Tempe Bicycle Action Group

We are pleased to welcome 3 new board members to the board of Tempe Bicycle Action Group. There were 5 nominees but only 3 positions available. The board, and members present, elected: Marcus Wirthgen, Joe Perez and Eric Iwersen. Overall, the meeting went exceptionally well, lots of new ideas and lots of enthusiasm. We’ll spend a week or two aggregating all the ideas and sharing them with relevant parties. We look forward to a vibrant 2010! If you missed the meeting we’ll post a lengthier recap this week, so stay tuned.

TBAG is having our semi-annual membership and planning meeting on Nov 22nd starting at 6:30pm at Boulders on Broadway. We want to get the local cycling community together along with people, agencies, and other groups we work with, to talk about ideas and start planning and goal setting for 2010.

During the meeting we’ll be discussing 6 different areas: Advocacy, Education, Social Rides, Youth Programs, Events, and Projects. We’ll introduce each area and then break up into groups for discussion and planning. By the end of the meeting we’d like to have an overall idea of what types of things TBAG will be working on in the coming year, who will be working on it, and an idea of how we’ll accomplish these goals.

Here’s what we need you to do between now and then: Look at the different areas and think about what you’d like to see in each. Think about local problems and how you’d solve them. Think about projects and initiatives that you could help out with. Bring these ideas to the meeting. Also get the word out, if you know people that would be interested but haven’t been involved with TBAG before, let them know so they can contribute.

Hope to see you all on Sunday.

The City of Tempe Traffic Sign Department has graciously agreed to give TBAG some scraps of reflective material left over from street sign manufacturing. This stuff is a high grade 3M adhesive reflective sheeting that meets state requirements for roadway signs. What does this mean? It’s BRIGHT and it’s REALLY REFLECTIVE! We have quite a bit in different size scraps, mostly fluorescent yellow in 14″ right angle triangles. There is some orange in smaller 4″ squares and strips as well as little bit of red. There are also hundreds of 4″ silver circles but due to age the adhesive is not as sticky as it used to be (I haven’t tried it yet but it might be revived by heating the sticky side and object surface with a hair drier before applying).

So you want some of this material for FREE and you’re wondering how it can be acquired. Well, your first opportunity will be to come to our annual meeting on Sunday, November 22nd at 6:30pm at Boulders on Broadway. We’ll bring a bunch of scraps along and you can grab a few pieces. The material is easily cut to size with a paper cutter or scissors, both of which we’ll bring so you can cut your pieces on site.

Annual_Mtg_Flier[final]TBAG’s Annual Membership Meeting & Board Elections
Sunday ll/22 6:30pm
Boulders on Broadway (530 W Broadway)
We have 3 Vacancies to Fill
nominate someone or even yourself
If you have an idea for great new bike program, consider joining the board – We’ll work with you to make it happen.
The second part of the this meeting is all about volunteer involvement. We’ve accomplished a lot in 09 and we’re not about to stop now. Come find out what’s in store for 2010…and how you can get involved.
and yes, there will be FREE PIZZA
We will be sending out more info on the Annual Mtg. soon. If you haven’t signed up for the TBAG list-serve yet, now would be a good time. Check back here, on the biketempe blog

Yes that’s right, we’ve set a date for our annual volunteer meeting. Sunday February 15th, 7pm at Boulders on Broadway. Anyone interested in volunteering to help us out this year is encouraged to attend. TBAG will provide some munchies and we’ll share our plans for the first half of 2009. We’ll be taking names and information from those interested in volunteering. We also hope that you’ll bring ideas to the table and share them with us, which we as a board will review, and possibly act upon.

To give you an idea of what’s in store, our board meeting last Sunday ran a full 3 hours! We discussed much and will be sharing some details with you in an email newsletter that should go out no later than early next week.

In the meantime, put on your thinking cap (or rather your helmet), go out for a ride, and put some thought into how we can make bicycling better for you, and everyone!

A few quick reminders, discussion forums are now available though off to a slow start, you can help get them off the ground by contributing! TBAG is now on Twitter. Follow us as we send updates almost daily on news and topics that relate to cycling both locally and globally.

Thank you to everyone who came to the annual meeting yesterday! Twenty-three folks attended, and we discussed the year’s accomplishments and discussed ideas for the coming year (both of which will be posted soon), and elected new members to the Board of Directors.

It was a hard fought race and it came right down to the wire, but in the end the entire slate of candidates won! Welcome to Sam Bollinger, Jeremy Deatherage, Jeff Dunn, Aaron Golub, Ryan Guzy, Rebecca Hale, and Tom Tomczyk, the new board members. Make sure you read their bio statements from this previous post. We will establish email addresses for them ASAP so that you can communicate with us all.

This is going to be a great year for TBAG. The new board members have fantastic ideas to keep building the momentum, and there was a palpable excitement from everyone who came to the meeting.

Stan Klonowski, one of the three people who dreamt up the idea of TBAG years ago, resigned from the Board. He has put a lot of time and effort into the organization over the years and was thrilled to see so many people excited to continue building TBAG. Thank you for all of your hard work, Stan.

On a related note, Chris Crosby (former President and Webmaster of TBAG) and Kate Darby (former Vice President and Secretary) formally stepped down from the Board prior to this meeting to make room for new faces.

THANK YOU, STAN, CHRIS AND KATE FOR ALL THAT YOU HAVE DONE!

All three have promised to stay involved with the organization so we will continue to benefit from their hard work.

***NOTE- I ADDED ANOTHER BIO BELOW***

Greetings everyone!
Below are brief statements submitted by six seven very qualified people who were nominated to join the Board of Directors of the Tempe Bicycle Action Group. The statements are in alphabetical order. Everyone present at the annual meeting –  this Sunday, November 2nd from 3-5pm at Boulders on Broadway – will get to vote on who gets added to our board. If you are old enough to understand, you are old enough to vote in this election!

TBAG currently has five openings on the board.

Come to the meeting,
Vote for new board members,
Tell us what you’d like to see us do over the next year,
& Enjoy some appetizers, on us!

(more…)

Thank you everyone, for another fun and successful Tour de Fat! Bicycles were ridden, beer was enjoyed, and entertainment was had by all. In upcoming days, as we recover from the fun and take stock of things, we’ll provide more details on how the event went. Again, all proceeds from the Tour de Fat benefit four local nonprofit biking organizations: TBAG, the Bike Saviours, the Mountain Biking Association of Arizona, and the Central Arizona Mountain Bike Patrol.

In the meantime, mark your calendars for the following upcoming events, some organized by the City of Tempe and some by TBAG:

Wednesday, October 15: Tempe Walk to School Day.
Check the Tempe in Motion website for details.
Saturday, October 18, 10 am, Tempe Beach Park Entrance: Cupcake Ride to Lulu’s Cupcakes (4-mile leisurely ride or 15-mile appetite-stimulating ride)
SUNDAY, October 26: 13th annual Tour de Tempe bike ride
Registration starts at 7 am, the ride starts at 8:30 am, departing from Kiwanis Park
TBAG volunteers will be on hand to serve as ride marshals.
See the Tempe in Motion website for more details.
Sunday, November 2, 3-5 pm: Annual Membership Meeting, location TBA

TBAG needs you to get involved!

Tempe Bicycle Action Group will have its first annual membership meeting on November 2nd from 3-5pm, at Boulders on Broadway. The meeting is open to all members, and because we don’t have membership fees, you’re all invited! If you have participated in TBAG events in the past, are on our email list, or are interested in participating in the future, we’d like to have you present at our annual meeting.

What happens at the annual meeting?

• First, we let you know what we’ve been doing for the past year and fill you in on plans for the coming one.
• Second, we solicit your opinions on the kinds of stuff TBAG should be doing. This is where you come in: we need ideas for the types of events y’all want to see in the coming year.
• The third task for the evening: we elect new board members!

The annual meeting is your chance to have appetizers on TBAG’s tab, have your say about the future of TBAG, and have an impact on cycling in Tempe and beyond.

Are you interested? Nominate yourself!  Do you know someone who has great enthusiasm and time to commit to advocating for cycling? Nominate them for the TBAG board! All nominees will have a few moments during the annual meeting to introduce themselves to the group, after all present get to vote to determine the TBAG Board membership. Board members are elected for a 1-2 year term, during which you can help us organize events, coordinate the Tour de Fat (Oct 11th this year), and work with the city and others to help Tempe and surrounding communities to be as bike-friendly as possible.  The TBAG board of directors is a working board, meaning that the board is responsible for, among other items, organizing events, maintaining the blog/website, keeping track of finances, and coordinating with other advocacy groups – we need people who are enthusiastic, creative and have time to commit to the cause.

To nominate yourself, write a short description of your qualifications for and interest in being on the TBAG Board and submit it to Stan at stan@biketempe.org no later than October 26th. To nominate someone else, tell Stan who you want to nominate and how to contact them. 

We have 4 openings on the board, and we need more people to be involved! TBAG has financial resources to pull off all kinds of fun events; we just need your creativity, time and help.

Contact us if you have any questions. info@biketempe.org
Thanks!
The TBAG board