Not to speak for India, but it sounds like she was talking about something very
different from an advisory council - more of a grassroots organization. Is that
correct? I'm assuming she already considered the advisory council as a venue,
since she's listed as a member of it.
Anyway, I don't think people should be discouraged from setting up their local
or regional bike/transportation advocacy groups independent of the Bike Fed.
There are a lot of them throughout the state doing great work (Driftless Region
Bicycle Coalition and Fox Cities Greenways come to mind). The Bike Fed does
good
work in the state, but small, grassroots groups have more flexibility and
people
get more personally vested in them.
Bike-Walk Madison is another local advocacy group (it has been somewhat on
hiatus and is starting back up again), but this bike club coalition sounds
different from that, too. People who go on long club rides may have different
priorities than folks who bike or walk for transportation (I realize that there
is overlap in these groups). Being separate groups allows them to focus on
their
differing priorities, and come together to work on issues they have in common
when appropriate.
Which is a long way of saying, "Great idea and keep us posted, India."
Kathryn Kingsbury
www.kathrynkingsbury.com
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/kathrynkingsbury
Skype: kathryn.kingsbury
________________________________
From: Matt Logan <[email protected]>
To: Bikies <[email protected]>; Amanda White <[email protected]>
Sent: Wed, September 14, 2011 9:26:27 AM
Subject: Re: [Bikies] Madison Area Bicycling Group/Club Coalition?
It is rather amazing that a bicycling advisory group representing greater
Madison has been meeting for a year and there seems to have been absolutely no
mention of it on the bikies list until now. Why was this groups existence kept
secret from the members of this list?
From:[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]
On Behalf Of Amanda White
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 11:00 AM
To: India Viola
Cc: MAD FORCs Publicity Coordinator, Diane Nordstrom; Patrick, Jamie; bikies;
Brazen Dropouts; Planet Bike Advocacy Coordinator, Jay Ferm; HTFU Racing;
MACSAC
Executive Director, Kiera Mulvey; Rettig, Krista; Homegrown Racing; MACSAC
Community Program Manager, Gini Knight; WNBR; MAD FORCs and CVC President,
Renee
Callaway; Callaway, Renee - DOT; Heather Fortune; Bike Fed Executive Director,
Kevin Hardman; Ali Dwyer; Ellen Johnson; Luna Chix; Bombay Bicycl Club
Newsletter Editor, Diane Gettinger; Brian Munson; CVC Membership Coordinator,
Shannon Holmes; Conger, Brian; Krista Flanagan; Sparky Watts; Mad City Velo
Club; Bombay Bicycle Club Vice President, Mark Maffitt; Great Dane Velo Club;
Bombay Bicycle Club President, Greg Hyer
Subject: Re: [Bikies] Madison Area Bicycling Group/Club Coalition?
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, the Madison Area Community Supported
Agriculture Coalition. Before you read on, check out their website.
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, 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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