What? Problems with street repair? Here, in San Diego? We're shocked, just shocked.
SignOnSanDiego reports that the city auditor's office has submitted a report to the mayor and city council detailing failures in the city's prioritization of streets that need resurfacing and repair. Among the problems, a database that is not accurately updated, leading to redundant projects and neglecting streets that have worsened between surveys, particularly residential streets. Says the report:
The condition of streets is an integral component to the quality of life within the City of San Diego. Due to the scale and diversity of the streets maintained by the City, effective management of City streets requires significant and consistent dedication of public resources. Street conditions within the City are considered to be in less than acceptable condition.
So, in other words, throwing some temporary soft money at the issue doesn't actually solve the larger endemic problems within the system. This is the first of three reports that will be submitted by the auditor's office on this subject, and they do provide some recommendations for reforming the system. Perhaps something will come of it. Also, there are some colorful graphs.
From our mailbox, we have this petition from Amber Connor at aconnor (at) sandiegonorth.com:
We are trying to gather support from the biking community to bring back the Amgen Tour of CA to the San Diego region for 2011. If you would like to help, please encourage members of your group to comment and show their support on our Facebook Fan Pageor use #SDAmgen in their Twitter conservations. If you would like to organize a bike ride following last year's Amgen Tour of California route up Palomar Mountain, please let me know & I'd be happy to send you a copy of the actual route. Thanks for all your help!
Well, I hope you appreciate this, because it's getting harder and harder to keep up with all the bike bloggerin' goin' on in this fair city of ours. More people are riding, more people are writing, and it's all I can do to just keep all the new blogs straight. Just another valuable service provided by your friends at Bike San Diego. Here we go:
Bike by the Sea ponders whether bicycle "commuting" is really a good idea.
And Farewell to My Car wrote a lot of really great stuff that I frankly ran out of time to read before I wanted to get this post finished, so you should just go over there and read everything yourself.
We also found the blog Sunny Rides, which hasn't been updated since August (as of this posting), but has some great stuff about riding with children.
Every San Diegan cyclist can be busy every single day from sunrise to sunset just doing various group rides and participating in other bicycle related around San Diego County. But what are some of the highlights for this weekend?
Tonight in Oceanside, the SDCBC is offering a class on how to be safer and more comfortable in traffic. The event is $35 and will be held at the Oceanside Library. Visit the Bicycle Coalition's website for more details.
Tomorrow is the ride for 350.org. The ride begins at Dusty Rhodes Park at 9 AM. The purpose of the ride? Our action event will be a bike mob. It will be through a central part of the city, an area densely populated with cars to show that biking is a viable form of transportation.
For more ideas on what else you can do o n your saddle, check out the bike calendar for inspiration and ideas. If your event is not listed, contact us or leave a comment with the details.
The Tour of California will not return to San Diego County in 2010, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports. The bicycling race, which, earlier this year, attracted nearly 300,000 spectators, 16 pro teams, and 150 racers--including Lance Armstrong--will bypass the city of Escondido and San Diego County next year.
Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports, whose parent company owns Tour of California, cited San Diego County's bureaucratic inefficiency and difficulties as the reason why AEG decided to bypass San Diego next year.
Messick went on to say that, “With the exception of the city of San Francisco, we struggle more in San Diego County than anywhere else. Just with the day-to-day of getting stuff done. Permits, city services. What we call plumbing.”
Photos by Charlie Neuman from The San Diego Union-Tribune
The article in its entirety can be read below:
By Don Norcross
Union-Tribune Staff Writer
8:07 p.m. October 21, 2009
The Amgen Tour of California cycling race will not return to San Diego County next year.
Andrew Messick, president of AEG Sports, whose parent company owns the event, confirmed via e-mail Wednesday that the stage race is bypassing San Diego.
Robin Bettin, Escondido's assistant director of community services, also said the race will not be back.
"It's unfortunate for the city," Bettin said. "It was a great event."
Race organizers have scheduled news conferences throughout the state Thursday to announce the 2010 course.
Started in 2006, the Tour of California has developed into the most popular stage race in the United States. Featuring a starting field of 16 pro teams and nearly 150 cyclists, the race came to San Diego County for the first time in February.
Lance Armstrong (left) and tour winner (and teammate) Levi Leipheimer share the podium and a bottle of bubbly in Escondido last winter.
Buoyed by Lance Armstrong's presence after a 3½-year retirement, plus a taxing, scenic climb up Palomar Mountain, the 96.8-mile stage that started in Rancho Bernardo and finished in downtown Escondido attracted tremendous spectator turnouts. One source estimated the stage drew nearly 300,000 fans, although some believed the figure was inflated.
"This is the largest crowd I've ever seen on American soil in the last 25 years," race director Jim Birrell said.
Australian pro cyclist Michael Rogers referred to the atmosphere along Palomar Mountain as "Tour de France stuff."
But while he was encouraged with the fan support, Messick said organizing an event in San Diego County was difficult.
"With the exception of the city of San Francisco, we struggle more in San Diego County than anywhere else," Messick said in March. “Just with the day-to-day of getting stuff done. Permits, city services. What we call plumbing."
Messick would not comment further Wednesday other than to confirm the event was not returning.
Qualcomm CEO Jeff Jacobs and David Vigil, Qualcomm's vice president of business development, were instrumental in bringing the race here. Both donated money to cover expenses for the city of Escondido.
Between Jacobs and Vigil's contributions, plus money from race organizers, Bettin said there "wasn't a net loss" for the city.
Bettin said that on June 26, Escondido made a $200,000 "letter of commitment" to race organizers to host a 2010 stage.
Regarding the race now skipping Escondido, Bettin said, "It's kind of good news, bad news. It's bad news because we lost an event with a lot of visibility. To a much smaller degree, (it's good news because) we don't have to worry about raising that kind of money."
Jacobs, an avid cyclist who had raced at Ironman Hawaii three times, said he would have been willing to financially support the race again next year.
A San Diego North Convention & Visitors Bureau spokesperson said the event accounted for 2,000 booked hotel room nights.
It was a huge economic boost for the whole community," said Debra Rosen, president and CEO of the San Diego North Chamber of Commerce. "It put Escondido on the map. There was just no negative to it. It was all positive."
Said Lisa Grumel, co-owner of Vincent's restaurant in Escondido, "I'm disappointed it won't be returning. It brought so much energy to Escondido."
Robin Bettin, Escondido's assistant director of community services, offers a rather conservative synopsis of what will be lost while offering an overly-"rosey" and questionable synopsis of what will be gained by Tour de California's decision to bypass San Diego in 2010.
Bettin tells UT reporter that, “It's kind of good news, bad news. It's bad news because we lost an event with a lot of visibility. To a much smaller degree, (it's good news because) we don't have to worry about raising that kind of money.”
'Visibility'? It seems that a lot more than just 'visibility' will be lost.
What will be lost is the opportunity for nearly 300,000 people to come together, to do something active at an exceptional "Tour de France"-like pro-bike social event in our very own San Diego county. In addition, what will also be lost is a significant degree of local economic generation; 2,000 people booked hotel rooms in Escondido for Tour de California earlier this year. The room fees that would have generated economic stimulation, including the money those visitors would have been spent on food and other goods, will be lost.
Actually, the visibility is increasing in one way--it's visible to San Diego, California, and U.S. cyclists and cycling enthusiasts that San Diego officials dropped the ball on the Tour of California bicycle race.
San Diego should be a mainstay of the Tour of California race and local officials should work harder and negotiate more firmly to make sure that it is.
Mr. Messick's statements shed new light on the inefficiencies of San Diego's historically troubled bureaucracy.
This synopsis was originally posted at Bic Control.
Some SDUT commenters, are calling for an investigation into who exactly dropped the ball on this issue.
