Join me on a walking and biking tour of Uptown this Sunday starting at 10 AM. We will meet at the Joyce Beers Community Center (by the Trader Joe’s).
Vehicle parking in Uptown tends to be tough, so I encourage you to walk, bike or take the bus to avoid an early Sunday morning stressful situation.
What’s the purpose of tour? For the first time in San Diego’s history, an investment of over $43 million will be made in the Uptown neighborhoods to make riding a bicycle safe and comfortable for all ages while simultaneously improving safety for all users including pedestrians and drivers. Yet, the community isn’t overwhelming supportive of this project. Questions range from wanting Washington Avenue or Robinson Avenue to be the preferred East/West route to, wanting no vehicle curbside parking to be moved to, expressing a whole host of other concerns which have been addressed.
Despite the nearly two year long community outreach process by SANDAG – there still seems to be a lot of misinformation and questions, so I will be hosting a walking and biking tour of Uptown to discuss those concerns. I encourage you to bring your bicycle so that you can experience what it is like to walk and bike along the corridors that are part of the Uptown project and learn specifically why we have been advocating for University Avenue as the preferred east/west alignment in Uptown instead of Robinson Avenue or Washington Avenue. In an ideal universe, all three of these streets would be made safe but since SANDAG is busy funding freeway projects, funds available for making bicycling safe on all streets is not quite the SANDAG priority, yet.
I gave a short talk at the Hillcrest Town Council this past Tuesday and I asked the audience to describe what they thought a “cyclist” was. The response was not unlike what is brilliantly illustrated in this cartoon. I sensed a fundamental lack of relatability by many of the attendees at the Hillcrest Town Council meeting. The attitude, as I gathered, was that someone on a bicycle should take a circuitous route to get through and to Uptown rather than utilize the most vibrant street that exists: University Avenue.
But people are already riding on University Avenue. I have taken a few photos to showcase who rides University Avenue today. Don’t you care enough to make it safe for them?
If you care about making University Avenue a safe place for everyone even our two-wheeled friends, then join this Facebook group that is all about promoting University Avenue and making it a safe place to ride a bicycle and walk without dying.