A Benefit to Support the California Bicycle Coalition’s Efforts to be an Even Stronger Voice in Sacramento

The California Bicycle Coalition (CBC) is the only bicycle advocacy group that is the voice for all of California’s bicycle riders at our state capital. Next Monday, Dave Snyder – the CBC’s Executive Director of the California Bicycle Coalition – will be in town to talk about what the CBC “is doing to ensure that San Diego and every other California city has the state policies and resources it needs to realize its full potential as a bike-friendly place.” Snyder will also be chatting about what our elected representatives in Sacramento “can (and should) do to make California a better place to bike, live and thrive.”

The invitation details are below:

Since the CBC hired Snyder as its Executive Director in late 2010, Snyder immediately got to work. The list of accomplishments from 2011 is very impressive considering the shoestring budget that the organization was working with.

Demonstration of three feet passing distance. Photo from bikingbis.com.

According to Jim Brown, CBC Communications Director, the big focus this year is safety. The CBC has sponsored two key bills, a law (if signed by the Governor) that would give bicycle riders “three feet as the minimum passing distance for motor vehicles overtaking bicycles in the same lane.” Last year, the Governor refused to sign the bill into law. The second key bill sponsored by the CBC authorizes the California Department of Transportation to “establish an experimental process for allowing cities and counties to install and evaluate protected bike facilities like those described in the Urban Bikeway Design Guide from the National Association of City Transportation Officials.” So engineers and planners around the state will, at last, can finally begin to design and implement changes that will accommodate all road users, instead of following auto-centric standards to the detriment of everyone else.

Brown stated that the CBC is also keeping an eye on the CEQA reforms being proposed in SB 1380 and AB 2245 because they could make it easier for cities to build bikeways, which can also help get more people on bikes.

 The reason next Monday’s CBC benefit is important for San Diego is because while we are slowly plodding along to make the city more bike friendly, our goals for a more bikeable and livable city cannot be accomplished without fundamental reforms at the state level. Meeting Snyder to learn more on how our state advocacy group can best help us in our goal for bikeable California is impossible without fundamental reforms at the state level. Plus Snyder, with years of experience in bike advocacy, is always a joy to talk to.