Response to SDNN's The Great Bike Experiment
We've responded to Chris Nixon's summary of his first week living car-free in San Diego. Below is a copy of our response.
I applaud you and your wife's attempt in going car-lite in September. As one of Bike San Diego's authors, my husband and I are car free and live happily year round without an automobile. In fact throughout our 10 year relationship, we've never owned an automobile.
Both my husband and I shop at farmers markets and at the Ocean Beach Coop. Living in North Park, the ride to the coop is about one hour one way. But the ride is very pleasant and we stock up on a month's worth of staples using panniers. Panniers are your friend if you plan on ditching the car. Additionally do not forget that there are also options like trailers made by Burley.
For example, this past weekend we hauled over 50 lbs of fruits and vegetables with no problem from the farmers market to our home. It is true that biking to purchase food requires planning, but it is no different than driving. Prior to driving you have to ensure that you have enough gas, that your tags haven't expired that you have your car keys and that your feet are not numb.
I'm glad you and your wife have such short commutes. Since you don't have access to a shower at work, you can try what I do: keep a nice supply of perfumed lotions at work along with wet wipes or wash clothes.
While public transportation is a nice fall back option, you may eventually find that biking is actually a quicker way to get to your destination. If SDSU's policy doesn't favor bicycles, perhaps Lisa could use this experiment as an opportunity to ask for better facilities to encourage bicycling on SDSU's campus.
As for emergencies, I recently had to be admitted to an emergency room in a hospital. How did we deal with this from a car-free perspective? By utlilzing one of the many services available to urbanites: taxi services. My husband called one, and we had a taxi at our doorstep in less than 5 minutes. We were at the hospital and my husband didn't have to worry about parking, but instead could focus on comforting me while I got treated. Also remember, ambulances are available for really drastic situations. Emotionally unstable people shouldn't be on the roadways anyway.
Again, I applaud your attempt to go car free. Feel free to contact me or check in with Bikesd.org to see how others live, work and enjoy their lives on a bike in San Diego.
Readers, do you have suggestions or words of encouragement for Chris Nixon? If you do, please let Chris know.
What to do this weekend?
Every San Diego cyclist can be busy every single day from sunrise to sunset just doing various group rides around San Diego County. But what are some of the highlights for this nice long weekend?
- Tonight (September 4): The Bicycle Film Festival begins in San Diego at 8PM tonight! Starting with Goldsprints hosted by Adams Avenue Bicycles at The Kensington Club at 4079 Adams Ave.
- Saturday (September 5): You can help clean up the San Diego River Bike Path. Just stop by Pacific Highway and Taylor St. at 9AM and join the San Diego Bicycle Coalition for some fun, clean excitement. Then later on, head on down to the Museum of Photographic Arts at 1649 El Prado to watch the Bicycle Film Festival screenings. Free bike parking will be provided by the San Diego Bicycle Coalition.
- Sunday (September 6): You can start your Sunday right by joining the friendly, conversationally paced Down Townies Ride. This week's ride will go to The Pearl.
- Monday (September 7): You can then finish the long weekend by heading down to the Velodrome for either people watching or riding. Monday evenings are open riding nights.
If none of the rides above strike your fancy, you can always pick something you like from the ever-growing San Diego bicycle events calendar. If you do attend the events and take pictures, feel free to send them to us or join our flickr pool and we'll pick pictures and post them here.
Happy riding!
Where do bicycles belong? At the back of the trolley
San Diegan cyclist FO wrote to us describing an encounter he had with a self-described off-duty "federal officer." FO described himself as a fairly new resident to San Diego and still learning how to get around San Diego by bicycle. His destination this morning required him to use both his bicycle and the San Diego MTS trolley.
FO stated that he was considerably flummoxed when he got accosted by a trolley passenger. The passenger stated that "bicycles belong at the back of the trolley." Fred responded by thanking the passenger for his advice. The passenger wearing a knit shirt, a baseball cap holding a small child responded, "that's not advice, that's the law!" FO responded again by thanking him for his concern. Getting more visibly agitated, the passenger stated, "it is not my concern, it is a fact." He went on to say, "I'm a federal officer and it is the law that your bicycle goes in the back." FO said, "I always follow the rules, but I didn't know where to put it." The passenger said "it is posted everywhere." FO said he appreciated it but didn't see the signs and that he would put his bicycle in the back from henceforth. Before leaving the trolley, the passenger stated that the law was there to protect passengers, not bicyclists.
While it is difficult for us to assess whether this passenger was indeed an off-duty law officer of some sort, this type of interaction with members of the community is neither positive nor fruitful. Here at Bike San Diego, we have begun to reach out to various governmental and law agencies in an attempt to create a meaningful relationship that all bicyclists can benefit from. San Diego can be a perfect bicycling mecca, and having positive interactions with all members of society will certainly ensure that it remains as such.
Image via noway
A "Bikeway Village" for Imperial Beach?
More interesting bike news from the mainstream press! The Union-Tribune reports on a proposed "Bikeway Village" along the Bayshore Bikeway. Sounds like a good idea to us!
The owner of two Imperial Beach warehouses hopes to convert his bayfront property into a rest stop and haven for bicyclists along the 24-mile Bayshore Bikeway.
Rex Butler, who has owned the two 15,000-square-foot warehouses for nearly a year, hopes his “Bikeway Village” concept will capitalize on the halfway point of the nearby bike trail and views of San Diego Bay with proposed amenities such as a cafe, bike shop, day spa, ice cream shop, bookstore or perhaps a youth hostel.
Check out the story for more information and an artist's rendering of the proposed site.
Missing the point on parking in Hillcrest
The Union-Tribune reports today that the Uptown Partnership, a "community group" that manages the Uptown Community Parking District for the City of San Diego is considering two options for increasing the amount of available parking in Hillcrest, including investing in a parking garage structure under the Mission Hills-Hillcrest public library branch; or purchasing or leasing part of the AT&T lot on Robinson Avenue between 6th and 7th Streets.
There are significant problems with both locations, but neither the Union-Tribune, nor the Uptown Partnership seems especially concerned with the main issue of sustainability. Each project would add only about 90 parking spaces in the neighborhood, certainly not enough to significantly alleviate the parking situation, but enough to bring in more cars hunting for spaces.
As an entity that subsists on parking revenues, the Uptown Partnership is concerned primarily with increasing parking spaces, not decreasing the need for those spaces by promoting walkable, bikeable, or transit-friendly neighborhoods. If the Uptown Partnership or the City of San Diego cared to notice, they would see that Hillcrest is already a pedestrian- and bicycle-heavy neighborhood, but certainly not a friendly one. Adding more parking spaces, and thus more cars, will only make Hillcrest less friendly to everyone who doesn't travel by automobile. It's a step in the wrong direction if we want San Diego to be a more bikeable, and a more sustainable city.