Urban Repair Squad

"They say city is broke. We fix. No charge."

Urban Repair Squad to the rescue!

Stephan:OK, moving this discussion over from the cargo bike thread, who has something to say about what the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition should be doing and how it could be improved? As a Board member, and speaking for myself here, I don't want anyone who has something constructive to say to think they can't be heard by the Coalition. We need all the good ideas we can get. It really helps if you are prepared to do more than just complain.

Stephan, I shouldn't speak to the subject because I have never attended at SDCBC meeting, but one of the reasons for that is that I've basically heard only two things about the Coalition: 1) Kathy is doing a GREAT job and 2) Nothing. There seems to be some visibility/credibility/image problems with the Coalition as a whole.

In reading what people have had to say on this forum, and talking personally with others, it seems that many feel the Coalition does not represent them or their interests. Some think it has "something to do with the government" because of the word "county" in the name, while others assume that it just works behind the scenes for bike lanes and paths and other vague "bicycle related" things. The main thing is that the Coalition doesn't seem to be engaged with the diversity of the bicycle culture here. The passion and commitment of the Coalition membership is somehow not matching up with the passion and commitment of those working outside of it, like myself and others on this forum. Is it an Old Guard/New Guard issue? Is it a branding/public image problem? I don't know, but I'd sure like to see it change.

Continuing my post from above...

And I think it is very important for the Coalition to get into the mindset of a bicycle commuter. My bike is my car. If a Coalition event is 20 miles away at 5PM on a weekday, I can't bike there and get there in time after a full workday. If there is no shoulder or alternative to a destination, I can't get there. My bike is not a toy that I throw on the back of my car to get somewhere. My bike is how I get places. Does the coalition board get into the mindset of what it means to be a bike commuter? I want a bike version of AAA. I want the coalition to endorse local political candidates - they have to answer to a list of questions specific to bicyclists.

If the coalition got a billion dollars tomorrow, is there a plan on how that would be allocated? There should be a vision and a goal of what the Coalition wants San Diego to look like. In that vision is the entire city bikeable? Is the entire city criss-crossed with bike lanes/bike paths? There is a defeatist attitude in the Coalition that I bet the Auto lobby in DC doesn't have. The Coalition should reach for the stars and then settle for something higher than what is bargained for. I acknowledge that the Coalition has been fighting an uphill battle for years, but a defeatist thinking is not going to get the type of results bicyclists want for San Diego.

And San Diego is not Amsterdam, we have much, much better weather that makes biking possible every single day of the year. Except yesterday.

markphilips:I visited Long Beach for the first time two weeks ago and was delighted to see the SHARROWS with a 5 ft green lane. The local bikeshop told me that motorists didn't like it at all because they have to share the road. It was great sitting in front of a coffee shop and watch teenagers, kids with their parents ride in the green lane. Has anybody seen anything like this in SoCal?

Who is really blocking traffic?

I saw these exact same thing in Boston in October. It was along Commonwealth Ave (for those how know the city) near the BU Bridge. When I was in school there I was on foot, but always saw how hard it was for bikes to cross that intersection. When I saw that green bike lane in October it made me smile and wish we had them here.

To continue my thoughts about the SDCBC above: the historian in me hears Beany's comment about defeatism and wonders if the problem lies in the past. Is the leadership of the SDCBC still fighting fights and prolonging arguments from 30 years ago instead of engaging with the bourgeoning and thrilling bicycle culture that has developed since? The long-term members of the Coalition have so much of value to offer those of us who are new to the scene and perhaps turned off by the Coalition's operating style, but perhaps there is a lack of willingness on both sides to pay attention to what the other is saying. The Coalition gets mischaracterized as not checked-in or out of touch with conversations going on within the community, and in turn some members of the Coalition are ready to characterize everyone else as "tattooed hipsters on fixed gears" or such like. I wonder if maybe it's time for something like a San Diego Bike Summit, a fresh start to conversations we're already having, but not yet all together.

Ah, that's what I get for using a loaded term like "militant." Really, what I meant to convey is the opposite of "submissive," which the word "active" conveys without the revolutionary connotations. I came of age in the '70s and obviously still carry a lot of the left-wing baggage I inherited from the anti-war movement here and the student activist scene in Europe.

That said, I still think that SDCBC needs to adopt a more confrontatory posture in dealing with the logjam of governmental inertia in San Diego. SFBC have found this approach necessary due to the nature of Bay Area politics. SDCBC would be eaten alive if San Diego City and County were half as bad as the San Francisco Supervisors.

This is what happens when I stay home sick from work for two days; I spend half the day in front of the time machine that is my home PC. Before I know it it's 4 pm!

ray333:I still think that SDCBC needs to adopt a more confrontatory posture in dealing with the logjam of governmental inertia in San Diego.

Yes! Absolutely. Another reason a lot of folks think that the SDCBC doesn't represent them as bicyclists, or that they are a behind-the-scenes only operation, or that they are somehow an arm of the government, is that we don't *hear* from them very often about what they *are* doing to stand up or advocate for bicyclists. Their public presence and visibility are not what they could or should be; a lot of people just aren't aware that the Coalition is working for us because we don't see the evidence that they are. People like me who are relatively new to this are naturally looking to the Coalition for guidance, for a cohesive plan for bicycle advocacy in this town, and we're not getting anything.

In discussing SDCBC, let's remember that the SDCBC Message Board is only loosely associated with the Coalition: The opinions and topics discussed on the message board are in no way condoned, sponsored, endorsed or moderated by the Coalition. The domination of a few overly vocal posters on the message board is not conducive to listening to other posters' opinions: The tone on the board can be pretty nasty and I refuse to post there.

In my opinion, the existence of an SDCBC-labelled message board has become a liability for the Coalition, and it may be in their interest to disassociate themselves from the message board to prevent inaccurate presumptions about what the Coalition does and what it stands for.

And I will also second previous comments that the occasional quarter mile patchwork extensions to the Mission Valley Bike Path (when I might as well just ride Hotel Circle Dr) or a "million dollar" bike bridge over some lagoon somewhere in North County does not really have much impact on my daily riding, either: Reducing speed differentials, fixing bad intersection lane and light design and doing sorely needed repairs to roadways, however, does.

I think the key is to have a more moderate approach to it's membership. Like this board, here, San Diego is made up of a diverse cycling scene. No matter our locomotion (fixed, 3 spd, MTB, old steel, carbon fiber, 'bent, cruiser), we have a common need: more cycling access (places to lock up), better streets, and more responsive leadership at the city/county level.

Having sat at a few city counsel meetings, cyclist are viewed as the minority in the view of the county. With our numbers, we really are not that much of a minority. But, we trip over our selves due to our self exclusionary tactics of dissassociating our selves with other cyclist. I'm a commuter, I ride fixed. But that doesn't mean I don't like riding with tour riders, athletic types, or kids doing wheely on BMX's. Our commanlity should be our strong point.

The mailing list is one liability. The other liability is not knowing the good that SDCBC does, just as Thom wrote. We should take these ideas to the SDCBC, but take these along with our good ideas, and our willingness to help.

As well, I'd like to take control of CM to an extent to prove as well they are a representation of SD's cycling culture, and that we want change.

This may be a diversion.... but I want green-painted bike sharrows on every major city artery and designated bike route. That seems easy for the city to do. Imagine what it will communicate to the world about San Diego.

SDCBC has been around a long time, and deserve the respect of the work they've done, and also deserve not to be painted by the actions of some members. This is an important conversation, and I think we're really going somewhere..,

Now we are talking! There already is too much here for me to respond to every idea, but here are a few comments. If you want to know what the Coalition is up to, you can join and get the newsletter. That said, it sounds like the newsletter might need to do a better job of conveying all the things that the Coalition is involved in. It's a big and diverse county, and that diversity is reflected in the bicyling community as well. The Coalition needs to respresent everyone from urban commuters to suburban recreatonal riders to triathletes and racers. It's a tough task, but one the Coalition should not shrink from.

This forum is an indication of the growing vitality of the bike scene in San Diego, and the Coalition absolutely needs to take advantage of all this engery. You can be sure that your thoughts will get back to the Coalition Board.

Velo Cult:perhaps the coalition board should be on this forum??

They should be paying attention for sure.

More action? "Be the change you want to see in the world." - Ghandhi

How can we encourage more cyclists to come out in full force? So that we can create the reality of more bikes on the road. Even though it's only 0.6 miles, the new green lane w/ sharrows in Long Beach drew more cyclists than usual. They even road up and down the street a few times because of knowing that they are part of traffic. There were more bicycles parked on the sidewalks. This sparked an idea of creating that space for more cyclists on the road even on a short stretch of asphalt (and it's not painting the asphalt, yet):

More like a social bike ride...The ride will be at a slower pace or a casual cruise. So that it will be possible to talk while on the road, meet other cyclists, and exchange ideas. The route will go around a few blocks around town (like circling a few blocks) to make it easy for people to join. There are only a few traffic lights and stop signs on the route. So there is no need to worry about being left behind. Since the ride goes in a round-about fashion, riders can exit or rejoin the group. The mini-mass of cyclists may be spread out smaller groups of 10 to 20 cyclists just going around the route a few times. Although, I used the term mini-mass, I would prefer to ride following the traffic lights and signs. So a road with less lights and signs would be preferable.

Downtown Encinitas for example has a flat profile. Riders dress in casual clothing and will meet at one of the local coffee shops/Moonlight beach parking lot. The ride will go on a counter clock-wise fashion: south on PCH, west on K st, north on 2nd st, east on E st. So the route would be less than 2 miles but ridden several times to create the reality of more people riding together.

Can you visualize something like this happening in your neighborhood? Someone may already have suggested a similar idea. And I think I read it in this forum, already.

The social bike ride in Austin TX (Social Cycling ATX) began with a handful of cyclists which grew to hundreds with a very loyal following. They promote socializing between all types of cyclist no matter what level of cyclist you are, what kind of bike or what kind of terrain you ride.

I have somewhat mixed feelings about the green lanes. On the one hand, they make it clear to drivers that bikes are allowed in the middle of the lane. On the other hand, bikes would be allowed in the middle of the lane anyway, because those lanes are clearly too narrow for a bike and a car to safely share. If you show this to people who don't know that, be sure to remember to point that out to them. The green lane is not giving bicyclists something that we did not already have. It's just making it more clear to everyone that we have the right to be in the lane.

I guess the green lanes are good, but I'm concerned that people will think that cyclists are only allowed in the middle of the lane if there is a green lane.

Another issue is that there may be times when there just don't happen to be any parallel parked cars present. In that case, the bicyclists can and should ride in the parking lane.

I'm glad to see the conversation heating up here! It's exciting to see so many people interested in helping make San Diego a better bike place.
It would be great for you all to come to a Coalition meeting and get your input on things the Coalition should be doing. We would definitely like to be doing more for social rides, group advocacy, community activism, etc. We're working behind the scenes on a lot of that, but I agree that it would definitely be better for the Coalition to have a higher profile and have members and other bicyclists feel more of a connection to the organization. We've been lacking that for a while, and frankly I'm stumped about how to make the connection. I'd like to hear more from all of you about the nuts and bolts of what you would like to see happen in San Diego County and how we can work together to make it go.

Some of you asked what the Coalition is doing or has done. We've failed at publicizing our successes, but maybe that's something for us to work on in the coming year. In the meantime, here is a partial list of the things the Coalition has been involved in from 2005-2009, in chronological/random order:

Note -The Coalition participated in all of these activities and projects, but each of them is a group effort of many organizations, individuals, groups, and volunteers to make this bicycling progress happen in San Diego County.

Lose the Roaditude Campaign launched 2009
California Street Smarts – designed and printed, available for free to the public
Bike the Bay – 2400 riders
Tour De Fat – 2000 participants
Cycling events calendar – launched 2009 (thanks Sam!)
San Diego River path, planning documents, Coalition. Continuous progress from 2005 to 2009, with OB Bike Path extension opened 2009
Bike Parking – programs mushroomed from only EarthFair in 2006 to our own racks and six parking events in 2009. 20 year anniversary(?) for bike parking at Earth Fair in 2009.
Oceanside bike improvements – Bronze BFC award!
SR52 preservation of access during widening
San Luis Rey River Bike path extension
Signage on 56 bike path
Marking of detectors for bikes in SD
Bayshore Bikeway extension
Lake Hodges Bridge
SR125 shoulder access
Sprinter bikes in trains, plus Inland Rail Trail
Active Transportation Campaign
Sharrows in Oceanside
56 bike path extension across I-15
South Shores Mission Bay bike path
Padres Bike Parking Pavilion
Oceanside helmet program
Reverse angle parking considered in N County communities
City road standards now include bike lanes
Carmel Valley Road bike lanes
Bike Night
Coastal Rail Trail planning and construction
Bicycling Magazine declares SD Number one city (over 1 million people) for bicycling
Saved bicycle coordinator position at City of San Diego
Coast Highway plans – Oceanside, Leucadia, Solana Beach, Del Mar
Every community in San Diego County bike plan plus SANDAG Regional Bike Plan
Education Programs – Since 2005, 187 total classes, 4198 students, including: 49 Traffic Skills 101 classes with 321 TS 101 graduates, 22 bike rodeos at local schools and youth groups, 41 Ride and Learn classes with 473 participants, 60 lunchtime seminars with 1583 participants.

Organizational growth –Budget has grown from $52,000 in 2006 to $103,000 in 2009. Staff has grown from 1 part time to 1.5 full time staff. Office opened in 2007.

Historic Accomplishments before 2005 –
Closure of Sorrento Valley Road to auto traffic
Transnet Extension passes allocating 2% for bike/ped infrastructure + routine accommodation
Trolley Pass for bicyclists rescinded
Shoulder access on SR52

To find out more about what we've been doing, pretty much all our newslettters from 1987 to today are available on our website, along with minutes from the board meetings for the last year or so.

Let's talk about what we could be doing more/better.

Kathy

I'm in with you William. After voicing my frustration about this topic on the cargo bikes thread and kinda getting this discussion going, I've become a member of the SDCBC and I plan on attending as many meetings as possible in the new year.

nice, glad you stopped in Kathy.

I would want only one thing to be done. Education for police about the CVC and how it relates to bicycles, not just how they think it does. When I'm out riding, the way I'm supposed to, I would expect the police to support that effort the same way they do for motorists. Serve and Protect is the most common motto for them. They are there to serve US! We shouldn't have to be worried about getting cited for doing the RIGHT and LEGAL thing. When that happens, I suspect bicycling will change for the better here. Until then?

<blockquote><cite> mike_ballard:</cite>I would want only one thing to be done. Education for police about the CVC and how it relates to bicycles, not just how they think it does. When I'm out riding, the way I'm supposed to, I would expect the police to support that effort the same way they do for motorists. Serve and Protect is the most common motto for them. They are there to serve US! We shouldn't have to be worried about getting cited for doing the RIGHT and LEGAL thing. When that happens, I suspect bicycling will change for the better here. Until then?</blockquote>

And that's it? You don't want better bike lanes, more bike parking, changes to some existing laws that are anti cycling, you don't like the lane markers they've accomplished?

I would much rather be able to take a lane legally, as we already can, and not have to worry that the police will tell us to "get over to the right" when I'm not legally obligated to do so. What about roads without markers or bike lanes? Am I still legitimate there? The police don't always seem to think so. That needs to be changed. I would like them to be there to back us up when we need it, not tell us we're wrong when we are right. Not blame us for accidents caused by others, or ignore our presence and kill us. When it comes to it, bike lanes and markings at their basic just "put us in our place".

Parking, lane marking, and lanes aren't effective if I'm having to pay fines for doing the right thing. No, change that first.

Good discussion everyone. I agree that it would be great for all types of cyclists to work together to advocate for a range of things that would benefit all cyclists, from better infrastructure, to better laws, to cops and judges that know the laws, to making cycling chic and not just something that we old guys do for fun.

That said, it may also be good for there to be two (or more) diverse groups advocating for cycling in a variety of ways, some inside the system and some outside of it. The various groups should still be able to respect each other for their common goals and sometimes work together.

At last night's coalition volunteer meeting (only the 2nd one I've attended) we were discussing some ideas to get the coalition's message and activities out there more than it has been, including more regular online newsletters, greater use of Twitter, and how to allow people to subscribe to the bi-monthly print newsletter. BTW, the print newsletter is available online, you just have to know how to get to it: http://sdcbc.org/newsletter.htm . It would be great if this online version could "come to you" rather than you knowing where to find it.

Other ways to connect with the coalition:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/San-Diego-County-Bicycle-Coalition/133808861794?ref=search&sid=1403233194.3163316543..1
http://twitter.com/SDCBC
And, tonight's Bike Movie Night at the Kensington Club: http://sdcbc.org/QuicksilverFlier.pdf

-Larry

I just hope Serge doesn't find this forum ...

The more than dozen moderators on this forum will do everything they can to keep this forum as fun and civil as you see it today. While this forum is open to the public it is not a democracy and by no means an open platform. Moderators will ban people if needed. If anyone gets out of control, time outs and even being banned is in Mods arsenal.

il Pirati,

"People on bicycles-that's the important thing." My Sentiments Exactly! You will get no argument from me on this point, to be sure.

"Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." -- H. G. Wells

Hi Larry,
Careful! I didn't say 'dead in the water' on the bike plan. I said 'they're working on it'. Which sometimes means 'dead in the water' but usually means 'going to take longer than we thought'.
I expect the bike plan will go forward, and they'll do a smaller, less intensive EIR document for it. But it is going to take a while. I have a call in to the city staff to see what the exact status is at the moment, and I'll let folks here know what I've found out.
Kathy

Kathy:and Larry's right - they did take out a traffic lane in each direction on Clairemont Drive east of I-5, and they put in bike lanes up and down the hill. So it should be much easier/less stressful to get up that hill now. That's the good news. The bad news is that there's apparently some push back from the community. Those bike lanes need defending, and you can help by coming to the community meeting on the subject : "6:00pm on Thursday, December 17th at the South Clairemont Recreation Center located at 3605 Clairemont Drive to discuss the recent traffic striping changes on Clairemont Drive. The meeting will primarily be focused on why the changes were made, what other options were considered, what studies will be done to determine the effectiveness of the change, and any concerns or questions"
Hope to see a bunch of bicyclists there!
Kathy

thats my neighborhood so i'll help defend those lanes on Clairmont Dr. they are absolutely fantastic and excited they are there. as a driver i have not seen any negative so im a little confused on that. do you know what the complaints are?