News, Links, and Other Views

City of San Diego

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  A hit-and-run driver rammed through a crowd of people during Comic-Con in San Diego, running over a 64 year-old woman. The driver was caught and no criminal charges have been filed. The incident was caught on video.

• San Diego is working on a multi-year plan to take care of the city’s billion dollar infrastructure backlog.
• The MTS board voted to restrict “First Amendment Activities” on and around San Diego’s transit stations.
• Last Saturday there was a “bike-in” to demonstrate against the rejection of the Barrio Logan Community Plan.
• Great Streets San Diego explains the difference between the terms “pedestrian safe” and “pedestrian friendly.”
• A local bicyclist has expressed concerns about how the redesign of Park Boulevard has made the street more dangerous for cyclists.
• BikeSD Executive Director, Sam Ollinger, was interviewed by Urbanist San Diego.
• A bicycle powered coffee cart is in the works and should be on the streets of San Diego soon.
• A stop sign has been installed at the intersection of Howard Avenue and Alabama Street in North Park.

San Diego Region

• A drunk driver who killed a cyclist in Chula Vista was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison.
• The Cleveland National Forest Foundation has published its letter to the California Coastal Commission in opposition to the proposed widening of I-5 in North County.
• The Coronado Police are using bait bikes to catch bike thieves.
• Bryan Jones, former Deputy Director of Transportation in Carlsbad, who has since moved to Fremont, CA to head their Public Works Department, wrote last year about transforming the transportation profession.  The essay is worth a good re-read.

Elsewhere

• As the movement in support of protected bike lanes grows in cities across California, it faces opposition brought on by fear and doubt.  Melanie Curry details the opposition bandied about by the can’t-get-irrelevant-soon-enough parking adherents.
• The police reserve officer in Santa Paula who posted a video about how much she hates cyclists has resigned.
• A floating transit stop is a great solution to ensure that both cyclists and transit users don’t find themselves in needless conflict.  Here is an example from San Francisco.
• The Illinois Department of Transportation is moving forward with plans to develop and build protected bike lanes in Chicago.
• Seattle has received $5.8 million from the federal government for the construction of protected bike lanes on 2nd, 4th, and 7th Avenues.
• The popularity of the pedestrian/bike path on the Brooklyn Bridge has some people thinking of converting one vehicle lane into a cycletrack.
• The “Bike Lobby” jokingly took responsibility for the white flags on the Brooklyn Bridge, but not everyone got the joke.
• Despite high rankings in magazines, making Ann Arbor, Michigan a truly bike friendly city means building protected bike lanes.
• A trip to Copenhagen inspired one Denver City Councilman to buy a bike and start cycling, it also brought to light attitudes about bicycling in the African-American community.
• In the United States less than 70% percent of people aged 16 – 24 have a driver’s license.
• A transit planner looks at how incorrect assumptions about vehicle usage in the United States has lead to incorrect projections and bad planning decisions.
• Here is why livability and urbanism ought to be an effort embraced and championed by everyone in the United States, regardless of political or ideological affiliation.
• Cities across the United States are rethinking the value of having interstate highways running through their neighborhoods and urban centers.
• An analysis of the psychology behind anti-bike sentiment in the United States as well as some facts in response to anti-bike stereotypes.
• An op-ed piece from Saskatoon, Canada points out the need for protected bike lanes and the shortcomings of current street design.
• A look at the implementation of complete streets in Strasbourg, France.
• In China cycletracks are created using modular low fences.
• Czech Railways may soon make it easier to take bikes on trains along the international bike route that follows the Elbe River from Hamburg to Prague.
• The European Environment Agency has called on policy makers to recognize the link between transportation and public health when making policy decisions.