Uneventful over here. Slow and cold. Plodding away at bikes and wheels to have a good supply of both come the busy times. This week I’ll meet some TBP volunteers to clean out the barn more, as it’ll be March soon.

The numbers:

Visitors: 19
Sales: $281.50
Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $100
Memberships: 3 for $90
Tires/tubes: 1 for $4

The Land and Water team had their monthly meeting on February 7th, 2025, on Teams at 9:00 am. This was the first meeting with the team's new interim chair, Jonathon Mosley. The meeting minutes and notes are attached. 

We have been surprisingly busy here at CBC so far this year. We’ve sold a few bikes thus far and seen a couple Build-a-Bikes head out the door—all good things!

Over the weekend, TBP volunteers and I tackled the abandoned bikes in the barn. Made some good progress and had almost a dozen folks on hand helping to sort/strip/move bikes out. Will have to take a few more cracks at it before we completely empty the space but got a good start. Great to see so many volunteers come out—many hands make light work!
 

The numbers (1/22 – 1/31):

Visitors: 73
Sales: 1,371
Bikes (refurb): 3 for $610
Bikes (B-a-B): 3 for $180
Memberships: 15 for $450
Tires/tubes: 4 for $19.50

The meeting covered updates on the Greener Campus (GC) initiative, including efforts to promote office certification and introduce decals for visibility. There was discussion on engaging Greek Life in sustainability efforts, with suggested contacts for outreach. The Sustainapalooza committee, represented by Kathrine Bruce and Liesl Schrag, provided an event overview and discussed promotional efforts such as digital signage, outreach to department heads, and MTD bus advertisements. Laurinda introduced a wildlife-centered gardening project under the Illinois Prairie Garden initiative, presenting engagement opportunities like prairie conservation and plant sales. Additional sustainability events were highlighted, including a short film event during Earth Week. Action items included Brigid coordinating scheduling and outreach, Quinn working on GC decals and office engagement, and all members providing feedback on marketing materials, brainstorming engagement strategies, and filling out a scheduling poll.

Purchase order #P2737487 for Transportation Demand Management to procure seven shipping containers from Mel Price Containers to store abandoned bicycles was closed on 12/18/2024. The total cost for the work order is $22,715.

As expected, we were slow last week. We held an instructional course but did not get any attendees as it was cold and snowy—no surprise there! We will schedule more classes next semester.

We’re still low on kids’ bike donations and hovering around 50 or so. Have a meeting with IMC folks this week to discuss logistics.

As a late decision, the Bike Center will be the starting point for a community bike ride this coming Sunday, December 15th at 2p, which will hopefully get some folks aware of our space that may not have been otherwise.

The numbers:

Visitors: 25
Sales: $209
Memberships: 2 for $60
Tires/tubes: 5 for $39

On Friday, November 22nd, the iCAP Engagement Team held its monthly meeting. The team discussed ways to engage the campus community more, specifically students, and shared updates on OneIllinois, Greener Campus, and Earth Month. We discussed the possibility of using social media to increase engagement or physical fliers and posters. We also welcomed a guest speaker from the Zero Waste Team who discussed Sustain Illinois, a magazine that outlines what is currently happening around campus as well as how the average person can become involved in sustainability in the community. We also discussed having in-person meetings and events next semester for the team and small ways we can all be more sustainable. One call to action was for staff and faculty to consider making their office spaces green-certified and brainstorming ways to reach the Greek life population. Our next meeting will be December 20th. 

A meeting was held with several involved individuals to discuss the progress and next steps for the Campus Lumber Project. Team members will submit an SSC Scope Change to cover the additional costs of electrical construction and to ensure efficient transportation of lumber

Next steps from Quinn Connolly:

As discussed today, here is the plan moving forward:

Quinn will work with Lowell on submitting an SSC Scope Change to cover the increased cost of the electrical setup

Justin, Ryan, and Issac will discuss the best course of action for storing, identifying, and transporting lumber from the south Lincoln facility to the mill site.

Justin and Lowell will work on a preferred tree species and dimensions list to include in the protocol document

Quinn will work with Morgan on setting up an open work order

Quinn will work on writing a protocol document for the Campus Lumber Project

This document will include:

• Procedures
• Contacts (not just individuals but departments and back up contacts)
• Tree specification information
• Other relevant information as we navigate making this happen!

Brent Lewis replied with additional information about peer universities with similar programs:

All,

In my meeting with the Association of University Landscape Architects, we talked about the different programs people had to use removed trees from campus.  Here are a few links to what people are doing.  Plenty of bowls, boards, pens, etc that they are selling for alumni.  I also see live edge boards for sale and other items that aren’t finished products. 

https://magazine.utah.edu/issues/summer-2021/scott-leech-woodworker/

https://www.pennstateelmscollection.com/

https://www.uvasawmilling.com/

https://www.canr.msu.edu/for/programs/swri

https://msusurplusstore.com/collections/msu-shadows-collection

Anyhow, just wanted to share for people to see what others are doing.  There are probably some good contacts in here for future reference as well.

This past week, Sarthak and I met with the students on the Transportation Team to discuss their various research projects for the rest of this semester and the upcoming semester. We met with Pun Siripun on Nov. 11th, at 12pm; Charles Okoli on Nov. 14th, 12pn; Sebastian Vega on Nov. 15th, at 11am; and Mitchell Bryant on Nov. 15th at 1pm.

The goal is to have each student conduct research on 30 or so universities in regards to various elements of transportation infrastructure, then present a final report on findings and recommendations for Illinois. The hope is that the schools are widespread, spanning from similar Midwest contexts as us to east and west coast.

Pun will be examining EV Charging available at other schools and whether extending that in Urbana Champaign would be economically feasible and environmentally beneficial.

Charles is reviewing Micro mobility. The goal is to promote micro mobility as alternative modes of transit, but to avoid enforcement costs and the safety of all (pedestrians and users). How have other schools done that well?

Sebastian is studying the commuter program at Illinois and how other universities have implemented it successfully. How did they incentivize it? How did they fund it?

Mitchell is researching the storage of micro mobility devices and how they can be expanded on campus. 

Looking forward to hearing about their research and their suggestions for Illinois!