Hi All,

I'd like to set the record straight and provide full disclosure on a
situation that has arisen.

I originally moved to Cobb County in 1984. I left the Atlanta area in
2001 and lived in Europe until the end of 2006. When I was in Europe,
I regained my love of bicycling. Instead of just talking between
friends about how the bicycling scene is inadequate in the Atlanta
area, I wanted to get some advocacy initiatives started. I was really
impressed with BikeRoswell, and how they collaborate with their
elected representatives and government officials. I felt it was all
about networking and getting a broad-based coalition going for the
long haul.

I wanted to find a Cobb County version of the BikeRoswell group and
get involved. I came across the bikecobb.blogspot.com in January. I
saw there hadn't been a posting since September, 2007. On the
homepage, there is an owner email account, so I sent an email. It went
unanswered so I started the Yahoo group. Then I registered a couple of
Websites (at my own expense). Then, between a few initial folks, it
was mutually agreed upon that the name "BikeCobb" would be most
appropriate. So we stuck with that, and used www.bikecobb.org. On June
2nd, the bikecobb.blogspot owner requested to join this Yahoo group
and was approved. This was the first communication the group had with
this person, and there was never any discussions regarding
infringement, names, etc.

To make a long story short, I believe in life that "you get more
flies with honey than you do vinegar".

Today, on the BikeCobb blog, the owner has posted a VERY shortened
version of my original email from January. He also posted another
personal I sent directly to him. This blog owner then emailed me today
with what I consider inappropriate language between fellow bicycle
advocates. I will not share his message publicly.

FYI, below is my full UNEDITED email I sent (unanswered) to the owner
of the bikecobb blog.

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--- On Mon, 1/21/08, Joe Seconder <jseconder@...> wrote:

From: Joe Seconder <jseconder@...>
Subject: Cobb County Bicycling?
To: bikecobb@...
Date: Monday, January 21, 2008, 10:50 AM

Hi there,

I just discovered your website

http://bikecobb.blogspot.com/2007/03/georgia-rides-to-capital_08.html

and would like to speak to someone regarding how your group is
organized, what you do, and how you interact with the public and
government regarding making Cobb County a better place for cycling.

For example, I just had a conversation with Jason Gains at the
Cobb County DOT regarding the status of building the planned Multi-Use
trails as posted in July 2006 on their website. Bottom Line: He
doesn't see anything happening anytime soon. I then asked him if they
were going to follow the ARC's recommendation for putting in bike
lanes -- simply during re-striping. He emphasized, but said that
nobody's really going to want to do that in Cobb.

My next steps are to attend Town Hall Meetings (i.e; the one this
Thursday night by Sam Olsen), and to review the "Cobb County
Comprehensive Transportation Plan", also on Thursday evening.

Would love to have a chat, to see about getting involved.

Thanks,

Joe Seconder

PS: I originally moved to Marietta in 1984. Left in 2001 for
Switzerland (then Denmark) and returned about a year ago. Now I've
seen how things could be and want to help make a difference.

Never miss a thing. Make Yahoo your homepage.
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