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Boulder East, Community Cycles Partner to Provide Pool/Bike Program
Apr 4th
Boulder, Colo. – Boulder East, a non-profit membership organization working to reduce single occupancy vehicles, traffic congestion and its resulting pollution, is partnering with Community Cycles to maintain bicycles provided through their PoolBike program.
Boulder East’s PoolBike program provides Boulder companies with PoolBikes and setting up and managing these bikes available to employees. Employees of 21 local companies including Whole Foods, Roche Colorado, Fresh Produce, Foothills Community Hospital and many more, can go online and reserve a bike at their convenience. The online bike manager also calculates how many miles a person has ridden, gas saved, calories burned and carbon dioxide emission saved.
“Our PoolBikes provide employees who did not drive to work with an easy and convenient means of transportation during the day to run errands and go to meetings,” said Boulder East Marketing Manager Tracy Foster. “It also encourages individuals who drove to work to leave their cars parked during the day and instead bicycle to meetings, stores, and restaurants.” The PoolBike program is one of Boulder East’s most popular programs with 21 different companies and 36 bikes.
A likely partner, Community Cycles (CC) is a non-profit organization of bicycle enthusiasts whose mission is to educate and advocate for the safe use of bicycles as an affordable, viable and sustainable means of transportation and personal enjoyment within our community. Community Cycles provides re-cycled bikes and a welcoming space to learn about bicycle repair, maintenance and operation through outreach and advocacy activities.
For more information or to join the PoolBike program, visit www.bouldereast.org. For more information on Community Cycles, contact www.communitycycles.org/
Boulder East is a non-profit organization created to promote transit, carpooling, biking, vanpooling, telecommuting and other transportation options in an effort to cut back on single-occupant vehicles on the road. For more information contact Tracy Foster at (303) 319-3069 or email tracy.foster@bouldereast.org
Contact: Bob Whitson (303) 819-6838
COLORADO BUSINESS LEADERS’ CONFIDENCE AT HIGHEST LEVEL SINCE 2006, SAYS CU LEEDS SCHOOL INDEX
Apr 1st
Colorado business leaders’ confidence is at its highest level since the second quarter of 2006, according to the most recent quarterly Leeds Business Confidence Index, or LBCI, released today by the University of Colorado Boulder’s Leeds School of Business.
For the second quarter of 2011, the LBCI posted a reading of 56.8, with the most significant change to the index coming in hiring plans. The index measuring hiring plans rose from 52.5 in the first quarter to 56.3 in the second.
While confidence in the state and national economies has leveled, expectations for sales, industry profits, hiring plans and capital expenditures all recorded aggressive gains, according to Leeds School economist and Business Research Division Director Richard Wobbekind, who conducts the quarterly survey.
“A continued upward trend in all of the indicators suggests that Colorado business leaders see sustained growth over the next quarter and even beyond,” Wobbekind said. “Higher sales and profits are fueling a lot of the business confidence that is out there now, and this is clearly turning into plans to invest in capital equipment and hiring more people, which is very important for the long-term growth of the economy.”
An index of 50 is neutral. An index greater than 50 indicates positive expectations, while an index lower than 50 indicates negative expectations, according to Leeds School researcher Brian Lewandowski, who compiles the survey results for the index.
Colorado’s unemployment rate actually has increased over the past couple of months, even though the business leaders’ index for hiring rose at a hefty rate this quarter. Wobbekind said such mixed messages concerning unemployment rates are common during economic recoveries.
“One of the things that happens with the unemployment rate is it typically goes higher as firms start to hire because people who have been out of work start to come back into the workforce again,” Wobbekind said.
However, that’s only part of the story, he said. Colorado’s unemployment rate was recently revised to a higher rate based on population gains.
“I think this is actually a good thing because it signals to the rest of the country that this isn’t an ‘easy place’ to get a job,” Wobbekind said. “This will probably slow down some of the flow of jobseekers into the state, which is good until we get our employment growth a little further along.”
Business leaders remain positive, but somewhat subdued, regarding national and state economic growth, according to Lewandowski. The national index increased from 53.2 to 53.6, while the state index fell slightly, from 56.5 to 55.5.
Capital expenditures had an index value of 56.1, up from 53.6 last quarter. The sales and profit expectations of business leaders are back to prerecession levels, and are at their highest level since the second quarter of 2007, according to Lewandowski. The sales index was 61.4 and profit index was 58.1.
To access the complete report visit http://leeds.colorado.edu/lbci.
National Alliance on Mental Illness, Boulder County
Apr 1st
Boulder Channel 1 talks with the Boulder N.A.M.I. (The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) about their contributions to the city and county to the people who live here with mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic and other severe anxiety disorders, autism and pervasive developmental disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and other persistent mental illnesses that affect the brain.
