Spring 2012 • Volume 22 / No. 1
Quick Release Earth Day Edition
Moving > > > Forward
Brought to you by
Santa Barbarians Storm DC Biking with Kids / 8 Spring Opportunities / 9
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Want to win $250 for your favorite charity at Earth Day? Check out page 3
Our Mission
Board
The Bicycle Coalition is a countywide advocacy and resource organization, promoting bicycling for safe transportation and recreation.
Erika Lindemann, President Howard Booth Erik Wright David Bourgeois Byron Beck Michael Chiacos Jim Cadenhead Robert Caiza Carmen Lozano Hector Gonzalez Tim Burgess Courtney Dietz John Hygelund Mike Vergeer
Words from Ed Fr ance, Santa Barbar a Bicycle Coalition Executive Director:
Like all the things our coalition undertakes, our newsletter is a group effort—and one that requires a lot of coordination. I’m proud to say that we’ve brought on Courtney Dietz as our communications chair and Danielle Siano as our Quick Release graphic designer. This issue of the QR—in previous years exceptionally well published by our president emeritus, Ralph Fertig—wouldn’t be before you without the guidance, perseverance, and can-do spirit of our new QR editor, Holly Starley.
Staff
Ed France Executive Director Christine Bourgeois Education Coordinator
Mariangélica Duque
My first day living in Santa Barbara, I headed out in search of food and friends. The number of bikes on the road downtown was astounding, and like a cat after a string, I trailed them to De La Guerra Plaza. I saw bikes everywhere! The stage was nearly set. I wandered over, and someone offered me food, drink, and promises of cyclists modeling fashion wear atop their rides. This May will be my third CycleMania, and I will return to the plaza for another bike fashion show. I have, since my first introduction to the Santa Barbara bicycling community, been overwhelmed by this group’s zest, not just for cycling, but for providing for the safety, accessibility of resources, and enjoyment of a diverse community of cyclists; for advocating for sustainable changes toward green and collaborative lifestyles; and for giving without asking anything in return. From enrolling in an affordable “Learn Your Bike” course to joining on an icy but warm ride to distribute gloves, scarves, and other warm stuff to the homeless this winter to watching a group of excited bike mechanics fix up kids bikes for holiday giveaways to reading the stories in this QR issue, I’m continually impressed. I am thrilled to take on this new endeavor as QR editor. And I’m not at all surprised by the competence, willingness, and openness of the people I’ve had the opportunity to work with as a result. My many thanks to the on-point contributors, to everyone who’s answered my questions with smiles, and to the talented new graphic designer. Neither am I surprised with the content. The stories in this issue illustrate exactly what I’ve fallen in love with in this community—its commitment to volunteerism, inclusion, and living aware. I find myself inspired. With gratitude,
Karen Blakeman Interim Shop Manager Govt. Liaisons & Advisors
Matt Dobberteen, Advisor 568-3576 Sarah Grant, Liaison 897-2669 Kent Epperson, Advisor 961-8917 Ralph Fertig, President Emeritus 962-1479 Gr aphic Design
Danielle Siano www.daniellesiano.com Editor
Holly Starley Contact Us
601 E. Montecito St. Santa Barbara, CA 93103 PO Box 92047 Santa Barbara, CA 93190 www.sbbike.org (805) 617-3255 Contribute
Your time: www.bicicentro.org/volunteer
Holly M. Starley, QR Editor
Cover photo by Christine Bourgeois
Naptime isn’t just for the minivan anymore. This youngster naps in a Bakfiets—“bike box”—during Earth Day 2011.
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In-kind: www.bicicentro.org/wishlist Financially: www.bicicentro.org/donate
Get VIP Treatment at Bike World 601 E. Montecito St. Santa Barbara (805) 617-3255
Join a committee! The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition’s committees meet monthly www.bicicentro.org/commitees
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ike to the park and receive VIP treatment—courtesy of the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition. Bike as a group and have a group photo taken on the Bike World Stage! The biggest group of riders for the weekend—however you choose to organize yourselves—will win $250 to give to the charity of your choice. Enjoy free valet bike parking near the corner of Anacapa and Micheltorena Streets. No lock, no problem! Your bike and gear are secure, thanks to the Bike Coalition and CycleMAYnia crew. Check out the pedal-powered stage! Need some extra time on the bike? Help power the fossil-free PA system of the Bike World Stage. Come enjoy a diverse mix of presentations, such as Fit your Bike, Fix a flat, Bike Touring Tips, and more. Receive prizes for riding your bike. Come by Bike World and enter to win biking goodies, including a set of bike racks from Old Man Mountain! Do some DIY bike repair. Tune up your trusty steed with help from our skilled volunteers. Bici Centro will operate its DIY bike repair shop in Bike World both Saturday and Sunday, with assistance from REI’s bike techs and Santa Barbara Middle School Bike Monkeys. Santa Barbara’s 2012 Earth Day Festival will be held on April 21 and 22 at Alameda Park.
Bici Centro Shop Manage our open shop, bicycle recycling, & education center facility concerns Education Implement our after-school & summer programs for youth & mechanic & street skills classes for adults Events Participate at the planning home of CycleMAYnia, bike valet, & any public or member-only event of the coalition
Communications & Memberships Weigh in on membership growth & concerns, & community communications through our Web site, Newsletter, & Facebook Advocacy Steer our campaigns (currently completing the bikeway network & bike parking) Spanish Language Outreach Oversee & implement efforts to engage the Spanish-speaking cyclist community
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition and Bici Centro would like to thank all our supporters and business members!
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The Central Coast Delegation (including San Luis Obispo). Pictured from left are Dan Riviore, Leslie Bloom, Ed France, Lauren Kernochan, Chris Orr, and Tim Burgess. The entire California Delegation
Santa Barbarians Storm DC
SB BIKE and SBMTV FIND Hope in Washington
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our Santa Barbarians descended on our nation’s capital to make our voices heard this March. The Senate had just passed the Transportation Bill—which provides all federal roadway dollars, including the modicum of funding directed toward bike/ped and trail projects. It was up for a crucial vote in the House of Representatives. The house balked and instead, passed a 90-day extension. Over 800 bike advocates from around the nation attended to share our support for cycling. With our collective presence, we demonstrated that federal support for bike and pedestrian infrastructure is a necessity. It wasn’t just the lobbying that was important. The Bicycle Coalition sent Tim Burgess, advocacy chair, and Ed France, our lead staff, to attend workshops from cities throughout our country on building diverse cycling constituencies and creating bike programs in our communities. The Santa Barbara Mountain Bike Trail Volunteers (SBMTV) sent Lauren Kernochan and Chris Orr, to lobby for trails. They were also there to meet with IMBA—the International Mountain Biking Organization—representatives from throughout the country. And by the way, SBMTV is now a nationally recognized IMBA chapter! For the non-mountain biking cycling community, this summit was also very significant. Our coalition delegates were solicited for
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input on a pending merger of the League of American Bicyclists, Bikes Belong, and the Alliance for Biking and Walking. Wow. One powerhouse national bicycling organization? This is a historic move for cycling. At the conference, we analyzed an exciting major national trend. All across the country, more and more bike share programs are cropping up. Denver, Colorado, and DC have led the way with their three-year old programs, both of which are exceeding expectations with very high usage rates. New York, we learned, is about to “drop” 10,000 bikes onto the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn, launching the biggest and most carefully developed bike share program yet. The reason bike share is so exciting is that potential increases in cycling rates are greater than we’ve ever seen. The only thing that tops learning that more people are cycling is learning that fears about increased bike use have proved unfounded. Some had expressed concerns that inexperienced cyclists would cause crashes or that lots of bike theft would occur. Instead, motorists are behaving more carefully. Incident ratings are so low that insurance rates are dropping. And bike theft is virtually nonexistent for the programs. Biking is increasing and cyclists are becoming safer. Now that’s reason for hope.
Bikeway Network
Signage By Ed France
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s a UCSB student years ago, I found myself cycling in Goleta near the Magnolia Center. I was lost and weary of cycling back down the gauntlet of Hollister. Lo and behold, I spied a bike route sign leading into a residential neighborhood. I turned past an overgrown corner and ran into a cul-de-sac. There it was—the Maria Ignacia Route! I had discovered a new bike path! I had, in my own mind, opened a whole swath of Goleta as newly accessible. This was my introduction to the Bikeway Signage Network. The Southern Santa Barbara County Regional Bikeway Signage Program started back in 1996. The effort was a multijurisdictional (read multiple cities and the county) effort to effectively map the “network” of bicycle routes and, better still, to post signs helping riders find them. The effort produced a standardized signage, noted sign installation locations, and coordinated what many of us now take for granted in our marked bikeway network. Traffic Solutions’ ever popular Bike Map illustrates this network, which includes partially separated bike routes (class 1), partially on-street bike lanes (class 2), and partially unmarked suggested routes on low-speed streets (class 3). In national surveys, up to 20 percent of Americans are interested in bicycling to work and would do so if safe routes and adequate bike parking were provided. Indeed, for many cyclists, finding a bike route is as important as finding a bus route would be for a transit user. While cyclists can legally ride anywhere except for urban sections of the 101, most potential riders (and this writer) prefer calmer, safer marked routes. The need for a well-defined, easy-to-use network is obvious.
Map designating bike routes in Santa Barbara County.
But not all is well in the South Coast Bikeway Network. Signage has not been updated for nearly twenty years. Changes in roadways and bike paths haven’t been marked as they have been paved or striped. Many signs have been hit or have mysteriously disappeared, and some that were needed were never placed in the first place. Moreover, our network has gaps, some of which are significant. When new cyclists reach hazardous sections of a bike route, the value of the whole section disappears. While a recreational bicyclist may turn back when a route ends, utilitarian cyclists—those who have a destination they are trying to reach— may instead opt not to bicycle for that trip. In reality, our Bikeway Network is simply a collection of disparate projects linked together with a hope and a prayer—and a map and some street signs. The Bicycle Coalition is exactly the organization that can work across city boundaries to help revamp our bikeway network. We have obtained the infrastructure map from 1997 that shows where signposts were designated. Our goal is to organize our members in a few group rides spanning the network. We will document missing signs, as well as signs that need to be updated. We will coordinate with our counterparts in local government so that we can update the signs at minimal cost. “Sprucing up” the Bikeway Network will make our community that much more bicycle friendly—for new cyclists and for tourists, not to mention for those of us riding through a new part of town. More strategically, our rider volunteers will help us highlight hazards and disconnects in our bike routes. Our advocacy committee will use this data, along with our survey data, to lobby for the most
important projects to warrant Measure A funding. With your help, we will steadily improve our Bicycle Network, complete the gaps, and make bicycling safer and more convenient for everyone. Our Bikeway Network Signage ride is on the calendar for Saturday, June 2. Riders will meet at Bici Centro at noon. We will organize four groups of rides approximately 25 miles each. To get involved, join us for the ride! Volunteer riders will meet at Bici Centro, 601 East Montecito Street, at noon. Please register at www.sbbike.org.
What Bikeway Signs Are By Tim Burgess
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he other day I noticed a neighborhood child jumping his bike on a homemade launch ramp. As I got closer, I realized the ramp was made in part from a “Foothill Route” sign from the Santa Barbara County South Coast Bikeway Network. Similar to street and freeway signs, bikeway signs serve as a navigational aid to people traveling through the network. They identify different routes and show important directional and distance information at route intersections. Bikeway signs are often the only signs providing this information. The Pacific Coast Bike Route and the South Coast’s allure brings many cyclo-tourists passing through the area. So the signage is important to local residents, as well as to visitors to the Santa Barbara South Coast. w w w.bicicentro.org
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Left: SBBC board member, Carmen Lozano, talks to participants at Green @ Your Library about programs at Bici Centro. Christine Bourgeois
Below: Santa Barbara Councilwoman Cathy Murillo congratulates Marivel Zambrano-Esparza, Eastside Library Supervisor on the library’s beautifully redone and water-wise patio areas. Cathy is delighted that the library is open again on Mondays from 1:30 – 5:30 p.m., and when she has time, she hopes to enjoy her lunch break on the peaceful patio. Christine Bourgeois
SBBC for a Green Today By Carmen Lozano
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ne may wonder—what are Bici Centro, Less Is More, and Habitat for Humanity doing at a library? At first glance, these agencies are all local nonprofits, but looking deeper, we see that these organizations share the core focus of community empowerment through sustainable, “green” work. These agencies’ goal is to be local leaders in advancing conservation and sustainability in a clear, user-friendly, and community-centered approach. The Santa Barbara Bike Coalition, through Bici Centro and the Spanish Language Outreach Community (SLOC), embodies a whole lot of green by focusing on sustainable, reusable, recyclable, and interpersonal bilingual work. So it was a no-brainer that we were invited to be a main entree in a new initiative led by the Santa Barbara Public Library System in the series, Green @ Your Library. This programming will take place during the months of March and April in all the major branches of the library: Goleta, Eastside, Central Library, and Carpinteria. See more on the library system’s Web site (www.sbplibrary.org/pdfs/events/03-12-2012_ Green-Poster.pdf ). I participated in the series with the SLOC crew on March 3 at the Eastside Library and felt the energy and passion that our local libraries are putting into this effort. Their goal was to show the library as a community center, a place where we all can learn together. After all, what other than a library better embodies the “reuse-recycle” tenet at its core? The key for me was seeing the library bringing together groups collaboratively to engage patrons, staff, and the participating agencies—showing them how sustain-
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able work can become part of everyday practice to enhance our collective impact. At this particular event, I was glad to see how popular the enhanced Bike Mobile has become, as it translates mobility into repairs and education on location. And of course, what would a public event be without local dignitaries? Well, to our luck, during our time at the Eastside Library, we had a little time for advocacy. Our group had the opportunity to talk directly with Councilwoman Kathy Murillo and inform her about the challenges and needs that Spanish-speaking bicyclists face in our city. We see in her a strong supporter; her response was encouraging, as she believes that SBBC is bringing forward change in an innovative way and working hand in hand with the community that most needs us. If you’ve read this far, you think that this is all good, right? Well, it only gets better. For me, the icing on the cake was the following interaction. While we were outside the library, tending our table and showing how our Bike Mobile works, a homeless man quietly read and watched us work. When we were getting ready to leave at the end of the event, he approached us and thanked us for our work. He pulled a single dollar out of his pocket and said to us, “This is the only money I have, but I want to donate it to your work. I really believe in what you are trying to do, helping people in need be independent by helping them fix their bikes. Thank you for your work.” I personally was shaken to the bone and speechless. I’m sure the other volunteers were too.
Left: Pete Chaconas thanks everyone from SBici Centro as he accepts his award. To his right, Bici Education coordinator Christine Bourgeois watches with pride. Ed France
Right: The Santa Barbara Youth Council. On the left is Second District Supervisor, Janet Wolf, KIDS Network Chair. Christine Bourgeois
Youth Impact Awards
Young Bike Ambassador Honored By Christine Bourgeois
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very year, the KIDS Network—a countywide umbrella organization including members from public agencies, the courts, law enforcement, education, communitybased organizations, school-linked programs, and parent groups—honors young people for their contributions to the community. The annual Youth Impact Awards celebrate youth who have made a significant, positive impact on their communities in Santa Barbara County. When I heard about the opportunity to nominate, I asked for suggestions from members of the SBBC Education Committee. We all agreed that one student from our biking community stood out. His name is Pete Chaconas. This senior at Santa Barbara High School is the Walk and Roll coordinator for the Dons Net Café, a social entrepreneurship program. As a “bike ambassador” on campus, Pete promotes affordable and sustainable transportation to youth. He spreads the word about the
campus’s weekly do-it-yourself community bike shop, SBici Centro (open every Thursday from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m.). He conducts surveys on campus, attends a monthly bike education meeting, and uses a variety of media to educate the community on the benefits of riding a bike to get around scenic Santa Barbara. Pete was also the main organizer of a welcoming event for Sara Salo on her School Food Bike Tour, a more than 5,000 mile ride to promote healthy eating and cycling. Because of Pete’s outreach and encouragement, several students—not all bikers— are now regulars at SBici, learning new skills, fixing bikes, and beginning to ride. A couple of weeks ago, Pete’s friend, Miguel Palacios, who has been a dedicated volunteer since the first day of school, built a bike for himself. He didn’t have one before. The smile on his face was priceless! The Santa Barbara Independent featured both Pete and Miguel in “Bike Shop High” in its November 22,
2011, edition (www.independent.com/ news/2011/nov/22/bike-shop-high/). I am proud of the hard work of the SBici crew and was thrilled to receive a letter informing me that the selection committee had chosen Pete as one of the recipients of the Santa Barbara County 2011 Youth Impact Awards. On February 29, Pete and other winners were honored at a celebration at the Santa Barbara County Education Office auditorium. Second District Supervisor Janet Wolf, KIDS Network Chair, gave the opening remarks. Certificates were presented on behalf of Congresswoman Lois Capps, California State Assembly member Das Williams, California State Senator Tony Strickland, Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal, and KIDS Network of Santa Barbara. I am looking forward to the next big celebration—the first national Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 9, 2012. SBici Centro has plans to surprise us with a huge event at SBHS … w w w.bicicentro.org
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Left: This Pedal Power class poses for a quick photo at Santa Barbara Junior High before taking off on a ride. Volunteer Joanna Kaufman is shown in back center. Christine Bourgeois
Below: Installing a bottle cage. Christine Bourgeois
Biking with Kids
The Power of the Pedal and Volunteerism By Joanna Kaufman
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olunteering for Pedal Power—the SBBC-sponsored bicycle safety skills course for middle school-aged kids—has served as one of my most rewarding experiences in years. This program empowers local children by teaching them how to ride a bicycle safely; gives them an opportunity to earn a bicycle and to engage positively with community members; and, most importantly, lets kids have fun. Some of the children in the program were new to bicycle riding. The ability to ride a bicycle gives these kids, many of whom come from economically marginalized communities, good transportation access. Not only are they participating in an activity that is good for their physical health and their environment, they benefit by having a reliable way to get where they need to go. My participation in Pedal Power not only allowed me to contribute to the community, it definitely gave me a lot personally. I didn’t know what I was getting into on my first day. Although I have been a bicycle advocate for years, my experience in bicycle education is very limited. Additionally, I am intimidated by children. What I did know is that I suddenly had a lot of extra time in my life that I needed to be utilizing more productively. Scores of research states that volunteerism and civic engagement
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in our country has been in decline. An on-and-off resident of Santa Barbara for the past seven years, I was motivated to give back to the community that has given so much to me. I learned that kids are awesome and that anyone (myself included) has an inner teacher. Even the wildest child gains focus and listens when riding a bike. My intimidation was truly unwarranted. Another great outcome was watching so many community members—from mountain bikers to City College students to business owners—come together to encourage bicycling in Santa Barbara. At every class, the kids were excited to get their bikes unlocked and ride with the adults. Little did they know how excited I was to get to ride with them! Another insight I gained was getting to experience the Santa Barbara bicycle network from a child’s perspective. Santa Barbara is a great cycling community, but there are definitely infrastructure gaps that may make riding difficult and, at times, dangerous for youth. This is why programs like Pedal Power are great. Children learn how to ride predictively, to defend themselves in places where the infrastructure may not be the best suited for a bicycle. I encourage my fellow cyclists to trump the trends of American disinvolvement and volunteer for Pedal Power if they have some free time to spare.
For Kids
Spring Pedal Power Program Schedule Pedal Power participants ages 10+ will receive 18 hours of “driver education” on a bicycle. Four schools will host programs this month. •
Fesler Junior High School in Santa Maria (starting Wednesday, April 18)
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Carpinteria Middle School (starting Wednesday, April 18)
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Santa Barbara Junior High (starting Wednesday, April 25)
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Goleta Valley Junior High (starting Wednesday, April 25)
These classes will begin just in time for the first National Bike to School Day on Wednesday, May 9! To learn more, visit www.bicicentro.org/youth.
For everyone
Spring Opportunities With daylight saving time and spring’s warmer weather, more children are cycling to school and more commuters are riding to work. In response, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition has scheduled youth and adult classes at different locations throughout Santa Barbara County. •
For participants (ages 10+), the popular Pedal Power program will be hosted at five schools this month. For complete details, see “Spring Pedal Power Program Schedule,” page 8.
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In June, a Cycling Camp for incoming seventh graders will be offered at two locations from June 11–15 (9:00–12:00 p.m.). For more information on this opportunity, visit www.bicicentro.org/youth.
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Interested in riding to Earth Day but not sure how to fix a flat?
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Sign up for a Get Your Bike Ready to Ride clinic held at Bici Centro on Thursday, July 12 (7:00–9:00 p.m.).
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To hone your bike skills, start commuting in May and participate in many CycleMAYnia events. Don’t miss the new Bike Commuter Boot Camp on Saturday, April 28.
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Improve your bike mechanics skills by attending the popular eight-week series “Learn Your Bike.” The first day will be on Tuesday, May 8, and classes will be held weekly from 7:00–9:00 p.m.
For more information, check out www.bicicentro.org/adultclass. Have questions or suggestions for bike education? Call Christine at (805) 699-6301 or send an e-mail to edu@sbbike.org.
I Find Amnesty In The Soup By Cameron Brick I find amnesty in the soup among the sad, curved beans ragged beards line up holding bowls with both hands I uncover pardon behind the lath ripping out boards coughing through the dust one home at a time I glimpse myself in a ball bearing pack grease into the hub stumble over this man’s flowing language and teach him how to fish. This is the ought me, the sought me. But in the best times I forget the wrench my tooth bites down metallic tang fills my mouth work fits like a kid glove no distance between now and ought and no privilege left to forgive.
Want to promote yourself here? Show the Santa Barbara Biking community what you’ve got going on. To flaunt your stuff in the summer issue of the Quick Release, contact Ed France at (805) 617-3255, ed@sbbike.org.
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More mobile wrenching at César Chávez Day.
Fixing bikes on the go with the Bici Bike Mobile. Lynette Arnold
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition Honors Cesar Chavez’s Day “Talk is cheap… It is the way we organize and use our lives every day that tells what we believe in.” —César Chávez
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n Saturday, March 30, our community, elected officials, and local nonprofits gathered at the Westside Boys and Girls Club to celebrate César Chávez Day. The volunteers of Bici Centro’s Spanish Language Outreach Committee (SLOC) actively participated in this wonderful, community-building opportunity. Armed with wrench and levers; flyers and brochures; and warm, inviting smiles, the SLOC crew tabled the event and provided hands-on education and bicycle repairs. Volunteers talked to community members about bicycling options in Santa Barbara, offered bike maps, explained safe routes, and promoted the resources offered by Bici Centro.
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In addition, the SLOC bilingual and bicultural volunteers took this opportunity to seek community input and continue seeking community input about how the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition can serve the Latino bicyclist community. The event was a great success, and the team was proud and happy to take part. In a way, it was the perfect link to show our continued commitment to this community, since SLOC volunteers spread the word about Westside Mobile Bike Shop/Taller Móbil. From March through October on the last Saturday of the month (12:00 – 3:00 p.m.), the Bici Móbil rolls into Bohnett Park, located at San Andres and Victoria Streets. There, it provides low-cost repairs and free educational resources to local residents—making a difference, one bicycle at a time.
Lynette Arnold
Left: César Chávez Day at the Westside Boys and Girls Club. Ana Valencia
Right: Lynette Arnold and Carmen Lozano woman the booth. Ana Valencia
Bikeway Network Signage Ride June 2 On June 2, riders will swarm the south coast bike routes, on a mission to update signs, making cycling safer and more convenient. Goals for this ride and beyond include: • Compiling a list of signs that are missing or need to be updated • Noting any safety hazards or disconnects along the route • Using this data to determine the most important projects • Lobbying for and receiving Measure A funding to get these projects under way Get involved. Join us for the ride! Volunteer riders meet at Bici Centro, 601 East Montecito Street, at noon. Please register at www.sbbike.org.
Three Little Words: Share the Road Column by
Howard Booth
Howard Booth has worked in education, the arts, and business for over thirty years. He is often seen biking around Santa Barbara every day for errands, meetings, and pleasure and is also a Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition board member.
A marriage counselor once told me to think about differences with your spouse or partner by quietly saying to yourself at stressful moments, “The ways in which you make me crazy, make us whole.” I’m trying to keep those words in mind as I follow the recent online conversations between motorists and cyclists. Erika Lindemann’s recent Pedal On column received over 25 reader comments. Many were strongly assertive of either bikers’ or motorists’ rights. Moral battle lines were clearly drawn. Some readers were disparaging of cyclists. This type of polarization follows any article about a carbike accident, bad road behavior, or where cyclists should ride. I want to move today from a discussion of where adult cyclists should ride to a look at why vehicular coexistence is difficult and, especially, how we can all make it easier. Three little words might be the key. I’m not talking about I love you or even please and thank you. I’m talking about Share the road. Drivers and cyclists both want to get from point A to B as quickly, efficiently, and safely as possible. We have to do that on mixed-usage streets, where cars, bikes, trucks, motorcycles and scooters all share the same road. In our daily rushing around, we are losing the ability to share, something most of us learned in preschool. I learned during my years running an early childhood center that it is very difficult for two-year-olds to share anything. Doesn’t matter what it is—a toy,
a lap at story time, the biggest cookie, or being first in line to go to the gym—they want it to themselves. By the time they turn three, 12 short months (but a third of their lives) later, they have learned to take turns, to share, that not everything is mine. The soon-to-be-completed Cliff Drive lane re-striping project will add bike lanes between Meigs and Loma Alta Streets. It is a perfect example of smart, forwardthinking urban and transportation planning that improves the road for everyone. Yes, it’s possible that average commute times for motorists might increase by a few seconds. Count to yourself, one Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi… How many text messages, e-mails or Facebook friends will you miss? Sharing, as young children learn sometimes, involves small sacrifices. I don’t know about you, but I’d happily give up those seconds for a safer route to home, school, or work. We’re not going to stop traveling the same roads. The number of cyclists in Santa Barbara is growing. Data from the most recent census shows that, since 2000, local bike commuting has grown from 3 percent to 5 percent. Los Angeles, over the past three years, has seen a 48 percent increase in the number of cyclists. Nationally, bike trips over the past 20 years have grown from 1.7 billion a year to four billion a year. They have tripled since 1977. Sadly, as riders have increased, so have conflicts between cyclists, motorists, and pedestrians
If you’ve ever been to Southeastern Pennsylvania, you’ve seen the large Amish population navigating the narrow, winding country roads in horseand-buggies. Accidents happen occasionally; tempers flare. But I don’t think many drivers pass the Amish and curse them, complain that they are self-centered and selfish, or wish that they drove on the sidewalks (if they exist). Motor vehicles and horses share the road. And yes, occasionally even buggy drivers receive reckless driving citations. (Some of the offenders are even caught drag racing down rural roads on the way to church! Impetuous youth are found everywhere.) Los Angeles City Council recently passed a pioneering law to protect local cyclists from harassment by drivers. The ordinance makes it a crime for drivers to threaten cyclists verbally or physically and allows victims of harassment to sue in civil court without waiting for the city to press criminal charges. At the state level, legislators are considering a law that would require drivers to give cyclists at least three feet of space while passing. Senate Bill 910 is cosponsored by the city of Los Angeles, and it has won the support of regional politicians who recently launched a “Give Me Three!” safety campaign. These are all good steps if you believe that laws or legislation change behavior. More wise words from that same therapist I quoted earlier: “You can give people skills and knowledge, but
you can’t change personality.” I may be wrong but I believe that aggressive drivers or show-off cyclists won’t necessarily change their personalities because of the threat of a lawsuit or a safety campaign. Roadies in packs on weekend rides or youthful fixie riders will still want to strut like this Porltandia rider! Motorists in souped-up sports cars will still drive fast and aggressively. Young buggy drivers will want to drag race to impress their sweethearts. Sharing dolls and trucks as a three-year-old or the road as an adult makes the world a better place. We should and must design livable streets and roads that encourage safe behavior by all users. A road with bikers, cars, scooters, trucks and motorcycles is a complex transportation system. That system should have rules and laws that encourage positive behaviors. I always love the assuredness of those adults who, in dealing with complex problems, see the world as black or white. I labor each day to make decisions in a world of June gloom. Sharing is not black or white; it involves the nuanced shades of social responsibility. As a motorist you must pay attention to the bicyclist on your right and the kid on the skateboard and the delivery truck that might stop at any moment. Oh, was that my cell phone ringing? It’s not even gray; it’s complexity shaded with 10 mega-pixels of every color in the rainbow. Sharing the road will always be difficult. But if preschoolers can share their toys, we adults can share the road. w w w.bicicentro.org
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Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition PO Box 92047 Santa Barbara, CA 93190-2047
Good clean fun.
A little something for everyone.