Let us BIKE! City Council Testimony: Victoria Corridor 2/23/09

Hi. I’m Gwendolyn Alley.

I know the Victoria Corridor well. I grew up in Morningside, a little neighborhood squashed between the 126, Victoria, and Telegraph and surrounded by schools: Mound, Balboa, Buena with Ventura College and HP Wright Library about 1 mile away. I went to these schools, walked to the library, the grocery store by foot and by bike. That’s the main reason why my mom and dad chose this neighborhood. My sister lives there still with her husband and their three sons.

My neighborhood used to be a walkable, bike-able community. I remember riding my bike at 9 and 10 to swim practice at Buena. We rode to the store and the library. I remember as young as 11 riding my bike from my house across town to the Pier to go to the beach.

Over the years, I have seen Victoria Avenue grow from a steady stream of cars to a roaring river of monstrous multiple lanes of traffic devouring yards and frontage in its way, forcing houses and business establishments to huddle up next to the ravenous roadway.

Two years ago, I participated in a march from Ventura College to the government center. My son rode on the bike seat and I walked the bike there.

On our return to the college, imagine my shock to discover there is no bike path from the Government Center back to the college! It certainly was not safe to ride along the edge of the street. When we reached the intersection of Victoria and Telegraph, I had no idea what was the best way to make it safely across and toward the College, so I gave it my best shot and rode in the turn lane.  I am sure I looked like a Bad Mama with my 3 year old in his bike seat proudly holding his pro-peace sign.

To me the plans for the Victoria Corridor continue to be business as usual which priviledges the polluting transportation of yesterday, essentially ignoring the task of providing safe passage for children, families, and commuters by bicycle and by foot.

The rides I did as a child are not safe today for an adult. This plan does little to offer substantial change to make the Victoria corridor safer. I would not feel comfortable riding on Victoria to go to Trader Joe’s or Peet’s. How would someone commute to the government center? To Buena?

This proposed code is absent of real alternatives to the car and directly conflicts with local and national direction and policy. For example, page 124  (24V.208.030 New Street Types, C, 4, f ) “Allow shared bicycle and vehicle use of travel lanes on  relatively low volume streets.”

I argue that any place a person travels by vehicle must be safe to travel by bicycle for the young, for families, for anyone who can ride: they should be able to bicycle safely on all of our city streets.

Roads like Victoria require class 2 bicycle lanes. “Shared Use” kills and maims cyclists every day. Any road  with room for two bi-directional lanes and two bidirectional bicycle lanes should be striped as such.

In the plan, in almost every graphic depicting a road, the drawing shows a car driving lane, a car parking lane, and a sidewalk to get out of the car and walk to the building.  This is business as usual, designed for car futures not for our futures. The car parking requirements must change to make way for alternative transportation.

Bicycle lanes and bus stops must be standard features taking precedence over ubiquitous vehicle parking which subsidizes an outmoded way of life.

Bike lanes are ALWAYS possible.  Putting bikes on a sidewalk –marked or not, recognized or not–is not a solution. As my kindergartner son says “Mom, tell them to put sidewalks everywhere.”

We need a mobility plan first!

Finally, I invite you to join us on our First Friday ArtRides. More information on that and  on my application for Island caretaker of the Great Barrier Reef at my Art Predator blog. (You can watch my video here).

Thank you.

Time! Three minutes!

Council discussed the lack of bike lanes, but the sticky point in passing this was not about bike lanes, but about the new form based codes which will make almost every single business along Victoria non-conforming. If a business wants to do any sort of upgrade, they are stuck having to conform to the new code. Trying to figure out what to grandfather in went on and on until no one was comfortable and the meeting was adjourned with the matter being postponed!

Does this give us another chance at testimony? I think so! Will find out for sure! If so, the key issues to bring up in writing or in a comment is safety for cyclists and pedestrians, lane equality for bikes, and the necessary evil of reducing cars and roadways to make was for alternative forms of transportation.

The important point from tonight is that we registered our concerns via my spoke comments and the submission of a letter from VCOOL’s Rachel Morris. Now these issues will have to be addressed in the EIR as part of the CEQA process.

After the meeting, Councilman Monihan thanked me and said he agreed that the plan needed to address the lack of bikes. We’ll see if he takes it any further than that.