Cycling advocates getting organized!

[Simon]

Dear cycling enthusiasts!

We had a good meeting at MEC last Wedesday: around 20 people showed up
and
after discussing "what needs doing" we created 4 subcommittees and a
steering committee. Here is what the next steps look like:

*Focus*
We are definitely hoping that this initiative will have significant
long
term impact but *right now our focus is to get the Cycling Strategy
funded*.
As much as possible it would be important to keep this in mind. This
is the
main "threat" Calgary's cycling community is facing right now.

*Google Site* - https://sites.google.com/site/calgarybikeadvocacy/
We set up a small Google site to serve as the public face for the
initiative. The Google Site will be a convenient way for the public or
the
larger cycling community to hear about us. The steering committee and
team
leaders can edit the Google Site (let me know if you can't). You can
decide
if you want to allow other people to edit it.

*Google Group* - http://groups.google.com/group/calgary-bike-advocacy/
A Google Group was also created. *This will serve as our mailing list
so
please join it!* We'll also pass out signup sheets at various events
for
this: it will serve to broadcast announcements, calls for volunteers,
etc.

*BetterMeans* - https://secure.bettermeans.com/projects/2137
BetterMeans is a very useful (and free!) Project Management tool that
allows
the group to manage tasks and projects in a more decentralized manner.
Take
a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the website:
http://help.bettermeans.com/.

*Getting involved
*-Feel free to ask questions on the Google Group and the various
discussion
boards (wherever is appropriate)
-Follow the #yycbike on Twitter, http://www.bikecalgary.org and Bike
Calgary's Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/BikeCalgary) and Twitter (
http://twitter.com/bikecalgary) pages
-Take a look at the "Calgary Bicycle Advocacy" workstream:
https://secure.bettermeans.com/projects/2137
-Check out the different sub workstreams. If you are interested in
contributing to any of these action items and to join one or more of
the
task forces, you can either log in using your existing facebook,
google,
twitter, etc., account, and become a contributor immediately, or you
can ask
to be sent an invitation for a BetterMeans account. Once you're
(signed up
and) logged in, you can:
+ "Watch" a discussion you'd like to follow or an action item you're
interested in
+ "Join" an action item you'd like to contribute to
+ Comment on discussions, action items, and motions.
By doing this, you will become "involved" in the items in questions
and will
receive an email notification every time someone else posts a comment
on
that item, and can respond to these comments directy from your email
account. This way, you can participate in discussions of items you are
interested in (and only those). You should "watch" the general
discussion
in the main workstream and that of every task force you're involved
in, at
least.

*Finally - Remember 3 things*
1) Whatever you end up doing, keep/make it fun!
2) We have a lot of stuff to do, so let's try to stay focused and do
whatever we can, but do it well.
3) We will need a lot of people to make this happen, so invite whoever
you
can!

Cheers,
Simon, Richard and Cate

[Simon]

Sorry about the format! Here's a better one:

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