DRAFT FOR APPROVAL
Minutes of the Board Meeting on Feb. 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
Also: Ricardo Pedivilla, Alameda
Tom Ayres convened the meeting and the February minutes were approved. An anonymous donor has given us $6,000 to hire Erik Jensen as a contractor for six months at the rate of $1,000 per month to help with grant writing and analysis. A motion was passed to accept this donation, which was restricted to hiring Jensen.
The board approved the 2010 EBBC Contributions Budget for $2,500, which represents no major changes from last year’s budget. Rick Rickard prepared the budget.
A proposal to change the bylaws so that we could reduce the number of annual general meetings to six and board meetings to four was withdrawn by Tom. Leo Dubose and others objected to the proposed change, which he argued would not help grow membership.
The board approved a proposal to make voting via email synonymous with voting in writing.
Minutes of the General Meeting, Feb. 17, 2010. Rockridge Branch Library.
Sargent Shawn Maples, supervisor of the El Cerrito Bike Patrol, announced a Bike the Bridges Special Olympics June 6 to fund athletes for the Special Olympics. He’d like EBBC volunteers (http://bikethebridges.kintera.org). He is working to get more BART officers on bicycles using funds from a new $100,000 BART grant.
Carrie Harvilla asked new subcommittee chairs to introduce themselves and said at future meetings there would be reports from these new subcommittees.
It was announced that there will be no changes in board and general meeting schedules.
Robert Raburn announced that State Senator Loni Hancock has introduced a bill to allow the Bay Area Transit Authority (BATA) to fund a bicycle-pedestrian maintenance pathway on the West Span of the Bay Bridge – SB 1061. He also said there are plans for a Gateway Park at the East Span entrance to the Bay Bridge, which would include 11 acres of “world-class access.” Robert and Dave Favello will be visiting Senator Barbara Boxer’s office during the National Bike Summit in Washington, D.C. March 9-11 and talk to her (or her staff) about the West Span.
Dave Campbell said we would have the “Biggest and Best Bike to Work Day” ever. Included for the first time are Bike to Market Saturdays, with discounts at markets for participating cyclists. Contact Dave if you’d like to enlist a market. Bike to School Days are May 5 to 15, and there are also Bike to Movie Nights, which communities can select. There will be a guide in the East Bay Express with ads for participating businesses, and there is a new award for the most Bike Friendly Business, with nominations open on our website through March 26. March 13, the actual Bike to Work Day, should be our biggest day of the year, with more energizer stations handing out musette bags, and asking cyclists to identify new bikeways they’d like to see in their community as a way of engaging new riders directly.
Robert reported that the EBBC is insuring the $1 billion allocated to the Regional Bike Network is not being diverted for non-cycling projects. Recently, we managed to redivert 20% of the funding for Alameda County that was at risk.
Carrie said the annual retreat in January drew 40 people and strengthened membership and our coalition building. We announced our 2010 campaigns – the Transportation Reauthorization Act, Sunday Streets in Oakland, and bicycle training programs – and set up chairs for old and new subcomittees on advocacy, membership, hazards and theft, finance, media/PR, and events. Events this year include a fall fundraiser, probably in Jack London Square, and a holiday party at the end of the year. Robert also said that this year “We intend to become the Amco of bike parking.”
Robert reported that thanks to the urging of the EBBC, AC Transit is now adding a third space on bicycle racks for all of its 290 buses. And finally, the EBBC is encouraging communities along the Ohlone Greenway, where BART is undertaking a three-year long seismic project, to provide good bicycle and pedestrian detour paths.
Stephanie Reed gave a presentation on a 250-mile trip she and her husband made on the Bay Trail, which now has 290 completed miles and is projected to be 400 miles long. Her slides showed how 30 percent of the current trail is unpaved levee and dirt path….or just plain dead end, especially parts in Oakland and San Leandro, which are closed for construction. The paths in Benicia, Richmond, and Sunnyvale were especially pristine, and Stephanie’s slides showed birds and vistas that gave gravitas to her description of the five-day ride as traveling in the “urban wilderness.”