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Project Updates

  3. Light the night 2019 - funding agreements

    Associated Project(s): 
    Light the Night

    The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, City of Champaign, City of Urbana, and MTD agreed to contribute $1,500 each to purchase bicycle lights for Light the Night event.

    On July 25, 2019, Morgan White confirmed that Sarthak Prasad will be the primary contact for Light the Night for F&S.

  4. Weekly Update - Bike collection, Scrap Bins, Outreach to Engineering students

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

    All, Things were slow-to-comfortably-busy last week. A new employee started. On Tuesday I picked up 30+ bikes from JSM. Only about 1/3 of the bikes were of any quality. The rest we have been steadily scrapping. Consequently we’re pretty maxed out on our scrap bins. One of the good bikes was built up in record time on Friday. A Structural Engineering PhD student rolled in around 2:30 – 3 and finished building the bike a little after 5:30. Most of the bike was in good condition. While he worked I spoke with him about getting engineering students into the Bike Center to try some physical, practical applications to their studies. While he couldn’t get students in to CBC himself, it was encouraging that he agreed it would be a good idea.

    I spoke with my Parking Dept contact. Abated bikes have been collected. There are significantly fewer collected than in prior years. Whether that is due to VeoRide, education/awareness, or simply a diminished area of collection (due to construction), it’s hard to say. Bottom line is less work for me and my staff!
    This week I’ll be taking Friday afternoon off. I’ll be out of the office on Monday and Tuesday of next week as well. Chris will cover hours. Next week’s report, accordingly, will happen on Wednesday.

     

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 75
    Sales: $1,282.90
    Bikes (refurb): 6 for $810
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $50
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Tires/tubes: 17 for $89

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  6. Meeting recap: Vet Med Rain Garden

    Associated Project(s): 
    Vet Med Rain Garden

    Good Afternoon,

    Thank you to everyone who came to our meeting yesterday. I am happy that we are going to get started! Here is a quick recap:

    • Our plan for this early stage is simply weeding the area as much as we can. Anything that is not listed as part of the original seed mix or as serving a purpose can be pulled out.
    • Special attention should be paid to tree saplings you spot. I told Brent about this and he said he would send Grounds over to specifically herbicide the trees. In the meantime, we can try to pull these out after rain showers to make things easier. 
    • I plan on updating the plant identification sheet I sent out and hopefully we can get a laminated copy to place near the rain garden for anyone who is out there. I know the first sheet was a bit hard to read, so until I get the new one with pictures figured out, I have attached a simple list of what should be there and some examples of what shouldn't be there (if you see something out there that is not on the list, feel free to weed it) 
    • Most of you said that you'd just go out during your lunch breaks to weed a bit throughout the week, that works for me. I know most you know each other in some form or another so if you'd like set up some sort of schedule feel free, I'll leave that up to you all.
    • As the weeds get pulled out we will start to see how much space we have to put in plugs. We might even be able to get gallon plugs to put in late Fall or Spring that will have a better chance of staying alive. 
    • When the school year starts I think it would be great to see if we could get some more volunteers and set up some day where bunch of us go out and do some work at the same time and make an event out of it. More info on that to come.  

    Thanks again for everyone's help! If you have any questions or comments related to what I stated in this email or just in general feel free to email me.

     

    All my best,

    Vince

     

    vnd.google-apps.document Vet Med Rain Garden Plant Identifier Doc

  7. Weekly Update - New Hire, Heat, and JSM Haul

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

    All,

    This past week was abbreviated due to the sweltering and oppressive heat. We closed Thursday and Friday. The rest of the week wasn’t too busy, either.

     

    I had a training with a new hire, purged some old parts, and worked on shop builds.

     

    This week I’ll pick up “quite a few” bikes from JSM that they have ready for us, keep purging some of the old junk, and safety check the student-built bikes.

     

    The numbers:
    Visitors: 42
    Sales: $724

    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Bikes (refurb): 3 for $475
    Bikes (B-a-B): 2 for $55

    Tires/tubes: 7 for $$43

     

    Thanks!

     

    Jacob Benjamin
    Manager, Campus Bike Center

  9. An Alternate Solution: GreenQ

    Associated Project(s): 
    Track Waste from Frontload Trucks
    From: Shlomy Ashkenazi <shlomy@greenq.co.il>
    Sent: Monday, July 22, 2019 9:18 AM
    To: Varney, Peter W <pvarney@illinois.edu>
    Subject: Heads up - Front loader in Chicago

        Hi Pete,   Trust all is well, Just wanted to update about a development that might be relevant for you.   We are going to install later on this week a lite system on a front-loader (in Chicago). If everything goes well that means we can supply reduced cost system to all types of trucks – front,rear & side loaders in about half the price of the previous system. In addition we will have a local rep in Illinois. I’ll keep you posted.  

    Best,

    Shlomy

  11. 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

  12. 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

  13. 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.

  15. Timeline Update

    Associated Project(s): 
    Track Waste from Frontload Trucks

    From: Pai, Shantanu <spai@illinois.edu>
    Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2019 8:21 PM
    To: John Cramer <john@loadman.com>
    Cc: Larry Santi <larry@loadman.com>; Calvin Cotton <Calvin@loadman.com>; Duda, Patrick Raymond <pduda@illinois.edu>; Bulbule, Kanchan Krishna <kanchanb@illinois.edu>; Hiser, Daniel William <dwhiser@illinois.edu>; Varney, Peter W <pvarney@illinois.edu>
    Subject: RE: Load Manager Real-Time Export to local database

     

     

    John,

     

    Thank you so much for your demonstration yesterday and your willingness to accommodate our needs. I am looping in Patrick and Kanchan, who would appreciate the offer you all have graciously made more than I would. We are certainly moving forward with the Loadman system. A PO has been issued to Randy and Dan on our team is working with him to schedule the installation and deployment. The Facilities staff would need about 6-8 weeks from when Randy can come down and train our drivers to be operational with the RFID tags on the containers. I am hoping that once we have a timeline set with Randy, I will have a clear timeline but I would say we don’t need a ready solution for at least the next 8 weeks.

     

    Shantanu

     

     

    From: John Cramer <john@loadman.com>
    Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2019 6:49 PM
    To: Pai, Shantanu <spai@illinois.edu>
    Cc: Larry Santi <larry@loadman.com>; Calvin Cotton <Calvin@loadman.com>
    Subject: Load Manager Real-Time Export to local database

     

     

    Hi Shantanu,

     

    When we did the last webinar, we discussed real-time export of data in the cloud to a locally hosted database. We also discussed the web API that could be used to fetch records and provided you with the API documentation.

     

    I wanted to let you know we are planning to write a client application using the web API to fetch records from the cloud and store those records in a database. When it is complete, it will function much the same as the real-time export that we discussed but without the complexity of SQL Server queries over the Internet and the security concerns of having open SQL ports in the University firewall.

     

    If you plan on moving forward with the Loadman system, could you let us know the timeframe of when you would be looking for the export capability? Also, let us know if you need any particular features. As a prospective “launch” customer for this application, you can make sure that your requirements are considered for being included in the product.

     

     

    Thanks,

    John Cramer

    Software Engineer

    john@loadman.com

    Phone: 425-235-4335

    Fax: 425-235-4937

    15224 SE Renton Issaquah Road, Renton, WA 98059, USA

  16. Weekly Updates for Zero Waste

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Hi Pete and Shawn--

    This week's zero waste activities were

    • To coordinate with Morgan on an offer from the Student Alumni Ambassadors to help with zero waste actions on the iHelp Day of Service, Sept. 28. I replied to them with a cc to Morgan to see what projects we may have that student volunteers can help with.
    • To respond to a University of Virginia survey on organizational recycling.

    Best regards,

    Marya Ryan

  17. 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

  18. 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

     

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