FLCC> Date for bike commuting meeting

Fri May 2 09:30:20 EDT 2008

Hello all,

I love Andrejs' idea of making a public call for our public service 
people to ride on 16 May, and Wayne's for broadening this call in our 
our circles, and also joining forces with Curb Your Car to get and keep 
this effort going. I know FLCC is mostly about racing and riding, and 
that our needs are often different from those of recreational and/or 
commuting riders. But there is more overlap than difference, and a 
little advocacy to make the roads and air better won't cost us much.

I wondered about sending an open letter, something like the below, and 
getting other orgs to agree to put their name to it? We could get it in 
the Journal, as well as the other free locals. (I like the lunch ride 
idea, but I am worried it's a bit late, because I think we'd ideally 
involve the police in route setting.)
If so, questions include:
- are we generally comfortable with putting the FLCC name on this?
- any text changes? or complete idea changes?
- can those of you associated with other groups that might sign get 
permission to put that group sig on here?
- could we get volunteers in each town area to forward the final version 
to their local reps (via email or paper)? (I would take on some of the 
city. I think the head school nurse in the city district might be able 
to distribute to schools.)
- and volunteers to try to place it in the various papers? (I would take 
on the Journal)

[As for educating bikers, I think that is important for cyclist safety - 
especially for kids, but I don't think the people who scream at me to 
get off the road see much difference between the sin of biking at all 
(treading on their perceived right to dominate the roads with their car) 
and biking according to traffic laws. People who are not sympathetic to 
cycling aren't going to be swayed by good cycling manners.]

Christine

"Dear county, city and town public representatives and civil servants:

 Re: Please bike to work on national Bike to Work Day, Friday May 16^th !

 We, the undersigned, are asking that you cycle with us to work on 
Friday, May 16^th .

Save gas money, reduce your CO_2 output, get some exercise, meet other 
cyclists, enjoy the fresh air (and hopefully sunshine), explore new 
(lower traffic) routes to work, reduce traffic, and have a little fun on 
your commute.

 The week of May 12^th is national Bike to Work week, culminating in 
Bike to Work Day on the 16^th . If your route is too long to bike the 
whole way, maybe combine it with a bus or car trip.

Please, as our public leaders and role models, set an example for us all 
by showing up for work on your bike on May 16^th (or even for the entire 
week)!

Sincerely,
Finger Lakes Cycling Club (FLCC -- xx members)
Whole Community Project -- celebrating food and movement in our 
community (WCP - 200 members)
XX
XX

M. E. McPhee wrote:
>
> Hi Wayne et al.
>
> I don't know if I can make the meeting, but I'd like to throw another 
> topic into the ring:
>
> * education of commuter cyclists
> I see so many people who are using the bike as transportation that 
> don't wear a helmet, have no lights and wear dark clothing at night, 
> ride on the wrong side of the street, etc.  No wonder cars hate us 
> when that is the primary type of rider they encounter - they don't 
> distinguish between a roadie with experience and etiquette and the kid 
> who listens to his ipod as he rides up the wrong side of Warren!  I'm 
> not sure if this is the cart or the horse - in other words, if we make 
> the city cycling friendly will these problems diminish?  or do we need 
> to deal with these problems before people will be willing to invest in 
> making the city cycling friendly?
>
> There are my two cents - 
>
> Cheers,
> Misty
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> M. Elsbeth (Misty) McPhee
> Cornell University
> 223 Uris Hall
> Ithaca, NY 14853
> http://people.psych.cornell.edu/~mem247/ 
> <http://people.psych.cornell.edu/%7Emem247/>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Apr 30, 2008, at 7:30 PM, Wayne Gottlieb wrote:
>> FLCC-ers, members of the curb your car coalition are
>> working on setting up a date for a first meeting to
>> discuss some of the bike issues  we've been talking
>> about (no, not who's going to pick up the coffee for
>> Hollenbecks).  Many in the club have expressed an
>> interest in being involved in a push to increase
>> cycling in Ithaca and to make the area more bike
>> friendly (not for us of course, we'd ride on the
>> turnpike if there was a nice gas station with a
>> propane tank to sit next to at the end).  I know there
>> are a lot of different opinions in this group about
>> what we should do.   The question is, "Do you want to
>> join in with the CYCC meeting, or have a meeting of
>> our own?"  I sent the following message on to David
>> Kay of CYCC with my suggestions for the first meeting.
>> Please let me know what your preference is.  If you'd
>> like to attend a joint meeting, send a date preference
>> (see below for dates and times).  Thanks.  Wayne 
>>
>>
>>
>> Any of these dates work for me.  I'm going to send
>> this message to the FLCC.  There are quite a few there
>> who might be interested.  Can we set an agenda though?
>>  A lot of ideas have been tossed around, and it's
>> clear that people have different interests.  Maybe we
>> could ask people for agenda items by E-mail and come
>> up with a list of common interests.  I'll start by
>> putting down some of my own.  I don't think it would
>> we should expect to get through them all in one
>> meeting.  
>>
>> 1.  If we had unlimited money and political power what
>> would we want ("a chance to dream" or "why can't we be
>> like Copenhagen?").
>>
>> 2.  What kind of bicycle friendly infrastructure can
>> we reasonably expect over the long run.
>>
>> 3.  Breif synopsis of the successes and roadblocks of
>> the CYCC.
>>
>> 4.  What is (are) the best way(s) to approach our
>> goal?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --- David Kay <dlk2 at cornell.edu <mailto:dlk2 at cornell.edu>> wrote:
>>
>>> Fernando can reserve a room for a CYCC meeting if we
>>> can decide on a date. 
>>>
>>> Do any of the following dates work for most of us?
>>>
>>> Mon May 12, 4:30 or 5?
>>> Tues May 13, 4:30 or 5?
>>> Wed May 14, 4:30 or 5?
>>>
>>> Mon May 19, 4:30 or 5?
>>> Tues May 20, 4:30 or 5?
>>> Wed May 21, 4:30 or 5?
>>> Thu   May 22, 4:30 or 5?
>>>
>>> All are bad?  Propose alternatives.
>>>
>>> dlk
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject: [Fwd: Re: What's happening with CYCC?]
>>> Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:23:29 -0400
>>> From: Fernando Dearagon <fdearagon at tompkins-co.org 
>>> <mailto:fdearagon at tompkins-co.org>>
>>> To: David Kay <dlk2 at cornell.edu <mailto:dlk2 at cornell.edu>>
>>> References: <48178752.3020205 at cornell.edu 
>>> <mailto:48178752.3020205 at cornell.edu>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> We can find a room. The trick is deciding when.
>>>
>>> Fernando
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>       
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>
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-- 
-------
Christine Porter

http://myprofile.cos.com/c_porter
cp226 at cornell.edu
1-607-272-7330

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