Art Bike Auction update

Final Art Bike Auction
8pm, Friday, September 5th.
The Globe, upstairs.

Buy beer, bid on art bikes, good times all around. Bring your kazoos and noisemakers. I have no idea if we'll use them, but this is your chance.

Details on art bikes and the auction here.

Cheers!

"Bike Ride for Youth" postponed

Dear cyclists and volunteers,
Due to bad weather from Tropical Storm Fay on Saturday, we were forced to postpone the Bike Ride for Youth. We will send out another announcement as soon as the date is set.

This does allow you more time to collect pledges of support, increasing your chances to win one of the raffle prizes. We can accept pledges at our website, www.athensbgca.com, and also at the Boys & Girls Club office (706-549-7017).

If you have not already done so, you may now pay your $15 registration fee online by clicking on "Make On-line Donation!" and choosing "Bike Ride for Youth - registration."

Thank you for your patience - more info will follow soon!
Laura Floyd
Boys & Girls Clubs of Athens

Thanks & Art Bikes

Many thanks to all who came out for our annual meeting last night at Cine'!
There's a short slide show below of pics from the event.

Don't forget that our Art Bike Auction is still in progress! Bids are down for all bikes, but we are accepting bids through the 30th.

Go here for details on bidding and pics of the frames. They are amazing.

Transportation news roundup

In today's ABH, a piece on the undeniable growth of scooter & moped use in Athens.

FYI: "Moped drivers who scoot along in bike lanes will be ticketed."

Another article in the ABH discusses plans to ease traffic on Mitchell Bridge Rd by moving cars to Athens West Pkwy.

And from last week's Flagpole, coverage of delays with UGA's Alternative Transportation Program:

With the start of UGA's fall semester this month, perhaps no section of the University's staff is more anxious - or busier - than Parking Services. August has typically been "a zoo," in the words of Parking Services chief Don Walter. After getting parking permits sold and distributed to faculty, staff and students for the year, Walter's staff then has to enforce regulations, assist confused customers and otherwise try to keep the campus's parking system - which has been in a process of refinement through great effort over the past several years - working smoothly.

As of the first week of August, though, Walter could already begin his tally of aggravated individuals: at least a couple of users of Parking Services' Alternative Transportation Program, or ATP, who were told that the program will not exist in the month of August this year.

Don't forget our Annual Meeting is tomorrow at Cine, 7 pm- Come for the food, friends, films, and our first Art Bike Auction!

Art Bikes for auction

Watch the slide show below to see our collection of "Art Bikes," classic road bike frames featuring the original work of local artists, including:Lou Kregel, John Hinkameyer, David Hale, and Toby Cole.
Frame prep and final coating was done by Airglow from Washington, GA.
The frames were initially refurbished by BikeAthens’ Bike Recycling Shop and Ben’s Bikes.

The bikes include these brands: men's older model Schwinn, men's Specialized Rockhopper, women's Free Spirit Brittany, women's Magna, and a men's Murry.

Come to the annual meeting this Thursday at Cine (7 pm) to make your first bid, or see the frames on dsplay at The Globe and The National, or call 706-714-8450.

BikeAthens Annual Meeting & Party

We are hosting our Annual Membership Meeting and Party this year at Cine Bar-Cafe downtown.
We'll get started at 7 pm.
We'll have food, a screening of our "Tour de Sprawl 2003" film, and the introduction of our Art Bike Auction!
Renew your membership or join, come hear what we have accomplished, and watch a documentary film featuring Athens' cyclists and cycles.

Plus, meet & socialize with your neighbors who support our mission of transportation choices in Athens.

We hope to see you there!

Emory Univ selling low cost bikes

Check out this article from CNN. Our neighbors down at Emory are really encouraging bicycle use!
UGA, take note and follow the leader!

Excerpt:

The school is selling discounted bicycles to students and faculty, adding bike lanes to campus roads and stocking bikes that can be borrowed for free.

The university is pushing its $250,000 "Bike Emory" initiative, launched a year ago, in hopes of convincing students and faculty that the eco-friendly bikes are a better alternative to their four-wheeled, gas-guzzling counterparts.

Cycling already has a foothold at many colleges, where hefty parking fees, sprawling campuses and limited roads make it tough to travel. Still, most students are reluctant to leave their cars parked.

"They're using them to drive from residence halls to class, which is a two- or three-block commute," said Ric Damm, an administrator and cycling coach at Ripon College, which is giving away $300 bikes to freshmen who leave their cars at home. "We thought, 'How can we provide an incentive to get them out of that behavior?"'

Moving drunks around

In a piece in today's Flagpole, outlining the stricter stance the ACC Solicitor is taking toward underage drinking, editor Ben Emanuel notes some possible transportation solutions to the motorcade of drunkards leaving downtown every night between 10 and 3:00 a.m.:

Also at the meeting, bar owners heard from Athens Transit Director Butch McDuffie, who noted that late-night bus service for downtown hasn’t been discussed much since a brief attempt foundered a few years ago. In a sign of the good that might yet come out of the revived HRP, though, the newly-assembled group was unanimous in its enthusiasm to renew planning discussions for late-night transit service to get downtown-goers home safely.

The group heard, too, from Matt Presnell, who with his brother started a local outfit of the company Zingo this spring. Zingo, now operating in eight cities across the country according to its website, offers customers an insured, sober driver with a fold-up mini-motor-scooter that fits in a car’s trunk for the ride home, giving the hired driver a way back downtown after getting the car and its occupants home safely.

Northeast Georgia Regional Transportation Forum

An announcement from The Northeast Georgia Self Advocacy Network:

The Northeast Georgia Self Advocacy Network in cooperation with the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities is sponsoring the Northeast Georgia Regional Transportation Forum hosted by the Multiple Choices Center for Independent Living, Inc. The intent of the forum is to educate the citizens of region 5, (Barrow, Clarke, Elbert, Greene, Jackson, Madison, Morgan, Oglethorpe, Oconee, and Walton counties), about cross county transportation efforts thru out the state of Georgia.

If you are a resident of Northeast Georgia with a concern about transportation including: reasonable accommodations, getting to appointments , shopping, social events, traffic, or the high cost of gas, please join us on August 21, 2008.

A panel of representatives from the Department of Transportation, Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities, and others will be asking questions to develop a strategy for a statewide strategic transportation plan.
* Date: August 21, 2008
* Time; 6:00 PM
* Place: Multiple Choices Center for Independent Living, Inc.
850 Gaines School Road, Athens, Georgia 30605

If you need further information please contact (706) 549-1020.

ATP delays

It is our understanding that parking passes for those in UGA's Alternate Transportation Program (ATP) will not be available until September. Clients have been told to use the pay lots until then.

Parking Services has previously indicated that there are insufficient parking spaces to accommodate demand. Those who subscribe to ATP are partners in reducing that demand.

UGA parking services can be reached at parking@uga.edu