CicloSDias: Hillcrest & Banker's Hill Open Streets on Sunday

CicloSDias is back! For the third time, San Diego is closing 2 miles of streets to vehicular traffic so people can walk, bike, roll, scoot, and skate freely on our city streets. The first two events were incredible, with thousands of pedestrians and bikes taking to the streets for the first CicloSDias that ran from Downtown through South Park, North Park, and ending in City Heights and the second one which closed major corridors in Pacific Beach. This time around, the streets run in Bankers Hill and Hillcrest, which also means easier bike access to Balboa Park. The open streets event is free and open to all ages and abilities and runs from 10am-3pm. For more information, check out the website here.

Tuesday: North Park – Mid-City Regional Bike Corridors Project Open House, 5-8pm @ Queen Bee's

North Park – Mid-City Regional Bike Corridors Project Open House

Tuesday, August 27, 5 – 8 p.m.

The final open house for the Mid-City Regional Bike Corridors Project is Tuesday night from 5-8pm at Queen Bee's.

For more information about this project, visit: KeepSanDiegoMoving.com/NorthParkMidCityBike

Tuesday: Mid-City Regional Bike Corridor Meeting

If you ride a bike, have ever ridden a bike, or someday plan on riding a bike and live in Mid-City (very loosely the communities around Adams, El Cajon Blvd, and University from Park to College), you should attend the Mid City Regional Bike Corridors Community Advisory Group on Tuesday night. This is one of the last chances to give public input and see progress on possible east-west bike routes. With the BRT already going forward on El Cajon Boulevard, the stakes are even higher to get safe bikeways installed around the city. We'll see you there!!

From SANDAG:
This is a reminder that the third North Park – Mid-City Regional Bike Corridors Community Advisory Group meeting will be held:

Tuesday, June 25, 2013 – 6:00 to 8:30pm
at the
Teen Challenge Center
5450 Lea St, San Diego, CA 92105

The focus of this third meeting will be to review the alignment study results and to discuss the benefits, challenges, and other considerations related to each of the alignment options.

Please note, this Community Advisory Group meeting will include English and Spanish facilitation in addition to Spanish/English interpretation.


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San Diego Mid-City Rapid Bus Transit

In June of 2013, construction is set to begin to make way for the Mid-City Bus Rapid Transit route, also referred to as Mid-City Rapid or BRT. On Thursday, we dropped by the open house at The Boulevard's offices to check things out so I wanted to share some of the information because in one way or another, this will affect everyone in Hillcrest, Normal Heights, City Heights and beyond.

The Mid-City Rapid will provide North Park, City Heights, and College Area residents, students, and workers with a fast and reliable service in a key transit corridor in the region.

Rapid bus services achieve faster travel times by using measures such as transit signal priority, dedicated bus lanes, and limited station spacing. Mid-City Rapid is among the first of a new breed of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) services that SANDAG is building in collaboration with the Metropolitan Transit System (MTS). The project is an integral part of a regionwide strategy to create a BRT network, so residents have travel choices that are attractive alternatives to driving.

So there are several points that are important with regard to the BRT. If you are an MTS user, the new system will eliminate route 15. In my area, the 15 currently stops at 33rd and El Cajon Boulevard. This is the only stop the bus makes between the 805 and I-15. The NEW stop, again, the only one between the 805 and I-15, will be at 35th Street. There are a few reasons why I hope this is reconsidered.

First, it makes sense to have a major stop at Pancho Villa. It is the only grocery store available in the direct area, with the Vons on Howard and 30th or on Adams and Cherokee the next closest. While the 1 will still be servicing the area, it's frequency is much more limited. Second, the new stop for the eastbound buses will be directly in front of The Void. I'm a bus rider and I'm a regular patron at The Void, but do you really want your kid getting off the bus directly in front of a bar? Or little old ladies? I mean, I love my rock n roll crowd, but we're kind of a rough bunch and can be intimidating to people walking by. Conversely, smokers at The Void step right out in front of the bar for their fix, yet all bus stops are smoke-free within 25 feet. Smokers will be moved to the back lot of the bar, possibly requiring a second security guard at the back door, and increasing noise to surrounding residences. Nova's window faces the Void, and fortunately she's a pretty sound sleeper, but the bar is definitely loud most nights of the week, and the cops have been coming by with increased frequency. Sure, nobody gives a shit about smokers and smokers rights are ever dwindling, but it is still an issue worth considering.

The new BRT is set to run from 5am to 1am everyday, with 10 minute intervals during peak times and 15 minute intervals for non-peak and weekends. Why not move the stop to the north wall of North Park Produce where bus passengers won't be interfering in businesses? Or even better, keep the stop at 33rd and add a second stop at 37th, where there's a pedestrian crosswalk already in place? Why does the BRT have three stops between the 805 and Park, but only one between the 805 and 15? Has nobody considered that this stretch of ECB is also the main access point to all of Normal Heights? And while we're at it, if access is really a key issue here, shouldn't there be more north-south access instead of having to go all the way to 30th for the 2 to connect to Adams? I'm capable of walking or biking, but what about the people who aren't?

Believe me, I think it will be great when I can bus from my house to Balboa Park easily, but what does this do to the Mid-City Bike Corridor project? Committing to new bus plazas seems to eliminate all possibilities for a protected bike lane along ECB, and could also mean not even a Class 2 route. It isn't really clear how these projects work together or in opposition, so I think that more community meetings should be held, and though I was a little slow in getting involved, you can be sure I'll be at as many of the meetings as I can.

If you're interested in the North Park Mid-City Bike Corridor, the next meeting is June 25, 2013 from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Teen Challenge Center located at 5450 Lea Street (San Diego, CA 92105)

A friend of mine posted a couple dorky LA Transit videos, but they address greater transit issues if you're interested (after the jump).

San Diego Celebrates National Bike Month: Silent Ride, Bike To Work Day, Mini-CicloSDias,

This month is National Bike Month and there have been and continue to be several bike-related events and such going on. There are great resources in San Diego for all kinds of biking information, including Bike San Diego and San Diego County Bike Coalition. There  was also a ride in conjunction with San Diego River Days which continues through next weekend.



Tonight, join the 10 mile SILENT RIDE. This is a national event that started in Dallas, but this will be the first one in San Diego. The ride is in honor of cyclists who have been injured or killed while cycling. We will be riding in honor of Barry Whittaker, Darren's father, who was killed by a motorist while cycling in Northern California in 2009. Here's the information from the Bike Coalition:

All people who ride bicycles are invited to join the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition on Wednesday, May 15 at 7 p.m. for a ride to honor cyclists who have been killed or injured and raise awareness that all people have a right to safe accommodation on San Diego's roads. The Ride of Silence is free, starts at the South Clairemont Rec Center and open to cyclists of all ages and abilities. Participants are asked to ride no faster than 12 mph, wear helmets, bring lights, follow the rules of the road and remain silent during the ride.

WHEN: Wednesday, May 15, 2013, 7:00 p.m.

WHERE: South Clairemont Recreation Center
3605 Clairemont Drive
San Diego, CA 92117

Friday is National BIKE TO WORK day. You can REGISTER and get all of the information here,  Obviously registration isn't required, but it sends a message to our politicians and community that there are a lot of people who would ride bikes if facilities were safer, more convenient, and incentivized.

Finally, Sunday you can get ready for the big CicloSDias (August 11, 2013) with a Mini-CicloSDias at Marston Point Loop on the Southwest side of Balboa Park on Sunday, May 19. These are free and open to all levels of riders from 10am-4pm. Maybe you can hang out for a while, then ride down to Little Italy for Festa Siciliana which happens all day from 10am-6pm.

If you don't have a bike and are in the market for one, or you'd like to rent a good road, city, or mountain bike, go visit Mo down at San Diego Bike Shop or reserve a bike online and he'll take good care of you. Not to knock beach cruisers, but at most rental shops, that's what you're gonna get, and they're pretty laborious to ride if the road is anything other than flat. That's where my Biria came from, as well as my awesome lights and basket. Tell him @sddialedin sent you!\

I'll be adding a bike resource page up next to the music resources to this site in a couple weeks, so if you have good resources, feel free to send them my way. Also, if you didn't check out last week's 2013 Summer Guide from SD CityBeat, you can see plenty of bike stuff to do there, too.

Saturday: March For Transit!

There is constant momentum in this city and county to get things a-changing when it comes to complete streets, making the city more bicycle and pedestrian friendly, and fixing our transit system. With a mayor focused on neighborhoods and making San Diego more bicycle friendly , a council that just approved a resolution to prioritize bicycle  infrastructure,  and SANDAG working on new bicycle corridors, everyone should tune up your old two-wheeler and take it out for a spin. I'm currently immobilized and confined to my bed for a few days, but I'm going to do everything I can to make it to this event. Maybe Darren can push me in a shopping cart or wheelchair. If I can't make it, however, I'll be there in spirit. BikeSD has the whole press release for the event here or check out the  Facebook event here from Vibrant Sound Diego. You can skip the St. Patrick's Day parade and just hit the festival instead. This is the future of San Diego we're talking about!!

Safe Biking For San Diego

It's no secret that I haven't operated a motor vehicle for about 4 years now. Even before my car kicked the bucket, I rode my old $25 Craig's List bike a lot and used it in my commute when I was working downtown. Unfortunately, there was a gap of a few years that I didn't have a reliable bike, but I attended my share of CCDC meetings to advocate for safe bicycle riding downtown. The CCDC no longer exists, but it is pretty amazing to enter a new era of city politics where the Mayor and the City Council all support safe riding. With SANDAG's cooperation, because of the TransNet tax that we all pay for complete road infrastructure improvements, it looks like things are really happening. You can see the evidence by increased signage, sharrows, bike lane improvements and connections made along the San Diego River among many other projects.

The inclusion of safety for pedestrians, public transit, and bicycling along with cars is the distinction of a "complete road" and it is really exciting that EVERYONE can have a say in the process. Yesterday the City Council passed a resolution to prioritize bicycle infrastructure. While they didn't dedicate any funds to that end, that the subject is on people's minds is a great benefit to everyone across the city. So maybe I'm a johnny-come-lately to some of the politics and activism, but I thought I'd share some links, video, and let you know that TODAY (Wednesday, March 6, 2013) there is an open SANDAG meeting at Sunset Temple, behind Claire De Lune, to discuss actual routes for what they're calling the North Park-Mid-City Regional Bike Corridors Project.

Community Advisory Group: A community advisory group has been formed to provide in-depth input on the design and serve as the community liaison from kick-off to completion of The planning phase. The group will meet four times at key project milestones. Meetings are open to the public – all are welcome to attend. Here's the AGENDA

The second Community Advisory Group will be held:
March 6, 2013
6 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Sunset Temple
3911 Kansas Street
San Diego, CA 92104

San Diego Bicycle Master Plan (City of San Diego)

San Diego Regional Bike Plan (SANDAG)

Keep San Diego Moving

Bike San Diego

San Diego County Bicycle Coalition

North Park - Mid-City Regional Bike Corridors Project

Transit 5010

Here's the City Council Item from yesterday (that passed unanimously save for two absent votes):

ITEM-331: Resolution Prioritizing Bicycle Infrastructure Improvements in the City of San Diego to Enhance Public Safety. (Citywide.)
ITEM DESCRIPTION:
To consider and adopt resolution prioritizing bicycle infrastructure improvements to enhance public safety in the City of San Diego
COUNCILMEMBER ZAPF'S RECOMMENDATION:
Adopt the following resolution:(R-2013-456)
Declaring that the City of San Diego supports prioritizing citywide bicycle infrastructure improvements which enhance rider safety, provide transportation options, and benefit the greater public as our region steps forward and progresses.

Video after the jump.