anyone care to share a synopsis with the rest of us.
thanks
By no means official (the opposite of official actually), but I did attend the whole meeting. In terms of bias I'm a grumpy (not that) old prick so you'll have to add a zest of sunshine and some rainbow sprinkles if you are one of those glass-half-full-positivist-sunshine people… this is just the super-critical, meat and potatoes, straight goods, etc (you've been warned):
1) NSMBA in best financial shape ever // More Donations = More Maintenance + More Trails. This is good!
2) NSMBA did most trail work in history. Adding public days, TAP days, and Builders Academy days together there will be [HTML_REMOVED]100 trail days in 2014. This is good!
3) NSMBA Board full of amazingly qualified people who like working together. Coveted volunteer positions -- instead of Matt Bond strong arming people to stand for positions there was actually a #*[HTML_REMOVED]%ing election! This is good!
4) NSMBA has HUGE plans for 2015. Now that the house is ~ in order in terms of maintenance on heavily used trails some of the projects (purposely not listed here -- e-mail NSMBA // contact Mark Wood for details) include revitalizing more aggressive trails that are currently dead or dormant. This is good!
5) Donate to the Legacy Fund and the first $15,000 gets matched. It's like buying a donation and getting an equally valued donation for FREE: http://nsmba.ca/trailsforever/. This is good!
6) Sponsors names were all read out -- logos were all shown -- over 100x members in attendance were encouraged to support the sponsors who support us! Thank you sponsors = [HTML_REMOVED]3 (This is good too!)
*edit: Sponsors: http://www.nsmba.ca/corporate-members
7) Vince did a great job running the meeting.
8) Rachid was dreamy as always with his sultry voice and super-on-task Q-and-A management! (if anyone from the NSMBA is reading -- let's have more Rachid next year. How much? Can't have enough Rachid -- just schedule what you think is too much and add a little more).
9) Mark Wood gave an excellent presentation on this year and next year. Very Positive - High Energy - To The Point. This was Very Good!
10) There will be Town Hall meeting(s) in the spring to address specific trail plans for 2015. See you there? That would be good!
11) Vince, Mark, and Rachid all re-iterated multiple times that if there was any information that attendees felt was missing they should definitely contact the NSMBA. Our board wants to answer your specific questions. (Frankly -- and this is me talking -- putting a bunch of stuff in writing in an info package, that you then have to update anytime anything changes or else risk getting called on it is a total waste of time. If you need information send an e-mail). Communication is good! -- one of the NSMBA Board's goals for 2015 is better communication -- this is also good!
12) Lee Lau and Cam McRae made out in a corner.
13) The above thing didn't actually happen, but it's 2014 and it would have been all good if they did.
14) I got to catch up with a whole bunch of folks I don't regularly see and there was socializing afterwards. Everyone who attended is awesome -- how often are you in a room with over 100x awesome people at one time? Yep, it was good.
In summary: The NSMBA is (now) a "Big Tent" organization where anyone who wants to be involved is (or can be) involved, epic amounts of trail work are going on, in 2015 there will be more active - authorized - trails then ever, companies are donating money to help make that happen (and we're going to do our best to support those companies when we can: http://www.nsmba.ca/corporate-members). If you have more questions, fire the good folks an E-Mail and they will be happy to get back to you. This is all good!
D
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Seriously Mark -- and I get accused of being a grumpy #$%[HTML_REMOVED] -- we are not talking about a faceless bank or government bureaucracy conspiring to take your house, job, or your right to ride a Dirt Bike on the seawall when you're 85 years old because #$%[HTML_REMOVED] everyone else.
It's a volunteer board who have stepped up to make sure that they, their friends, and the other 99% have awesome trails to ride. They are ridiculously accountable -- they are accountable every time someone in our community recognizes them in the community (riding a bike, shopping for groceries, having a delicious Okanagan Springs brew at the Raven or Queen's Cross -- see what I did there?).
They very politely -- and with good reason -- asked at the meeting that you e-mail them if you have a question. If you feel something wasn't answered in your time at the meeting why not give it a shot?
D
Mean People SUCK! Nice People SHOVEL!
Trails For All; Trails For Weather
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