Rides are free and are lead by either Brenda Miller or Pete Van Nuys,
both certified instructors by the League of American Bicyclists
Ride Rules: 10 mph max, speed of slowest kid is the speed of the ride. Helmets required.
The time is NOW for San Clemente residents & users of the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route to engage and comment on our City's DRAFT Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. For a detailed explanation of what this is all about, see my Speaking of Spokes Blog post.
SAVE these GPAC dates, all at 5:30 pm, at the Library Annex:
ps--there will be additional public hearings with the Planning Commission and the City Council.
WATCH the educational videos and check out the embedded links. (I tried to make it easy for the reader to understand the cutting edge of transportation planning without having to do extra research).
FOCUS on the goals and policies that comprise the legally binding framework for San Clemente's transportation planning. Chapter 2, pages 9-14, contain the meat of the document.
DOWNLOAD the draft Plan here: http://san-clemente.org/sc/standard.aspx?pageid=646
COMMENT on the draft BPMP and email both:
Please spread the word by forwarding and sharing on Facebook.
Sincerely,
Brenda
In its June 28, 2012, edition, the San Clemente Times wrote a very nice cover story about San Clemente's efforts to plan for multi-modal transportation. Senior Editor Stacie Galang went the extra mile to provide thorough coverage of the issue, interviewing several City Council members, City Transportation Engineer Tom Frank, Victor Becerra, Programs Director at UC Irvine's Community Outreach Partnership Center, and San Clemente's own Pete van Nuys, the Executive Director of the Orange County Bicycle Coalition.
The manufacturer of the cargo bicycle, Xtracycle, picked up the same story and featured it on their company blog dated July 23, 2012.
Sincerely,
Brenda
P.S. Yes, that's me on the cover with my dog, Foxy.
The City of San Clemente is, once again, stepping up to take a leadership role in its advocacy for non-motorized transportation. Last Friday, I alerted the Council and City Manager to the Federal Transportation Conference Committee that is reevaluating the Transportation Bill that expires at the end of June. One point of concern among the non-motorized transportation advocates is that the negotiations may remove local discretion as to what type of transportation projects would be funded, with bicycle and pedestrian uses possibly being shortchanged.
Time is of the essence in such matters. So, I drafted a letter asking Federal leaders to preserve local decision-making and elaborated a bit on how San Clemente is becoming the bellwether town in Orange County: the County's first-ever Complete Streets Resolution passed unanimously in January and our Council, staff, and GPAC members who spent a Saturday in March touring downtown Long Beach by bicycle.
The letter was received enthusiastically by our City Manager, George Scarborough, and his assistant, Laura Ferguson, with Mayor Evert providing the final touches and his signature. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer and Congressman Ken Calvert received the letter today.
San Clemente leadership is really on the ball when it comes to its advocacy. I can't say enough about their willing ears and open minds, as we all work to make our town a shining example of the value of working together. Kudos to all!
Sincerely,
Brenda
Click here to view the letters, as officially submitted by the City to California's leadership in the U.S. Senate and House.
Members of our City Council, staff, and General Plan Advisory Committee bicycled 11.5 miles in downtown Long Beach, Calif., to get up close and personal with Complete Streets. We all pedaled, pondered, and probed the possibilities of a bicycle-and-pedestrian-friendly Spanish Village by the Sea.
Read more on San Clemente Patch and San Clemente Sun Post.
The City Council voted unanimously to support multimodal transportation in the updated General Plan. They are the only City in Orange County to make such a declaration. Introduced by Councilman Baker, the motion passed with consensus (5-0) opinion and stated the following:
"San Clemente's Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan shall be fully integrated with the City's updated Circulation Element so as to comply with the letter and spirit of California's Complete Streets Law, thereby creating a balanced multimodal transportation system for all."
Looking toward the future, Councilwoman Lori Donchak said, "I really view this as San Clemente's Complete Streets Initiative. We have a tool before us to ensure we'll take the Complete Streets legislation seriously and that, ultimately, we'll end up with a superior Circulation Element . . . It would be a true salute to the fact that we want multimodal experiences in San Clemente."
If you'd like to read more, here's a link I wrote as an Op-Ed piece about the Council's decision:
http://sanclemente.patch.com/articles/opinion-bike-advocate-lauds-city-transit-plan
I sense that 2012 will be a great year for San Clemente, the Spanish Village by the Sea.
Sincerely,
Brenda
The City of San Clemente has agreed to release the INITIAL DRAFT of our town's first ever Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan.
Keep in mind that this INITIAL DRAFT was not likely to be released until after the holidays. As such, there likely are grammatical & other errors. If you'll keep a log of comments based on page number of the document, that will help PEDal and City staff focus attention where needed. You can email your comments to me (brenda@myfeetfirst.org) and/or to Principal Planner Jeff Hook (HookJ@san-clemente.org).
I'd like to pay thanks to the San Clemente City Council and City Manager for their willing ears–which may still be ringing as a result of all my phone calls–in hearing my pleas in favor of early disclosure, even if the document has some flaws at this time.
In the interests of transparency of process, I advocated for early release of the document so a public dialogue could begin. I'm hopeful that with increased access and time to ponder its contents, a better Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan will result.
Your comments and corrections will ultimately shape the Plan's final form. This is our Plan, just like it's our Future. Our children and their children will be impacted by our input in making this document relevant. Carpe diem.
Sincerely,
Brenda
At Tuesday's City Council meeting dedicated to Long Term Financial Planning, our pedestrian advocacy was able to garner a unanimous vote from the City Council. The vote authorized City staff to prepare an analysis of the costs necessary to create a formal City sidewalk policy. That policy would dovetail with the Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, now under way, and would provide guidance to City officials as they decide where and how to create sidewalks that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The research conducted by staff will be presented to the Council later this spring as elected officials decide whether to allocate money to create the policy. The spring budget meetings will also include discussions of how to satisfy the substantial need for sidewalks usable by everyone. Policy details would be created at some date in the future. They were not part of Tuesday night's meeting. Stay tuned.
I'd also like to thank the 3 PEDal members who, in addition to myself, waited more than 3 hours to speak in favor of creation of the sidewalk policy. Those members are Larry Culbertson, George Gregory, and Rose Velasquez of Orange County Human Relations. I'd also like to recognize the work of City Engineer Tom Bonigut for his professionalism and willingness to engage San Clemente's non-motorized transportation advocates. A job well done by all!
Sincerely,
Brenda
At Tuesday's City Council meeting, the Council voted 5-0 to do two things:
Thank you City Council.
Thanks to all the PEDal people who have written letters, spoken at Council meetings, and spent more than 200 hours volunteering to count bicycles and pedestrians in our town. Having numbers to document existing activity by bicyclists and pedestrians likely played a key role in demonstrating the need to create an official Plan that will integrate non-motorized transit within the existing circulation system.
You can read more about this in the San Clemente Times and the Sun Post.