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QUICK RELEASE September 2003

www.sbbike.org

Serving Santa Barbara County We’re a countywide advocacy and resource organization that promotes bicycling for safe transportation and recreation.

How to reach us Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition PO Box 92047 Santa Barbara CA 93190-2047 phone 568-3046 email info@sbbike.org web www.sbbike.org

September 2nd meeting Join us on Tuesday, September 2nd for our monthly meeting. Help us celebrate and improve bicycling: Tuesday, 12:00 noon County Public Works Conference Room, 1st Floor 123 East Anapamu Street Santa Barbara, California

Online email list We sponsor an online email forum where you can post and read messages that pertain to regional bicycling issues. It’s easy and free. To subscribe to our general forum, just send an email message to:

Coalition calls for “The Obern Trail” Everybody on the County’s South Coast knows and loves what doesn’t have a name, but is commonly called the “Atascadero Creek Bikepath.” Few of us, however, know its history. We hope to correct that by applying an appropriate name to the path in honor of two individuals—and Bicycle Coalition members—who worked tirelessly to bring it into existence: George & Vie Obern. On August 20, the Bicycle Coalition sent letters to Susan Rose, Supervisor of the Third District where the path runs, and to Ruth Schuyler, Chair of the Santa Barbara County Riding and Hiking Advisory Committee, asking them to name it The Obern Trail. We wrote, “Today this trail is a significant benefit to the community and stands as a monument to all those who struggled to see its completion, particularly George and Vie. We request that the County take those steps necessary to name the trail The Obern Trail and place appropriate signage to designate it accordingly.” We couldn’t think of a nicer honor for two outstanding people.

Vie and George Obern rode their tandem to the 2001 Goleta Lemon Festival.

Coalition at the crossroads: what’s next? The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition has been improving conditions for people who bicycle within our County for nearly 14 years. We are now faced with new opportunities that we can seize and move ahead with…or not. Three possibilities have come into focus in the past few months: • Santa Barbara Bikestation programs • A Community Cycling Center modeled after Portland’s successful program • A bicycling education program.

All three are challenges, but reflect community needs and opportunities that the Bicycle Coalition alone or along with other individuals or groups should seriously consider. For details about the Bikestation, come to our next two meetings when we’ll hear more and be able to offer suggestions. Come to our October meeting to hear Joshua Patlak’s impressions about the CCC in Portland. As for bicyclist education, if the Bicycle Coalition fails to do anything soon, others are waiting to take it over.

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Santa Barbara City receives Bicycle-Friendly honor

Join the Coalition You can help improve bicycling safety and conditions in Santa Barbara County by joining others in our own regional Bicycle Coalition advocacy group. Together we will continue to make a real difference. See page 6 for details.

For sale: video & flag We’re pleased to offer our own video “Decide to Ride.” It’s about a young woman who learns to bike commute to work. It’s only $18 (tax and US shipping included) from us, address above. Plus, we’re selling Bike Week flags, 4’x6’ heavy nylon, terra cotta and white. They’re $33 plus tax. Look at this PDF file: www.sbbike.org/art-home/ flag.pdf

Mayor Marty Blum receives the Bicycle-Friendly Community award from Andy Clarke.

On August 12, Santa Barbara’s Mayor Marty Blum and the City Council received an award for being one of the eight most “bicycle-friendly” cities in the US. The award, consisting of a certificate and large sign, were presented by the League of American Bicyclists’ Andy Clarke, their Director of State and Local Advocacy. The awards have four tiers called platinum, gold, silver and bronze. We share the silver category with five other cities, while two—Palo Alto and Corvallis—are ahead of us at the gold level. Nobody attained the platinum level, so we all have room to improve bicycling and move up the scale. Mayor Blum met with Andy Clarke the following morning before he flew back home. Clarke found the meeting beneficial and commented, “We discussed some ideas for getting her colleagues in the US Conference of Mayors and National League of Cities interested in bicycling issues, and that was quite productive.” Dru van Hengle, the City’s mobility coordinator said that they hadn’t yet decided where to put the sign. Contact her if you have ideas.


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