Dear members of the Yellow Bike community, 

Welcome to our second newsletter. We're up to 180+ pairs of eyes on us in this forum, plus the folks who read about our comings and goings in Southwest Cycling News.  The Southwest Cycling News has generously volunteered to print the highlights of the newsletter each month in their publication.  Special thanks to Fred Meredith their editor for making this happen.

We had an exciting, item-laden agenda for our September meeting. Below are the highlights, plus other community news.

As always, all this is made possible by volunteer work, as we have no paid employees.  Shop hours and the projects that we are able to accomplish are highly affected by the number of volunteers that we have.  If you are interested in volunteering or would like to know more about it, talk to one of our shop coordinators or send us an email at austinyellowbike@gmail.com.  Donations are also greatly appreciated.  Bike donations can be dropped off at either of our shops during open hours.  If you would like to make a monetary donation we are now accepting them through our website via PayPal.

So enjoy the second installment and thanks again for your support, participation, and interest in our project.

-The Yellow Bike Project

NEW HOURS - We are open again for 5 nights a week at the Main Shop (51st street) and 3 nights a week at the Wheatsville Shop.  If you want to volunteer, we recommend that you do it on our less crowded Volunteer Only nights (TuW).  If you need to, feel free to volunteer during the Open Shop nights, though it's usually busier around the shop on those days.  If you need to work on your own bike, come to the Open Shops, which are 3 days a week (MThF).  Wheatsville hours are always Open Shops.

* Red Hours indicate Volunteer Only Shop: Learn to fix bikes while giving back to YBP, earn a bike of your very own, or just help out.
* Black Hours indicate Open Shops: These are the only times allotted for work on personal projects .

PROPOSED HELMET LAW - It looks like the proposed helmet law isn't going anywhere. City Council decided not to take any action on the proposal, and it now appears that there won't be enough votes to push it through.

It is still unclear whether the Council will approve the 18-month bicycle safety study called for by the Austin Cycling Association and the League of Bicycling Voters.  Stay posted for more updates.

AUSTIN CYCLING ASSOCIATION BOARD MEMBERSHIP - The Austin Cycling Association has invited a member of the YBP to sit on their Board of Directors. Jennifer Schaeffer is our representative. For those of you who don't know her, she is a long-time coordinator with YBP, and you can find her at 51st St. on Monday nights for the month of September. The Austin Cycling Association works closely with city bicycle infrastructure planning efforts and is a strong voice for Austin's bike community.  We're happy to have one of our own on the ACA's Board. Both organizations have a lot of info to share.

REI GRANT FOR OUR "BIKES TO SCHOOLS" PROGRAM - We received a generous grant from REI to help fund our Bikes to Schools program for the 2006-2007 school year.   Bikes to Schools provides cycleless students with free reconditioned bicycles as part of our mission to promote education, community involvement, and cycling as transportation.

Throughout the last school year, the YBP donated 89 bikes to students at four different elementary schools near our main shop in Northeast Austin. We also worked with students from Smithville ISD, providing Special Olympics participants with bicycles and hosting a bike maintenance class for Life Skills students.

This year, our goal is to give bikes to 120 students at three nearby schools.  With REI's support, we will also provide the recipients with helmets and light-sets. 

In conjunction with our Bikes to Schools program, Gilbert Martinez, ACA's safety guru, has offered to put on Bicycle Safety Rodeos on site at elementary schools that receive our donations.  We're working on coordinating our first drop-off with Gilbert and his safety team.

Our first call for kids' bikes this fall came from Sims Elementary School in East Austin. They're looking for 20 bikes for young riders. This is another great volunteer opportunity for all you folks, whether you're looking for member status or you just want to give a little back.

The Yellow Bike Project collective would like to offer sincere thanks to REI and ACA for supporting our endeavors to promote cycling as transportation in Austin.

AUSTIN CITIZEN SCHOOLS - Stacy Newcomer came to our meeting to talk about an after school program at Bedichek Middle School in South Austin. Stacy works with a program called Citizen Schools, which runs apprenticeships for students to develop leadership skills through hands-on experience. Jessica Douglas and Stacia Bowley will be working down at Bedichek this semester, cultivating a new generation of bike-fixers.  

DENTON GREEN BIKES - Yellow Bike has donated a bunch of bike parts and tools to some folks in Denton who are founding Green Bikes. Taylor and Melissa came down from Denton to pick up as many parts as could fit in their car. We've invited them to come to some of our work parties, and we've offered to attend some of theirs. A Texas bike collective labor exchange is on! Info about trips to Denton and chances to meet our compatriots here in Austin will be posted at the 51st St. shop. 

SPECIAL OLYMPICS - Norm Arias who is the Program Director for Special Olympics Texas, San Antonio has requested that Yellow Bike donate 5 bikes to train for the cycling competitions.  The athletes do not own bikes and the program does not have sufficient funding to buy the bikes.  This is the first year that the San Antonio team has had the opportunity to compete in this event in their area.  We will be working with them to get 5 road bikes ready by mid September or early October to train for their Winter Games competition.  Yellow Bike wishes the best of luck to the team though their training and competitions.