Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan on Ojai City Council Agenda

Alternative Transportation is on the Ojai City Council Agenda, Tuesday April 13, 2010. The meeting starts at 7:30 pm. It's hard to predict when the council will discuss the items below, as it depends in part on how many people speak at the beginning of the meeting on "Unscheduled Items." My guess is around 8:15 pm.
Item 4 - Grand Avenue Bicycle Lanes
Item 5 - Bicycle/Pedestrian Master Plan
Item 6 - Transit System Service Reduction Options
Click here to read the full agenda and staff reports: http://www.ci.ojai.ca.us/

The Grand Avenue Bicycle Lanes were on the Ojai City Council agenda way back in 1997. Teachers, parents and students wrote numerous letters and testified at City Council meetings on why Safe Routes to School are needed.

At that time, to the best of my recollection, the council majority (three out of five members) decided that the convenience of cars was more important than the safety of elementary school age children. One member stated that it would be a hardship for his mother-in-law and other elderly people to be able to park on one side of the street only.

I plan to read a Letter dated December 18, 1996, to the Ojai Unified School District administrators and board members, at this Tuesday's meeting, on the need to make our community more pedestrian and bicycle friendly.

Here is another Letter, dated September 14, 1997, from the Topa Topa Elementary Teachers stating why they support the proposed Grand Avenue bike lanes one hundred percent.

September 14, 1997

To Whom it May Concern,

The teachers at Topa Topa Elementary School would like to support the proposed bike lane on Grand Avenue. This lane would not only provide a safe section of the road for our chidren to ride to school on, but it would also help them to follow through on our school's mission statement.

It is our goal to provide excellent academic educational services and to teach our students about eco-literacy and sustainable living. For the students to truly understand what sustainabe living means they must be able to practice what we are teaching. One way that they can do this is by riding their bikes to school. A bike lane woud allow for students to do this safely.

If we as a community do not work to provide a safe means of alternative transportation then what we teach them by inaction is that they have only one choice. The future is not built on a pin point. Children must see their many choices if they are to feel that they have a future.

We feel it is the community's duty to support childen and to provide such alternatives as bike lanes for safe passage to school. We support the Grand Avenue bike lane one hundred percent.

Sincerely,
Topa Topa Elementary Teachers

Note: There are pros and cons to bike lanes. The important thing is that streets should be made safe with whatever design is most appropriate so that school-age children can safely bicycle or walk to school.

Letter to the City from John van Houten, M.D., "It is time for Ojai to take a new look at the existing Bike Plan
http://www.ojaipost.com/2010/04/letter_to_the_city_from_john_v.shtml

Related Articles cross-posted on the Ojai Post and Ojai Valley Green Coalition website

It's About the Bike: A Doctor's Prescription for a Healthy, Wealthy and Green Ojai
Guest Editorial by John van Houten, M.D.
http://www.ojaipost.com/2009/09/_its_about_the_bike_a_doctors.shtml

Ojai Valley Green Coalition Transportation
http://www.ojaivalleygreencoalition.org/action-committees/transportation/

Posted by Suza Francina, Chair, Ojai Valley Green Coalition Transportation Committee

Posted by Transportation Committee on April 11, 2010 11:26 PM

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