For Immediate Release – For May’s Bike Month Melissa Ott Puts the Spotlight on Santa Cruz’s Leading Female Bicycle Advocates

For Immediate Release – For May’s Bike Month Melissa Ott Puts the Spotlight on Santa Cruz’s Leading Female Bicycle Advocates 

Date: April 29, 2014

Contact: Melissa Ott/UC Santa Cruz undergraduate student/Bicycle Intern

Tel. (925) 918-3425 Email: mott@ucsc.edu 

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Santa Cruz, CA – To celebrate National Bike Month this May and recognize those who work to support a thriving and diverse bicycle culture in Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz undergraduate student Melissa Ott is writing a series of profiles of seven of the community’s female bicycle advocates for the Women on Bikes California initiative and its website Pedal Love, a new media communications platform dedicated to sharing “dynamic and compelling stories of how ordinary people are making extraordinary changes to their lives with bicycles.” Though much of the bicycling world’s focus has been on men and the sport of bicycling, these engaging profiles demonstrate that in Santa Cruz, bicycle advocacy is strongly supported and promoted by women passionate about all forms of riding a bike. To read the profiles go to: www.pedallove.org/its-wheely-easy-being-green.

In Santa Cruz, the week of May 2-9 is Bike Week, and many of the women profiled in the Pedal Love series are instrumental to planning, promoting, and celebrating more than a dozen bicycle-related events, rides, and workshops taking place during Bike Week and throughout May. To learn more, including the fifteen free Bike to Work Day breakfast sites visit http://santacruztransportationsolutions.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html.

A new member of the Pedal Love creative team, Melissa chose to write her first series of pieces on the women who are inspiring her in the local bike advocacy scene. The result is a glimpse of the diverse and thriving bicycle community in Santa Cruz from environmental program directors to college students to recreational club leaders, and more. The interviews feature the following women:

• Amelia Conlen (Director of People Power of Santa Cruz County)
• Maura Noel (President of the Santa Cruz County Cycling Club)
• Elise Ehrheart (Coordinator of Ecology Action’s Bike Smart! Program)
• Emily Glanville (Ecology Action’s Transportation Group Program Specialist)
• Myrna Sherman (Santa Cruz County Cycling Club)
• Hasti Afsarifard (UC Santa Cruz undergrad & volunteer with People Power)
• Alyssa Tyree (UCSC undergrad & intern with People Power)

In bringing them all together in a series of interviews, Melissa hopes to support awareness of Santa Cruz’s connected bicycle community that spans the varied interests represented by these seven women. She also hopes to continue her bicycle advocacy work after she graduates in June by staying involved in the Santa Cruz bicycling community and writing stories that she hopes will connect more people with the beauty and freedom of the bicycle. To read the profiles go to: http://www.pedallove.org/its-wheely-easy-being-green/ 

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About Melissa Ott
Melissa Ott is an undergraduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz studying English Literature. She has been actively involved with the sustainability community on campus since 2011. In high school, Melissa served on the City of Pleasanton's Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee, and she has never owned a car. In her current advocacy work, Melissa strives to empower women, young people, and all members of her community to discover the magic of bike riding--not only to reduce carbon emissions, but also to increase happiness, health, and engagement with one's community. To learn more about the bicycle advocacy work she’s currently doing in Santa Cruz, visit http://santacruztransportationsolutions.blogspot.com/p/ideass-bicycle-transit-planning-team.html.

About Women on Bikes California & Pedal Love 
An initiative of the California Bicycle Coalition, the mission of Women on Bikes California focuses on the bike as a tool for optimism in the lives of women. We work to engage, connect and cultivate opportunity for women of all ages, races and walks of life interested in bicycling, active living advocacy and bike-related/bike-friendly industries. Key to our strategy is elevating the voice of women passionate about bicycling via engaging storytelling and proactive media outreach through our “Pedal Love” project website and our series of “Active Living Plugged In” trainings. Learn more about us at http://www.pedallove.org/.

A Conversation with Cheryl Schmitt, Transportation Coordinator

Cheryl Schmitt is the Transportation Coordinator for the City of Santa Cruz Public Works Department. We interviewed her to learn more about the work she does, current bicycle projects that are happening in Santa Cruz, and her perspectives on the Rail Trail.

Photo source/credit

As Transportation Coordinator, Cheryl's work focuses on alternative-to-car transportation programs for the City of Santa Cruz. She shared that her job entails "grant writing, public outreach, and working with the community and non profits." In her work, alternative transportation includes "infrastructure designed for bikes, pedestrians, public transit, carpool, car sharing, and electric vehicles."

We asked her where her interest in transportation came from, and she shared that when she was in high school, the Santa Barbara oil spill took place. She shared, "It was a pivotal moment for me because I saw what happened in Santa Barbara. Environmentalism started to bloom at that time, and it became a focus in my life." Cheryl has her bachelor's degree in anthropology and health, and she said she is fortunate that "this job happened to align with my values."

One bicycle-related project that she's currently working on is the construction of the Arana Gulch path, which she says was "dreamed about for twenty years and is a hugely important project because it will create a link between sections of arterial roadways that currently dead-end for bicyclists." This new path will become a transportation coordinator for both bikes and pedestrians. 

Our IDEASS project has provided research and recommendations to install an automated bicycle and pedestrian counter at the new Arana Gulch path, which will provide valuable data about how many people use the new trail once it opens later this year. There is more information about this project on the Arana Gulch Multi-Use Trail Project blog here.

In addition to the Arana Gulch Multi-Use Trail Project, the "Rail Trail" is another transportation corridor project that will eventually connect Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties with a path along the railroad tracks that will be separate from car traffic. "Yes, I think that it will increase bicycle ridership in Santa Cruz," she said. "Any new facility brings users." 

Despite seeing the Rail Trail as an opportunity for increasing bicycling in Santa Cruz, she did express one concern about the project: "My own feeling is that it is a huge project requiring a lot of funding. There are many other projects on the table, and I hope that these other projects don't get pushed to the side and it all goes to the rail trail." It will still be many years before the rail trail becomes a reality, though much progress has been made already. In the meantime, it is important that the community and City continue to support other bike projects in Santa Cruz that create a more connected and safe bicycle network while also keeping the vision of the Rail Trail in mind.

The official name of the "Rail Trail" project is the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network, and fortunately "approximately $7 million of local and federal funds have already been secured for construction of initial segments," according to the Regional Transportation Commission. Learn more about this project on the website here. 

Cheryl also spoke about the upcoming bike plan update, which she clarified will be a "complete streets" approach to an update. The previous Bicycle Transportation Plan was produced in 2008, and Cheryl says the new one will take a more holistic approach that will focus not only on bikes but on active transportation as a whole--bicycles, pedestrians, and public transit. Complete streets is a relatively new approach to transportation planning that is designed to "work for the entire community, from ages eight to eighty," she said. 

"When you chop it up into user groups, it has this sort of discontinuous feeling, like pitting one user against another," she said of traditional plans that separate bike planning from pedestrian, public transit, and cars. "We're all using the streets together, so we should plan together." For community members interested in contributing ideas for the new update, which is happening within the next year, be on the lookout for announcements about community workshops and opportunities to get involved.

Cheryl concluded the interview by sharing some thoughts on the future of transportation in the Santa Cruz region. "It's exciting to see younger people interested in transportation and pursuing it. I encourage it as a career option, especially since nearly 50% of the greenhouse gas emissions in Santa Cruz are from transportation. We are also going to see a lot of growth in our area, in the Monterey Bay Area. According to a study by AMBAG (Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments), the urban footprint of this area is projected to grow 40% from 2005-2035, so we need to be thinking about how we are going to handle the increase in traffic."

What an inspiring conclusion to our interview, a challenge for the future but also an opportunity for innovative thinking. It's already 2014, which means we're 9 years into that potential 40% growth. In addition to a sense of opportunity through the challenge of increased volumes of people in this region, that timeline creates a sense of urgency that is hopefully fueling more efficient and effective decision-making when it comes to bicycle and sustainable transportation projects in this region. 

Thank you so much, Cheryl, for your insight and thoughts on transportation and bicycling in Santa Cruz. 

To learn more about City of Santa Cruz Transportation Programs and the work that Cheryl does, please visit the website here.

UC Santa Cruz Bike Month Events 2014

Many UC Santa Cruz banana slugs bicycle year-round, but during May, which is National Bike Month, these banana slugs not only bike but also celebrate the greatest two wheeled invention known to humankind. Join the UCSC community in celebrating the bicycle at these upcoming events, and see a full listing of Bike Month events here.

Stevenson Bikes & Food Justice Fest - May 3 at 12pm - 4pm
Stevenson Main Quad, UC Santa Cruz. 
Join us for a bike & food justice fest featuring free bike maintenance, bicycle education and history, bike-generated strawberry smoothies with education about strawberry production, music, bike part art, a food justice & transportation board game, and more! At 2 PM, there will be a speaker panel and discussion about the intersections of transportation and food justice in the Stevenson Fireside Lounge.

Slug Bike Party Ride Around Campus – May 3 at 3:30pm 
Meet in Stevenson Main Quad, UC Santa Cruz. 
During the Bike & Food Justice Festival, a group will be heading off on bikes to explore easy and secret routes around campus while also touring some of the campus gardens. Bring a bicycle in good working condition, a helmet, and comfortable shoes. Bike party!

Bike Week World Cafe - May 5 at 5pm - 7pm 
Kresge Piazzetta, outside Kresge Seminar Room at Porter-Kresge Rd, UC Santa Cruz. 
The World Cafe is a weekly potluck of both food and ideas that takes place in Kresge College. The theme for this week is bicycles to celebrate the beginning of Bike Week in Santa Cruz! Join us for conversations about the revolutionary role of bicycles to empower and free people in our community, enjoy some bike generated smoothies and music, and learn some basic bike maintenance.

UCSC Bike Helmet Giveaway - May 6 at 1:30pm - 4pm 
Base of UCSC campus, corner of Bay & High. 
In celebration of Bike Week, Transportation and Parking Services is hosting the Bicycle Safety Campaign! TAPS will be surveying cyclists and handing out 200 free helmets to members of the UCSC community on first come first serve basis. Proof of UCSC affiliation required. Invite your friends if you care about them staying safe on the road! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Julie.

Bike to Work/School Day! - May 8, 2014 at 6:30am - 9:30am 
Have you ever wished someone would celebrate your bike commute with free food? Well that’s what Bike to Work Day is all about! There will be 15 public breakfast sites for people who bike to work/school this day, with three sites at UC Santa Cruz: base of campus, top of the Bike Path, and Quarry Plaza. For more information, visit the website.

Edge of Eden Music Festival (Free Bike Valet) - May 10 at 2pm - 10pm 
Take your bike to this music festival at the UCSC East Field and receive free bike parking! Parking is limited for the event anyway, and you won’t have to worry about your bike while you enjoy the show. Learn more here.

Free Bike Commuting Workshop at UCSC - May 14 at 12:30pm – 1:30pm 
Science and Engineering Library Room 332, UC Santa Cruz. 
Come to a free one-hour workshop for UCSC bike commuters of all skill levels hosted by People Power of Santa Cruz County. We’ll cover best practices for commuting to campus, including gears, laws, and routes.

Endless Summer Bike Ride - May 18, 2014 at 11am to 3pm
Soak in the sun, practice your cycling skills and explore little-known routes around Santa Cruz on this easy 8-10 mile bike ride. $6 cost includes a picnic lunch at Twin Lakes Beach. Bring a helmet and bike in good working condition. Register online here.

IDEASS Tabling at the UC Santa Cruz Community and Arts Festival!

On April 12th, Melissa and I had the wonderful opportunity to table at the UC Santa Cruz Community and Arts Festival. This festival invited students to present the research and projects they have been working on this past academic year. Melissa and I were fortunate enough to be able to table at this event so we packed our bags with our previous newsletters, bike maps, a simple CO2 emission calculator, and other bicycle-related resources we have used for our project and got ready to immerse ourselves with the variety of people downtown.

We weren't ready for who we'd talk to and what we'd talk about! Melissa and I talked to avid, confident cyclists who gave us suggestions on our bicycle-commuting workshops, we gave advice to people who want to incorporate cycling into their daily commute, a man asked us about our project's importance and why cycling mattered in Santa Cruz, but overall so many people acknowledge our project and applauded us for our efforts. It was an amazing experience to be able to educate and talk with the people who reside in the same the city we've both lived in for four years. Although, we've had numerous outreach events that we've promoted our project at, this event was exhilarating and an educational occasion for us too.

IDEASS Presentations at Green Drinks Last Week

Last Tuesday on April 1, two teams of students from the Impact Designs: Engineering & Sustainability through Student Service (IDEASS) program spoke at Green Drinks Santa Cruz at Cafe Mare in downtown Santa Cruz. Both projects were related to sustainable transportation--one focused on electric vehicle charging stations and the other (our project) on bicycle transit planning and education. 

Green Drinks Santa Cruz is an informal networking event where environmentally-minded people meet over drinks, and it meets at different local restaurants each month on the first Tuesday. There was a great turnout for the April meeting, and after enjoying some drinks and happy hour appetizers, the Electric Vehicle Charging Station Team presented first. Team members Jessica, Dannah, and Amrita shared some of their initial findings from data collection at charging stations in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. They continue to work on the project as the school year progresses, and they were able to get some useful feedback on directions to go and trends to analyze from the community members who attended the presentation.

Their EV project is described on their UCSC Project Clearinghouse page:

"Our overarching sustainability goal for the transportation sector is more electric vehicles on the road that will ultimately reduce GHG and particle emissions and will put a more sustainable fuel source into widespread use. To achieve that goal we are working with Monterey Bay Electric Vehicle Alliance, a local non-profit organization, to analyze data from EV charging stations in Santa Cruz County and Monterey County. ... 

"This project primarily involves two components. The first component is data analysis, which involves retrieving information from EV charging station owners. Once the data has been retrieved, our team will look for trends and analyze the data for any significant correlations. The second component of our project will involve data visualization via GIS [geographic information systems] mapping, reports, and graphs for ease of public viewing."

After the EV Charging Team presented and the audience asked questions and provided feedback, it was our turn to present about our Bicycle Transit Planning project. You can view our presentation on Google Drive here and read more about our project on our webpage here.

Aly and I spoke about the various aspects of our project, including our bike commuting workshops for the community and local businesses, our survey analysis from these workshops, our educational efforts at community events on and off-campus, and our work to get an automated bicycle counter installed at the Arana Gulch Multi-use Trail. 

The audience had a lot to say regarding their perspectives and frustrations with the current bicycle infrastructure in Santa Cruz and the U.S. in general. Suggestions included installing safer roadway features than just a stripe of paint on the ground for a bike lane, working to educate drivers more on rights of bicyclists, working to educate bicyclists more on rules of the road, and more. It was helpful to have our project mentors, Tiffany Wise-West from the City of Santa Cruz Climate Action Program and Amelia Conlen, Director of People Power of Santa Cruz County, in the audience to answer questions and provide some support in addition to the answers we could provide. 

After our presentation, folks mingled in the restaurant and made connections, discussing topics further. Aly and I spoke with "Cosmic Joe" who among other pursuits leads the star-gazing workshops through the UC Santa Cruz Recreation Department. He was really supportive of our work, and it was nice to speak one on one with a community member who was learning about our project for the first time. It was also nice to realize how much of a hot topic bicycling is for our community--the amount of comments and frustrations expressed with the current state of bicycling was awesome evidence that our work is really necessary and valued.

We're grateful to have had the opportunity to present at Green Drinks, and we look forward to future opportunities to engage with the community. We hope to see you at the UCSC Community & Arts Festival this Saturday at Abbot Square downtown (10 - 3 PM) and next Saturday at the Earth Day Celebration at San Lorenzo Park (11 - 4 PM). Thanks for reading!

Thanks to Hannah Hodgson for the photographs and for organizing Green Drinks Santa Cruz!

Portland's Bicycle Infrastructure Takes the Cake (Food is fuel)!

Portland, Oregon has been ranked as the #1 fittest city in the United States and I could not agree more. This past week my friend and I went to visit an old pal in Portland and filled our days with countless miles of walking, biking, driving, and using the TriMet. Portland's transit system is truly incredible. There were frequent MAX light rails delivering you to every thinkable location, there were unlimited TriMet buses, and of course cyclists equally numbering the amount of cars on the road. I was able to see the visual bicycle counter placed on Hawthorne Bridge displaying the amount of people who biked over the bridge that day and that year. At 10am on a Wednesday, there was already 968 people who biked on the bridge that morning! Astounding! 

My friend and I walked to most locations while enjoying the beautiful wet skies and bustling people. We went into the famous Powell's bookstore and I was amazed by the selection of bicycle-related books. There were historical books, factual books, autobiographies on famous cyclists, pictured books, and books with short stories by the average joe (photo above)! This town just loved bicycling! 

So after observing the volume of people bike riding around the city, my friend and I had to join the hype! We went to Waterfront Bicycles to rent a bike for the day. At first we tried out a tandem bike, but due to the rain and slippery streets we opted for two separate bikes. With the purchase of the bike we were given a bike map listing which streets had designated bike lanes called "Greenways", which streets had shared roads, and which streets to avoid. In addition, we were given helmets, u-locks, cable locks, and a carrying packs to put on the racks on our bikes. With all these essentials we felt prepared to embark on this enlightening adventure. We started on the designated Greenways which were a real sweet treat because of instead being the normal narrow right side bike lanes, these Greenways were placed in the middle of the road or if on the right side were incredibly spacious allowing a handful of cyclist to ride past each other (photo above). While bike riding we were observing the positive attitudes of cyclists and their graceful interaction with traffic. It was astounding to see cars obeying the cyclist's right of way and working with them to communicate effectively. It was a phenomenal and unbelievable sight. We both were awarded the ability to bike freely and not be a part of the bad stigmatism that has been given to cyclists over time. Honestly, I can not stop talking about the refreshing attitudes Portlandians have towards public transit and alternative modes of transportation; such as, bicycling.

I can not wait to go back and experience the lifestyle of Portlandians and their positive approach towards commuting!

Bicycle commuting community-building through conversation (Pedaling Periodical)

On St. Patrick's Day, March 17, a dozen bicyclists gathered in the People Power office in downtown Santa Cruz to discuss bicycle commuting tips, tricks, and laws. Hosted by People Power of Santa Cruz County and the UC Santa Cruz Bicycle Transit Team, this was the first of five community workshops happening every third Monday of the month from March until July.

The workshops are designed to educate new bicycle commuters, as well as remind and refine seasoned commuters' understanding of bicycle laws, best practices for all weather, and safe strategies for getting to work, school, errands, and back home safely on a bicycle. An article in the Good Times provides an overview of the workshops here.

Upon arrival, participants were asked to fill out a one-page survey about their current bicycling habits. The team coordinating the workshops will be compiling this data and comparing it to two post-workshop surveys one month and three months after the workshop. The purpose of comparing data is to identify the effectiveness of the workshops in encouraging more bicycling, as well as to be able to calculate carbon emissions reductions from miles biked instead of driven. The workshops are made possible by the UC Santa Cruz Carbon Fund, which funds projects on-campus and in the community that will reduce carbon emissions. 

The first twenty people to attend the workshops will receive a free bike light. Only about eight people attended the first workshop, so if you're looking for a new bike light, you might consider attending the next workshop on April 21. Front, white bike lights are required by law for night riding, and back red lights are required by common sense (the law does require rear reflectors for night riding, but a light's way more effective). 

In addition to bike lights and the survey, participants could take a free bike commuting tips half-sheet and if they do not already own one, a Regional Transportation Commission bike map. The map can also be downloaded online here.

The People Power office is located at 703 Pacific Avenue, and it has a big bike commuting workshop flyer on the window in addition to other information about bicycling. Right around the corner is the Bike Church, a tool cooperative where you can learn to fix your bike and also purchase parts.

Amelia Conlen, Director of People Power, led this first workshop, providing an outline and overview to bicycling law, best practices, and safety tips. Throughout the presentation, participants were encouraged to ask questions, share stories, and talk to one another about concerns and suggestions they have. Sitting at a table together helps to facilitate the dialogue, and it was clearly helpful to have community members talking among each other to identify solutions to challenges they face. 

At the beginning of the workshop, everyone shared their name and current bicycling habits. One woman had never bike commuted before, but she was interested in giving it a try. Another woman is an employee at UC Santa Cruz who has only biked to campus once. She is interested in making it her regular commute. Because everyone in the room knew a little about others in the room, people were able to share specific tips that they knew that might help others. When you get a slice of the community talking about bike commuting, you realize that we have the solutions to our problems within the collective knowledge of everyone in the room. It's pretty empowering to realize that!

Amelia had a whiteboard set up with a drawing of an intersection to demonstrate different ways to make left turns. Everyone had suggestions for methods they use to feel more comfortable among traffic, and it often depended upon location and comfort level as to the method people chose to use when turning left.

Aly Tyree, one of the student interns on the Bicycle Transit Planning Team, expressed her enthusiasm about the workshop: "By having people with a range of confidence in cycling, we really got to see the reasons why people bike compared to the reasons why people do not. I think by having some bicycle advocates at the workshop they became positive enforcers for the people who want to increase bicycling in their lives. It was overall a fantastic event and I had such wonderful conversations with everyone that showed up!"

The first workshop was certainly a success, and all people who bike commute or are considering it are encouraged to attend a future workshop. These free community workshops take place every third Monday of the month until July, from 6-7 PM at 703 Pacific Avenue in downtown Santa Cruz.

If you are an employee or owner of a business in Santa Cruz County and you'd like to have a free bike commuting workshop take place at your business during the lunch hour, please contact People Power at 831-425-0665 or email Amelia.

We hope to see you April 21st! 

Wheeling women: Female-friendly bike resources (Pedaling Periodical)

There has always been plenty of information out there for male-identifying bicyclists, and fortunately, there continues to be more and more resources designed for all different kinds of women bicyclists, too! As women, we want to share the resources we've found helpful in the bicycling world.

"Helmet Hair Do’s (and a Don’t)" by Janet Lafleur
One of the excuses I often hear from women is that they don't want to bike to work because their hair will get messed up. Well, that excuse is no longer valid thanks to Janet Lafleur of One Woman. Many bicycles., who writes about how to bike to work and still look professional, feminine, and composed. (Okay, I realize that she is one woman with a particular hair type that may not apply to all women, so some of you may not believe it's possible to bike without helmet hair... the biggest takeaway is to bike slower and take sweat out of the helmet hair equation entirely.) She's my go-to writer for stylish bike riding. Her blog has great fashion and practical advice, and she's tweets on Twitter a lot, too. She lives in Mountain View, so if  you're ever over the hill on Caltrain, you might just see her... (I have!). If you're looking specifically for tips on helmet hair, click here.

Photo credit: Janet Lafleur (One Woman. Many bicycles.)

Wheelwomen Switchboard
Do you ever wish there was a place to connect with other women bicyclists and ask questions or find opportunities for better bicycling? The new Wheelwomen Switchboard is that place. After creating an account, you can post offers or requests or reply to others' posts. Topics include job hunting, bike ride meetups, tips for better bicycling, and more! A Bike Portland post from March 18 quotes the creator of the site, Elly Blue: "'We weren't sure it would take off, but it was huge,' writes Blue, a 2002 Reed graduate whose most recent book is Bikeonomics. 'What it tells me is that the women's biking movement is something a lot of people are eager to identify themselves as being part of, that these same people are hungry to connect with each other, and that a lot of the stuff they want to talk about is practical tips for everything from gear to routes to organizing movements and creating equitable spaces.'" Female-identifying bicyclists, join today!

The Best Bike Stickers Ever
I recently perused the shop at Taking the Lane: Publishing the feminist bicycle revolution (another Elly Blue creation), and I found some pretty awesome, mostly feminist bike stickers. I ordered some, and I've since put one on my bike rack (see below). If you like stickers and bikes and beer and/or feminism, I highly recommend ordering some. Might as well search the rest of the shop, too, because the zines and books available are really cool. Anything related to Elly Blue tends to be cool, actually.

Pedal Love's next blog columnist: You!

A couple months ago, I came across Pedal Love, an online storytelling site for women who love to bike. I submitted some photos for their Valentine's Day post, and I was asked by Melissa Balmer, Women on Bikes California Director and Editor for Pedal Love, if I wanted to become a blogger for their site. Of course I said yes, and the first blog I submitted was a Bike Love piece. I've since written another piece featuring Santa Cruz women bicycling advocates, and I'm waiting for it to be published on the site now. The good news is that anyone who loves their bike can submit content to the site after connecting with Melissa Balmer, and there's a lot of other exciting stuff happening through the Women on Bikes and Pedal Love platforms. Learn more on the site here, and contact Melissa Balmer for details about writing for them.

Women's Bike Blogs

The largest list of women bike blogs the world has ever seen (or that I've ever seen at least) is available online here. Some are recreational blogs, some are environmental, others are hardcore cargo bikers with kids, and many are from other countries. If you're looking for more resources on bicycling from a woman's perspective, this list is a great place to begin searching!

Have more resources to share? Post in the comments, or email Melissa so we can include them next time.

Youth bicycling news roundup (Pedaling Periodical)

In the last two weeks, we've noticed a lot of youth bicycling featured in the local news. We compiled a list of what's been going on for young people and bikes in Santa Cruz:

Aptos High Team Wins Division II Race
The Aptos High [bicycling] team won the Division II race with 4,304 points during Sunday's NorCal Cycling League event at the Granite Bay Grinder." Congratulations! Read more on the Santa Cruz Sentinel website.

"Volunteer starts bike club at Capitola middle school"
"The Capitola school is one of seven across the country participating in the incentive program, which enters students who bike, walk, scoot or skateboard to school into a monthly raffle for prizes. Since this fall, around 10 percent of the student body has used alternative transportation to school, said Piercy, who helps run the monthly program at New Brighton." Read the full article from the Santa Cruz Sentinel here.

Photo credit: Shmuel Thaler, Santa Cruz Sentinel 

Babes on Bikes: A new bicycling club for young ladies 

Their Facebook page reads, "Babes on Bikes is a cycling initiative to get more young women riding bikes! We believe biking empowers young women without compromising their QT lifestyle." How cool is that!? This Santa Cruz High-based bicycling advocacy group has grown in partnership with Green Ways to School and People Power of Santa Cruz County. They've organized two rides which looked really fun (from the Facebook photos we saw). Like their page on Facebook and share it with any young women you know in Santa Cruz who are interested in finding other young women who bike.

"Youth bike program kicks into gear in Santa Cruz"

"Teens in Santa Cruz who need some wheels have a new place to turn, as Santa Cruz police, the Santa Cruz Teen Center and youth groups have collaborated in a new program to distribute bicycles in police storage." Read the full story in the Sentinel here. 

Photo credit: Bike Church blog

To read another perspective about the recent City Council meeting to reinstate the program described above in its new form, read this blog post by a student who took the People Power: Sustainable Transportation Solutions course at UCSC this past winter quarter. The student author, Pedrum, is new to the political world of bikes in Santa Cruz, so any additional background that can be provided in the comments on his post is appreciated! There's also some back-story to the bike distribution program by Richard Masoner on Cyclelicious here and from the Bike Church here.

Did we miss any major youth bike news? Post about it in the comments, or email Melissa.

Trail blazing: Santa Cruz mountain biking news (Pedaling Periodical)

Wondering what's going on in the exciting mountain biking world of Santa Cruz? From trail building to discussions about the new CEMEX property to some major festivals coming up, we've put together some news for you!

"Karen Kefauver, Spin City: Mountain bike team launches as part of Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Search and Rescue team"
"What happened to him could happen to any cyclist or hiker: He had taken a wrong turn, backtracked, crossed a creek, got disoriented and ended up spending one of the coldest nights of the year in the woods. 'He thought he was going to die,' said Morse." Read the full article on the Santa Cruz Sentinel here.

"Hundreds turn out for meeting on Cemex planning"
Santa Cruz Sentinel reports: "Hundreds of county residents filed into the Hotel Paradox Wednesday night to offer their views on the opening of the Cemex Redwoods, a massive expanse of wilderness that cascades from the peaks of the Santa Cruz Mountains nearly to the sea." Read the full article here.

Flow Trail at Soquel Demonstration Forest 3/30 & 4/8 Dig Days
Want to help build the flow trail at Demo? Join Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz for two upcoming dig days!

Volunteers digging at the new Flow Trail in the Soquel Demonstration Forest.
Photo credit: Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz

Vote for the Flow Trail at Demo: April 7-20
Bell Helmets and IMBA are hosting a contest for $100,000 for three trail building projects through the Bell Built contest! The currently-being-built Flow Trail at the Soquel Demonstration Forest has made the finalists list for the west coast. You can vote for it online here April 7-20! Learn more about the Flow Trail on the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz website here.

Trail work opportunities at four different trails in the area
Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz has trail work opportunities quite often. Visit their website for a calendar listing of trail work days at places like the Flow Trail, Emma McCrary, and Wilder Ranch. Find out more here.

Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival: April 5-6
"The Santa Cruz Mountain Bike Festival was created by Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz to celebrate the world class mountain bike facilities, riders, and cycling industry of Santa Cruz county, and to raise funds to support local bike projects. This family-friendly eco-conscious event continues to grow year after year with the generous support of our sponsors, volunteers, and community—and our success testifies to the depth of the mountain bike culture in Santa Cruz county." It takes place in Aptos Village. Learn more on the website here.

Sea Otter Classic: April 10-13
"Mountain bikers, cyclocrossers, road racers and air junkies all converge on Laguna Seca and Fort Ord in Monterey for the biggest bike festival in central California. Four days of races, demos, slalom contests, fun events like the first-ever Night Ride sponsored by Magicshine and a ton of kids' activities make for serious fun. This is a qualifying event for the National Mountain Biking Championships, so big players will be here, and national gear companies will be strutting their best stuff." Learn more on the Hilltromper website.

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"An Urban Roadblock," Final Project by Chima Ubochi

Ubochi, Chima

Instructors Melissa Ott, Alex Hoffman

Kresge 99F

March 14, 2014

An Urban Roadblock

People Power: Final Project

Introduction

My People Power: Engaging Sustainable Transportation Solutions final report is regarding the issue of social justice, and transportation, both public and private. I was very inspired and I feel very honored to be able to do my research and final project on this issue, because it is mostly overlooked in society. Transportation is a vital part of our society. It is the part of the fabric in American, or any society, in general, that connects individuals from point A to point B. Everybody partakes in it any way, shape, or form at any point in their lives. There are many forms of racism and other injustices and inequalities in American society, and I am very certain that racism/injustices with respect to public transportation is overlooked because of racism/injustices in the criminal justice system, education system, employment, housing, environmental etc.

For the majority of my internship I spent 24 1/2 hours reading about social justice in the book Highway Robbery. I then had a meeting with Tawn Kennedy, the director of Greenways to school, the local youth advocacy group for bicycling. I spent a lot of time learning more and more about the difficulties that people of color and of low socioeconomic positions have to face with regards to issues of public transportation. I learned a lot during the entirety of this class.

My experiences

Prior to Friday, January 10, 2014, my first day of class, I have experienced social justice and transportation in Santa Cruz. I did my best to observe what type of people use the Santa Cruz public transportation system. Based on my observations, I have come to a conclusion that most of the individuals that use the transportation system are of lower socioeconomic classes. Besides the UC students that use the busses, I tried to do my best to categorize the riders by race. I realized that many of the riders were Latino, some were white. Also, there were a very few African-Americans, due to the fact that their population in the city in general is very low. I then tried to look at the type of forms of private transportation, I looked at the cars around town as a way to separate the affluent with the less affluent, the “haves” from the “have-nots,” the whites from the minorities, and the rich from the poor. I saw many regular vehicles, then I came across the many luxury vehicles. I then thought about how this relates to social justice, access to public transportation, etc.

After January 10, 2014, I thought about what all of this means. Prior to that date, I fondly remember associating private transportation with affluence, and being independent, which is a very common association among people. Conversely, I associated public transportation to people of lower socioeconomic statuses, and poorer people that were unable to afford a private automobile. Additionally, I associated bicycling, skateboarding, scooter riding, etc. with teenagers and others who were too poor to afford a private car. I also remember that in the city that I live in, Tracy, California, I see a lot of middle aged Latino men who may be recent immigrants riding bicycles while collecting bottles and cans to sell.

 During the first few weeks of being a member of this class, I learned about the importance of bicycling in this class, due to the fact that bicycling reduces the carbon footprint and is an alternative to a motorized vehicle which burns fossil fuels that emit CO2 and other GHGs into our atmosphere that lead to global climate change and global warming that accelerate the degradation of the U.S. Also, many places that could be reached can be reached by using bicycles as opposed to cars, but more people drive or ride cars due to the fact that it is more convenient. Additionally, we learned about the health benefits of riding bicycles.   

Highway Robbery

The book Highway Robbery: Transportation Racism and New Routes To Equity by Robert D. Bullard, Glenn S. Johnson, Angel O. Torres, is the book that I read in order to learn more about my internship topic. What I really like about this book is that it started off with a Foreword from the U.S. Congressman John Lewis, an African-American representative who recalled his experience with the Freedom Rides. He was a Freedom Rider who travelled from Washington D.C. throughout the Deep South, and into Louisiana by bus. He and his fellow riders saw the signs for colored and white residents. He and his fellow riders were attacked for trying to confront white supremacy in its many forms. He then compared that undesirable experience to today’s modern equivalent to how poor people and people of color in large urban settings are unable to use certain public transportation services. What is vital is that he connects the past with the present in order to envision a better more inclusive future. He talks about the powerful legacy of Jim Crow transportation.

The book talks about four significant metro centers in the United States: New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay Area, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore. I have read about all of those areas except for the last two places.

Generally, the problems that occurred was due to the fact that most of the funding was spent on the affluent, mostly white suburbs. The least amount of money was spent in the poorer, mostly minority, less affluent inner-cities.  

The Atlanta area case was unique due to the fact that this is the only city located in the Southeastern region of the U.S. that was analyzed by this book. Atlanta’s metropolitan area has a regional transit that is called the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA, for short (52). In the chapter “Dismantling Transit Racism in Metro Atlanta”, I read that in inner-city Atlanta, the mostly poor African-Americans and other people of color have to content with substandard, subpar transportation services, and “dirty” diesel buses, which were the oldest, most dilapidated, and most pollution-generating buses (63).    

The Atlanta area did a great job by going green. They added new “clean” CNG buses to their fleet. Well, there was a problem, most of those new “clean” busses where only available in affluent, mostly white, richer suburban areas. Meanwhile, in inner-city Atlanta, the poor, less affluent, mostly African-American and other minority populations had to contend with old “dirty’ diesel buses. This city, dubbed the capital of the South, made a substantial attempt to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly, unfortunately only the more affluent reap the full benefits. Not to mention, the poor minorities in Atlanta have to inhale the harmful fumes from the old “dirty” diesel busses, which opens the door to the issue of environmental injustice/racism.

An unseen aspect of inequality is that government funding for public transportation does not help the disadvantaged people in rural areas. The elderly and disabled individuals in those respective areas receive only 7% of the government funds for public transportation. There are rarely bus stops in those areas.

In many metropolitan areas, especially Atlanta, it is notable that white people in richer, more affluent neighborhoods, generally do not like people of color, especially African-Americans living alongside them. It is often subtle, but yet so obvious.   

Internet articles

Another aspect of my internship was reading internet articles regarding my topic. Many topics struck out of me. One of the most influential topics that I read about was regarding the unfortunate tragedy of Raquel Nelson incident.

Raquel Nelson was a Georgia woman, and mother of three that received a year of probation due to the jaywalking death of her 4-year-old-son (Hanson, 2012). She was unfortunately convicted by a jury of vehicular homicide by letting her young son to jump into a busy street north of Atlanta on the night of April 10, 2010. She could have received as much as three years in prison. On that April day, she tried to cross the street with her three children when her 4-year-old son was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Ultimately, since she led her children onto a median instead of crossing at a crosswalk, she was then charged and convicted of vehicular homicide. There were petitions for her sentence to be more lenient. The main cause of her son’s death was due to poor/deteriorating infrastructure.  

According to grist.org:

Transportation systems, and streets, need to be not only smart and equitable They also need to be safe. According to the Leadership Conference’s report, Hispanic pedestrians suffer a death rate 62 percent higher, and African Americans almost 70 percent higher, than non-Hispanic whites (Adler, 2011).  

She was hit by Jerry Guy, a guy who was drinking earlier while on pain medication. Furthermore, he was partially blind and had two previous hit-and-run convictions from 1997, according to the records. He, who fled the scene, pleaded guilty to hit-and-run charges, thus he was sentenced to only six months in prison (Hanson, 2012).

These are questions that have to be answered:

What would you have done if you were in Raquel Nelson’s shoes and you needed to get your three kids home? Would you have chosen the shorter route and jaywalked or walked a little over half a mile to the cross walk before heading home (HLNtv.com Staff, 2013)?

This transportation justice issue is intertwined with a criminal justice issue.

Tawn Kennedy Meeting

Originally, I was supposed to meet him on Monday, February 24, 2014, but due to the fact that he fell ill, our meeting had to be rescheduled. Therefore, our meeting took place on Tuesday, March 11 at his office to talk with him about social justice, transportation, and youth empowerment.

I talked to him about his profession. He told me about how he orders bicycles for the teenagers of Santa Cruz, towards the end of our meeting we both took a walk to the Teen Center that was named after the African-American slave. I had a feeling that the teens present in that program come from lower income households, probably the Beach Flats area.

I could remember that I brought up a scenario involving a poor person living in the inner-city. I referred to Oakland, CA, since I am familiar with that inner-city, because I lived there when I was younger. I referred to Stockton, CA, because during the Spring 2012 semester at San Joaquin Delta College, I was enrolled as a student. The scenario was what happens if someone living in an inner-city public housing project, has to go somewhere? Let it be work, school, place of worship, store, etc.? This person is too poor to afford a private automobile. This person has to walk to the bus stop, and wait for a period of time for a bus to come and pick them up. We then discussed the violence that could claim the life of that person. We then discussed how this scenario has to deal with food justice and food deserts, because in inner-cities, there are many liquor stores, fast food restaurants, etc., and not many grocery stores where they sell fresh fruits and/vegetables. If that person wanted to go to the grocery store, they would have to catch the bus, walk a significant distance, and then get to the store. That person would obviously not be able to afford the nutritious food due to their level of income. This is obviously an undesirable, severe inconvenience. As a result, that person would be restricted to processed, high fructose corn syrup saturated food that is detrimental to one’s health, and causes obvious health problems. Due to financial limitations, that poor person most certainly not be able to afford the hospital bills.

I had to include the violence, because it goes hand-in-hand. Violence, poverty, drugs, despair, etc. When a person is limited due to their financial situation, this impacts what type of jobs are available to them. Most people understand that the majority of the best jobs available are located in the suburbs. Next, you must understand the type of jobs that are located in the inner-cities. These are minimum wage, fast food, jobs, since our inner-cities are full of fast food restaurants. This obviously is not justice.

As I have been working on my project, I have come to a realization that if the United States of America, probably the most affluent nation on the face of the earth, wants to improve as a nation, we must confront inequalities at all levels. The issues of social inequalities/racism with respect to education, employment, the environment, transportation, criminal justice, etc. are all intertwined. I have come to a conclusion that the common denominator is urban decay, and social structure. If we do not fix our deteriorating infrastructure in our once proud cities, we would not be able to solve our problems.   

Works Cited

1. "Ben Adler." Grist. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

2. Hanson, Hilary. "Raquel Nelson Fights Murder Charges In Son's Jaywalking Death In Georgia." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 17 Apr. 2012. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.

3. "Jaywalking Mom Avoids Retrial for Son's Death." HLNtv.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.