28-Sept-2005 minutes

Minutes of GNCC board meeting, September 28, 2005

Attendees: Garth Rustand, John van Beek, Keith Brown, Barbara Henoch and Dave Beer.

Meeting commenced 7:00 pm

1. Island Corridor: Dave reported that the Island Corridor Foundation anticipates being able to purchase the railway right of way as of October 2006. The GNCC’s Island Corridor’s group short term goals are to:

• contact the carrier that will be running the trains and encourage them to provide access for bikes
• Proceed with the creation of a silde show which can be used as an information tool for potentially interested user groups or funders

2. Cycling Advocacy: Northfield Road changes near the new Esso station and housing development have made the road too narrow for safe biking especially since it is an official bikeway.
Actions:

• on Sat Oct 1st there will be a “fact finding” ride starting at the Real Canadian Superstore at 9 AM to check this out. All welcome.
• Keith will email Richard Harding regarding this issue
• John reminded members that there is an online comment process for road issues of concern to cyclists on the city website. Keith will look into this and put a link on the GNCC website
• Goal: to form a “Routes and Technical” committee to address similar issues and to establish links with governments.

3. Financial Report As of today the balance sits at $757.05 with all bills paid. Treasurer Graham Shuttleworth has communicated to Dave Beer that he is now stepping down as treasurer. A new treasurer will need to be found at the upcoming AGM.

4. Affiliation with other groups PACC: Provincial Advisory Cycling Committee And the BCCC. John van Beek is a member of both these organizations and is willing to represent the GNCC at all meetings.

5. Location for monthly meetings - should be consistent and have public access since we advertise that the public is welcome. Dave will investigate options.

6. AGM – October 19th We brainstormed possible speakers. Some suggestions were:

• BCCC president
• Bruce Mol, CanBike instructor
• Allan Dunlop
• __??__ Hayes, Lawyer active in cyclist defense

7. Ways of increasing membership and income: - Garth offered a couple of ideas
1) suggest to bike stores such as Pacific Rim that they implement (with our support?) a tracking system for purchasers of new bikes. They would automatically become GNCC members by buying a bike locally. They would also receive reminders of when their bike would be due for tune-ups or upgrades. Garth will explore variations of this idea with Bob at Pacific Rim.
2) following the example of Kelowna, there could be a program whereby there is an incentive for people with beater cars to trade them in for bikes. We could advertise this program and part of the proceeds could go to us. Garth will check this idea out with Tara at BC Transit to see if it is something that they would fund. Barbara is to forward her contact info to Garth.

Meeting adjourned at 9:15.