PBC and NWBSC

Don’t you just love acronyms? Being employed in a school, I find they come flying at me all the time. I miss most of the conversation while my brain scrambles to decipher the code.

So, PBC is, of course, Portland Bicycling Club. NWBSC is Northwest Bicycle Safety Council. As I have been sharing for the past several months, NWBSC plans to dissolve their organization in the very near future. I have been the president of NWBSC for the past few years.

NWBSC approached PBC, first, about taking over various helmet fitting events as there is a long history between the two organizations. We, NWBSC, felt we owed it to PBC to offer our “assets” as it were, to the bike club. These included a few hundred helmets left over from our 2019 helmet order, about $20,000, a Ford van, and the TV show Cycology Today.

To put it succinctly, there was little interest from PBC in this proposed transaction. I want to thank Pat McManus and Rob Schroeder for taking time to perform some due diligence and gather additional information to use to try to persuade a reluctant board. I think the board’s position accurately reflected the club membership as a whole. Ultimately, I rescinded the offer as there was no enthusiasm at the prospect and certainly no passion or a single volunteer to take responsibility! Fair enough, PBC is somewhat like NWBSC in that we have limited time and energy for a finite number of activities. PBC is working on a new event, and that’s probably more than enough.

I subsequently have met with representatives of Bike Clark County and will let you know what transpires. They seem interested and are brainstorming how to integrate the two organizations and discussing if it’s something they can really undertake.

I do thank you for your consideration.

Ann Morrow, PBC Recording Secretary and NWBSC President