September
1999

“Decide to Ride” video is wonderful and available



The program was created to reach out to individuals who have limited experience and knowledge of bicycling, but have an interest in increasing the amount of bicycling they participate in. The program also appeals to an audience of seasoned bicyclists by providing new information about bicycling in Santa Barbara County.

• At last, our "Decide to Ride" bicycling video is available! The Bicycle Coalition has received 700 copies of the bike commuting and safety video. Out of those copies, an order of 500 will go to the Traffic Solutions office to distribute to businesses around the County, a dozen or so will go to those who appeared in the video, and the rest are available for purchase from the Coalition for $15.
• The video was produced with money from the Air Pollution Control District and the Phillip Babcock Memorial Fund. The fine video work was managed by David Cowan from Cowan Communication Arts under direction of a Bicycle Coalition committee. It features a story line about a local bicyclist who decides to commute to work. It shows her visiting our booth at Earth Day, joining others at our Bike to Work Day, learning what to buy at a bike shop, and getting on-road safety instruction. In between her excursions are comments from Bicycle Coalition members, Santa Barbara Middle School children, business people, bike police, and government staff. There is a lot of information packed into the 25-minute video and since it's all filmed in Santa Barbara and Carpinteria, most of the footage will be familiar.
• If you want a copy of your own, just send a check for the $15 video plus $3 postage and packing—a total of $18, made out to the "Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition"—to us:
• Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition
  PO Box 92047
  Santa Barbara, CA 93190-2047

---

New bike signs—where do we need them?



Bicyclists slowly climb up Ortega Hill Road past the new signs. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• A few weeks ago, new signs were installed on both sides of steep, winding Ortega Hill Road between Montecito and Summerland. They consisted of the standard diamond-shaped bicycle symbol above a "SHARE THE ROAD" sign below. Installed by alternative transportation coordinator Wilson Hubbell, they're the first in Santa Barbara County. Their benefit is that they alert motorists to possible cyclists on the roadway.
• The sign combination was just recently approved by Caltrans who regulates California traffic control signs. The question now is, where else in the County might the signs increase our safety? Harris Grade south of Lompoc immediately came to Hubbell's mind as a possibility.
• If you know of a County location that has moderate bicycle usage, no shoulder or bike lane, speeding motorists, or blind corners, contact Hubbell by phone at 568-3046 or by email at hubbell@co.santa-barbara.ca.us.

---

Bike the Coast booklet may become real

• Ever since Ralph Fertig saw a Utah publication that promotes bicycling in that state, he has hoped for one for Santa Barbara County. With "Take a Vacation from Your Car" program meeting positive excitement from the community, and with CREF funding cycle upon us this month, maybe it's time to move forward.
• So Fertig, working with Mary Byrd from the APCD "Take a Vacation" program, is crafting a CREF proposal that includes a pamphlet that tells others how enjoyable it is to bicycle around here, whether they are visitors or residents. All the details have to be worked out, but there will be a call for input from bicycle-oriented people throughout the County if it's funded.

---

Goleta update

• At a public meeting with Supervisor Gail Marshall and County Public Works staff on August 12, Coalition president Robert Bernstein enquired about upcoming Goleta projects:
• The Ellwood bike/pedestrian bridge. It seems that if the bridge served only bicyclists, it would cost about $1 million, but because it's for pedestrians too, it has to accommodate wheelchair people, more than doubling the approach ramps and cost. However, it seems that planning is moving ahead this year, but final funding and construction will take up to four more years.
• Old Town Goleta/Hollister bikelanes. Over a year ago the County Supervisors allocated money to restripe Hollister Avenue to accommodate bicycles. Although behind schedule, it will shortly go out to bid and hopefully finish work before the winter rains.

---

Bicycling and the Coalition’s online action

• When it comes to state of the art, our Bicycle Coalition is setting the pace for Internet utilization. Two months ago, Robert Bernstein moved our email list service to "cyclery.com," the preeminent online bicycling group that supports over 200 lists such as ours. We're now in the midst of international bicycle action.
• Then, in mid-August, Ralph Fertig moved our web site to a true web site hosting location at WestHost. What that means is that we will have access to extra services like counting visitors or selling goods at our site; moreover, all pages on the site will now be identified as part of "sbbike.org" unlike our previous location at MindSpring. Perhaps most useful, Fertig has installed an "atomz.com" search engine that operates within our site. It helps visitors find what they need. For example, if you want to know about "Shoreline Drive," just enter those words into the search window, click "Search," see what it finds and returns with, then jump to that location.
• When the search engine indexed our site, by the way, it reportedly took 2 minutes to index important items out of the 287,604 words it found spread out over 128 individual web pages. It's a great resource, now more accessible than ever.

---

SB City bikepath funding is completed



The bikelane ends at Shoreline Drive for now, but soon it will have a signal and connection to the Cabrillo Bikepath. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• At long last, the City of Santa Barbara has obtained the funding needed to install a new bikeway connector in Pershing Park. Thanks to Dru van Hengel and Rob Dayton, the $229,000 grant was obtained from California's Bicycle Transportation Account (formerly the "Bicycle Lane Account").
• The upcoming bikeway will connect Westside Santa Barbara residents from Rancheria Street, across Montecito Street at the new traffic signal, onto a new path through the Park that connects to an abandoned roadway/bikepath that in turn empties onto Shoreline Drive. The current Shoreline exit is right turn only, but the new configuration will consist of an on-demand traffic signal and connection through to the Cabrillo Bikepath just east of Los Baœos del Mar pool. This will provide safer, convenient bike access for Westside residents to jobs, shopping and recreation.
• The Bicycle Transportation Account is a statewide fund earmarked specifically for bike paths, trails, lanes, bridges and other improvements. For over two decades, it gave only $360,000 a year for all of California, until our Assemblyman Brooks Firestone authored a stepped increase to $5 million annually by the year 2004. Applications for 2000/01 BTA grants are due December 31. We hope that other local groups will submit proposals and be as successful as Santa Barbara City was.

---

CREF Grants.

• The County is soliciting proposals for Coastal Resource Enhancement Fund (CREF) money. They must be submitted by September 13. The County is considering asking for lights on the entire length of the Atascadero Creek bikepath. The Bicycle Coalition VP Ralph Fertig wants funds to publish a Bike the Coast booklet. What are other jurisdictions requesting?

---

SB City Council approves bike lanes on Carrillo



Two Westside women with babies in their strollers wait to cross Carrillo rather than take chances with the two-foot sidewalk. Bicyclists have no safer choice than the busy narrow lanes. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• In response to appeals from Westside bicyclists and pedestrians who lost reasonable access to Downtown when the Ortega Street overcrossing of Highway 101 was damaged and razed May 22, the Santa Barbara City Council voted for high priority to improvements to Carrillo Street. The Carrillo underpass of Highway 101 is the nearest alternative to Ortega. It currently has a two-foot sidewalk, narrow traffic lanes, and signs that direct pedestrians to cross the five lanes of Carrillo twice to reach Downtown.
• The City's proposal calls for removal of one traffic lane in order to widen the sidewalk and stripe in bikelanes on both sides. Caltrans has pledged to pay up to $100,000 for construction. The City will pay for design and any costs above Caltrans' amount. Because Carrillo is a major route between Downtown stores and Westside/Mesa residents, it will help bicyclists who seek safer access to jobs and shopping. We certainly thank the City Council for its commendable action, and look forward to biking on the new lanes.

---

Bernstein's world view about bicycling
by Rob Dayton

• What makes someone want to be the President of a bicycle coalition? You would assume someone who is nut-so about bikes. Or maybe someone who believes strongly about protecting the environment. Both are true about the Coalition's president Robert Bernstein. But Robert's commitment to bicycling includes a world perspective of what gives quality to people's lives.
• Born in 1958 in Manchester, Connecticut, Robert was fathered by a biologist who is active in environmental issues. His dad taught for a year in Copenhagen, Denmark, which left a deep impression on his childhood. "The urban landscape was very walkable," he tells me with his intense eyebrows pointing seriously. "We had a car, but used the train when we really wanted to go somewhere."
• The bulk of Robert's upbringing was near Washington D.C. in a Maryland suburb. Although the town sprawled with post WW II development, his liberating moment was not a car, but a bicycle he received in the third grade. Years and bicycles later, he studied physics at MIT in Boston. There, he was actively involved in the Boston Area Bicycle Coalition. Still no car.
• Finishing school in 1980, Robert migrated to San Francisco and taught high school physics instead of taking one of the many military related jobs. He was an active member of the East Bay Bicycle Coalition and still no car. He came to UC Santa Barbara to get his graduate degree in physics, a car and to help create Digital instruments, the maker of the world's most powerful microscope. Robert is the Senior Design Engineer.
• You may be surprised to learn that the root of this man's activism is human rights. A truth seeker, Robert takes the popular political and media messages to task and sees absurdity. He views the bicycle coalition not as a special interest group, but as a group representing the desires of all people to be free to move about their environment. He envisions a day when the coalition is no longer needed because people see the bicycle as an integral part of our community. I can't wait!

---

Bike to Work 2000

• We need ideas for Bike to Work Day and other components of Bike Week 2000. We're still defining committee management arrangements with coordinator Jonathan Humfrey. Come to our meetings on the second Tuesday each month.

---

Bicyclists help business

• At the League of American Bicyclists' rally in Sonoma last July, Ralph Fertig picked up a sample green "bike buck" that bicycling activist Jason Meggs from Berkeley was handing out. Although it was unclear just how they were used, the text on the rear offered a potent message:
• "Bicyclists tend to shop locally because they make shorter trips. Bicyclists tend not to drive to Costco or other "big box" retailers which undermine the local small business base. In addition, bicyclists tend to spend much less money on owning and operating automobiles, which also helps keep dollars in the local economy. Bicycle and pedestrian improvements make business districts more pleasant and sociable, encouraging foot traffic and increasing business revenues. Small businesses are the number one source of new jobs in California—let's help invigorate the local economy by accommodating bicycling!"