Report From VBF Annual Meeting Sept. 19

admin September 28, 2009 @vabike

VBF held our annual meeting Sept. 19 in Richmond, at the Heart of Virginia Bike Festival. Here’s a report from Allen:

First, while we had a good turn out of seven board members (Champe, Bud, Sheryl, Bill, Barbara, James, and myself), only three regular VBF members attended–Gary Duerk, Joe Morgan (Norfolk), and Douglas Stewart (Fairfax City).

Second, the Nominations Committee declined to present a slate of candidates for board director election. (Barbara has been tied up with family concerns. Remember, we’re an all-volunteer organization.) Consequently, the board agreed to postpone our Annual Membership Meeting to the Alliance Winning Campaigns Training in Richmond during the Nov. 14-15 weekend.

The meeting consisted of a roundtable discussion of both local and statewide issues, including:

* Virginia Beach Bicycling Accommodation Issues: speed limit reduction trial on a short segment of Shore Drive; VB City Council resolution supporting bike lanes; potential state legislation sought by local officials.

* Rails with Trails Campaign: resolution and petition endorsements; HB2088 meetings and upcoming DRPT report to the VGA; our draft white paper for VCN’s annual legislative issue package; (redacted).

* The Use Permit for Mountain Biking on State Forest Trails that the VGA authorized as of 7/1/09.

* Announcements of DCR’s public meetings on the James River Heritage Trail and of the Maryland Toll Authority’s public meetings on expanding the Gov. Nice (Rte 301) Bridge across the Potomac.

* Updates on VBF’s Questionnaire for Statewide Candidates (zero responses received by the deadline), Bike Route 76 pins and signage, status of VDOT’s draft State Bicycle Plan, planning for the Nov. 13-15 Alliance Winning Campaign Training in Richmond, and recent bike lane retrofits in Fairfax County.

* The Nominations Committee chair reported on her efforts to recruit new board members from Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

So we didn’t elect new officers, which means there’s still time for that. If you’d like to run for our board, or have a good candidate in mind, please let us know! We’ll move forward with board elections at our Fall Retreat and Winning Campaigns training session in November.

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