Guest Post: San Diego Epitomizes the Failure of Government to Actively Cultivate a Viable Urban Community
This post was written by Dr. Esteban del Rio who is an Associate Professor at the University of San Diego
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I mostly enjoy my commute from home in La Mesa to Linda Vista, where I work as a professor at the University of San Diego. I ride quiet neighborhood streets until Montezuma Rd, where the bike lane appears and disappears, then descend the hill carefully before taking the bike bridge over the 8 interchange, after which I'm unceremoniously spat out right into traffic as I try to hurdle speeding vehicles to make the left turn along Camino del Rio North. I’ve learned a few tricks in trying to get over to the left, but its often rather hairy. Then, it’s a lovely ride along the river on Camino del Rio, then through the strip malls of Mission Valley, cutting through Fashion Valley to Friars Rd., then up to campus.
Riding home is more of a gamble. My thoughts lie mostly in imagining dinner with my family and holding my two small children in my arms when I arrive. But the road is less inviting. Everything’s fine until I think about climbing back up Montezuma. I cut over to Camino del Rio South at the strangely-named “Mission City Parkway,” which is a tidy bridge over the 8. That way, I avoid four very dangerous interchanges that face the cyclist or pedestrian going from Camino del Rio North to Montezuma. Instead, I get only two very dangerous interchanges, while trying to make my way home from work to eat dinner with my family: Fairmount and Collwood. It doesn’t get better at the top of the hill, when the bike lane becomes laughably narrow just as a rider goes the slowest and cars go the fastest because of some psychological burst that comes with driving up to the top of the hill (it seems to me that motorists drive more recklessly uphill than downhill). There’s a sorry-looking chain-link fence at this point “protecting” pedestrians, and relegating cyclists into caged risk-takers.
I think about this every time I ride up Montezuma. But I paused, a bit shaken, and took a moment last Thursday when I rode home from work, one day after Chuck Gilbreth was killed on this same stretch. His death represents a horrible tragedy, caused by reckless driving that deserves strict prosecution. But why else is it so dangerous to Chuck and all of us who ride or walk it? Well, it is obvious that the infrastructure does nearly nothing to ensure cyclist or pedestrian safety. In fact, the design is a lesson in willful neglect. The wide lanes, and freeway-style ramps encourage speeding. But one can find these conditions throughout the county. We have a culture of speeding in San Diego, facilitated by these kinds of roads all over town.
More than anything, traffic calming must become an absolute priority in city and county transportation policy. Is there a reason any surface street should have a speed limit above 35 miles per hour? High speed limits on city streets encourage speeding, increased fuel consumption, traffic, and accidents, while discouraging people from walking, cycling, and children playing outside. Planners have pushed civic life into hiding – children and the elderly stay inside. Commuters stay in their cars. Citizens become isolated, the streets more dangerous. Perhaps this is what government officials want – a populace so disconnected from each other that we couldn’t come together to challenge official complacency and the culture of cronyism that characterizes San Diego political leadership. Perhaps this is why people who ride bikes are so troubled by recent deaths – it’s the failure of governments not only to facilitate safe travel for non-motorized means, but it is also the failure of government to actively cultivate a viable urban community.
The beginnings of a sea change are easily within reach, with something as simple as paint, and as complex as political will, needed to alter the urban and civic landscape. In this case, with Montezuma Road, narrow the lanes, make the speed limit 35 mph, lay a divider for much of the road for a cycletrack and wide sidewalk, put in signals at the on and off-ramps, use green-painted bike lanes when needed. For the throngs living in La Mesa, College, City Heights, and many other neighborhoods, Montezuma is a lifeline to work in Mission Valley and many points north of the 8. Don’t even get me started on the other options, characterized by broken routes along University Ave., El Cajon, Blvd., and Mission Gorge/Friars Rd. All of these require the same kind of changes for San Diego to become more livable. More livable. – this seems like such a simple goal for policy-makers. I wish San Diego decided to become more livable before we lost Chuck Gilbreth .
Remembering David Ortiz and Chuck Gilbreth
It's been an entire month since David Ortiz was struck by three different vehicles and killed on Balboa Avenue - a road that is designed to encourage speeding.
Nearly two weeks after Ortiz was killed, friends, family and strangers came together to honor Ortiz's life and ask the City of San Diego for changes to be implemented to ensure such a tragic event wouldn't happen again. Specifically, the community asked for:
1) A public apology from the police department to the victim’s family & the cycling community for jumping to conclusions and immediately blaming the cyclist before fully completing the investigation.2) A stronger commitment (from City) to safer infrastructure and roadway design.3) A stronger commitment from PD to enforce traffic laws that have an adverse impact on cyclists/pedestrians (failure to stop/yield, distracted driving, etc.)4) The City immediately become a NACTO affiliate.
Less than a month later, another rider, Chuck Gilbreth was killed. This time the collision occurred on another high speed road, Montezuma Road.
This was the same location where KPBS’ Tom Fudge, was struck five years ago. In the five years since, the City's engineers made zero improvements to reduce drivers' tendencies to treat Montezuma Road as a highway despite running parallel to an actual freeway (the I-8) located less than 4,000 feet to the north - less than a mile away.
Like Balboa Avenue, Montezuma Road serves as a critical link connecting neighborhoods and thus as a feasible route for someone riding their bicycle. But these connector routes are dangerous. To quote Stephan Vance, a senior regional planner for SANDAG,
Our city streets are dangerous because they are built to accommodate high speeds that are lethal. This creates an expectation by drivers that they should be going fast, and leads to frustration when they can't.
In the five years since Fudge was struck, the City's engineers could have reduced a travel lane on Montezuma Road and created a protected bikeway to ensure the safety and comfort for any one who wanted to traverse Montezuma on a bicycle. But instead, Montezuma Road was neglected. Fudge's experience was forgotten. And now we have another needless death on our hands.
Gilbreth worked at Hamilton Sundstrand Power System(HSPS). He was 63 years old when he was killed last Wednesday. According to one of his co-workers and close friends, Phillip Young, Gilbreth was looking forward to retirement and rode his bike to and from work most days. Young goes on to say that Gilbreth was,
a great guy that mentored many folks at HSPS. He will be greatly missed.
Statement from the SDCBC on Chuck Gilbreth's Death
As Executive Director of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, I am deeply saddened and terribly troubled to learn of the recent fatailty of Mr. Charles Gilbreth, a man who was riding his bike home from work and was struck and killed by an SUV on Wednesday, April 18. This marks the second bike fatality of a legally riding bicyclsit in the last three weeks in San Diego. This is unacceptable. According to reports, Mr. Gilbreth was riding in the bike lane on Montezuma Road when he was struck. If confirmed, we can not be satisfied until there is full and complete legal action taken in this case and in the case of Mr. David Ortiz. The San Diego bicycling community needs action now...for safer streets and protection for all who ride legally everyday in San Diego. We wish to express our sincerest sympathies to the family and friends of Mr.Gilbreth and we will work on his behalf and all who ride bikes to make San Diego a safer, more complete bicycling community.
San Diego's High Speed Roads Claims Another Life
Less than a month after David Ortiz was killed in an environment that fosters speeding, 63 year old Charles Raymond Gilbreth was killed after being struck by an apparently impatient driver in an SUV. The collision occurred on Montezuma Road by Collwood Boulevard yesterday shortly after 3:30 pm. One of our readers, Shane, just left the following comment (from the U-T coverage),
Just wanted to mention one of the comments on the poor guy who was hit and killed on Montezuma yesterday:
“The guy that hit him was behind a transit bus and got mad because the bus driver was ging [sic] a little too slow so he went around him in the bike lane my good friend was driving the bus and when the suv hit the man he knocked him in front of the bus and the bus ran him over. My friend is just devastated! He keeps having visions of the mans face poor guy!”
This was the same location where KPBS' Morning Edition Anchor, Tom Fudge, was struck five years ago. Fudge survived, but lives with the daily physical pain as a constant reminder that the City of San Diego is a city that only encourages and supports high speed roads that discourage any mode of transportation but the automobile.
Despite its proximity to San Diego State University, the roads surrounding the university are all designed to encourage speeding. College Avenue, not far from where Gilbreth was killed yesterday afternoon, is the site where 11% of all speeding tickets were handed out by the SDPD last year.
Yet, despite the knowledge that the environment is dangerous by its very design, the leaders at the City of San Diego has not undertaken any traffic calming measures to ensure the well being and safety of the city's residents. If I were to personify City Hall, it strikes me as unbelievably callous that the leaders in the city are unmoved and unwilling to take action to address this deadly problem.
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Alison Whitney expressed her feelings about yesterday's death on her blog and I too join her in expressing my anger and disappointment at everyone in City Hall who has the ability to effect change, but has to date failed to do anything about it.
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UPDATE: I'm quoting Ted Rogers here who writes, a comment on Bike San Diego says that the SUV driver became impatient following behind a bus, and used the bike lane to go around it; the writer says the SUV hit Gilbreth’s bike and threw him in front of the bus, which then ran over him. However, it’s important to note that the description of the rider being run over by a bus doesn’t fit with the ME’s report, or explain why his body was found off the side of the road instead of than within the traffic lanes as would be expected under such circumstances.
Hopefully the SDPD will release more information when their investigation is complete, and the press will follow-up so we can understand what actually happened and why.
UPDATE at 12:05 PM: One of Gilbreth's co-workers just wrote in to state the following,
It is very sad that yesterday we lost another San Diego bicyclist and my friend, Chuck Gilbreth (see the 10news article below). I worked with Chuck Gilbreth at Hamilton Sundstrand Power Systems in Kearny Mesa for many years. He rode his bike almost every day from his home in the College Area to work and back.
It again points out the need to improve the road conditions for bicyclist, automobile driver's awareness, and traffic law enforcement for the safety of San Diego bicyclists.
Help Bikes del Pueblo Get a Permanent Home
Our local bike kitchen, Bikes del Pueblo, is having a fundraiser tomorrow to help raise funds in order to move to a permanent location. To date, the local bike collective have been unable to find an affordable, permanent home in the mid-city area. They finally got a lead and are now raising funds in order to move to the spot. For more on what Bikes del Pueblo does for the mid-city area, read about how they keep mid-city rolling or visit their website.
