MacBUG News

NSW BUG Comments

E-mail from Leigh Gibbens

<------Start

Hi all BUGs and interested riders,
I think we all know that there have been many changes at Bicycle NSW in recent years, in staffing, board membership and policy. I am aware that there are many people not entirely happy with those changes and who may be adversely affected by them. 

For BUGs, you will also be aware that your main avenue of access to the Board of BNSW was via the BUG Council. However, as Andrew Dodds, the convenor of that Council, has resigned from the Board, that avenue may have been (temporarily at least) closed.

Having discussed this with some of you and with Ken Hall (President of Macarthur BUG) in particular, I have decided to gather everyone's thoughts together and present them to the Board of Bicycle NSW. Ken Hall is a professional web site designer and he has kindly allowed us To use his Macarthur BUG web site for the purpose of airing our views initially.

In the first instance I am requesting that if you have an issue you would like raised with BNSW, then send me an email and I will forward it to Ken, who will publish it on the Macarthur BUG web site. We have set a deadline of 31st July 2008 after which we will collate all the emails and present them to Bicycle NSW at their earliest convenience. We will not alter or amend any email but will simply compile them.

I expect that I will also write a summary to list the most frequently mentioned issues and any constructive solutions that may have been proposed. We hope that such a mass presentation will carry more weight than separate independent correspondence. Ken and I are hopeful that this will prompt a pro active response from the Board of BNSW.  If not, then at least the issues will be public and we will have had the opportunity to form a united front in order to overcome the issues which may be common to many.

Our purpose is not to be negative but constructive.

I am writing this email to all NSW BUGs that have an email address and to all BNSW volunteers and associates whose email address is known to me. I am entirely happy for any of you to forward this to any interested party who may wish to contribute a response, though anonymous emails will not be accepted. I am also aware that many of you will have no reason to submit any response. In the mean time all emails will be able to be viewed on the Macarthur BUG website.
(See http://home.iprimus.com.au/kenhall/towncryer.html ).

Sincerely,
Leigh Gibbens
(I worked for Bicycle NSW under three month contract as Event Planning
and Operations Coordinator for the NSW Big Ride 2007 and was Route Manager on that Ride).

--
Leigh Gibbens
17 Kethel Road,
Cheltenham NSW 2119
Phone +61 2 9484 4093
Fax     +61 2 9484 0353
Mobile +61 2 433 570 920 (no mobile reception when at home -- sms only)

------End>

The collection and collation of comments from Bicycle User Groups is a short term project designed to speed up the laborious process currently implemented by Bicycle NSW with the BUG Council.

The idea came about after a number of E-mails received from BUG presidents / members who felt that they weren't being supported by Bicycle NSW in a variety of ways. Feedback from volunteers indicates the same feelings.

In the past few weeks I have received E-mails from Andrew Dodd's one of which very firmly stipulated what topics would and could be discussed at the following BUG Council. This is censorship and indicates that Bicycle NSW is merely going through the motions.

Leigh Gibbens, a Bike North member wrote this week with a number of issues which were very different to what had been previously discussed . A discussion with Leigh by telephone and E-mail this week set the ball rolling for this project

Committees by nature are ponderous and slow moving and I only have one life. This is an attempt to present Bicycle NSW with a list of unedited comments from NSW Bicycle User Groups and volunteers. We felt that the list should also go to Push On for publication.

Leigh has sent you all an E-mail requesting your co-operation by simply writing down your issues with remedies if possible and sending them directly to Leigh. This is not a forum for discussion, simply a collation point.

We will convert your E-mails to PDF files and then post them on this website.

A link will be insert for each E-mail so that they can be accessed as separate documents. On completion of the project we will convert them into one single document which will be available to all. This Web page will simply act as a news page informing you of the progress of the project and the date we have forwarded the documents to Bicycle NSW and Push ON.

• MacBUG Feedback pdf

• Gaybug Feedback pdf