BengeBoy 

Cascade announced today that Chuck Ayres had been asked to leave, e.g., fired. The release was odd, I thought, in being unusually blunt in pointing out that the Board decided that Chuck should leave.

I am just a Cascade member, and don't understand anything about the politics of the club or its leadership.

Anybody know what's up? I thought the press release was odd for a non-profit advocacy group: "The Board has made the decision that Chuck is no longer the right person to lead Cascade into its next phase of growth and opportunity."

Normally I'd expect to see a club of this size trot out the ol' "left to pursue other interests;" not sure why they are making this so pointed.

https://blog.cascade.org/2010/10/100410/

riversiderider

I too am a member that also has no idea about the politics of the organization. I belong because it is a huge club with an active advocacy program and they put on great events.

ngateguy

They aren't saying anything on their website and the members forum is as surprised as we are

nhluhr

I'm guessing Chuck didn't invite enough board members to his last private ride

octopuswithafez

There have been a few other blog posts theorizing/commenting on the board's desire to take the club in a more business direction vs. advocacy/political action route. I know, anecdotally, of people leaving the club as Cascade began focusing on political change, sometimes not connected to direct bike policies ( slate of candidates )...

Bekologist

not enough portapotties for STP?

yeah, its bound to be messy.

Cascade did just start up a Political Action Committee.

PACs are expressly developed to funnel money to influence legislators.

I do not know if or how Cascades' development of bikePAC affected this decision.

*disclaimer* (i'm not a member as i am adverse to group rides but do volunteer for Cascade events, bike counts, Bike Expo, etc. and recommend Cascade to all bicyclists I meet looking for local bike rides or education connection)

BengeBoy 

There have been some comments in several stories now (like at Publicola, and Seattle Times) suggesting that Chuck Ayers was more in favor of "grassroots" advocacy and the board was interested in a new leader who could be more "big leagues" (that's not the phrase that was used, I forget the exact wording).

I still don't really know what that means.

It seems to me that since the Board went out of its way to say they disagreed with Chuck's direction that they owe it to the membership to clarify why.

BengeBoy 

Two things today:

Seattle bike blog posted this, which includes interviews w/both Ayers and Cascade:

https://seattlebikeblog.com/2010/10/0...r-rough-split/


And Cascade sent out this email today. But I think the blog post above is a little clearer.

Dear members,

First, let me thank you for your ongoing support and your commitment to the Club. Since we announced the Board of Directors’ decision on Monday to make a change in our Executive Director, some of you have asked for more information about why we made the decision. On behalf of the Board, I want to share a few more details with you.

On Monday, Oct. 4, we met with Chuck Ayers to summarize management issues we had discussed with him for many months, to explain our need for a smooth transition in leadership and to request his resignation. After a long and respectful discussion, Chuck declined our request and the Board terminated his employment.

This decision was very difficult for the Board. All of us are avid cyclists. Chuck personally recruited most of us to serve as volunteer Board members. He’s our friend. Chuck is a person of the highest integrity and we deeply appreciate his contributions to the Club over the years. We considered our decision very carefully, over time and always through the lens of what was in the best interest of the Club now and for years to come. Difficult as it was, it is the right decision.

Cascade Bicycle Club was founded 40 years ago as a grassroots membership organization. The Board is charged with overseeing the Club’s financial viability, charting its strategic direction and supervising the Executive Director, including, if necessary, deciding whether the ED should continue to lead our Club. These core governance responsibilities are essential to the long-term viability and effective function of Cascade Bicycle Club.
Over the past few years, the Board consistently has supported Chuck and the Club staff. In addition to being responsible stewards of the Club’s finances, we evaluate and approve electoral endorsements recommended by the staff and authorize Cascade’s legal challenges, such as our successful battle with Lake Forest Park to protect the Burke Gilman Trail, the ongoing BGT Missing Link litigation, and our current challenge to the legality of the Transportation 2040 Plan.

The Board fully supports the public policy positions and strong advocacy voice of the Cascade Bicycle Club. We are 100% committed to Cascade’s continuing role as an unwavering and consistent grassroots voice to demand safe and accessible streets and trails for cycling and cyclists.

So, why the change?

As Cascade’s membership has grown – now to more than 13,000 members – so did the staff (now 23 employees), our programs and the complexity of our operations, demanding different management skills than in our earlier years.

The Club’s public voice now helps to shape our region’s transportation policies. We are one of the most potent political forces in the region and one of the strongest and most influential advocates in the nation for cyclists and cycling. To continue to be a successful advocate – in fact, in order to strengthen our advocacy while also enhancing our rides, programs and activities – we must become more strategic and focused. When tough tactics are called for, we will not shy away. But we also must build coalitions and back up our beliefs with reason and with dignity. Cascade Bicycle Club is its members, and we must always be mindful that when we speak, we represent each of you.

Chuck’s leadership helped build our advocacy position. However, increasingly, his leadership style resulted in actions and public statements that periodically were counterproductive to the image we wanted for our Club and jeopardized our lobbying to secure passage of the Vulnerable User Bill and many other advocacy initiatives. The Board grew more and more concerned that this underlying management philosophy would limit the Club’s effectiveness in serving members as well as its appeal to donors and sponsors. Critical comments of Cascade began to arise not just in the media, but among the grassroots cyclists and citizen advocates who are the lifeblood of our Club, risking the polarization of the community against cycling as Seattle moves forward with many pro-cycling reforms.

These issues are only part of a larger assessment of the Club’s leadership needs. Over the past few years, the Board has worked with and consistently supported Chuck in his efforts to promote growth and to position the Club for the future. More recently, our views have increasingly diverged regarding how the Executive Director should best execute his duties to ensure the efficient and effective management of the Club. To go into further detail about this personnel issue, and the specifics of how the Board worked with Chuck to address the Board’s concerns, would be inappropriate and inconsistent with our desire to respect Chuck’s privacy. Ultimately, only after a long process and after many careful discussions with Chuck, did the Board reach its conclusion that a change was necessary in order for the Club to realize its potential.

A change in leadership is not unusual in the business world or the nonprofit world. Many organizations find themselves at a crossroads where the successes of existing leadership cause the organization to evolve to the point where continued success requires a different style of leadership, fresh perspectives and new ideas. This is where Cascade is today.

The Board is deeply appreciative of Chuck and of the many accomplishments Cascade made under Chuck’s leadership. During his 13-year tenure, Chuck, staff, volunteers and our sponsors helped grow Cascade into the nation’s largest cycling organization. Cascade runs thousands of rides and manages dozens of events and educational programs each year. And, as noted earlier, we are influential advocates for policies to benefit cycling, cyclists and communities. Now that the Club has reached this level of success, we need an executive director who can build upon these accomplishments and expand our potential over the next decade.

This growth demands that Cascade remain a powerful voice in advocacy. Again, I want to emphasize that the Board is 100% committed to Cascade’s existing policy positions and to our identity as a grassroots organization. We endorse our local governments’ continuing strong actions to improve and extend bike trails and make bold changes to improve cycling on our roads.

To ensure a smooth transition and the ongoing operations of all our programs and activities, Board Vice-Chair Peter Morgan has taken on daily management duties for the next several weeks. A veteran cyclist, Peter is on leave from the Board and is serving Cascade pro bono. Through 2009, Peter was the Executive Vice President at Group Health. He brings extensive management experience to the role and has worked closely with Cascade staff this year in framing Cascade’s almost-completed strategic plan. The Board will immediately begin recruiting an interim executive director who will likely serve for three to six months before we hire a permanent executive director.
We will post the Executive Director job description soon. With the involvement of the Club’s staff, the Board will look for a visionary and dynamic organizational leader with experience in inspiring members, staff and communities.

We’ll be looking for an ED with experience managing a large organization so that we can drive and manage continued growth.

In closing, it is important to remember that all of us are the Cascade Bicycle Club – not just a single individual – and, together, we are the voice of cyclists and cycling.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss the transition further. The Annual Meeting of the Cascade Bicycle Club is on Thursday, October 21, at 6:30 p.m. at REI. We encourage you to come. Again, thank you for your continued support.

Chris Weiss
President and Chair, Board of Directors
Cascade Bicycle Club

BengeBoy 

This is wacky:

"
Cascade Reverses Course, Retains Ayers

By Erica C. Barnett, Monday, October 11, 2010 at 2:37 PM
View Comments
The Cascade Bicycle Club has reversed course and re-hired executive director Chuck Ayers on an interim basis until a permanent director can be found. Last week, as PubliCola first reported, the Cascade board abruptly fired Ayers, citing issues with his management style. Members speculated, however, that Ayers had been asked to leave because of his focus on policy advocacy, rather than on the group’s less-controversial programs, such as its recreational rides.
There was also widespread speculation that Ayers was let go because he refused to rein in the club’s sometimes volatile lobbyist, David Hiller, who pushed unsuccessfully for the vulnerable users’ bill and other bike-related legislation last year. Hiller has been directed not to comment on the board’s decision to fire Ayers.
Late last week, Cascade members began discussing a petition to recall the board in response to Ayers’ ouster. One possibility was that the pro-Ayers faction would put forward a slate of 11 pro-advocacy candidates to occupy the board, which can be as large as 21 members but currently has only eight. The decision to restore Ayers to his position was reportedly an effort to prevent such a coup. However, members are reportedly still discussing the possibility of a recall.
Ayers did not return a call for comment, and board member Tim Hennings said simply, “No comment. Not today.”

woodway

Not sure they could screw this up any worse.

Bekologist

good grief. the board of Cascade sounds like its a clique of passive aggressive Northwesterners, a bunch of kneejerks who have forgotten what its like to ride a bicycle for transport in Seattle.

David Hiller is outspoken and direct and effective. There is little to suggest his purportedly damaging comments to the press - the Stranger!- impact Cascades' effectiveness as the significant advocacy voice of Northwest cyclists.

BengeBoy 

Here's an interesting blog post about all this:

https://totcycle.com/blog/turmoil-in-tyvek.html

The writer talks about how Cascade has a dual personality:

- One -- older, more suburban, more about group rides, Chilly Hilly, STP, "don't ruffle feathers"

- The second -- younger, more urban, desiring more advocacy

Some good comments on the message boards at www.cascade.org, as well.

bizzz111

what has Cascade done lately? Maybe they aren't very good singing their own praises, but I only see:

- they were asleep at the switch when Renton lowered the speed limit on the Cedar river trail to 10 mph.
- haven't gotten anywhere with tying in the BG trail.
- Green river trail being out of commission for 5 years because of sand bags.

Just seems like they aren't acting like the #1 advocacy group for cyclists in the puget sound. Maybe a PAC will change that up a bit.

BengeBoy 

Apparently all kinds of fireworks are going off at Cascade's annual meeting tonight.

Publicola News is carrying live via Twitter:

https://twitter.com/#!/PubliColaNews

Apparently folks are shouting, yelling at the board ("horsesh**). It was revealed that the board fired Chuck Ayers (voting 10 to 1 to fire him) because Ayers wouldn't fire Cascade's bike advocate and lobbyist, David Hiller.

The odd thing about this to me is that as near as I can tell the Board wanted to get rid of Hiller because of a couple of provocative quotes he gave to local publications. But this whole mess has done more to set back Cascade than anything Hiller ever said, IMHO.

(edit: Publicola has now published their recap of the meeting: https://www.publicola.net/2010/10/22/...-club-meeting/)

nhluhr

definitely. WHEN, oh when, will organizations figure out the Streisand Effect?

BengeBoy 

I suspect that today full accounts will start coming out. Here are 2:

https://seattlebikeblog.com/2010/10/2...-it/#more-1938

https://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...meeting_r.html

There is also a lot of chatter about this as the Cascade Bicycle Club's own community message boards but their website sucks so much I can hardly stand to go there.

There also is a "protest" group that's now formed:

https://bikeclubrescuesquad.org

riversiderider

Frankly having read many of the links posted above I don't blame the Board of Directors for wanting to fire Hiller.

He (Hiller) does not sound like an Advocacy Director that will in the long run further the cause of cycling. I can understand his emotion around the issue of traffic deaths but in his capacity with the club a more measured approach seems more appropriate.

BengeBoy 

Interesting overview of the whole affair here, written from a pro-Ayers/pro-Hiller point of view:

https://tubulocity.com/?p=2397

jdgesus 

"A reader just informed me there are buzzards on the edge of town, and the edge of town is Factoria."

LOL

themuteherald

Not really new, but worrisome for any non-profit; They still don't have a Development Director. But, hey, who would take on this job in the midst of this negative press?

Meanwhile, who's making money for the PAC and other areas that aren't financed by dues and rides? No money=no advocacy...

I'm newer to Cascade, but I really like the majority of what they are about. Good events & good people. It's really unfortunate that this may have a lasting impact on the organization as a whole.

BigBlueToe

I don't have any comment on the core issue because I'm clueless down here in California. But a bike club with 13,000 members? Yikes! That's like a multinational corporation. I can imagine there would be some strong feelings involved in trying to manage such a beast. I don't know how many members my local club has, but their board seems like a happy bunch, and usually board members run unopposed.

Don't look for any insight here.