Bikies,
Those of you who are members of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin
(BFW) recently received a ballot for the Board of Directors election. I
was quite dismayed to see Bill Hauda's name on the list as a candidate for
the Board. So dismayed in fact that I am running a write-in campaign
against him. I urge people to not vote for Bill Hauda, and to instead
check the box for other to the right of Bill Hauda's name and write my
name, Mark Shahan, in the space provided. My reasons for doing this are
outlined below.
In short, Bill Hauda, in my opinion, about destroyed the Bicycle
Federation shortly after it reorganized into its current form with an
executive director and board of directors in 1994. Bill became the 2nd
executive director for about 5-6 months from late 1995 to March of 1996.
During that time he basically didn't get ANYTHING accomplished. He showed
up to the office when he wanted to, wasn't around to discuss BFW business
with volunteers or provide direction, didn't let volunteers know when he
would be in the office so they could tell callers when to call back, and
couldn't get the paperwork for BFW's tax exempt status filed with the IRS
so that donations to BFW would be tax exempt. This was a critical time for
BFW when financial obligations had been undertaken without necessarily
having the funding in place to meet those obligations. Thus, getting tax
exempt status was absolutely critical for the survival of BFW.
Also critical for the survival of BFW were the volunteers in
Madison who were doing most of the work keeping BFW operating. From
writing and publishing the newsletter, to funding rasing, to membership
drives, the volunteers kept BFW going because there was no paid staff
beyond the executive director at this time. Yet Bill succeeded in
alienating pretty much everyone of them. A big part of the problem was
that Bill just wasn't around. But another part of the problem was that
these volunteers saw bicycling issues in the larger context of land use and
transportation issues while Bill was afraid of alienating people by being
seen as anti-car and wanted a narrow focus on biking without discussing
larger issues that affected bicyclists.
The result was that Bill resigned as executive director in March of
1996 and became a board member. As a board member, he was the BFW
representative to the State Bike Plan committee where he simply was not
effective - he either didn't attend meetings or didn't contribute much to
the discussion. Bill also has the distinction of being the only person to
be kicked off the bikies e-mail list because most of his posts were
personal attacks on one individual with whom he had a long standing
personality conflict.
Finally, Jeanne Hoffman was hired as executive director and turned
things around. Within 2 months of being hired, the paperwork for BFW's tax
exempt status was filed and she was an effective advocate for bicyclists on
the State Bike Plan committee.
I have heard various reasons why Bill was selected to be on the
board of directors. One has it that he has connections with politicians
that would be useful for BFW. I saw no evidence of this in his tenure as
executive director.
The main reason I have heard for Bill's selection is that of
balance - that he represents a constituency outside of Madison that has
complained about the radicals in Madison dominating BFW and that those
radicals are anti-car. I can understand the desire to have different
points of view on the BFW board. I deal with this same issue as Chair of
two City of Madison Commissions. Someone else that was an articulate
spokesman for that constituency would be a welcome addition to the BFW
board. Bill Hauda, however, has too much baggage from his tenure as
executive director and a former board member in my opinion. In reaching
out to one constituency with Bill Hauda's selection, you risk alienating
another constituency that has been very active in volunteering to do the
grunt work for BFW and in contributing financially to BFW.
I am also concerned about conflicts of interests between the Bike
Wisconsin Education and Action Coalition and BFW with Bill sitting on the
BFW Board. The reason for that concern is that Bike Wisconsin was formed
in direct opposition to BFW by Bill because he did not like the direction
in which BFW was going. So my question is why is Bill interested in being
on the BFW Board now? Does he think BFW is once again a wonderful
organization? Or is there some other motivation?
Some might say Bill would be just one of fifteen board members and
therefore, his influence would be tempered by the other 14 directors. The
best I can say is that I don't think Bill would be an active participant on
the BFW Board given past experience. At worst, he could open up old wounds
that will alienate an important BFW constituency that has given generously
of its time and money.
But why should you vote for me instead? I got my start in Madison
bicycling leading bike trips for UW Hoofers Outing Club in 1983. Because I
was leading most of the trips, I was elected bicycle activity chair for the
club in 1984, a post I held until 1988. During that time, the bicycling
activity group went from a minor activity group to one of the most active
in the club and its budget grew over 5-fold.
I remained active in Outing Club biking after I graduated with my
Ph.D. in biochemistry until I helped found the Bicycle Transportation
Alliance (BTA) in October, 1993. As action and research coordinator for
BTA, I spent my time attending City meetings to promote bicycling as a
means of transportation and to draw the City's attention to needed bike
facilities and ordinance changes.
My consistent appearance at the Pedestrian & Bicycle Subcommittee
resulted in my appointment to the Pedestrian/Bicycle/Motor Vehicle
Commission (PBMVC) in 1997 when the City of Madison transportation
commissions were reorganized. I served as Vice-Chair of PBMVC from
1997-2002 and as Chair from 2002 to the present time. I have focused on
ensuring that transportation facilities and new developments are designed
with bicyclists and pedestrians in mind, and that the city develop a
balanced transportation system that is less reliant on automobiles.
Other City of Madison committees/commissions on which I have served
or currently serve include: East Washington Avenue Transportation Corridor
Study Technical Advisory Committee, Advisory Committee for the Design of
the SW Commuter Bike & Pedestrian Path, Bike on Busses Subcommittee, Long
Range Transportation Planning Commission (Chair), Joint West Campus Area
Committee, and East Rail Corridor Advisory Committee.
Mark N. Shahan ------ __o
607 Piper Drive ------- _`\<,_
Madison, WI 53711-1338 ---- (*)/ (*)
(608) 274-9367
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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