Begin forwarded message:
From: Kasey Russell russell.kasey@gmail.com Subject: WVCC August Update Date: August 19, 2015 8:51:59 AM EDT To: Adam Angelona adam@arrowheadbikefarm.com, Adam Flack aflack@wvonthemove.net, Amanda Payne paynea@njrati.org, Amanda Yager a.yager@wvhub.org, amy.d.atkins@wv.gov, Amy Haden amyhaden@gmail.com, Anita Mayer anita.mayer@mail.wvu.edu, Bethany Williams williamsb@njrati.org, Morgantown Monongalia MPO baustin@labyrinth.net, Bill Wells bwells@unitedcoal.com, Breanna Shell shellb@cityofhuntington.com, Brendan Bell brendanbell.bell@gmail.com, Bruce Curry Bruce@currydesigngroup.com, Charlene Cook charlenecook1955@aol.com, Charles Holley cholley@cityofhuntington.com, "chip@wamsleycycles.com" chip@wamsleycycles.com, Christiaan Abildso cgabildso@hsc.wvu.edu, Christina Hunt c.hunt@wvhub.org, Connie Lupardus clupardus@caez-wv.org, Craig Slaughter craig.slaughter@wvimb.org, Dale Goff Dale.goff3@gmail.com, Dennis Strawn dennis.a.strawn@gmail.com, Don Spencer DSpencer36@comcast.net, Edgar Barrett nedbarrett@bellsouth.net, Ella Belling ella@montrails.org, Elliott Lewis eelewis7@gmail.com, Emily Vasile emilyvasile@gmail.com, Emmett Pepper epepper@vt.edu, Frank Gmeindl frank.gmeindl@comcast.net, Gail Pitchford gail.pitchford@camc.org, Gary Zuckett garyz@wvcag.org, Greg Garrett gagarrett@gmail.com, "harvey.allen@chartersites.net" harvey.allen@chartersites.net, Isaac Forman formanir@gmail.com, j underhill Jfunderhill@gmail.com, Jeffrey Lusk jlusk@trailsheaven.com, Jenny Totten jenny.dawn.totten@gmail.com, John Francis johncfrancis13@gmail.com, John Manchester jmanchester@lewisburg-wv.com, Kate Dobson Forman katedforman@gmail.com, "Laura M. Dice" Laura.Dice@camc.org, Michael Loughney mloughney@tioga-resources.com, Mike Plante mike@planteandassociates.com, Mike Costello costellowv@gmail.com, Nate Orders mail@ordersconstruction.com, Nathan McCray nathanmccray@Hotmail.com, Park Ferguson parkferg2007@yahoo.com, Patricia Clay trishc1@suddenlink.net, PJ pjdonovan83@yahoo.com, Rahul Gupta rahul.gupta@wv.gov, Rich Harper johnscyclery@frontier.com, Richard Eichberger reichberger@suddenlink.net, Scott Ferry scottferry@wvregion3.org, Scott Sudduth scottsud@gmail.com, Spellman Kent k.spellman@wvhub.org, "sryder@tgkvf.org" sryder@tgkvf.org, Stacy Bisker selaineb@gmail.com, Steve Fowler smf@pffwv.com, Susie K Salisbury Susiesalis@aol.com, "Eca3@Suddenlinkmail. Com" eca3@suddenlinkmail.com, Tom Heywood theywood@bowlesrice.com, Tom Lane tlane@bowlesrice.com, Tom Wood twood84@gmail.com, "townoffayetteville@suddenlinkmail.com" townoffayetteville@suddenlinkmail.com, voicetalent@amiebreedlove.com, Brian Weber xvrweber@gmail.com, "wrnott@suddenlink.net" wrnott@suddenlink.net, WV Explorer editor@wvexplorer.com
WVCC Member Update
August 18, 2015
We have momentum!! Can you feel it? Attitudes towards cycling and walking are changing. From Charleston to Matewan, communities are talking about ways to make their communities more cycling and walking friendly. What’s really neat is that local governments are listening. They are acting and implementing! If you see momentum in your community, please send me your story.
WVCC has been very busy and will be even busier this fall and into 2016. Take a look and mark your calendars.
Board of Directors Conference Call – August 27th at 4 p.m. (Let me know if you would like to join this call)
Fall Membership Meeting – October 23 in Fayetteville. We will begin with a board meeting at 4 p.m. on the Class VI property. A reception will begin at 5:30, followed by a dinner meeting and presentations from several local groups working to connect Beckley to Summersville. It’s all about Connecting Communities. I’ll send a follow up email later but ALL are welcome and encouraged to attend this exciting event. Bill Wells, WVCC Board Member, has offered to house as many of us as he can. Bill is also working with the local bike clubs, and we will have a bike ride Saturday morning. I’ll be walking the proposed Fayetteville loop for those that would prefer to hike instead of bike.
WV Bike Summit – January 24 and 25 at the Marriott Town Center, Charleston. See the attached Save the Date document for more information, and please forward it to your contact lists. If you are interested in serving on the Summit Planning Committee or have a great idea for a speaker or would like to exhibit or sponsor, please contact me immediately. Registration is open at wvconnectingcommunities.com so register today!
Thanks so much to our planning committee: Tom Smith, Federal Highway Administration; Perry Keller, WV DOH; Dennis Strawn, WVCC; Jeff Ball, ACE; Frank Gmeidl, Morgantown Bicycle Board; Amanda Payne, Bethany Williams and Emily Hagan, Rahall Transportation Institute; Christina Hunt, WV HUB; Gail Pitchford, former WVCC Board Member; Samantha Carney, Charleston Convention & Visitor’s Bureau; Will Miller, WV Tourism Commission; and Laura Dice, KEYS for Healthy Kids. And, thanks to our partners: Federal Highway Administration, City of Charleston, Rahall Transportation Institute, Charleston Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, Morgantown MPO, Region 5 MPO, ACE Cycling, WV Citizen Action Group, Hagerstown/Eastern Panhandle MPO, and the WV Department of Highways.
Why WVCC? Because we need policies in WV, from Congress to small towns and from schools to businesses, that allow for more people to be able to ride their bike or walk to work, school, to run errands or for better health and fitness. We are your voice at all levels of government, media, and public. Our cycling safety campaign was a huge success – billboards are still up in the Kanawha Valley. We just got two new boxes of Give Em Three stickers. Let me know if you want to hand them out in your community.
Speaking of being your voice at different levels of government – Dennis Strawn, President of WVCC, and I are both presenting at the WV DOT’s planning conference in September. My talk is about what communities across the state and country are doing to enhance cycling and walking. I will also mention possible projects (projects citizens would like to see happen). Dennis will be presenting on Charleston’s new bike plan. I am planning to use your stories (see below) for my presentation.
State of Cycling and Walking in West Virginia – I’m still working on this report. Morgantown so far is the winner with page after page of successes. Please, please, please send me a success, no matter how small, from your community or one that you happen to know about from anywhere in the state. Were you able to get some paint down on a road to better mark a cross walk? Were you able to organize a bike ride on National Bike to Work Day or some other occasion? Thanks so much to all that have sent me stories. I also need pictures. In fact, you can just send photos with a sentence or two description.
Thanks everyone. Hope to hear from you soon.
Kasey
Kasey Russell, Executive Director, WVCC
304.542.1994
