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Project Updates for collection: Living Lab Facilities / Programs

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  1. The Buzz on Native Bees in East-Central Illinois

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    Join us on Monday, July 22 at noon at the Champaign Ext. This seminar is part of our Lunch with an Expert series with Maddy Kangas, a master's student from NRES, as our expert on native bees. There will be a short presentation on native bees in East-Central Illinois followed by your photos and questions. Do you need help with identification or more information? Bring your questions and your lunch.

    Amanda Christenson . Cooperative Extension Service

     

    The Buzz on Native Bees in East-Central Illinois

  2. Weekly Update - Keeping it Cool and Returned Bike

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All,

     

    The one day last week that it wasn’t blazing hot was the one day we were really busy. But we’re always at the whim of the weather. Other than the one busy day, it was business as usual.

     

    We got a new giant fan delivered by the maintenance crew which has been a great help. Keeps things manageably cool in here. Don, the guy we did a bike exchange with, brought us a case of bottled water from Meijer, which was also awesome.

     

    The real big news was the bike we were able to return to its rightful owner. A woman donated a bike that she said was abandoned in front of her apartment. With assistance from Durst, we were able to track down the original owner who came and picked it up on Friday. It was a good start to the weekend!

     

    Outside of the regular day-to-day I’ll be training a new hire and looking to rig up some weatherproofing for the garage doors to keep it a little cooler in here as we look towards the super-hot end of the week we’re expecting.


    Numbers:
    Visitors: 75
    Sales: $582.75
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $301
    Membership: 3 for $90
    Tire/tubes: 11 for $60

     

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  3. Cruze Barn new address

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 1.0

    The Cruze Barn was moved as part of the agreement with the Student Sustainability Committee for their funding support of the first solar farm. It was moved by Trillium Dell, and it is now located at 316 Leman Lane, Congerville, IL.

  5. Intro to Butterflies

    Associated Project(s): 
    Bee Campus USA

    Children's Intro to Butterflies

    Champaign County Master Gardeners present Children's Intro to Butterflies on Sat., July 20, 9:15 or 10:30 a.m., at the Idea Garden on S. Lincoln Ave. in Urbana. Ages 5-9. Limited to 24 per session. We will begin with a short educational lesson on butterfly anatomy, metamorphosis, and identification. They will then paint a flower pot to take home. https://go.illinois.edu/ButterflyProgram

    Tabitha Elder . Cooperative Extension Service

  6. Weekly Update - Collection of Abandoned Bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All,

     

    Last week was truncated a bit by the long holiday weekend. We were only open Mon – Wed.

    I trained a new employee last week and had her start. I was also informally notified that two current staffers will most likely step away from working here at CBC in the next few weeks. The timing worked out pretty well with the two new staffers coming on board. That should get me through the remaining summer months.

     

    Two bikes left on the bike rack outside when I got in this morning, so that’s still helping.

     

    This week I’ll be doing more training with the new staffers, schedule and hold a staff meeting for my team, and the regular schedule of organizing, cleaning, and building.

     

    Thanks!

     

    Numbers:
    Visitors: 51
    Sales: $371
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $200
    Membership: 3 for $90
    Tires/tubes: 6 for $28

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

     

  7. FY2018 ECIP Winners

    Associated Project(s): 
    Energy Conservation Incentive Program (ECIP)

    Here are the winners for the 2018 ECIP Awards!

     

     Occupant Action  % Improvement   Incentive Award 
    1. Turner Hall  21.8%  $103,130
    2. Art and Design Building 19.9%  $37,816
    3. Burrill Hall  19.8%  $57,518
         
     Energy Advancement % Improvement  Incentive Award 
    1. Coordinated Science Laboratory 47.2%  $84,308
    2. Seitz Materials Research Laboratory 44.4%  $91,537
    3. Loomis Laboratory of Physics  40.7%  $25,717
    4. Harker Hall  38.0%  $10,000
    Attached Files: 

  9. Preferred Vendor selected

    Associated Project(s): 
    Solar Farm 2.0

    The evaluation committee has selected a preferred vendor to develop Solar Farm 2.0, and the Chancellor's office approved moving forward with contract development. PEI will work with this vendor to complete the next steps of the award process. The vendor name will be announced upon approval of the contracts in fall 2019.

  10. Weekly Update - Build-a-Bike, Bicycle Donations,

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Last week was comfortably busy. We had all-stands-full for a few days but no waiting patrons. A few build-a-bikes have been started, which is welcome. Shop builds are humming along, more or less. A new sign-in computer should be arriving this week. Donations are still coming in fairly regularly. We’ve got a stockpile of 10 or so kids bikes that I’ll aim to take to Salt & Light this week.

    We built up and donated a bike to Campus Recreation Intramurals last week.

    The students covered for me during my staff retreat on Friday. There was only one or two minor hiccups and they were my fault.

    This week I’ll game plan for more volunteer tasks, do some long-overdue sorting, organizing, and purging in the new-stock area, safety check shop builds, and set up a July staff meeting for my team.

     

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 78

    Sales: $683.50
    Bike (refurb): 2 for $290
    Build-a-Bike: 1 for $30

    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Tire/tube: 6 for $34

     

    Thanks!

    - Jake

  11. Weekly Update - New Staff interview, Staff Retreat

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Not a lot to report from last week. I interviewed another potential student employee. Had some iPad troubles but Omid was here and able to help. Thanks, Omid! There was a bike waiting for me on the outside rack when I pulled up this morning, so that’s continuing to be of service to us. Over the weekend, Todd grabbed the extremely large pile of scrap we had accumulated. Thanks, Todd!

    My staff and I also had an impromptu staff meeting on Friday which we’ll look to continue on a monthly basis from here on out.

    This week I have a Staff Retreat on Friday so I’ll be out of the shop until 4:30 or so and the students will cover for me.
    Numbers:

    Visitors: 74
    Sales: $1,027

    Bikes (refurb): 4 for $560
    Membership: 5 for $150

    Tire/tubes: 21 for $152

     

    Thanks!
    - jake

  13. Weekly Update - Bicycle Donations, wheel stripping, etc.

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Definitely getting busier! Got a sale in just as we were closing up on Friday. Two more bikes were waiting on the outside rack when I got in this morning. I passed the manager of Champaign Cycle on my ride in and he said they’ve got a couple bikes for us as well.  We’re pretty close to capacity on bikes here at the shop. But I guess it’s a good problem to have considering the business model.

    Last week we stripped 30 wheels out of the back of the shop. Still too crowded for my liking but definitely more manageable. We have about a dozen stripped frames ready for the scrapper as well, with another five or to be stripped this week. The front “sales floor” is opening up nicely, though, thanks to the sales we’ve made thus far.
    I also interviewed a potential new hire last week.

    Anecdote: Over the weekend I saw a woman riding her bike almost get hit twice in one intersection. She was crossing Lincoln and just inched her way through the intersection and both lanes of traffic had to stop short for her. It was a scary and clear reminder that we still have a ways to go on infrastructure and education on campus.

    Numbers:
    Visitors: 70
    Sales: $1,157.10
    Memberships: 4 for $120
    Bike (refurb): 5 for $830
    Tire/tubes: 6 for $26

    Thanks!

    - jake

  14. Weekly Update - Bike Donations, Wheel Collecion, CCB, etc.

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Last week was slow. Still in a lull before Summer II begins. We got three donations over the weekend here. Mostly junk but better than being abandoned somewhere. On Thursday I collected 5 bikes from the Parking warehouse.
    Last week Theo collected about 20 wheels out of the back of the shop that aren’t worth keeping. We’ll scrap those this week. I got in touch with FAA (Fine & Applied Arts) to see if they’ve got any interest in some of our throwaway junk for art/sculpture projects and that sort of thing. They said they’d pass the info along.

    Jeff, from CCB, stopped by and will likely be taking the kids bikes off our hands that we’ve accumulated. That’ll clear up some space. We lent out the big trailer for the University Y to use at Dump & Run next door at the Stock Pavilion to great success and will probably do it again this week. It was nice to see someone else use it!
    This week I’ve got an interview with a student worker today. Other than that, business as usual.

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 51
    Sales: $236.60
    Memberships: 3 for $90
    Tire/tube: 15 for $101

     

    Jake Benjamin

  15. Weekly Update - Collection of Abandoned Bikes

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles

    All, Last week was on the slow side. We got busy in fits and starts. This week will likely be the same. I was out of the shop for most of Tuesday afternoon, so the students covered for me. No troubles there.

    We concluded our Bike Abandonment Program last week, as well. We collected 15 bikes total that were either donated at the Bike Rodeo, during open hours, or left after hours on the rack outside. Having the rack outside was super helpful, not only to collect bikes during off hours, but as additional storage during open shop time. Long term, having a donation drop off system in place for after-hours would be beneficial.

    This week I’ll dig into the pile of student-checked bike builds. I’ve got space for about 5 more bikes and then I’ll have to look at rearranging again. We can technically cram more bikes in the spaces we’ve got allotted for Sale Bikes but I’ve noticed it makes it a lot more difficult for people to try them out and thus, they don’t get sold. Limits of the space, I suppose. Of course, all the bikes will probably sell in the end.
    I’ll also coordinate with Parking about picking up some bikes they’ve got for us.


    Numbers:
    Visitors: 73
    Sales: $509.43

    Memberships: 10 for $300
    Bikes (refurb) 3 for $410
    Tire/tube: 18 for $117

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  16. Dump and Run Update (Email Chain)

    Associated Project(s): 
    Dump and Run

    The following email chain details the arrangement of a meeting at the Stock Pavilion for Mike Doyle to give Alma Sealine, Morgan White, and Lowa Mwilambwe a tour to give them the sense of the operations at that time.

    The images referenced in the emails are attached below.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: Varney, Peter W

    Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2019 5:36 PM

    To: White, Morgan

    Cc: Attalla, Mohamed Mahmoud

    Subject: FW: Dump & Run

     

    Thanks Morgan – any specific names or quotes I can use and submit to CRC along with the names of the F&S staff (driver and laborer) involved?

     

    Thank you,

    Pete

     

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: White, Morgan

    Sent: Thursday, May 16, 2019 5:14 PM

    To: Attalla, Mohamed Mahmoud; Varney, Peter W

    Subject: FW: Dump & Run

    Hello Mohamed and Pete,

    The YMCA sent the attached photos showing some of the items collected from the students moving out, with Housing

    and F&S support this month. They are very grateful and I also heard from some of the YMCA’s folks how very helpful the

    F&S staff were, in particular.

    I will be attending a check-in meeting tomorrow morning, and I believe Chancellor Jones asked Lowa to lead the

    discussions over the next few months to provide campus assistance to this effort in the future. Lowa will include me in

    those discussions, and I am very pleased that we are moving in that direction to support this great waste-reduction

    effort!

    Thanks,

    Morgan

    ===============================

    Ms. Morgan White

    F&S Associate Director for Sustainability

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

     

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: Mike Doyle

    Sent: Monday, May 13, 2019 4:45 PM

    To: Sealine, Alma R

    Cc: Mwilambwe, Lowa; White, Morgan <mbwhite@illinois.edu>; Marc Alexander; Joe Vitosky; Kasey Umland

    Subject: Re: Dump & Run2

     

    Friday at 9 AM works. I will be there and most likely Marc.

    We will have loaded and packed a weeks worth of stuff so I thought I would share a few photos with you.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     

    On Mon, May 13, 2019 at 2:17 PM Sealine, Alma R wrote:

     

    I’m out on vacation but can make 9am work as I’m driving out of town...

    Alma R. Sealine

    Executive Director of University Housing

     

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: Mwilambwe, Lowa

    Sent: Monday, May 13, 2019 2:11 PM

    To: Mike Doyle; Sealine, Alma R; White, Morgan

    Cc: Marc Alexander; Joe Vitosky; Kasey Umland

    Subject: Re: Dump & Run

     

    Are you available at 9:00 a.m. on Friday?

     

    -Lowa Mwilambwe

    Associate Vice Chancellor for Auxiliary, Health & Wellbeing

    Student Affairs

    University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

     

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    From: Mike Doyle

    Date: Monday, May 13, 2019 at 9:12 AM

    To: "Sealine, Alma R", Lowa Mwilambwe, "White,

    Morgan"

    Cc: Marc Alexander, Joe Vitosky, Kasey Umland

    Subject: Dump & Run

     

    Alma, Morgan and Lowa,

     

    I just wantedd to invite you to stop by the stock pavilion on Pennslvania sometime this week between 9 AM

    and 4 PM. We finish up collections this week and have already starting loading items on the semi trailers. So

    far I think this has been a great improvement this year and the staffs from F&S as well as Housing have been

    very helpful.

    A 5-10 minute tour will give you a sense of the operations at this point and I believe be very helpful in future

    discussions about what is involved in this program. If you let us knowwhen you will stop by Mar or I can try

    to be there to give you a uick tour but if that doesn't work, you can just stop by when it is convenient.

    Thanks,

    Mike

    --

    Michael Doyle

    Executive Director

    University YMCA

    Attached Files: 

  17. Weekly Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Shortened week for myself as I was out of town Thursday and Friday. The student staff operated hours in my absence. No incidents or troubles. Their chief issues were related to the Shop Builds, so that’s a win-win.
    This week I have the Student Employment Symposium on Tuesday that conflicts with hours so I will again have students cover. I’ll be back in time to close up shop. I also have a potential new hire coming in to volunteer this week and sort of try the job out for a bit.

    Thanks to Todd for grabbing scrap and whoever delivered new spoke wrenches, as they were sorely needed.
     

    Numbers:

    Visitors: 97

    Sales:  $751.30
    Bike (refurb): 1 for $150
    Bike (B-a-B): 1 for $125
    Memberships: 6 for $180
    Tire/tubes: 17 for $152

     

    Thanks!

    Jake Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Manager

  18. Weekly Update - Bike to Work Day, Bike Rodeo, etc.

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Collection and Donation of Abandoned Bicycles
    C-U Bike to Work Day
    Mechanics Classes at the Campus Bike Center

    All, What a week! Last week (and weekend) was a TBP meeting, Bike To Work Day, the Bike Rodeo, and picking up donations from the Community Bike Sale. Lots of extracurricular activity! All of the events went well but not amazingly well. Attendance was on the low side for BTWD and BR but the weather is a major culprit there.

    Since 2pm on Friday we’ve gotten (rough count) 20 bike donations, so we’re pretty inundated right now. With bad weather in the forecast and the busyness of finals for most students, we’ll be able to process the donations this week—hopefully.

    Last Friday was the last Fix-a-Flat class and we had our first attendee! Maria and Jacob taught the course well and the gentleman seemed happy to have come. Also on Friday the student staff hosted an impromptu Friday ride of sorts for one of our graduating staffers. This upcoming Friday will be the last official one for the season.

    I’ll be out of town Thursday and Friday so Chris will open and run the shop in my absence.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 73
    Sales: $750.20
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $295
    Memberships: 7 for $210
    Tire/tubes: 9 for $64

     

    Thanks!

    • Jake Benjamin
      Campus Bike Center Manager

  20. Sustainability Council meeting 04-30-2019

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainability Council
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan
    Explore Options for 100 Percent Clean Campus Energy
    Solar Farm 2.0
    Off-campus Solar Farm 3.0 PPA
    Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System™ (STARS)
    Second Nature Climate Leadership Award
    Sustainable Agricultural Practices
    iSEE funding for Campus as a Living Lab (CALL)
    Green Research Committee
    Attached Files: 

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