January
2000

Bicycle Coalition leaps into 10th year of regional advocacy



Here is an early version of our Bike Week 2000 logo, designed by local artist Judith Geiger.

• YEAR 2000 is here! It's a time to look back at what's been accomplished and to look forward to what we can do to make life more meaningful, sustainable, livable, and enriching.
• Started nine years ago this month, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition is now striding forth into its tenth year of advocacy. During the year 1999, we have been involved to varying degrees with numerous projects that improve bicycling conditions within Santa Barbara County:
• Safe Routes to School. This state bill, with our urging, is providing funds to create safer conditions for students walking and biking to school.
• Hollister Avenue, Goleta. We worked with the County to get the best possible configurations in Old Town Goleta—wide outer lanes with bicyclist logos on the roadway.
• "Bicycling the Santa Barbara Coast." We're waiting for a decision this month on CREF funding for this Bicycle Coalition project. We will publish a brochure, enhance our web site, and promote both through advertising.
• Willie and Joe perform. Bike travelers, writers, speakers, entertainers—Willie Weir and Joe Kurmaskie spent two days performing in Santa Barbara and UCSB as guests of the Bicycle Coalition.
• Santa Barbara bicyclist count. Bicycle Coalition volunteers helped the City of Santa Barbara once more with 2-hour counts of bicyclists at designated intersections. The results in 1999 show a 6% increase over 1998.
• "Decide to Ride" video. Our own video was finally finished! The 25-minute video continues to be shown on public access TV, and is available for purchase from us.
• Highway 246. This segment of highway between Buellton and Solvang was due for widening, so Bicycle Coalition members pursued wider shoulders to accommodate cyclists more safely.
• Dan Henry Bikeway. The newest section of this 5-mile bikeway completes bike lanes all the way from Los Olivos to Highway 246. It's named in honor of longtime bicycling advocate and Bicycle Coalition member Dan Henry.
• Ortega Street bridge replacement. This popular bike/pedestrian bridge in Santa Barbara was destroyed in May when a truck hit the underside. With Bicycle Coalition urging, the time to replace it was accelerated.
• "Take a Vacation from Your Car" program. The Bicycle Coalition is an active partner in this program, working to encourage tourists to walk, bus and bike instead of drive.
• San Jose Creek bikepath. Funding finally came through for this Goleta creekside path that takes bicyclists safely under Highway 101.
• Bike racks on Nova buses. After careful consideration and urging from the Bicycle Coalition, the Metropolitan Transit District finally agreed to install bike racks on its three long-distance routes.
• Earth Day. Since 1992, the Bicycle Coalition has staffed our booth to promote bicycling to a very receptive, very aware crowd. Free bike check-ups have been a popular addition in recent years, and they have helped prepare people for Bike Week.
• Bike Week / Bike to Work Day. For seven years, the Bicycle Coalition has been the force behind Bike-to-Work events. This last year, the concept has expanded to a "Bike Week" of activities, and it's only looking better for Year 2000.
• When we sit back and reflect on what we've accomplished over the past years, we see that bike facilities and safety have been greatly improved. An increasing public awareness of the benefits of bicycling is occurring. Government agencies are realizing that they cannot build more roads to solve problems of traffic congestion.
• As we jump into a new millennium, multitudes of problems face mankind. We cannot contend with massive worldwide challenges, but we can forge a more livable, more human community within Santa Barbara County. We can continue to show others just how wonderful our paradise can be.

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New bikepath and lanes in South Coast



Looking south at the new bikepath that connects Phelps Road (at right) with UCSB bikepaths.



This view looks north on Hope Avenue, showing new bikelanes alongside parking. Photos by Ralph Fertig.

• A new connecting bike path in Goleta has been completed, announced Wilson Hubbell for the County. It's a path that connects the dead end of Phelps Road in the new Storke Ranch housing project with the UCSB bike path system. Now you can ride from the Girsch Community Park on Phelps to UCSB without having to bicycle on either Storke or El Colegio Roads. The path is fairly barren right now because the Storke Ranch construction is continuing, but it will be greener by summer.
• The current connection across Storke Road between the two sections of Phelps is challenging because of fast, dense traffic on Storke, but a new signal will eventually be installed.
• Meanwhile, Hope Avenue in Santa Barbara has been reconfigured between State Street and Via Real, reports Rob Dayton from the City. It's good news for cyclists because the number of traffic lanes was reduced to make room for bike lanes. The new configuration consists of two traffic lanes, a continuous center left-turn lane, bike lanes, and parking on both sides. Hope is an important north-south connector and already has bike lanes on a six-block section north of State Street.
• Our thanks to both the County and City for these improvements. Go try them out.

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We get another Millennium Trail

• Santa Barbara County has scored a second time with Millennium Trail designations. Last summer, the US Department of Transportation designated the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail as one of 16 national Millennium Trails. These trails are part of the country's Year 2000 celebration. The de Anza Trail follows the route of Anza in 1775-1776 when he led soldiers and their families from Mexico through Santa Barbara County to the San Francisco area.
• Now, the second phase of Millennium Trail designations consists of selecting a trail within each state. Guess what? The California Coastal Trail won for California!
• When completed, this 1200-mile trail will run the length of California's Pacific shoreline, including of course Santa Barbara County. The Coastal Trail will follow trails, public beaches and parks, rural roads and urban streets. It will attract hikers, backpackers, bicyclists, people with disabilities, and equestrians. In some locations, it will follow the same route as the Anza Trail, but in others, they will be separate.
• No money for constructing these trails comes with millennium selections, but the prestige of the designations should enhance funding possibilities.
• Just imagine bicycling the entire length of our County! What a fabulous ride!

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Email list moves to Topica

• The Bicycle Coalition's email list has moved from Cyber Cyclery to a new host service, Topica. The decision was made by Cyber Cyclery itself in mid-December, and it appears to be without loss or problems. The service is free, but please report any problems to Robert Bernstein at: rdb@silcom.com. If you want to subscribe, send an email to sbbike-subscribe@topica.com. If you're already signed up, you should send new email to: sbbike@topica.com.

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New Amtrak cars better for cyclists



Santa Barbara's newly-restored railroad station was inaugurated December 18. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Although the ceremony and ribbon-cutting at the opening of Santa Barbara's renovated railroad station was a well-attended and publicized event, the real news for cyclists was an announcement of the upcoming Pacific Surfliner trains: all new Surfliner cars will accommodate roll-on bicycles!
• The Pacific Surfliner will start replacing the current San Diegan trains this March and will continue until all engines and cars are replaced by March 2001. Service will continue to be offered between San Diego and San Luis Obispo. The difference, however, will be that bicyclists can load and unload their own bikes at any station, whether that station has baggage service or not. Currently, cyclists have to depend on the "California Cars" when they happen to be part of a train, or box their bikes and depend on baggage service at stations where it's offered.
• At the December 18th ceremony, Pierre Delong and Ralph Fertig from the Bicycle Coalition joined other "Take a Vacation from Your Car" program participants with our literature on a table. Although the idea of combining bicycling with train travel isn't for everybody, it offers new possibilities for less-polluting transportation to many.

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GVCC donates

• The Goleta Valley Cycling Club voted in December to donate $500 to the Bicycle Coalition, for which we are very grateful. They also voted to fund up to $2500 for installing South Coast Bike Route signs in Carpinteria, and to offer four $250 grants to other worthy community projects. The money comes from member dues and hard work on their annual People Powered Ride. Consider joining them this October 28 on their PPR.
• You can also help club members clean up the Atascadero bikepath each month. Contact Rosie Thompson at 964-2339 for details. And find out more at: www.goletabike.org.

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New web sites

• December's Quick Release described the FasTrack Bicycles' web site as the first bike shop site in Santa Barbara County. It turns out that it's the second. Bruce Davis at Hazard's Cyclesport emailed us with the news that they've been up since early 1999. Check them out at: www.hazardscyclesport.com.
• The Santa Barbara BMX club has revamped its site and moved to a new location. Look at: www.sbbmx.com. If you want to catch the BMX riders in action, go to Los Positas Park in Santa Barbara. Racing takes place at 6:00 P.M. Wednesdays and Fridays, practice is Thursdays at 5:00 P.M.

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Ann Lawler isn’t the retiring type
by Mindy Norris

• OK, first the bad news: Ann Lawler has recently retired from her position as Transportation Planner at the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG). In her twenty-five year career, Ann has been a potent and dedicated professional, tasked with improving Santa Barbara County's air quality, alternative transportation systems and transportation access for the elderly and disabled.
• Her fruitful career has included acquiring a Master's degree in biology and a teaching credential. She's even taught classes on the Wildlife of Santa Barbara and Animal Communication! Ann's past positions have included Environmental Specialist at the County of Santa Barbara and Air Quality Planning Manager at the Air Pollution Control District. At SBCAG Ann has been involved in developing dozens of critical transportation reports, including the Regional Bikeway Study and the Regional Transportation Plan. Ann's most proud of some of her transit related accomplishments, such as improving transit access for the elderly and disabled and developing cooperative capital programs between Easy Lift and other small transit agencies.
• The good news is that Ann expects she'll be able to devote more time to advocacy. In her prior advocacy efforts with the Bicycle Coalition, Ann especially enjoyed helping plan the 1998 Pro Bike/Pro Walk conference. Ann worked closely with Benjamin Sawyer and his wife Susanne in the development of interesting self-guided walks around Santa Barbara. Ann also enjoys planning Bike to Work Day (now Bike Week) activities, especially since her husband, Mike Lawler, often joins in the endeavor.
• Other than increasing her advocacy efforts in her retirement, Ann also plans to spend her extra free time taking care of her garden and her adopted bunnies—she volunteers with BUNS as a foster bunny mom!
• Although we'll miss Ann's professional contributions to bicycle and other alternative transportation issues, the Santa Barbara Bicycle Coalition is fortunate to benefit from Ann's talents and expertise as she increases her advocacy efforts in the future.
• Congratulations on your retirement, Ann! We look forward to seeing a whole lot of you now!

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Coalition members are published

• A record number of Bicycle Coalition members had a record number of letters to the editor published by South Coast newspapers in 1999. Counts show that 14 people had a total of 22 bike-related letters published.
• Top honors go to Quick Release's prolific editor Ralph Fertig who had 5 published. Everybody is to be congratulated for writing because it helps form public opinion. Our thanks go to the following published writers: Douglas Allard, Alan Bergquist, Robert Bernstein, Dan Henry, Grant House, Jonathan Humfrey, Eva Inbar, Art Ludwig, Don Lubach, Jonathan Southard, Dru van Hengel, Dan Wesolowski, and Sandra Wintermoss. Will Year 2000 be even better? It will be if we make it so.

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Stearns Wharf gets new sign



This sign is now installed at the entrance to Stearns Wharf in Santa Barbara. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• A year ago, an article in Quick Release complained about a sign at the entrance to Stearns Wharf: it showed a bicycle in a circle with a diagonal slash across it. It graphically stated "Bicycles Prohibited." Bicycles are not prohibited from the Wharf, but that's what it said.
• Dru van Hengel, mobility coordinator for the City, came to the rescue. She designed a new sign that has replaced the old one. As shown in the photo, it's more complex, but the message is correct and clear: walk bikes on the sidewalk, ride them with the cars.
• Yes, it's just a sign, but an important one. Our thanks to van Hengel for correcting things.