Meeting Summary, May 3, 2018
Attending: Palmer, Clark, Hultgren, O’Keefe, Waldburger
The meeting was begun at 6:33 pm in the Nash Zimmer Transportation Center. The meeting summary for the April 18, 2018 meeting was reviewed and approved by consensus.
Final preparations for the table on the Town Square the morning of May 18th for Bike to Work Day were discussed. The permit has been applied for; Hultgren will bring a table, the banner, a bike rack and the remaining Cannondale water bottles; O’Keefe has made arrangements for food donations from Price Chopper, Dunkin’ Donuts and The Dog Lane Café which will need to be picked up Thursday evening and Friday morning (Palmer will coordinate the pickups). The hours of the display will be from 6:30 to 8:30 (set up between 6 and 6:30).
Hultgren said he had received final approval from the Resident State Trooper’s office for the Safety Tips card and he was now working with the printer in Willington to get 3,000 of them. He said that the similar safety card published by Watch Me Connecticut would be distributed by the Eastern Highlands Health District to the other 9 Towns in the district. The Mansfield cards should be ready in a couple of weeks.
A Bike Mansfield table is planned for the Tour de Mansfield (June 9th). Waldburger said he was acquiring some stickers from the Adventure Cycling Association for this and other Bike Mansfield events. An activity for the Bike Mansfield booth at the Town Square Festival (Sept 16th) was discussed. It was decided to go ahead with a 3rd annual photo contest, but with two prizes this year since there are only 2 local bike shops in the area now. Hultgren suggested better publicity and an earlier start this year. He will contact Gosselin to lay out a poster for the contest that could be displayed beginning in June. Volunteers to staff the booth will be needed during the festival.
Publicizing the July 18th summer workshop featuring Steven Moore was discussed. Gosselin will be asked to do a flyer for the event, and Waldburger said he would assist in getting the word out to other cycling clubs/organizations he works with (TCC, for example). Ron Manizza will also be asked to mention it on his Bicycle Talk radio show.
Hultgren said he had met Sean Vasington (UConn Planning, Design & Construction) at the recent Eastern Gateways public meeting and Sean had offered to contact others at UConn who could help with its Bicycle Friendly University effort. (Note, since then there has been correspondence with Rich Miller in the Environmental Policy Office who expects to be able to rekindle this project in mid-June after a Sustainability Assistant is hired. Clark has contacted him (and others at UConn including the Recreation Office) to help organize the work.) Hultgren also said that he talked with Lynn Stoddard (Adventure Park) about becoming a Bicycle Friendly Business and that she was interested. He sent her the links to the League’s web pages describing BFBs and the application process.
O’Keefe reported on his recent contacts seeking business members for Bike Mansfield and reported that both the Spring Hill Café and Healing Earth Natural Health had joined. He suggested that periodic contact with business/organization members should be a continuing activity to let these establishments know we appreciate their support and haven’t forgotten them. Hultgren said that the list of these members would be on all the Bike Mansfield posters/flyers from now on. Other ways of keeping in touch with these members was discussed. Hultgren said the membership extension letters (through 2018) would go out to all members soon.
Waldburger said that the first weekend in June is going to be “Bike Travel Weekend” and “Bike Your Park Day” will be the last Saturday in September (29th). He also said that the Thread City Century was scheduled for July 28th this year, and he would need volunteers to help staff the rest stops for it (dwaldburger@gmail.com).
Bike Share programs were also discussed, including Hartford’s Lime Bike program and its applicability to the UConn area.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:25 pm.
Lon Hultgren, Secretary Treasurer