ECC has been discussing the need to start networking with the wider
community in order to build support for its vision of a thriving,
bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly city.

In the short-term, we also think that this is the best way to work for
greatly improved traffic enforcement (i.e., less speeding and
red-light running) across the city.

Although ECC has been effective in working directly with the City of
New Haven on certain issues, it has not consistently reached out to
neighborhood activists, homeowners, leaders, and elected officials.
Doing this is important because ECC's goals and our neighborhoods'
goals -- such as improving quality of life and safety for pedestrians
and cyclists of all ages, getting better traffic enforcement at
crosswalks and intersections, and improving the economic vibrancy of
the city by encouraging more local trips by bicycle -- overlap to an
enormous extent.

Working with these groups to build our base of support (and vice
versa) is critical if we want to influence city policy in a meaningful
way. We can help each other achieve each others' goals.

Along with a few other places, neighborhood politics are concentrated
in the city's community management teams, or CMTs. These were formed
to support New Haven's nationally-renowned community policing
initiative, developed in the early 1990s and then replicated in New
York, Boston and other cities around the country. Aldermen and New
Haven Police Department district (neighborhood) supervisors regularly
attend every CMT meeting, and they are fascinating public forums where
neighborhood issues related to traffic enforcement, parking,
development and criminal activity are discussed and immediately
addressed, no matter how small they are (and that can sometimes be
VERY small).

As we indicated in the minutes from the Bike Plan Subcommittee's
January meeting, Andrew Sewell has met a couple of times with the
Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills (WEB) CMT. Traffic issues were often
discussed, and one interesting point made by the CMT group was that
bicycle lanes were valuable because they were believed to signify
higher education levels & land values. I will post my notes from
yesterday's East Rock CMT meeting on the listserv so you can get a
sense of what is discussed.

I've listed a few of the CMTs below. If you are interested in
representing ECC at a management team meeting, the first step is to
confirm the meeting time, then just go and listen to the community's
concerns. Please take brief notes to share with the ECC list if
anything interesting comes up. Ideally, you should attend a CMT
meeting in the neighborhood where you live, because that is an
important factor. You can also sign up new people for the ECC list.
The meetings are brief, and happen once per month, so the commitment
to attending is very small. Among the many other benefits you will
receive by going, I will buy lunch or dinner for everyone who
volunteers to represent ECC at one of these.

- Whalley/Edgewood/Beaver Hills (WEB) Management Team: Andrew Sewell
is attending and representing ECC's concerns here.

- East Rock Community Management Team: Robin Schafer, Mark Abraham and
others are representing ECC's concerns here.

- Dwight Community Management Team, meets every 1st Tuesday of the
month at 6:30 p.m. at Dwight School

- Downtown and Wooster Square Community Management Team, meets every
3rd Tuesday of the month at 6 p.m. at City Hall

- Dixwell Community Management Team, meets every 3rd Thursday of the
month at 7:00 p.m. at 192 Dixwell Avenue

- Fair Haven Community Management Team, meets every 1st Thursday of
the month at 6:30 p.m.

- Newhallville Community Management Team, meets every 4th Tuesday of
the month at 6:00 p.m.

- Westville Community Management Team

- Hill neighborhood: there are two CMTs here, I'm not sure which would
be the best to attend.

- There are also two CMTs for the easternmost areas (East Shore etc).

Please let us know if you would like to represent ECC on a regular
basis at any of these groups. In fact, I'm sure that there are
already people on this list doing just that, and I apologize for
leaving you out above, but I would like to open up the communication
so that everyone can see that there is some momentum behind the things
that we are asking for.

For the groups that we can't find a representative for, ECC has
suggested getting a few cyclists together and arranging in advance to
give a brief presentation about our interests and concerns with the
neighborhood. This is much less effective than having a neighborhood
representative, but is an alternative for some of the groups.