Omaha Bikes January Meeting Minutes

Omaha Bikes meeting minutes
January 2010
Wohlner’s Grocery, 11:00am

In attendance: Bob Brindamour, Dave Reinarz, Ryan Feagan, Mark Siepker, Julie Harris, Joe Simoens, Jonathan Nieve, Scott Redd, Sarah Johnson, Ben Brownlow, Mike Douglas, Matt Martin, Tammie Dodge

NEWS:
There is a sample letter in the process of being drafted that can be used to send to our public officials regarding the concerns over time/process for trail projects and other improvements. We will make that available on the blog and other places when it is complete.

The National Bike Summit is being held in Washington DC from March 9-11. It is a pricey trip, but any and all are invited. Activate Omaha staff will be attending, and will be setting up meetings with our congressional representatives to discuss bicycle transportation issues. It was also noted that bike shop employees, that have never attended The Nation Bike Summit, could apply for a scholarship to the event to help reduce the cost of attending (Dave Reinarz has details on what organization offers that scholarship).

There is a public “Resource Conservation” meeting on January 20 – Details are available on the blog.

Greenstreet Cycles is having a social event on January 21 at 6pm. Go and support Sarah! Details are available on Sarah’s facebook page.

Sarah Johnson noted that she is working with a group involved with World Environment Day – they are looking at taking the Earth Day message about alternative energy and continuing beyond the one day event on April 22. Contact SarahJohnson to get more information!

EXISTING BUSINESS:
We have shifted our official name from Bike Omaha to Omaha Bikes. This is to avoid the assumption that we are part of the city’s Bike Omaha bike lane loop, etc. The Omaha Bikes blog, @OmahaBikes Twitter, Facebook and other communication have shifted, so please adjust accordingly.

It was decided that officers will be elected each January for 1 year terms. This year’s group:
President: Bob Brindamour
Treasurer: Tammie Dodge
Secretary: Julie Harris

Bike De’Lights was a success! We had 27 riders, and all had a great time. We definitely want to make this an annual event. Thanks to all who helped plan and everyone who came to ride.

Subcommittee Updates:
1. Handlebar Happy Hours – 3 events coming this spring/summer. Aksarben Village identified as a potential location; Mark is in communication with them.
2. Bike Friendly Merchants – Sarah has spoken to some business owners to get an idea of what they might be willing to pay for, and what the benefits might be. The AO grad student helping out this spring will be able to help with this committee.
3. Bicycle Parking – 50 racks are available, being created by a local steel fabricator. A meeting was held on January 7 to discuss the process for requesting a rack, and the potential locations for racks. Please email Tammie (Tammie [AT] activateomaha [DOT] org) if you have ideas for good locations. Ideas can also be provided via the Omaha Bikes facebook page, and the Omaha Bikes blog.
4. Youth Engagement – There will be plenty of opportunities where volunteers will be needed to help out at schools this spring; please step up if you can when those requests come out from Julie.
5. Ryan Feagan is now attending our meetings as the Nebraska Cycling Association liaison. Roxzanne Feagan also plans to attend future meetings as the T.H.O.R. liaison. Ryan noted that there was a meeting on 1/16 with the IMBA representative. Dale also represents T.H.O.R.

NEW BUSINESS:

A Membership committee has been formed. The first tasks for this committee will be researching other bicycle federations (Chicago, New York, etc) to see how they evolved, and seeing what we can learn from them. Please let Bob know if you are interested in helping with this sub-committee.

Finding a centrally located and quiet meeting location for our group is ongoing. Our next meeting will be at the First Data Visitor Conference Room at 6855 pacific street on February 9th from 11:00am till 1:00pm.

Sign up sheets were distributed for the various committees. In addition to those listed above, we now also have membership, and social networking/Web. If you could not attend the meeting, please let us know where you want to plug in!

Please feel free to invite others to join our meetings – send contact information to Bob (underdahill [AT] gmail [DOT] com) or Julie (jharris [AT] activateomaha [DOT] org) and we will make sure they get on the list when meeting reminders are sent out.