Fall 2011 Quick Release

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SANTA BARBARA BICYCLE COALITION

OUR MISSION

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The Bicycle Coalition is a countywide advocacy and resource organization that promotes bicycling for safe transportation and recreation

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sbbike

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Get Involved with your Bike Coalition: Contribute: Your time: www.bicicentro.org/volunteer In-kind: www.bicicentro.org/wishlist Financially: www.bicicentro.org/donate

Join one of our committees: (Each meet monthly) bicicentro.org/committees • Bici Centro Shop: come help manage our open shop, bicycle recycling, and education center facility concerns • Education: help us implement our after-school and summer programs for youth, and mechanic and street skills classes for adults.

• Events: the planning home of CycleMAYnia, bike valet, and any public or member-only event of the Coalition • Communications and Membership: the venue for membership growth & concerns, communications to the community, such as our website, newsletter, & Facebook • Advocacy: steer our campaigns, currently to complete the bike network & bring on more bike parking.

• Spanish Language Outreach: oversee and implement our efforts to engage the Spanish-speaking cyclist community.

Contact Us

Coalition Staff

Board of Directors

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: 601 E. Montecito St., Executive Director: Santa Barbara, CA 93103 Ed France edfrance@bicicentro.org Education Coordinator: SB Bike Coalition Christine Bourgeois PO Box 92047, edu@sbbike.org Santa Barbara, CA 93190 Fall Instructors: Mike Vergeer Elisa Robles www.sbbike.org Eddie Gonzalez Shop Leaders: Jonathan Rodriguez 805.617.3255 Brooke Treanor

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Erika Lindemann, President Howard Booth, Vice President David Bourgeois, Treasurer Erik Wright, Secretray (Scribe) Carmen Lozano, Spanish Outreach Chair Nancy Mulholland, Education Chair John Hygelund, Events Chair Hector Gonzalez, Shop Chair Jim Cadenhead Michael Chiacos Mike Vergeer Robert Caiza Byron Beck Matt Dobberteen, Advisor Kent Epperson, Advisor Sarah Grant, Liason

Cover Photograph: Tour De Tent May 2011, by Christine Bourgeois

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: A Special Thanks Goes To... ...all the volunteers, organizers, and riders of the 2011 Santa Barbara Century and the Orfalea Foundation for helping us make a successful funding match for a total of $20,000 toward our Pedal Power youth Earn-A-Bike!

Thank you for helping forward our vision of universal access to safe bicycle education.

This funding will underwrite over 120 youth in our 18 hour after-school class.

They learn the joy of bicycling as safe, confident 'Drivers' of bicycles. The generous Century gift will also continue to support our Bici Centro shop and the High School’s SBici Centro!

SB High School's own Bici Centro!

With special thanks to Traffic Solutions, the Don's Net Cafe, The Don Riders, and the extremely supportive administrative staff at SB High, our remote shop at the high school campus 'SBici Centro' is off to a running start this Fall. Students are invited to volunteer and join the new bike club as well as receive help with bike tune-ups every Thursday from 3-5pm. Special thanks to our mentors Byron Beck and Louis Andaloro, Eddie Gonzalez and student staff Pete Chaconas and Miguel Palacios.

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SANTA BARBARA

ADVOCACY

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Bring on the Bike Parking The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition announces its new campaign to bring more secure bicycle parking to the South Coast. The goal of the campaign is to increase the capacity of bicycle parking where cyclists need it the most.

We will focus on areas that have been indicated by the public as lacking bicycle parking or where theft is common. Perhaps as cycling grows and more secure parking becomes the norm parked bikes will be lining the streets of Santa Barbara as they currently do in this picture outside of Natural Café on lower State St. Campaign components: •On street business parkingThe Santa Barbra Bicycle Coalition is working with businesses that want to provide their customers with bicycle parking where there is limited space. For example, the Bicycle Coalition is working with Goodland restaurant in Goleta because the City of Goleta does not provide bicycle parking for business. In downtown Santa Barbara, where sidewalk parking is at a minimum, we’re working with Canon Perdido Shops to site on-street bike parking. With more volunteer manpower, we’ll push business owners to provide bike parking as requested by their customers.

•Secured / covered parkingLike the example of Bikestation in the Granada Garage, we need to raise the bar with indoor bike parking in key areas and bring amenities to commuters right where and when they need them.

•School sitesThe Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition will work with South Coast partners to provide students at school campuses with secure bicycle parking.

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BICYCLE COALITION

CAMPAIGNS

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: Completing the Network The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition announces our new campaign to complete our bike routes throughout the county by addressing the gaps and missing links.

The goal of the campaign is to increase safety and usability of Santa Barbara County’s bike routes by identifying the problem areas, finding solutions through community input, and engaging the public process to get these gaps resolved.

We will look at areas that would most benefit our bike network as more formalized feeder routes, akin to the efforts of many cities in developing Bicycle Boulevards.

Campaign Components: •Increase bicycle signage on existing routesThe Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, along with the public, will identify areas along existing bicycle routes that are in need of bicycle signage. After these areas are identified the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition will work with the appropriate agency to provide signage to increase safety for both cyclists and drivers.

•Connect missing links between existing bicycle routesThe Coalition is working to identify missing links between already existing bicycle routes along the South Coast. By connecting these preexisting routes our network will be safer and better connected. By better connecting existing routes we will encourage cyclists of all ages and skill levels to bicycle more frequently.

•Highlight future routes appropriate for sharrows or signageThe Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition will work with the public to identify future bicycle routes that would benefit from sharrows or signage to increase safety for cyclists. This information will be used in the future to make safer biking routes in Santa Barbara County.

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SPANISH LANGUAGE

OUTREACH

Follow our activities on Facebook - Search for the name: “SBBC Spanish Language Outreach”

Bici Centro Comes to Your Neighborhood

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By Carmen Lozano

This spring, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition and Bici Centro launched an exciting new project, the Community Mobile Bike Shop as a pilot project of the Spanish Language Outreach Committee.

Every Saturday afternoon for three months a mobile bike repair shop, mounted on an Xtracycle, rolled into the Westside or the Eastside of Santa Barbara providing free repairs and educational resources to residents. Most of the bicycles that were wrenched at the Mobile Bike Shops required basic repairs; fixing flat tires, replacing cables, adjusting brakes and derailleurs or truing wheels. In addition to providing accessible services, these mobile bike shops’ primary role was to serve as a vehicle for collecting data to find out how the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition and Bici Centro can better serve the Latino community.

All those attending the mobile bike shops completed a survey as part of the need assessment process. This data will inform and direct future efforts of the Spanish Language Outreach program in order to bring new voices to local conversations about cycling and sustainable transportation.

Most participants were Hispanic Spanish monolingual males in their forties, who use their bicycles for transportation to work. This group was exactly the target demographic of this pilot project. So we feel we reached our goal. Some of the female participants were mothers who were interested in youth programs and bike to school activities.

Quotes from the Westside:

“Continue services in the Westside on Saturdays. Shop hours should go later. Bici is too far [away]”, “Keep helping people fix their bikes”, “Advertise more to the community and add more hours to weekend shops. Mechanic classes cost too much”, [We would like more] “Signage in Spanish”, “ I love the mobile shop. I’m glad there was a repair effort in our neighborhood” “It’s great that you came. Thanks for working with us, Mobile Bike Shop

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Photo: Christine Bourgeois

Most of the comments acknowledged the need for services in the Westside and expressed gratitude for the pilot efforts. Additionally, several comments indicated the need to evaluate the hours/time of Open Shop at Bici Centro.

Overall the Spanish Language Outreach team is satisfied with the project and excited about Bici’s potential to better serve the local community. Key lessons have been learned and the analyzed data from this program will help us develop and improve the current programming offered to the Spanish speaking community. The data shows the need for new programming and increased outreach efforts. The five main take-away findings from this project are the following:

Five Outreach Survey take-aways:

1. Continue Mobile Bike Shop services on the Westside, with a once-amonth schedule 2. Develop a strategic outreach and communication plan to better reach Spanish speakers 3. Create an identity/branding campaign to clarify who Bici Centro & the Bike Coalition are.

4. Consider developing Spanish signage for bike routes 5. Increase hours/days of Open Shop with Spanish speaking volunteers The Mobile Bike Shop will be rolling to events throughout the Santa Barbara area this fall. Look for it in your neighborhood!

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NEWS

for more news articles visit: www.bicicentro.org/news

UPDATE

Cliff Drive: An Unlikely Advocacy Win for the Community!

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By Howard Booth

New bike lanes! On August 4th, I turned the corner from Loma Alta Street onto Cliff Drive and as I cycled up the first hill large arrows directed cars to merge into a single traffic lane and I continued on in the newly marked bike lane. The Cliff Drive re-striping project has added bike lanes between Meigs and Loma Alta Streets. Motorists seemed to have little trouble adjusting to the new lanes, there were no traffic jams and cars seemed to be traveling at a more moderate rate of speed. This project is a perfect example of smart forward thinking urban and transportation planning that improves the road for everyone.

City Council gave its unanimous, but hard fought support for the project at its June 29th meeting after over 45 speakers spoke in favor of the proposal. As Mayor Helene Schneider commented after the vote, “This is an historic moment, the first time this particular City Council has unanimously approved a transportation project.”

This win is a model for how the Bike Coalition can efficiently and effectively marshal its resources to help get a project over the goal line. The Cliff Drive proposal came from a passionate group of area neighbors lead by the dedicated Mesa Architects. They wanted to turn Cliff Drive from a highway bisecting their neighborhood into the Mesa’s “Main Street.” They lobbied politicians and presented a plan that met with the approval and support of city agencies and departments. The Bike Coalition supported the project, lobbyed policy makers and prepared a number of speakers at the Council meeting.

Everyone involved in moving this project forward deserves a very special thanks for their hard work. Cal Trans and City staff did exceptional work to make this project happen at very minimal cost with maximum public input. Take a ride on Cliff Dive and then take a minute to write a letter or send an email thanking both the Mesa Architects and our City Council members.

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South Coast Bike Count Results

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By Ralph Fertig

Our Bicycle Coalition has been tracking bicyclists with June counts since 1997.

Overall, we have tallied 34,398 people on bicycles. Again this June Coalition volunteers answered the call to count bicyclists at 25 South Coast intersections.

They counted 3567 people on bicycles over 50 afternoon hours; this means that 71 an hour on average passed through our intersections.

Considering the major increase over the last few years, the count this year highlights that the ‘bike boom’ wasn’t a fluke, but that the increase in cycling is here to stay. Compared with the average of the prior five years that counts were done at those same 25 intersections, our 2011 count represents a 3.6% increase.

There were 125 more cyclists on our streets and paths this year.

The busiest intersection was State at Canon Perdido with 345 bicyclists over two hours. Year after year, that has always been the busiest location, followed this year

by State at Anapamu with 338. It seems that State Street’s bikelanes, adjacent bike parking, slow motorists, and easy access to Downtown destinations serve to attract both commuters and shoppers.

In addition to counting bicyclists, volunteers gathered information about helmet use, sidewalk biking, and wrong-way riding.

The good news is that 26.5% are now wearing helmets. That’s an increase over the five-year prior average of 25.0%. As expected, helmet use is greatest on paths and streets favored for longer commutes and recreational cycling. Highest was the intersection of the Obern Trail at the Maria Ygnacio path, where 72% were protecting their heads with helmets. Mission at Modoc came in second at 59%.

Santa Barbara Downtown was average, while the Eastside and Westside had fewer bicyclists with helmets. The lowest was at Milpas and Gutierrez with 3% helmet use.

Unfortunately, biking on sidewalks has likewise increased. It’s now 17.7%, up from the prior 5-year average of 16.9%. It’s illegal to bike on sidewalks unless they are designated as multipurpose paths, like the encircling paths at traffic roundabouts.

So it’s little surprise that the Milpas roundabout was highest with 55% bicyclists on the sidewalks, and the new Montecito roundabout had 27%.

Wrong-way biking is dangerous, thankfully uncommon, and has dropped this year to 2.5% from the 5-year average 3.2%.

Our sincere appreciation to those who helped with this year’s bicyclist count: Michael Chiacos, Wilson Hubbell, Nancy Mulholland, Ed France, Howard Booth, Harry Nelson, Matt Dobberteen, Robert Rainwater, Dave Bourgeois, Christine Bourgeois, Kirsten Zecher, Meredith deRoos, Sarah Grant, Lori La Riva, Kent Epperson, Doris Phnney, and Owen Patmor.

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YOUTH AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAM

PEDAL POWER

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::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: for more information please visit: www.bicicentro.org/youth Questions: 805 699 6301

Our Vision: Universal access to bicycle education

Thirty years ago, more than 66 percent of all children walked to school. Today, only 13 percent of American children walk or bike to school. The consequences are worrisome: children have sedentary lifestyles; obesity, diabetes and heart disease rates for children are climbing; and behavioral problems are increasing.

About 25 percent of morning rush-hour traffic consists of people driving their children to school.

Over the last 3 years a Bici Centro effort to work with kids has transformed into a full-fledged after school program that has taught over 200 kids how to safely ride in traffic as they earned their own refurbished bikes from Bici Centro.

Goleta Valley Junior High 6 Mondays & 6 Wednesdays: 2:354:05PM Starting on Monday, September 19th La Colina Junior High 6 Wednesdays & 6 Thursdays: 2:354:05PM Starting on Wednesday, September 21st

Our popular “Pedal Power� class is at three Junior High schools this fall. For six weeks, participants learn bike Santa Barbara Junior mechanics, improve street riding skills and go on fun High field trips with new friends. Students who do not own a 6 Thursdays & 6 bike will earn a refurbished one from Bici Centro at the Fridays: 2:35-4:05PM end of the course. Donating a youth sized bicycle is a Starting on Thrusday, great way to support our efforts!

September 22nd

Photo: Christine Bourgeois

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Volunteer, +25 hours

Lifetime $1000

Individual, 2 year $55

Business, 1 year $100

Household, 2 year $85

Household, 1 year $45

Research has shown that tripling the number of bike riders on the street cuts motorist-bicyclist crashes in half (not per capita, but OVERALL!).

Did you know???

Road repair contacts: Caltrans www.dot.ca.gov/maintform.html Carpinteria Charlie Ebeling, 684-5405 x402 cebeling@ci.carpinteria.ca.us Goleta, Bob Morgenstern, 968-6869 morgenstern@cityofgoleta.org Lompoc, Larry Bean, 736-1261 l_bean@ci.lompoc.ca.us Santa Barbara City Sarah Grant sgrant@SantaBarbaraCA.gov Santa Barbara County Matt Dobberteen, 568-3576 matt@cosbpw.net

Make payable to Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition. Mail to Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, P.O. Box 92047,

New Membership Renewal Membership Email me any newsletters or other messages instead of printed ones.

name________________________________________________________________________________ address___________________________________________city/state/zip_________________________ phone_________________________________email__________________________________________

Business Gold, $250

Individual, 1 year $30

Yes! I want to make bicycling better for all of us in Santa Barbara County

Application for Membership

Fill out this application or join online at www.bicicentro.org/join

Santa Maria David Whitehead, 925-0951 x227 dwhitehead@ci.santa-maria.ca.us Solvang, Brad Vigro, 688-5575 bradv@cityofsolvang.com UCSB, Dennis Whelan, 893-7009 dennis.whelan@planning.ucsb.edu

Discount details are at: www.sbbike.org/SBBC/who.html.

Ask for your SBBC discount at: Bici Centro 601 E. Montecito St., Santa Barbara Bicycle Bob’s 250 Storke Road #A, Goleta 15 Hitchcock Way, Santa Barbara Bicycle Connection 223 W. Ocean Avenue, Lompoc Hazard’s Cyclesport 110 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara Lighthouse Bicycles phone 688-6385 Main Street Cycles 311 East Main Street, Santa Maria Pedal Power Bicycles, Santa Ynez 1740 Broadway, Santa Maria VeloPro Cyclery 633 State Street, Santa Barbara 5887 Hollister Avenue, Goleta Momentum Magazine, save $5 www.momentumplanet.com/ node/4258.

WheelHouse 528 Anacapa Street, Santa Barbara

Member discounts