Author - Lauren Holley
Announcements:
-Christmas basket delivery went well
-Auction Committee starting soon. One volunteer has already responded to Kristin's email.
- Gary, one of Greg Wynn's guest joining us this morning. The Greenery's Branch Manager on the commercial side
-Auction Committee starting soon. One volunteer has already responded to Kristin's email.
- Gary, one of Greg Wynn's guest joining us this morning. The Greenery's Branch Manager on the commercial side
Guest Speaker - Frank Babel
- Biking advocate - Hilton Head resident since 2005
- Has played an integral role in the development of pathways on Hilton Head Island
- Hilton Head has a Gold-Level standing for being a bike friendly community http://www.bikeleague.org/community
- For the past 7 years, recreational biking has been rated the #1 thing to do in our area
- 1970 - the first bike path in Sea Pines was created to mainly provide a method of transportation for labor workers
- Then came HH Plantation's development of paths
- 1983 when Hilton Head became a town, the hospitality tax started to help in providing funding for pathways, but there were still a lot of issues with them not connecting, safety, and maintenance.
- 2005 Frank was greatly involved with advocacy - pushing for better maintenance, connecting pathway gaps, providing better maps and helped start the Pedal for Kids for the Boys and Girls Club
- Bike Advisory Committee formed to specifically focus on Safety, Education, and Access - they collaborated with the town. This allowed for the improvement of the pathway network for multi-use and the maintenance budget improved.
- They evaluate every crash every year and determine where improvement is needed. They help with getting safety signals in place where needed, crosswalk medias called "safety islands" for walking or biking across the street, boardwalk bridges over waterways, pathway kiosks with maps, safety vests for workers in the area who bike to work, etc. Their efforts have also helped increase amount of bicycle parking in the area.
- Hilton Head Bike Ambassadors are volunteers who help those using the pathways with direction, first aid, and minor bike repair. They have trained over 100 ad have 50 active.
- In the future, their focus will be on improving and implementing pathways that can help more people utilize for use of getting to work and school. There would need to be a larger culture shift of using bikes for more day to day activities. They are also working with the town to figure out a way to have the use of e-bikes be safe because of their speed imposes risk.
- There is also a lot of input going into the new bridge project in regards to how it can better accommodate bikers in the new plans to ensure safety and proper bike facilities for people to get back and forth from the mainland
- They are also trying to partner with local POAs to improve some of their paths - HH Plantation is in need of redoing a lot of their paths
- There is a lot the Bicycle Advisory Committee still funds on their own so they are always looking for donations and support in their projects - you can donate to the Bike Walk Hilton Head Island Support Fund
- VanLandingham Rotary Club has committed to helping them update and improve their Safety fact sheet.
- Has played an integral role in the development of pathways on Hilton Head Island
- Hilton Head has a Gold-Level standing for being a bike friendly community http://www.bikeleague.org/community
- For the past 7 years, recreational biking has been rated the #1 thing to do in our area
- 1970 - the first bike path in Sea Pines was created to mainly provide a method of transportation for labor workers
- Then came HH Plantation's development of paths
- 1983 when Hilton Head became a town, the hospitality tax started to help in providing funding for pathways, but there were still a lot of issues with them not connecting, safety, and maintenance.
- 2005 Frank was greatly involved with advocacy - pushing for better maintenance, connecting pathway gaps, providing better maps and helped start the Pedal for Kids for the Boys and Girls Club
- Bike Advisory Committee formed to specifically focus on Safety, Education, and Access - they collaborated with the town. This allowed for the improvement of the pathway network for multi-use and the maintenance budget improved.
- They evaluate every crash every year and determine where improvement is needed. They help with getting safety signals in place where needed, crosswalk medias called "safety islands" for walking or biking across the street, boardwalk bridges over waterways, pathway kiosks with maps, safety vests for workers in the area who bike to work, etc. Their efforts have also helped increase amount of bicycle parking in the area.
- Hilton Head Bike Ambassadors are volunteers who help those using the pathways with direction, first aid, and minor bike repair. They have trained over 100 ad have 50 active.
- In the future, their focus will be on improving and implementing pathways that can help more people utilize for use of getting to work and school. There would need to be a larger culture shift of using bikes for more day to day activities. They are also working with the town to figure out a way to have the use of e-bikes be safe because of their speed imposes risk.
- There is also a lot of input going into the new bridge project in regards to how it can better accommodate bikers in the new plans to ensure safety and proper bike facilities for people to get back and forth from the mainland
- They are also trying to partner with local POAs to improve some of their paths - HH Plantation is in need of redoing a lot of their paths
- There is a lot the Bicycle Advisory Committee still funds on their own so they are always looking for donations and support in their projects - you can donate to the Bike Walk Hilton Head Island Support Fund
- VanLandingham Rotary Club has committed to helping them update and improve their Safety fact sheet.