Bike Board members,
Those of you who printed and posted flyers for this weekend's Road I course, please accept my gratitude. Nobody signed up. The next offering is September 8-9. Attached is the flyer updated for these dates. Would you please replace the flyers you posted with this one? Perhaps with a little more exposure time, the flyers will bring in a minimum of 4 participants.
Yesterday, I met with Jeff Mikorski, Assistant City Manager. He is quite supportive of pursuing a WV Transportation Enhancement grant to support our Education recommendations. To submit a grant on our behalf, Mr. Mikorski needs us to define what the money would be spent on, how much would be spent on each item, and the transportation impact. Our chances of getting the grant depend on how substantive and credible a case we can make. Who will work with me to do this?
Intent-to-propose applications are due 15-November. Grants are $30K minimum and must be spent in 12-15 months. The state provides 80% and the municipality or county must contribute 20%. The application must be approved by City Council. Proposed projects must fit into one or more of 12 categories. Category #1 is "provision of facilities for pedestrians or bicyclists". Category #2 is "provision of safety and educational activities for pedestrians and bicyclists". Proposals are due 15-Jan. Awards are announced 6-9 months later.
Mr. Mikorski has a good rapport with Harold Simmons the WV coordinator of transportation grants. He will talk with Simmons to find out who applied for category 1 and 2 grants in the past, who received them, who didn't and why they did or didn't get them. He'll feed guidance back to us.
Anytime the City spends over $10K on one project, they must request competitive bids. Mr. Mikorski emphasized that the state won't pay salaries but will pay consultants. We should recognize that the City will probably end up hiring consultants rather than funding Bike Board members. I will talk with Ron Eck about the best way to balance this out. Dr. Eck is Chairman of the Traffic Commission, a WVU Civil Engineering professor, and, I believe, a member of a consulting group.
In our February recommendations, we recommended that the City get a $10K grant to be spent over 24-months to purchase, develop and deliver training. We didn't define any more detail than that. If we flesh out our education details and they total to less than $30K, we could include infrastructure.
That we convince City Council and the State that they will realize substantial value for their investment is crucial.
My next meeting with Mr. Mikorski is 22-August. Let's have a substantive case to present!
I look forward to your reply.
Frank Cyclists Fare Best when They Act and Are Treated as Drivers of Vehicles