Minutes from the meeting of Rotorua Cycle Action 6 May 2008.

Apologies received from:
Gary Sullivan
Christian Walter
Eldad Collins

The topic of the membership drive was bought up again and the prerequisite of having a working website was reiterated.

Gary Sullivan's email on the topic of the website was read to the group, it's contents were:
The web page is underway, but not quite there yet.
It will have a banner, a welcome message, as many 'news' items as we need at any time, and the registration page. The email service we can use is free for now, although it may become a user pays service later on, it is a thing the web developer has built and has not started charging for. It will handle up to 1000 members easily. If there is a charge it will be minimal.

Clubs that we could approach as part of the membership drive could include:
R.A.T.S
Mountain bike club
Rotorua Cycling
Rotorua Leisure Cycling
BMX Club
Ralley 20 Group

Willie Shaw asked if we could enroll other club members on mass since membership to RCA is free.
It was noted that there are rules about unsolicited emails that may preclude this idea.

There was the suggestion that RCA promote ourselves at the "Nervous Nelly" workshops.

Amy Fowler (Sport BOP) agreed to be the RCA liaison with relevant health related groups.

It was agreed that RCA needs a mailing address. Chris Lenth volunteered his address for this purpose so our address is:

Rotorua Cycle Action
c/o Chris Lenth
82 Turner Drive
Rotorua

Willie Shaw agreed to write a "general letter of support" to EBOP in lieu of a submission to the walking and cycling strategy .

It was commented we could cultivate relationships with walking groups since we share some common goals with them.
These groups would require a different approach than other cycle groups.
Katrin Walbert and Amy Fowler agreed to draft something for this purpose.

Mark Dyer to continue with the RDC annual plan submission.

It was suggested that the Whakatane plan was worth a look:
http://www.whakatane.govt.nz/nr/rdonlyres/f76e169e-7cc6-4054-85c3-0bdba027d9b1/0/walkingandcyclingstrategyf.pdf

It was asked why the "Give cyclists 1.5m" signs had been removed.
The answer was that these signs are part of a wider campaign that involved changing and moving signage.

A member commented that the advanced stop boxes where great and that we need more of them and colour has been used to highlight them in other locations.

It would be good to pass on the compliment part to RDC and also to ask about the viability of colour.
It would more effective if we could identify specific intersections that need them rather than to ask for more of them.

The Scott St short cut was cited as a route that is convenient and in need of work.
Attached is an image of the location in question for those who are not familiar with it.
Weirdly enough the owner of this land confidential but it is zoned Reserve A.

<<Scott-St-2-Ward-Ave.png>>

It would be useful to look at the councils reserves management plan
http://www.rdc.govt.nz/About+Our+Council/Publications/Parks+Asset+Management+Plan+2005.htm
Someone mentioned Christcurch as an example.
I did a quick search on there website and found this:
http://www.ccc.govt.nz/cycling/future/cyclingstrategy.pdf
This page is also worth a look:
http://www.ccc.govt.nz/cycling/cyclenetwork/

There was a call for ideas for getting school kids back on bicycles.
Nelson has a "cycle train" equivalent of the "walking bus" that operates in Rotorua.
It was commented that Western Heights and Lakes high schools have strong sports cycling groups who we could offer our support to.

Willie Shaw to sound out Lakes High School cycling groups.

It was suggested that It would be nice to be able to provide a free high-vis vest with membership of RCA.
Since membership is already free this would require an external source of funding such as a sponsor.

Education of drivers and also of cyclist who travel 3 abreast was raised but no resolution was put forward.

Willie Shaw  told us that he dreamed of a police sting operation on those who transgressed against cyclists.
Despite the humour of that fantasy, it would be good to have a working relationship with the police traffic safety people.

Willie Shaw and Mark Dyer to investigate.

Frequency of Meetings.
There was complaint that once a month was too frequent for RCA meetings.
It was decided to have one more monthly meeting since it is likely that the website would be ready and some action could be taken and then to look at reducing the frequency to every two months.

Actions

• Draft a "letter" of approach to the clubs in readiness for our membership drive (Katrin Walbert)
• Write a "general letter of support" to EBOP in lieu of a submission to the walking and cycling strategy (Willie Shaw)
• Make a submission to the Rotorua District Council's draft annual plan (Mark Dyer)
• Make progress on the website (The ride rotorua team)
• Contact Police traffic safety people. (Willie Shaw and Mark Dyer)

 

UPDATE:

As you all know the 3-06-2008 meeting was cancelled because lots of people were unable to attend due to a lack of notice.

Willie Shaw's letter of support was sent to EBOP.
RCA were invited to attend a meeting of the regional council walking strategy hearing committee.
Willie advised them that we (RCA)  would not be attending to support our submission.

Mark Dyer did complete the submission to the RDC annual plan.

The website is up and running:
http://riderotorua.com/rotoruacycleaction.php

Next Meeting confirmed at Pig & Whistle 5:30pm Tuesday 01/07/2008.
That’s two weeks from now. Put it on your calendar.