The newly minted Board of Directors of the BC Cycling Coalition held its first meeting in Vancouver on January 22. As a brand new Board member, I have to say I felt honoured to meet some of the bastions of cycling activism in BC! Present were Jack Becker (President), Colin Brander (Treasurer), Peter Stary (Secretary), Richard Campbell, Ed Schum, Arno Schortinghuis, Sue Vince, Jim Alix, Rhiannon Chernencoff, Robert Rao and myself.
Board Members managed to agree on the BCCC’s priorities going forward.
Some of the BCCC Priorities for 2011:
1. Improving the website
2. Increasing membership
3. Branding
4. Coordinating volunteers
5. Finding funding for some paid staff
6. Developing a well-rounded communication strategy, which would include:
o creating an e-newsletter
o keeping the Blog current
o developing links and coordination between BCCC and member organizations’ websites
o collecting and making available information from member organizations, and
o posting correspondence from members.
7. Building an information clearinghouse, which might include:
o a list of links
o a library of minutes, correspondence and responses, and reports and
o contact addresses (such as maintenance contractors, road authorities, and community newspapers).
That’s an ambitious list of priorities. However, there was no shortage of volunteers to steer them. And with the proposed volunteer coordination, there should be no shortage of BCCC members to achieve all of these.
It’s a little daunting, but I’m looking forward to it. I joined the BCCC because I’m tired of just fuming impotently about the marginalized plight of cyclists in a world that’s built around what I see as an insanely selfish and destructive transportation mode (solo driving in cars). That’s just my motivation – I haven’t spent enough time with other BCCC members to find out what motivates them.
Whatever it is, I’m happy to be working with a group of people dedicated to promoting cycling throughout BC, and I look forward to meeting many more when I get to meet other members of the BCCC.
