[PUBLIC] 2023 SF Bicycle Coalition, Board of Directors Candidate Questionnaire (Responses)

	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I
1	Your Name	Your Pronouns	Why do you bike? How do you connect to bicycling?	Why did you join the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition?	Tell us about your involvement with the SF Bicycle Coalition and/or other community groups.	Tell us about any skills or experience that you would bring to the board. For example fundraising, finance, budgeting, HR, coalition building, facilitation, etc.	Have you served or worked with a non-profit board before? If yes, tell us what you would bring from that experience to our board?	Board and staff alike have acknowledged the role the organization and leadership has played in perpetuating white supremacy within transportation and biking culture. We are committed to taking action, both internally and externally, to be an antiracist organization and fight for transportation equity and justice in San Francisco. Tell us about your familiarity or experience with antiracism work.	Is there anything else you’d like to share about yourself?

2	Victoria Norman	she/her/hers	Riding my bike is what I do whenever I can, it's a mode of transportation and a means to clear my head, to stay fit, to meet new people, to hang out with friends, to be outside... I am the happiest when I am on my bike, or talking about being on a bike, or introducing someone to biking!	I joined the Bicycle Coalition because there needs to be a movement advocating for bike infrastructure in the city (and everywhere!)	I've been a member since I started riding my bike in the city, and I've been involved in different cycling related organizations (SF Yellow Bike, AIDS LifeCycle, Climate Ride).	Facilitation. I am experienced acting as facilitator for committees comprised of a wide range of experts with diverging opinions and agendas with the goal of reaching consensus. Auditing/Efficiency gains. I have extensive auditing experience of Quality Management Systems, processes, etc.	I work for a non-profit, as the Executive Director and report to the Board.	Being antiracist is active, and what I have been doing to better understand the race dynamics in the US (which are differently problematic from the ones in my country of origin) is educating myself through books, discussions and DEI training - I don't shy away from hard or uncomfortable conversations. There are so many ways in which access to biking is unintentionally exclusionary, I am keen to continue my (personal) work toward recognizing my own biases (and deconstructing them) in the context of advocating for more equity in the sectors of transportation and biking in the city.	As day job, I work in sustainability; joining the SFBC board would be in alignment with my values and knowledge that we must rely less on fossil fuels (less cars! more bikes!) to secure a future on a livable planet. My side gig is working as an indoor cycling instructor at 17 Reasons Why Athletic Club in the Mission; so when I'm not at my desk or riding a bike outdoors, you'll find me riding a bike indoors!
3	Raynell Cooper	he/him	My relationship to bicycling has deep roots in my lifelong passion for transportation and cities. Ever since I was a little kid, I spent time thinking about how our cities are developed and how people move around them. But it wasn't until I moved to San Francisco to work as a transportation planner that I learned how to ride a bike. It became immediately apparent that picking up riding a bike was necessary to understand how mobility in SF works. Since I first rode in 2019, I've fallen in love with biking as a mode of transporation. It's my main way to get to work and to visit friends around the city, both on my own bike and on Baywheels. I also use it to explore the city and the region. As a car-free San Franciscan, learning how to ride a bike was the best decision I've made in my time here so far. BIking is the fastest and most efficient way to do most trips in the city, but unfortunately it isn't always the safest or most convenient. It's been incredible to see how far this city has come on bike infrastructure but there is still so much work to do to make cycling a reasonable option for as many people as possible. If we want the full lifestyle and climate benefits of bicycling to be realized, we need to make cycling an incredibly accessisible mode through better bike parking and safer streets.	I joined the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to support the essential work SFBC does to expand and improve cycling in San Francisco. As someone who learned how to ride a bike as adult, I wanted to support the incredible breadth of education work the coalition provides to help bring new cyclists into the world and help those who learned in other places acclimate to the unique conditions of biking in SF. I've also seen in my work at SFMTA the importnace of advocacy. Having support makes the "hard decisions" so much easier to make, which is why SFBC's role in the community is so important and as something I wanted to support.	In 2021-2022, I served on San Francisco's Redistricting Task Force, which redrew the City's supervisor district boundaries. While this experience certainly had its ups and downs, I gained invaluable experience in weighing public input, working with others, and learning about the neighborhoods and residents of San Francisco and what they care about. I have also been an active member of YIMBY Action, working to alleviate our housing crisis, and volunteered on multiple political campaigns.	My role at SFMTA gives me first-hand experience with both program management and project management. I lead policy for the Residential Parking Permit program, which involves balancing long-term reform plans, neighborhood planning projects, and the day-to-day challenges that come with a permit program with tens and thousands of customers. I have experience with customer service, project financing, neighborhood outreach around transportation projects (like the Hayes Valley Parking and Curb Management Plan), and supervising staff, all of these experiences which would inform my board service.	I have not worked with a nonprofit board, but my current employer, SFMTA, has a Board of Directors. Seeing board-staff relationships from the staff side, I understand what sort of board guidance and dialogue is helpful for staff.	As a biracial Black man, I have long had to be aware about how race affects how people interact with the public realm. The balance between the need for safety and the dark history and present state of enforcement is a fundamental tension in transportation. At SFMTA, I served on the internship committee, which aimed through outreach, education, and standardization of processes to use the internship program as a way to diversify the transportation planning and engineering workforce.	I'm excited for this opportunity to work with such an impactful organization to improve biking in SF!
4	Roan Kattouw	He/him	I grew up in the Netherlands and biked everywhere for transportation as a teenager and young adult, because that's what everyone does there. When I moved to San Francisco after college, I continued to bike most places, because it's usually faster and more convenient than taking the bus or driving. 10 years later, I still bike to work every day. I also bike for fun sometimes, usually going across the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito or the Marin Headlands.	When I first visited San Francisco, I rented a bike to explore the city. I had never biked anywhere outside of the Netherlands before, and I was surprised at how much less safe it felt. I found out about the SF Bicycle Coalition from the bike map the rental place gave me, and I when I moved to San Francisco a few years later I became a member right away. I wanted to support the effort to make SF better for biking, because I knew from my experience in my home country that a better city was possible.	I've been a member of the SF Bicycle Coalition since 2012. A few years after that, I became an active member, showing up to member events and SFMTA hearings for bike infrastructure projects. I was elected to the board in 2021, and am now running for a second term.	I know a lot about elections and local politics, and served on an advisory committee for the Elections Commission. I was able to use that knowledge during my first term on the board, first as a member of the endorsements committee in 2021 and then as committee chair in 2022. I led the board's endorsements process for the June 2022 and November 2022 elections. In my professional career I have also been a manager, and held team leadership positions.	I have not served on any other non-profit boards besides the SF Bicycle Coalition board.	I have no direct experience here, other than supporting the Bicycle Coalition's push for a Slow Streets program that includes all neighborhoods (including the Tenderloin, where I lived for 9 years). I also support the Bicycle Coalition's move away from advocating for police enforcement of traffic violations, which disproportionately harms people of color, and I support disarming and de-policing traffic enforcement.	I've been told by many different people, both at work and in other contexts, that I'm good at listening to people with different opinions and different communication styles, then translating and reframing what one person said in a way that helps the other person understand it better. This isn't really something this questionnaire asked about, but I think it has been and will continue to be a useful ability for serving on a 15-person board.
5	Juli Uota	she/her	After learning to ride in my 30s on a bit of a lark, I found that I loved riding a bike. It gave me a sense of freedom and joy. I felt more connected to the places I would ride, and thus my overall community. It also allowed me to engage and reclaim a sense of athleticism that I had not experienced as an adult. I started riding for transportation and have continued to be a transportation and casual, recreational rider. The COVID era has renewed my recognition of the importance of the bicycle in my life. I have never been so thankful for my bike. Riding through Golden Gate Park and along Great Hwy, particularly now that this route is it truly car-free, I am reminded of how relaxing and restorative biking can be. It has been a great reminder of the unique capability of bicycling as a mode of transit that also can make one happy.	I initially joined the SF Bicycle Coalition to ensure the safety of my loved ones, as I didn’t know how to ride a bike. From my previous organizing work, I knew my household membership would strengthen the membership numbers and support the organization’s work. It would be another few years of reading the Tube Times before I saw the opportunity for me to learn to ride. Upon experiencing bicycling myself, I became more directly involved. I continue to be an active member because I want to foster a community of welcoming inclusivity where everyone has the opportunity to experience the joy of a bicycle.	My involvement with the SF Bicycle Coalition began with a Volunteer Night in 2008. A year later after a few bike education classes, I was hired as an hourly consultant to run the membership renewal phone bank. I managed that program for 11 years until it ceased with COVID, switching to running it as a volunteer once I was elected to the Board. I also sat in the Membership Chair twice over the last decade, first for almost a year in 2013 and then again for a few months in 2018 between Membership Department leads. I maintained an hourly position with the Membership Dept for most of the 2010’s, first helping to transfer our database to Salesforce and then with general membership matters such as monthly giving, database mgmt., special events and projects as needed. Simultaneously to all this, I’ve been an active volunteer. I’ve done tons of street-side outreach, several seasons of Light Up the Night, other special street side campaigns, bike valet, Tube Times distribution, data entry galore, Volunteer Nights, and been a SF Bike Ambassador at more community events than I can count. Outside of my work with the SF Bicycle Coalition, I have been an active volunteer in the political phonebanking world for the Democratic party across the nation, running major campaign offices in SF for the ’08, ’12, ’16, and ’20 (online) Presidential cycles, several of the intervening midterms campaigns, and many special elections across the country. I oversaw phonebanks topping out with a thousand volunteers per day, managing teams of volunteers, and was Board Chair for an organization designed to support campaigns across the nation. I also did some legal services volunteer work focused on helping low-income recipients navigate the family court system.	I have done paid fundraising for the SF Bicycle Coalition in my phone bank capacity, as well as on a volunteer basis for SFBC and numerous other organizations, and am comfortable with a cold, hard ask. Volunteer management, building volunteer staff teams, and helping to foster leadership in others are key skills in my phone bank work, particularly in the context of the national campaigns in which I’ve participated and my work at Democracy Action. I have gained greater experience with finance and budgeting by participating in the SFBC audit review. I have done extensive voter outreach to a wide range of communities and demographics. As a former SFBC membership team member, I’ve had frequent interactions with a broad range of our membership base over a long tenure; this was particularly true as the phone bank was the easiest way for many to become a member through the barter program. Board service, on both SFBC and my other board commitment, has strengthened my mediation, facilitation, and conflict resolution skills beyond my legal and initial mediation training.	This would be my third term on the SF Bicycle Coalition Board. Given my long tenure with the organization before my Board service, I bring institutional knowledge to the board, a relationship with the current and former staff, and a strong work ethic. I know how much commitment this volunteer board requires and am prepared to do the work. In addition to project management skills demonstrated on my committee work, I will continue to work to ensure the Board maintains healthy relationships within itself and the staff. From this Board and my political advocacy experience, I know that people bring different skills and motivations to their Board service and the key is to work within that to meet our shared goals.	our work, how we perpetuate the system of institutionalized racism, and how we can strive to create racial equity and justice. I am committed to making our staff and board more diverse and representative of the city we serve, to having conversations about how our work can be antiracist at every level of our organization, and to working with our membership to have the hard conversations we need to ensure current members recognize their own role within this work while making space for a membership more reflective of our city. I believe part of our anti-racist work must include examining our presumptions of who gets included in our SF Bike community. I have experience both confronting those presumptions, as a heavy-set, Asian American woman, and being complicit in perpetuating them, as a financially privileged, white passing, able-bodied person. I see outreach that begins with listening, our bicycle education classes, and programs that provide low/no cost access to bicycles as critical to our mission of making the bicycle an option for everyday transportation for everyone and every part of our city.	I am called to run for the SFBC Board out of continued service to the organization. I bring value to the board through my willingness to put in a large amount of time, my differing background as a child raised in a Black city and its public school system, and my ability to see the long arc of this organization having been a member for almost fifteen years. As someone who learned how to ride as an adult, I have a different perspective of biking and connect to it differently. In my third term, I would like to facilitate the Theory of Change journey for this organization so that we can remain strong with renewed direction for the next generation of members.
6	Ernesto	He/Him	Biking has been my primary form of transportation since my high school years, and to this day it has allowed me to live fully car free.	I believe that biking can be for every San Franciscan regardless of race, age, income and ability. Not only as a form of recreation, but as a serious form of transportation. Safe biking can provide the freedom of mobility to youth and people unable to afford automobiles. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is working to make sure this vision can be realized.	Although I have known about the Bicycle Coalition for many years, I have never had the pleasure of being directly involved. However, I have seen the coalition's involvements with community groups that I have been part of such as Excelsior Bike Club. I have also had the pleasure of collaborating with Prop J in this past election cycle in a campaign surrogate capacity for latine political orgs. Additionally, this year I am serving in two other boards: Harvey Milk Democratic Club in a committee Capacity and as Vice President of the San Francisco Young Democrats (SFYD).	I have had the privilege of leading event planning for SFYD campaign events, as well as spearhead fundraising from different democratic players in the City. My involvement as membership chair in Latinx Democrats has allowed me to develop interpersonal skills as well as conflict resolution between disagreeing parties. Furthermore, my current position as coordinator of a city department fellowship program requires me to facilitate weekly in person seminars for a cohort of 20 people.	I have not been able to serve on a non-profit board before, however I have been deeply connected to the non-profit sector as staff before and now as collaborator, the African Advocacy Network, Latino Task Force. At my current position in the Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs I have direct contact with San Francisco non profits' Executive Boards in order to arrange placements for our fellows.	I have seen first hand the damage that seemingly positive changes has had on my and other vulnerable communities in San Francisco. I believe change is good, and that Black and brown communities on the south east side of SF deserve street safety as much as any other area in the City (especially because traffic violence disproportionally affects and kills Black and latine folks more than other demographics). In order to achieve the goal of being an antiracist organization, the Bike Coalitions needs to be anti-carceral, culturally and racially competent and tailor its street safety advocacy to the needs of communities. Additionally I firmly hold high standards for myself to listen and open space for everyone, even if we don't share cultural, gender or racial backgrounds.	I have a strong conviction that our City should be for everyone, I also understand that there are some perspectives and knowledge that comes with being raised in San Francisco, especially in neighborhoods like Bayview-Hunters Point. I can bring such perspective in a manner that is welcoming, friendly, open and inclusive to others.
7	Meaghan Mitchell	she her	i bike mostly in my neighborhood- the Bayview	I joined because I love biking and I advocate for safe inclusive spaces in san franciscoZ	I was the first African American female to join the board and that is an honor that i hold close to my heart. I am also one of the founders of the African American Art & Cultural District. I believe that the Black voice of San Francisco is still powerful and I want people to know and understand that we part of the bicycle community! I have facilitated in panel discussions around antiracism within the bike community and regularly volunteer at events.	I am great at event organizing and coalition building.	I have worked for several San Francisco nonprofits including San Francisco Beautiful, En2action, the Fillmore Community Benefit District and Imprint.City.	Antiracism is my life's work. Everything I put my energy into is always around being inclusive. When starting the African American Art & Cultural District, I worked with the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development on drafting language for legislation that would ensure financial sustainability, health and wellness for the San Francisco's SouthEast community.	I'm excited to continue working on this board and looking forward the positive changes that 2023 will bring.
8	Joanna Gubman	She/they	It's a lovely feeling of freedom and connection to place. I feel the weather, see people on the streets, see what's in the shops... Plus I know it's the most environmentally friendly way to get around besides walking. Now that I'm a mom, I want my daughter to have the same experience of freedom, joy, and connection too, and to build earth-friendly habits. And of course, biking is often the fastest and easiest way to get around town. I bike for transportation!	We need a strong voice in the city advocating for this essential transportation mode. And we need a partner in our communities to help more people get bicycling, so that the benefits of bicycling can be enjoyed by all San Franciscans.	I'm currently on the Board of the SF Bicycle Coalition, just wrapping up my first two-year term. I'm on the Board Development & Governance committee, where I have attended to issues like proper governance in accordance with our bylaws, setting up and updating our elections process (for last year, not this year), and supporting board & staff members getting to know one another and form a cohesive group. I also help with the general business of the Board, and volunteer at events like Bike To Wherever Day and Winterfest. My day job is being the executive director of Urban Environmentalists. Urban Environmentalists empowers our network of grassroots activists and coalition partners to transform cities and towns into more sustainable, human-centered, and just communities through land use policy reform. We're a nonprofit initiative of YIMBY Action, a network of people who advocate for abundant, affordable housing and inclusive, sustainable communities across the United States. I've previously served as Environmental Director of the SF Eastern Neighborhoods Democratic Club and as co-president of Young Professionals in Energy - SF Bay Area Chapter. I was also on the Community Advisory Committee for the Van Ness Improvement Project.	In my day job, I have done a lot of fundraising and membership growth work; I'd love to focus on those issues in my upcoming term, if re-elected. I'm also familiar with a lot of the HR and legal rules relating to nonprofits from my current role at Urban Environmentalists, as well as general HR/legal issues from previous roles managing a team and serving as an administrative law judge at the California Public Utilities Commission. I'd also like to bring this experience to the board, as a secondary focus. My role at Urban Environmentalists has a strong focus on coalition building and facilitation, as did my previous roles at the California Public Utilities Commission. I know that we need trusting, mutually-beneficial relationships with diverse coalition partners in order to have successful advocacy and programs.	Yes. As previously noted, I've served on the board of the SF Bicycle Coalition for the past two years. I previously served as Environmental Director of the SF Eastern Neighborhoods Democratic Club. I also served on the informal Advisory Board of Young Professionals in Energy - SF Bay Area Chapter, after my term as co-president. And in my current role at Urban Environmentalists, I work with my own Advisory Board to set strategy and accomplish organizational objectives. I bring experience with the logistics and process of being on a board, as well as familiarity with different ways that boards can be helpful to the organization they're a part of. For my own organization, I most appreciate when my board helps create space for us to think strategically together, uses their removal from the day-to-day to help synthesize issues in a bigger-picture way, and helps with fundraising. See my previous answers for additional elements from my current/past work that I would bring to the board, if re-elected to a second term.	Antiracism has been central to much of my career, from managing and expanding energy programs for underserved communities to fighting to end exclusionary housing policies. It's also an important part of my day to day life in a mixed-race family. As a white person, a huge part of antiracism for me is supporting and amplifying the voices of people of color. I've been proud to work for several black and brown leaders at the California Public Utilities Commission, to learn from them and to support implementation of their visions. At Urban Environmentalists, I work to listen to and elevate the voices of people of color within our organization, and I prioritize building trusting and substantive partnerships with people & organizations engaged in environmental justice and other antiracist work. Beyond supporting and amplifying the voices of people of color, I think it's important to always be vigilant in consciously noticing when & how racism is happening, and to do my best to be antiracist when I see racism expressed. In my work (and also in my personal life), I also make an effort to speak to white audiences very directly about white supremacy, both historical and ongoing, and how that intersects with housing and sustainability issues today. I've heard Tamika Butler, former head of the LA bicycle coalition, say that she can't trust white people to address white supremacy if they're not even willing to name it; I try to take that lesson to heart and talk directly about white supremacy. A small example of day to day antiracism is the picture book about bicycling that I got for my daughter. I appreciate that it shows people of many different races, ages, and body types riding bikes - that's an important part of being inclusionary and antiracist. However, the book also shows a black person doing a wheelie on a bike with only a back wheel, and says, "Doesn't that bike need one more [wheel]?" Elsewhere the book speaks positively about wheelies, but in this instance, why is it questioning the black person riding a bike with no front wheel? For now, my daughter can't yet read and so I change the words to something like "Wow, riding with just one wheel!" I think that type of everyday attention and action is essential, whether it's unintentional microaggressions or very overt racism.	Thank you for your trust in serving you on the SF Bicycle Coalition Board these past two years. If you'd like to talk more about anything in my questionnaire, or about anything else bike-related, feel free to reach out to me at hello@joannagubman.com.
9	William Walker	he/she/they	I bike for fitness. I bike to commute. I biked during the pandemic for sanity. I also suffered a severe bike injury because of a speeding motorist. It is difficult to connect to biking often. The bike community is not diverse optically. It is important that communities of color and transgender bisexual lesbian gay queer communities feel included in bike advocacy. I learned to bike at 5 years old and again at 7 after breaking my non dominant wrist. JFK Drive closures were instrumental in my learning to bike.	I’ll be honest. I have not joined yet. I’ve joined in the past. I’m completing the questionnaire in the event I’m convinced to run for SF Bike Board. Update: I joined today 1/6.	For over two decades I have participated on Boards of nonprofit organizations: Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth (4 years) the ACLU of Northern California (4 years) Pacifica Radio and Local KPFA Board (3 years), Harvey Milk Democrats (10 years, 1 year as e-Board). I’ve advocated alongside allies to establish a Youth Commission, wellness/health centers in high schools with registered nurses, increase youth voice on Commissions, Boards and in funding decisions related to youth. I helped at the state level to implement Senate Bill 743 by leading technical assistance webinars for more than 1,200 state and local employees, Planning professionals, community organizations and members of the community.	I have experience fundraising, budgeting, hiring, coalition building and facilitating. I have a 29 year career history and served on boards for about ten years.	I’ve served on about a half dozen nonprofit boards and another half dozen community or citizen advisory committees. I bring a commitment to collaboration, an understanding of institutions and how institutional processes exclude many who look and walk and talk like me. I hope to bring perspectives to the San Francisco Bike Coalition that aren’t typically heard. I hope to help the organization build with communities of color rather than build through them.	I’m a community organizer of color based in San Francisco. This fight has been my fight. Working toward being seen and heard. Please forgive my short responses. These questionnaires are exhausting for folks who have built anti racist organizations. Folks who have fought to be in spaces that don’t typically include them. It hurts to type these responses. There has to be a way to create questionnaires that allow those least represented to tell of their experiences without having to prove to you all why I am anti-racist. Maybe I am wrong.	Thank you for the opportunity.
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