Hello India and Friends, Thank you so much for the great ideas, India. I agree that it was an excellent question.
My answer to this question during the meeting was that the Greater Madison Bicycling Advisory Council is set up for exactly the reasons you outline. I'd like to take this opportunity to share with all of you about what this growing group is accomplishing. The Advisory Council was created under the umbrella of the Bike Fed and is made up of representatives from various local bicycling interests such as the bicycling industry, bicycling advocacy, business groups, and bicycle clubs. The mission of the Council is to "convene local bicycle enthusiasts, civic leaders, and business leaders, to create and implement bicycling priorities to move bicycling forward in a unified effort." *Members of the Council include:* Greg Hyer, President of Bombay Bicycle Club Renee Callaway, President of Capital Velo Club Sparky Watts, Downtown Madison Inc. Larry Nelson, retired City of Madison Engineer Brian Munson, Vandewalle & Associates Jamie Patrick, Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau Krista Flanagan, Centurion Cycling India Viola, We Are All Mechanics Chuck Strawser, UW Transportation Services Ellen Johnson, Pacific Cycle Heather Fortune, Saris Cycling Group Krista Rettig, Trek Bicycle Corporation Jay Ferm, Planet Bike Brian Conger, Madison B-Cycle A primary purpose of the Bike Council is to foster better communication among the various groups that support bicycling in Madison. By uniting together and strengthening our ability to work together, we can make a much larger impact. The Advisory Council has been meeting once a month for about 1 year. Now that that Council is up and running and beginning to gain traction, I will begin posting minutes from these Council meetings to bikies and other list serves so that other bicycle supporters can better understand and participate in the issues the Council addressing. We are also planning a Bike Fed membership meeting for mid-October and I will provide more information about the Advisory Council at this meeting. I would love to have 1 representative from each club join our Advisory Council. Please let me know if your club would like to get involved. India, I like your idea of a Club Coalition and would enjoy the opportunity to support it. Perhaps the Bike Club Coalition could be set up as an arm of the Advisory Council? This way, the members of the Coalition could be closely tapped into local bike advocacy work. As a member of the Council, perhaps you could lead this effort? Greg and Renee might be interested too. The Bike Fed and the Advisory Council really have the finger on the pulse in terms of local advocacy and opportunities to get involved in moving bicycling forward. Great idea on MACSAC... if Kiera is interested, it would be effective to partner with MACSAC on this effort too. Thanks to everyone for all the great bicycle support you give. Please keep me posted on how I can help support the great ideas on a Club Coalition generated here. Kind Regards, Amanda ________________________ Amanda White Associate Director Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (608) 251-4456 [email protected] www.bfw.org *We've moved!* You can find us at: 409 East Main Street, Suite 203, Madison, WI 53703 On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 12:25 PM, India Viola <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear Fellow Cycling Enthusiasts, Bike Club Leaders, and Greater Madison > Bicycling Advisory Council Members, > > During the question & answer session at the Moving Bicycling Forward > meeting this past Wednesday, someone (pardon me for not remembering who it > was- it was an excellent question) stood up and asked how bicycling clubs > could be better represented and involved in bike advocacy in Madison. There > are so many different bike clubs and groups around town, which is > wonderful. But it is not easy for people who aren't in the know to access > them. For example, how do I find out about a club? How do I know that it > will be the right fit for me? Is there one place that I can search club > membership fees, ride schedules, and contact information? If I want to form > a new club, how do I get started, and how do I find interested members? I > have one idea that could be a solid inroad toward answering all of these > questions; It's time for the cycling clubs in and around Madison to form a > regional bicycling group/club coalition. This way regional cycling clubs > can pool their strengths while remaining autonomous. One arm of the > coalition could have cycling advocacy as its mission. > > One model that could be used is MACSAC <http://www.csacoalition.org/>, the > Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition. Before you read on, > check out their website. <http://www.csacoalition.org/> > > MACSAC is a clearinghouse for regional CSAs and serves the CSAs and the > community by: having a comprehensive list of all MACSAC-member CSA farms on > one website, distributing information about the different CSAs (mostly via > web), having a great map > interface<http://www.csacoalition.org/our-farms/pickup-locations-map/>, > sending out a quarterly e-newsletter, holding an annual bike-to-farm > fundraising bike ride that raises $$ to help subsidize CSA memberships for > folks who otherwise wouldn't have the means to afford them, selling T-shirts > and publishing an original cookbook. MACSAC works with related private and > public organizations to further the mission of the CSA movement. They also > host an annual open house, where each member-CSA is represented and can > educate the public about their farm/CSA programs and recruit new members. > > On top of all of the above, MACSAC has successfully negotiated with the > major regional health insurance companies to offer rebates for CSA > memberships, because we can all agree that having access to and eating > healthy food helps people stay healthy. > There could be a similar rebate program for membership fees to a bike club- > biking certainly helps people stay healthy! Imagine being reimbursed by > your health insurance for 50% of your bike club membership dues. > > Maybe MACSAC could even help the cycling club coalition get started. If a > critical mass of folks are interested, I would be happy to try to set up a > discussion/meeting session with MACSAC organizers and a consortium of bike > club member/leaders. > > Please forward this email to anyone that you think would be interested in > forming or participating in this type of coalition effort, especially > club/organization leaders that I couldn't find email addresses for. > > -India Viola > > -- > WeAreAllMechanics.com > [email protected] > >
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