BikeSD Campaigns 2018 - End of Year Report
BikeSD saw progress on a number of local campaigns for bike infrastructure in 2018 — as well as a few delays and setbacks. Here's the end-of-year scoop on several of them:
Downtown Mobility Plan hits the ground
The first phase of downtown San Diego's bikeway was striped in late December with great fanfare. New two-way cycletracks along J Street are just the start, though finishing all three planned phases of the project will take sustained effort. Get the full scoop on progress to date on this central set of bikeways.
BikeSD gets Gilman Dr. some buffered bike lanes
A last-minute opportunity arose during a sewer replacement by UCSD along Gilman Drive in La Jolla: bike lanes with buffered space could be added after the road was resurfaced by the University. Read about BikeSD's successful presentation to the UC Planning Group and where this led on the safety of the Gilman Dr corridor.
Potential 30th Street Bikeway
A grassroots campaign called 'Right Side Club,' founded by Matt Stucky, pushed for a better north-south bike facility on the eastern side of Balboa Park. The city's current bike Master Plan on the east side were lackluster so Matt laid out a better plan for a bike facility along 30th Street. Check out some great thinking on this potential alignment.
SANDAG's Hillcrest Bikeway is modified
A recent push by City Councilmember Chris Ward's office to create a park-like urban space in Uptown, called "The Normal Street Promenade," has pushed back SANDAG's timeline for the Eastern Hillcrest Bikeways by 3 to 6 months. But the Promenade has led to some interesting changes in the bikeway design along Normal Street. Perhaps more importantly, the Promenade has created community-wide alliance to that's invested in seeing SANDAG's Phase 2 bikeways completed in full.
Balboa Avenue Station
The Balboa Ave Area Specific Plan has been one big disappointment to transit, pedestrian, and bike advocates. A large parking lot, car-centric station design, poor access from points west like Pacific Beach, a narrow and difficult access ramp for non-drivers. Read about our efforts to get changes in the Balboa Station plan.
Border to Bayshore Bikeway
BikeSD was at the SANDAG transportation committee meeting to advocate for this important connection and to encourage MTS to work with SANDAG where a new rapid bus line will intersect with bike infrastructure. Project information here.
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Join us in welcoming our new Executive Director
We are thrilled to announce that Judi Tentor has accepted the position of Executive Director for Bike San Diego. Judi will be working with John Anderson, interim ED, to transition into the role over the next month. Please feel free to reach out to her at director@bikesd.org and stay tuned for our next member meet-up (details to come) to meet her in person.
About Judi Tentor
Judi lives in Mission Hills, grows a lot of food in her garden, and gets around by bicycle as much as possible. She has been navigating the streets of San Diego by bicycle and transit since 2008 when she sold her Honda Element. Her passion for the environment and sustainability drives her everyday actions. Riding a bicycle, she believes, is more than a fun activity, but also a tool for transportation as well as a solution to environmental, social equity and health issues that matter to her.
Judi is also a Cycling Instructor (LCI #5098) certified by the League of American Bicyclists, the oldest bicycle advocacy org in the US. She teaches beginner classes for adults learning how to ride for the first time and traffic skills classes for intermediate riders through nonprofit organizations. She is an advocate for active transportation and a feminist, hoping to inspire more women to ride bicycles for the benefit of their health, spirit, and the planet.
As a bicyclist, advocate and cycling instructor, she has been leading efforts to get more bicycle infrastructure in San Diego. She currently serves on the board of the Mission Hills Town Council. When not pedaling and sometimes while pedaling, Judi takes photographs of people riding bicycle and bicycle infrastructure around the world. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from SUNY ESF and a Masters of Landscape Architecture from The Ohio State University, and was awarded a Comprehensive Bikeway Design Certificate from Portland State University.
Xtracycle Cargo Bike - Yours to Enjoy - BikeSD Member Bonus
A great BikeSD supporter recently donated an XtraCycle Free Radical bicycle extension / conversion kit to BikeSD and thanks to some additional donations of a bicycle, labor, and parts from MJ's Cyclery we now have an awesome cargo bike for members to use! Big thanks to the donor and MJ's for making this happen!
To explain a bit more, the XtraCycle Free Radical is an attachment that takes an ordinary bicycle and extends the frame, adding capacity for carrying more people, groceries, tools, beach toys, etc. Please see below photos to get an idea of what the bicycle looks like and what you might use it for. The bicycle frame used is a GT Outpost Trail mountain bike with 27 gear options (3 in front, 7 in back) and is a really nice choice if you are putting a lot of weight on the back since mountain bikes have nice low gears to help getting up steep inclines.
We're still trying to figure out what we'll be using the bike for but first and foremost we want to offer it for use free of charge to any BikeSD members. If you're thinking about buying an XtraCycle or a cargo bicycle and would like to test one out first, please borrow ours and give it a spin for the weekend. Want to try out taking your kids to school by bicycle? You can borrow the bike and take them out for espresso then drop them at the school gates in style. Grandma coming to visit and you don't have a spare bike? Borrow this one and you can ride together all over town.
If you'd like to borrow this great bicycle and give it a spin please drop us as email at talk@bikesd.org with the date(s) and time you'd like to use it and the location that's best for you. We'll do our best to accommodate and look forward to seeing this great bike around town.
Notes: when using this bicycle please make sure to lock it up at all times (lock provided with bicycle) and use lights when operating.
Bikes del Pueblo Keeps Mid-City Rolling
On a sunny Saturday morning, the City Heights Farmer’s Market is bustling with activity. If not one of the largest farmer’s markets in San Diego, it is probably one of the most utilized and most appreciated by the neighborhood’s residents. At one corner of the market, every Saturday morning, San Diego’s only bike kitchen, Bikes del Pueblo, sets up a tent and sets out several boxes full of tools and spare parts. A hand-lettered wooden sign tells you everything you need to know: “–Come build, fix, and learn about bikes; –Non-hierarchical, volunteer, cooperative; —Just ask if you have a Q.”
Bikes del Pueblo started setting up at the farmer’s market in City Heights about a year ago, and before that they shared space with the City Heights Free Skool/Escuela Libre de City Heights. The bike kitchen’s mission is to provide a non-threatening environment for people to come and learn to diagnose and repair problems with their bicycles. The tools and the expertise of the volunteers are both completely free. While I was there, a young girl who had just finished repairing a flat tire shyly pushed a one-dollar bill at one of the volunteers before riding away with her family. Donations, when offered, are accepted by the bike kitchen, but there is no suggested donation, or any requirement to donate.
As much as Bikes del Pueblo are committed to educating residents about how to fix their bicycles, they are also deeply interested in forming bonds and building trust within the community. On the morning I spent with them, a lot of people from the Vietnamese community were stopping in. Hernan, one of the bike kitchen’s volunteers, explained that last week they had helped a Vietnamese man fix his bicycle, and he thought that word about the kitchen must have spread through that community.
Bikes del Pueblo helps community members work on between fifteen and twenty bikes every Saturday. Common problems include bad brakes, broken chains, and flat tires. Most of the bikes people bring in are cheap, second-hand department store bikes, the only kind they can afford. “You can’t always replace everything or fix everything,” said Hernan about the low-quality bikes, “sometimes you just have to get it going again.”
When they have the parts available, kitchen volunteers build up good quality bikes and sell them at extremely low prices to people who wouldn’t normally be able to afford them. The goal is simply to get people mobile. As Hernan explained, “most of these people, bikes are their only transportation, and they have to get to work.”
Currently, Bikes del Pueblo is staffed by just three volunteers. They are always looking for new volunteers, especially multi-lingual ones, to staff the kitchen and they always appreciate donations of cash, tools, parts, or whole bicycles. For now, they can be found on Saturday mornings at the City Height’s Farmer’s Market, but they are hoping eventually to establish a permanent location somewhere in the Mid-City area.
Here's some contact info from Bikes del Pueblo.