BASC WEBSITE
The Bicycle Committee has a blog that is being updated. Please feel free to add your input and participate in what is being done. Keep in mind they represent us .
http://hsvbike.com/
Thursday, April 9, 2009
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13 comments:
That comment I recently posted is from a while back. And Teresa has responded to it on email and told the city about it. Only they're still planning to put the Betts Spring Branch greenway on the west/neighborhood side of the road.
I understand, I do think they should respond to us all. Other than the map, I really have no clue as to what is being decided for me.
Surely if they actually accomplished anything we'd know. Why aren't all the signs up? what is there some sort of of sudden-onset sign shortage? Paper said only 50% of signs were up. I recall being told ALL would be up with 90 days--how many months ago? When is this being fundraiser they are working on?
Are they working for YOU?
yes they are
Anon,
It may appear that nothing is happening. But I assure you, all of us are working very hard to get things done. Working with a bureaucracy is fun, you should try it some time.
Seriously, I have found that hearing feedback like this helps keep me grounded. Sometimes it's easy to forget where we came from and what we're in a committee for. Keep bitchin'. I don't mind.
P
That's good of you to say, Peter. Frankly I am sick of this incessant, misdirected bitching.
"Anon,"
You asked for transparency, and now they are posting the minutes on their blog. This is a committee. NOT the city government. These people (who are VOLUNTEERS, mind you) cannot personally erect the signs within the timeline promised BY THE PREVIOUS ADMINISTRATION. The committee is consulted by city officials, who are the responsible parties as far as action is concerned. (Why don't you go bitch to them?)
And what of note have YOU accomplished, aside from annoying the crap out of people who read this blog? Seriously, if you think you can do better, STFU and go do it already. Or create an anti-BASC, anti-Alabike, anti-SCCC blog, so that you can stomp your feet with this never ending spew of hate toward your own cycling community.
This way, you will have a WILLING audience and we all can read this blog, filtered of your rantings.
/Sorry for my own rant here, this has been bothering me for a while. Maybe it's that I'm irritated by the "I hope Obama fails" sore loser mentality espoused by Rush Limbaugh and his minions. Are you all butthurt from not being picked for the committee? Why else direct your anger at a volunteer committee which holds no authority?
I wonder how Ashley feels about this? But send the committee any constructive criticism, comments, suggestions, etc you have. I wasn't selected for the committee either, and I send them stuff instead of bitching. And they listen to it and give it to the city people and try to get stuff done.
And by constructive I mean, if it's not a criticism you would make of Obama's administration/plan, don't make it about BASC. Plenty of people have problems with Obama's stimulus/recovery/etc packages, but the best criticisms are targeted ones that include ways to do specific things better. Not the Rush Limbaugh kind.
This is all well and good, but we need more people involved not sitting on the sidelines and having others do it for them.
As far as bitching I really don't see it as that. There seems to be a mentality here that we should be "happy" with whatever is handed to us. I would rather hear bitching than more of this, "lets be positive" type of inaction.
I think Peter has the right idea and that is to hold him and the others to what they accomplish not what they say.
Plus Peter rocks!!!! Oh and congrats to the Ladies Ride and those who rode it last night.
Move your feet not your mouths.
Jim,
I really feel that what "anonymous" is doing is NOT constructive in any way. It is bitching at any opportune moment about the "establishment" cycling in HSV.
As far as sitting on the sidelines goes, I largely rely on the input I give to the people involved in the committee and others to keep myself involved. I have no more time in my life to give to this cause. That doesn't mean that I don't care! My priorities are with my daughter and school, and fortunately we don't have to risk our daily lives on the streets to get things accomplished.
I'm not saying that no one should criticize the committee. It's just that they haven't even had the opportunity to show what progress they've made! It's part of bureaucracy. It takes time. Do I like that? Not necessarily. But that's not BASC's fault. Talk to/bitch about the city gov't if you're miffed about time.
/And yes, Peter rocks. Thanks to you and everyone who volunteers their time to this cause. You are greatly appreciated for "moving your feet" when some of us just don't have the time or resources in the day to move our own for cycling's sake. Thank you.
It really means a lot to hear encouragement like this. There have been many times I have just wanted to walk away from the committee.
When BASC started, and we were learning about each other, I was worried that some "type-A" personalities would dominate the group. The rest of us would be sitting in silence merely listening to their agenda. However, we seem to have a pretty good cross section of passionate people in there - with good ideas. Some of us are from established clubs, and some are not. We have had our struggles, and will continue to have them, but we are learning to work well with each other.
I can relate to Ash's statement about having no more time in my life to give to this cause. I've got a full-time job and a daughter & wife I want to spend time with too. It takes every ounce of my energy to find time to work on the map and attend some of the marathon meetings we have. The miraculous thing is that the map is getting done. I don't know how, but it is. I just hope it will be a useful tool for getting around town on a bike. I'm sure there will be criticism, but that's okay. There is always room for improvement.
Thanks again for the encouragement. It gives me a little boost when times are difficult.
P
That was not directed at you Ash. I think we all have lives here and we are all busy too. I am just pointing out as a "community" we all need to take part and speak up and support one another. I think for this to really work we need everyone involved not just a sect or a proxy.
I think we all have seen that by getting together and speaking up we can get things accomplished. I think we should also have a higher standard when these things are put into place and not just be happy we got something.
I do think that the public meetings for input to the committee should not be at someone's house it should be at the library. That is more inclusive and more professional too.
I would also state that the goal here should be that Peter and Ashley's daughter can one day bike,walk, or take a bus to school safely here one day.
I would hope that that is what we are all doing this for.
Yeah I would the meetings with the public to be more public too. The library would be a good place to invite necessity cyclists. I've only heard about 1 of the meetings with the public so far. They should be more planned and advertised.
And the revised map is coming out soon. Look over it and tell me about your complaints because I'm fortunate for the bike route map to be my life for a little while instead of in addition since I have a GIS class project on it. I'll be working on expanding it to include the MPO urban area (not the whole study area) of Huntsville. It will use a predictive model to select areas that need a bike route then most appropriate roads in those areas. I'm still working on the connections. Then I'm hoping to compare the output to what I consider to be good roads to ride. It's up to the cities to make them or keep them good roads after that, which Huntsville hasn't done on Meridian for instance. This can also be adapted to make a suitability map with more roads on it and level of service for cyclists for those instead of selected bike routes. That isn't the direction Huntsville and Madison have taken so far, though.
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