Category: Advocacy

Scofflaw Cyclists?

Posted on by RideCoordinator

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition did a nice piece in their monthly “Tube Times” titled “What About Scofflaw? Perception, Reality and What We’re Doing About It.”

Though it’s SF based it highlights some of the issues all bike advocacy organizations face, especially in communities where cycling is increasing and more attention is being drawn to “cyclists behavior”. I think it touches on some good points.

GEARs is working on some of the same issues locally and is doing positive work for change, including working with the police and courts on the bike education diversion program as well as our normal Bike Education course.
If you haven’t taken a Traffic Skills 101 course yet sign up now: http://edu.eugenegears.org/classes
Also, don’t forget to renew your membership:  http://eugenegears.org/membership 

Finally: “On a daily basis, be a bicycle ambassador by being a great representative of Eugene’s amazing, diverse and growing community of people who bicycle. Stop behind the crosswalk, give pedestrians the right-of-way and others will follow.”

 

 

24th Avenue Appeal Dismissed

Posted on by RideCoordinator

The appeal to the administrative order that removed parking and bump-outs along 24th Avenue to allow installation of bike lanes from Chambers to Friendly has been thrown out!  The decision was made yesterday and announced today. The project will continue with: removal of the existing “bulb-outs”, adding bike lanes on both sides of 24th (4-5 ft on 1 side and 5-6 on the other), consolidating parking to one side, removing the painted center line, adding one new marked crosswalk (at Fillmore), and adding a school zone near ATA/Family School. You can read a bit of history of the project here.

The hearings official states that while the main issues from the appellants were related to the community outreach and citizen involvement, the Eugene City Code states that removing parking comes down to the City Traffic Engineer having to consider certain factors in that removal. Once the Traffic Engineer demonstrated that those factors were considered the Administrative Order is able to stand.

This is great news for people who use (or want to use) 24th as their East-West corridor. Many neighbors and community members came out to speak up for these needed changes. This project is underway now and we should be able to enjoy the finished product during this summer! To those who worked hard to help foster this project along, thank you very much. As we continue to work with city staff, neighborhood groups, and community leaders to make improvements for cycling in Eugene we continue to learn the best way to make projects happen that benefit everyone. We certainly learned a lot on this project and hopefully we can take that knowledge forward and create even more positive change.

 

National Call-in Day for Transportation Bill

Posted on by RideCoordinator
Today is the national call-in day on the transportation bill. The window is closing fast on our last real chance to impact the final bill. Whether or not the bill prioritizes repair of our roads and bridges, preserves local communities’ access to funds that can make walking and biking safer, or helps struggling transit agencies keep buses and trains rolling along OR if it focuses on building more roads for sprawl. We need your help now.

Attached is a script with the three priorities to choose from to push on in the calls.

Transportation for America also has a page where you can get more info and look up your legislator if needed (likely DeFazio, Wyden, & Merkeley if you’re on this list).

Please call now. Thanks!


Rep. Peter DeFazio, Phone:(202) 225-6416
Sen. Ron Wyden, Phone:(202) 224-5244
Sen. Jeff Merkley, Phone:(202) 224-3753

Script:

Hi, my name is [NAME] and I live in [PLACE]. I’m calling to ask Representative/Senator [NAME] to support several important provisions from the Senate’s bipartisan transportation bill during conference committee. The conference committee on the transportation bill must do at least three things:
  1. Preserve the Senate provisions that provide dedicated funding for repairing our roads and bridges — and hold states accountable for repairing them.
  2. Protect my community’s access to funds in the Senate bill that make walking and biking safer by preserving the local grant program created by the Cardin-Cochran amendment,
  3. And keep the flexibility for public transportation “operations” in the Senate bill that allows struggling transit agencies of all sizes to maintain service during a fiscal crisis.
Please support the provisions in the strong, bipartisan Senate transportation bill during the conference. Thank you for your time.

Volunteer Next Week!

Posted on by RideCoordinator

Want a better biking city? Get involved. Volunteer!

Ride along with the Bike Safety Education neighborhood ride. This is the culmination of the middle schooler’s Bicycle Drivers Ed and we need volunteers to help the kids have fun (while having some order as well). Sign up for several spots open May 21-24 and June 8& 11:

http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/692345634888400094

 

Also, this in from Lee Shoemaker, City of Eugene Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator:

“We are in need of more people to do weekday am/pm or Saturday pedestrian and bicycle counts.  Count days are next Tuesday 22nd through Thursday 24th and May 29-31.  You pick the day(s) that fits your schedule.  If you can do a count, contact me and I’ll find a location that works well for you.”

These counts are actually pretty fun and interesting, plus they help us keep track of how we are doing in getting more people to ride more often!

Contact Lee- 541-682-5471 or Lee.Shoemaker@ci.eugene.or.us

 

Ride of Silence

Posted on by RideCoordinator

The annual ride to honor those killed or injured on our streets, to raise awareness that cyclists are here and to ask that we all share the road. Please join us this Wednesday (May 16th). Starting point will be “The Educational Memorial Plaza” on Bailey Hill Road (nearest intersection is Westleigh St.). Ending point is “The David Minor Theater. Meeting at 6:00 pm to listen to the introduction, instructions, and an invited speaker. Starting time of the ride is 6:30 pm. Helmets are required and lights are recommended.

Everyone welcome. Free of charge. No registration necessary.

More general information: http://www.rideofsilence.org

GEARs Letter to Council Regarding Capstone Project

Posted on by RideCoordinator
The following letter was sent to City Council today as requested by the GEARs Board at their  March meeting:
The Honorable Mayor Piercy and City Councilors,
GEARs (Greater Eugene Area Riders) Cycling Club welcomes increased housing in Eugene’s downtown core, as proposed in the Capstone Student Housing Development–but we would like to ensure that Capstone’s transportation impact honors the City Council’s adopted Vision, Goals and Outcomes.  For this reason, we recommend the following conditions for approval of Capstone’s MUPTE application:
Require State-of-the-Art Bicycle Parking: For such a high-profile development in a city known nation-wide for its level of bike theft, we’d like to see not only the required number of bicycle racks, but rather a comprehensive bicycle parking system of a quality comparable to the structured auto parking planned.  An example of such bicycle parking is BikeStation, as described athttp://home.bikestation.com/what-is-bikestation
Require Separate Apartment Rent from Parking Space Rent: Provide students an incentive to save money by leaving their cars at home.  This will make the apartments more affordable, reduce the pollution and traffic associated with hundreds of students’ cars, and leave students more money to spend at downtown businesses.  Unused parking spaces might then be available to lease to others who live, work or shop downtown.
Reduce the Number of Parking Spaces: With the University within Capstone’s “20-Minute Neighborhood”, and excellent options for walking, bicycling and transit, there is no need for as much auto parking as Capstone has proposed.  Auto parking should be reduced to the minimum required by Capstone’s lender.
Improve bicycle access from UO: Well-designed bicycle infrastructure will encourage students not only to ride bikes, but to do so safely and legally.  Recent improvements on Alder Street provide an excellent example of the type of infrastructure that can “normalize” bicycle travel.  A similar design on 13th Avenue would serve Capstone residents and their neighbors well.
We encourage you to use this opportunity presented by Capstone to shape downtown Eugene’s transportation future in a way that meets the needs of current and future residents.  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

—
Richard Hughes
President
Greater Eugene Area Riders Cycling Club (GEARs)

http://eugenegears.org/
PO Box 10244
Eugene, OR 97440
541-933-5542