Happy Holidays an
d a Safe and Productive New Year to You!
Well Designed Bike Routes
Improve Safety .......and
Property Values.
Walk-Bike Cupertino advocates
Safe and Easy cycling and walking. This implies better signed routes through neighborhoods that are shorter and quieter for our kids to get to/from school and for our adult population who wants to access shopping districts or for exercise. Many studies have been conducted in cities such as Portland, Seattle, Los Angeles and Berkeley show that
safe bike routes and trails make the community safer for our families and improve property values.
Check out these articles:http://tinyurl.com/WBC-Property-Value or in Berkeley
http://localbiketrails.com/BerkeleyCaliforniabiketrails to see trails' impact in other communities.
Cupertino City Bike/Ped News:
A big
thanks to you in urging the city council to change course and fund programs and efforts to make Cupertino the bike and pedestrian friendly community that we all want. In 2016, re-double your efforts to tell your city councilperson to continue to support and increase funding for the health and safety of our pedestrians and cyclists.
Bike Plan 2016 Community Meeting - Dec 1
Held at city hall by Alta Design and senior city staff with nearly 40 community members in attendance. The breakout sessions yielded a number of great bicycle design and safety concepts such as separated bikeways (Class IV) on Stevens Creek Blvd and McClellan Road, building routes along the Union Pacific railroad tracks and utilizing rights-of-way including setbacks along the I-280 sound walls. For a complete recap, see Gary Jones' summary at
http://www.walkbikecupertino.org/wbc/?p=574
Alta Design is slated to come to the Cupertino Bike/Ped Commission with a first review draft in January and then hold a second community workshop in February '16. The final plan will go to council for approval in May 16.
Current Cupertino Bike/Ped15 Project Update - As you can see in town, the green lane painting is substantially complete and it receives very positive reviews. You can see the remaining project list and schedule at:
http://tinyurl.com/Cup-BP15-Status-12151516 items are slated to be completed by Aug 2016. Many of the remaining tasks will remove barriers, open pathways and improve the ease for the community to take shorter, easier and safer routes to their destinations. FMI: Contact David Stillman at DStillman@cupertino.org
Stevens Creek Trail Update- Dec 15- Cupertino Parks and Rec hosted a community outreach forum to consider the latest draft report for the SCT. Please see this link for the SCT full report
As bridging I-280 seems to be far off in the future, the main focus of discussion appeared to be on how to improve and make Mary Avenue and Foothill Blvd safer and more bike friendly. Many members of the Phar Lap neighborhood attended and expressed concern about the potential impact in their neighborhood if a bike route were ever to be built that would go under/over 280 from Homestead Road to Stevens Creek Blvd. The Parks and Rec team will make a presentation to the city council on January 15th, for its consideration. Walk-Bike Cupertino feels thatany neighborhood routing of the SCT should be postponedfor future consideration. If you have an opinion on this agenda item, you can attend the meeting to voice your opinion, or write your city council at :http://cupertino.org/index.aspx?page=41
City and CUSD/FUHSD Leaders meet to continue Safe Routes Plan
Safe Routes to School Program Under the leadership of Chelsea Biklin, thecity-led program is progressing well. While the effort continues to find its "sea legs", consistent participation from the parent and education community has been an issue. If you would like to get involved and help, please contact Chelsea Biklin at ChelseaB@cupertino.org
A recent initiative to
embed student bike safety training in our CUSD school curriculum has received major focus.
Walk-Bike Cupertino hopes to see a bike/ped training program (modeled after one used in Palo Alto and other communities) that makes bike/ped training a part of the PE curriculum at all CUSD schools. It is our hope that a portion of the program can be started this Spring at all CUSD Middle schools. (no time like the present!) For more information of SRTS see
www.cupertino.org/saferoutes.
Check it out - review the information and links to other resources and leave your comments and suggestions - we'll forward them on to the city and keep track of them! You'll continue to see additional content added each week.
The latest auto/cyclist and auto/pedestrian accident data reported by the Santa Clara County Sheriff is now posted at www.walkbikecupertino.org The city witnessed a spike in auto/bike accidents in the July-Sept 15 quarter, with incidents rising to a quarterly high 19 reported incidents.
Recognitions and Ratings for Cupertino Cycling and Walkability
Bike Friendly Community Recognition- 11/15/2015. Cupertino was awarded the
Bronze Level for bike friendliness by the
League of American Bicyclists for the second consecutive time. This well deserved recognition is one litmus test of Cupertino's status and where it needs to go to be the best community in the Bay Area for cycling and walking. Award levels range from Bronze, Gold, Silver and Platinum (the highest). 56 California cities (14 in the SF Bay Area) were recognized with Davis,CA being the sole recipient of the Platinum award level. In the Bay Area there were 3 Golds (Palo Alto, San Francisco and Santa Cruz), 4 Silvers and 7 Bronze Awards (See complete the Bay Area list at
http://tinyurl.com/BFC-Bay-Area-List
You can view: Cupertino's Report Card at http://tinyurl.com/BFC-Cupertino-Rating-2015 and the rating "wheel" at http://tinyurl.com/BFC-Rating-Matrix . In January we expect to receive the BFC's Community Feedback report with specific recommendations for Cupertino to improve its rating. FMI on the Bicycle Friendly Community see http://bikeleague.org/bfa/awards#stateit will give you an idea of what it will take to become the Bay Area's leader in Bike/Ped features and amenities.
Per the WalkScore.com, Cupertino has been given a rating of 45 for walking and 64 for bicycling and is deemed an auto-centric city. An independent rating organization that aids the real estate industry, it is also a relevant data source for users to identify communities and neighborhoods that are bike/walk friendly (versus auto-centric). FMI: https://www.walkscore.com/
Walk-Bike Cupertino Commentary:
You - a Walk-Bike supporter - have helped instigate a sea-change in Cupertino City's bike/ped perspective. Future increased funding of bike/ped amenities will be crucial going forward into 2016/17 budget year. During the past 18 months, the Cupertino City Council has made a meaningful fiscal turnaround - in contrast to the prior 4 fiscal years of insignificant funding. While many recent projects and improvements are visible - mainly green lane painting and markings - much structural work needs to be designed, committed to and acted on to make Cupertino "Safe and Easy to Walk and Cycle in Cupertino".
Going forward - and with the completion of the Alta Design Plan in May 16 - we expect to see a significant set of objectives, plans and blueprints for immediate and future development of a bike/ped friendly environment for Cupertino.
Your continued support and communication to the Cupertino City Council and city staff will be instrumental in moving Cupertino toward the goal of being the Bay Area's leading city when it comes to bike/ped friendliness.
Thank you for your support and your actions.... your efforts do make a difference.
Stevens Creek Trail Update- Dec 15
Bike Friendly Community Recognition
Walk-Bike Cupertino Commentary:
