KA-Motion

[Melalvai]

We had our first ever meeting of the new bike/ped advocacy group, Thursday night. Despite the cold and that the city was still digging out from the storm, we had 13 people-- a satisfactory turnout.

My most important goal was to settle on our name. I've been calling us Northeast Missouri Walk & Bike (NEMO Walk & Bike) as a "placeholder" name. The placeholder name was a strong contender but the ultimate winner was Kirksville Area Motion-- KA-Motion! Such a cute name!

[Tri Girl]

That's great that you had such a good turnout considering the weather! ;)
So what's next on the docket?

[Melalvai]

MU Extension has a grant to do Livable Streets workshops in communities around Missouri. They'd already been planning to do one in Kirksville, and I've gotten involved in that. We're going to use the workshop to launch KA-Motion. By March 29, we need to have a rudimentary website that has a form so people can join and subscribe to the list.

There is some bike-ped activity going on already, so we can easily jump on board with that. The Parks & Rec director was at the meeting, which was awesome because it gives us a stamp of legitimacy. She was already planning on doing bike/ped traffic counts and I was able to tell her about the National Bike/Ped Documentation resources.

We talked about an easy project to mark a trail out at the State Park. The markers already exist and would happily be donated for this.

I'd love to observe Bike, Walk & Wheel Week in May. I don't want to try to do a big production of it our first year, but breakfast stations for a Bike to Work day might be simple enough.

[OakLeaf]

Very cool! :)

[Tri Girl]

Excellent! I love that you're taking action and making things happen in your community! LOVE IT!!:D
Is your bike/ped community fairly large in your area?

[Melalvai]

The answer to your question about the bike/ped scene is yes and no. It's large for the type of community but it's a small, rural community. Kirksville has a population of 17,000 plus about 8000 students. It's the biggest town for 90 miles in any direction, so it's a center for the surrounding rural communities as well.

There is no longer any cycling club that I'm aware of, the university one doesn't exist. There is a thriving multisport club, and a couple races every month without having to travel too far, including the big triathlon in September.

There's also what I call the "hippie culture". I'm not sure if there is a more PC term for that. Sustainability or eco culture? Actual communes, as well as more mainstream things like the Farmer's Market. The university has a lot of sustainability initiatives, and the students formed a Bike Coop which alternates between thriving and struggling (a bit of both at the moment).

There is no bike shop anymore. Several people fix bikes, and one huge service KA-Motion will provide is listing these services on our website.

[Mr. Bloom]

Congrats! Maybe you'll get some inspiration from our group:

http://bloomington.in.gov/Bloomington_Platinum_Biking_Task_Force

[Melalvai]

Seems to me I'd posted an update on this group recently but I can't find it. Sorry if this is duplicate info.

Several weeks ago our grant person walked into my office. "We want to apply for this Missouri Foundation for Health grant," she told me, "but none of us have time. Then we thought of you and the new bike group. Would you be interested?"

Despite the 3 other grant deadlines, I did not hesitate in saying "YES!" What followed was a chaotic few weeks. I figured I'd have many more ideas than what we could fit into the budget, but I got the important ones to fit. Partnering with the local Bike Co-op and getting a part-time manager for them is probably the best idea I had. The closest bike shop is 90 miles away, and the Bike Co-op is a diamond in the rough run entirely by undergrads. It needs consistency & reliability. I worked closely with them developing the grant, and met a LOT of people who are really important for KA-Motion.

The other main element of the grant is Walking School Bus. I had no idea how popular that would turn out to be! By the end of it (yesterday), the person who originally asked me said she has enough experience with grants to know that you can't get your heart set on them--but she has her heart set on this one. I assured her that I'm already thinking about alternative funding opportunities and creative ways to make this happen.

I've met so many people, and they are all so excited and enthusiastic about the grant, about KA-Motion, about Walking School Bus, about Bike Co-op, about everything I want to do. It's exciting..and exhausting. But mostly exciting!

I was invited to speak to the Optimists Club the day before the grant deadline. The brand-new mayor was there and we chatted about Walking School Bus and bike/ped issues. Yesterday--the grant deadline--this article (http://www.trumanindex.com/new-mayor-supports-business-students-1.2163973) came out. Here's the relevant quote:
"[Mayor] Detweiler said his four main objectives as mayor will be to ..., work with Kirksville Area Motion to create more resources for walkers and bicyclists and..."

I am astounded. In a good way!!

It has been a wild ride!

[OakLeaf]

That is so exciting, Mel. You're my hero! :)

[Mr. Bloom]

You did post this somewhere Mel...maybe Facebook? But it's good to see great news twice!

Will you be bringing your bike on your visit next month ? I'll be glad to take you on a riding tour of our bike/ped facilities (and we can do a quick Breaking Away tour if you want).

In addition, this might interest you:

http://bloomington.in.gov/documents/viewDocument.php?document_id=5210

[hebe]

Brilliant! Well done.

[Bike Chick]

Great job, Mel! We need more of you!

[Melalvai]

I want a Kirksville Bike/Ped Task Force like Bloomington's, and I have high hopes that we'll get one sooner than later, after the mayor's comments in that news article.

I was pretty uncertain about this mayor. I knew the last mayor would have been an ally, but he didn't run for re-election and I didn't know much about Detweiler. I'm so relieved by the news article.

[Melalvai]

Will you be bringing your bike on your visit next month ? I'll be glad to take you on a riding tour of our bike/ped facilities (and we can do a quick Breaking Away tour if you want).
Probably not the bike. Too many people packed in the car, the car will get poor mileage with a bike attached, and I don't really think there will be time. I'm hoping at least some of my family will have time to go for a walk or two while we're there!

[Mr. Bloom]

Plan on walking from the square, down Kirkwood, and through the beautiful campus. Also plan to walk the B-Line Trail two blocks west of the square.

[Melalvai]

Check out me getting all in the press and stuff:
http://www.kirksvilledailyexpress.com/topstories/x128426748/Citizens-seek-change-on-Boundary

[redrhodie]

Good job!

I also read the comments, and I wonder if it is possible to add a "just add a bike lane", as that person "concerned" suggested? Wouldn't that involve widening the road? I imagine that would be a huge, expensive undertaking. Not seeing the road, but imagining it as having no shoulder, it does sound like adding one would be a good option, but am I right in thinking that there's no way to fund that?

[Melalvai]

The road is narrow, and no shoulders. The MoDOT engineer sent me contact info for the regional planning commission so we can ask for wider road w/ shoulders & bike lane on the plan. But yes, MoDOT is broke, in fact they'll have to turn down fed $ in another year or two because they won't be able to come up with the requisite match.

Even if we get a wider road, I strongly believe the speed limit should still be reduced. Getting the speed limit lowered will take a year or two if we're lucky. Getting a wider road might take a decade. My neighbor said he always thought it would take a fatality to get the speed limit reduced. But maybe it'll "only" take a head injury. If we have to wait a decade or more for additional safety measures, that's a long period of time to be risking that fatality.

[rant]
I don't know what the commenter said. I don't read comments on news stories. In my experience the people who comment don't bother to research or learn about an issue, they just throw their ignorant opinions out there as if they matter, and they typically do it as offensively as possible. Sorry to be so bitter but some of the comments in the past have been unwarranted personal attacks, such as "Why was a teenager biking on that road? Where was her mother?" (implying the wreck was my fault for allowing my 15 yr old daughter to ride a bicycle). Her mother was right behind her with her arm stretched out in a highly visible left turn signal which the driver nonetheless failed to see, b*tch.

Sorry, as you can tell, I was hurt by some comments in the past so I don't read comments now, and I would advise everyone to do the same. The only thing you will learn from reading comments is how ignorant the trolls are.
[rant over!]

[Tri Girl]

Keep fighting the good fight, Mel! :)

[redrhodie]

Sorry for bringing that up, Mel, especially since it revived hurt feelings. There were only 2 comments, apparently for the same person, and they weren't rude, but just as you expected, ignorant. Like it's so easy to just "add a bike lane". I was just curious if there was something I was missing, but apparently not.

It looks like you've made a great start at lowering the speed limit. More power to you!