AGM and Year in Review 2019
AGM crowd listening to a presentation
Bikes for Newcomers!
Annual General Meeting
This year our AGM was held on November 27th at TAP ROOT above the Root Cellar. The AGM was well-attended, with approximately 40 people in attendance! We had delicious locally-sourced food and beverages as we socialised and listened to the presentations.
Luis Patricio, our board chair, lead us through a year in review of LCL’s activities and achievements in 2019 (see below for details), followed by a report from our treasurer Greg Staeger. Jenn Gilbert was voted in as our newest board member, and she spoke of how her year living with her family in Germany helped inspire her two top visions for cycling in London: more diversity in cyclists and more kids biking to school. A review engagement for LCL’s financial accountability was approved, and Innes and Associates was approved to be the public accountant undertaking the review.
Our former board member Marna Fujimoto Pihl put out a call to action for more volunteers in the following roles:
· Events Leadership Team
· Advocacy Team
· Communications Team
· Events task-force
· Bike Mechanics & shop volunteers for Squeaky Wheel Co-op
(more volunteers are always needed - signup here).
Arguably the most engaging part of the AGM was when personal stories were shared. Susan Whitehouse, an LCL member, shared her story of “Fun Fitness and Politics: My Cycling Journey” of how she started riding her bike for enjoyment and exercise but soon became politically engaged when she saw the need for more protected bike lanes.
Allyson Proulx shared how much she enjoyed learning to take care of and fix her own used bikes through a series of unfortunate events, including having her bike get smushed between a bus and a vehicle! Don’t worry, no one was injured, ask Allyson for story details!
Finally, Jacqueline, the Basic Needs and Community Support Coordinator from London Urban Services Organization, spoke of how important having a bike can be for a newcomer to London, and how LCL’s Bikes for Newcomers program helped several LUSO clients have access to affordable transportation.
Year in Review
2019 was a real period of growth for London Cycle Link! We hired our first staff - Daniel Hall - as Executive Director! Luis Patricio became the board chair, and most of our other directors were new to the board. This was also the first year we had a summer student, Hayden, with us.
Our community bike shop, The Squeaky Wheel, got a new location too: 809 Dundas St.. In addition to bikes, it has murals, couches, coffee, and smiles - come visit if you haven’t already, it’s open 3 days a week!
We had 50 events in 2019!! That’s almost one a week! Most of them, 27, were hosted or organized by LCL, including: Bike Prom, Bike to Work Day, Movie Night, Glow Ride, What Moves You…
Others were events where we had a booth like: the OEV Block Party, Gathering on the Green and Bike Rodeos…. Or we were part of a discussion like: City Symposium, Pints & Politics, and Green in the City.
Another highlight was Bikes for Newcomers. We want to give a shout out to the Cross Cultural Learner Centre and LUSO Community Services for connecting us with newcomers to Canada in need of bikes, and to the OEV grocer for keeping our bikes safe for so long!
All of this and we have yet to mention our advocacy campaign! Earlier this year we campaigned for Bikes on Dundas (we went from business to business to explain the many benefits of having protected bike lanes along the commercial areas of Dundas street), attended community consultations, and other meetings. LCL also contributed to the 30km/h speed limit and Cycling Master Plan Review - two crucial campaigns that could make London a bike-friendly city - a city for people.
It is gratifying to see that in 2019 the bicycle is becoming a relevant aspect of many conversations around city building: Fanshawe, Western, City of London - they all hosted events that included cycling as a core element of building a better city.
This is part of the process of normalizing urban cycling, as well as the new groups and initiatives that are emerging: Western Active Transportation Society is growing and getting stronger; Critical Mass rides have started again; and we have a new Bike Mayor!
It is gratifying to see that good infrastructure can boost cycling significantly. People want to bike, they just need safe and convenient infrastructure. We did a bike count on the King St Bike lane and counted 56 cyclists in just one hour! Thanks to all the champions of the King St bike lane!
We collected and explored many ideas this year. We had approximately 80 ideas including all sorts of bike rides, events, advocacy campaigns, and educational materials. Most of them were linked to the main concerns from our members and the cycling community:
1 ) We heard that bike rides are important, so we revamped our insurance to allow us to expand our Glow Ride and other bike rides
2) We heard that infrastructure is key, so we put more time and energy into advocacy campaigns like Bikes on Dundas
3) We heard that businesses and employers are relevant partners. So we piloted a few projects that we want to expand next year.
4) We heard that bike education is needed so we hosted many workshops and awareness-raising events
We were at the same time trying to implement some of the ideas and include them in our long term planning. It was an amazing learning experience for all of us, and we know we can do better next year and we will. From all of this we were able to check another box with the creation of LCL’s Strategic Plan to guide our work in a more objective way that is rooted in our community.
2019 was a year of activity and growth, and we are so excited for what 2020 will hold!
by Luis Patricio and Hailey Tallman
