9/30/15 Rotary Meeting Minutes
 
President’s Quote:  Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.”  Nikos Kazantzakis
 
Thanks to our greeter, Jim Maxwell, who offered thanks for the assist to the group who helped him.  Next week Bob Fagelson will greet at the Brattleboro Fire Station.
 
Thanks to our scribe, Jen.  Kris (KJ) will sub for Todd next week at the Fire Station.
 
Welcome to our guests – Baby Mesa, Dave Cohen, and Davey and Evie as family guests
 
Tristam has coffee for sale at $12/bag as a fundraiser to support scholarships to the Honduran community which provides the coffee.
 
Board Meeting tomorrow – October 1st, 7:15am at Jon Secrest’s Office
 
Garden Clean Up Saturday 10/3 10:30am-12:30pm, rain cancellation will be sent via email that morning – Followed by bulb planting Sunday at 11am if garden clean up is not cancelled.
 
Next week’s meeting will be held at the Brattleboro Fire House – we’re striving for 100% attendance to raise funds for the organization – the parking lot behind the building is available to us and can be accessed from school street.
 
Club Assembly is Wednesday October 14th
 
Future Speaker Assignments: 
 
10/21 – Marcy
10/28 – Toni
11/4 – Dan
 
Birthdays – Jill, Booie, Bob, and Jen – Happy Birthday!
 
Booie won $29 in the card drawing (6 of diamonds)
 
Brags:
 
-Bob bragged about their annual trip to Maine as well as the Cubs making the playoffs
-Damon bragged for his son Torin who took 6 seconds off his pace on the two mile and finished in 4th this past weekend.
-Toni bragged for Kyle who ran the two mile in 17 minutes and is the leader in the platoon in push-ups.  She loves basic training and they communicate via written letter.
-Josh bragged for Peter Elwell last week.  After Josh mentioned a pot-hole on Hinesburg Road to him, there was a road crew there that afternoon fixing the problem.  He bragged a dollar for the $200,000 worth of road work (wink, wink…)
-Jill bragged for Mesa’s first flight to Charleston, South Carolina, where they visited her Mom and sister and family.  She slept like a baby all four flights.
-Jon bragged for his family climbing Mount Monadnock last weekend with friends.  It’s the second most climbed mountain in the world.
-Will bragged for his daughter, Justine, who’s Amherst employer, Verite, just moved her to New York City and also had her meet with Apple in silicon valley to discuss world-wide forced labor situations, which is the work of the company, Verite.
-Toni bragged for Drew and the Adventure Trail fundraiser happening at Jamaica State Park on Saturday 10/17.  They’d like to get a rotary team together.  Jon may be a
contender…
 
Bowl of Life:  I was thrown from my vehicle after crashing into a tree.  With two broken legs, I calmly smoked a cigarette while waiting for the EMTs.  Josh guessed Kevin, who guessed Jim, who guessed Sandy, who guessed Turner, who correctly guessed Dan.  It was a snow-mobiling accident and resulted in his quitting smoking after a pulmonary embolism, a side effect of the broken legs, sent him to intensive care for a week.  No smoking there…
 
Speaker:  Dave Cohen, for VBike
 
Many cities are promoting bikes for transportation: NYC, Washington DC, Portland, Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis.  Biking is an indicator species for the health of a community.  Since the 1960’s Americans have put on 25 pounds, which corresponds to 1 billion gallons of gas, and 1.7 million cars.  The cargo bike is the ultimate hybrid.  And it is driving population growth in cities that create the infrastructure for it.  According to the New York Times, cargo bikes are the new station wagon, lead by companies like Yuba and Xtracycle who are developing new technologies for the use of bicycles for transportation.  The long tail cargo bike can carry multiple kids as well as cargo.  Technology is improving to allow for an easier ride up hills.  The electric assist motors, such as the mid-drive motor, front-hub motor, and rear-hub motor are joining new models of bikes like the Liberty trike, the step-through frame, and the Elf (solar-powered assist) to broaden the offerings to families, cargo carriers, and seniors who wish to be pioneers in the re-imaging of bicycles as a form of transportation.  The bike is not just for recreation anymore!
 
VBike, is an organization promoting the shift to bicycling for transportation in the state of Vermont.  Their first order of business was to join forces with Go Vermont to achieve this goal.  They work with organizations such as VSECU to offer financial assistance to those who wish to convert to biking.  They work to make bike shops more relevant to this growing shift towards bicycles as transportation.  They have a fleet of bikes and will be implementing “Bring It Home”, a program to get this fleet to interested participants next spring.
 
Thanks to Dave Cohen who answered Ross’s question about the Elf and how much road space it would take, or if it would fit in the bike lanes.  Dave says although it fits in some bike lanes, it’s primarily a road bike and tops off at a speed of 20 miles per hour, so would require come negotiating on the part of automobile motorists.  In answer to Jen’s question about safety concerns, he responded that the new motor assist technologist allow for great speed and control, creating a safer ride, but there would need to be pioneers in the movement to drive a change in infrastructure to make it even safer.  But think of the dangerous way of life we’ve created for ourselves as we use automobiles to move faster.  This tied into a question from Jon about Time constraints in our current life.  Josh answered about the total change in his life that biking has brought about.  He adds only 5-10 minutes to his commute, but his perspective on life is happier and more rich, even his daughter seems more alive as a passenger on the bike, as opposed to sleepy when riding in the van.  A question from Kevin about whether an increase in bicyclists on the road would force more safety education in the training of automobile motorists, prompted Dave’s response about the efforts being made to educate bicyclists in things they can do to increase their own safety.  Jill asked about the cost of these possibilities.  A new cargo bike can run around $2500, but you can create a built up cargo bike with and electric assist from any currently owned bike for about $800.  That does not include studded tires for the winter, but those are available.
 
Thanks all!
 
Buy coffee from Tristam