Monday November 28th 2011

GEARS will hold its annual meeting and Bike Swap on Monday November 28th from 6 to 8 pm at Hilyard Center, 2580 Hilyard St.  All GEARS members are invited to join for free Pizza and a soft drink ($5 for non members)!  We will vote on a By-Law change, have a presentation about the bRamble and elect and present the Executive Board. A Bike Swap, from 7-8pm, that will offer cyclists an opportunity to sell and exchange bicycles, bike parts and accessories, will follow this. Each “seller” who is not a GEARS member will be charged $5. Memberships are available starting at $12/year at the event or online athttp://eugenegears.org/membership

Both events are open to the general public.

The month of March has been a busy one, indeed!   The Committee started the month off by looking at the proposed projects for the Eugene Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, and put together a list of 15 “Wish List” projects that we would most like to see implemented.  After creating an online poll, the projects were reduced down to just five:

• Two-way cycle track from Amazon Creek to River Paths
• Bike boulevard improvements on 15^th Ave (Fairgrounds to campus)
• Connecting the north end of the river path north of Beltline
• Bike facility improvements on 18^th Ave (better pavement, buffered bike lanes)
• Coburg/Oakway bike safety improvements

The poll is still open!  You can fill it out here.  Pending the poll’s final results and the Board’s approval in April, these will be the official GEARs-endorsed projects for submission to the city’s Planning Department to include in the Plan.

Two weeks later, the committee got together to sort through the dozen bills that have been proposed for the 2011 legislative session to create recommendations on whether or not GEARs should officially endorse them.  In all, we decided to support the following bills:

• LC 3905 – Bike Trailer Safety Standards bill
• HB 2331 – Bike License Feasibility Study
• HB 2332 – Gross Vehicle Weight Fines Amendment (with a suggestion to increase Class A violation fines as well)
• HB 2712 – Maximum Automobile Fines Amendment
• HB 2824 – Stolen Bicycle Trafficking Bill
• SB 40 – Non-profit Funding Structures
• SB 344/HB 3150 – Speed Limit Reduction (along designated byways)
• SB 660 – Stop Sign Fine Amendment

This was in preparation for the upcoming Oregon Active Transportation Summit, which will be held on March 29^th and 30^th.  While there, at least four members of the committee are going to be advocating to our elected state officials from the southern Willamette Valley to support biking.  This list of positions on state bills is a huge step forward in that effort.

And finally, Price Armstrong (yours truly) just got back from Washington, DC for the National Bike Summit.  I wrote about it in more detail here, but suffice it to say, it was an amazing experience.  GEARs got a lot of name recognition, all kinds of networking took place, and our elected officials in Washington are definitely aware of the urgent need to defend bicycle-related programs and funding.

Once April rolls around, things are sure to quiet down a bit, though the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan is going to continue having open houses and won’t be adopted until June 2011.  It’s been a productive advocacy year so far; thanks for all the support from the community, GEARs members, and the GEARs Board of Directors.  And, as always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me at pricearmstrong@gmail.com.