February
2004

County names “The Obern Trail”



Supervisor Susan Rose, center, congratulates George and Vie Obern on their work on regional trails.

• At a well-attended Board of Supervisors meeting on January 20, Vie and George Obern were honored by having a popular trail officially named "The Obern Trail." The new trail name, informally called the Atascadero Creek trail by South Coast people, was first proposed by the Bicycle Coalition's president Wilson Hubbell last fall. The County agreed, and Supervisor Susan Rose presented the Oberns with a resolution and sample of eight signs that will identify the trail.
• The Obern Trail runs for seven miles along the Atascadero Creek that empties into the Pacific Ocean at Goleta Beach County Park. The Trail was first proposed by Vie Obern in 1967 as she looked at maps of proposed subdivisions in the Goleta Valley. She worked assiduously for years on the idea and eventually obtained state funding for the project.
• In addition to resounding applause from the audience for the Oberns, Bicycle Coalition member Eva Inbar presented them with a scroll of more than 50 names that she had just collected from people using the Obern Trail.
• We're very fortunate to have Vie and George help us all enjoy nature throughout our County.

Bicycling mentions in articles increase, letters decline

• Each year over the past dozen years, Bicycle Coalition VP Ralph Fertig has clipped regional newspaper articles, cartoons, photographs, opinion/editorial pieces, and letters to the editor that mention or depict bicycling in any way. Then he tabulates those annually where bicycling is a significant, not a trivial, part of the item. The results clearly demonstrate the rise of awareness of bicycling within our County.
• For 2003, the clippings fill two large 3-ring binders and set a record for significant articles, photos and cartoons: 374 of them! That's an all-time record, more than one a day, and 13 more than in the year 2002.
• Regrettably, in the one area where we can really make a personal difference—submitted letters and opinion/editorial "op/ed" pieces—we dropped to the lowest level since 1996. This is embarrassing. However it gives us an opportunity and a challenge: to make sure that 2004 rises with our contributions and maybe surpasses the 96 letters and op/eds of 2002. We can do it.
• As for the 40 letters and op/ed pieces published in 2003, 13 were written by Bicycle Coalition members. Our thanks to Ralph Fertig who had five published, Mike Hecker for three, Robert Bernstein for two, and one each from Bob Cooper, Alex Pujo, and Kent Epperson. That's only for members who wrote about bicycling; we have diverse interests and some wrote about other topics.

Looking Back
Word from the President, by Wilson Hubbell

• Our new President Elect, Ralph Fertig will soon assume his duties as the leader of our illustrious organization, so this will be my last column as President. You can expect to see more of my ramblings in these pages from time to time, however.
• It is heartening to look back to where we started and realize all that has been accomplished by the Coalition. Where once we had to shout in order to be heard, our opinions are now solicited as a voice for bicyclists and bicycling. Where once we were considered to be a minor player in the trans-portation planning process, now we are respected as an integral participant in any discussion of transportation alternatives.
• This did not just happen during my term as President—far from it. Many bikies have worked tirelessly for years to bring us where we are today. Cyclists like George and Vie Obern, Dan Henry, Ralph Fertig, Robert Bernstein, Gary Wissman, Alex Pujo, Jean Anderson, Mike and Ann Lawler, Gary Nett, Bob Coleman, Alan Bergquist, Rosie Thompson, Chris King, Tim Brummer, Bob Burgess, Eva Inbar, Mike Hecker, Drew Hunter, Chuck Anderson, Steve Morris, Brooks Firestone, Pierre Delong, Kathleen Boehm, Jared Dawson, Bob Swinney, Dennis Coffman, Diane Krohn, Jamie Wagner, Garrick Sitongia, Owen Patmor, Doris Phinney, Bob Cooper, Drew Hunter, Ken Yamamoto, David Lawson and so many others have worked long and hard on behalf of bicycling.
• We are also truly blessed to have public agency cyclists like Doug Allard, Grant House, Bob Orach, Mark Mittermiller, George Amoon, Matt Dobberteen, June Pujo, Dru van Hengel, Hildy Hoffman, Jeff Lindgren, Fran Gilliland, Dale Lipp, Rob Dayton, Rick Sweet, Lee Carter, Kent Epperson, and Erika Lindemann that have done so much on behalf of bicycling in Santa Barbara County.
• The future looks bright. Stay involved and enjoy bicycling!

January Coalition meeting topics

• Our January 6th Bicycle Coalition meeting at Madam Lu Chinese Restaurant got 2004 off to a fine start. We had good discussions and actions, including these:
• Wilson Hubbell described new lighting that will be installed along the Obern Trail by spring.
• The upcoming Safe Routes to School meeting was discussed, with an emphasis on Bike to School Day in May.
• The Supervisors' presentation ceremony for The Obern Trail was discussed.
• Ralph Fertig described UCSB's reconstruction and widening of the bikepath west of Goleta Beach as it was taking place.
• Steve Morris passed out his car-sharing program where people are encouraged to share cars within a household instead of having one per person.
• Everybody contributed ideas for 2004 projects. They included replacing the San Pedro Creek bridge in Goleta, funding and site for a velodrome, and arranging a coordinator of a Bike Ed program.

Bike Week committee selects 2004 artist

• On January 22, our Bike Week art group met to consider submissions from four local artists for Bike Week 2004 designs for posters and T-shirts. The work from all four was so good that the committee had a difficult time narrowing it down to just one person. However, a final decision was made in favor of Loren Allen.
• Allen is a Santa Barbara native and has experience in a variety of mediums. He brings great enthusiasm to the project and we're confident he'll help us bring a new and exciting look to the Bike Week project. Preliminary designs will be submitted in a few weeks and the final art is due for unveiling by the end of February.
• Design criteria were established so the final product would:
• have a "painterly" quality
• portray bicycling as fun and easy
• promote bikes as everyday transportation
• have broad appeal
• be colorful
• have countywide appeal
• be recognizable at a distance.
• That's a lot to encompass, but we're betting that Allen will rise to the challenge. So watch for what promises to be a great product—and a great Bike Week.

Clean air calendar promotes bicycling



Santa Maria 9-year old Janet Ramirez writes about her drawing, "Viajar en bicicleta a la escuela es una buena idea para proteger el media ambiente."

• Again this year, the local Air Pollution Control District and Traffic Solutions combined efforts to reach kids with a message promoting nonpolluting travel. The result is another "Kids Care for Clean Air" calendar. The calendar features 13 drawings by kids age 5-12 years, selected out of over 500 submitted.
• First prize winner Thomas DeAnda won a new bicycle donated by Corey Evans at Dr. J's Bicycle Shop in Buellton. All 13 winners received US Savings Bonds. We're happy to report that three of the drawings incorporate bicycling.
• Copies of the calendar are free while supplies last. Phone the Air Pollution Control District at 961-8800 for your own inspiration.

Ray Ford recognized as “Local Hero”

• Santa Barbara County trail advocate Raymond Ford was recognized by the Santa Barbara Independent as a "Local Hero" late last year. Ford has spent his life exploring our regional trails, writing about them, and introducing school kids to the joys of outdoor life in our mountains.
• Raymond Ford has published two bicycling books, both of which are now out of print: Santa Barbara Road Rides (1995) and Santa Barbara Mountain Bikes (1992). The good news is that information from both books has been transferred to Ford's web site www.sb-outdoors.org. It has sections on mountain biking, road rides, and many other aspects about our County's trails. Ford believes that bikers and hikers and equestrians can all get along together in sharing our trail system.

Coalition advocates safer school biking

• On January 14, a meeting of groups working for safer conditions for kids biking and walking to school was held. Representatives from the Bicycle Coalition joined those from Santa Barbara's Police department, the PTA, the Highway Patrol, school administration, concerned parents and teachers, the Coalition for Sustainable Transportation (COAST), Traffic Solutions, the Air Pollution Control District, the MTD bus service, and the Cities of Goleta and Santa Barbara. Jessica Scheeter from COAST coordinated the meeting.
• A major topic was preparing for Bike to School Day that is part of our Bike Week and takes place this May 18th. A major question asked—but not answered—was who might coordinate "bike rodeos" or training by the group of League Cycling Instructors (LCIs) who can teach bike safety courses. We found out that the Santa Barbara police, the Sheriff's department, and the Highway Patrol all offer some kind of bicyclist safety instruction to kids. They all have brochures and rodeo props. And Steve Morris has a great "mean dog" cutout that is rolled out during the instructional rides to test reactions.
• We're talking about helping kids in the fourth-sixth grades. It was suggested that the LCIs could offer bike handling instructions and an officer might talk about laws and safety. The importance of getting information about what the kids were learning to the parents was stressed. Even better, getting the parents involved in reinforcing safe biking behavior was recommended. For those riders ready for road biking, on-the-street experience was deemed essential. Instruction in Spanish was mentioned. The question of whether to add training for kids on scooters and inline skates was raised.
• At the end, so much comes down to coordinating the efforts. Erika Lindemann suggested a subcommittee consisting of an LCI, an officer, and a representative from the schools. The group would design a program that could be offered throughout the South Coast. The Bicycle Coalition is the obvious group to manage this. What can we do to bring it about?

GTIP update

• Come to our meeting on February 3rd if you're interested in a revision of the Goleta Transportation Improvement Plan (GTIP). Matt Dobberteen from the County will discuss what's happening to bikeway plans for the land between Goleta and Santa Barbara.

Coalition tries to keep Rincon bridge open



This old 1915 bridge has been declared susceptible to earthquakes. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• Santa Barbara County is asking for public comments about keeping a 1915 concrete bridge on Rincon Hill Road open. On January 27, an information meeting is being held to discuss options, and Bicycle Coalition president Wilson Hubbell is representing our interests.
• The wonderful concrete arch bridge joins Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties along Rincon Creek as it flows to the Pacific. The road is Bates Road on the Ventura side, and becomes Rincon Hill Road on the Santa Barbara side. Cyclists coming from Ventura on Highway 101 frequently exit there not only to avoid the noise and traffic on the freeway, but also to head north on Highway 150 or west on Via Real toward destinations in Carpinteria.
• The County is proposing three actions, two of which keep access open for bicyclists. Replacing the bridge is considered infeasible due to low use, historic concerns, and high costs. The three options are:
• Alternative 1. Install seismic safety gates and maintain vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic.
• Alternative 2. Install seismic safety gates and close the bridge to vehicular traffic while maintaining pedestrian and bicycle traffic.
• Alternative 3. Close the bridge to all vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic.
• According to Caltrans, seismic gates are similar to railroad crossing guards. They will be triggered during an earthquake and are slowly lowered, blocking the roadway. They remain lowered until the bridge is examined for damage and considered safe. The chance of anybody being on the bridge during collapse from an earthquake would be extremely low. However, sprinting across might be a good idea—just in case.

Tax deductions for bicycling?

• As April 15th approaches, many of us who bicycle for work wonder whether our bike expenses can be deducted like those who use cars. That question was posted on the Thunderhead Alliance list and a response came from lawyer Cal Kirchick from Baker & Hostetler, a law firm with 10 offices nationwide. This is what he advised:
• As a general matter, bicycle expenses are deductible to the same extent that automobile expenses are deductible when an automobile is used for business purposes. However, instead of a standard mileage allowance, only actual expenses can be used.
• Deductible expenses include depreciation, repairs and fuel in proportion to business versus nonbusiness mileage. Commuting mileage cannot be counted as business mileage, whether it's by car or bicycle.
• For bicycle depreciation, it seems that the useful life would be seven years rather than the five-year life used for automobiles. Special equipment (like lights or racks) used in connection with the bicycle could either be depreciated or deducted in proportion to business versus nonbusiness use.
• As for food as fuel, Kirchick recommends that you avoid any deductions. It is generally viewed as a personal expense and therefore is non-deductible.
• As for employee business expenses, further restrictions allow business and other miscellaneous itemized deductions of employees to be deducted to the extent that they exceed 2% of adjusted gross income. This restriction also applies with respect to unreimbursed automobile use.
• The 2% rule does not apply to independent contractors (like bicycle messengers), sole proprietors, partners, or corporations engaged in a trade or business, in which case all the deductions are used to determine adjusted gross income.

Greg Siple

Our Topica list served 677 messages

• The Bicycle Coalition's email message list run by topica.com now has 142 subscribers who were served 677 email messages last year. Eighty percent of the emails came from 16 people who sent ten or more messages. Our thanks to these 16, and to the 33 others who also submitted comments about bicycling issues vital to our area. Here's a list of those who sent ten or more, followed by the number of messages:
• Jean Anderson 10
  Robert Bernstein 47
  Ralph Fertig 171
  Paolo Gardinali 12
  Mike Hecker 92
  Grant House 11
  Wilson Hubbell 51
  Eva Inbar 12
  Erika Lindemann 20
  David Madajian 21
  Chris Morfas 15
  Garrick Sitongia 30
  Diane Soini 14
  Dru van Hengel 18
  James Wagner 12
  Sandra Wintermoss 14
• All of our messages are archived by Topica at www.topica.com/lists/sbbike. If you aren't receiving messages and wish to, subscriptions are free—just send an email message to sbbike-subscribe@topica.com. Leave the subject line and body of the message blank.

Tully Clifford brings us new bike expertise



Tully Clifford stands before covered bicycle parking that the City Public Works building provides for employees. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The little orange bicycle was too much of a temptation for 3-year old Tully Clifford to resist. While Tully's father was trying to teach an older brother how to bike, young Tully hopped on the orange bicycle with solid rubber tires and one brake, and pedaled past them with no trouble. Thus began his lifelong love affair with the bicycle.
• Tully Clifford has served as supervising transportation engineer for the City of Santa Barbara for the past 10 months. Previously, Tully worked as a transportation consultant for four years in Canada, the US, and Europe. And before that for over a decade, he was a transportation engineer for the City of Calgary, Alberta. In Calgary, he helped implement the first bicycle master plan and managed to increase bicycle commuting from 2% to 5%. He also managed to obtain a mandate that all new buildings must have bike racks, and to arrange for more of their 800 miles of bike paths to be cleared of snow in winter.
• Tully said that some very dedicated cyclists had attached small snow plows to their bikes in order to clear the trails—they have conditions way beyond anything that we Southern California wimp-cyclists have to cope with.
• In the 10 months he's been here, Tully has spent much of his time becoming acquainted with the City. He's pleased with his design for restriping bikelanes on Los Olivos Street near the Mission where Alameda Padre Serra turns off to the Riviera (see January Quick Release for details). In order to determine the safest design for bicyclists, he talked to bicyclists passing through the intersection, asking them why they chose particular routes. Then, he tentatively spray painted a new route and again asked bicyclists what they thought of it. Only after that was a final design determined and installed.
• Another intersection that Tully wants to redesign is at State and De la Vina. In his opinion, the "free right turn" should be eliminated because it cuts off bicyclists heading straight. At the very least, the solid bikelane stripe should become broken so cyclists can continue straight without violating the Vehicle Code.
• Tully is currently biking around to ascertain that what's on the maps agrees with what's on the road. For example, the maps show bikelanes on Los Positas Road between State Street and Highway 101—however, by actually riding there, he discovered that the lanes actually shrink down to nothing in places.
• What is he working on now? What excites Tully most is establishing measurements of “levels of service” for all modes of travel everywhere in the City. This would include determining the suitability of all streets for bicycling, walking and driving. Just having the structure and data in place will allow the City to make good decisions about what areas and ways to improve for better, safer transportation for us all.
• So be sure to welcome Tully to Santa Barbara! We're delighted to have him pedaling along with us all.

Velodrome petition tops 1000 names

• On January 5th, an online petition to build support for a Central Coast Velodrome topped 1000 names. Promoter Mike Hecker considers it a half-way mark toward a target of 2000 names.
• Location is the main challenge, and Hecker is now envisioning the bicycle racing track on land near the Santa Barbara Airport, possibly in conjunction with the proposed Target store. The location is not residential, but near Old Town Goleta and the Goleta Amtrak station.
• You can read more about the effort at www.ridesb.com/CCVD.htm and add your name to the petition in case you haven't already done that. To envision how a velodrome can contribute to a community, look at the site of the Lehigh Valley Velodrome in Pennsylvania www.lvvelo.org. If they did it, we can too.

Active members

• Please thank and support the following Bicycle Coalition business members:
• Hazard's Cyclesport, Santa Barbara
• Lightning Cycle Dynamics, Lompoc
• MarBorg Industries, Santa Barbara
• Nett & Champion Insurance, Santa Barbara
• Rincon Cycles, Carpinteria
• Tri Paradise Sports, Santa Barbara
• We welcome new members Merle Clark, Hazard's Cyclesport, Robert Rainwater and Mike Gard. We further thank those who renewed their memberships: Don Lubach, Drew Hunter, Lee & Anita Carter, Sam Hartline, Judy Keim, Steve Morris, Gary Wissman, Bob Cooper, Dick Kling, Gary Nett, and Mark and Shira Musicant.

Widened UCSB bikepath reopens



The brand new bikepath leading toward Goleta Beach and the Obern Trail is now a pleasure to bike on. Photo by Ralph Fertig.

• The steep, narrow, potholed bikepath that connected UCSB with Goleta Beach County Park has been widened, rerouted and repaved. The new path is fourteen feet wide and is now located several feet north of the campus pump station that previously blocked views of oncoming path users.
• Marsha Zilles, campus architect, thanked the many individuals and groups that were responsible for the effort: contractor United Paving who did the job; Associated Students' BIKES committee who applied $70,000 in student fees; folks at UCSB Budget and Planning, and Legal who worked out all the planning/legal issues; Design and Construction staff who planned the path but could not fund it; the Design Review Committee who gave their approval; and Facilities Management who made construction a priority because of its importance as a main and very scenic entry to the UCSB Campus.
• It was reported by the contractor that some bicyclists ignored warnings in the construction zone and crashed or were nearly struck by equipment. On the other hand, a commuting bicyclist complained that detours were in place at night when the path was safer than the crude dirt detour.

Thanks for donations

• We wish to thank all those who responded to our once-a-year appeal for donations last December. Your generous help will be returned with better and safer bicycling throughout Santa Barbara County. We wish to especially thank the Goleta Valley Cycling Club for contributing $500 to us at their January meeting.
• At the same meeting, the Club also discussed the possibility of sharing the responsibility and revenues from their People Powered Ride with us. This could be good, but Bicycle Coalition members would have to commit energy to make it successful. The ride could be instead of the proposed Bike Week century on May 15, or could be in addition to it. What do you think?

Bike tour of “green” buildings on May 1st

• Last year, Bicycle Coalition's Ralph Fertig and Erika Lindemann put together three bike tours of buildings for participants in the Sustainability Project's "Parade of Green Buildings."
• The idea of the Parade is to acquaint people with current building and gardening practices and materials that help reduce our impact on the environment.
• Fertig's idea of biking instead of driving or taking the tour bus takes environmental responsibility one step further. A measure of our success was that over 100 people downloaded the bike tour maps from our web site.
• This year, the Sustainability Project will have its Parade on Saturday, May 1st, and coordinator Susan McLaughlin has asked for our help again in creating new bike tours. What can we do to improve things this year? Help provide bike parking at the sites, promote the bike tours more, and perhaps have a free bike and helmet check up before the conducted tour begins.