Old School Uptown Establishment Never Intended to Support Safe Streets
The Uptown Bike Corridor planning phase began with a Community Advisory Meeting on June 12, 2013. This was SANDAG's effort at community outreach to determine the best bicycle route alignments through Uptown.
After that meeting back in 2013, there was overwhelming support for protected bike lanes (cycletracks) on University Avenue.
Prior to the start of the meeting, Councilmember Todd Gloria encouraged all attendees to participate in the process. The attendees included Leo Wilson, now former chair of Uptown Planners.
Wilson later went on to oppose the Bankers Hill bike lanes by filing a lawsuit against the city citing a lack of community process along with environmental concerns.
At that 2013 meeting, Wilson rounded up his cohorts and stepped outside the meeting room well before the meeting was underway. According to an email I received back in 2013 by attorney Chris Taylor, this is what transpired:
Prior to Leo Wilson leaving the meeting, he said to Council President Todd Gloria, "this is stupid stuff. It will never work." Bruce Shank heard the comment. Gloria responded by saying, "well, then you better weigh in." Bruce heard Gloria's response, as did I (as I was watching from my seat and Todd was facing me).
A woman in a blue sweatshirt (Ann Garwood) said to Leo Wilson: "Its just a workshop. They won't be able to do anything with it once we start filing lawsuits." Bruce Shank heard this comment, as well.
Today, University Avenue and most other streets in Uptown remain unsafe. Wilson and his friends continue to waste valuable city funds in their frivolous lawsuit over bike lanes that keep all road users safe.
Wilson and his cohorts, determined to keep Uptown auto-centric and dangerous is rallying up support to fight safe streets. Wilson was behind the effort to shut down bike lanes on India Street and Kettner Blvd in Little Italy, he has filed a lawsuit against the Bankers Hill bike lanes, and is rallying up support to fight a safer University Avenue after deliberately choosing to not participate in the community process.
We can't afford to let the old school auto-centric establishment gamble with your lives or your childrens' lives. Sign this petition for a safer Uptown and please attend tomorrow's meeting.
News, Links, and Other Views
San Diego
- Bikes and Beer is only 5 days away! Proceeds benefit BikeSD's work. So if you want protected bike lanes, great friends, support our local craft beer industry and want to be associated with a great organization - this is the event you want to sign up for.
- Deco Bike Share is scheduled to roll into Pacific Beach by this summer.
- Concerns over completing the Bayshore Bikeway will be worked out.
- A pickup driver hit a cyclist in Teralta West. The driver hasn't been charged.
- Mission Beach residents sound an alarm about wanting bicycle riders to slow down on the Mission Beach bike path yet remain curiously silent about vehicles driving at over 30 mph on the adjacent Mission Beach Boulevard.
- The San Diego Free Press covers the Uptown battle for safer streets.
- San Diego's newest bike shop, Hub & Spoke Cycleworks, supports a safer University Avenue
- The San Diego Veloswap Meet is less than a month away
- A hit and run driver killed a pedestrian and torched their car. The driver continues to remain at large.
- Uptown business owners have hired a lobbyist to inexplicably fight the Uptown bike corridor. If this is what the Hillcrest Business Association consider a wise business investment - fighting two wheeled travellers - it explains why Uptown businesses continue to suffer.
- Paul Jamason writes about the powerful people in Hillcrest refusing to make Uptown's streets safe.
- San Diego YIMBY dares to dream.
- On Strava? Why not join the Bike SD club and track your rides?
- From our friends at SD Bike Commuter, the newest businesses that offer a 10% discount to anyone who rides to the business include:
San Diego County
- A great writeup about living the good life in Coronado (with a bike, obviously)
- Encinitas moves to make biking to school safer after parental outrage.
- SANDAG has launched another PR effort to promote biking.
- A bicycle thief is an indicator species for other forms of theft, as evidenced in Carlsbad.
California
- "Thirty percent of all trips in California are less than a mile" - perfect bicycling (and walking) distance.
Elsewhere
- The Complete Business Case for Converting Street Parking Into Bike Lanes
- Building a strong, inclusive community for safe streets is the future of bike advocacy
- Why do we bike? Because it makes us happy.
- The former Governor Schwarzenegger was stopped by the Australian police for riding a bike share bike without a helmet
- Houston, Texas has a protected bike lane.
- New research from People for Bikes shows that 1/3 Americans want to bike more but are dissatisfied with existing bike infrastructure
- Out-of-touch engineering establishment continues to resist promoting people-friendly road designs.
- Jeff Miller, one of BikeSD's strongest supporters and mentors, was awarded the Susie Stephens Joyful Enthusiasm Award. A well deserved honor.
- Three Women who Changed the Course of History On Bicycles
- Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has decided that bicycle riders and the minuscule funding they receive are a grave threat to his fiscal plans.
- A Toronto suburban family realized that the mother’s salary was consumed by the costs of car ownership and day care. They sold both cars three years ago, and now she stays home and the family of five bikes and uses transit.
- Portland has a new car-free bridge.
El Cajon Boulevard Gets (More) Bike Lanes
Last December, El Cajon Boulevard got its first bike lanes striped between Idaho and Texas Streets - a mere four blocks. Today I learned from the city's Traffic Engineers that El Cajon Boulevard is going to have more bike lanes striped between Georgia Street and Texas Street within the next few weeks. So now bicycle riders have a safer way and their own space to travel along the Boulevard for a bit longer than they used to. It's a much welcome relief and safety measure from the current sharrows that exist on this six lane road that has historically only prioritized driver throughput.
Below is a map showing the current and soon-to-be-here bike lanes.
According to an analysis by Circulate San Diego, El Cajon Boulevard is the second deadliest street in the city (after University Avenue). According to traffic data by SANDAG, an average of 25,000 vehicles travel along El Cajon Boulevard every day.
What if we could shift just a small fraction of those 25,000 vehicle trips to walking, bicycling and transit? What exactly are the barriers on El Cajon Boulevard?
At last month's Bike the Boulevard ride, BikeSD had a pop-up station on the El Cajon Bridge Deck over the I-15. Over eighty individuals showed up to weigh in on the current state of El Cajon Boulevard and propose solutions for a safer passage. This was right on the heels of the Boulevard's first bike lanes that was striped in December.
As you can see, people had a lot of great ideas for a safer El Cajon Boulevard. Facilitating bicycle travel for people who can't or don't want to drive would be a great way to do so. And I'm glad to see the slow progress along this critical corridor.
Can we do better? Absolutely, but for that you have to get involved. Join the Complete the Boulevard campaign to ensure that the Boulevard becomes a safe corridor for everyone and a thriving destination that is a joy to ride along.
Is Councilmember Marti Emerald Ignoring Her Commitment to Safer Streets?
Take Action! Tell Councilmember Marti Emerald to recommit to road safety!
----
Late last month, Dorian Hargrove reported that Councilmember Marti Emerald had written to Mayor Kevin Faulconer opposing a proposal to widen sidewalks and install bike lanes on College Avenue.
Emerald was quoted stating,
Specifically, I am requesting that the proposal to install bike lanes on College Avenue between Montezuma Road and I-8, and widen sidewalks adjacent to the project be denied.
Please confirm in writing that the South Campus Plaza Project will not reduce the current number of lanes on College Avenue between Montezuma Road and I-8; and further, that the option to expand College Avenue to three lanes in each direction at a future date will not be compromised.
Emerald is the elected representative for City Council District 9 which includes City Heights, College Area, El Cerrito, Kensington, Mountain View, Mt. Hope, Rolando, Southcrest and Talmadge.
San Diego State University began construction of the South Campus Plaza late last year and the project is expected to house more than 600 students. The project is being constructed along College Avenue between Hardy Avenue and Montezuma Road.
According to the project's environmental analysis documents, the project anticipates reducing vehicle traffic to and from campus (1,200 fewer Average Daily Traffic). The project also proposed closing some streets permanently to create pedestrian plazas. Some of these closures include Montezuma Place between Lindo Paseo and Hardy Avenue would be closed to vehicles to provide a pedestrian promenade. Additionally, a parking lot, currently referred to as Montezuma Place north of Hardy Avenue would be replaced with a park.
The current College Area Community Plan is 26 years old. The Community Plan supersedes other plans such as the city's Bicycle Master Plan. This means that while the Community Plan calls for widening College Avenue to six lanes for solely vehicle throughput, and the Bicycle Master Plan calls for bike lanes (unprotected) on College Avenue - it is the Community Plan takes precedence over the Bicycle Master Plan. The College Area Community Council that was previously very supportive of making the neighborhood streets safe for pedestrians and bicycle riders has suddenly decided that they don't want accommodations for pedestrian or bicyclist safety because doing so would override the 26 year old Community Plan. The CACC's resentment of SDSU's attempts to provide accommodations that the community plan doesn't include is affecting how people can and will get around the College Area neighborhood. Meanwhile, the city of San Diego has spent $15 million on community plans and finished one plan. People's lives are at stake and the issue has boiled down to an archaic document that doesn't reflect current needs or implementation goals to make our city streets safe.
College Avenue is the top location for the most number of speeding tickets handed out according to a U-T San Diego analysis.
When Emerald was running for her re-election campaign, she stated the following:
I will make sure bike lanes are improved as we repair roads and sidewalks. [...] Let's explore our options and create a network of streets that allow cyclists to ride safely and enjoyably from one end of the city to the other.
Emerald has also voted to support a council resolution to prioritize bicycle safety and made numerous comments publicly expressing her support for walking and riding safety. She also chairs the committee for Public Safety.
Emerald prides herself on being an elected representative that listens to her constituents. In this case she seems to be listening to the community group that has forgotten their own commitment to safe mobility. SDSU in the meantime has come a long way since their campus bike ban. Shouldn't they be encouraged and supported in wanting to promote and increase the number of people who want to ride their bicycle to campus?
Since reviewing the proposal and Emerald's comments to the mayor, we issued a petition to ask Emerald to back down from her opposition to safe streets. Her Chief of Staff, Ricardo Flores, called me to schedule a meeting to discuss the issue. I'll report back on how that discussion goes.
Last summer, Emerald took Mayor Faulconer to task for not issuing his Climate Action Plan sooner. This Climate Action Plan calls for 18% of San Diegans to bike to work by 2035. If we can't accommodate our youngest and fittest San Diegans to make the trip from their student housing to their own campus, how and when exactly are we going to enable that choice?
News, Links, and Other Views
City of San Diego
- New Council President Sherri Lightner was a guest on the most recent Voice of San Diego podcast where she talked about One Paseo, the recently approved mixed-use project in Carmel Valley. "Her biggest bones to pick with the development surround its (non)connections to transit and its walk- and bike-ability."
- A father and mother were walking with their 5-month old baby at Cañon Street and Catalina Boulevard when the father and baby daughter were hit by a SUV. The driver of the SUV has not been charged. The baby girl, Juniper Aavang, died. In response to the fatality, the city has cut down the Palm Tree that apparently was "blocking" the SUV driver's view.
- Residents in OB in response to the above tragedy are petitioning Councilmember Lorie Zapf to close Cañon Street from Talbot Street to Catalina Boulevard.
- The city has decided to shut down the Cañon Pocket Park.
- The Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride will arrive in San Diego in a few days for a four-day rehabilitative cycling event.The ride brings injured veterans from across the country together for a long weekend focused on physical health and wellness, camaraderie, and healing.
- KUSI's Turko has been alerted to the 25th Street renovation project that's been dragging on for months in Golden Hill.
- What might have been: a bitter sweet story about what the short-lived Civic Innovation Lab could have been.
- Have you signed up for Bikes and Beer and the Après Festival? You really should.
- In case you missed the news, we have some great representation in Kyle Heiskala and Michael Brennan at Uptown Planners.
- How do we get new infrastructure for all transit modes? Maybe by raising the gas tax for the first time since 1993
- Circulate San Diego reminds our mayor, that while fixing potholes are important, saving lives is even more important. We endorse this message.
County of San Diego
- Encinitas' La Costa Avenue will soon get a bike lane and a "walking lane".
- Highway 101 in Encinitas will get a segment of the Coastal Rail Trail
California
- The Sacramento Bee has a writeup about the cost of driver externalities that is carbon emissions, thanks to California's cap-and-trade program. Not mentioned are the costs of lives lost due to careless driving.
- The $1.1 billion dollar 405 "congestion relief project", that introduced the world to how bikes could beat airplanes, is a complete failure.
- After years of advocacy by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, San Francisco's Transportation Agency unanimously voted to support protected bike lanes on Polk Street
Elsewhere
- Bicycle Tour companies are finding that seniors enjoy riding doing bicycle tours if there are dedicated bicycle facilities in which to enjoy them.
- How can community planning be made better? How about form-based codes? San Diego's County Supervisors have previously approved form-based codes for Ramona and Alpine
- Cities and businesses are discovering that cycling pays.
- A new app promises to alert drivers to the presence of bicycle riders.
- James Siegal makes a case to put kids first, in envisioning the future of cities.
- Florida officials have banned the term "climate change"
- Citybike in NYC is expanding and will now serve public housing locations.
- Seattle's Mayor Ed Murray says “More Choices Means Fewer Cars on Our Streets”.
- The Terrible 60-Year-Old Parking Advice That’s Still Haunting America" (and San Diego)
- Sprawl Costs the Public More Than Twice as Much as Compact Development