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 27^th 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.