bay newspapers, appearing now. Press releases have started going out.
There are many volunteer opportunities for Bike to Work Day activities. A volunteer meeting will be set up for early April, to be announced by emails.
Team Bike Challenge, during May – sign up for teams begins April 1. This is the 4th year. Last year we had 100 teams in Alameda County, about 30-40 in Contra Costa County. The goal is to double the number of teams each year.
Bike Away from Work Party – in Temescal, with Cyclecide, bicycle fashion show, food, beer.
Website updates – Robert
Volunteer opportunities are now available at our website – to look at our list of events and sign up on-line. Hal Keenan has been working on this. There will also be hiring for people to help with some of the valet bike parking events. Other changes and improvements to the website are taking place, including a Spanish version (in beta) coming soon. Please contact Robert or Eric McCaughrin if you find any problems with the website.
May 16 is a bicycle safety day in El Cerrito – noon-4 at DMV property – kids to commuters. Perfection on Wheels (stunts) will provide 2 shows. People from 2 bike shops will be there talking about maintenance. EBBC will be there.
Presentation: Sergeant Maples, El Cerrito Police Dept. – Bicycle Patrol Unit Coordinator, Bicycle Patrol Instructor
Sgt. Maples described his work as a leader of bicycle patrol activities in El Cerrito, as well as the upcoming bicycle safety day.