Bike Month wrapped up yesterday, and it was a wild success! Special thanks to our over 55 new members, anyone who came out to all the events throughout the month, and to SLO County for loving bicycles more than ever!
Here’s a cool photo series from photographer Zhao Huasen, of people commuting on ‘floating’ bicycles:
Paula Sigman [Bicycle Coalition Board Member] Dan Rivoire [Bicycle Coalition Executive Director] Dusty Colyman [New Frontiers]
Bike Month continues… and we appreciate everyones support and excitement about bicycles in SLO County!
The City of San Luis Obispo is in the process of updating the Land Use and Circulation element of the City’s General Plan. These parts of the plan relate specifically to creating a guide for future development, preservation and mobility (how we get around) San Luis Obispo.
This Land Use and Circulation update is part of the City’s General Plan, the blueprint for the future. It is representative of the values and vision of the community, and your opinion matters.
Our local governments know we people are interested in more bicycle connectivity in SLO and beyond, but they might not know that a majority of people want these improvements. This is your chance to have your voice heard and help increase the number of bikeways locally.
Wednesday May 16th is the first public workshop for this update, and you are invited to attend and speak up on behalf of better bikeways in San Luis Obispo. The Bicycle Coalition will be there, on behalf of our 600 members, to share our vision for better bicycle facilities in the city.
If you can’t attend the workshop, we’d encourage you to take their online survey to share your support for bicycles in the city. All responses are anonymous, and can have a large impact on the update of the plan. Take the survey here.
When: Wednesday May 16th, 6:30 pm
Where: The Monday Club, 1815 Monterey St, SLO (map)
Why: Help shape the vision of connectivity in San Luis Obispo
Come learn about the Kitchen, sign up for our next volunteer orientation Monday May 7th, 5:30 – 6:30 pm (every 1st Monday of the month!)
The Bike Kitchen is always looking for volunteers to help out in any way they can:
No mechanic experience necessary, anyone is welcome to join us! We’ll equip you with the basic information you’ll need to staff the Kitchen.
By volunteering, you also get to use the Kitchen every 2nd Monday of the month during our “volunteer only” work nights!
Sign up online for the next orientation, Monday May 7th, 5:30 pm
Join us for the first Kidical Mass of 2012, just in time for the beginning of Bike Month!
When: Thursday May 3rd
Where: Mitchell Park, SLO (map)
When: 6:00 pm
Theme: Rainbows
We’re excited for our third year of Kidical Mass rides, and hope you*, your friends, and your entire family will join us for the ride! We meet at 6:00 for a brief safety talk before we ride as a group through downtown to the Mission Plaza.
If you’re a kid at heart, and want to be a part of the ride, it’s a great chance to volunteer and help get the little riders excited about their bicycles. Sign up to volunteer here, it’s only a 30-minute commitment, and is a blast!
*Everyone on the ride should be on a bicycle, including parents and guardians (walking in the street alongside is not permitted).
We’re pleased to report that, on Tuesday April 10th, the SLO City Council voted 4-to-1 to approve the LOVR bikepath, connecting the CL Smith and Laguna Middle School neighborhoods with a safe route to school for all kids.
The Bicycle Coalition was there to advocate on behalf of this project, which aims to get more kids biking/walking to school, decrease congestion at these intersections during before/after school hours, and to discourage kids from biking the wrong way in the LOVR bike lanes.
This is an alternative plan approved by the city (using a $800,000 Safe Routes to School grant from 2007) after the small Windermere Condominiums Homeowners Association blocked a much better and safer bridge option off of Los Osos Valley Road.
The Bicycle Coalition knows this would have been a much better option, allowing kids to travel between these two neighborhoods without ever going on Los Osos Valley Road. Yet the bylaws of the Windermere Condominiums HOA required 100% approval to proceed with the 4 foot easement for the bike path, making it possible for just one person to oppose the project and shut it down.
We strongly support bicycle and pedestrian projects which provide safe access to schools for generations to come, and are disappointed when a small minority of community members are able to shut these projects down, simply because they don’t understand the long-lasting positive impacts they have.
Our presence here is not without some frustration and concern that future projects promising extremely effective solutions will be cast aside for less attractive alternatives because some community members are unwilling to recognize the incredible value of smart infrastructure.
I urge [the council] to continue to approach these infrastructure decision points with a bold and knowing attitude that improving access to active transportation has powerful health, safety and economic benefits for all of our community members.
Dan Rivoire, Executive Director, SLO County Bicycle Coalition
Speaking at the April 10, 2012 SLO City Council
This is just one of many instances where the Bicycle Coalition represents YOU as we continue to advocate for smart bicycle infrastructure, educate bicycle riders throughout the county, teach bicycle safety assemblies at local schools, and provide everyone with programs to encourage people of all types to choose a bicycle for transportation and recreation.
BECOME A MEMBER to support these causes in your community.
We’re gearing up for the biggest Kidical Mass season yet! With rides planned the first Thursday of every month from May – September. Our first ride will be one month from today, on May 3rd.
The 2012 Kidical Mass Themes:
Mark your calendars & we’ll see you at the ride in your best costumes!
Interested in volunteering? The more the merrier as we continue to make safety our #1 priority for all participants, sign up for volunteer updates online here.
