All - NCCC is a club member of the SDCBC (San Diego County Bicycle Coalition) Council of Clubs, with your NCCC VP Ken Chin-Purcell as our acting representative. As such, each NCCC member is a full individual member in the Coalition with all the perks that brings (unless you unsubscribe from all communications - all SDCBC asks is staying in touch). Anyway...
I know getting weekly fundraising reminders during both Bike Month and the End of the Year might seem pestering, but these 2 primary campaigns have replaced not only individual membership dues but the $5/club-member dues that Council of Clubs members used to pay. e.g. NCCC with ~200 members always wrote a check for ~$1,000 each year with other large clubs paying similarly. Last year, the 2 fundraising campaigns outperformed the old individual+club dues combined, so this has been not only good financially, but SDCBC can now count ~8,000 San Diegans as members now where only dues-paying and club members amounted to ~1,500 members previously.
NCCC is still supporting the Coalition, but at a much lower level at ~$150 annually, so if you value what the Coalition is doing, you might consider chipping in. Any amount helps - even the old $5 we used to provide per member. The # supporters helps SDCBC in grant funding because it shows thousands of folks interested in improving bicycling in SD County - currently membership numbers ~8,000. You may show your support at: https://sdbikecoalition.org/2021-bike-month-fundraiser/
And it certainly is reasonable to ask why? There are a host of reasons, but as club cyclists, these are the things that SDCBC and Council of Clubs in particular address:
- Keeping roads maintained and safe
- Maintaining our legal rights to the road (yes, there are organizations still trying to limit that)
- Supporting local jurisdictions in new bike facility improvement
- Seeing more sharrows and Bikes May Use Full Lanes reminders where roads are too narrow for bike lanes or other
- Working hard to avoid mistakes like the Cardiff Hwy 101 cycletrack - at least bold sharrows were added because of strong voices
- Providing Education - and free for Smart Cycling classes, taken by ~30% of NCCC members and required for ride leaders