ma newsletter, 1, sonoma county bicycle coalition

8/9/2019 ma Newsletter, 1, Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition

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Issue 1

Bikesonoma Newsletter of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition Summer 2001

promoting bicycling for transportation and recreation

If you ride a bike fairly often this scenario should soundfamiliar: you’re riding alonga two lane road, you hear acar approaching fast behind you and then it buzzes by you with what seems likeonly inches to spare, youradrenaline surges and youshudder. “#$@%X!!!, That was too close!!” you say to

yourself, “Why can’t theyshare the road?” And perhaps you as the motorist have beendriving along and had abicyclist pop out in front of you unexpectedly. That canbe disconcerting too. It’smoments like these that the“Share The Road” (STR) program is designed to remedy.“Getting cars and bikes

working together to improveour on-the-road behavior in terms of courtesy, cooperationand safety” is the philosophyof this program which JaniceEunice, founding member of the Sonoma County BicycleCoalition (SCBC) has spear-headed. STR marks the firstmajor success of the new bikeadvocacy group. The STR message is one that appeals to

most people and the SCBC has now come out withSTR bumper stickers. Policedepartments across SonomaCounty have embraced theconcept and already requesteddozens of them to put on their patrol cars. In addition, to thebumper stickers, SCBC has worked with Caltrans to installSTR traffic signs at 23 locations

along state highways within the county. Next, the SCBC plans to work with localagencies to get STR signson county roads.

The STR philosophy tests oursense of humanity and respectfor the golden rule and is basedon the belief that, when givenclear and useful information

about what it means to “share the road”, bicyclists and driversof Sonoma County will begin to change their on-the-roadbehavior and become morecourteous and cooperative. Wouldn’t that be nice?!STR traffic signs are not brandnew and have been promotedhere and there across thecountry over the years.Recently in Marin, however,Malcolm Foster working

with the Marin CountyBicycle Coalition has taken the idea to a new level.Foster’s STR project includesbumper stickers, posters, roadsigns and educational programsand his project has been a biginspiration to the SCBC.

The Marin program wascreated in part as a response to the death of cyclist Cecy

Krone who was hit and killed by a motorist in Septemberof 1999 while riding inMarin. If the STR programgoes well in Sonoma County perhaps we can save the lives of those like Ms. Krone who simply want thefreedom to ride safely.

You too can be a part of this

campaign: STR bumperstickers are availablefree when you becomea member of theSonoma CountyBicycle Coalition or atlocal bike shops for $3.

SCBCCALENDAR

SCBC Board Meetings

4th Wednesday of each

month at 6:00 pm at the

Environmental Center,

404 Mendocino Avenue

in downtown Santa Rosa

(open to the public)

Celebrate Public Space

Bike to the Green!

The SCBC will host free

supervised Valet Bicycle

Parking at the opening

celebration of the beautiful

new Windsor Town Green

Saturday June 16th from

11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

9291 Old Redwood Hwy

in downtown Windsor.

The Green is just north of

Windsor River Road.

Bill Travis Orchestra will

provide Jazz, Swing

and R&B

plus Swan Bros. Circus forkids including—no joke,

"Trixie the Wonderdog"!

Share the Road marks SCBC’s first success

SHARETHEROADSonoma County Bicycle Coalition www.bikesonoma.org

Bumper sticker graphic—designed by SCBC member Sally Homsi

Laurie Mattinson, commuting fromSebastopol to Santa Rosa on Bike to Work Day along the beautiful Rodota Trail. —Great weather rewarded participants.



SCBC:Envisioning aBicycle Paradise

A few months ago a friendfrom Berkeley visited me.

As we rode on the WestCounty Trail and on somesmall country roads fromdowntown Sebastopol out past Graton, he said he thought Sonoma Countycould “be the Holland of the USA” or in other words,a paradise for bikes. I hopehe’s right. We bicyclists dohave a lot going for us here:good weather, some greatcar-free bike paths, scenic

roads, and a lot of smart,healthy people who appreci-ate the fun and benefits of getting around by bike. Andnow, there’s another great thing for bicyclists here: TheSonoma County BicycleCoalition. We are a brandnew community group witha mission of “promoting the bicycle for transportationand recreation”. We have a wonderful pool of talented,

energetic people who arealready taking action on various fronts, from our“Share the Road” program to creating a new SonomaCounty Bikeways map andoffering Valet BicycleParking at communityevents. We’ve got lots moreideas too, but we need moreof us—so won’t you please become a member and getinvolved, together we canmake Sonoma County a true bicycle paradise.

Ted WhiteExecutive Director

Seeing theBicycle as anIndicatorSpecies

The bicycle has been called

the “indicator species” for ahealthy community. If a town has lots of bicyclists itmeans that there is good planning, housing existsclose to shopping and to workplaces. It means thereare less cars on the road,cleaner air, and safer streetsfor kids. If numbers of bicy-clists can tell us this thenhow do our towns and citiesin Sonoma County measure

up? Personally, I’d like tosee the numbers of cyclistson our streets soar. Cities like Santa Rosa, Petaluma,and Sonoma, in particularhave great potential to be bike havens. In these citieshousing (especially the olderneighborhoods) is close toshops, restaurants, theaters, parks and schools; and biking to work is often onlya modest distance (assuming you don’t commute to SanFrancisco everyday.) Come to think of it Cotati, RohnertPark, Windsor, Cloverdaleand Sebastopol are prettygood places to bike too.More bicycle use also indi-cates a community where people are healthy, active,

consuming far less resourcesand are (dare I say?)–happier.So what do we need to do toencourage more biking?More bike lanes, widershoulders, more bike racks,

financial incentives for riding to work, better enforcementof speeding laws for cars, ... these are all very important.However, we also need toadjust our mindset, andchange the way we thinkabout getting around. Risingoil prices are nudging us toreconsider our affection for big SUV’s and other gasguzzlers. And clearly ourenvironment is begging us

to use our cars less. Fromair, noise and ground water pollution to the vast amountsof wonderful wildlife turnedinto “roadkill” every day ouroverreliance on driving is transforming this place thatLuther Burbank called “a paradise” into just anothersuburban mess. But it’scertainly not too late to makechanges and the recentcounts at this years Bike to

Work Day stations show anincrease in the number of cyclists. And if bicyclists,our indicator species keepmultiplying the wholecounty will benefit. -TW

Bikesonoma EDITOR:

Ted White

LAYOUT/DESIGN:

Sally Homsi

CONTRIBUTORS:

Arianne Sperry

and Lou Salz

SCBC Board of Directors

Jan Bush

Randy Carpenter

Mike Eunice (Secretary)

Debora Fudge

Oren Noah,

Linda Picton

Lou Salz (Vice President)

Warren Watkins

Ken Wells (President)

Ted White

Joel Woodhull

Gary Wysocky (Treasurer)

Bicycle Commuters, Ganelle Dippé and Francine Baldus Picking up Goodies on Biketo Work Day at the Rodota Trail Energizer Station in Sebastopol.



Old RedwoodHwy Gets BikeFriendlyUpgrade

The City of Santa Rosa has

completed improvements toOld Redwood Highwaynorth of the Mendocino Avenue interchange. Thissection of the road was the last remaining section between Santa Rosa and Windsor that had not beenimproved. The relatively lightly traveled roadwayof 20 years ago was becoming very busy. A large number of

employers have builtfacilities in the AirportBusiness parks andmany new residents havemoved into developmentsin the region north of Santa Rosa. There arealso a number of schoolsalong Old RedwoodHighway making this akey transport corridor.SCBC member Lou Salzcomplimented the projectsaying “completing this project is already helpingunlock the bicycle com-mute potential of this transportation corridor”and acknowledged ProjectManager, Glen Wright, who made fine effortsover the years to help make this project happen, offer-ing a very nice facility for bicycle riders.

Bike Racks Nowon Santa RosaCity Buses

SR CityBus now allows bikes on all bus routes.Racks hold two bikes, onfirst come first serve basis.Sorry no tandems orrecumbents. For moreinformation call 543-3925.

West CountyBike TrailImprovementsComing... Slowly

Bicyclists and pedestrians

who eagerly await the day when the West CountyBike trail will continue onHwy 116 between MillStation Road andOccidental Rd. inSebastopol will have to be patient. According to theSonoma County ParksDept. a project grant has been secured but thedesign process withCalTrans is still ongoing –

the hope is that constructioncontract bidding willcommence in Oct 2002. Also, road signs are needed to let trail users know when and where the trailstops and starts again but those signs are anothercouple years away as well. For now, cyclistsshould know that the trail begins at HighSchool Rd. nearHealdsburg Ave. acrossfrom Analy High Schoolin Sebastopol and contin-ues to Hwy 116. (Fromhere I recommend care-fully crossing 116 and taking Mill Station Rd. toBarlow Lane, go right onBarlow Ln. then left ontoOccidental Rd and pickup the trail again just out-side of Graton – editor).

From downtown Graton with a few gaps you cango nearly all the way toForestville. It’s beautiful trail, if you haven’t beenon it yet try it this sum-mer! For a map, callSonoma County Parks565-2041

New Santa RosaBike Map

The Dept of Transit and

Parking has created a newSanta Rosa bikeways map.It’s in English and Spanishand also has info on bike parking and bikes on buses. The maps are freeand available at Santa RosaCity Hall Dept of TrafficRm 6 or call 543-3325 and they’ll send you one.

SCBCDevelopingCountywideBike MapThe Sonoma CountyBicycle Coalition plans to begin creating a wonderfulnew county-wide bikewaysmap in the near future. If you’re interested in beinginvolved in production. write or e-mail us.

Big Thanks to:

David Becker/ Office Depotfor donating office sup- plies and recycled paper

Community Market,Sonoma Valley Bagel Co.Oliver's Marketand Albertson's

all contributed food toBike to Work Dayenergizer stations

to all who volunteered their time to staff theenergizer stations

and lastly, thanks to allSCBC members, volunteersand board for greatenthusiasm and good work so far.Here’s to our future!

VeloVision

Most bike magazinesare obsessed only with high-performance training regimens,analyzing the latestenergy bar, andrunning productreviews of the sameold stuff. If you wanta bike magazine thatis new and differentand wonderful try VeloVision. It fea- tures great articlesand beautiful photos

on new bike designs(recumbents, folders, tandems, cargo bikes,etc) bicycle art, bikeadventures, bike histo-ry, bike literature and bike politics. Highly recommended.

Order from: www.velovision.co.ukor write to: VeloVision,The EnvironmentalCommunity Centre,St Nicholas Fields, York YO10 3EN , England UK

Media Review… Media Review… Media Review…



SCBC membership contributions are tax-deductible www.bikesonoma.org

Membership Level

$15 STUDENT

$30 REGULAR

$40 FAMILY

$50 CONTRIBUTING

$100 SUPPORTING

$250 SUSTAINING

$500 CHAMPION

$1,000 MILLENNIUM

$_______SPONSOR

Make checks payable toake checks payable toSonoma County Bicycle Coalitiononoma County Bicycle CoalitionP. O. Box 3088O. Box 3088Santa Rosa, CAanta Rosa, CA 95402-308895402-3088

Area of Expertise/Knowledge

Fund-Raising

Marketing Specialist

Organizational Structure

Educational Workshops

Special Projects:

Other:

Name:

Address:

Phone:

e-mail:

LAST FIRST

STREET/BOX#

CITY/TOWN STATE ZIP CODE

DAY EVENING

S C B C M E M B E R S H I P F O R M

promoting the bicycle for transportation and recreation

P. O. Box 3088Santa Rosa, CA 95402-3088

www.bikesonoma.org

Sonoma Conoma Co unty Bicyclenty Bicycle Coalitionalition

ma newsletter, 1, sonoma county bicycle coalition

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