Meeting Summary: November 4, 2010

Attendance & Agenda

In attendance: John, Lorraine, Heather, Antje, Tamiko, Carolyn, Diana, Richard, Peter, Jay

• Welcome new members and guests
• Additional business
• Review October minutes

Education & Outreach

• VACC on JBAC (Jay)
  • Reported on cllr Bassam's statement about future plans for JBAC in District
  • Taking wait and see approach
  • Generally positive vibe about VACC participation amongst JBAC and from Clrs Bassam and Heywood
  • Jay to follow up with an email to Bassam to understand more
  • Heather suggested getting out a press release when we have more information

• November Bike to Work Week recap
  • 75 cyclists on VERY rainy Monday morning station, 30 of whom stopped and enjoyed coffee, fruit and bagels
  • Need to review the location for next spring. Too many riders missed due to split nature of approaches to bridge (but being under bridge helped in the rain!) - two separate stations on same day?
  • Seabus commuter station?
  • 276 riders at LGB on Tuesday
  • Construction contributed to amount of stopping at LGB station
  • No one attended the CapU station on Tuesday
  • Thursday station on Amherst and Dollarton reported around 100 cyclists
  • Lots of press coverage
  • Future press releases for BTWW - invite TV/Radio to contact someone at the station for live interview, especially the iconic LGB station

• FAQ NS cyclist resource (John)
  • Spreadsheet on GoogleDocs
  • John will send out link, open for editing

• Local committees meeting recap (Jay/Lorraine)
  • Recap from call with Vancouver/Burnaby/NShore/PM-MR
  • Facilitating intercommittee dialogue
  • Jay to forward email to group regarding content request for new web site at VACC
  • John to distribute business cards
  • Sent email blast to list provided by Lorraine and Talia
  • Stipend for materials
    • Banners
    • Flags for parades
    • Display material for booths
  • Fund raising opportunities?

• North Vancouver Bicycle Master Plan review meeting (Antje/Jay/John/Bill)
  • Discussed BMP meeting on Tuesday
  • Invited Carolyn and Diana to submit comments regarding the rides they are doing
  • Carolyn described an access to Taylor Way access route

• Signs, signs, we need bike signs (Jay)
  • Can we get more signs from communities
  • $300 per sign on BMP
  • Temporary signs around construction
  • Directional signs indicating preferred routes
  • Educational signs informing drivers about green sharrow lanes, cyclists to stay off sidewalks, etc

• VACC table at MEC store (Antje)
  • Display on table at the front entrance of the North Shore MEC for two weeks
  • Money from VACC to print up collateral
  • Get pamphlets out to community centres, etc
  • Design suggestion: VACC to print up a quantity of durable display boards for all of the local committees with space for an 8.5x11 sheet printed by local committee to velcro in with their information.

• West Vancouver map (Bart)
  • An amount has been placed in the 2011 budget to update the Cycling Network and Greenway Plan as well as produce a Pedestrian Network Master Plan. A public process to inform the budget discussion is currently underway through the Finance Committee. Final budget approval is typically not until the spring however.

Hot Spots & Issues

• Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Bridge (John)
  • John will update next month - too much to discuss for time remaining
  • It was not a good meeting with Vancouver/Burnaby
    • They seem to see only solution as expensive suspended walkway, which is an admirable goal for the long term but we need measures to be taken sooner rather than later.

• Lions Gate update (Peter)
  • Peter sent email out to MoT (James)
  • Planned improvements from offsite meeting are going in
  • Waiting for updated map on MoT web site. Still have old map there. Peter pushing for it
  • Ramp at 6th! Woot!

• Green paint discussion (Jay)
  • Need to educate drivers about what it is
  • What is it? What does it really mean?
  • City has a video, discussion and FAQ page on web site
  • Signs? Email to C&D to create signs about:
    • Is the paint safe?
    • What does it mean?

• SeaBus bike facilities (Tamiko)
  • Dealing with Seabus is dealing with Translink
  • Tamiko has offered to continue to monitor issues with Seabus

• Safety along shared routes like Spirit Trail (Carolyn)
  • They can make it work in Cape Cod, why not here?
  • Rules about usage - pedestrians keeping to right, signs to publicize, etc
  • Etiquette signs are apparently not effective
  • Not enough space for two trails like Seawall

• Seymour Greenway (Antje)
  • Construction has started!

• Pemberton Heights access (Jay)
  • Contacted Patrick Golier and it is going into 2011 capital budget to add curb drops and improvements to 23rd Street trail
  • SIGNS!!!

• Taylor Wood discussion (Peter)
  • Have been invited by Nora to evaluate and provide feedback on community benefit

• Welsh Street (Bart)
  • A conceptual design for the Spirit Trail through Squamish Nation Land is to go before their Council mid-November followed by an Open House late November. I will advise you of the date and time once it has been made known.

Action Items

• Jay to email Cllr Bassam to initiate dialogue on future advocacy efforts in District
• Jay to follow up with City and District regarding signs and driver education about green sharrow lanes
• Group to follow progress at JBAC and District TPAC
• John to send out link to rider resource googledoc spreadsheet
• John to distribute business cards
• Peter to follow up on Taylor Wood issues
• Bart to inform group about mid November Spirit Trail open house
• Carolyn and Diana to ride their bikes! Give us feedback! Help flesh out the Hot Spots and Routes and Short Cuts pages!
• Jay to follow up with VACC regarding printed collateral for tables
• Heather to remember to invite radio/TV to do live interviews at commuter stations during spring BTWW