Protest of the Removal of Chuck Gilbreth’s Ghost Bike

Angered that the City of San Diego plans on removing the ghost bike placed to honor Chuck Gilbreth’s life, riders and other supporters will be protesting all day tomorrow (July 12) at the location where Gilbreth was killed.

Gilbreth Ghost Bike. Photo: Sara Kazemi

This will be an all-day affair. Please feel free to come earlier or later than the posted time.

Chuck Gilbreth was a cyclist who was tragically killed on Montezuma Dr near Collwood when an impatient motorist decided to pass a city bus on the right, in the bicycle lane, plowing into him and knocking him into the road. In memoriam of Mr. Gilbreth, there is a Ghost Bike chained up to a pole near the site of the incident. The City of San Diego now wants to remove this bike. As the story states, this would not be such a huge slap in the face if the City had taken the steps to make this street safer for cyclists to bike on in light of Gilbreth’s death. Please join us in protesting the removal of his bike at the site of the ghost bike (just West of Montezuma and Collwood)

UPDATE: If you are unable to attend please feel free to send this email to Councilmember Marti Emerald at
(MartiEmerald@sandiego.gov)

Dear Councilmember Marti Emerald,

Chuck Gilbreth was tragically killed by a pickup truck on April 18, 2012 while riding his bicycle in the east bound bicycle lane on Montezuma Road. Please ask your City Staff to not remove the ghost bike on Montezuma Road near Collwood Boulevard until the road safety improvements have been made to Montezuma Road.

The city Transportation Department is studying the traffic road conditions relative to bicycle rider safety and should submit a report to you shortly. Please do not remove the ghost bike until bicycle safety improvements have been made to Montezuma Road.
Thank you.

Update 12:00pm: Just got a call from Cynthia Harris at Marti Emerald office. Gilbreth’s memorial will not be removed. Thank you to all who called. More soon