City of Houston Bicycle Advisory Committee Education Subcommittee met June 26

City of Houston Bicycle Advisory Committee Education Subcommittee met June 26.

Here are the minutes provided by the subcommittee:

Call to Order. BAC Chair Tom Compson began the meeting at 2:05pm.

Roll Call: (bold indicates present)

Leah Chambers, Chair

Tom Compson, BAC Chair

Carl B. Salazar

Joe Cutrufo

Ben Drews

Robin Holzer

Additional BAC Members Present:

Trevor Reichman

Mike VanDusen

Alejandro Perez, BAC Vice Chair

Ex-Officio Members:

Jennifer Ostlind, Planning & Development

Ian Hlavacek, Houston Public Works

Patricc Fortiori, Parks & Recreation

Item 1: Director’s Report. Jennifer Ostlind gave the Director’s Report.

Houston BCycle will shut down permanently at the end of the month. We are working with them to close operations and leading the move/salvaging of equipment. We’re in contact with the BCycle brand parent organization to transfer equipment to other cities who use the same equipment.

The pause on Shepherd-Durham Phase II was removed and the plan is moving forward with the protected bike lanes intact. There were two negotiations for the plan moving forward: 1) narrowing the widened sidewalks and 2) not narrowing vehicle travel lanes.

The July BAC meeting will kick off the public comment period for the proposed naming of the Pat Walsh Bikeway. Staff will present the proposal, and there will be a 60-day notice period to gather public comments.

Item 2: Chair’s Report. BAC Chair Tom Compson gave the Chair’s Report.

Chair Compson gave a reminder about the book Bike Battles: A History of Sharing the American Road by James Longhurst, which discusses the history of bicycles on our roads, public opinion, and legislation.

Item 3: Public Comment.

No written comments were submitted prior to the meeting.

No spoken comments were received during the meeting.

Item 4: Bike Friendly Business Best Practices.

Roland Kennedy and Joy Roth of Chevron gave a presentation on Chevron’s earning Silver Bike Friendly Business recognition from the Bike League and the company’s best practices that contributed to fostering a bicycling community amongst its staff and leadership.

Item 5: Vision Zero Houston Dashboard.

Sofia Font, Transportation Planner/Vision Zero Coordinator, Planning & Development, gave a presentation on Vision Zero Houston’s interactive crash dashboard and lead a demonstration on how to use it to find and refine crash data.

Item 6: Bike Month Debrief.

BAC members held a discussion on this year’s Bike Month and ideas to carry forward into next year.

• October is another significant month for walk/bike activities, especially to school.

• Fall is a good time to recruit more bike commuters; May weather can disincentivize new bike riders.

• Staff will begin consolidating known October events to share with the group. The Education Subcommittee will restart Bike Month group to plan for the fall and look for opportunities to connect with HISD and schools.

Item 7: Open Forum.

No topics during Open Forum.

Item 8: Announcements and Events.

Upcoming Events

- 7/10, James Bute Park/Historic Frost Town Master Planning Session, Frost Town Brewing, 100 N Jackson St, 6-8pm

- Opportunities to volunteer at iCanBike Houston all July [Website]

Next Meetings

- Bicycle Advisory Committee: July 24

- Infrastructure Subcommittee: August 22

- Education Subcommittee: September 26

Adjournment. Meeting Adjourned at 4:12pm.

https://houstonbikeplan.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/BAC-Education-Meeting-Notes_June2024.pdf