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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-05-09 Bicycle Advisory Board Minutes BABAB Minutes August 5, 2009 Members Present: Chad Bailey Guests: Elizabeth Bird Rachel Rockefeller Bill Cochran Paul House Jason Delmue Elizabeth Williamson Rebecca Gleason Molly Pickall 1. Introductions and Public comments Rachel Rockafellow—Is part of Luna "Hens", a women's biking group (slightly older that the Luna th ... "Chicks"). She was riding w/ the group recently traveling east on Kagy from 19 Near the intersection th of Kagy and 11, the road narrows and the bikers chose to ride onto sidewalk to avoid the narrow road and traffic. One of the women on a road bike hit some hoses on the sidewalk, crashed and had to be air lifted to Missoula with a serious injury. The hoses were at a 45 degree angle across the sidewalk. It was suggested that for bike safety, if hoses must cross sidewalk, they should be placed at 90 degrees. There will be an article about the incident in next Tues. newspaper- focusing on bicycle helmet safety. Rachel is a writer for the Wed. "Balance" section of the Bozeman Chronicle. Rachel wanted BABAB to be aware of the narrowing of the roadway on sections of Kagy and how it is unsafe for bicyclists. She also mentioned gravel is a hazard to bikes on Kagy between Willson and Highland due to recent patching of potholes. Elizabeth Bird mentioned that Kagy is a high priority road for the city, and that MDT has jurisdiction. Molly suggested BABAB should write a letter to the City (and MDT?) to support keeping Kagy bike improvements a priority. 2. The July meeting minutes were approved. 3. Updates The Bike to Work Week thank you letters are complete. o BABAB will send a letter of support to Gallatin County for an NPS RTCA grant to help develop a safe o connection for bicyclists between Bozeman and Belgrade. Rebecca will submit the letter to Ada Montague on behalf of BABAB. T4 America meeting— Bill and Rebecca will attend Thurs. T4 advocates for more local, complete o streets concepts, raises local awareness and works to educate senators and political reps. on important transportation issues. Story under the Stars Bike Racks– How can they get temporary bike racks? Need temp racks for o movies – 4 events over the summer. Longest day of trails racks. Ron contacted several bike shops. Molly will send an email to John Vandelinder (City maintenance), Rick Hixson (engineering) and Ron Dingman (Parks) encouraging installation of bike racks. Molly will send email and sign on behalf of bike board. Transportation time video—Paul House described his video project to raise awareness of bicycling o in Bozeman. He is working on a time lapse film comparing bicycle, car, and electric bicycle travel times for common routes around town. He will post the videos online. BABAB members suggested 1 BABAB Minutes August 5, 2009 looking at the Bozeman bike map to select designated bike lanes and routes where possible. It was noted that it is legal to pass cars on the right if there is a bike lane. Bill Schneider of New West wrote an article this Spring about the Missoula bike challenge. The event was a scavenger hunt race between cars and bicycles (the bikes won). There are also U-Tube videos showing bike messengers traveling around NY and Chicago relevant to the discussion. Popular destinations discussed for Paul's video included the Ridge, Costco, downtown, and MSU. The video could raise awareness of how bike travel can be quicker that car travel in town and serve as advertising for local bike lanes/routes. The use of a trailer behind the bike was mentioned. They can be purchased cheaply now at bikenashbar.com ($90 for bob trailer). Gallatin County Interconnect Challenge – Molly talked to Ada Montague who organized the event. o Ada thought the event went well. Some comments included that it was eye opening to recognize bikers needs, the vulnerability of bicyclists (cars whizzing by bikers on frontage road for example). The event raised awareness of bicycling infrastructure and maintenance needs (gravel on side of road presents hazard for bikes etc.) Master Velo rode a section of the challenge route. The event was a way to kick off roundtable discussions about connecting parks and trails throughout Gallatin County. Elizabeth Bird will be facilitating all eight roundtable sessions. 4. Event planning—Baker was not present to describe procedural memo. Rebecca brought examples of event planning used for Engineers Without Borders that could be templates for BABAB events. Rebecca will look for more specific planning calendars for lead time required/suggested for event planning. 5.Bike to school day – Zac was not present for an update from the July mtg. It is likely a committee will be needed to plan a bike to school event (held in conjunction with walk to school the first Wed. of October). BABAB members will assess their time and capacity for this. Elizabeth W. will check w/ Joseph. Rebecca will check with Zac and call Cathy Costakis to define tasks and level of effort required. 6. Discussion of Google groups and Website – Elizabeth Williamson has been researching website and social networking options for BABAB. She presented some options for a Central Clearinghouse for all things biking in Bozeman. Key points of this conversation include: Ning is a social site where anyone can post events without needing administrative privileges.  Once you become a Ning member, you can post comments and set up events. Someone needs to monitor Ning to filter out inappropriate content.  Pros of Ning - Photos of members tie a face to a name. It is easy to start conversations within  different groups (bike board week, Tour de Bozeman) and is a fluid method to manage people with various interests. Ning could be a good method to make BABAB's work public. (per ethics rules, BABAB emails not  avail. to public violate open meeting laws) 2 BABAB Minutes August 5, 2009 Google can store documents (ning cannot) and Google groups can be accessed by password or  individuals can be given permission to come in. Google groups is limited in its capacity to post info that must be public. Ning needs buy in from other entities – GAS, Bike Kitchen, Team WINs, GVBC etc. NING has  power if people post info. Links to websites. Google requires more administrative time. Social networks (Ning) require less admin time.  BABAB can link to city's website. They will post BABAB agenda and minutes only.  Elizabeth W. will invite Bozeman for Change Ning administrator to talk to bike board in Sept. and send BABAB's questions in advance. Questions about Ning include: 1.How much time and effort is needed to upkeep Ning? 2.What is admin time for filtering comments? 3.How can posts/comments be filtered or validated. Do you set rules about what is posted and who can post info? 4.Do you have requirements for people who post comments -such as to provide their name or require that they be a resident of Gallatin county? 5.How to integrate Ning w/ wiki or google? (research Wiki's ability to collaborate on documents.) 6.Other Questions?? Social networking Site—What functions does BABAB want? 1.BABAB emails/discussions outside of meetings made public 2. People can be directed to their biking interest (RACES, getting around town,..) Other bike groups 3.Collaborate on documents 4.Getting out info- bike week, other BABAB events 8. City of Bozeman Bicycling Maps Info and Distribution About one and a half boxes of maps remain w/ BABAB. Chad will distribute some maps to the o City/County Planning depts, chamber of commerce, MSU SUB and others. Bill will distribute maps to the bike shops and the Co-op. Bill and Chad will each keep one pack of maps for future BABAB needs. GIS- city interactive bike map is available, but could be more user friendly. (i.e. now has light yellow o bike routes- hard to see) What features do we want on new maps? Make it clear how to get from point A to B using o trails/bike routes. For example, which low traffic through-streets may be friendly to bicyclists. How to fill in gaps where there aren’t signs and lanes. Suggest good east west routes to get across town rather than specific destinations. Rebecca will bring in example maps for Sept. meeting (Seattle, Portland, Ft. Collins). Bill has some examples as well (and Chad?). 3 BABAB Minutes August 5, 2009 Bill was not able to get into a nearby League of Am. Bicyclist training session (nearby ones are all full). BABAB is not sure how to pay for bicycle safety training. Fundraising was mentioned. 7. BABAB Fundraising - Bicycle Benefits – Molly – consider using program as a fundraiser. Ian (bicycle benefits founder) is looking for organizations to manage the local program (as he lives out of state). Molly suggested combining bike benefits outreach w/ BABAB's bike to work week. This could increase membership, and generate some revenue from selling $5 stickers. Molly will look into program details (burden on businesses and effort to administer program). Administering It may include a face to face w/ each business initially, then likely an annual email. Alliance for Biking And Walking - has grants available. Elizabeth W.. will look into membership and how it may benefit BABAB. 8:00 pm –meeting adjourned (almost) Other Items—Taylor Lonsdale sent email to Tom McCormick– Butte District MDT contact- regarding th improper bike lane striping at 19 and College (right side of the right turn lane). Elizabeth B. will draft a th BABAB letter to MDT stating it should be striped like 19 and Durston example. Jason will get a picture of the improper striping to accompany the letter. Bill will talk to transportation coordinating committee regarding this issue. th Sept. BABAB meeting - Change date to sept. 9 –Rebecca will check with Baker, Zach, and Joe on the change. Notes by Rebecca Gleason 4