[BikeLongmont] March metting minutes

[Nenad]

Hi,

This month's meeting minutes are no more than a week or so late, not too
bad by recent standards!

We have a lot going on.

Buzz and Lauren are in midst of organizing the Safe Routes to School at
Spangler. Assuming it all goes well, the program would start on 4/20 and
would be centered around "walk and roll" Wednesdays.

Aimed primarily at 3rd-5th grades, it would provide a way for students
to walk and bike to school under adult supervision. It is hoped that the
program would become self-perpetuating after a while, so the effort
could move to the next school. This would be Sunset, where the target
audience would be sixth graders.

Lauren and Buzz are putting in a ton of work on this program. When the
time comes, we should be able to help by providing a few volunteers for
the first walk&roll Wednesday and raising some funds.

The students will get a log book they can use to record their commuting.
Once they fill it out, they can turn it in and get a goodie bag. Buzz
and Lauren have a bunch of freebies lined up, but some things they'll
have to buy. They may also need to buy some helmets. They will come up
with a budget, but the preliminary numbers indicate this is something
where a small amount of money can make a difference.

Buzz is applying for a $500 grant, but it is unclear if he'll get it.
Once we know what is needed, we'll resurrect the Buzz Box and ask for
donations.

Lauren is also busy organizing biking classes. Some will be for kids,
other for adults and there will be at least one class for budding
commuters. We'll post the details on the website as soon as they are
known.

Speaking of goodies, Lauren has gotten printed a bunch of stickers to
put name and address into helmets. They have "www.bicyclelogmont.org" on
them. How cool is that?

I should also mention that the art bike racks will go on display on
5/20. Stay tuned.

Ray told us about this year's Criterion, scheduled for 6/26. They are
thinking of organizing a bike fest and expo to attract people.

On Bike to Work Day, Ray mentioned that we could make a deal where a
bike commuter could go into a coffee shop, show a helmet and get a
coupon for a free drink or something similar - good for bikers, low cost
for shops.

We had a discussion about becoming a real 501(c)3 nonprofit. The
consensus is that this is a natural next step. We need a bunch of stuff,
such as bylaws, articles of incorporation, mission statement and board
of directors. Lauren knows how to go about it and will start working on
it. This will take a year or so. If you'd like to help, let us know - I
suspect this will be a lot of work.

Buzz told us that Dan Kapsak will help us with the legal work involved.
Thanks, Dan!

Craig gave a very interesting report on the Multi-modal task force. The
final recommendations are taking shape and so far contain some really
good bike facilities. We pored over the map were all really impressed
with the work done by the task force.

The task force has one more public meeting scheduled, on 4/13. This is
your chance to comment, contribute and be heard, so I urge you to
attend.

Regards, Nenad
...your friendly Bicycle Longmont coordinator...