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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 962-1479 email info@sbbike.org web www.sbbike.org

November 4th meeting Join us for our general meeting: Tuesday, November 4th 12:00 noon Santa Barbara Bank & Trust Community Room 1021 Anacapa Street Santa Barbara

Online email list We sponsor a free online email forum where you can post and read messages about regional bicycling issues. To subscribe, send an email to: sbbike-subscribe@lists.riseup.net

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Join our Coalition You can help improve bicycling safety and conditions in Santa Barbara County by joining others in our bicycling advocacy group. See page 6.

CycleSmart program The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition’s CycleSmart bicyclist education program offers bicycling skills classes. Details at www.sbbike.org/ CycleSmart/ apply.html, or email coordinators at CycleSmart@ sbbike.org.

Bici Centro program Bici Centro of Santa Barbara is our community bicycle program, helping people who bicycle. Look at www.sbbike. org/bici/BiciCentro.html, or phone 617-3255. Quick Release is published monthly by the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, PO Box 92047, Santa Barbara, CA 93190. Subscribe for $25 per year. Issue # 205.

November 2008

Teach kids safe biking, says John Pucher by Ralph Fertig

“What would you recommend we do first, what are the low-hanging fruit?” asked panelist Michael Chiacos to guest speaker Professor John Pucher at our Walk/Bike Forum. Pucher replied that most important is for us to implement a good, ongoing educational program to teach school children safe walking and bicycling behavior. Second in importance, he said, is to ensure that a complete, interconnected From the left at our Walk/Bike Forum, John Pucher, Michael Chiacos, Grant House, and Janet Wolf. network of bikelanes, bikepaths, and sidewalks is created throughout ity may be suggested, but it’s not proved. our community. The health experts nevertheless point out that Those were just a small part of two hours of the second greatest cause of premature death in statistics, reflections, personal stories, and inthe US, after smoking, is inactivity. It’s costing vigorating ideas about what we can do to improve us $76 billion a year in health care now, and with walking and bicycling locally. increasing inactivity in the upcoming generation, the financial toll will increase substantially unless Americans alter their indolent ways. On October 19th, I drove John Pucher to UCLA where he spoke at a transportation conference. He thanked us profusely for his two days in Santa Barbara. Pucher is considering leaving his job at Rutgers University in a few years, and moving elsewhere. I believe that Santa Barbara is now high on his list. My personal hope is to have him help us achieve better bicycling conditions here. Overall, I’m totally pleased with how the Forum turned out. Afterwards, Lee Muldaver said that we should have a similar event every few months While we hoped for an overflowing room at our to enlighten others. Let’s make it happen! October 18th Walk/Bike Forum, about 50 people did show up which is good for a sunny Saturday morning. We are especially thankful to panel You can still catch the Walk/Bike Forum members Grant House, Janet Wolf, and Michael Santa Barbara City TV channel 18 recorded our Chiacos for their cogent observations and comWalk/Bike Forum for later viewing. You can see it on their channel starting October 24th, just check the ments; to Don Lubach for moderating the panel schedule on their website www.citytv18.com. and organizing the electronics for Prof. Pucher’s If you miss their broadcasts, you can still watch presentation; to Eva Inbar who worked with me the Forum on their website, go to Video Archive for three months to arrange and promote the Fofrom their home page. rum; and to our co-sponsors Santa Barbara Walks Further, if you want a copy for yourself or a gift, and the Coalition for Community Wellness. you can buy one in either DVD or VHS format for Perhaps the most striking slide (above) in Prof $17. Order it at www.citytv18.com/requestform, then pay when you pick it up at their offices in the Pucher’s presentation plotted bicycling/walking/ City Hall basement, 735 Anacapa Street. transit versus obesity for 15 different countries. Finally, you can download a PDF version of While the implication that bicycling, walking and Professor Pucher’s presentation at www.sbbike. transit use cause healthy weight is impossible to org/docs/Pucher.pdf. avoid, Pucher was careful to point out that causal-


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