January 2010
WHEEL PEOPLE |
VOL. 29 NO. 1 |
January 2010 |
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Newsletter of the Humboldt Bay Bicycle Commuters Association P. O. Box 9054 Eureka CA 95502 HAPPY NEW DECADE—MAKE IT A BICYCLE COMMUTING ONE!!! THANKS TO THE NEW AND RENEWED MEMBERS FOR 2010 New Members:
Renewed Members for 2010:
Those with a ** have made additional donations to the HBBCA. Those with *** have made donations of $25 or more. THE NEXT REGULAR MEETING TO BE HELD JANUARY 25TH IN EUREKA The next regular HBBCA meeting will be held at 6:00 p.m., January 25, 2010 at Chapala’s Mexican Restaurant, 2nd and C Streets in Eureka. Dinner is optional. The agenda will include discussion of priorities for 2010. Other items may be added by emailing Rick Knapp at info@humbike.org MEMBERS WHO RECEIVE THEIR WHEEL PEOPLE NEWSLETTER BY EMAIL, PLEASE TAKE NOTICE….. The HBBCA endeavors to get your email delivery to you each time a newsletter is published. They are published on odd months through the year. If somehow you don’t receive yours in the future, it may be that we don’t have your current email address. Please keep us up to date by sending your revised address to info@humbike.org. While we like to serve our members via email to save money and for the convenience of members, it can be problematic as email addresses change, or we don’t read accurately what you have provided to us, or we don’t transfer it accurately to our address book. You know how frustrating it can be to get!! You can always look up the current or past newsletters by going to our website at humbike.org. BOARD MEMBERS NEEDED!! With Scott Kelly’s departure, we are down to two Board members, Rick Knapp and Brett Gronemeyer. We desperately need a Director of Publicity. If you have some experience or would like some, we’d like to hear from you. The Director of Publicity prepares and sends out newsreleases. Additionally, that person would take over preparing the bi-monthly newsletter. Rick Knapp is doing these now and could transfer responsibilities to someone else little by little as desired. Rick would continue to provide all the assistance needed. If someone has an interest in being the President, please contact Rick Knapp who is carrying out the responsibilities in the interim. The President serves as the official spokesperson for the organization. He writes letters to local officials, makes presentations, serves on study groups, and represents the organization at special events, such as BikeSmart Training, Bike Month activities, etc. Again, functions can be transferred little by little as one becomes ready for more responsibility.ARCATA RAIL WITH TRAIL PROJECT By Brett Gronemeyer, HBBCA Director of Planning On Thursday, December 10th, a stakeholder committee meeting was held regarding the City of Arcata “Rail with Trail Connectivity Project.” The City has received funding from the Coastal Conservancy to complete planning, design, and permitting for a Class I, multiuse trail, about 4 miles in length, that would start at the Arcata Skatepark and follow, roughly parallel to, the North West Pacific rail line through Arcata and along Humboldt Bay, ending in Bracut. This project would be the first portion of a trail eventually linking the Cities of Arcata and Eureka. Multiple proposed alignments of the trail were presented to the stakeholders for comments and selection of preferred alignments. There is a public workshop tentatively scheduled for the first week in February. Watch for the meeting notice. We encourage all HBBCA members interested in this trail to attend this workshop. We expect to have the workshop meeting details at the next scheduled HBBCA general meeting. Don't miss out on the opportunity to provide input into this important trail!ARCATA AND ROUTE 255 TO BENEFIT FROM FEDERAL STIMULUS FUNDSBy Jen Rice, former Director of Planning The City of Arcata is receiving $1.3 million in federal stimulus funds for the widening of Samoa Boulevard/Route 255 in the one miles section from the Union Street roundabout to the railroad track at the western city limits. Improvements will include 6-foot sidewalks, Class II bike lanes, ADA conformance work and landscaping. If all necessary permits can be obtained in time, construction will begin in Spring 2010. SCOTT KELLY RECEIVES SENDOFF FROM HBBCA At its regular November meeting, the HBBCA gave an official send-off to its long-time President, Scott Kelly. Scott and his family have moved to Portland. At the meeting, Rick Knapp presented Scott with a clock with engraving which said, “SCOTT KELLY—THANKS FOR YOUR SERVICE TO THE HBBCA—NOVEMBER 2009” HBBCA TO CONDUCT BIKE MAINTENANCE WORKSHOP AT 2010 NORTHCOAST YOUTH SUMMIT The HBBCA will conduct a bike maintenance session at the 2010 Northcoast Youth Summit on Saturday, February 27th. Rick Knapp will do it if he cannot get other volunteers. It will be a basic one hour maintenance class, teaching attendees how to fix a flat, adjust brakes, gears, saddles, etc., and answer questions. If you are interested in helping, call Rick Knapp at 445-1097. UPDATE ON COUNTY ROAD IMPROVEMENTS By Chris Whitworth, Deputy District Director,Humboldt County Public Works Old Arcata Road (7 foot shoulders) - completed Applications for funding of a Safe Routes to Schools project in Redway have been approved for sidewalks and roadway improvements for better access (to begin 2012). Design and multi-phased widening of School Road will begin next summer with drainage improvements and sidewalks on the south side of the road from Washington to Salmon. Widening of the roadway to the north will be phased with development of vacant parcels and the undergrounding of utilities lead by PG&E.
STIP projects are on hold pending California State solvency. Projects of interest in the STIP queue are Central Avenue shoulder widening from Bartow to Bella Vista and Union Street widening that will include 6 foot shoulders and sidewalks. Happy New Year!CITY OF ARCATA BIKE PLAN GOES TO PLANNING COMMISSION By Oona Smith, Environmental Planner, Public Works Department, City of Arcata The City of Arcata’s update of the Pedestrian & Bicycle Master Plan is rolling along. This update will revise the Master Plan that was adopted in 2004. Since last August, the Public Works Department has been updating the Plan, and the Transportation Safety Committee has been discussing revisions, reviewing the draft, and hearing public comments. The next step is for the Planning Commission to review the draft plan and approve it with any of its own recommendations; the plan will then go to the City Council for adoption. The Planning Commission’s first meeting on the draft plan is scheduled for January 26, 2010. The update retains the unfulfilled priority pedestrian and bicycle projects from the 2004 Plan. The City will focus on implementing the priority projects in the next five years. The update also carries over most of the conceptual and potential (i.e. not planned) projects from 2004, but these still are not City priorities to implement. The update has changed, however, by adding more specific programs for education, outreach, and evaluation for bicycling and walking. More changes are sure to come as the Planning Commission and City Council review the drafts and instruct staff to revise parts of the Master Plan. Public input will also help inform and guide changes and revisions. The draft update can be viewed online at www.cityofarcata.org (look under “Documents”), and hard copies can also be viewed at the Public Works Department and the Arcata LibraryCALIFORNIA BIKE ROUTES ACT SIGNED BY GOVERNOR On October 11, Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 1464, the California Bicycle Routes of National, State, or Regional Significance Act (and the acronym is??). It is designed to encourage healthy, low cost travel for local and visiting cyclists by identifying, signing and promoting bicycle routes. The act will be implemented by Caltrans. It is charged with forming an advisory committee to work with local bicycle, government and tourism entities to ruminate routes.NEW “PLEASE SHARE THE ROAD” T-SHIRTS AVAILABLE A new bright yellow T-shirt is available from the HBBCA, sporting the HBBCA logo on the front and a “Please Share the Road” message on the back. We also have some “One Less Car” T-shirts. Also, we have some of the stretchy scoop neck women’s shirts with the “Please Share the Road” message. If you’d like to buy one for $10 (our cost), please call Rick Knapp at 445-1097. This study has the potential to lay out a program to significantly improve Route 255 for bicyclists and pedestrians over the next several years, as funding becomes available. If you would like to find out more about the study, or to be notified about future public meetings, you can contact Brian Simon, Caltrans Project Engineer, at 441-3935, or via email at Brian_Simon@dot.ca.gov.LETTER TO THE EDITOR Rick, I just read your article in the HBBCA newsletter about mirrors. You mentioned you've never heard somebody tell you they didn't like a mirror after giving it a try. Well, I used one for about two months a couple years ago, and decided I did not like it. First off, I found it distracting and I was checking it more often than I needed. Second, it was a pain in the butt to adjust every time I got on the bike to ride; I couldn't tell if it was pointing in the right direction until I was actually riding. This meant I had to adjust it while riding, which I felt was a dangerous distraction. Finally, I found myself relying on it too much, and on one occasion failed to turn my head to check for traffic and almost got nailed by a vehicle I didn't see in the mirror. I realize this is no excuse; I'm sure I could train Tim Daniels, Arcata Editors’ comment: I guess I will have to modify my editorial to say that I have not yet installed and trained a rider to use the mirror and have them quit using it! I talked with Tim about his letter and the problems he had. He acknowledged that the mirror got out of adjustment mainly because it got banged when it was off the head. After our discussion, he said he might give it a try again sometime. HBBCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS
WHO TO CALL WHEN YOU SEE A SAFETY CONCERN (Revised 1/09) The HBBCA checked with agencies in the Humboldt Bay region to determine appropriate contact personnel to respond to bike-related issues. If you see a condition that needs to be corrected in order to improve safety or convenience for cyclists such as a pothole in a bike lane, accumulated debris on a roadway shoulder, the need to re-stripe a bike lane, or the need to clear vegetation encroaching on a shoulder, call the responsible agency/person listed below.
PLEASE JOIN OR RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP FOR 2010 With you membership card, request the following discounts on bike parts and accessories: 10% (or more) at Henderson Center Bicycles; 10% at Revolution Bicycle Repair; 10% at Adventure’s Edge; 10% at Pro Sport Center and the New Outdoor Store, and 15% at Sport and Cycle. If you are already a paid-up member and would like to start receiving your newsletters by email, please advise us at: info@humbike.org Newsletter of the Humboldt Bay Bicycle Commuters Association |
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