On Mon, Mar 30, 2020 at 11:19 AM Terra Reed <terrareed19@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi Mark,Thanks for this email and I apologize for not getting back to you this weekend - I needed to log out a bit this weekend and get some relief from the level of screentime that has become the new normal. Despite the challenges of virtual communication, this introvert was perhaps a bit overwhelmed by an increased level of certain kinds of interaction.I don't believe that there is an organized coalition of bike shops in the area, although I am sure that there is some more informal communication among them. We could probably reach out to most of the shops that we know of/interact with in the ABQ area and get their perspective and share that with Rep. Rubio. Josh and Heather from Routes I believe have been doing quite a bit of advocacy and interaction with relevant decision makers as well, so they might be a good voice as well - I'm not sure what would be the most useful approach.Many of us have submitted our own personal comments and BikeABQ has a draft letter to send to the Governor - maybe we could reach out to different shops to "sign on" to that to show the general support? My sense from my own connections in the bike shop community is that there are mixed feelings about wanting to be open and serve our community, but also concern over safety for employees and customers. With that in mind, I think it is the right thing to support the inclusion of bike shops as essential services (and, as a corollary, biking as a legitimate and essential form of transportation within our transportation system), with certain restrictions and safety/cleaning requirements for those who chose to stay open. It sounds like the movement nationally is to move in this direction and I think that if/when the change is made in NM, we as advocates should help share information about how to support those businesses - both in terms of looking to them for service when it is needed and in terms of practicing the appropriate safety precautions to help them stay safe.On Sat, Mar 28, 2020 at 5:14 PM Mark Aasmundstad <bikeyogi@gmail.com> wrote:Dear Bike Community,I am asking New Mexico's Governor to add Bicycle Shops as essential businesses allowed to stay open during this health emergency. There is a form you can fill out and submit to tell our Governor Bicycle Shops are essential. Takes less than one minute. https://p2a.co/KN3VqYXAlso Las Cruces Representative Angelica Rubio would like to contact the Governor's legal team on the bicycle community's behalf. She was asking if there is a bicycle shop collective or industry association that could speak for all of our retailers and/or bicycle repair businesses statewide. Does anyone know if such an organization or representative exists? If not we can organize one if it is feasible, or individual shops could write in, or we could organize by region. Representative Rubio thought it would be most effective to make our case in a group.Most states have been successful getting bicycle repair shops listed as essential businesses. Let us know your ideas, or you can email me offlist at bikeyogi@gmail.comThank you,MarkMark AasmundstadSouthwest Bike InitiativeSustainable transportation planning, design and educationAlbuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.A.