BACA Minutes 2007

President Ron Rizzardi called the meeting to order.

Tools have been donated to Arkansas Sustainability Network by J&P Bike Shop. Lewis and Clark will be donating tools too. Over 50 bicycles donated so far to ASN.

Guest Speaker Mary Wells discussed Safe Routes to School program. She talked about a 3 day conference that she attended. Arkansas is a rural state. Her problem is how to facilitate rural transportation to school. They are trying to encourage kids to walk, ride or skateboard to school. One of the biggest problems is to educate parents about the real dangers to the kids, versus the perceived dangers.

Jenn Shaw made a presentation of the conceptual model of the SRTS product development grant.

Jim Britt talked about activities of the Arkansas Bicycle Club, especially the Xmas Lights caroling ride on Dec 17th at 5:30 pm.

Bruce Thalheimer of Chainwheel mentioned his Bikes for Tykes project.

Gordon Fisher talked about out entry in the Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade and about the government access TV show that he is working on about bicycling.

Tom Ezell talked about the League of American Bicyclists Bike Ed program. Bike Ed can reduce your number of accidents by up to 80%. He and Willa Williams are teaching LAB courses.

It was noted that the Arkansas Highway Transportation Department has changed its verbiage about bicycles. So our letter writing campaign helped.

Bike to work day will be Friday. 6:45am in Little Rock, 6:00am in NLR

Meeting was adjourned at 8:33pm

Respectfully submitted, Gordon Fisher

About 75 people present Ron Rizzardi called to order.

Jenn Shaw & Coreen Frasier presented to the Bike Friendly award to Kitty Lane who is responsible for the carrot bike racks at the River Market.

Willa Williams is an LCI certified instructor. She is currently teaching Road I courses. Tom Ezell is another LCI. Willa reported that then McGehee Walmart donated 60 helmets which they will give away to youth. Willa said she is trying to get more youth programs. There is a youth bicycle club in Conway; and the 4-H has one in Fayetteville. Willa would like to get more youth safety program involved. She is trying to get classroom portion of Road I on-line.

Gordon reported on the October 13 Natural State Expo put on by the Arkansas Sustainability Network. We had 16 new members sign up at the Natural State Expo. Ron reported about Fundraising effort. Some of the money raised has been used to buy a new sound system.

Ron gave an update on the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department’s Long Range Transportation Plan. In its proposed plan, the AHTD does not consider cycling & walking as major modes of transportation in Arkansas. BACA has sent a letter to Alan Meadors about bicycling in Arkansas. The last paragraph of the letter contains census information. 3700 Arkansans use the bus to go to work; 23000 use a combination of walking & cycling to get to work. Ron urged that BACA members contact Alan Meadors at the Highway Department about the Long-Range Transportation Plan. We want bicycling & walking to be considered modes of transportation.

Our Speaker was Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola Mayor Stodola gave an update on the River Trail. He has had some maintenance done on the Trail on the Little Rock side: the tree branches have been trimmed, new signs have been put up, a ready will be put up along Jr. Deputy Park which will delineate park & trail. He discussed what is being done to get the trail finished, particularly around the Episcopal Collegiate School (ECS). He has looked at some alternatives, and presented those at the meeting. One possibility is the south side of the railroad tracks, up around 3rd street (which the city owns), & then to road around warehouses. He has an engineering firm working on that. The route would require cooperation from Union Pacific or eminent domain. Other options include some sort of route around ECS which would require working with ECS and coming up the south side of the tracks over the tracks to the concrete abutment, along the woody area. The city would need an easement from UP for that. He is getting cost estimates on that. The Mayor assured us that he is working to trying to get the Trail along Cantrell completed, but it is slow going. Working on trying to get it built.

Mayor Stodola also discussed developing other bike trails in the city. He wants to have other trails throughout the City. 12th St. is a fantastic route to take downtown. He is getting the City to work on marking a bike route on 12th street. There is interest in the 12th St. corridor. UAMS wants additional access over Interstate. He stated that the City also wants to look at what to do with War Memorial Park, especially with regard to trails. He wants input from the citizens about the 211 acres that are available.

Mayor Stodola noted that work still needs to be done to get access to the River around Jimmerson Creed. There needs to be a private-public partnership regarding Trails which necessitates more aggressive action on obtaining funding for Trails. Mayor Stodola said he will use condemnation if necessary. An easement from UP is necessary regardless of what route is taken around ECS. A route next to the Railroad station would be easier to do. The Mayor doesn’t think bicycle path on Cantrell Road is smart.

Announcements: Charlie Hight reported that Carlton Wing, the General Manager from Dempsey Film Group plans to produce a biking show based in Little Rock. He is trying to put something together to appeal to the cycling community nationwide. Target date for completion is January 2009. He wants suggestions on the film. One of key components of the film is the existence of advocacy groups across the country.

There are several community events coming up: On December 1st, there will be Toys for Tots drive & the Big Jingle Jubilee parade. Jim Britt stated that information on the Toys for Tots event will be on the Arkansas Bicycle Club website. Last year a bike was donated.

Jim also discussed a holiday program at Fort Roots VA in appreciation for reopening the gate. A possibility is bicycling up to Ft Roots on a Sunday afternoon for a program for the patients. Jim has already lined up 2 violin players & triangle player to provide entertainment.

Gordon Fisher reported on the Big Jingle Jubilee Holiday Parade. BACA will participate in the parade. Bicyclists should decorate their bikes; & dress up for the event except they cannot come at Santa or Mrs. Santa. We will go down Second to Broadway and then to the State Capitol The Parade starts at 3:00 p.m on December 1st. Bring candy to hand out to children. No glass ornaments.

November 2nd (tomorrow) is the 1st Friday bike to work rides.

Respectfully submitted, Judy Lansky, Secretary

Ron Rizzardi opened meeting. About 45 people present.

Jenn Shaw awarded a certificate of appreciation to Betty Wineland, Director of Central Arkansas Transit, and Eric Meyerson, Planning Director for installing bike racks on all 58 of their buses.

There was a discussion of the Arkansas Statewide Long-Range Transportation Plan. Bicycles are classed as recreational vehicles not transportation. The letter that the Board of Directors approved was passed around the board of directors was also passed around at the general meeting.

Sherman Smith, Pulaski County Public Works Director, discussed "The Big Dam Bridge and Beyond - Roads, trails and bridges for the future of bicycle and pedestrian needs." He discussed the Junction Bridge, bicycle speed monitoring on the Big Dam Bridge (fastest speed of cyclists was 42, average speed of cyclists was 24, the lowest speed was 19), a request to put bike paths in flood plain developments, bike paths to Pinnacle Mountain, the bridge across to Two Rivers Park, Senator Blanche Lincoln has said that she will earmark money for the bridge. They hope that construction will begin next year.

An announcement was made about next week's Natural State Expo.

Claibanne Williamson discussed her BACA display at the UAMS event. She said that she got 34 new memberships. She also got a BACA shirt into the Central High School Time Capsule.

Ken Gould spoke about the Big Dam Bridge ride; there were 1525 riders. He noted that there was no press coverage on the BDB 100. City Director Bruce Moore reported that excess shrubs along the river were cleaned out between the 430 and other bridges. The First Friday Bike to Work is tomorrow. The Episcopal Collegiate School has filed an application to close North St. The City has appropriated money for a bike trail there. The school is willing to work with us. The Little Rock planning committee will be meeting on Nov 8, 2007 at 4pm on the 2nd floor of City Hall. Ken urged everyone to attend. Ken also said that Little Rock got Honorable Mention as a Bicycle Friendly Community from the League of American Bicyclist.

Lewis and Clark will have a pancake breakfast, October 27 at 11:30.

Respectfully submitted,

Gordon Fisher, acting Secretary

About 40 people present. President Ron Rizzardi called the meeting to order.

1. Willa Williams, League Certified Instructor, is offering a Road I bicycle education and safety court offered by the League of American Bicyclists. The Road I course has two components - an indoor class on Friday night which includes videos on roadway positioning, stopping at stop lights, etc) and a written multiple choice test. On Saturday (the next day), the class will meet at the BDB parking lot in Little Rock to do parking lot drills. They will start out on River Trail (etiquette, how to ride on trail, mix in parking lot drills). Training will include dealing with parked cars, stops at stop lights, etc. Willa plans on offering the Road I class every month if there is enough interest. More information about the course can be found on the LAB website, www.bikeleague.org. If enough people pass Road I class, can get LCI instructor training in LR.

2. On August 15th, Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters made some negative comments about bicycling & bicyclists. She expressed concern that money was going to bike paths rather than highways, etc. Sec. Peters had previously stated in 2002 at the National Bike Summit noted that many people used bicycles & bicycles should be considered mode of transportation. BACA is sending a letter to Peters. Anyone can send a response to her “back pedaling” on providing money for bicycle facilities and trails. Go to LAB website, www.bikeleague.org, to send response to Secretary Peters.

3. Our featured speaker was Eric Braden. Eric spent the first 20 days of August getting around without the use of car. The idea grew out of one day gas boycott. He developed a website, he tried to spread the word. He got good response for small effort - about 75 people signed up on website. The idea was to change habits and the way we live, and remove the idea of dependence on cars. The main focus was on biking but he only road about one week on the bike as it was very hot and then used the bus. Since then, he has driven to work only one time in two months. He uses the bicycle and bus regularly, including using the bike racks. Danielle suggested that we have an interactive place on the website where people can relay how much they are biking.

4. Bicycle fashion show . Monty Cole & Tim Vahsholtz reported on the first-ever cycling fashion show to be held Sat. September 29th, at deep lounge below Willy D’s piano bar. Tickets are $15.00 & will benefit BDB Foundation.

5. Monty Cole also reported on the license plate. ABC has graphics for license plate which is ready to go. But can only put “Share the Road” on the license plate rather than “The Natural State.” He will be talking to legislators & try to get the graphic with “ Share the Road.” DFA will not allow a graphic. If people are interested in the Share the Road license plate that they talk to their legislators about allowing one.

6. Judy Lansky reported on the Big Dam Bridge 100 bike ride, to be held September 29. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Arkansas Prostate Cancer Foundation.

7. Ron reported on several other opportunities to educate the public about bicycling. UAMS will have a transpiration fair and the Arkansas Sustainability Network will host the Arkansas Natural State Expo. We will staff the bicycle valet service at the Expo. Claibanne Williamson talked about the UAMS transportation fair. They are working on getting shower facilities/ bike racks at UAMS. About 10,000 people work at UAMS. Transportation fair will be on October 4, from 10-1 at the UAMS library. Participants include CAT, BACA, Lewis& Clark Outfitters, Go green.com (carpooling) Danielle de Preux reported on the Natural State Expo to be held October 13, at the State House Convention Center.

8. Laura Kelley, President of Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks notified us that the next release of driver’s license manual will have entries about how drivers should behave around bicyclists. This is new information in the training manual. State Police drafted the education manual.

9. Ron reported that we want to start recognizing organizations, individuals, businesses by giving bike friendly awards. We will give an award monthly to bike friendly organization or individual. Give nominations to BACA board members.

10. Jenn reported on the Safe Routes to School grants which were funded, including one from Children’s Hospital. 37 projects were funded with the $2.3 million. Majority were infrastructure grants, which will do something to promote walking/bicycling to school. http://saferoutespartnership.org

11. The U.S. Senate will be looking at Bill 3221 which has provisions for Bicycle Commuter Act. The House version was passed. It provides, in part, for bicycle commuters to get reimbursed up to $20/month for commuting to work. Contact your Senator to urge support for the Bicycle Commuter Act.

12. Ken Gould said Mayor Stodola received an e-mail from a couple from Washington, D.C. wanting to ride River Trail. They read about the trail in the Rails to Trails and LAB magazines. There are no bike rental facilities in Little Rock and they are looking to borrow two bicycles.

13. Ron discussed idea of getting dri-fit t-shirts with BACA logo. We can get t-shirts for about $20

Meeting adjourned,. Respectfully submitted, Judy Lansky, Secretary

About 35 people present.

Claibanne Williamson and Coreen Frazier reported on the Trails Symposium Planning Meeting. The national Trails Symposium will be held in Little Rock On November 14, 2008 - November 15. This is an opportunity o showcase Arkansas, and particularly the trails in Little rock and North Little Rock. The American Trails magazine recently had the Big Dam Bridge on the cover and an article about it. We are the only city in the United State with a "medical mile," that is a trail sponsored by medical profession.

Terri Easton has been instrumental in getting the Trails Symposium here. About 200 volunteers are needed. Also needed are in-kind contributions, a log design, computers, printing, postage, as well as discounted bicycle rents. They want to do 1 or 2 organized rides. There will be a party at the Clinton Library, which will include a silent auction. Items are needed for the silent auction.

Trail activities include: trail construction, riding the River Trail, backpacking, caching, civil rights bike ride. About 800 people attended the last symposium. They will be having a home stay program for out of town attendees to stay at people's homes. Information can be found on the American Trails website. www.americantrails.org.

Coreen also reported on the grant process for the Safe Routes to Schools. She is the BACA representative on the advisory committee of SRTS. The grants have been reviewed and many of our recommendations have been adopted. .The 1st national SRTS conference will be held November 5-7. It would be good for someone to go.

Update on recent activities. We had a booth at the Marathon Expo. In May, we had Bike to Work Day. Mary Storey was instrumental for organizing and getting coverage for the commuter challenge.

BACA put on a bike rodeo with the City of North Little Rock. Don Bearden, Jenn Shaw, Coreen Frazier, Mary Claire RIzzardi, Dana Minton, Ron Rizzardi and Judy McDowell participated. Next weekend BACA will help with a bike rodeo put on by Kaleidoscope for Kids.

Report on Ride of Silence. About 140 bicyclists participated in the Livestrong ride in NLR and then came over to the ROS. Gordon Fisher organized the ROS.

Ron reported on the successful BTW day. About 175 bicyclists participated.

There are now bike racks on buses. Jim Britt is featured in his BACA t-shirt showing how to use the rack.

Mayor Hays will be providing showers and locker rooms for city employees.

Update on BDB Foundation. The county will be striping the BDB.

Jenn & Steve Bentley spoke about the CART tour de rock.

Danielle reported on the work of Arkansas Sustainability Network. They are starting a bike-cooper which will refurbish used back and give them back to the community. They are looking for a non-profit organization with which to partner to get bikes to kids & those who cannot afford a bike. They q\are looking for bikes, help with repairs, bike stands. They have had three meetings and put together 5 bikes and have $100 in donations. Their website is www.arnetwork.org.

First weekend in November, BACA will get an LCI to offer a Road I Course.

Respectfully submitted,

Judy Lansky, Secretary

About 40 people attended the May 3, 2007 meeting to hear Representative David Johnson. Johnson, whose District includes part of the Little Rock River Trail, provided an update on bicycle friendly legislation passed by the 2007 Arkansas General Assembly including the 3 foot passing law. He also addressed how bicyclists can be more effective in advocating for their interests in the General Assembly. In addition, Donald Richardson, Parkview Teacher and member of the Little Rock Bicycle Friendly Committee, along with two Parkview students gave a power point presentation about bicycle friendly communities.

About 45 people present. Ron Rizzardi called the meeting to order.

1. Claibanne Williamson reported on the booth at the Little Rock Marathon Health & Fitness Expo. We along with the Bike Friendly Community Committee of LR will share a booth. We will have commuter bike set up & BACA info. We need help filling some slots at Expo.

2. Jenn Shaw reported on the Torch of Courage. We are assisting with that in exchange for the free booth at the Expo. The Torch of Courage is making its debut at LR Marathon. The mission of the Torch of Courage is to help to heal LR’s past racial image John Deering is designing the torch (he designed the statues of the Little Rock 9 in front of the Capitol). A number of dignitaries will light torch along the way. We will provide torch wranglers who will ride along course with fuel and lighter, make sure the torch is lit, and make sure torch gets to the next point. Jenn & Bill Steward will do it Dr. Dennis Burrough also spoke about the Torch of Courage. He wants to extend it to the state level; that is take it to places around the state to educate people on what went on in Arkansas in 1957 and what is going on now. . We are different than what we were 50 years ago. There will be some function when the torch arrives at an area. Some possibilities are carrying the torch on the NW Arkansas challenge. He has made contact with the mayors of Pine Bluff and Russellville who are interested in having the Torch carried to their cities.

3. Ron reported on delegates to League Bike Summit in DC - Jenn Shaw, Coreen Frazier, Claibanne Williamson and Danielle de Preux will be going.

4. Ken Gould reported on the need for advocacy efforts on two actions. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has to send back some federal money that it was given. The federal money is used to fund trails. The last time money had to be rescinded, the AHTD gave back all the trail funds. We would like a pro rata reduction. We will monitor the situation and generate a letter writing campaign if necessary to make sure that all the money from the trails account is not rescinded. Ken reported that a bill has been introduced into the Arkansas General Assembly to appropriate $1 or 2 million to finish River Trail. We need to contact legislators to let them know that we support that.

5. Eric Myerson from Central Arkansas Transit spoke. He is the planning manager for CAT. Effective this summer bicycle racks will be on all fixed route buses. Eric pointed out the savings in taking the bus. Each rack can hold 2 bikes. There are system maps available. Eric also played a short video on the rack system. This is great news for bicycle commuters. We offered to help in the grand opening or promotion of the bike racks.

6. Gordon Fisher reported on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade, March 17th (Sat.) We will participate in it. The parade starts at 1:00p.m. For more information, check the BACA website forum or lririshparade.com.

7. Charlie Hight, a BACA member and alderperson in North Little Rock reported on some exciting developments in North Little Rock. (1) A road bed behind hospitality house in Burns Park was discovered. The City will use its funds to pave that to Military Drive to I-430. (2) North Little Rock just got a grant of about $90,000 to pave a bike trail from Donovan Briley to McArthur along Military. (3) There is going to be a housing development off McArthur in the next few years by Jeffrey Sand quarry. Donovan Briley will extend to that subdivision and extension of Donovan Briley will include bike trail (4) North Little Rock has approved plans for a private business to put a bike rental facility on the River Trail at the east end of the Trail. The facility will include rental bikes; new sales; complete on-site bike service; convenience food & beverages; retail sales of cycling merchandise; emergency response sales; secure on-site bicycle storage; changing rooms with showers; free air and bike stands; free loaner bike helmets for children; covered patio.

8. Ron announced that BACA has been approached to help organize three bike rodeos. May 5th (city of NLR); May 12th (Kaleidoscope for kids); Saline county. We need volunteers to help with the rodeos. [Please note – at the meeting we announced 4 bike rodeos. Since the meeting, we learned that one of the groups has decided not to do one]

Additional announcements: The April meeting is the annual meeting at which officers and at-large directors are elected. Orbea will have a celebration for BACA and Arkansas Bicycle Club in early April. There will be some good deals on bikes.

Jim Britt announced that ABC has a team for Tour de Cure, on March 31st and people can sign up for that. Rob Lambert reported that the Tour de Rock is June 9th and there will be a 50 mile ride this year.

Meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Judy Lansky Secretary

About 20 people braved the wintry weather. Ron Rizzardi called the meeting to order.

1. Bike Friendly Community: Both Little Rock and North Little Rock have passed resolutions to apply for recognition by the League of American Bicyclists as a Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC). BACA members are on both the NLR and LR committees and provide information to the cities as to how to make the cities bicycle friendly. Rob Lambert is chair of the North Little Rock Community, which also includes Judy McDowell. Ken Gould, chair of the LR Community, gave the presentation about BFC recognition. The Little Rock committee includes BACA members Coreen Frazier, Jess Askew, French Hill, Gene Pfeifer, and Claibanne Williamson. Don Richardson, a teacher at Parkview, is also a member.

Ken noted that the primary objective and benefit at this point are to get the City committed to getting the designation and do what needs to be done for that. There are now about 54 cities that have qualified for one of the levels as a BFC, with Davis, CA the only city having platinum recognition. Hardly any city in the South has recognition as a BFC. There is a two-part application. Both LR and NLR have been approved on the first part; the second part is much more difficult. Application criteria include: engineering, education, encouragement, evaluation and planning and enforcement. Ken reported the head of Public Works for LR, Steve Harrelson, is working with the LR committee and is the contact person for the League. The Committee is also seeking other entities to take action in order to get approval, for example, to encourage work on conversion of the old Rock Island Bridge at the Clinton Presidential Center to be a bicycle-pedestrian bridge.

2. Ron reported that Keith Jones, of Central Arkansas Transit (CAT), will speak at the March meeting. CAT recently received a federal grant to install bike racks on all its busses. CAT has asked ABC if it would put on a bike ride for the opening of the continuation of the trolley trail. The ride will be held Feb. 17th at 10:00 a.m. beginning at the Heifer Center. Other events, bike rodeos on May 5th (North Little Rock) and May 12th (Kaleidoscope for Kids). BACA will assist and we need volunteers. Bike to Work Day is May 18th and we need volunteers to organize and assist.

3. Coreen reported on Safe Routes to Schools. There is money available for SRTS programs. 3 applicants have applied for grants far - Arkansas Children’s Hospital, Forest Park Elementary School, and the Medical Center. The contact person is Steve Weston, steve.weston@arkansashighways.com.

4. General election at April Meeting.

Meeting adjourned.

Judy Lansky Secretary

The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department has established a new program directed toward encouraging children in Kindergarten through Eighth Grade to walk and bicycle to school. The Arkansas Safe Routes to School Program will use Federal funding from the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users to provide infrastructure improvements and educational programs for Arkansas' schools. The Department has scheduled public outreach sessions across the State to provide detailed information regarding this new program. The times and locations of the outreach sessions are as follows.

Fort Smith, Wednesday, November 8, 2006 at 6:00 p.m. at The Echols Center, 5600 Kinkead on the University of Arkansas' Fort Smith campus.

Russellville, Thursday, November 9, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. at the Hughes Community Center, 1000 East Parkway.

Texarkana, Monday, November 13, 2006 at 5:00 p.m. at the Cathedral Heights Church of the Nazarene, 4010 Fairground Road.

Hot Springs, Tuesday, November 14, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. at the Hot Springs Transit Center, 100 Broadway Terrace

Little Rock, Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. at the offices of Metroplan, 501 West Markham.

Jonesboro, Monday, November 20, 2006 at 5:50 p.m. at the Allen Park Community Center, 3609 Race Street

Batesville, Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. at the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department District 5 Headquarters, 1673 Batesville Road (3 miles south of Batesville).

Brinkley, Monday, November 27, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. at the Brinkley Convention Center, 1501 Weatherby.

West Memphis, Tuesday, November 28, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. at the West Memphis Civic Center, 228 West Polk.

Pine Bluff, Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. in the R.J. Fallis Building (Waterfront Meeting Building) on Cecil Mosley Drive in Regional Park.

Monticello, Monday, December 4, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. in the Caucus Room of the University Center at 517 University Drive on the University of Arkansas â€“ Monticello campus.

Magnolia, Tuesday, December 5, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. in Foundation Hall at the Donald W. Reynolds Campus Center, 100 East University on the Southern Arkansas University campus.

Mena, Thursday, December 7, 2006 at 5:30 p.m. in the Spencer Building Lecture Hall, 1100 College Drive on the Rich Mountain Community College campus.

Springdale, Monday, December 11, 2006 at 5:30 at the offices of the Northwest Regional Planning Commission, 1311 Clayton Street.

Harrison, Tuesday, December 12, 2006 at 5:30 at the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department District 9 Headquarters,4590 Highway 65 (0.5 miles south of the Junction of Highways 62 and 65).