Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 27, 2012

The Filthy Landlubber 2nd Annual Inland Bike Crawl Poster

What is this all about? From the Filthy Sailors themselves,

We are the Filthy Sailors. Or the Filthy Landlubbers. Well we’re filthy, and we like drinking and we like bicycling – responsibly of course. And where better than San Diego, California? Not sure if we’re bikers or drinkers first, but we love a fermented barley’d beverage and cycling. Grow a beer’d, grab a flagon, and toast to a good time, come one come all, to our debauched club of sailors.

More details are available at their website.

Category: Events | No Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 25, 2012

When the Occupy Wall Street movement began last year, mainstream media reports on it varied from utter confusion to mockery. But it sparked something and pretty soon Occupiers around the country began Occupying a spot in their jurisdiction to bring attention to a variety of complaints and grievances. We have our own Occupy San Diego along with a bicycle cavalry arm – the Occupy Riders who spread their message by bicycle. I will write about our Occupy Riders in a future post.

Many media outlets have attempted to understand the rationale behind the Occupy movement with varying degrees of success. And like Critical Mass, responses to the movement vary all across the spectrum.

Here in San Diego, bicyclists have been promised a bike path along I-15. The promise was originally made in 1993 – almost two decades ago. However, what were the circumstances leading up to the 1993 Memorandum of Understanding? What was taking so long? In an attempt to understand the history, I contacted Caltrans’ Public Information Office to get access to what they call a “Final Environmental/Section 4(f) Statement”. This is the document that details everything from the rationale to construct the I-15 through the Mid-City region, the alternative routes considered, the environmental effects resulting from the construction of this freeway, the public comments that were received and the decision leading up to building the I-15 through the mid-city region. The contents of this 1971 document is detailed below.

1970 map showing where the new segment of the I-15 would be constructed. Image courtesy of Caltrans District 11

The intention of the project was to convert 2.2 miles of an urban four lane highway into a freeway. Part of those 2.2 miles included seven blocks of what used to be 40th Street. 40th Street back then was a residential street. The Environmental Statement that I reviewed described this street as follows, “abutting residents enter the main stream of traffic directly from their driveways and return the same way. Homes face directly onto the traffic only twenty five feet away.” The rationale given, in order convert this section into a freeway, was safety. The accident rate was “8.73 accidents per million vehicle miles” along this stretch of the road. The state average in 1970 was 6.47 for a similar type road and 1.43 for urban freeways.

Considering the time period, public outreach was done through mail and at least one in-person public meeting. 16 organizations responded by mail. 43 organizations did not respond at all. Only 5 out of the 16 organizations opposed the project. 650 apartment units (home to 2,000 residents) and 63 commercial units were listed to be displaced if the project was implemented. At a public hearing, 8 residents offered comment. Only 2 were in favor of this project. This included public comments from two individuals who may have been married (perhaps unhappily), Harold Blum was against the project and Minnie Blum was in favor of it. Out of all the individuals and organizations only a single individual – a resident named Sandra Dupont specifically asked for accommodations for bicyclists.

As we now all now know, the I-15 project was constructed. And non-motorized users lost one valuable connection into Mission Valley.

Last October at the SANDAG Board meeting where the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan was to be voted upon, 87 comments were offered prior to the Board vote. Out of these comments 56 (64% of the comments) organizations and/or individuals expressed opposition to the 2050 RTP. This included:
Molly Foster, member of the public
Stuart Cohen, TransForm
Georgette Gomez, Environmental Health Coalition,
Jessica Parra-Fitch, Policy Advocate at Environmental Health Coalition,
Congressman Bob Filner (51st District)
Keith Pezzoli, The Global Action Research Center
Masada Disenhouse, San Diego 350
Mike Bullock, a member of the public
Valentine Macedo, Laborers Local 89
Margarita Holguin, Chula Vista Community Collaborative
Hugh Moore, San Diego Green Party
Walter Carlin, member of the public
Anne Tolch, member of the public
Marisa Mangan, member of the public
Steve Padilla, Sustainable San Diego
Simon Mayeski, member of the public
Norma Noriega, Environmental Health Coalition
Pamela Epstein, Sierra Club San Diego
Janina Moretti, member of the public
Diane Nygaard, Preserve Calavera
Deborah Knight, Executive Director, Friends of Rose Canyon
Ryan Doyle, Sierra Club San Diego
Bob Silvern, a member of the public
Corinne Wilson, Center on Policy Initiatives
Andrew Bailey, member of the public
Michelle Manian, member of the public
Paul Nevins, North County Bicycle Club
Ernest Verano, a member of the public
Jack Shu, Cleveland National Forest Foundation
Andrea Monk, Sierra Club
Saynab Dahir, Environmental Health Coalition (EHC)
Norma Chavez-Peterson Justice Overcoming Boundaries
Kasey Zapatka
Patrick Murphy
Francisca Jimenez, EHC
Monserrat Hernandez, EHC
Esperanza Cortes, EHC
Martha Cortes, EHC
Evan May
Luz Palomino
Kayla Race, EHC
Silvia Leon, EHC
Jason Baker, EHC
Susan Weaver
Sarah Fuhrmann
Jose Franco Garcia, EHC
Pete Hasapopoulos
Luiza Savchuk
Leticia Ayala
Nicole Capretz, EHC
Joni K Craig, Occupy San Diego
Miguel Basillas
Melissa Berens
Joshua Garman, Occupy San Diego
John Kenney, Occupy San Diego

Last Monday the California State Attorney General joined in the lawsuit filed by the Cleveland National Forest Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity last November. I’ve briefly touched on the SANDAG 2050 Regional Transportation Plan and how it falls short of state goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve our air quality. The message to learn from this is that it is only by being an engaged citizen and an active and vocal part of the decision process can we effect change in our environment. The State Attorney General has now the ability to correct the SANDAG 2050 RTP. When the case is settled and the transportation dollars are allocated in an equitable manner to ensure increasing transportation options – we will owe all gratitude to the 56 individuals who cared enough to show up on October 21, 2011 and speak up and voice opposition against a transportation plan that would only exacerbate the problems we all as a society have grown to dislike. At this point in time, we cannot afford to lose more valuable land to the automobile. We need more options and we need to become more engaged citizens.

40th Street in 1970. Gone forever and replaced by the I-15. Image courtesy of Caltrans District 11

Category: Advocacy, Mid-City | 3 Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 24, 2012

Typically I do not cover bicycling collisions  in San Diego although I do make exceptions if readers send in additional information. I find it very difficult to write about the death of fellow cyclists because I can empathize with the pain the family members must experience to lose a loved one in such a horrific manner. However, so many of our riders continue to be pioneers and ride despite the auto-centric design of our streets and built environment. The least we can do is honor those who we’ve lost to the deadly street design that surrounds us. We can do so by continuing to ride and continuing to ask our city officials to redesign our built environment so that we can ensure that their lives were not needlessly taken away.

In 2011 we lost:

60-year-old Marberry Ben Acree of San Diego on February 5, 2011.

44 year-old Suntat Peverley of Mira Mesa on February 11, 2011

73-year old Ignacio Manriques Sanchez of San Diego on March 6, 2011

21-year old Jordan Hickey of National City on April 25, 2011

47 year old Jaime Ruiz of San Diego on June 19, 2011

30-year old Justin Newman of San Diego on September 28, 2011

There is really no reason any of these cyclists should have had their lives cut short so unexpectedly. Here’s hoping that 2012 will be a better year for all of us who continue to ride.

—

These are just the listing that fell under the SDPD’s jurisdiction as listed under Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System. There were many others listed that fell under CHP’s purview not listed above. I have been analyzing the 2011 collisions involving cyclists and hope to post some sort of an report based on the data eventually.

Category: Legal | No Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 23, 2012

• The biggest news to list here is that the State Attorney General, Kamala Harris, has joined in the lawsuit filed against the SANDAG and its Board stating that “the 3.2 million residents of the San Diego region already suffer from the seventh worst ozone pollution in the country,” and that the 2050 Regional Transportation Plan prioritizes automotive transportation over bicycling and transit thus avoiding the purpose and intent behind creating the Regional Transportation Plan. I hope, that the case is settled and that the settlement results in allocating transportation dollars in a truly equitable manner allowing bicycling and walking to receive one third of the overall transportation budget.
• The SANDAG Regional Transportation Plan currently has allocated a paltry $3.4 billion out of a possible $200 billion for bicycling and walking projects. In order to effectively implement the Regional Bicycle Plan, SANDAG had announced two positions seeking Active Transportation Planners. Public pressure at the October 2011 Board meeting where the Regional Transportation was voted on allowed for the plan to fast track some projects that are currently in the Regional Bicycle Plan. Thus the need to implement projects in the Regional Bicycle Plan quickly and effectively has taken on increasing importance. The first Active Transportation Planner, Beth Robrahn, has been hired and will soon be on her way to San Diego to transform the region as she has in her former home.
• San Diego Magazine gives some love to our Bicycle Coordinator, Tom Landre, and his full time assistant, Jake Aquino.
• Encinitas will get a new bicycle and pedestrian underpass to allow for safer crossing of the railway tracks. The groundbreaking ceremony was held last Wednesday. Construction is expected to take between 8-9 months.
• La Jolla has a new Police Captain and he wants you to be a more engaged citizen and report suspicious activities or personal theft such as stolen bicycles. Capt. Brian Ahearn says, “sometimes when bikes have been stolen people figure, ‘I don’t want to bother the police,’ and they might be the 10th person in that one neighborhood who’s had a bike stolen that hasn’t called us.” Ahearn noted the exchange of information “is huge for us,” because it “helps identify the trends, figure out who’s stealing these bicycles so we can put a stop to it.”
• Mark Manion who is paralyzed after being struck by a drunk driver while riding on a cross country trip will be giving a talk about his experience at Ramona’s First Congregational Church on Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 7 p.m.
• The United States Postal Service will be releasing stamps with bicycle themed images on them in May.
• This would solve all our traffic signal woes: “to reduce waiting times for cyclists and pedestrians, the city of Graz has renewed and updated its system of pelican crossings (traffic light controlled crossings). At one crossing in the centre of Graz, cars and not pedestrians or cyclists have to be sensed by the signal controller in order for the traffic lights to turn green for them.”
• Do you live in Solana Beach and want to get more active in bike advocacy? Join Bike/Walk Solana.
• Another bike shop that can meet and exceed all your biking needs, at least in the East Village neighborhood.
• The Fallbrook/Bonsall Village News has a great writeup on the SOBs, or Senior on Bikes.
• Streetsblog has a writeup on how bike facilities are good for business.The Parks & Trails in New York, the New York State Canal Corporation and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor released a study[pdf] on the same subject along with how regions can attract more cyclists.

Category: News | No Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 23, 2012

Last week was a horrible week for the City’s cyclists.

Last Wednesday, a cyclist was injured when he collided with an automobile while riding against traffic on Market Street. According to the Union Tribune,

The cyclist suffered multiple open-leg fractures and a broken arm. The injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.

We hope that the injured cyclist isn’t deterred from riding and that he recovers from his injuries quickly and gets back on his bicycle as soon as he is able to. It is very understandable why many cyclists chose to ride against traffic thinking that being able to be see automobiles is safer than having one’s back against fast moving automobiles. However, when drivers are dealing with a variety of stimuli, the occasional wrong way riding cyclist could further endanger all road users especially on high speed or highly trafficked roads.

One positive effect of sharrows [pdf] is that they indicate that cyclists ought to right in the same direction as traffic. Perhaps Market Street would be a good contender for sharrows.

—

Last Thursday was even worse.

In Chula Vista, a 77 year old cyclist died from injuries after being struck by a driver pulling out from Rice Elementary School’s parking lot.

People nearby attempted to resuscitate him until paramedics arrived. The man was taken to a hospital, where he died shortly afterward, Wedge said.

The driver, described by police as an elderly woman, was questioned by officers. The crash is under investigation.

What is truly remarkable but not mentioned in the Union Tribune’s writeup is the mere fact that a 77 year old was active and fit enough to be riding. It is truly a shame that his life was extinguished in such a cruel yet preventable manner.

Thursday also saw yet another collision involving a bicyclist, this time in Mira Mesa. The driver who struck the bicyclist must have been speeding well beyond the 45 mph speed limit as some reports stated that the driver lost control of the vehicle. Sadly, the cyclist may not recover completely from his injuries.

Sorrento Valley Boulevard/Calle Cristobal was clearly not designed for all its users despite the presence of a sidewalk and a bike lane. If we need to get to a future where Vision Zero is a reality, best practices in road design require lowering of speed limits [pdf].

Medical research has shown that vehicle speeds over 30 miles per hour are particularly dangerous when pedestrians and other vulnerable users are present (and in fact, 20 miles per hour is exponentially safer). Therefore, designs must be adopted that prevent drivers from posing a danger to themselves and other vulnerable road users.

However, having a bike lane on a road is still better than not having a bike lane as Ted Rogers’ data analysis (incomplete as it may be) demonstrates. But here in San Diego, we still have a long way to go before we can claim that our roads accommodates all its users.

Category: Chula Vista, East Village, Legal, Mira Mesa, News | No Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 19, 2012

Channel 10 news is reporting a serious injury of a 45 year old cyclist who was hit from behind on the 6000 block of Sorrento Valley Boulevard. A BikeSD reader happened to be riding that exact stretch and reported it in:

Photo by BikeSD.org reader. Click for bigger version.

Photo by BikeSD.org reader. Click for bigger version.

The Union Tribune is also covering this story but isn’t reporting any additional details.

The BikeSD reader who wrote in stated the following,

I caught this on my ride home. [There were] about 20 cop cars blocking eastbound Calle Cristobal/Sorrento Valley Rd in Mira Mesa. It appears that a car “lost control” and smashed the rear of the bike/cyclist, then crashed into the tree/wall.

The rear of the bike was trashed.

Category: Legal, Mira Mesa, News | No Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 19, 2012

To get an update on what is turning out to be an epic saga, I emailed Gaetano Martedi from the Public Works Engineering Department to get a status on the Ruffin Road bike lanes. I also included District 6 Councilmember, Lori Zapf, and our bike coordinator, Tom Landre, in the discussion. I received a response from Mr. Martedi stating that the bike lane striping would be delayed yet again,

The reason for the extension of time is as follows:

The engineering design standards were recently updated and changed. Therefore, the City needed to find additional funds to implement the new standards and complete the project. Currently, the additional funds have been attained and the project can now be completed. Our new schedule is to stripe bike lanes and complete the work in February, 2012.

This is a stretch of road that should have been striped last August, but was then delayed to January 2012. It will truly be a miracle of the year if and when this stretch of Ruffin Road gets a bike lane in 2012.

Category: Bicycle Projects, Eastern Neighborhood, Kearny Mesa, News | 5 Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 17, 2012

In 1990, a lifelong cyclist, Richard Allen Dreger was killed in a hit-and-run while riding his bicycle southbound on Pacific Highway by Barnett Avenue. As any cyclist who has ever ridden that stretch in San Diego knows, it is a fast paced road that is extremely unfriendly for cyclists to ride on. But alternatives to that route are few or far away and so it remains a primarily auto-dominated route. Twenty one years after Dreger’s death, the City of San Diego striped a buffered bike lane on Pacific Highway by Barnett Avenue after Dreger’s parents tearfully pleaded with the City to do something to fix that road section at the 2010 Bicycle Master Plan Update Open House.

Buffered Bike Lane on Pacific Highway. Photo by Randy Van Vleck

Last year Jim Swarzman, a local cyclist, was killed while riding a brevet on Highway 101 in Encinitas. It is a stretch of road that could greatly benefit from a road diet and thus encourage more residents and tourists to ride along a beautiful stretch of the Pacific Coast. The Traffic Engineer in Encinitas, is considering striping a buffered bike lane on that same stretch of the Pacific where Swarzman was killed.

However, a buffered bike lane is not currently in the auto-centric California Vehicle Code – the manual that has codified all road treatments that affect all its road users. Clearly the antiquated California Vehicle Code ought to be upgraded to acknowledge the existence of all its road users.

In what seemed like a promising start to 2012, a state bill that is currently moving through the California Assembly and could have resulted in an incredibly progressive change in our transportation system recently got watered down in the State Assembly Transportation Committee. The bill’s language was amended by an organization that calls itself CABO, California Association of Bicycling Organizations. This small and relatively unknown, group argued that rather than create a law that would have created the sort of bicycle facilities that people around the country repeatedly keep asking for, they argued that it was instead more prudent to establish an experimental process that would study “nonstandard planning, design, and construction features in the construction of bikeways and roadways where bicycle travel is permitted”.

What may seem like a rather reasonable amendment deliberately fails to acknowledge that many of these road treatments that will get more people riding have been implemented and tested and shown to work well beyond initial predictions or expectations all around the country. It seems disingenuous to refer to these bicycle facilities as non-standard coming right on the heels of New York City’s announcement that the city experienced the lowest number of traffic fatalities in over 100 years as a result of looking at the streetscape through a different lens. Mia Birk, the former Bike Coordinator in Portland, transformed Portland into one of the most bicycle friendly cities in the country by looking at the city creatively and offering the public alternative choices to transport themselves besides the automobile.

So what does this have to do with California? As Bob Hawkins at the Union Tribune wrote last week, San Diego’s minimal investment in bicycle infrastructure and lack of creative thinking in how we should be redesigning our roads, manifested itself in an economic loss when we lost Velo Cult Bike Shop to Portland. Velo Cult’s Sky Boyer moved to Portland primarily because of his frustration in dealing with a bicycle unfriendly city administration. This is something that Jay Porter the proprietor of The Linkery and El Take it Easy, has also experienced in dealing with the City’s unwillingness to do more to get cyclists riding. Living in a region where our local administration is terrified of thinking creatively in order to address problems that affect us is ensuring that San Diegans will continue to have less choice in how they transport themselves.

Thus in watering down the language of AB 819 CABO has ensured that for the time being California will continue to be conservative in its transportation policy while cities and states all around the U.S. accelerate change before our very eyes. While California continues to reel from national and international economic catastrophes, we should be looking for ways out of this financial gutter, not ensuring that we continue to be backward in how we view our transportation sector.

Buffered Bike Lane on Pacific Highway. Photo by Randy Van Vleck

Thankfully, people like Jim Lundquist was willing to exercise his engineering judgment to ensure that cyclists would be allowed to ride safely on a popular commuter route and thus ease up on our growing traffic congestion. What remains to be seen is whether cyclists in Encinitas will also be given that same choice. In order to gauge public interest in a buffered bike lane, I have created a petition that will be forwarded to the Traffic Engineer in Encinitas. CABO representatives maintain that a buffered bike lane is not a safe option. While I remain unclear about CABO’s real intentions, offering more choices to Californians should be the cornerstone of our transportation policy. And our willingness to learn from other cities and states around the country should determine how we tackle the problems we face now and in the future.

Category: Advocacy, Editorial | 7 Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 17, 2012

• A BikeSD reader sent this feel good story of the day. The North County Times is reporting how Officer Joe Leffingwell is now forever a hero to an Escondido bicyclist.
• A driver faces six years in prison after pleading guilty to gross vehicular manslaughter for a hit-and-run collision that killed 64 year old Vista bicyclist, Arthur John Jacobs. We hope this plea helps Arthur’s family gain some measure of closure.
• The Atlantic Cities covers the ongoing discussion that is going to determine what San Diego will look like in the future.
• The Union Tribune’s transportation reporter, Bob Hawkins, writes about the economic and social loss that Velo Cult Bike Shop has left behind in its move to Portland.
• Two San Diego cyclists teamed up last Christmas to sing the story of riding down to Tijuana and back.

Did you read any other stories from San Diego or beyond that caught your attention? Share them in the comments.

Category: News | No Comments »

Posted by Sam Ollinger on January 16, 2012

Hotel Circle North

For years, Hotel Circle North has had poor quality roads filled with potholes along with an extremely narrow bike lane. San Diego cyclists will be relieved to learn that this street will soon be getting a much needed upgrade.

According to the City’s Senior Traffic Engineer, Siavash Pazargadi, the street is scheduled to be repaved in February 2012. After an inspection of the bike lanes on Hotel Circle North, Pazargadi agreed that the bike lanes were indeed too narrow and would be widened in coordination with the resurfacing team.

It is a relief to learn that the City has learned from their earlier (costly) mistake, the downsides arising in not coordinating with the resurfacing team.

Category: Bicycle Projects, Mission Valley West | 4 Comments »