February 1999
Quick Release
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition is a countywide advocacy and resource organization that promotes bicycling for safe transportation and recreation
Quick Release is published by the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition PO Box 92047, Santa Barbara, CA 93190-2047 • email bike@sbbike.org • web www.sbbike.org
Published bike articles
increase again !
For the seventh year in a row, the number of
bicycling-related articles, letters, or photos in
Southern Santa Barbara County has increased.
The recent tabulation, performed by the Bicycle
Coalition’s Ralph Fertig since 1992, shows that
the 1998 total achieved a record of 341 instances,
up by 11% over 1997. No matter how you look at
it, we’re pleased with the increasing exposure.
Each day, Fertig scans the South Coast
Santa Barbara County papers and clips articles,
letters to the editors, or photos that significantly
feature bicycling. If it’s incidental, the clipping is
saved, but not counted for annual reports.
A disappointing characteristic of 1998
is that only 13% of the total were letters to the
editor, the lowest ever. This means that newspaper writers are writing more, photographers are
shooting more, and editors are selecting more bicycle news than ever before. But the letter-writing
has decreased. So there’s our challenge: actively
enhance public awareness of bicycling by simply
submitting more.
Thanks to Coalition
members who wrote
During the year 1998, there were six Bicycle
Coalition members who submitted—and had
published—letters to the editor of local papers.
Our congratulations go out to those who took the
time to express their support for bicycling in our
community: Alan Bergquist, Robert Bernstein,
Ralph Fertig, Wilson Hubbell, Art Ludwig, and
Jean Thomson.
Big bike projects head to
SBCAG for possible funding
At their February meeting, the
Santa Barbara County Association
of Governments (SBCAG) will decide what transportation projects
to fund in the upcoming cycle.
Proposed projects for inclusion in
the new Regional Transportation
Improvement Plan (RTIP) are
being submitted by the County
government and the seven cities
within our County.
Because the requests will
Santa Barbara’s undercrossing of Highway 101 at Mission Street is characterized by
considerably exceed available
fast traffic, multiple turns, big grates, rough roadway. The proposed improvements
funds, decisions will have to be
include new bike lanes.
made about what projects to
Goleta bikeway projects are ranked 1st and 2nd
support and which to exclude. This may or may
by County staff. We strongly hope that they will be
not follow the individual jurisdictions’ priorities
wherein projects are ranked by desirability before sent to SBCAG with the same ranking.
For the City of Santa Barbara, most of their
submission to SBCAG.
For bicyclists, there are three major projects money will go to the MTD to expand bus service
that look favorable. It’s no coincidence that they all throughout the South Coast area. So we’re likewise
optimistic that their only bikeway project will get
involve safer crossing of the multi-lane Highway
101 freeway that has divided our community and funded. Stay tuned.
concentrated motorists at the infrequent crossings. The projects are:
• Mission Street undercrossing of Highway 101,
General Meeting February 3rd
Santa Barbara. This $1.2 million project, identified
Join us for our general monthly meetings during
years ago as the most important bikeway improve1999, the first Wednesday of each month, to
ment in the City, will consist of new bikelanes,
share ideas about what’s happening and help
narrower sidewalks, and repaving.
make this a great bicycling year:
• Ellwood bridge over Highway 101, Goleta. This
Wednesday, 12:00-1:30 p.m.
bike/pedestrian bridge will cost $2.7 million. Part
Public
Works Conference Room #2
of the funding will come from impact fees paid by
2nd Floor, Room 238
the new Camino Real shopping center. The bridge
123 East Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara
will provide safer access between housing, shopping, and UCSB south of 101, and housing and Dos
February 1, Bike to Work 1999 meeting.
Pueblos high school on the north.
We will be working on countywide events
• San Jose Creek bikepath. This is a $1.9 million
as well as planning for a “Bike Week.” Meet
bikepath undercrossing of Highway 101 in Goleta.
12:00 noon, SB City Public Works conference
This bikepath segment, the middle and most imroom, 630 Garden Street, Santa Barbara. Phone
portant of three along the Creek, runs between Calle
Johathan Humfrey 688-9507.
Real and Hollister Avenue.
February 23, Planning committee. Planning
Just after this newsletter goes to press, a crucial
issues of interest will be discussed. Meeting
meeting will take place. The County Board of Su7:00 p.m. at 1569 Sycamore Canyon Road, Santa
pervisors will vote January 26th on priorities for
Barbara. Phone Ralph Fertig 962-1479.
County projects. Going into the meeting, the two
2
Quick Release
Bike Project thriving
Nova bus racks, again
The Santa Barbara Bicycle Project, a local earn-abike program for youth, has been quietly managing its program under the auspices of Girls, Inc.
of Greater Santa Barbara. Steve Cotton, the
Project coordinator, says that money for supplies
is very tight, but they have been getting by. The
kids involved (all boys at the moment) are really
enjoying learning how to repair and maintain
bikes while earning credits toward owing a bike
of their own.
During the Pro Bike conference last September, the director of the national Youth Bicycle
Education Network (YBEN) Charles Hammond
stopped by the Bicycle Project. He commented
later to Ralph Fertig that everything looked well
organized and effective.
Cotton says that their Saturday group
rides are very popular, but he needs a few adult
volunteers to ride with him and the boys. Also,
they are continually looking for donated bicycles
or bike parts, particularly BMX, small frame, or
mountain bikes that fit the kids best. If you can
help or just want to learn more, phone Cotton
evenings at 964-4844.
If we don’t introduce kids in our community to the pleasure of cycling, there will be no
bicycles in our future. Here is your chance to do
something about it.
It was reported in last month’s Quick Release that
the MTD had voted to attach bike racks to their
new Nova low-floor buses. It turns out that they
may only have room for one bike there, although
research is continuing at the MTD. It’s very important that you write or talk to them stressing the
importance to our community for multi-modal
solutions to our transportation problems:
Get your
free bike
map now!
For COUNTY BIKE MAPS, info on
ridesharing and van pools, just call:
963-SAVE.
Board of Directors
Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transit District
550 East Cota Street
Santa Barbara, CA 93103
Study shows SB safest
Part of a large Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA) study of bicyclists in three cities seems
to show that Santa Barbara drivers are the most
considerate. Wayne Pein reports that in 1995,
there were 77 motorist-bicyclist crashes in Santa
Barbara compared to 158 in Gainesville FL and
173 in Austin TX. Out of those, some were considered “assaults with a motor vehicle.” There were
none in Santa Barbara, 1 in Gainesville, but 7 in
Austin. Good drivers in paradise, we guess.
Jose Medina is new
Caltrans director
Governor Gray Davis has appointed Jose Medina, a
member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, as director of the $6.4 billion-a-year California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).
There has been conjecture about Medina in terms
of his attitude toward bicycling, but overall, there
isn’t a lot to go on. We’re optimistic, however, for
these reasons:
• Medina sponsored bikelanes on 4-lane Valencia
Street in San Francisco, where two traffic lanes are
being removed to create bikelanes.
• He has a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from
San Francisco State.
• In an online interview with a San Francisco voter
guide, Medina identified himself as an advocate of
public transportation and “alternative methods of
transportation.”
• He bicycled to the San Francisco 1998 Bike-to-Work
Day festivities.
• He introduced a resolution requesting that the city
convert the old Fort Mason rail tunnel to a bikeway.
A good sign is that Medina will speak at the opening celebration of the Valencia Street bikelanes
this January 30th. Generally, it’s too early to tell,
but the winds of change at the state level seem
more favorable for bicycling than they have for
years.
Notes from the January 6, 1999
Bicycle Coalition meeting
by Sandra Wintermoss
In attendance: Robert Bernstein, Ralph Fertig, Rob
Dayton, Pierre Delong,
Owen Patmor, Shoba Kalwani, Vie Obern, Jonathan
Humfrey, Wilson Hubbell,
Dru van Hengel, Bob Burgess, Robert Cohen, Rosemary
Bruckner, Dev Vrat,
C. Coffey, Steve Morris and sandra wintermoss.
Bob: We need to discuss the reorganization of the
Coalition. A Board Meeting will be scheduled after
Gary Wissman returns.
Robert Bernstein: I was elected to the executive
committee of the local Sierra Club chapter.
Wilson: There are two important RTIP projects, San
Jose Creek bikepath and Ellwood bike bridge. The
upcoming Supervisors’ meeting is important because
public interest determines their priorities
—Dev: There are 3 priorities: road maintenance,
alter- native transportation infrastructure, and MTD
shuttle.
Robert Bernstein: Coalition flyers done by Ralph
are going to bike shops. Members promised to deliver
them.
Ralph: 480 copies of January Quick Release went to
local Bike Clubs for mailing.
Wilson: From the MTD meeting minutes, their Board is
committing to having one bike per bus on every bus.
­—Robert Bernstein: They guaranteed that there would
always be 2 bikes on the express bus lines.
—Wilson: It sounds like we need a commitment for
bikes inside the buses.
—Dev: We should go to SBCAG on this; they want
cars off the roads.
Ralph: I contacted DeAnne Crouch who writes travel
articles featuring cycling in the Sunday News-Press.
She will get Quick Release.
Jonathan: I would like a Bike to Work Day contact
from the Bicycle Coalition.
—Rob: Dru and I can do that.
—Jonathan: I will organize committee meetings. I
have an idea for the poster and T-shirt design.
—Rob: I think we should expand it to a week of
events.
Ralph: It may be time to get a bicycle coordinator in
our Caltrans district office.
—Wilson: We need to talk with SBCAG and SLOCAG.
Caltrans has lots of power.
Ralph: I’m concerned about Caltrans’ new striping on
Highway 192. They striped 12’ vehicle lanes and there
is no shoulder in places.
—Wilson: I requested Caltrans to strip 11’ lanes; they
said no. Maybe we should seek help further up.
Ralph: Vacation from Cars is an upcoming program to
get tourists out of cars. A guide will probably be printed,
written with input from the Bicycle Coalition.
Robert: Is anything being done to reach students?
—Rob: I got the Earth Force video and showed it at Hope
School. I hope interest will come from the kids.
Robert Cohen: The county’s public TV is always looking
for videos. If we have one, we can show it there.
3
February 1999
Echelon wins award
Congratulations to the Echelon Santa Barbara bicycling club: they won the 1998 “Club of the Year”
award for US medium sized clubs! The award
came from Cycling USA, the national governing
body of amateur bicycle racing.
To win the award, Echelon competed against
1200 other cycling clubs nationwide. The club
has 60 members including a strong, 16-member
junior program coached by local Olympian Rory
O’Reilly. Club members range in age from 13 to
62, ride as much as 300 miles a week, and compete locally, regionally, and nationally.
Want to learn more about the club? Phone
president Dave Welton at 966-1947.
Bike to Work activities
expand to “Bike Week”
Rob Dayton, senior transportation planner for
the City of Santa Barbara has a vision. He sees an
expanding series of events clustered around our
May 18th Bike to Work Day.
At their January 20th meeting, the Bike to
Work committee brainstormed for ideas and filled
a white board with possibilities. The overall intent
is to heighten bicycling enthusiasm and participation by engaging various groups of people with
bike-related things to do over several days. If you
want to join us in the visioning process for Bike
Week, come to our next meeting:
County bike plan advances
What bikeways are being planned? The Plan
describes $50 million worth that will increase
existing bikeways by 122% as shown here:
County alternative transportation coordinator
Wilson Hubbell is taking an active role in drafting the document, along with a Bicycle Coalition
committee consisting of Bob Burgess, Ralph
Fertig, and Benjamin Sawyer. Our thanks go out
to them.
Call him “Coffey” because that’s what everybody
does. His full name is Charles Coffey and he’s
the most recent addition to the Traffic Solutions
operation in Santa Barbara County.
Bike Week meeting, 12:00 noon
Monday, February 1st
City Public Works Conference Room
630 Garden Street, Santa Barbara
As for the Bike to Work day itself, coordinator
Jonathan Humfrey feels that our efforts will
bring about a 20% increase in participation this
year. If you wish to help out with local Bike to
Work Day events, contact Humfrey at 688-9507, or
by email < ccprod@silcom.com > any time.
A new countywide Bicycle Master Plan is slated
for completion by February 1999. This document,
written by Santa Barbara County planner Jeff
Lindgren, consists of a compilation of existing
plans from SBCAG, the cities and unincorporated areas of our county. The main intent is to
gather together material so that the County can
view everything at once and apply for additional
bicycle-related funding. The four main sections of
the Bicycle Master Plan are:
• Existing and proposed bikeways
• Promoting bicycling
• Bike parking, storage, and transit
• Policies and community involvement
Bicyclist “Coffey”
provides traffic solutions
UCSB Coalition merges
with student group
In a move before the first 1999 meeting of the Bicycle Coalition at UCSB, officers Jim Dalton and
Michael Jabbra decided to merge the year-old
organization with the Associated Students’ Bicycle
Improvement Committee. The group leaves us
a legacy: they marshalled support for a student
referendum that raises $80,000 a year for campus
bicycle facilities. They also originated an online
forum of bicyclists that we hope will continue to
openly discuss University issues.
Maeve Grimes leaves
Traffic Solutions
Since 1993, Maeve Kennedy Grimes has worked
at the local Traffic Solutions office, but now she
is moving on. Really moving on, it turns out,
because she accepted a position to establish a
rural transit program in Ireland. Grimes has seen
Traffic Solutions through a transition from a
mandatory to a voluntary program.
She has been a strong supporter for our
Bike to Work Events each year. Indeed Traffic
Solutions sponsored the first Bike to Work Day in
May 1994. Without her hard work and inspiration, our traffic congestion and pollution would
be doubtlessly worse.
Raised and schooled in Iowa and California,
Coffey comes to us directly from 12 years of
Transportation Demand Management (TDM)
work in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. There
he coordinated and promoted all commute modes
that provided alternatives to the drive-along
motorist.
Here at the Traffic Solutions’ office in Santa
Barbara, Coffey works as a TDM representative
with Maeve Grimes and Sharon Hannon. An
avid bicyclist himself, he is serving as liaison to
the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition, to businesses,
and to the community in general.
Recently, Coffey updated and reprinted the
Santa Barbara County Bike Map, now available for
the asking. You can reach Coffey by phone at 5683293 or by email at < ccoffey@sbcag.org >.
Proud of contributing to our society, he asks
how many of us can say, “The work I do makes
your quality of life better, leads you to better
health, saves you money, and helps your children,
Maldonado on Assembly
Transportation Committee
One of our County’s two new state Assembly
members, Abel Maldonado, representing
Lompoc, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo, has
received committee appointments from Assembly
Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa. Of particular
interest to us is Maldonado’s appointment to the
important Assembly’s Transportation Committee.
We congratulate Maldonado and look forward to having an open dialog about the benefits
of sustainable transportation in our community,
and in California.
Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition
Application for 12 Months of Membership
Yes! I want to join other cyclists to make bicycling better for us all in Santa Barbara
County. You can sign me up for the following:
❏ Individual $25
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Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition
phone 805-964-4607
email bike@sbbike.org
web site www.sbbike.org
President, Gary Wissman, 964-4607
email gwissman@silcom.com
Vice President, Robert Bernstein, 685-1283
email rdb@silcom.com
Secretary, Sandra Wintermoss, 968-5510
email wintermoss@hotmail.com
Treasurer, Owen Patmor, 968-3143
email Cyclebug@aol.com
Director, Alan Bergquist
email ABquist101@aol.com
Director, Rob Dayton, 564-5390
email rdayton@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us
Director, Newsletter Editor, Ralph Fertig, 962-1479
email rhfertig@sb.net
Director, Wilson Hubbell, 568-3046
email hubbell@co.santa-barbara.ca.us
Director, Ann Lawler, 568-2912
email malawler@silcom.com
Safety & Education, Steve Morris, 965-7979
Bicycle Coalition at UCSB, Jim Dalton, 961-9660
email jdalton@eos.crseo.ucsb.edu
Santa Barbara Bicycle Project, Steve Cotton, 964-4844
Road repair contacts
Carpinteria, Bob Nisbet, 684-5405 x402
email bobn@ci.carpinteria.ca.us
Lompoc, Barry Rondinella, 736-1261
Santa Barbara City, John Schoof, 564-5412
email jschoof@ci.santa-barbara.ca.us
Santa Barbara County, Wilson Hubbell, 568-3046
email HUBBELL@co.santa-barbara.ca.us
Santa Maria, Rick Sweet, 925-0951 x227
email 71064.3132@compuserve.com
Solvang, Dave Serge, 688-5575
UCSB, Dennis Whelan, 893-7009
email Dennis.Whelan@bap.ucsb.edu
Regional bicycle clubs
Bicycle Touring Club of Solvang
Dan Henry, 688-3330
Cielo Velo Bicycle Club, Laird Riffle, 967-9861
Echelon Santa Barbara, Dave Welton, 966-1947
Goleta Valley Cycling Club, Lori Haney, 964-5822
email haney@ceo.sbceo.k12.ca.us
Lompoc Valley Bicycle Club, Bob Grant, 736-5919
Santa Barbara Bicycle Club, Marty Church, 966-9109
Tailwinds Bicycle Club, June Pusley, 937-2809
Upcoming events in Santa Barbara County
Solvang/Santa Maria Century, March 13. Sponsored by SCOR. This is the West’s big seasonal
kickoff ride. Choose 100 or 50-mile rides starting
from Solvang or Santa Maria. Pre-ride dinner,
post-ride expo and barbecue. Register online at <
http://www.bikescor.com/solvang/welcome.htm
> or phone 562-690-9693.
Choo-Choo Century, March 20-21. Sponsored
by Goleta Valley Cycling Club. Take the train to
San Luis Obispo, pedal to Pismo Beach, then on
to Santa Barbara Sunday. Includes hotel and sag
support; meals are bought on the way. Open to 35
club members. Phone 965-8907.
Gourmet Century, April 24. “The most civilized
big bike ride in the country.” A six-course, 100-km
feast with bicycling between the courses. Ride
starts in Solvang with coffee, juice, cinnamon rolls
and fruit; it ends with a rosemary grilled chicken
dinner. Phone 688-6385.
Join our online forum
Be part of our online revolution by subscribing
to the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition’s news
group. You’ll be able to exchange email messages
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subscribe. It’s free to anybody. To subscribe, just
send an email message to:
list-request@sbbike.org
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body of the message, put a single word:
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