October 2022

October 2022
Vol. 41 No. 4
Website: www.humbike.org

New and Renewed Members of the HBBCA
The following are new and renewed members for
2022. If you haven’t renewed your dues for 2022,
they were due on January 1, as all dues expire on
December 31. An application is at the end of the
newsletter.

New Members for 2022
None
 
Renewed Members for 2022
Justin Fricker, Arcata**
Steve Sipma & Noreen O’Brien, Eureka**
 
Those with a ** next to their name gave an additional
donation. Those with *** have given
a $25 or greater donation. Thanks to all those who
have joined or renewed their commitment and those
who have given additional donations to support our
many causes. Get on board now for all the benefits,
including discounts at bike shops. See application at
the end of the newsletter. Join now and get 2023 free.

Next Meeting at Pachanga’s Mexican
Restaurant in Eureka on October 17, 2022
The next meeting on Monday, October 17, is open to
all who are fully vaccinated and boosted. The meeting
will be at Pachanga’s Mexican Restaurant, 5 th and S
Streets, in the back room. The meeting will start at 6
pm and end before 8 pm. The agenda will be set by
those in attendance.
 
 
The HBBCA has Turned 40!!
By Rick Knapp, President
Rick Knapp and four other cyclists formed the
Humboldt Bay Bicycle Commuters Association in
August 1982. The four others, Mary Lou Avanzino,
Bruce Hicks, Pat Higgins and Tim Springer met that
month in Rick’s Caltrans office. The visiting four
wanted to know how they might get bike racks on the
Humboldt Transit Authority buses. Rick asked them if
they would like to see other improvements for
bicyclists. The answer was “yes.” The next day, the
group had letterhead. Rick previously had experience
forming a similar group, the Capital Bicycle
Commuters Association in Sacramento. Two weeks
later, the HBBCA delivered 2,000 signatures to the
HTA in support of the “bikes on buses” project. The
HBBCA said it would prepare a grant application to
the State if they would agree to provide the 10%
match. They said “yes,” and the process began that
led to bike racks being installed on all HTA buses.
The first President was Marylou Avanzino, a nurse at
St. Joseph Hospital, then Bruce Hicks, also a nurse at
the hospital. Ultimately both of them moved to the
Bay Area. Following them, a local engineer, Scott
Kelley took over as President and led the
organization for several years. He left for Portland. By
then, Rick Knapp had retired from Caltrans and
agreed to take over as President. He has been the
President since 2011. He was the Vice-President
through all the earlier years. He’d love to see
someone else lead the group in the not-too-distant
future. Next year he’ll turn 80, too old to be President
of any organization except the United States. On
second thought, is 80 the new 60?
 
Through the years, the HBBCA assisted local agencies
in the preparation of bike master plans, developed
grant applications to help secure funding for
bikeways and bike parking in cities and at HSU. The
group has continued to advocate bike projects and
safety improvements on roadways to make roadways
safer for bike use. We continue to be a vigilant
“watchdog” in identifying safety issues and pursuing
resolution with local agencies and the State.
The group has promoted the use of a bicycle as a
legitimate mode of transportation. It has held Bike
Month rallies for over 35 years, and helped form the
Bike Month Humboldt Coalition in doing the same for
the last several years. It developed the BikeSmart on-
street training program for kids, a free 2-hour class to
teach cyclists how to ride safely and responsibly on
the road. As more and more adults decided they
wanted to take up commuting to work, the
Association began offering similar training to adults
on an on-call basis.
The HBBCA has always prided itself in working
cooperatively with local and State agencies rather
than in an adversarial manner. For that reason, we
are often sought out for advice rather than avoided.
The Association, a 100% volunteer organization, has
offered memberships for $5 per year ever since
inception. Some have suggested raising the price, but
since the average member donates $20 per year,
raising the price hasn’t been necessary. The
Association membership is usually about 100
members, and has an annual budget of about $2,000.
Even with so little in funding we have at times
provided matching funds for local businesses to get
them to provide bike racks, and we have installed
them!
There is a lot more to do. There always will be. If you
are interested, please join the Association and help us
achieve even loftier objectives in the future. We
currently have two Board positions open, also. Let us
know if you are interested.
 
Longtime Member, Betty Jain, has passed at the
Age of 93
By Rick Knapp
Betty Jain of Arcata has been a strong supporter of
the HBBCA for many years. She passed away on
September 1, 2022 at the age of 93. What a life she
had. Her obituary was published in the September 18
Times-Standard.
Just before she passed, Betty submitted an article,
“How Did We Get Here?—The Trip of a Lifetime,”
which was published on the front page of the
September Issue of the Senior News. In it, she
described first coming to Humboldt in 1951 on a
bicycle ride from Portland to San Francisco in 1951.
She said, while juniors at the University of Idaho, her
college friend, Janis Rankin and she bought one-
speed bikes for $30 each in Portland, carried sleeping
bags on the back and set out riding for San Francisco
despite the many warnings of friends and family. For
17 days, they pedaled up and down mountains,
through forests and fields, and beside the sea. She
said it seemed they got flat tires every 5 minutes. I
guess they learned how to patch them and air up
their tires. She turned 21 on the trip. If you’d like to
read the whole article, look for it on the website:
humsenior.org. It is a fun read. Betty will be dearly
missed.
 
The Conversion of W and Dolbeer Streets to
One Way Rejected by the City Council in Eureka
At the joint meeting of the Transportation Safety
Commission and the City Council on September 27 th ,
the Transportation Safety Council voted in favor of
the conversion of W and Dolbeer Streets to a one way
couplet, providing the opportunity to include a “high
quality bikeway” with the restriping of the recently
paved roadways. At the conclusion of 9 hours of
discussion/debate (over 2 meetings), the City Council
voted 3-2 against, which will immediately lead to
stripes being placed right where they were before
repaving. So, for the next 20 years, with the City
unwilling to eliminate any on-street parking, no
bikeway facilities are likely to be provided.
While it appeared that at least 4 of the 5 Council
members actually supported the conversion, they
were faced with either voting for the published draft
resolution (which simply called for conversion of the
streets to one way operation. Controversy surrounded the
direction of one-way travel (proposed counter-clockwise)
vs. some calling for clockwise; the type of bikeway to be
provided (left side, right side, etc.); and the lack of
resolution of safety concerns by the school district (for
drop-offs and pick-ups). The City Attorney warned the
Council not to redefine the concept from what was
published, to either vote for or against the published text.
The Public Works Director warned that they only had
about one month left in the current paving contract to
accomplish the restriping. Going back to the drawing
board was not in the cards, so in the end, the Council voted
3-2 against the conversion.
 
Bike Lane on H & I Streets in Eureka Coming Soon
The grant-funded conversion of 3 lane roadways to 2 lanes
with the addition of buffered bike lanes (and bulbouts at
selected intersections) is due to be advertised for bids in
January according to Brian Gerving, Director of Public
Works for the City. The City has agreed to the green
painting of the bike lanes as recommended by Rick Knapp.
This is a project the HBBCA has pursued for 10 years and
will result in a wonderful bike commuter route, safer
crossings by pedestrians, as well as traffic calming for the
residential communities served by these arterial
roadways.
 
City of Arcata Studying Conversion of 8 th and 9 th
Streets to One Way
The City is undertaking a study to consider ways to
convert 8 th and 9 th Streets between F Street and K Street to
one way streets, and removing one lane of travel on each
street between K and I Streets “to provide additional area
for bicycle and pedestrian amenities while improving
access to the Plaza and connectivity to Cal Poly, the
Creamery District and Northtown.” The HBBCA was
offered the opportunity to provide stakeholder
representation. Long time member, Nancy Reichard, has
been representing the HBBCA.
As reported in the July Wheel People, a first meeting was
held on June 27 th . Nancy reported that the City has received
an $800,000 grant to convert the subject blocks. Since
then, they met again in mid-September. During this time,
the Consultant has been working on alternatives. A pop-up
event is happening Saturday, October 1, during which the
City and Consultant will demonstrate a complete street
design alternative on 8 th Street between K and J Streets.
Details can be found on the City of Arcata website,
cityofarcata.org.
 
Bike Lanes Restored in Eureka
After numerous delays, the City of Eureka was finally able
to complete striping on four bike lanes—Harris Street, J
Street, Wabash Avenue and Myrtle Avenue. Thermoplastic
was used to give a long life to the stripes. We have asked
that the BIKE LANE legends also be refreshed. That hasn’t
happened yet. We also had a commitment to restripe
Waterfront Drive, including the gap between the Adorni
Center and the Aquatic Center. Hopefully, that happens
soon, too.
 
“OmniBike Bill” Signed into Law by the Governor
On September 23 rd , the Governor signed AB 1909, a bill
pushed by the California Bicycle Coalition, called the
OmniBike Bill., authored by Assembly member Laura
Friedman. It makes four changed to the vehicle code.
1. Adding to the already passed 3-foot rule for
passing, this bill requires motorists to change
lanes whenever passing bicyclists if feasible.
2. E-bikes allowed on most bikeways.
3. Bicyclists may cross streets on the “Walk” phase of
a signal if different from the green light for
motorists.
4. Stops enforcement of bicycle licensing laws across
the State.

Who to Call When You See a Safety Concern (Rev.
4/2022)
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, the need to clear vegetation encroaching
on a shoulder, or a street light that is out, call the
responsible agency/person listed below. Of course, if you
see a condition that requires immediate attention, like a
stop sign knocked down, call 9-1-1. For non-emergency
conditions, the following contact information is provided:

Caltrans
Customer Service Liaison, Jessica Henry Gibbs
707-441-5655 online Customer Service Report:
csr.dot.ca.gov

County of Humboldt
Dispatcher
Abandoned Vehicles: Wally Williams,
County Sheriff’s Office, 268-2509
 
City of Arcata
Melanie Dabill
Public Works Administrative Assistant
Abandoned Vehicles:
Arcata Police Dept. at 707-822-2424

City of Eureka
Abandoned Vehicles:
707-268-5232
 
HBBCA Board of Directors (Rev. 4/8/22)
President---------------------- Rick Knapp
445-1097(h) email: info@humbike.org
Vice-President---------------- Brett Gronemeyer
845-2117(cell);
Secretary/Treasurer---Gail Popham,
707-502-8030(cell)
Director of Planning-----open/available
Director of Publicity ----open/available
Contact Rick Knapp if you are interested in filing a vacant
Board position.
 
Please Join or Renew Your Membership for 2022
Now—Get 2023 Free
The HBBCA is working to improve and encourage bicycle
commuting. Your $5.00 annual dues, paid on a calendar
year basis, will help pay for youth helmets, bike racks, this
newsletter, the website, BikeSmart promotions, “Bike
Month” activities, prizes, postage, insurance, etc. And, it
will help demonstrate your commitment to our goal.
With your membership card, you may request discounts
on bike parts and accessories at Revolution Bicycle Repair
and Adventure’s Edge. Discounts may vary now due to
inventory shortages of some items. Membership cards
include stickers on the back showing discounts offered by
the various bike shops.
Enclosed: $_____dues ($5.00) $_____donation
Name_______________________________________________
Address_____________________________________________
______________________________________________________
Phone__________________(h)______________________(w)
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neatly printed email address:
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Mail to HBBCA, P.O. Box 9054 Eureka CA 95502-9054