Greetings all,
After yesterday's exchanges (which seem to be stretching into today) it should by now be clear that there is diversity of opinion as to how to engage those outside the club on transit issues, and there is variation within the club on how to represent ourselves as cyclists to other cyclists as well as non-cyclists.
Instead of wading into the polemics, let me suggest two things that all club members can do to express our solidarity as cyclists:
1. Whether you agree with what James put in his editorial, WRITE YOUR OWN -- write the city and county commissioners and Gainesville Public Works about transit issues like 8th Avenue. The key is that there be a cacophony (if not a symphony) of voices on behalf of cycling.
----- Forwarded Message -----
From: James Thompson <jtexconsult@gmail.com>
To: gccmail <GCCMail@gccfla.org>
Cc: Pete Miner <pete.miner1@gmail.com>; Rob Robins <rhrobins@flmnh.ufl.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 6, 2013 5:24 PM
Subject: Re: GCCMail: In Today's Gainesville Sun
From: James Thompson <jtexconsult@gmail.com>
To: gccmail <GCCMail@gccfla.org>
Cc: Pete Miner <pete.miner1@gmail.com>; Rob Robins <rhrobins@flmnh.ufl.edu>
Sent: Friday, September 6, 2013 5:24 PM
Subject: Re: GCCMail: In Today's Gainesville Sun
Club,
James Thompson
--
Sales and Bike Fitting
Jim: the UPD's remarks cost local bike shops and our community thousands of dollars and likely hundreds of riders--they told people their bikes would get stolen so just go to Wal-mart to buy one. They did so in public, so my response was public. UPD apologized for the incident. The officer attending understood the stridency of my response.
As to all the other comments, I get pushed by a lot of you to be more aggressive and our club has been chided for a lack of stridency in organizing our advocacy. We have a thousand members. I have written thousands of words over the last two years as your Advocacy Director, all available to the public. I stand by my volunteer work and that of our Board Members in giving me the space to do my elected duty--represent you and organize you in and for the public good.
I appreciate all criticism, but be careful. Some of you have actually joined a FB post begun by an anti-bike guy who infiltrated one of our club threads last week.
I can't apologize for a letter that I believe represents what our vocal advocates have encouraged me to do--be more strident.
What I will do is offer all of you a hand in crafting any letters you may want to write to support the 8th Ave campaign or any bike infrastructure. I sent out a letter requesting such action last week. What I'm seeing is a renewed interest in our advocacy that could be channeled into that campaign. We are slowly losing our 4-3 majority on this project to public chatter against bikes.
I'd love to see some more pro-bike stuff out there, as would our pro-bike Commissioners, even if they are a little rough or we don't always agree with each other's tone.
In Solidarity,
James Thompson
Advocacy Director
On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 10:59 AM, Carter,Michael L <mcarter@coe.ufl.edu> wrote:
While most of us follow the traffic laws, using hand signals, etc. there is those handful of cyclists who wear no helmuts, ride on the wrong side of the rode, etc. These few do not represent the majority of the cycling community, unfortunately these are the ones motorists see and remember. I have found the majority of motorists to be very courteous to cyclists, but there is also those that don’t follow the laws and elude GPD, e.g. watching the SUV driver in my neighborhood running through the stop sign because he’s on his cell and not paying attention to me having the right-away (people with cell’s stuck to their ear while driving is another pet peeve of mine).Mike CarterOffice AssistantCollege of Education/Business OfficeP. O. Box 117041, Norman Hall Room 150Phone: 352-273-4122Fax: 352-392-7159From: gccmail-manager@simplelists.com [mailto:gccmail-manager@simplelists.com] On Behalf Of Pete MinerCc: GCCMail; jtexconsult@gmail.com
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2013 8:55 AM
To: Rob Robins
Subject: Re: GCCMail: In Today's Gainesville SunNo doubt! You just can't tell an entire city, "No more Mr. Nice Guy."And by the way, always.....be nice.On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 8:48 AM, Rob Robins <rhrobins@flmnh.ufl.edu> wrote:As a Gainesville Cycling Club member-in-good-standing, I would like to know if the GCC board approved today’s letter to the editor of The Gainesville Sun, wherein Advocacy Director of the GCC, James Thompson, writing as advocacy director of the GCC, made the following assertion:“Cyclists are done playing nice in this community, where we have tolerated untruths and emotional appeals from the car-only crowd.”Purposefully antagonizing so-called “emotional” motorists with innuendo and implied threats is to serve what end?? I feel very strongly that this is a wholly inappropriate stance for the GCC to be taking.Did the board approve this message? Assuming no – certain actions on the part of the board should follow. In my humble opinion, the first should be beseeching The Sun to run a statement authored by the full board, including Mr. Thompson, that condemns the above and makes clear our position on promoting cycling and improvements to bicycle infrastructure.The second should be reminding Mr. Thompson, as I hope this letter does, that when he tags his LTE’s “Advocacy Director of the Gainesville Cycling Club” he speaks for all of us and should therefore actually speak with our representatives on the board prior to making new pronouncements.Sincerely,
Rob RobinsGainesville, FLTo unsubscribe from GCCMail, please go to http://gccfla.org/. Sign in to the Members Area, go to the "Me" page, "About Me" box, and click the Unsubscribe button in the Email section. There are also links in the headers of this message that you can use if you know how to access them.To unsubscribe from GCCMail, please go to http://gccfla.org/. Sign in to the Members Area, go to the "Me" page, "About Me" box, and click the Unsubscribe button in the Email section. There are also links in the headers of this message that you can use if you know how to access them.
Sales and Bike Fitting
Gator Cycle (352-373-3962)
Advocacy Director
Gainesville Cycling Club
Co-Founder
(re-launching April 1, 2013)
Emeritus
Querencia Community Bike Shop
(Denton, Texas)
To unsubscribe from GCCMail, please go to http://gccfla.org/.
Sign in to the Members Area, go to the "Me" page, "About Me" box, and click the Unsubscribe button in the Email section. There are also links in the headers of this message that you can use if you know how to access them.