[Caevlist] National Plug-In Day 2013

Wed Sep 25 08:00:59 PDT 2013

Hello again, 

Summary: I've had too many obstacles arise to assemble a Corvallis event for Plug-In Day 2013. 

Key lessons learned: 
We need to be making plans in August for a September event. 
We should have been discussing this at the August and September CAEV group meetings. 

Background: 
As an example, the city of Corvallis requires a 30-day notice for any Traffic Order permits, which is what you need to get an area of street parking spaces reserved for EVs to gather. 

There are other issues, personal to me, that also interfered. The short timeline to organize was quite "critical path," meaning that any delays pretty much scuttled this attempt to assemble an event. 

There will be a potential ongoing issue of having an event in a university town on a home game day. I assume, and hope, that not every Plug-In Day will coincide with an OSU home game. If the kick-off was 4 PM or later, it would be much less of an issue. 

Regards, 
Charles 

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kirk at ShiftEV" <kirk at shiftev.com> 
To: "Charles Bonville" <charlesbonville at comcast.net> 
Sent: Sunday, September 22, 2013 12:04:53 PM 
Subject: RE: [Caevlist] National Plug-In Day 2013 

Maybe we should celebrate by parking just in view of people stuck at popular gas stations, where the lines will be tremendous! –kidding. 

I celebrate plugging in every day at my shop. No worries if this event doesn’t work out & thanks for looking into it. 

-Kirk 

From: caevlist-bounces at caevclub.org [mailto:caevlist-bounces at caevclub.org] On Behalf Of Charles Bonville 
Sent: Saturday, September 21, 2013 9:04 PM 
To: caevlist at caevclub.org 
Subject: Re: [Caevlist] National Plug-In Day 2013 

Hello again... 

Earlier today I realized that OSU has a home game, playing Colorado, beginning at noon on 28 September . 

With the Fall Festival boasting of 30K to 35K attendance each year... and the football game potentially bringing up to 45K people to Reser, I find myself asking: 

a. Am I crazy to even think of going into Corvallis on that day at any time between 10 AM and 4 PM? 

b. Given the festivities of the day, and the rush that most people will be in after struggling to find a parking space... are we likely to find anyone that wants to talk about EVs? Can we get any mindshare in that environment? 

If building public awareness is the goal, maybe setting up a line of EV's next to a National Plug-In Day banner along Highway 34 Bypass would accomplish far more than gathering in a parking lot.... but the Troopers might well frown on a gathering along the highway, and maybe it would be too dangerous to do for hours on end. 

I've just about talked myself out of trying to have an event in Corvallis... or at least the notion of an event on Saturday. 

Maybe Sunday afternoon (Sept. 29) would be more relaxed and productive? 

Share your thoughts, please. 

Thanks, 

Charles 
----- Original Message -----

From: "Charles Bonville" < charlesbonville at comcast.net > 
To: caevlist at caevclub.org 
Sent: Thursday, September 19, 2013 9:14:09 PM 
Subject: Re: [Caevlist] National Plug-In Day 2013 

Hello! 

Today I talked with Christine Hackenbruck, Exec. Director of the Fall Festival, about National Plug-In Day and the interest of the local electric vehicle drivers to host an event at the Festival. Christine gave it due consideration, but was unable to determine a location in the Festival that we could display approximately 6 EVs. (One of you suggested the street in front of the Library, but that is the food court area.) 

My next avenue is to contact the city and find out if I can get an event permit that entitles me to cordon off 6 parking spaces on a street that borders the Festival blocks, but is not controlled by the Festival permit. Once I see what options there are, I will advise you further. 

I do note that the designated Festival parking area is the Avery Square lot on 9th, with a dedicated shuttle making the rounds. If nothing else, I suspect we could self-organize at that parking lot, if we get there early enough to get a block of contiguous parking spaces (perhaps a 2 x 3 area is best, not 6 x 1). 

http://corvallisfallfestival.org/visit/ Even with this option, I would intend to make arrangements with Avery Square management so that we can get a guaranteed area and thus be able to publicize the Plug-in Day event in the local media in advance. 

Thanks, 

Charles 
----- Original Message -----

From: "Charles Bonville" < charlesbonville at comcast.net > 
To: caevlist at caevclub.org 
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 3:10:26 PM 
Subject: Re: [Caevlist] National Plug-In Day 2013 

Hello! 

3 of you have replied so far, indicating interest in participation on Saturday, 28 September. 

Most of you mentioned the Corvallis Fall Festival, so I have reached out to the Festival organizer to inquire where we could get space to congregate 6 to 10 EVs for a Plug-In Day event. I'll let you know what they say. 

Meanwhile... I'm still looking for more of you to volunteer to participate. The festival hours are 10 AM to 6 PM, but I think it would be reasonable for us to target a primary event time of 10 to 2. (For example, the Portland event is 10 to 1.) I'm interested in your feedback about this detail. 

Thanks, 

Charles 

----- Original Message -----

From: "Charles Bonville" < charlesbonville at comcast.net > 
To: caevlist at caevclub.org 
Sent: Wednesday, September 18, 2013 7:43:24 AM 
Subject: [Caevlist] National Plug-In Day 2013 

NPiD 2013 is coming up on September 28. I'm more than surprised that the only Oregon event is in Portland.... nothing in Salem, Eugene or Corvallis. 

http://www.pluginday.org/events.php 

With 10 days to go... I don't think it's entirely too late to organize an EV gathering somewhere in Corvallis, preferably at a high-visibility location. 

If you are willing to give a few hours on Saturday, 28 September to show your EV and answer questions... let's talk! 

I'd like to see if we have "critical mass" before I take action to volunteer to organize a local event. (See http://www.pluginday.org/volunteer.php ) 

Thanks, 

Charles 

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