Advocates run for public office
Bob Smith, Bike Bakersfield founder

With barely six weeks to go before the November election, voters in two California cities will have a unique choice. 

 

They may just elect Micah Posner, former executive director of People Power, the local bike advocacy organization in Santa Cruz, and Bob Smith, founder of Bike Bakersfield, to city council seats in their respective cities. Read more...

SEPTEMBER 2012
Advocates run for public office
No word on 3-foot bill
Better bikeway designs
Around the state
Achieving equity on two wheels
Lowenthal runs for Congress
Calendar

JOIN OUR MAILING LIST

Like us on Facebook  Follow us on Twitter

Help us plan for the future!

 

CalBike is developing a strategic plan that will guide our work for the next five years, and we need your opinion

 

The climate has changed a great deal since CalBike was founded in 1996 -- literally and figuratively. How should we respond? What should our priorities be? We have revised our mission statement and proposed a new set of goals, objectives, and tactics. 

 

Please review our proposals and give us your thoughts and advice in our survey. It should take less than 15 minutes. Your input is critical to the success of our work to transform California. Thanks!


IN THE STATE CAPITAL
 
No word yet from the Governor on 3-foot passing bill

3-foot passing poster The wait for Gov. Jerry Brown to act on our three-foot passing bill is coming down to the wire. Brown has until this Sunday to act on all legislation remaining on his desk, including Senate Bill 1464. We remain confident he'll make good on his statements last year expressing support for a minimum passing distance for cars passing bicyclists (even if he did veto last year's 3-foot passing bill).

 

We're told that Brown reads all the supporting documentation that accompanies each bill. If he chooses, he could read letters urging him to sign the bill from dozens of local bike advocacy groups, cycling clubs, other nonprofit allies, and businesses, as well as more than 1,300 individuals who tell about being hit by passing drivers, losing loved ones and friends, being scared by near-misses, and wanting safer streets. These are powerful stories that shouldn't be ignored. Many thanks to everyone who sent in a message!

 

As soon as we hear more, we'll post it on our homepage and Facebook page, and also our Twitter feed. Stand by!

 

Meanwhile, we're already looking ahead to working for full implementation of SB 1464. You can help support our efforts with a generous donation to our Give Me 3 campaign.

Bikeway standards bill also awaits Brown's signature

 

Our other big safety bill from this legislative session, Assembly Bill 819, also awaits the Governor's signature. 

 

Gaining approval for protected bikeways, and other facilities that attract more people to bicycling, is a top priority of CalBike. We need to build bikeways for the 99%, not the 1% who currently bike in most U.S. cities. AB 819, authored by Assemblymember Bob Wieckowski, moves us in the right direction by calling for Caltrans to develop an experimentation process to evaluate new bikeways designs.

 

Right now, we are working closely with Caltrans' design team to develop a process that is so easy that local agencies are encouraged to build these new facilities yet is also effective in providing Caltrans the data it needs to develop standards for such facilities in future manuals. 

AROUND THE STATE  
 
EUREKA:Thanks to popular bike safety classes by two teachers, Alice Birney Elementary School in Eureka has been named a California Safe Routes to School "Success Story." The after-school program offered by teachers Brad Albee and Melanie Williams, who are also certified bike safety instructors, has been credited with helping reduce the annual number of bike crashes in the neighborhood from 21 to seven over the past three years.
 
SONOMA COUNTY: In the wake of a vicious vehicular assault against bicyclist in the Sonoma County community of Oakmont, the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition has urged the county and each of its nine cities to adopt bicyclist anti-harassment ordinances. Read more...
 
SALINAS: Salinas High School may just be the first Monterey County school to install a self-service bike maintenance station on its campus. Sponsored by the school's newly organized mountain biking team, the station includes a workstand, floor pump and other basic equipment for fixing bikes.

LOS ANGELES: This past month, the Bikeways Department for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation announced approval of their experiment with highlighted sharrows. Also called greenback sharrows, these pavement markings have a square of green paint around the sharrow, contrasting with the street's pavement and increasing its visibility to drivers and bicyclists alike. Read more...
 

SAN DIEGO: The nation's largest bicycle-friendly business district initiative kicked off in San Diego this month with the unveiling of San Diego's first bike corral. The initiative was launched by the San Diego Business Improvement Council and San Diego County Bicycle Coalition and comprises seven business improvement districts around San Diego. 

NATIONAL SCENE
 
alexis lantz
Alexis Lantz, CalBike board of directors
Achieving equity on two wheels

This month I had the life-affirming experience of attending the first ever National Women's Bicycling Summit in Long Beach. 

Organized by the League of American Bicyclists and the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals, the summit brought together more than 275 women (and sadly, not nearly enough men -- CalBike's Dave Snyder was among the few) from around the country to share their stories, successes, and struggles in an effort to increase the number of women who bicycle and take on leadership roles in the bicycling movement. Read more...
PEOPLE 
 
Bike champion Lowenthal runs for Congress
Sen. Alan Lowenthal

We're excited to see what Sen. Alan Lowenthal of Long Beach, and author of our three-foot passing bill, can accomplish in Congress. The former chair of the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee at the State Capitol, Lowenthal coasted to the top spot in the June primary election in the 47th Congressional District, polling well ahead of his nearest challenger for a place in the November run-off.

A Lowenthal victory in November means bicycling will have another strong defender in Washington, D.C. as Congress begins debating the successor to the two-year federal transportation bill enacted this spring. The current law is a disaster for bicycling and walking in the U.S. We're confident Lowenthal's skill and experience will provide invaluable as Congress works on producing a better law.
CALENDAR 

CicLAvia 

Oct. 7, 2012

Los Angeles  

 

The state's biggest open streets event presents with a new vision of public streets as truly public places. More than 100,000 participants are expected to bike, walk, run, dance and play along nearly 10 miles of Los Angeles streets temporarily closed to motor vehicles. Learn more....

 

Looking for an interesting ride or other bike-related event? Check out our website to see what's happening throughout California. 

 
WE'RE GRATEFUL FOR MAJOR SUPPORT FROM THESE SPONSORS
logo of Bikes Belonglogo of SRAMlogo of Shimanotrek logo