But first a reminder: first meeting of the year is Monday at 6:15. The professionals are meeting about Coates Bluff, and a meeting about the coming downtown shared work space will also be reported on.
In attendance at our last meeting way back on December 12th were Ian Webb, Cynthia Keith, Maurice Loridans, Dan Marcalus, and Loren Demerath.
Meeting Notes:
April 3rd will be day for holding our big "Family Ride on the Red". Ian's bike shop will fund the permits and the marketing; the radio remote will be part of the marketing. The event will basically say, this greenway is a gem, we should ride it, and it will showcase the possibilities of greenways; we could have a map there to show where other greenways could be; we'd also point out that they don't happen by themselves, and we give people the chance to sign on to help us; it will be part of building Shreveport Greenways, an organization that will promotes greenways in the city.
When Hallie did the tree ride, it was $10, but it's a $1.50 per person for insurance. Ian was thinking of not scaring off people with a fee, Loren mentioned people like stuff more they have to sacrifice for; Maurice gave the example of the Ozark Society canoe clinics that had higher attendance when there as a fee. But the Clyde Fant bike path is public; how would your require fees for access to a public resource? Maybe by preregistering for a t-shirt. If you say, hey, this is the day to do this... Even if it's just us, it's still an event that we can say we've done; Could have tune-up's, saftey talks... Celebrate Greenways Day; come on down with their kites or bikes or dogs;
How a dog park demonstration might work; renting a fence and inviting people to bring their dogs and show how a dog park would work. Could have a bunch of different things going on on the same day.
Dan mentioned that every weekend is a run up and down the Red. After they run they go down and have drinks. The bike club is sort of a model in terms of how habit forming a group can be. Tuesday Thursday and Saturday rides; another is Wednesday beer ride; another is Steve's Saturday group; another is the GRITS (Girls riding in the streets); they're also talking about having cruiser rides where they just ride around the neighborhood; can start a facebook page to get the names down.
A scavenger hunt is another possibility; where you look for clues or certain things and there are prizes at the end.
Poker runs are popular; if they want to buy a poker hand they can and that would be a fundraiser where we get a percentage of the pot.
A Byrd HS teacher assigned local architectural features like a treasure hunt.
Could be a picnic at the end with a concert.
Cynthia was asked about funding and planning for the dog park; she received extended time at the council meeting to speak on it; when she was going to sit down the Mayor asked her to "stop right there" and commended her for all the work she'd done working to on the master plan and promoting the dog park. In sum, though, she got nowhere but at least they listened to her and she's going to be a squeeky wheel. The group said she'll be squeekier with us to support her since the evidence is overwhelming that dog parks have positive influences on safety, quality of life, and property values, and that crime rates go down. Promoting ideas that have been shown to work elsewhere is part of ABS's mission, so we're on board with the dog park.
Feico mentioned that Don Shea had told him there was talk about getting advocate groups to follow ideas along and mentioned us. Maybe we'll be tapped for that sort of thing.
Maurice reported on SBCR's plans to buy the rest of the block by the Bachi Building and making it a large space with an atrium. Maurice's sister works for them and she said Maurice might be able to use the Bachi Building for his bicycle coop until SBCR needs it. It could also be a parking lot for bikes; In other cities there are places where for a subscription fee people park their bikes there, and can even shower before walking to work downtown. We also discussed the new ordinance in New York that prohibits building owners from prohibiting bikes in common areas. Right now bikes are prohibited from boardwalk--understandably--but when they are walked they shouldn't be, but are, Maurice reported.
Dan reported that the HRA HAP, the Fairfield Historic District, and the Crewe of Highland all spoke to the MPC requesting that the request to open up a treenage girls shelter on the 500 block of Jordon be denied. Those in favor spoke as well, but ultimately MPC decided to deny the request, and the main reason being that not in line with the MPC's stated vision in the master plan of returning old historic neighbordhoods to residential use, and the second being that Highland already has a high number of social service organizations. It was also mentioned in the course of the discussion that it would be nearby where a number of sex offenders are located in a group home; also, none of those speaking for the location lived in Highland. They also took off the agenda the issue of rezoning Highland because none of the small business owners were there to speak to change it and residents did speak to keep it as is.
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