“52” Meeting tonight

A reminder that tonight at 5:30 pm there will be a meeting at the Riverwest Public House, 815 E Locust St. for 52, the new coalition of people around Milwaukee who ride bicycles for transportation.  I will be there around 5 pm if anyone else wants to show up early. Also at the meeting will be members of the MKEBKE community.  Check out their website, created and maintained by Steve Roche.  We will discuss joining forces in a broader coalition and formalizing whatever group we come up with.

The loose agenda for tonight’s meeting includes:

1. Name, logo and tag line
2. Relationship with the bike fed/non-profit status
3. Relationship with MKE BKE
4. Community bike event calendar
5. Hoan Bridge bike/ped path

Thanks to the generous efforts of local cyclist and designer, Ben Halpin, I will have some draft 52 logos for us to look at.  The image at the top of the page is a teaser, but there will be others to look at.

As I have mentioned before, I was interested in forming this group to lend a sense of communal identity to people who just bike around Milwaukee to go places.  Click here to go to the first discussion about forming such a group in Milwaukee. You can also search Over the Bars for other posts about the formation of the group. My initial idea was that bike clubs and bike racing teams all have a social aspect that people who ride mostly for transportation lack. I hope 52 will create opportunities to socialize and network with other people who ride bicycles for transportation.  I also hope it raise the public identity of bike commuters among the non-cycling public.

Finally, I hope this group will be a positive force for change and help make Milwaukee a more bicycle friendly community. Given the current political climate and all the cuts to federal and state funding for bicycle infrastructure and programs, it is more important than ever to advocate at the local level.  Our locally elected representatives need to hear from their constituents that they value spending local tax dollars to make it more pleasant and convenient to get around Milwaukee by bicycle.  To that end, 52 may become a non-profit or perhaps a local chapter of the Bicycle Federation of WI. 

I hope to see you at the Riverwest Public House.

A little more information on the Riverwest Public House, which just had it’s grand opening this past weekend;

“The mission of the Riverwest Public House Cooperative is three-fold: to provide a welcoming social meeting place, to provide patrons with a variety of affordable local, organic and/or delicious beers, ciders and spirits, and to raise funds to propagate other cooperatives through the Riverwest Cooperative Alliance.”

Hopefully you can participate and support this bicycle advocacy group. With the support of positive, motivated individuals such as yourselves, it has a lot of potential to make positive strides for our bicycle community.

When: Wednesday, March 13th 2011 5:30pm – 7pm
What: ’52′ Bicycle Coalition Meeting
Where: Riverwest Public House, 815 E. Locust Milwaukee, WI
Description: Second meeting of ’52′, a new Milwaukee coalition of people who ride bicycles for transportation
Link: ’52′ meeting on Over The Bars In Milwaukee