South Coast Bikeway Committee
Meeting Notes November,13 2013
Attending: Bob Espindola, Eileen Allgor, Bonne DeSousa, Julianne Kelly, Tony Ionno, Gail Hartnett Roderigues, Ken Pottel, Sara Clermont, Alan Heureux, Nancy Bonell, Jackie Schmidt
Guests: Eric Weis, East Coast Greenways (ECG), Molly Henry, ECG; David Smith (Wareham Pathways Committee)
Meeting Minutes
September Meeting Minutes were approved unanimously
OctoberMeeting Minutes were approved unanimously
Treasurers ReportAvailable Funds October 31: $509.00
Discussion: Currently the bank sends statements to Eileen's home address.
Jackie will verify that SRPEDD Offices at 88 Broadway, Taunton should be the official Address; Eileen will verify that the bank can send statements to her home address as a convenience
East Coast Greenways, Next steps
East Coast Greenways is planning to launch the "Old Colony Bike Touring Loop" in Fall 2014. The route planning will try to achieve a balance between a potentially winding itinerary that passes by prominent scenic/historic sites and a course that sets reasonable goal for daily mileage by bicycle. Completing and marketing the a tour complete with electronic maps, cues and guide by fall 2014 is an ambitious schedule. Hard copy maps, routes and tour details will take much longer. The fall 2014 tour will be a 5 day loop for experienced riders, but the maps, cue sheets and information will be planned for a self directed tour at
Discussion: Jackie will provide Eric and Molly with contacts for the regions new tourism office. SCBA will assist with an information gathering effort regarding prominent a)historic, b)recreational and c)scenic sites as well as d)food and e)lodging centers. Information about scheduled completion of off road routes will be helpful. Information gathering phase should occur between now and the end of February. Regarding historic sites, Gail will send out an email to SCBA members whose towns are not represented in the current TTOR heritage trail project. The email will contain formats for mapping/listing historic sites. Bonne will be the main contact person between ECG and SCBA. An interactive web-based route planning exercise will be launched at the March 27, 2014 South Coast Bikeway Summit, followed by an in person meeting to review options and finalize the official route. destinations that are off- route abut easily reached will be noted.
South Coast Leadership Council Grant Proposal
Julie explained that she had received an email notifying her of an upcoming deadline for a grant application to the SouthCoast Leadership Council. Each year this council of community monded leaders chooses a project to work on as a group. The selected project receives thoughtful attention to specific issues of organizational/or project development.The draft grant proposal that was emailed to SCBA membership prior to the meeting was unanimously approved to be submitted Prior to Nov 15 filing date with modifications as determined by Julie
State Funding for Bike Paths
Ken Pottel explained that a conversation he began about a Citizen's Petition to set bike path funding at 1% of the State's Transportation Budget has evolved. The current transportation budget includes 430,000,000 dollars over five years for Bike paths an related work. The Bill is being proposed to the legislature for bonding. Ken, Sarah, Tony and -hopefully- Brian will meet with Representative Bill Strauss and Dave Watson of Massbike to determine the best way to mount a campaign in support of the proposed budget and bond.
Ongoing/Old Business
Newsletter
We need to get the news updates to Jen Gonet in a basically pre-edited version as soon as possible.
Annual Meeting: Topics and Speakers
We need to select speakers and a theme for the Annual Meeting scheduled for March 267 as soon as possible. Tony's friend is very busy and his participaton is unlikely. Other names: Steve Miller, Nicole Freedman were mentioned. Panelists from the Cape Cosd Summit are possibilities: David Watson (MassBike) State Representative Dan Wolf (Cape Cod & CEO Cape Air) Steve Woelfel (MASSDOT Sustainability Group) Bonne will put together an email consolidating ideas so that people can put out feelers to prospects.
Events and Other Business
Fireside Social and Bike Train November 16
Cape Cod Bicycle Summit November 8 - see SCBA UPDATES email up dated 11/13
UMD "Speed Dating" Event: Community organizations and Volunteers Networking - see SCBA UPDATES email up dated 11/13
Sub CommitteesStatus Report
Outreach: Video needs editing. Committee to select a date for meeting to get this done. a date
Bike Friendly Communities: see SCBA UPDATES email up dated 11/13
Membership
Gail informed us that Ari Gold has moved out of the area and will not be representing Westport.