Fwd: Bicycle Friendly Community Grants

[Mike Mossing]

Here is an opportunity for a $5 to $15k grant. Open only to BFC
awardees. Short form (max 600 words), Deadline May 30.

Some Ideas
- Bike Parking,
- functional racks throughout the city
- or a couple of artsy racks
- Event parking
- Debate Related, Bike share - rental fleet
- Might be the best Marketing for the sponsers
- Information Kiosks, Maps, Signs along the trail
- Others?

If we gather ideas now we can make decision at the next pathways
meeting Mon May 19 and submit the Grant by May 30.

[Past Grants - just 2](http://www.bikesbelong.org/node/221103)

---------------------
REI Bicycle Friendly Communities Grant Application
Bicycle Friendly Community:
Project/Program Title:
Contact Person (name, title, phone, e-mail):

Please respond to the following in 600 words or less.

1. Project/Purpose: Briefly describe the project you propose. Why is
this a priority project for bicycling in your community?

2. Goals: What are the short-term and long-term goals of this project?
How will you reach these goals?

3. Action Plan: What are the steps necessary to execute the project,
and who from your office and the community will be assigned to these
tasks? (please be detailed)

4. Budget: How much will this project cost to execute, and how,
specifically, will the funding be spent?

5. Evaluation: What are the expected outcomes of this project, and how
will you determine them? How will you measure the success of this
project?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Elizabeth Train
To: Elizabeth Train
Cc: Bill Nesper
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2008 6:45 PM
Subject: Bicycle Friendly Community Grants

Dear Bicycle Friendly Community Applicant,

Congratulations on your recent Bicycle Friendly Community award or
honorable mention! As one of the League of American Bicyclist's
funding partners for this important program, Bikes Belong is thrilled
with your continuing efforts to make your community a great place to
ride a bicycle.

Thanks to a generous grant from REI, we are able to offer grant
funding to city governments and/or advocacy groups in designated and
aspiring BFCs that are demonstrating success, employing creative
strategies, and showing marked advancements in making their
communities more bicycle friendly. Awards will range from $5,000 to
$15,000 and can be used for a variety of purposes, from consulting and
expertise to programs and events that generate ridership and promote
bicycling.

If your city has a relationship with a local bike-advocacy group, and
you think this application process is a better fit for that group than
for the city itself, please pass this invitation along to the group. A
letter from the city showing support for the project will greatly
bolster the advocacy group's proposal.

To apply, simply download and complete the short REI/BFC Grant Program
application and return it to us by May 30. If you have questions about
the process or would like help selecting a project that best fits our
guidelines, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Train
Grants & Research Director
Bikes Belong Coalition
1920 13th Street, Suite A
Boulder, CO 80302
p: (303) 449-4893, x3 • f: (303) 442-2936
bikesbelong.org

Bikes Belong: Putting More People on Bicycles More Often

[Karen Kate Kellum]

Hi Mike,

I'm still a fan of some kind of bike share/rental idea, but not just
for the debate.

I know the Chancellor has always liked the idea of having a bike share
program as well.

Did we get feedback from the BFC application that would point us to
other ideas?

-Kate

[Noah Bunn]

Another suggestion..

We are in desperate need of bike racks on campus (and around town) as
well as a rules of the road education program for cyclists at Ole Miss.

[Leighton McCool]

In searching for artsy bike racks to put out at Plein Air, I ran
across this site which is worth a look. They've got great artsy &
functional racks and are reasonably priced. The designer is emailing
me a price list which I'll share with the appropriate person --
should I send that to Mike?

here's the site:

http://www.dero.com/commercial_racks.html

On May 2, 2008, at 11:57 AM, Karen Kate Kellum wrote:

[Mike Mossing]

Great Ideas!

I spoke to Rebecca at YAC a few weeks before she left, about a design
competition, They are having one in Boulder, CO
<http://boulderspace.org/bikerack/>

11 new racks have been ordered for campus.

I agree as far as training for students. How do we motivate them to participate?
Should we just pay them? Free lights, locks, helmets?

[Noah Bunn]

How about as a part of freshman orientation? That's the one time
you'll have a captive audience. It seems like common sense to most of
us, but I don't think most casual commuters understand basic bike
safety (wearing a helmet and stopping at an intersection). UPD's
traffic/parking site lists rules of the road (and fines for
violations) but I've never seen the information publicized in any way.

It's not a total solution, but orientation would be a start.

[Jay Dub]

Seems like this has been discussed before but it bears repeating (unless someone has already said it here) but University/Oxford suffers for lack of "Share the Road" SIGNS.  I heard the Mayor's reason once, but I don't remember it enough to butcher a misquote of it, so I won't.  Regardless of the reason, we need signs. 

second the bike racks around town specifically, but on campus too.  more more more

like the UC Davis campus.
http://www.city.davis.ca.us/aboutdavis/photos/photos/bikes.jpg
http://testsite.law.ucdavis.edu/studentlife/images/recreation.jpg

[Vivian]

Orientation seems like a good start, particularly if they have stopped doing
what they did when my daughter went through it in 2003. They actually
discouraged parents from leaving bikes since most of them went unridden and
rusted on the racks.

[Mike]

I started a page here:
http://groups.google.com/group/OxfordCycling/web/bfc-grant-ideas

Depending how patient the rest of the group is with this brainstorming
we can either keep this thread going or make edits to the page.

To combine the freshman orientation / bike share idea. We could
establish a fleet of bikes (10? 20?) to check out to students and
parents during orientation. We could even have an optional evening
bike tour for interested parties.

I will forward the "Need Bike Racks" message to Chad Hunter in UM
facilities planning.

[Jay Dub]

A quick idea that maybe can be included in the grant proposal...  It's great to spend $ to help bicyclists on campus, but I think it's actually MORE important to educate NON-bicyclists.  Because people who don't bike seem to often have no idea about the rules, comfort zones, where to pass safely, etc.  So while we can clearly specifically pinpoint bicyclists as a group for some of the money, we'd be able to have a much larger audience (which might make us more enticing for a grant) if we specifically included NON-cyclists. 

[Mike Mossing]

Motorist education - what specifically do you have in mind?

We asked this question of our consultants.
Their one suggestion -- start handing out traffic tickets.
If motorists are not breaking the law its tough to change their behavior.

I don't think that they are behaving badly on purpose, they are just
wrapped in a steel cocoon and have no idea what it feels like for a
cyclist to be sharing the road with cars.

The most (maybe the only) effective way to give them that empathy is
to get them out on a bike or to a lesser extent to get someone that
they know and care about out on a bike.

On Wed, May 7, 2008 at 12:55 PM, Jay Dub <jay.j...@gmail.com> wrote:
> A quick idea that maybe can be included in the grant proposal... It's great
> to spend $ to help bicyclists on campus, but I think it's actually MORE
> important to educate NON-bicyclists. Because people who don't bike seem to
> often have no idea about the rules,

There are no rules specific to bikes - just the ones we all took the
test on to get our licenses.

> comfort zones,

As far as comfort zones, we each have different ones. If you don't
like to be passed too closely, ride a few feet into the lane and move
right as you are passed.

> where to pass safely,

Again if it is not safe to be passed, ride in the middle. If you
want to be nice, pull off the road and let them by.

> etc. So while we can clearly specifically pinpoint bicyclists as a group
> for some of the money, we'd be able to have a much larger audience (which
> might make us more enticing for a grant) if we specifically included
> NON-cyclists.

Again the biggest thing to do to educate NON-cyclists is to encourage
them to try cycling.

[Jay Dub]

I don't know how specifically to educate motorists.  I think most of the problems we encounter while on the road doesn't stem from problems related to cyclings/motorist opinions of each other, but from drivers not paying attention to the most important thing they're doing (driving).  More often than not when I'm passed by a driver in what I consider to be an unsafe way, it seems more likely to me that the driver wasn't being malicious, but wasn't paying attention and at the last second when he saw me, had to swerve around and endanger us all.

So, first would be some magical way to make drivers pay attention.  :) 

Second, I agree, make the law get firm about ticketing offenders. 

thirdly, I think signs like these would be great:
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/8213/d43ci3.gif
they could go at every road entrance to campus (and anywhere else, for that matter). 

and I had one other thing, but while I was rambling through those points above, I forgot it.  I'm sure it was the best of my weak points.

[Rachael Wilson]

Things like
Laying into the horn is not helpful. At polite tap is enough.
Half a lane while passing
Wait until your passed blind turns or hills to pass
Don't pass when there is a car going the other direction on a small two lane
road.
I also I would love for there to be a nice way (can't think of one) to
remind drivers that people on bikes pay taxes for the roads too, and really
have every right to be there.
Also if we want to encourage this to be a good commuter town, look in your
rear view mirror before you open your door.
The concept of the face with the name is good too. In other words as soon as
people know a cyclist they are more careful around them. I think getting
race results in the paper with a picture here and there (smiling faces,
super fast motion shots) could help people show pride in our riders rather
then the common contemned.

Rachael's two bits

[Nathan Henton]

For the record, I covered most of Rachel's points (except the taxes [excellent idea, by the way] and checking mirrors before opening doors) in the February Eagle column.  It's not much, but we are trying to get the word out.  It suddenly occurs to me that maybe it would be good to re-run  that column sometime this month in addition to our regularly scheduled column, especially since there weren't as many of us on the roads as often back then.  I'll run the idea by Lucy.

---

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[Jay]

I intended the linked image above to be this one:

http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/3788/expectbikeszj0.jpg

not the "parking" one.

[Lauren]

I hate to be a total downer, but I dont think anyone's lack of
attention when driving will change anytime soon in this "I can do what
I want, when I want" society that we live. As far as giving out
tickets, there is uproar if the city gives out tickets for parking in
areas specifically designated as "NO PARKING" because its a bike lane,
I hardly think after that awful episode that police will give out
tickets to people not being considerate. If we are going to get
serious about cyclists (something Im sure all of us hope for), things
like the No Parking in bike lanes need to be adhered also, with folks
not backing down just because a few soccer moms dont want to walk a
bit further to the field (sorry, something I feel rather strongly
about!). Just some examples, in England it is illegal to not wear a
seat belt, to talk on a cell phone, to eat, to drink, or to do any
thing at all that takes your mind away from the job at hand, safe
driving. In Athens, GA they have "share the road" signs everywhere,
and yes, I probably noticed them more because I am a cyclist, but they
were everywhere. Until such laws are here too, no tickets can be
given out and people will continue to not pay full attention when
driving. I am in favour of moving out into the road if you do not feel
that it is safe for someone to pass you! Sorry about the rant!

[Richard]

I saw two kids the other day riding on the wrong side of the road and
not wearing helmets.

[Mike Mossing]

Did you speak to them?  Often the direct approach is best.

I generally offer some advice for cyclists going the wrong way, especially when they are coming right at me, and there is no clear rule about who should be zigging and who should be zagging.

I haven't had much of a need to do it in Oxford.  But lots of other places, a little one-on-one driver education sometimes works.  When a driver is behaving badly or carelessly, I have put in a little effort to catch them at the next light, knock on the window if necessary, and try to calmly explain that they just cut me off, passed too close etc.

It's a fine line.  It doesn't do much good too yell. Sometimes you just get a rude gesture in return, but sometimes you get an apology or simply the opportunity to share your perspective.