Meeting Summary, February 2, 2023
Attending: Hultgren, Clark, Bloom, Palmer, Waldburger, Valentine (UConn Recreation)
The meeting began at approximately 7:07 pm in the lobby of the Nash=Zimmer Transportation Center.
Hultgren reported that he and O’Keefe had good success in canvassing business members and asking for contributions towards the 4th grade bike education program at the Mansfield Elementary School. He said that an initial organizing meeting for the SustainableCT matching grant had gone very well and the next step was to assemble the team and set up the fundraising page on the Patronicity.com platform. Donations received between April 15th and June 15th will be matched by the grant up to $7500 (of which $1500 can be self-funded by our existing funds). Approximately $28,000 will be needed for the first year of the program.
Valentine said he knows of a UConn communications-major student (and cyclist) that might be able to help Bike Mansfield with its presence on Social Media. Hultgren will follow up in contacting her. Bloom said she would send us the contact information for the Town’s social media coordinator.
Clark summarized the current efforts of bicycle advocacy at UConn. She attended a meeting with two other Bike Mansfield members and the Town’s Assistant Town Engineer to discuss strategies for Town-UConn coordination of bike routes in and out of the campus. From this meeting a few value statements were drafted to underscore the benefit of this type of coordination. Both the Mansfield Downtown Partnership Board and the Town-UConn Community Relations Committee were identified as potential vehicles to begin this discussion with. Follow up with the Town Manager to determine which group would be best will be the next step.
Hultgren said he had corresponded with the new Town Director of Planning, and she was laying out the process to move the Town’s draft Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan towards adoption. The draft will go to the appropriate advisory committees and the Town Council and PZC, but the order hadn’t been set yet.
Bloom and Palmer suggested that both the EHHD and the Commission on Aging would be potential supporters of the Cycling Without Age program, and Hultgren said he would forward a grant notification from the AARP to Thorne as a possible funding source. (Thorne was unable to attend this meeting.)
This year’s Ride of Silence will be on May 17th, and notices/reminders will be sent out to the Bike Mansfield email list to help publicize it.
The meeting concluded at 7:58 pm.
Lon Hultgren, Secretary Treasurer
hultgrenlr981@gmail.com