August 2017 - CalBike

Bittersweet News: Jeanie Ward-Waller Takes On Her Next Challenge

August 18, 2017/by Zac

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – August 18, 2017

Re: Bittersweet News

Sacramento, CA –The California Bicycle Coalition announces the bittersweet departure of Jeanie Ward-Waller from her role as CalBike’s Policy Director and congratulates her on her exciting new position. She will be a valued partner to CalBike in her new role where she has pledged to continue working with the state’s transportation justice advocates.

Ward-Waller led the state’s broad alliance of transportation justice advocates in reforming state transportation policy with a broad range of initiatives to achieve the coalition’s health, equity, and climate goals. Under her leadership, CalBike and its partners succeeded in securing key improvements in the landmark Senate Bill 1, including a $100 million annual investment in walking and biking. Ward-Waller’s policy team has helped to shape the state’s Active Transportation Program so that its benefits go to the communities who need it the most.

“Jeanie has done a fantastic job working with a broad and diverse group of advocates to keep them energized and focused on the big picture—and ensured advocates continued to partner together in the midst of challenging situations. We are grateful for her commitment to sustainability and excited to partner with her in the future,” said Chanell Fletcher, Associate Director of ClimatePlan.

“Jeanie is the most effective coalition-builder I’ve ever seen,” said Dave Snyder, CalBike’s executive director. “To those qualities she adds a deep and unwavering commitment to social justice, an incredible work ethic, an engineer’s attention to detail, and a sense of humor. We’re going to miss her.”

CalBike pledges to continue working for transportation justice, on issues beyond the bicycle, and in coalition with leaders and grassroots organizations from disadvantaged communities across the state. Its Board of Directors meets next week to finalize a new Strategic Plan, after which we will announce a recruitment process to find a new leader to implement that strategy.

Click here for a pdf version of this press release.

As the State Legislature Heads Out on Summer Recess, What’s Next for Key CalBike-Supported Bills?

August 10, 2017/by Zac

The legislature may be on summer break, but CalBike is hard at work preparing for the next round of opportunities to advocate for a better California for all. Read on for an update on key legislation we’re sponsoring or tracking, and keep up with our blog for opportunities to get involved.

Get State Employees Rolling: SB 702 (Stern)

This CalBike-sponsored bill expands California’s state employee bike share program, currently limited to just under 100 bikes; SB 702 passed the Senate Committee on Accountability and Administrative Review and is headed to the Appropriations Committee. While the bill was amended to say the state is required to expand bikeshare wherever it’s both feasible and “reasonable” rather than just feasible, we’re excited about the potential expansion of this program.

CalBike is sponsoring this bill because we know that expanding access to bicycles for California’s hundreds of thousands of state employees means getting more cars off the road, promoting bicycling, and helping our neighbors to make healthier choices. Increasing bicycling and reducing fossil fuel use and traffic congestion are critical priorities for our state and bike shares can help to meet those needs. This is an opportunity to help our state’s employees to be part of the transportation system of the future, and CalBike is ready to keep up the fight for a sustainable state vehicle fleet.

Require Qualified Representation: AB 179 (Cervantes)

AB 179 is part of a series of efforts to reform the powerful California Transportation Commission, an executive body with far-reaching impact. Transportation investments affect all Californians, and they often disproportionately burden our lowest-income communities-but the CTC currently has no requirements that it’s appointed commissioners have any experience with important issues like pollution impacts, sustainable and active transportation, or public health. Legislation like AB 179 aims to change that.

This particular bill has evolved from a mandate that the CTC must include representation from experts that live and work in underserved and environmental justice communities to a guideline suggesting that the governor should “use every effort” to ensure diverse and experienced appointments, but CalBike still sees AB 179, now headed to the Senate Appropriations Committee, as a step in the right direction. The fact that Chairman of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee Senator Beall (D-Campbell) forcefully acknowledged that “We need to have a more diverse state transportation commission” is representative of an encouraging shift away from the status quo in transportation decision-making. CalBike agrees and we plan to hold him to ensuring the state follows through on that statement when the next opportunity to appoint diverse representation to the commission comes up.

Free Transit for Students: AB 17 (Holden)

AB 17 creates a free transit pass program for low-income students in middle school through university, enabling students all over the state to get to and stay in school. Investing in student transit programs is an investment in our future. Besides elevating the lifelong potential of our students, these programs can help to improve our transit systems, create lifelong transit users, reduce carbon emissions and traffic congestion, and reduce strain on low-income families.

The bill passed the Senate Transportation & Housing Committee and is headed into the Committee on Appropriations, where it faces a tough fight for funding. The concept of a free transit program is extremely popular but finding a consistent funding source for it is the real challenge.

Hold Cities Accountable: SB 150 (Allen)

The state’s regional planning authorities are required to set climate goals for reducing carbon emissions largely through more efficient transportation and land use development that reduces miles traveled in personal vehicles—but as of right now there is no mechanism for holding our regional agencies accountable to these requirements. SB 150 challenges metropolitan regions to set regional targets that align with the state’s climate change targets, by reducing driving and making it easier to walk, bike, and take transit.

SB 150 passed out of the Transportation and Natural Resources Committees of the Assembly and is headed to Appropriations-but not without being amended to remove references to specific targets for reducing driving. There is still much work to be done in holding regional authorities and their member local jurisdictions accountable to the goals we set as a state.

2017 California Dream Ride Preview: Day 4

August 8, 2017/by Zac

During the past couple of months, the Dream Ride staff has been wrapping up the reconnaissance and most of the planning for year’s tour. Except for a few more tweaks, the route and overnight hotels are set! However, please be aware that some details may change between now and October, so stay tuned to this blog or contact ride director Debbie Brubaker (debbie@calbike.org) for the latest details.

Day 4 of the 2017 California Dream Ride begins with a descent from the redwood forest that surrounds the overnight stop in Occidental, through Valley Ford, and then on to a rest stop in the crossroads town of Tomales. The vineyard countryside of Days 2 and 3 gives way to rolling green pasturelands, where cows, sheep and goats are raised on protected farmlands, their organic milk processed into the artisanal cheeses that are increasingly popular and pair well with the wines produced by the vineyards of the Napa and Sonoma valleys.

Just south from there on Highway 1, at a wide spot in the road known as Ocean Roar, the route vectors south and a little east to the shores of Tomales Bay. Contrary to the Ocean Roar’s name, the Pacific Ocean can’t be heard (or seen) from here, but almost. The salt air and breezes off the water will be part of the cycling experience for the next dozen or so miles along the Bay, past numerous eateries that serve fresh-from-the-bay oysters, crab and other seafood.

After a midday break in Point Reyes Station (with lunch at Cowgirl Creamery, a purveyor of some of those locally-made cheeses and other tasty treats), the Dream Ride hits the California Redwoods again as it passes through Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Through these big trees, the tour will use the Sir Francis Drake Bikeway/Cross-Marin Trail, a quiet, shaded bike and pedestrian path winding through forest, open spaces, and across streams on wood and steel truss bridges. This bikeway is another one of California’s rails to trails projects—this one using the old roadbed of the North Pacific Coast Railroad that once connected Larkspur on the San Francisco Bay with Occidental and Cazadero.

The final segment of Day 4 follows Sir Francis Drake Boulevard east through Lagunitas (named after a ruthlessly delicious IPA), San Rafael, and finally Corte Madera. Along the way, the Tour will have an extended rest stop at the Marin Museum of Bicycling and Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. This is a must-see for those passionate about cycling. The Museum documents the birth and the many Golden Ages of bicycling. As its name indicates, the building also houses the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Among its inductees are Joe Breeze, Tom Ritchey, Gary Fisher, and many more. These are the men and women who pioneered mountain biking on Mount Tamalpais (“Mt. Tam”), in Larkspur Canyon, Repack, and other settings in Marin County. From the Museum, it is a short urban ride to the overnight hotel in Corte Madera.

The California Dream Ride was conceived of by CalBike’s Dave Snyder and brought to life by Debbie Brubaker, our ride director. It is a fundraiser to support the California Bicycle Coalition’s statewide advocacy efforts and to raise awareness by showcasing the successes of statewide and local efforts to enhance bicycle infrastructure and to increase bicycle safety. The tour is fully supported—all riders do is ride! This year’s Dream Ride begins in Folsom on October 8th (rendezvous and meet ‘n greet) and ends on October 13th in Oakland (last day of riding and end-of-ride festivities).

Cyclists of all levels are encouraged to take part in the Dream Ride. Stay tuned to this blog, CalBike’s Facebook page, and the Dream Ride website for more details and overviews of each day’s riding.

California’s New Program to Improve Alternatives to Driving in Congested Corridors

August 4, 2017/by Zac

The Solutions for Congested Corridors Program (SCCP) is a new $250 million (per year) competitive state grant program created under Senate Bill 1 to improve travel in traffic-choked corridors by providing more transportation choices that get people out of their cars. CalBike and our partners are leading advocacy efforts to ensure this program meets its true aim of multimodality.

The language in SB 1 that enacts the SCCP contains strong requirements for projects that encourage land use decisions that support compact infill development and reduce vehicle miles traveled. It also contains the goal of preserving the character of the local communities and creating opportunities for neighborhood enhancement projects. Coupled with the restrictions against use of program funds for “general purpose lane expansion” (i.e. your average new freeway lane), and a set of strong scoring criteria for projects, the SCCP provides a new opportunity for regions to tackle their most congested corridors. The SCCP requires regions to move beyond the business-as-usual strategy of building our way out of congestion with more lane-miles of highway, and instead incentivizes sustainable and efficient solutions to congestion that will benefit communities long overburdened by large, dangerous, and unhealthy freeway projects.

However, even though the objectives of the SCCP sound great, smart growth and sustainable communities’ advocates like CalBike cannot just sit back and relax through the implementation phase. The SCCP was designed for interested and affected stakeholders to improve it through the California Transportation Commission (CTC) program development process. Fortunately, CTC staff are poised to lead with a clear intent to promote sustainability in transportation investments. So far, CTC staff have held two SCCP workshops and have set a firm foundation for improving accessibility (people’s overall ability to reach desired services and activities)—rather than just increasing travel speed (mobility)—in our most backed-up corridors.

In particular, advocates have a critical opportunity during this pivotal program development process to ensure the program successfully addresses transportation justice. Disadvantaged and low-income communities of color who are more likely to be non-drivers will be shortchanged if all the SCCP funds go directly into the expansion of freeways (i.e. toll lanes, carpool lanes, managed lanes, freight lanes, etc.) for personal vehicles. The SCCP also needs to avoid any negative community impacts on neighborhoods adjacent to congested corridors that have suffered from pollution, dangerous and crowded streets, and blight while commuters from other parts of the region zoom past.

Overall, the SCCP is a major positive step in the slow transformation of transportation planning.California planners are finally beginning to institutionalize more sustainable and efficient practices to address traffic congestion. And it’s not just our planners that are changing their tune and approaches—several of our elected officials are pushing this change from the policy side. State Assembly Transportation Committee Member Laura Friedman (D-Glendale) stated candidly during a bill hearing in April that adding freeway capacity is a “20th century solution to a 21st century problem”. Her assertion reflects a growing understanding in transportation research and planning that “adding capacity does not decrease congestion—getting people out of their cars decreases congestion”–another of Assemblymember Friedman’s signature remarks.

Draft guidelines for the SCCP are expected to be released by the CTC in mid-October and be finalized by December 2017. Two more workshops will be held in Oakland and Sacramento before the Guidelines are published. As in all SB 1 programs, broad public participation is sorely needed. Community residents, commuters, advocates, and anybody who endures maddening traffic or is impacted by it has a stake in this program. With your help, we can ensure state policy decisions reflect not only Assemblymember Friedman’s visionary comments, but also the broad support of California’s residents and voters for a truly multi-modal transportation system.

Bittersweet News: Jeanie Ward-Waller Takes On Her Next Challenge

As the State Legislature Heads Out on Summer Recess, What’s Next for Key CalBike-Supported Bills?

2017 California Dream Ride Preview: Day 4

California’s New Program to Improve Alternatives to Driving in Congested Corridors

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