Bike Board Members,

Please recall that a Vision statement must be our shared view of the future and must compel us to act.  A shared vision enables us to stay focused, to enjoy working together, and to be proud of our accomplishments. 

At our 2-Nov meeting we brainstormed vision statements.  Then, Bill Reger-Nash, Linda Cooper and I offered a summary that the BB did not accept.  Using the feedback from that cycle and the original list of ideas, on 1/8/2007, I recommended the following Vision statement:

All Morgantown residents can enjoy bicycling safely and fearlessly anywhere, anytime for any reason.  Morgantown residents choose to ride bicycles for transportation as well as recreation.  Our state and our nation recognize Morgantown for the benefits of bicycling to our health, our environment, our economy and our quality of life.

Nick Hein, Jim Rye, Greg Good, John Lozier and Jonathan Rosenbaum responded to my request for feedback.  Except for the addition of a comma behind the word "anytime", I'm not proposing any changes in reponse to their comments.  Following are summaries of their comments and my responses.

1. Greg recommended adding a comma after "anytime".  I agree and will make the change.
2. Greg, Jim, and John said the word "fearlessly" was redundant with "safely" while Nick suggested emphasizing "fearlessly".  When we gathered vision statement inputs at our 2-Nov meeting, Sonitt's input explicitly included "feels safe to ride".  Making cycling safe is a necessary but insufficient step to increasing cycling.  Based on authoritative info (Forrester, John, Effective Cycling), fear is the main factor that discourages people from cycling.  If we succeed at making cycling safe but don't eliminate fear, e.g. through education, we will probably not realize our vision for all Morgantown residents.  Unless we want to argue further to delete "fearlessly", I will retain it.
   
3. John said the word "All" was superfluous.  Marilyn's input at our 2-Nov meeting explicitly included "all citizens".  I agree that one could argue that "Morgantowners" includes all residents but one could also argue that it doesn't.  For example, consider, "Morgantowners choose to have parades on Friday evenings".  I think we'd agree that this is true but it does not include all Morgantowners.  I believe that including the word "All" in our vision statement says that if cycling is unsafe for anyone in the city, or if there are places in the city that you can't get to by bike, our job is not done.  Therefore, unless there is further argument to delete it, I will retain "All".
4. John said, "The entire second sentence repeats much of the first, merely to detail 'any reason'".  When we gathered vision statement inputs at our 2-Nov meeting, Jim's, Betsy's, Bill's, Sonitt's, and Nick's ideas all explicitly included the distinction of transporation and recreation.  I believe deleting the second sentence loses their input.  Unless we want to continue to argue to delete the second sentence, I will retain it.
5. John recommended replacing "All Morgantown residents can enjoy" with "Morgantowners choose to".  Before I make that change,  I need to hear from other members. If I accept John's argument that "All" is superfluous, then it follows that "Morgantowners" is synonymous with "All Morgantown residents".  Then, to say, "Morgantowners choose to" would be equivalent to saying that "All Morgantown residents choose to".   But, hey, I'm for everyone in Morgantown choosing to ride a bike rather than drive a motor vehicle and I can even visualize that.  With regard to "choose" versus "can enjoy", when we gathered vision statement inputs on 2-Nov, Bruce's input explicitly included "enjoyment", and Nick's and Bill's inputs explicitly included "fun".  
6. John said "the third sentence dwells on glory-seeking (recognition), a new and unnecessary concept".  Jim responded that it adds to the importance of what we are about.  It is also similar to what Jim proposed at our 2-Nov meeting although his input didn't say anything about national and state recognition.  I added the recognition clause as a hook into the Traffic Commission and the City Council.   Before I eliminate the last sentence, I need more input from the Board. 
   
7. Jonathan suggested adding the sentence,  "We are a people using our own power for a cooler planet."  My reading is that the Board would not support lengthening the vision statement.  Unless anybody wants to argue for adding a sentence, I will not add it.

So, following is a proposed vision statement with the only change from that above being the addition of a comma: 

All Morgantown residents can enjoy bicycling safely and fearlessly anywhere, anytime, for any reason.  Morgantown residents choose to ride bicycles for transportation as well as recreation.  Our state and our nation recognize Morgantown for the benefits of bicycling to our health, our environment, our economy and our quality of life.

Perhaps I'm steamrolling on this.  I'm trying to bring it to closure.  However, if this vision statement is not clear and if it doesn't compel you to act to realize it, then it is a failure.  If any one of us feels that "This is Frank's vision statement and not mine", it is a failure.  If this is what you think, please reply to this message, either to the whole Bike Board or to me personally.  I will continue shaping this until it is clear and every member of the Board, including the 8 members who have been silent, adopts it as his or her own.  Or, I will turn it over to anyone who thinks they can do it better.  Please reply.

Frank