OmahaBikes Meeting Minutes -April

OmahaBikes Meeting Minutes
April 13, 2010
In attendance: Joe Simoens, Kurt Goetzinger, Chris Wolff, Jean Duffy, Jason Nieven, Lester Katz, Bob Brindamour, Tammie Dodge, Julie Harris, Marty Shukert, Joel VanderVeen, Mark Siepker

News:
The IMBA Trail Care Crew was in town April 8-11 to host a trail building school and to get us started building a beginner level mountain bike trail in Adams Park. THOR and Activate Omaha also assisted. The group got a good start getting the trail cut, but we will need more volunteer sweat equity from cyclists and the community to finish the remaining portion.

Omaha Venture Group Grant: Julie and Bob met with a subcommittee from the OVG to discuss the initial grant application that was submitted on behalf of OmahaBikes. Feedback was taken from that meeting and used to strengthen our final application, which was submitted for consideration on April 15. We have the potential to receive up to $5000 from this group, and we will receive word in late May.
Priorities for funding identified in the grant:
Professional marketing materials
Website development
LCI training for 2 OB members
Equipment (laptop, projector, helmet cam, etc.)

Upcoming Events:
Omaha Health Expo & bike ride; April 25
Mayor’s Ride: Friday, May 14
Bike to Work Week: May 17-21
Belleuve Bicycle Club “Spoke and Hub” ride on May 15
Urban Omaha- the Ultimate Adventure, Saturday, June 5. (**VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!! Hint, hint  )

Existing Business:
The group voted on the sound bite tag line for OmahaBikes. The winner:
“The voice of citizen cyclists.”

Joel VanderVeen from the OwL ride committee gave the group an update on the event they are planning. OwL = Omaha with Lights, and will take place on July 17 starting at 11pm at the Playing with Fire concert on Lewis and Clark Landing. More information on this can be found at www.owlride.org. Proceeds benefit people with developmental disabilities.

The majority of the meeting was dedicated to Marty Shukert, who brought the most recently updated version of the Bike Omaha bicycle system. Marty provided detailed information about the specific treatments being proposed for all of the streets on the various routes.
(Julie will type up all of the details and provide it on the blog at a later time.)
The routes that will be painted/striped by the end of 2010 will be:
1. Red (Benson)
2. Blue (16th St/Zoo)
3. Yellow (Happy Hollow)
Discussion continues on the treatment of the Green Route (Aksarben, via Leavenworth), which will be the most complicated to complete. Feedback from bike commuters has been and will continue to be valuable as the plan for Leavenworth takes shape.

Next Meeting: Tuesday, May 11, Courtyard Marriott, 11am