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MINUTES of CentreBike Executive Committee Meeting

January 11, 2016

Meeting held at the State College Borough Building

Present:

Anna Nelson, President
Joan Potter, Secretary
Kelly Doyle, Treasurer
Jim Serene
Brian Dempsey
Allan Stoekl
Mark Davison

The meeting was called to order by Anna Nelson at 5:35 pm.

Liability Insurance

Board approval needed to renew the insurance policy through the League of American Cyclists. The cost for 2016 is $189 which covers 26 rides or less per year. There is also optional officers liability insurance at a cost of $550 for $1M in coverage. Jim Serene moved to only renew the basic coverage at $189; Brian Dempsey second; all in favor. Note that waivers will be required to be signed by all ride recipients. Jim offered to design a new waiver form.

Centre Foundation Endowment Fund

Thank you letter will be sent to Blake and Linda Gall for their generous gift of a $50,000 endowment, with an acknowledgement that CentreBike will host a ride/event in their honor. A story and photo will be posted to the website.

Open Streets Initiative

Melissa Bopp with ActiveLions is applying for grant for Open Streets. If received, CentreBike will be a partner, along with Mt Nittany Health System. Note that Melissa’s students are available to intern on projects.

Winter Bike to Work Day

Scheduled for Friday, Feb 12^th with a coffee station on Old Main steps. A group photo will be taken just before 8:00am.

Focus for 2016

Encourage and support implementation of the Regional Bike Plan accepted by COG. This is a wish list with no time requirements and will require citizen support. Suggest targeting one township a year and work with citizens to address issues.
Community Rides: Jim Serene and Mark Davison will start off by organizing an easy family ride which connects bike paths and routes around town.
Commuter Benefits: Encourage local businesses to incentivize biking to work, i.e., PSU, Hospital and businesses that pay for employee parking downtown. Brian Dempsey & Allan Stoekl will follow up with PSU on the potential for commuter benefits.
Offer support to businesses to apply for Bike Friendly Business (BFB) status with the League of American Cycling. The next deadline is March 31^stfor awards announced in May, and June 30^th is the deadline for August awards. Jim Serene will reach out to the Hospital and Joan will follow-up with Minitab on their status.
Bellefonte-State College Rail Trail support: Paul Rito will take the lead on this effort.
Revamp bike registration process and incorporate student education. Anna will be the lead.
Improve website, email and social media communication. Joan and Anna will focus on this.
Quarterly OpEd in CDT for various issues, i.e., closing Allen Street for pedestrian/bikes only.
Bike awareness campaign using local people, i.e., “I’m the Mayor. I’m a Cyclist.” (I’m a Teacher, I’m a Firefighter, I’m a Business Owner, etc.) Also, “Bicyclists may use Full Lane” campaign and “Lights at Night” campaign
Notify Transportation & Land Use Committee (TLU) about bike lane issues.

Reminder: When working on improvement projects, take before and after photos and write a story to share on the website.

There being no further business to come before the meeting, it adjourned at 6:55 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Joan Potter, Secretary

Regional Bike Plan – ADOPTED!

After more than a year of hard work by the staff of Centre Region Council of Governments (COG), along with community input, cyclist support, CentreBike advocacy, and municipal meetings…. the Centre Region Bike Plan was agreed upon and adopted by a vote of the COG General Forum on Tuesday December 15.

This is exciting news for our community!

We want to send a big thank you out to all of the people who made this happen – particulary Trish Meeks, of COG, for her hard work and dedication, and to COG’s Transportation and Land Use Committee, for their support of this effort: Eric Bernier (College Township), Rob Cooper (Penn State University), Theresa Lafer (State College Borough), Jeff Luck, Chair (Patton Township), Todd Kirsten, Vice Chair (Halfmoon Township), Steve Miller (Ferguson Township), Paul Rittenhouse, Sr. (Harris Township).

Take a moment at some point to email, call, or tweet your thanks to your local elected official!

What is the Centre Region Bike Plan?

You can read more about the Centre Region bike plan by checking out the Bike Plan’s Executive Summary. But in a nutshell, it is a long range plan that will guide bicycle infrastructure and programming across all 6 municipalties (plus the Borough and PSU) for years to come.

You can read the summary of the plan, or the full plan, on COG’s website: www.crcog.net/bikes

What Happens Next?

The Centre Region Bike Plan is intended to be a guide for future decision-making around cycle projects and programs. While some projects are already in motion; others are a long way off.

Each municipality will determine which programs and projects they will fund and implement in the foreseeable future. COG will also use the plan to help guide region-wide decisions, and to inform PennDOT about any potential routes or areas that may impact PennDOT work.

CentreBike will also look to the plan to help us focus our efforts. Many of the shorter-term recommendations are proposals that our members can help with, and we’ll keep you informed about opportunities to get involved.

Cyclist + Motorist Education

One of CentreBike’s big goals is to continue to improve bicycle safety in our community. We’re lucky to have safe routes, paths, and roads for cycling, but we believe there is always room for improvement.

That’s why we’re proud to share that, through a partnership with the Centre Region Bicycle Advisory Commitee, the State College Borough and State College Area School District, we’ve helped to implement an important new program at State College High School this year.

As part of the required Driver’s Education class, 400 students per year will learn how to share the road safely, as motorists and as cyclists.

The material focuses on state laws surrounding bikes and cars – to make sure our newest drivers know exactly what the laws are, whether they are behind the wheel, or out on their bikes.We know that not everyone in our community is familiar with these laws, and this program is another positive step in the right direction.

Special thanks to Kelly Doyle, from the State College Borough, for compiling and implementing the materials, and to Brad Fisher, for being a great partner at SCASD. In 2016, we hope to look for other ways to bring this important education to young people in our region!