This meeting is now called to order.
Did I just see a yawn? I’m used to that. This is my blog after all. And, no, I am not calling a meeting.
I am o-fish-ull now. This past Tuesday night I was sworn in, with my right hand raised and the index/middle finger in the air (simultaneously, not just the middle finger), I took the oath to serve my municipality as an appointed member of a city council committee. The mayor asked me to repeat the oath after him and we both solemnly swore. I repeated everything he said —
“Oh wah, ta goo, siam”
Not really. The mayor was as serious as anyone can be when facing me. It did help that he was a bit perturbed at me because I was ten minutes late for the meeting. I had a good excuse — I had just finished a bike ride, an appropriate alibi for someone appointed to serve on a committee whose purpose is to promote bike riding in our community.
This is serious business. Oh, the name of the committee does not sound all that exciting — Bicycle & Ped Safety Advisory. While it does not sound like the committee has the power to do anything, thus the “advisory” role, we do have the power to influence the mark our community makes, it’s reputation. The committee is our mayor’s baby, one that as a cyclist he wants to see succeed, and he is backing us.
In a way, I feel like I have been issued a gun without the bullets. It would be easy to feel that way. Our committee is able to make recommendations, such as where to put signage or signals, bike lanes, or what roads require modification for cycling, but we can not make the final decision. We are ambassadors, hosting safety clinics and trail cleanups, serving as liason to the herds of bike clubs that ride through our town and communicating with the running clubs that use the trail systems around town. We have a purpose and really it’s more like being issued a full squirt gun. At least when can make someone flinch.
So I am officially an official. I like that I am contributing to my community and I feel proud.
And I have a card to prove it.