December
2008

Measure A soars with 79% approval

• In spite of challenging economic times and a number of competing bond measures on our November 4th ballot, voters in Santa Barbara county overwhelmingly approved Measure A, a continuation of our county’s existing Measure D half-cent transportation tax passed 19 years ago. In the North County, 75% of the voters approved the measure; in the South County, it was 82%. Out of 56 similar county tax measures put to California voters, our 79% was surpassed by only three others.
• What’s important for people who bicycle is that, unlike the old Measure D, the new measure dedicates multiple slices of the revenue pie to bicycling-related activities.
• Throughout the county, there will be Safe Routes to School funding that can be used for walking and biking facilities, or education. And Traffic Solutions funding will also serve programs countywide to promote non-drive-alone travel. Both North and South county have 50% plus portions of the funding for local street maintenance that will give bicyclists smoother rides.
• The South County additionally has 2% of the revenue going to bicyclist and pedestrian projects. Guaranteed funding of MTD service provides buses with bike racks for longer trips, stormy weather, and emergencies. Upcoming South Coast commuter rail will presumably include bike and rail multi-mode commuting. Finally, at least 10% of the South Coast local transportation funds will go to alternatives like bicycling.
• Early in 2008, our Bicycle Coalition Board of Directors unanimously voted to endorse the measure. We thank our VP Wilson Hubbell who was a member on the South Coast Subregional Committee that helped craft one of the two balanced programs that offer something for everybody.
• The measure will cost Santa Barbara County residents about $15 a month, but might leverage 50% more in state and federal transportation dollars that we would otherwise not attract. The measure will take effect in April 2010 when the current measure expires. Our gratitude goes to all who voted for the measure, and especially those who dedicated extra time to assure its passage.

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Lights and bells given out by Bicycle Coalition



Ed France installs a rear LED light on a local resident’s bike during the November 17th event. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• An organized giveaway of bicycle rear lights and bike bells took place over early evening hours on November 17th. The bells and lights were purchased with funding from the Goleta Valley Cycling Club, with the intent of increasing the safety of those who depend on bicycling for transportation. Business was brisk and the volunteer crew gave out and installed 170 red LED lights, plus a large number of bells, within two hours.
• The giveaway took place in downtown Santa Barbara at the intersection of State and Anapamu Streets. That’s the second busiest in terms of evening rush hour bicyclists—about 160 an hour—out of 28 intersections where we have counted bicyclists since 1997.
• Thanks to the volunteers who are already planning a follow-up light/bell distribution.

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Goleta distributes helmets to children

• The City of Goleta has teamed up with Kiwanis International to provide low-cost or free helmets for kids on bikes, skateboards, scooters or skates. The “Helmets for Safety” program is open to Goleta children. A donation of $10 is requested, but nobody will be turned down if they are unable to pay.
• Goleta Councilmember Roger Aceves commented, “As a former police officer, I have seen first hand what can happen when children don’t wear helmets. These injuries are preventable.”
• The helmets are being distributed at City Hall and the Police Substation at Camino Real Marketplace. However, phone first 961-7508 to ensure that somebody will be available to properly fit the helmet to your child.

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Tea Fire aftermath
by Ralph Fertig

• The Tea Fire dealt a devastating blow to Santa Barbara and Montecito. We live in wildfire-prone country, and are periodically subjected to tragic fires.
• As far as I can ascertain, one family that is a continuing supporter of our Bicycle Coalition, Mark and Shira Musicant, lost their home on Mountain Drive. Our sympathy goes out to them.
• My own home on Sycamore Canyon Road that many of you have visited was nearly lost; the hillside above me was incinerated, and the fire burned within 30 feet of my house. I was just returning from a two-week vacation in Turkey the night of the fire, and it was two days of evacuation before I knew whether of not the house was still there.
• As this is being written, eight days after the fire, my Internet connection is still dead. I apologize for not reading or answering emails for three weeks now. In crafting this issue of Quick Release, I realize how dependent I am on the Internet for information. (I may be the only owner of a laptop who hasn’t configured it for wifi reception.) Finally, I appreciate those who phoned me, concerned with my well being. Life goes on.

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Coalition asks for safety on UCSB’s Ocean Road



This architect’s rendering, looking northwest, suggests what the Ocean Road project might look like after construction.

• The University of California Santa Barbara has released an Initial Study of proposed housing along Ocean Road, and its potential impacts on environmental issues. This is in anticipation of a draft version of the required Environmental Impact Report (EIR). The project will effect campus bicyclists in major ways:
• The Pardall and Student Health Building bike tunnels under Ocean Road will be removed.
• Bicyclists will directly enter Ocean Road from all 12 Isla Vista streets.
• Bikelanes will be striped on Ocean Road.
• Two new parking garages will be constructed along Ocean Road, increasing car parking and motorized traffic.
• In addition to the seven-level parking garages, there will be 543 new housing units for faculty, staff and graduate students, plus academic and commercial space in the 16 new buildings. The eucalyptus windrow along Isla Vista will be removed.
• After reading the Initial Study, we sent a letter on November 19th to campus planner Alissa Hummer, expressing a number of concerns:
• The Initial Study considers only convenience of motorized traffic on Ocean Road. We’re certain that the primary users of the road will be bicyclists and pedestrians, and their numbers should be estimated in the required California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) process, and their convenience given priority because they are the individuals who provide sustainable transportation.
• Consider a CEQA alternative that makes motorists “invited guests” on the roadway, moving at the speed of bicyclists, making pedestrians and bicyclists the preferred users. England, Germany and the Netherlands have successfully implemented such “streets for living.”
• The Initial Study considers turns in the roadway an undesirable hazard to motorists, however winding roads and other traffic calming measures are precisely what can protect pedestrians and bicyclists from conflicts with motorists. Arrow-straight roads provide nice vistas, but they promote motorist speeding.
• Because nearly all of the pedestrians and bicyclists entering Ocean Road will not travel directly across it, the bike/ped traffic along the Road will be high, with many left and right turns onto campus paths, sidewalks, and IV streets. These turning movements should be considered in the EIR because individual safety is at risk.
• Consider mitigation measures like car sharing, bicycle sharing (like the Paris Vélib program), and parking-space fees separate from housing rental charges.
• There will be additional times for comments as the massive, four-year project moves along. You can read the Initial Study at: http://facilities.ucsb.edu/planning/downloads/default.asp. We will definitely be following this important watershed project.

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SB Car Free starts new Amtrak program

• The Santa Barbara Car Free program, started a decade ago by Bicycle Coalition member Mary Byrd, is offering a package deal with Amtrak in 2009. It consists of reduced train rides to Santa Barbara combined with special rates at 90 local businesses. Most of the discounts are for hotels/motels/B&Bs, but Wheel Fun bike rentals is also a partner.
• Since before the Car Free program was started, Ralph Fertig from the Bicycle Coalition worked with Byrd to develop the concept. Every year since then, it has grown in participating businesses, website visitors, media coverage, and Santa Barbara visitors.
• If you have friends or family intending to visit here, check out the deals at www.santabarbaracarfree.org. In addition to the Amtrak program, we are considering special bicyclist packages for those who either bike here, or take Surfliners with bikes onboard.

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December 11th, State & De la Vina—again



Bicyclists heading east on State Street have to weave through fast-moving motorists who may or may not be turning onto De la Vina. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The State Street intersection with De la Vina Street in Santa Barbara is unnerving to navigate by bicycle when heading toward Downtown because of all the free flowing motorists who stream onto De la Vina off State.
• The City determined that a large majority of the right-turning motorists exceed the 30 MPH speed limit. Virtually all of them violate the Vehicle Code by failing to signal their turns, making it harder for bicyclists to know what to do. Additionally, the majority drive into the adjacent bikelane so they don’t have to slow down.
• For a while now, the City Transportation Division has been offering new intersection designs that will increase bicyclist, pedestrian and motorist safety. Earlier this year, the Transportation and Circulation Committee approved the safety improvements. But when it went before the City’s Architecture Board of Review that deals with project aesthetics and landscaping, a large number of residents condemned the project as an expensive, unnecessary impediment to free-flowing traffic. The ABR rejected the project. Many felt that the ABR exceeded their purview because they rejected it on transportation design grounds, not aesthetics.
• The Transportation Division is now offering some new alternative designs to the original plan, and taking them back to the TCC on December 11th. It will be important for those who bike or walk there to attend the meeting (or write to the Committee) expressing your feelings. The meeting is at the Gebhard Room, 630 Garden Street, 6:00 PM.
• The City’s original plan calls for eliminating the free east-bound State right turn, controlling it with a signal, and installing a dedicated right-turn lane with a bikelane to its left for bicyclists continuing south on State. We have yet to see their new alternative designs.
• The current intersection is not only scary for bicyclists, it’s as bad or worse for pedestrians trying to cross De la Vina just after the intersection, perhaps walking to the Coffee Bean. And hardly safer for motorists trying to enter De la Vina from Samarkand Drive.
• It has been suggested by critics that there are few bicyclists on State Street. However, our Bicycle Coalition’s two-hour afternoon bicyclist counts done at the nearby State/Las Positas intersection over nine years since 1997 show a total of 788 bicyclists. That’s an average of 44 an hour. What’s surprising is that there are nearly as many heading toward Downtown (48%) as leaving it (52%) in the afternoon.
• In conclusion, it seems that many local motorists value their momentary convenience greater than the safety of those more vulnerable members of our community. Speak out now to create a balanced transportation system where driving is a choice, not a necessity.

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Bici Centro activities

• Our Bici Centro of Santa Barbara program has just completed two additional eight-week programs, the Earn-a-Bike program for young people, and the Learn-Your-Bike classes that teach basic bicycle mechanics to adults. The folks at Bici were active organizers in the bike light/bell give-aways on November 17th, and are planning another one. Starting again in 2009, new classes will be offered.
• Outside of classes, Bici Centro has open shop hours for those wishing to check out the scene or work on their bikes:
• Thursdays 4:00-8:00 PM
• Saturdays 1:00-7:00 PM.
• Bici Centro’s home is 601 E. Montecito Street, in Santa Barbara.

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Lompoc crafts its first bicycle plan

• On November 20, the City of Lompoc’s new Bicycle Transportation Plan was approved by the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG).
• According to staff member Alex Ubaldo, an immediate motivation in writing the Plan is so the city can apply for state Bicycle Transportation Account funding. They hope to obtain money for striping bikelanes and installing bicyclist detection devices at city intersections. We wish them the best.

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Osborne sums up

• Last month, we reported on Jason Osborne’s bike/Surfliner commute from Lompoc to Goleta. He now adds, “I even rode the full distance to work two days last week, on Tuesday and Friday, then rode the train home. Favorite guilty pleasures of the train ride: 1) the scenery up the coast is amazing and 2) the dining car has Stone Brewery beer.”

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UCSB shifts gears after Coalition protest



Looking north, this shows the existing bikepath slated for removal. A new path will replace it according to revised building plans. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Last August 20th, our Bicycle Coalition sent a letter to UCSB Planning and Design, objecting to their proposal to remove a new bikepath along the west side of Lagoon Road to make room for construction of a $15 million Ocean Science Education Building. We suggested an alternative—continue the existing bikepath on the east side of the road south to the intersection of UCEN Road.
• On October 27th, the Bicycle Coalition received a letter and copy of the Final Initial Study Mitigated Negative Declaration from Senior Planner Shari Hammond at the University. She wrote, “We appreciate your concerns and interest in ensuring continued bicycle access and parking for new buildings. In response to your comments and comments received from other members of the bicycle community, and upon further consideration, the project has been modified to retain the Class I bike path and to reconfigure it to the north side of the OSEB, west to the new bicycle parking lot.”
• We are aware that the Associated Students BIKES committee Chairman Nathan Pfaff—and presumably others—wrote to campus Planning and Design expressing similar concerns over the OSEB proposal.
• In our letter, we cited the UCSB Bicycle Plan for Construction policy that was adopted by the Campus Planning Committee last April. We pointed out that the OSEB failed to meet the policy. In her October letter, Hammond pointed out that, although campus planning has started using those guidelines in design, the Chancellor has not signed off, so it’s technically not yet applicable.
• Overall, the new OSEB bikepath route makes sense. We appreciate the University’s efforts to safely accommodate the thousands of bicyclists throughout the campus.

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How to deal with “stranger danger”
by Ralph Fertig

• We probably have all heard parents say, “I wouldn’t let my child ride a bike to school because it’s too dangerous.” They’re not talking about crashes, but about abduction.
• It’s is a tough issue to bring up with parents because it’s based on emotion rather than reason. Statistically, there is twice the risk from being killed or injured by lightning, but don’t try to convince a parent not to be concerned about predators. The rate of stranger abduction (about 115 a year in the US) has not really changed over the years, the incidents just get covered more today by sensationalist media. The common impression is that it’s happening all the time—and your child will be next.
• One approach to the challenge is to ask parents whether they want to live with the fear or do something about it. Safe routes to school programs have often worked with schools to foster “walking school buses” or “bike trains” that consist of one or more responsible adults leading the kids in a group. The risk of abduction drops to zero, and other dangers like gang violence or road crossings are also greatly reduced. Soon, parents realize that biking to school or elsewhere in a group is not dangerous. Plus, when people walk or ride together, they actually talk to one another.
• That being said, there are situations where schools or other destinations are sited on high-traffic arterials that need infrastructure improvements like separate bikepaths, wide bikelanes, relocated drop-off zones, or on-demand signalized crossings.
• Even if they’re not in groups, it’s good for children to learn how to protect themselves. Those who are deprived of independence in childhood may find themselves unable to cope when they later leave home. A recommended source for personal safety is www.kidpower.org. In addition, check with your local PTA or talk to Eva Inbar at COAST, email eva_inbar@cox.net, phone 964-0472.

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Holiday gifts help us all celebrate



Here is one of our bike flags hanging along State Street in Santa Barbara. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Looking for a special gift for that bicycling person on your holiday list? If so, consider these Bicycle Coalition offerings:
• Bicycle Coalition membership. Give a years worth of Quick Release, bike shop discounts, invitations to special events, and a good feeling to boot. Regular membership is $25 a year. We will mail a card announcing your thoughtful gift order.
• Street Skills Class. Buy a certificate that’s good for one of our Street Skills for Cyclists classes. We will offer classes every other month in 2009, starting in January, so your lucky recipients can choose the time that best suits them. Cost is $30. We’ll mail an announcement card with your gift order.
• Bicyclist flag. Want something to show off? Get one of our big 4x6 foot Bike Week flags, like the ones that hang along State Street each May. Each flag is made from heavy nylon with two grommets at the top for hanging, it has a white bicyclist logo on a terra cotta background. Flags are $33 each. Don’t wait, there are only four left.
• We have a holiday order form waiting for you at www.sbbike.org/docs/order.pdf.

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Transportation costs

• American households spend 20% of their household budget on transportation; in contrast, European households spend only 7%. That’s because the Europeans live closer to work and have invested in better transit and bikepath networks. Their lives are richer due to the money saved on travel.

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We thank our active members

• Please thank and support the following Bicycle Coalition business members:
• Bicycle Bob’s, Santa Barbara
• Nett & Champion Insurance Services, Santa Barbara
• Open Air Bicycles, Santa Barbara
• Pedal Power Bicycles, Santa Maria
• Chris King Precision Components, Portland, Oregon
• Run Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara
• Hazard’s Cyclesport, Santa Barbara
• Dr J’s Bicycle Shop, Solvang
• In addition, we welcome our new member Ken Jurgensen. And we greatly appreciate those who renewed their memberships: Sridhar Subramanian, Bill Pollock, Alexandra Kummer, Fred Perner and Patsy Bolt.

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Meeting considers hospital access



About 50 concerned residents attended the City’s Cottage Hospital meeting. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• On November 18th, the City of Santa Barbara’s Transportation Division conducted a public workshop to gather ideas about improving access to Cottage Hospital. The Bicycle Coalition was represented by June Pujo and Ralph Fertig.
• The workshop was part of a half-year process to identify congestion problems on Mission, Las Positas, Highway 101, and other areas in the Hospital vicinity, then to develop multi-modal solutions.
• After an introduction, participants broke into four groups to discuss solutions to transportation problems in the area bounded by State, Mission, 101, and Las Positas. Included in the results are:
• Build a new overcrossing of 101 without on/off ramps, but with bikelanes and sidewalks.
• Return the one-way section of Calle Real to two ways.
• Make Mission two lanes, with a center turn lane and bikelanes.
• Make Bath and Castillo one-way, bikelaned streets between Mission and the Hospital.
• Slow speeding motorists on Mission and Las Positas.
• There will be another public workshop in December where city staff, with consultants IBI and Penfield & Smith, will bring a summary of ideas. They will also address city committees and the City Council, all with the intent of having a project prepared by next spring, ready to go when an appropriate funding opportunity arises.

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Bicycling in Turkey
by Ralph Fertig

• I recently spent two weeks in Istanbul and traveling (I confess, driving) around the Aegean coast. I generally see more bicyclists in an hour in Santa Barbara than I found in two weeks in Turkey.
• Why don’t more people bicycle there? For one thing, there are no special bikelanes, bike racks, and few road shoulders. Another reason, especially in Istanbul, is numerous old cobblestone streets, steep hills, and crazy motorists. Mountain or BMX bikes were all I saw. I did stumble across four bike shops in Istanbul in my days of walking. Like most shops there, they are tiny, perhaps 15x20 feet, with a choice of 10 bikes, one owner, and some accessories.
• In the smaller towns, more people bike, mostly boys and older men, but no women. Before I went, I searched the Internet for activities, and found that mountain biking in Cappadocia was about it. I found no bike rentals on the Internet, and found none in any of the cities or towns I visited. Still, the people are friendly, the scenery spectacular, and 3000 years of history are strewn everywhere.

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