News and Other Links from San Diego and Beyond
- The SANDAG 2050 RTP may have received the approval of the SANDAG Board, but it is still garnering much criticism here in San Diego. The Union Tribune’s Editorial Board published a raving review of the SANDAG RTP, blindly echoing the words of SANDAG Board Chair, Jerome Stocks, that the plan was “balanced” but the newspaper’s own readers were quick to point out the paper’s deep misunderstanding of the SANDAG RTP. One reader referred to the plan as “wasteful, drastically out of balance mismatch to San Diego’s real needs to reduce transportation energy use and emissions while reducing congestion.” Another reader called the plan a balance but a balance between “various forces in the interest of the status quo.”
- Meanwhile, The Cleveland National Forest Foundation and the Center for Biological Diversity filed a lawsuit today against SANDAG challenging SANDAG’s Sustainable Community Strategy as the plan invests heavily in freeways “at the expense of public transit, increase pollution and exacerbate global climate change.”
- U.S Representative Duncan Hunter is now facing the possibility of losing his seat especially in light of his outdated views on transportation which we covered here previously. There will be a Town Hall meeting at the Ramona Library on December 7th where you can meet candidates running against Rep. Hunter. This will be a good opportunity to get a commitment from the candidates on what specifically they intend to do to reform San Diego’s transportation sector.
- Elsewhere in San Diego, some advocates are working to ensure that the future San Diegan can walk and bike to a safer and healthier future.
- Kris Michell, the president of the Downtown San Diego Partnership, wants the city of San Diego to prioritize transit and bicycle over the automobile.
- In La Mesa, the Grossmont Transit Center gets an upgrade including new bike lockers
- Here in San Diego, a Navy town, marines find new life and hope in the long road to rehabilitation.
- A local vet plans on riding cross country to raise awareness of PTSD
- The owner of Holland’s Bicycles in Coronado is interviewed in a local online publication.
- Lori Zapf, Councilmember for District 6 had some good news for cyclists in her latest newsletter:
Weed abatement on Balboa between Mt. Everest Blvd and Mt. Culebra Avenue has been assigned to Urban Corps for cleanup. The tree blocking the bike path has been removed
Repaired bike path along I-805 between Balboa Ave. and Cannington Drive
- The University of San Diego newspaper, The Vista, offers guidance on the do’s and don’t regarding beach cruisers, San Diego’s most ubiquitous bicycle. The article conveniently ignores the fact that the university is located at the top of a steep hill thus making beach cruisers a viable option for a very small section of the university community.
- The 990 foot long David Kreitzer Lake Hodges Bicycle/Pedestrian Bridge that connects the communities of Escondido and Rancho Bernardo wins an architectural award.
- More coverage of Cyclocross in San Diego by the Reader.
- Frank Peters visits San Diego from Corona del Mar and writes about a positive multi-modal visit to San Diego.
- Occupy San Diego is calling all San Diego cyclists in an effort to build the bike cavalry arm of Occupy San Diego.
- And finally from a city who is changing the dynamics of how modern cities should transport its citizens, an article on the only way to travel (via Walt)