Meeting Summary, November 7, 2018

Attending: Waldburger, Pierce, Clark, Hultgren, O’Keefe, Weinland, Gosselin

The meeting was begun at 6:32 pm in the Nash Zimmer Transportation Center. The meeting summary for the October 4th, 2018 meeting was reviewed and approved by consensus.

Hultgren gave a brief Treasurer’s report indicating there was about $900 in the checking account, with the deposit from TCC from their Century event and no recent expenditures. Hultgren circulated 2019 membership renewal notices for comments/edits. These will go out soon. O’Keefe said he could print envelopes for this mailing.

Hultgren said he had received a positive response from the Middle School Principal regarding a 5th grade bicycle education program at the Middle School and he was now trying to arrange a meeting with the 3 PE teachers. He said that Bike Walk CT did have bicycles that could be used in the program on an appointment basis, and he thought the curriculum could apply to the 5th graders as long as the bikes were large enough. The question as to how many 5th graders are currently at the Middle School arose, and needs to be determined for the number of bikes that may be needed. Waldburger said that in the S. Windsor program, each student was given a bicycle helmet, and he believes there are sources when these might be purchased for as little as $5 each.

Clark updated the BFU activities at UConn. She said their working group was continuing to meet monthly and at the next meeting (next week) they would be going through the BFU application, page by page. She said she had contacted both the UConn Police and Parking Services for their assistance in the application.

Hultgren reported that he had seen a webinar put on by the League on bicycle tourism, and invited members to check out their website at www.CyclelifeHQ.com where a community’s bicycle routes and bicycle friendly businesses can be posted (under the Town’s name) for free. He thought that Bike Mansfield could assemble such information for Mansfield and post it. He suggested viewing the Provincetown, MA area as a sample and said that their posting only took a few hours to do. Pierce said that People for Bikes had a similar platform and suggested we check that out as well.

Waldburger said that most of the work on the Charter Oak Greenway into Bolton Notch was done, but that he had heard that the grand opening may not be held until Spring. He also reported on his attendance at the recent BikeWalkCT annual meeting (also attended by Hultgren and Manizza) where he received a “Peoples Choice” award for his bicycle advocacy in many CT communities. He said that the Simsbury’s Mitchell Auto Group was now a Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Business (the only such auto dealer in the US), and that more bike trails were in the works at the Riverfront Recapture in Hartford as well as the extension of the south meadows trail to the Putnam bridge in Glastonbury.

It was again suggested that the safety tips card be made available on the website.

The Town of Mansfield asked for suggestions as to where to move the bike lockers that are currently near the Rte 195 curb at the Town Hall. After discussion, the following locations were agreed upon: (1) Mansfield Middle School, (2) Eastbrook Mall (with an appropriate agreement).

The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:25 pm. Unless there is pressing business, the December meeting will be skipped and the next meeting is scheduled for the 1st Thursday in January (Jan 3rd).

Lon Hultgren, Secretary Treasurer