squirtdad

H23nc...not sure which of the many south bay areas you are from.....San jose has recently release a master plan for bikes and their over all master development plan is focusing on infill...ie building denser housing in the center of the city rather than less dense fourther out. this doesn't solve the existing suburb commute to work set up, but is start in the righr way

see

https://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/11/09...car-privilege/


https://sf.streetsblog.org/2009/11/09...car-privilege/

squirtdad

A couple of thoughts....rather than the city...talk to the merchants. maybe events like sidewalk sales, art show and closing streets can be done to encourage walking, biking...and of course shopping. How many bike racks are there...maybe business will sponsor one...or offer a discount to riders/walkers?

CliftonGK1

I grew up in Twinsburg and used to ride all over there, Solon and Macedonia. Last time I was back there, it was nothing but hotels and strip malls and 6 lane traffic messes. Blech.
Is Corbett's Farm still there in Twinsburg?

newenglandbike

There is a great blog dedicated to exactly this issue, called StreetsBlog, that espouses the healthiness and sustainability of activities like bicycling and walking on city streets. Recently on StreetsBlog, there was an excellent expose about an annoying 'counter-blog' called CommuterOutrage that was actually promoting heavy reliance on automobiles. It is an excellent read:

https://www.streetsblog.org/2009/12/2...eroutrage-com/

When I read the details of this, I did not exactly reach the same conclusion as StreetsBlog- that this CommuterOutrage blog was the handywork of a harmless 'hobbyist'. I actually think it's plausible that CommuterOutrage may have been a 'message-control' effort sponsored by big oil interests and lobbyists.

H23Nutcase

Squirtdad,


I'm in Sunnyvale downtown. Yes I do realize san jose is trying to make the effort to promote bicycling. By 2020, they are planning to get at least 5% (i think) people to commute on bicycle. That's just too pathetic. Granted most drivers here in Bay Area are somewhat patient to cyclists. However it's the setting of the environment too that's troublesome to make it bike friendly.

Look at new development Santanna Row, it was designed and built to human scale within its compound. However if you get outside of its perimeter (stevens creek, winchester, I280, route 17), you would see the bigger picture and that is its location specifically picked for the convenience of automobile. It should be located near light rail or caltrain station to network with other high density downtowns.

I used to live in most sprawled out metro in the country and that is Atlanta. Its metro area is just way beyond hope on implementing bicycle infrastructure. I thought by moving to Bay Area I would see some major improvements. In reality, we are seeing too much of the sameness - strip malls, box store retails, car dominant infrastructure, no sense of place.

agarose2000

San Jose, Sunnyvale and the silicon valley are are all exceptionally bike-friendly areas. At least 10x more friendly than the avg US city. And it still barely works here.

Jim-in-Kirkland

I would suggest taking your draft and dividing into 3 or 4 paragraphs. Include some examples of fun places to bike and walk to & drop some the more preachy dialogue. I also drop the reference to steel cage & use the word car.

As you continue to bike - look at changes that would be helpful for you. Follow-up with roads group on the traffic light sensors. If the roads group continues to blow you off - try the City Council. Do the shops that you frequent have some type of bicycle parking? Maybe not this year - but in next's city budget - they could include a couple thousand dollars to put in some small footprint bike posts or racks. If you have the time, energy and do the leg work - it might pay off.

Good luck.

Giant Defiance

Um honestly I feel now isn't the time of year to send in a letter like this. I would wait until spring and beautiful weather and send it to newspapers. (I do love the new years resolution part, but winter weather makes cycling inaccessible to... normal people.)

stuff I'd leave out/change:

• Any references to cagers and cages and cage stuff, as Jim said. They probably won't appreciate that.
  
• I'd be a bit more sensitive with the middle east thing... our top oil importer is Canada, but leave it in instead saying "instead of being dependent on foreign oil." Add something about giving money to terrorists for brownie points from conservatives.
  
• This sentence is too long, and stuff: "In my town of Rocky River, which is only 5 square miles, it is only two or three miles across town to some of the lengthier destinations, and many of our destinations, like the schools, the library, and shops, is within a mile or so of our homes."
  If anything change "is" to "are," but its still long. break into 2 or 3 sentences.
  
• Make it more organized and concise. Your intro post was a good outline.
  

nashcommguy

I grew up in Mentor, OH. It's about 25 mi east of Cleveland and a very typical 60s sprawl town. Was at one time heavily agricultural. Lived in Mentor-on-the-Lake until age 16. A stones throw(literally) from Lake Erie and spent my summers a/t beach and winters sled riding a nice hill that lead to it. Then the local land barons and city council sold out to the industrial/commercial interests looking to get out Cleveland as the perception was it was being overtaken by people of color. Nevermind, it was just people asserting their Consitutional right to free assembly and vote. Cleveland became the 1st 'major' city to elect a black mayor in '65...Carl Stokes. Route 2/I-90 neatly split the 'old money' town of Bratenahl from the 'great unwashed' on the south side of the freeway. The 'freeway', basically paralleled US 20 and ended in Perry, OH. This was the classic 'white flight' era. My family had relocated to the 'sticks' years before, so we weren't part of that movement, but I watched my home town grow into a clogged, unhealthy, concrete maze in about 10 years.

Rocky River was an old 'hub' much like Chardon, Burton or Painesville on the east side. The sprawl goes all the way out to Madison and Geneva now.

While I appreciate and agree w/many of the sentiments and ideas in your open letter it seems a waste of your valuable time. One can live against the grain of culture w/o getting caught up in the madness of it. Look to those near and dear to you. Do what you can to shrink your own carbon footprint and know that EVERY power that is...media, advertising, culture, zoning laws, etc. are stacked against anything threatening the status quo or bottom line. People will cite danger, self-absorbtion, cold weather, rainy weather, etc. to question your sanity in doing anything besides recreational riding on a bicycle.

Been doing this commuting thing for over 20 years and I've numbered the jokes and have a file box of 3x5 cards w/t smart remarks listed alphabetically... And that's just from well-intentioned co-workers and friends. The automobile is king and will be until we run out of oil. The bicycle is held in high regard in Europe, but not so much here in the States. All the best in your attempt, though.

sonatageek

I think sending the letter makes sense. May not change anyone's mind, but you never know. I wonder how many letters the city council or mayor would need to get to have them talk to the city worker who could fix the traffic light sensitivity issue with those 3 lights mentioned by SweetLou.

I-Like-To-Bike

All good recommendations. Unfortunately, if the OP drops the preachy rhetoric, and disparagement of everyone who hasn't seen the light, there is almost nothing left in the letter.

Recommend a total rewrite of the letter to express the practicality and pleasure as well as cost savings that the OP finds by walking and biking around town and to suggest that others might also get positive benefits if they try it too.

chipcom 

I'm not sure. Last I heard, a bunch of developers had bought it to subdivide and even wanted to tear down the old farmhouse and barn.

ItsJustMe

You might want to convert miles into minutes. It's surprising how many people think a mile is a LONG WAY on foot. If you say it's a 15 minute walk instead of "1 mile" it might go over better. Going outside for a nice 30 minute walk into town and back seems nice. Walking for 2 miles seems like an ordeal.

dewaday

You might want to contact someone at GCBL and ask their advice.
One of the crazy ironies of this area is seeing no one biking or walking in beautiful residential areas, like River, but literally turning the MetroPark trails into human freeways. Weird that culture disconnects and isolates like that.

https://www.gcbl.org/transportation/bikes