St. Louis BikeFed annual meeting Sunday, Nov. 9th

The annual meeting of the St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation will be
Sunday, from 1 to 4, at the Webster YMCA, upstairs in the Gibbs Room. After
the meeting, we will repair to Llywellans in Old Webster for pints and such.

On the agenda will be plans for the coming year for projects, publications
and education.

In addition, we will be holding elections to the board. If you find
yourself energized about a certain area of bike advocacy, want to learn
about advocacy or have talents you want to share, consider volunteering your
time and off-bike energy!

Following is info from the Cue Sheet, the St. Louis Regional Bicycle
Federation newsletter. See you Sunday!

ANNUAL REPORT
It’s been a good year for advocacy, with the year ending with progress on
two important regional bike plans.

First, the Great Rivers Greenway has presented the draft of its
Citizen-Driven Action Plan, which will result in a planning framework for a
network of greenways, trails and on-road facilities. Bicyclists need to be
involved, and I’m proud that Bike Fed Board Member Mike Murray is Vice
President of Great Rivers Greenway. I’ve served on the Technical Advisory
Committee. Drop a line to get involved as plans start moving to local
communities.

Second, the East-West Gateway Coordinating Council, working with Great
Rivers Greenway, has selected a design team led by HNTB to create a St.
Louis Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Plan. The plan will result
in the region’s first bicycle suitability maps, and could result in a
Mapquest-style program online for planning bike trips. Murray and Foster
were on the review team and Board Members Luis Porrello of HNTB and Steve
Sleet of Trailnet are on the winning team.

We also will end this year with two new ways to cross the area’s rivers.
The bike-friendly Eads Bridge was completed in July, and the Page Avenue
extension opens in December.

Thanks to cyclists’ commitment to speaking out, all Metro buses in Missouri
and Illinois now can carry bikes. This was one of the Bike Fed’s first
advocacy projects, and I am particularly proud that every month more
cyclists are using Metro’s racks.

Our custom-designed bike parking racks are hitting the streets now.
“Subdued, elegant yard art with a function,” noted Board Member John Sweet,
who bought one for his office. There’s more details in this Cue Sheet, but
it is a key accomplishment of this organization that bike parking is
beginning to enter the public agenda of the region.

We have made key contacts with local officials, including the St. Louis
Police and Circuit Attorney’s Office, the St. Louis County Council and the
Municipal League. We had representatives at the National Bike Summit and
The Thunderhead Alliance, a national federation of advocacy groups.

Our events have been successful and have raised the visibility of bikes as
transportation: The Second Annual Swap Meet brought 400 bike people and
eight bike shops together in February. In April, we parked 200 bikes at the
Earth Day Festival. In June we parked bikes at the Shakespeare Festival and
in August we parked bikes at the City Museum as part of the Moonlight
Ramble. Look for these events to continue and remember, volunteers are
always welcome!

We continued our successful media presence, which included a Post -Dispatch
article answering the question, “Can cyclists and motorists learn to love
one another?” It contained numerous tips for both groups and appeared
nationally in Knight-Ridder papers.

Organizationally, we continue to grow, with 150 members and $5,000 in the
bank.

Projects on the horizon include publishing and distributing “Bike Parking
for Your Business;” a major upgrade of our Web site, www.stlbikefed.org; the
Third Annual Swap Meet and increased public awareness campaigns.

The St. Louis Regional Bicycle Federation has been blessed through its
brief history to have an outstanding group of volunteers on its board. The
past year’s board included Vice Chair Phoebe Love, Treasurer John Sweet,
Secretary Russ Willis and Board members Bill Carlson, Renee Duenow, Mike
Murray, Martin Pion, Luis Porrello Steve Sleet and Carrie Zukoski. Thanks to
all!

Bob Foster, Chair