Summary report for January 31st, 2009 bike advocate meeting

[Mark Stosberg]

We had a great meeting of bike advocates on Saturday. Here are some
notes and outcomes of that meeting.


Fun Events
-----------

As a group, we agreed it made sense to focus in the short term on
growing the local bike community and culture, and to do that through
fun
events.

We discussed organizing a series of events of the first Sunday of the
month starting in April, possibly at the newly renovated Parrot
building
the gorge. Aaron Nell offered to help organize the first event, and
Anna Lisa offered to help promote the event. Kurt offered to build a
bike-powered blender, (like the commercial Bike Blender [1] )

1. http://www.bikeblender.com/

Community Bike Project
----------------------

Kurt is working on starting Community Bike Project, modeled after the
"earn a bike" program currently offered by the Bloomington Community
Bike Project [2]. The next step for this project is to find donated
physical space to house the event. Kurt is going to check with the
Townsend Center about this. Donated bike-shop tools and bike work
stands
would also be helpful. Currently Kurt is storing old donated bikes in
his garage.

2. http://www.bloomington.in.us/~bikeproj/


Moderate Pace Recreational Rides
--------------------------------

Kent Beisner has been leading moderate-pace rides through his church.
He
is looking into converting these into public rides publicized through
our sister recreational cycling group, Richmond Cycling [3]. These
would
nicely complement the faster pace rides that are already currently
organized out of the Cycling and Fitness Warehouse.

3. http://groups.google.com/group/richmond-cycling


National Road Heritage Trail
----------------------------

Michael Thuman reported on the National Road Heritage Trail. This
major
east-west trail is being built to followed National Road (Route 40),
and
is planned to eventually go from Maryland to Iowa. Some part of the
Indiana portion are already complete and Michael is coordinating the
part that passes through Wayne County. The route has generally been
planned now. The next step now is to acquire grant funding for land
acquistion for the trail. Michael will be working with the city on
that,
as well as SPUR.


Bike Racks
----------

Jeremy Helmsdini is working on getting more bike racks around town. As
a
next step, he is going to check with a contact about donated steel
pipe.
Volunteers could use the the raw material to create "art racks".
Vicki
Hair and others have already been working on a project like this. (
Vicki: I think you are subscribed to this list: could you comment on
that progress? )


Bike Safety Classes
-------------------

A ten week course of free bike safety classes will be offered at the
Townsend Center in the spring as an after school program. Stephen
Johnson, a professional mechanic and experienced teacher, has offered
to
fix of their fleet of bicycles and teach the course. We will be using
the excellent curriculum developed by the BTA [4] for use in Oregon.
The next step is for Stephen to follow up with the Townsend Center
about
a next planning meeting. Once the program gets going, additional
volunteers will be needed to help with on road practice

4. http://www.bta4bikes.org/


Bike Maintenance Classes
------------------------

The Cycling and Fitness Warehouse is planning another free "bike
maintenance basics" workshop. Contact the shop at (765) 935-5047 or
in...@cyclingandfitnesswarehouse.com for details.


Bike Maps Update
----------------

We've distributed about 4,000 of the 5,000 maps originally printed.
Both
the bike shops should still be well stocked, and I personally holds
the
remainder of the maps. Contacting the bike shops remains the
recommended
way to get copies of the maps. There are no specific plans for the
next
phase of the mapping project, but feel free to discuss potential
revisions and plans here.


Bike Lane Planning
------------------

I continue DIY bike lane planning [5]. The next steps are to measure
more roads, and eventually prepare a formal recommendation for the
city
about where to add bike lanes or make other other changes such as
creating a bike boulevard or applying a "road diet".

5. http://mark.stosberg.com/bike/2008/10/is-your-street-already-wide-enough-for-bike-lanes-find-out-for-10.html


Proposed State Law Updates
--------------------------

The discussion about proposed bike law updates, Indiana Senate Bill
553,
continues on this list. The next step is to work towards a formal
revision to the current proposal on the table.


Grants for Safe Routes to Schools
---------------------------------

The state of Indiana currently gives out $75,000 grants for "Safe
Routes
to Schools" projects that cities applies for [6]. The grants don't
seem
to be heavily applied for, and many grant winners have projects like
sidewalk improvements. I think we can make a more compelling grant
proposal that make quality bike curriculum available state-wide for
the
cost of printing the manual, as well as integrating some bike
safety/education classes into schools here in Richmond. The next steps
are to contact the various players involve to determine the
feasibility
of this.

6. http://www.in.gov/indot/6153.htm


Out on the bikes!
-----------------

After the meeting, we took some bike test rides in the parking lot.
Jeremy loaned out his snow-tire equipped bike for test rides. Aaron
reported that the carbide-tipped wheels did indeed add grip in the
snow.
I also shared the bakfiets for test rides.

[Helmsdini]

I had a great time meeting everyone, and I appreciate everyone hanging
around for me. Thanks again to Mark for getting the ball rolling. As
mentioned, one of my own little pet projects this year is to see about
getting more bike racks installed around town as a way to help bike
commuters and possibly get some more bikers out on the road and using
bicycles as a serious means of transportation. My original plan was to
simply approach businesses or take up donations to get bike racks
installed in these places, but I feel that the state of the economy
would hamper this type of approach at this time. Instead, I thought
about simply getting scrap metal (chain link fence poles, etc) donated
to our cause and then simply having a "meeting" or "party" of sorts to
turn them into simple 6-bike type racks or even enlisting help from
the local universities and schools to help with the art-rack theme.
This seems to be a much more logical approach and possibly a more
"green" solution to our problem anyway as we would be reusing old
scrap metal and turning it into something usable with very little in
the way of processing. I will work on getting the logistics of this
plan worked out and report back shortly, but I think it is a very
attainable goal. Mark mentioned a local school that is already seeking
a bike rack- so there is a void to be filled from the get-go.

Looking forward to the next meeting!!
-Jeremy Helmsing

[Simpl...@aol.com]

I am gladden to see so many people stepping forward to improve bike usage in our community.  I am a member of a group of people who took a community leadership class well over a year ago.  We picked a project of creating an art rack/bike rack for the downtown.  As the project evolved it became a high school project.  An art class designed it and Matt Amos's welding class built it with materials  paid for by Main Street Association.  Ann Brooks found someone to donate the powder coating of the finished rack.  It is my understanding that we are now waiting for the weather to improve for it to be installed.

 

The beauty of this method is how many people are involved and cooperating toward a goal.  It is good to have the young people of the community personally invested.  The disadvantages are two fold.  It is a slow tedious process and it takes a great deal of leadership time.  Along the way I began a business downtown and have not had the time to push this project forward.  Ann Brooks has taken up the slack of the rest of our group.  I think she could use some help if this project is to continue on.

 

Observing business downtown I think that bike racks would be a great improvement.  I allow students to wheel their bikes into my shop to keep them safe.  I am planning to install a railing at the back door but it may only work for one or two bikes at the most.  I think downtown merchants would agree to racks in principle but are unable to contribute money to the project. 

---

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[jim hair]

1. Vicki and I are of the opinion that it is important to bring bikes
back downtown.
The Mayor seems to support the idea of installing bikes racks.
The ice sculpture 'festival' has been very successful in bringing
families downtown during the Chistmas Holidays to see and make
photographs of the sculptures.
Ann Brooks and Vicki's group made the connections with Richmond High
School where they seem to enjoy the project of making a bike rack that
is also 'sculptural' and may also relate to Richmond's heritage. I
would encourage more discussion with targeted downtown merchants who
would support creation of racks and installing them by their business.
The Old Bookshop, JoyAnns', Veach's, Tom's NY Deli, Unwind, Kesseler's
and the Civic Theater could be the 'host' businesses responsible for
raising the $400 for each rack in their respective blocks, and there
could be a design contest for young people that would connect with the
high school shop class to create the racks.

2. "The next meeting re parking in the central business district will
be Friday, February 6, 9 AM in the City Council Chambers. If you know
of someone not listed on our distribution list who may be interested,
either let me know or just invite them." Parking and sidewalks
downtown are linked to the use of bikes. If you are interested, show
up for this meeting.

3. The old Gas Works building at the end of Main Street has a large
empty building that would be perfect for a shop and bike distribution,
and is equi-distant from Earlham, The High School, and Downtown. It
also overlooks the Veteran's Memorial Park, and the Whitewater Gorge,
and is along the Cardinal Greenway trail. The building is owned by
the City, is under management by the Parks Department, and this one
separate building just needs a garage door installed to be useful.
The Gas Works also has empty industrial rooms that would be ideal for
welding and bike manufacturing, and I have a retired welder who would
love to work with Kurt and the kids from the High School in creating
their own bikes, as well as restoring bikes. The building is empty
and has plenty of room for storage. This could be a perfect building
for Bike Richmond, as well as a community cafe and a Veteran's
Museum. I have spoken to Veterans and High School kids who are ready
to help restore the building, as well as a contractor who would help
with equipment and building restoration as well as training of young
people to repair the building. Ask the Mayor.

[Stephen Johnson]

Hi,

I'm Stephen Johnson, Yoga teacher, bicycle commuter, bicycle mechanic
and volunteer. A few months ago I had the pleasure of meeting Sheila
Spears of the "Wayne Co. Minority Health Coalition" and Mona Mayberry
"Townsend Center" at the Townsend Center with Mark. The purpose of
the meeting was to explore launching a "bicycling safety and
awareness" program at the Townsend Center.

The idea was well received and future plans were discussed to put the
program in action. After our meeting Mark asked me if I wanted to
spearhead the program and get it rolling. I said, "yes."

I will be meeting with Mona soon to create a schedule of events at the
Center, which will include doing a safety inspection of a surprising
large collection of donated bicycles. I will keep you posted on the
progress of this program and when the time comes, we will be asking
for volunteers to teach these important and fun classes. On a further
note about bicycling education; I will be conducting a class at the
Cycling and Fitness Warehouse Feb. the 7th at 12:30 on "roadside
repairs." Contact, ko...@cyclingandfitnesswarehouse.com if you or any
of your friends would benefit from this experience.

Ride free, Peace