Minutes Executive Council meeting 8 November 2011

Living Streets Aotearoa Inc.

Minutes of Executive Council meeting

held 8 November 2011 at 7pm,

by teleconference

 

Present: Andy Smith, Meg Christie, Rhys Taylor, Mike Mellor, Chris Teo-Sherrell, Gay Richards

 

Apologies Willemijn Vermaat

 

Minutes of the last meeting

Minutes of the last meeting, held 20 September 2011 were accepted.

Incorrect payment
The refund of the payment made by Opus in April 2010 was endorsed. Andy confirmed that this refund had been made.

Correspondence from NZTA re Change to Give Way Rule next March

There is concern that there is no mention of the impact this may be on pedestrians.  If drivers are focusing on making the correct turning decision, they may be distracted from noticing people crossing at the intersection.

Action:  Andy to write to NZTA asking that any advertising/education campaign around the rule change include the message to watch for pedestrians, and that pedestrians also be made aware that extra vigilance may be needed around the time of the rule change..

MakeSHIFT / Greening the Rubble

Rhys and Meg reported that good progress is being made on all project sites. The results are satisfying, and are making an impact. Funding is on target with additional donations from landowners and sponsors, e.g. Placemakers. There is currently a shortage of volunteers, partly due to it being exam time for students, Project received coverage on Campbell Live recently.

MakSHIFT/Greening the Rubble will be the subject of a Spectrum documentary on National Radio on 27 Nov 2011 (after midday news).

Gay thanked Rhys for showing her round the project sites on a recent trip to Christchurch.

Rhys asked Living Streets to consider whether it should continue to be the umbrella organisation for this growing project going into 2012. This is being discussed by the project’s advisory group in Christchurch.

Action: Rhys to put the issues for Living Streets and the project in writing to be considered at the next meeting. 

Rhys raised the possibility of sharing the services of a GapFiller administrator, by paying for around 5 hours of admin work per week.

Agreed that Rhys should continue negotiations on this.

Rhys noted that he is reporting costs on a site by site basis to help gauge the cost of a particular type of park project. .

Footprints, news updates for membersIt was agreed that the focus would be on placing items on Facebook and the website etc. 

Pedestrian Safety issues

Mike noted that he had placed a link to a cautionary video for pedestrians on Facebook.

A discussion on the ongoing issue of incidents involving pedestrians on the realigned Wellington central bus route ensued. Living Streets has chosen not to respond directly to this issue or the call for jay walkers to be prosecuted . Mike indicated that ways to improve the safety of pedestrians on these streets continue to be discussed, and that pedestrians do perhaps need to be more aware of their surroundings.  .

Membership
Andy sent reminders to all with outstanding subscriptions – 16 renewals resulted

Action:   Andy to send receipts for renewals

Walking Awards
Meg reported that nominations are trickling in. We need to follow up possibilities around the country.

Financial reports received
Resolved: That financial report for October be accepted, Moved: Andy, Mike, carried.

General Business

Future focus
Chris asked whether we are doing much more than just treading water. It was acknowledged that it was more difficult to make an impact without paid staff. Agreed that there should be a meeting focusing on the future at the time of the conference 2Walk/Cycle conference in Hasting in February. Andy noted that the conference now runs from the evening of Tuesday 21^st to Friday 24^th Feb 2012. According to the draft programme.

Auckland Walking Seminar
Rodney Tolley is speaking in Auckland 2 December 2011. Living Streets could pay the meeting cost for any of the executive who wish to attend.

Trafinz conference
Chris asked whether anyone is attending Trafinz in Hamilton.

Action: Gay to contact Daphne about a Hamilton based advocate attending the conference to report back to Living Streets.

Next meeting

Action: Meg to Doodle executive to determine best meeting times in the 2^nd week of December for last meeting of the year. .

Meeting closed 7.55pm