News, Links, and Other Views

City of San Diego

• A closer look at San Diego’s structuring of a $120 million lease-leaseback financing deal to avoid voter approval of a loan and to borrow money for infrastructure projects.
• Residents of San Ysidro are still waiting for a sidewalk to be built on Old Otay Mesa Road.
• Reporters and police take a look at the condition of the community living in the  Mission Valley riverbed.
• More details on Mayor Faulconer’s plan to use 60% of San Diego’s Community Development Block Grant money for infrastructure repair and improvements.
• The cost of owning and maintaining a car often outweighs the cost of rent in San Diego.
• Ocean Beach may soon know where future bike share stations will be installed.
• The San Diego Reader took a decidedly negative outlook toward CicloSDias and apparently had to heavily edit and remove portions of the article after publication.
• The Hillcrest Business Association is worried about the economic impact of protected bike lanes on University Avenue, while the Uptown Community Parking District is worried about loss of income due to removal of parking meters.

San Diego Region

• SANDAG has announced the 2014 iCommute Diamond Award winners.
• Move San Diego and Walk San Diego have merged to form Circulate San Diego.
• The Encinitas City Council held a hearing on the $6.5 billion 30 year plan to add 4 more lanes to I-5.
• Contract irregularities at the NCTD are coming to light thanks to an inewsource investigation.
• The NCTD and the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department are planning a crackdown on trespassers along the train tracks in Del Mar.

Elsewhere

• The My Figueroa project in Los Angeles may lose funding if construction is not completed by December 31, 2014 – for a closer look at a recent committee meeting discussing the project click here.
• 10 Reasons Beverly Hills is against construction of bike lanes on Santa Monica Boulevard.
• Bike advocates in San Francisco are not pleased at how the bike lane design on Polk Avenue has changed from protected lanes into a bike path that zigzags between parked cars and completely disappears at some points.
• Transit and bicycle commuters in the Bay Area will soon be eligible for workplace benefits to support their commute costs.
• Oakland is considering a new law that will provide a legal remedy for cyclists who are harassed by motorists.
• In San Jose a professional football player has been jailed after a hit and run.
• After 3 cyclist were killed by motorists in the last 6 months the Nevada Highway Patrol conducted a sting operation and pulled over more than 200 motorists in 5 hours for violating Nevada law.
• The mayor of Odgen, Utah has been reaching out to Asian bike manufacturers and luring bike businesses to his city.
• Video highlights of a town hall meeting in New York regarding the city’s Vision Zero plan to make streets safer.
• Motorists in Washington DC find that the city’s bike lanes are a good place to park.
• Citizens of Richmond Virginia wonder where the money for bike infrastructure went in the mayor’s budget, which prompted this response from the mayor.
• Cincinnati prepares to change a parking lane into a bike lane on Central Parkway and protect it with 3 foot high plastic paddles.
• The State of Ohio is considering requiring motorists to give bicyclists three feet of clearance when  passing them on the street.
• It was North American Bicycle Week for three days in Detroit.
• Houston may finally be taking bicyclist safety seriously.
• After the awkward results of attempts to get world leaders to ride bikes in 1997 bikes did not play a part in this year’s Nuclear Security Summit in the Hague.
• A look at the financing model for  London’s “Boris” bikes as compared to New York’s Citibike.
• In England there is a movement to close streets to traffic for a few hours a week as designated “play streets.”
• Video footage of cyclists being run down in Australia is having an impact on media opinions of bike safety and the appropriateness of legal penalties.