SLCBC 2006 Annual Report

Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective

NOTE: THIS IS ONLY A DRAFT

Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective 2006 Annual Report

Building community with bicycles

Director’s Report 2006

This was the year of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective. To quote an award given by Cycling Utah, “The Salt Lake Bicycle Collective (www.slcbikecollective.org) runs on one gear. Fast.” Thanks to our wonderful volunteers, partnerships, donors, and general community support we are celebrating significant achievements in 2006, milestones that have set the stage for a powerful 2007.

The most noteworthy accomplishments were the hiring of the first full-time employee, launching Utah’s first BikeEd program, becoming the free helmet distribution point, spearheading a national network of community bicycle organizations, and offering more youth programs than ever before. Fueled with more volunteers, participants and programs than ever before this deceivingly small organization is poised to transform bicycling in Salt Lake, and be a riding force in making our community more Bicycle Friendly.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Bicycle Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households.

History

The Collective was founded in April, 2002, by six enthusiastic bicycle advocates. We set out to share the virtues of bicycling with our community and build the bicycling environment with a creative advocacy organization. Along with providing the gathering place, tools, education, art projects, and community services, the Collective is about having fun while helping others.

Community Bicycle Shop

Since moving to our new location at 2312 South West Temple, the community bike shop has developed into a “community hub.” Hosting the new YouthCity ArtCycle Apprenticeship program, the YouthCity Bike Bonanza Earn-a-Bike course, the classroom portion of Bike Ed courses, weekly volunteer nights, and open shop hours for the general public.

During the summer open shop hours were offered from 6-9pm on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and during the winter from 5-9pm on Thursdays. The public demand was so great it would best be described as a frenzy, always bristling with similar and new faces in upwards of 40 people a night. Under the guidance of dedicated volunteer mechanics helping folks find parts and the necessary tools to assemble their bike -- everyone worked together and had fun.

However, the demand for volunteering was so great we had to dedicate a new separate night for just volunteers on Mondays from 5-9pm. This turned out to be a huge success not only for refurbishing bicycles, but also for developing community and regular volunteers. On most volunteer nights there wouldn’t be enough work stands. Everyone came to hang out, learn, get their hands dirty, and even share their different musical tastes over the shop radio.

The Numbers:
# total Refurbished Bicycles: 
55 were given to IRC refugees
# refurbished at YouthCity Bike Bonanza courses
# bartered for volunteer hours
# sold to community 
Recycled Metal: # pounds

Project Coordinator Position

As soon as the Collective was awarded the approved project funding for the Bicycle Education Project, the first task was to hire a full-time project coordinator. After posting the job announcement for over a month, receiving 20 applications, and interviewing 5 candidates, the hiring committee chose Board member and original Collective founder Jonathan Morrison for the position. Jonathan hit the ground sprinting. The main responsibilities of this position are to manage the community shop and the Bike Ed programs.

Valet Bicycle Parking

The Downtown Farmer’s Market has grown into a phenomenon, with artisans and musicians adding more flavor to the fresh food. The Collective has chosen this community event to showcase our programs and offer free bicycle parking to encourage folks to ride instead of drive. This summer the Collective had a new location in the park, and with that we parked a total of 1611 bikes over 20 weeks with a low of 22 bikes (last day) and a high of 125 bikes (July 15). Our average was 81 bikes per weekend.

Bicycle Education Project

On May 13th, the Collective offered its very first Road I course to 12 students. This 9-hour course spent on the bike and in the classroom is the flagship “effective cycling” curriculum taught around the country. Bike Ed is heralded as the nation’s leading training program to make bicycling safe and effective. The League of American Bicyclists has developed the course curriculums for kids and adults. Additional courses are available specifically for bicycle commuters, group riding, and even motorists. All courses are taught by League Certified Instructors (LCI) who are required to attend the prerequisite Road I course, study for and pass a pre-seminar exam, and attend a weekend-long seminar.

On June 23-25, the Collective hosted the LCI training seminar where 11 candidates were successfully certified. Utah now has 18 LCIs and one of the highest LCI to population ratio in the country. The 10 LCIs on part-time staff taught over 30 classes combined including:

	Road I courses in Salt Lake, Ogden, and Logan

Kids courses at Taylorsville PTA, Beacon Heights Elementary, the entire 5th grade at William Penn Elementary, GS Troop 452, and Ogden

Bike Rodeo at Willow Springs Elementary on Sept 21st with 650 participants

The Bicycle Education (Bike Ed) project proposal received funding from the Transportation Enhancements (TE) program with key sponsorship from UDOT. While TE money is usually spent on bricks and mortar projects, education was recently added to the program’s eligibility criteria. With funding at $200,000 for a 2-year project, the goals are 1) to recruit 250 students, 2) achieve 100% helmet use for participants, and 3) create new Bike Ed programs elsewhere. Long-term goals are to increase the number of bike commuters in Salt Lake and decrease the numbers of bike injuries and fatalities.

Description of Road I

Road I gives cyclists the confidence they need to ride safely and legally in traffic or on the trail. The course also covers bicycle safety checks, fixing a flat, on-bike skills and crash avoidance techniques and includes a student manual. Recommended for adults and children above age fourteen, this fast-paced, nine-hour course prepares cyclists for a full understanding of vehicular cycling.

Description of Kids I and Kids II

We talk about what an "edge" is, learn left and right (to look L-R-L), talk about what we are looking for, learn to tell the difference between moving and stopped cars, near and far ones and learn to use the pedestrian buttons. It is amazing to have them stand up and learn to stand in one place for two minutes -- the time a traffic light can take to change. It is an eternity to them. But they learn what the wait feels like.

Bike Ed events - Highlights

Bike safety presentation Thursday 9/14 in Taylorsville

LCIs Doug, Chris, Ashley, and Ron were highly creative in keeping the attention of the kids by teaching skills and doing on-bike demonstrations in the school cafeteria. The event was planned for 130 kids, but due to heavy rains, about 15 kids ranging in age from 4 to about 12 showed up with a half dozen parents.

The 5 instructors were Doug (lead), Susan, Erik, Ashley and me (Chris). We started with the Kid's Eye View Video. Doug was emcee and (indoor) bike skills demonstrator. Eric impressed me with his ability to connect with the kids in presenting the ABC Quick check. There were some really sharp kids, as well as some ringers who had previously had Doug's Kids 2 class. Susan did a presentation for the parents, while Ashley and Chris offered instruction for the kids. It went well -- especially given the age spread. Those who attended got a lot out of it and enjoyed themselves. We'll have to wait and see how things go when we have 130 kids in a group.

While teaching kids has its challenges, it is also a blast! They come up with the greatest comments and observations. They taught how some flats are caused by "pokies" and other are caused by "pinchies". You can see in the eyes of our students, young or old, the desire to progress in their skills and enjoyment of cycling, and if we can deliver, we have made a positive difference. Combine solid teaching and solid principles and you have hope for the future out on the road on bikes and in cars. Our job as instructors is to sell the concept that safe = fun = cool.

Beacon Heights Kids I

The big news, however, is that Jonathan got one little girl well on her way to riding without training wheels!

Earn-a-Bike Courses

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Bike Collective Awards

In the final 2006 issue of Cycling Utah the Salt Lake City Bicycle Collective was named the Road Club of the Year. And Jason Bultman, the Collective’s President, took home the award for "Bicycle Advocate of the Year." (Excerpts here – get permission)

Thank you for the honors Cycling Utah. We are lucky to have Dave Ward and Dave Iltis as the publisher and editor of Cycling Utah, for their commitment and generosity to bicycle advocacy in Utah. And thanks to the leadership of Lou Melini at the MBAC and Dan Fazini Jr at the SLCBAC, support for bicycling is strong in both the City and County governments. In January 2007 Mayor Rocky Anderson and his staff created a strong “complete streets” policy by issuing an executive order which “…requires the City to establish pedestrian and bicycle ways in new City construction or reconstruction projects in the public right of way.” Thanks to all of you who have been active in your community or government to support bicycling.

Contact information

Mailing Address

PO Box 2400
Salt Lake City, UT 84110

Community Bike Shop

2312 S. West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84115

Website: www.slcbikecollective.org
Phone: 801-FAT-BIKE (801-328-2453)
Fax: 801-466-3856