"Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country" -- the same goes for local governments (and personal relationships). Be the resource your city officials (and significant others) can count on, not one they avoid. If you are thinking only about yourself, and what you will get out of it -- it is a bad relationship for them. Always make sure you give more than you get.
With that in mind, specifically....
In Salt Lake we attend the planning meetings, offer valet for city events, provide bikes to city fleets, offer countless hours of consulting on all-things-bicycle, provide a volunteer army for bike counts and other events, and the list goes on.
From the city the Bicycle Collective has a contract to receive all the police bikes, we get courted by the ReDevelopment Agency (RDA) to open up more locations, find out about various funding opportunities, have key people attend our events, and the list goes on.
Sincerely,
Jonathan Morrison
Executive Director
Bicycle Collective
2312 S. West Temple
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
w: 801-328-2453
c: 801-688-0183
f: 801-466-3856www.bicyclecollective.org
The mission of the Bicycle Collective is to promote cycling as an effective and sustainable form of transportation and as a cornerstone of a cleaner, healthier, and safer society. The Collective provides refurbished bicycles and educational programs to the community, focusing on children and lower income households.