Category Archives: California Bicycle Coalition

Support Complete Streets Bill Call Gov. Newsom now!

Thank you to all of you who emailed Governor Newsom and asked him to sign the Complete Streets Bill!
Now, we’re joining California Bicycle Coalition and safe streets partners in ramping up the pressure to pass
this bill for safer biking and walking on local streets that Caltrans controls.

Caltrans is too often an obstacle when local communities try to create livable streets.
Please call Gov. Newsom and ask him to sign SB 127, the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill.
Call (916) 445-2841 right now!

State your name, zip code, and that you are calling to urge the governor to support SB 127.
Here are some additional talking points:
• SB 127 is the most-cost effective way to make our streets safer.
• SB 127 is a sensible law that will require Caltrans to follow its own Complete Streets policies. 
• If you are serious about tackling climate change, we have to make it easier and safer to bike, walk,
and take transit. SB 127 will do all that.

Caltrans is too often an obstacle when local communities try to create livable streets. 
Tell Governor Newsom to sign SB 127 for safer streets.
Call him at (916) 445-2841 now.

Thank you!
P.S. Every call makes a difference. Please call Governor Newsom now at (916) 445-2841

California Dream Ride 2019

Happy Bike Month from our bikes to yours, California Bicycle Coalition!

Registration is well underway for the California Dream Ride and spots are filling up fast! In honor of our favorite month of the year, CalBike is offering a special on registration for the California Dream Ride. Register before May 31, and you’ll save $25 on registration. But don’t delay because it may fill up by then! 

Register Today and Save $25!

About The 2019 California Dream Ride: Northern California
• 5 days of riding, Folsom to San Francisco, September 22-27
• Stunning vistas, comfortable accommodations, tasty meals, snacks, and beverages—all included
• Moderately challenging cycling, with e-bikes available at no charge
• The friendship of those who share your passion for cycling and the great outdoors
• Experienced and attentive staff to ensure that your ride is comfortable, fun, and hassle-free

Join a Training Ride!
Want to meet other cyclists and get in shape for the big tour? Come ride with us this summer in Los Angeles (May 18), San Francisco (June 16), San Diego (July 14), or Sacramento (August 17).

Register Today and Save $25 on Registration! ï»¿

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. 

Join us September 22-27, 2019!
A 5-day bicycle tour: Folsom to San Francisco, 290 miles

CalBike, Senator Scott Wiener Introduce ‘Complete Streets’ Legislation: SB127

CalBike and Senator Scott Wiener Introduce ‘Complete Streets’ Legislation Ensuring State-Owned Roads Prioritize Safety of People Walking and Biking

Each year, thousands of Californians needlessly suffer injury and death on our streets.
Why? Because our streets are designed for cars to move fast, instead of for people to move safely.

That’s why our statewide advocacy organization -the California Bicycle Coalition is joining Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and coalition partners California Walks, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, and the American Heart Association in introducing Senate Bill 127, “Complete Streets for Active Living,” to make state-owned roads safe for everyone.

State-owned streets are often major surface streets that run through our communities. Unfortunately, Caltrans designers too often treat them like busy highways instead of the main streets they are—places to work, play, shop, and learn. They design them for fast car traffic, not for safety, because they are only required to consider safety improvements when they repair such streets. The Complete Streets for Active Living bill requires them to implement safety improvements. It elevates safety to the top of the priority list when Caltrans is repaving or rehabilitating a street. The difference is that now they’re required to consider safety improvements by internal policy, which means they can and usually consider and reject them. This bill will require them to implement safety improvements unless they have good reason not to.

CalBike’s Senior Policy Advocate Linda Khamoushian said it clearly at the press conference announcing the bill’s introduction: “Every day, poor street design causes hundreds of avoidable injuries and deaths on our roads. Because of this, the lives of our loved ones are altered by injury or cut short by speed. Because of this, we continue to divide communities and ignore our residents who need to or have the ability to walk and bike for their everyday needs. Because of this, we have systematically created barriers to healthy movement and affordable transportation for all Californians.”

Senator Scott Wiener added, “For too long, Caltrans has talked about complete streets as a policy, but hasn’t actually delivered these improvements in its projects. SB 127 ensures that as we rehabilitate state highways that run through the centers of our towns and cities, we prioritize active transportation uses like walking, bicycling, and riding public transportation. Streets designed for all residents create safer, healthier, and more inclusive communities. Ensuring everyone has access to safe streets also encourages alternate modes of transportation, which can help reduce vehicle miles traveled, and help us fight climate change.”

You can help by sharing about the campaign with your community, and if you or anyone you know is interested in highlighting how SB 127 will help conditions in your community, please contact CalBike’s Policy or Communications teams.
Stay up-to-date with this Complete Streets campaign and more at Santa Monica Spoke and at calbike.org — join the conversation on social media @CalBike.

Action Alert: Stop Attack on Bike/Walk Funding

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Last year, the legislature increased taxes and fees on gasoline and certain vehicles to help maintain our crumbling roads, bridges, and highways. They were smart about it, emphasizing maintaining what we have, and including biking and walking infrastructure to the tune of $100 million per year.

But now that funding is under attack. And we need your help to defend it.

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Anti-tax activists have gotten Proposition 6 placed on the November ballot. Prop 6 will eliminate this critical funding and the transportation projects it supports, making it much harder to make our streets safe for biking and walking.

We need your help to fight the repeal. And for the month of August, your donation will be doubled. Our friends at Cohen Law Partners have pledged a $10,000 match for safer streets.

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Chip in today to defend the gas tax and make our streets safer.

Thanks,

Dave Snyder, Executive Director
Cynthia Rose, Vice President, Board of Directors
California Bicycle Coalition

P.S. With your help, we can beat back the repeal effort and make our streets safer for all road users. Chip in now to make the most of this match.

Thanks to our friends at Cohen Law Partners for this generous match.

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Insights from Bogota comes to Santa Monica!

Help close out Bike Month with exciting stories by Chris Morfas on his work in Bogota, Colombia, one of the Americas’ Leading Bike & Transit Cities

What happens when a city builds 200 miles of protected bikeways? How did CicLAvia get its name? Lessons from Bogota, Colombia one of the world’s most interesting cities for bicycling and placemaking boasting 5.5 million transit trips and 600,000 bike trips per day!

We will hear about this and more from Chris Morfas who since 2014 has been Senior Advisor to Despacio, a nonprofit based in Bogota, Colombia, a city with rates of transit and bicycle use that are among the highest in the world. Morfas is a longtime transportation reformer, the founding executive director and former Board Chair of the California Bicycle Coalition (CalBike), a senior policy coordinator with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District. At CalBike, Morfas directed award-winning successes that launched the nation’s strongest Safe Routes to School program, Complete Streets policy, and the innovative Bicycle Transportation Account that funds bike infrastructure like bikeshare and more.

Don’t miss this evening with delightful snacks, delicious Sierra Nevada beer, sweet raffle prizes and exciting tales of travels and transportation from Chris Morfas.

The tickets are on a sliding scale donation and support Santa Monica Spoke and the California Bicycle Coalition. Nobody turned away for lack of funds.

Stay up to date on the event here

Despacio, is an NGO based in Bogota, Colombia that advances sustainable mobility internationally via research, advocacy, and training; its recent publications include robust studies of bicycle and motorcycle use in Latin America. Chris helps Despacio with organizational structure, program development, and outreach. He will regale you with tales of Ciclovia, TransMilenio, and more while carefully avoiding any bragging regarding his much-improved salsa dancing.