attended a public works commision meeting

[smilingcat]

Yes the meeting was about a Bike Master Plan, Existing and Potential Bikeways.

I'm glad I went, looks like I'm going to be invited to participate in the commitee for the planning. How cool is that.

Tonight's meeting opened with a master plan sans input from the cyclists. Well you got to start somewhere. One idea which brought droves of people out of wood work was suggestion to tear out 8 foot wide swath out of our only green belt and creat a bike only bike path. Unanimously hated by the residents. some other propsal was to change two streets running next to the green belt into a one way streets. On one side north bound traffic, the other side a south bound traffic. That didn't go over too well either.

Majority wanted the cyclist OFF THE ROAD and onto the sidewalk or on a strand, a 20 foot wide walkway right on the beach full of SAND!!

People were given an opprotunity to voice their opinion. Naturally the loud mouth that I am, I just couldn't resist. I went up and said I am what is known as a roadie. Lot of evil eyes but what can you do. I told the commision, that like everyone else, we hate the idea of a bike path on the greenbelt. A roadie will refuse to use the bike path on the green belt, share with people strolling on the green belt, people walking their dogs, strollers, kids, joggers. Just a bad mix all around and average speed in excess of 20MPH will just not do. I think the residents were shocked to hear that roadies were against the greenbelt bike path.

I made points about many of the misconception regarding cycling. One was about the speed at which we travel. The de facto street used by the cyclists. rules of the road. Many thought riding a bicycle on the road was illegal and they belonged on the sidewalk.

Anyway, I hope to get involved. Do some good I hope.

Only down side was lack of participation from some of the local clubs. Where were they?? I guess when I get involved, I will contact clubs to get their input, get inputs from beach cruisers types, and BMXers... I would like to see an all inclusive plan.

getting late so night night. zzzzzzz

smilingcat

[crazycanuck]

Hey Smcat..

Sounds interesting. I start urban & regional planning at uni next month and am very interested in how the master plan turns out! I would love to get into transportation planning when i finish my degree.

C

[OakLeaf]

Way to go! Good luck with the committee!

Thanks for giving your time. Cyclists everywhere benefit from good planning anywhere, I believe.

[bmccasland]

Similingcat - good luck, and hopefully the other roadies will get involved as well.

We've had an animated discussion here in the office between some of us cyclists and one of the guys that likes to walk is dog on the levee path - 10 ft lead. As far as he's concerned, is dog is on a leash and all cyclists should only do something around 10 mph. We have agreed to disagree and no longer discuss the matter, and hope we never cross paths because it will be ugly. The levee path was built to be a levee BIKE path, for cyclists, and does not have a speed limit - we did the permitting for it (but not him personally).

[Irulan]

Be prepared to give a lot of your time! But it will be worth it. I'm involved in local cycle advocacy, and it's an incredible thing. There's definitely a learning curve too, as to how the wheels of gov't turn, where is the money going to come from, politics and all that fun stuff. Have fun!!

Only down side was lack of participation from some of the local clubs. Where were they?? I guess when I get involved, I will contact clubs to get their input, get inputs from beach cruisers types, and BMXers... I would like to see an all inclusive plan.

might as well resign yourself now to the fact that only 1 in 10 to 20 uses will volunteer to work on issues that are important to them. Be prepared to hear a lot of , "why don't you...." and "you should be....". It's not worth getting stressed out over why more people don't participate. Either they do, or they don't, and if you are lucky you'll get an occasional thank you. We have a saying in our organization, "put up or shut up". Rough I know, but if you don't want to participate in the process, or at least come to a meeting to find out why things are going the way they are, we aren't terribly interested in hearing what you have to say.

[smilingcat]

Hi Irulan,

Sad isn't it? People don't participate but are willing to froth at their mouth with their radio-active glowing orange breath and tell you off for not doing bizarro thing they wanted. Too bad I say. I get this a lot at my work. And engineers are the most un-reasonable bunch.

Yes I think it will be an interesting exercise in patience, self-control, and being diplomatic.

Right now I'm still very much excited. (its not that hard to get me excited :LOL: )
Smilingcat

[maillotpois]

Good for you for getting involved and trying to make things better.

[Bluetree]

Only down side was lack of participation from some of the local clubs. Where were they??

That's a good question. I asked a few people from various clubs and no one heard about this meeting. At the very least, Ted Ernst should have been in attendance.



P.S. I'm not mad at you, I'm frustrated because somehow this meeting got past the biking community. (Good job, btw!) I know I would have shown, as would quite a few others in the local RB/Torrance area

[tulip]

Great, smilingcat! Bicycles traffic has alot more in common with car traffic than pedestrian traffic. That's a hard concept for some folks to understand.

There's good information on bicycle transit and planning out there. Start with the League of American Bicyclists. Also, a planning and design firm on the east coast does alot of bike planning and has a good website with lots of good resources and links. I think the name of the firm is Toole Design, it's in Maryland.

[Trek420]

Thank you smilingcat and all those who advocate both off road and on.

Keep us posted.

Support your local bike advocacy group. I feel besides volunteering and showing up at meetings the best thing we can do is be the good example.

Be the cyclist who obeys the traffic signals, stops at stop signs (we all do that, right? ) One of the things I often say to those who trash talk about us is "you haven't seen me do that, right?" And then explain that one of the important lessens of riding safely is whenever possible I don't drive my bike the same route I'd drive my car. Instead I think side streets, parallel roads, off roads.

So while we have the right to any road unless expressly forbidden some of the best riders are not where cars and drivers are.

It only takes a moment to check the action center at:

www.bikeleague.org/action/index.php

They'll have the link to just click, send a letter to the appropriate person regarding our burning needs .... to ride our bikes safely There, advocacy and you don't even have to log off and ride to a meeting.

[shootingstar]

Be prepared to give a lot of your time! But it will be worth it. I'm involved in local cycle advocacy, and it's an incredible thing. There's definitely a learning curve too, as to how the wheels of gov't turn, where is the money going to come from, politics and all that fun stuff. Have fun!!



might as well resign yourself now to the fact that only 1 in 10 to 20 uses will volunteer to work on issues that are important to them. Be prepared to hear a lot of , "why don't you...." and "you should be....". It's not worth getting stressed out over why more people don't participate. Either they do, or they don't, and if you are lucky you'll get an occasional thank you. We have a saying in our organization, "put up or shut up". Rough I know, but if you don't want to participate in the process, or at least come to a meeting to find out why things are going the way they are, we aren't terribly interested in hearing what you have to say.

Would tend to agree that it's useful to tell others, enourage them to participate but in the end, it is often a small group of dedicated cycling advocates who will attend meetings/respond with practical ideas for implementation.

It is useful to give a roadie perspective but the majority of the North Americans currently using cars as their only/main means of transportation will not be cycling with the skill, speed and confidence of a regular roadie. Instead to persuade people out of their cars and onto bikes more often is to map out safe, quieter road routes PLUS separated bike paths that are interconnected/parallel.

You will learn way more about your city / area at ground level than ever dreamt in your life.

[Irulan]

a word to those of you who just can't deal with meetings and being part of the process...something as simple as a few buck donated to your local organization can really make a difference. We understand that some people are too busy, too shy, or have their other causes. But a few bucks is something most of us can do if nothing else.

[gingerale]

What a great opportunity for you! Way to step up and get involved. Good luck with it all and keep us posted.

[smilingcat]

Its not finalized yet, but I may be speaking to the full city coucil next Tuesday night.

How fun is this???

smilingcat

[crazycanuck]

Coolio!

If you need any planning info, check out www.planning.org

Good luck!!