February Meeting Minutes

Omaha Bikes

Monthly Meeting Minutes

February 2011

In attendance: Patrick McAtee, Mark Siepker, Craig Kelly, Kurt Goetzinger, Bob Brindamour, Peter Lieben, Matt Martin, Julie Harris, Mike Wagster, Sarah Johnson, Mark R, Tony Wilderwing, Joel Zimmerman, Peter Pellerito, Carlos Morales, Sloan Dawson

News
Jolene Holland sends a report that the next Ladies and Gentlemen’s ride will be at the end of February – watch the blog/Facebook page for more info.

Race2reCycle is a new event coming up on May 14. It will include a kids trike ride, a family ride and a 3 state, 170 mile bike relay. Start/finish at Midtown Crossing

Activate Omaha’s urban adventure race will be June 4. Start/finish at Aksarben Village.

Aksarben Cinema will host the movie “Ride the Divide” on March 15 at 7pm. Tickets are $10 pre registration and $15 at the door; 10% of proceeds will be donated to Omaha Bikes!

Existing Business
Membership Committee: Mike Wagster presented the proposed Omaha Bikes membership model. The goal is to get the model/website complete by March 31, do a soft campaign targeting current Omaha Bikes participants during April, and then do a “Charter Member” campaign May 1 – July 31. Great work, guys!

Website: The committee is moving forward on the project using a website package that includes a membership component. More info coming soon.

Andy Clarke from the League of American Bicyclists will be making the rounds in Omaha on Friday, Febrary 11. All are welcome to attend a special Handlebar Happy Hour at the Brazen Head at 4:30 on the 11th.

Bike to the Ballpark: Plan is almost complete, pending official approval on bike corral location. We are working with the city, Metro Transit, and others. Many, many volunteers will be needed to help staff the bike corral during the CWS (June 18-29). Please plan to plug in if possible!!

Advocacy: Matt reported that he and Julie attended the Iowa Bicycle Summit in Des Moines. There were good sessions on Safe Routes to School, IMBA, etc. It was good to see their model as we think to the future and planning a similar event ourselves. A “Nebraska State Capitol Day” was discussed – similar to what we do at the national bike summit when we visit Capitol Hill.

Bike/Ped Coordinator Update: Carlos encouraged everyone to get involved in the Transportation Master Plan update process via the public workshops coming up in March and April.

Communications: Kurt reports that he expects news coverage for Andy Clarke’s visit. Please keep Kurt in the loop with all events so that he can get information blasted out in a timely and effective manner!

Education: Julie reports that a group of Omaha LCI’s will be going to Lincoln on Feb 26 to help teach Traffic Skills 101. Matt, Julie and Kay Grant are teaching a bike ed class at Western Hills Elementary school this spring on Tuesday afternoons. Plans are being put together to offer adult bike ed classes through Metro Community College starting this summer. The courses can be taught off campus, instructors will be paid, and the courses will be listed in the quarterly course catalogues mailed to the community!

Next Meeting: Tuesday, March 8. Several of us will be en route to Washington DC for the National Bike Summit! We will be blogging/twittering frequently during our time there.