The Collector
May 12, 2023
More Fun Bike Month Events / Más eventos divertidos del mes de la bicicleta
Events over the next week include Sunday’s Bilingual Birding Bike Ride, a Eureka Mural Ride on Tuesday and Bike to Work Day on Thursday, and the big Bike Celebration and Expo next Saturday. We’ll see you on the streets and trails!
Will Eureka Move Forward with Complete Streets & Safer Fleets?
Next Tuesday, the Eureka City Council is slated to make several decisions supported by CRTP, including purchasing another property to help build the Bay to Zoo Trail and allocating some money for the C Street Bike Boulevard and for sidewalk improvements. But there are also proposed allocations for “parking improvements” and “Henderson Street improvements” with no information provided about whether these projects will include facilities for bikes, pedestrians or transit. The city recently adopted a Complete Streets Policy that requires all such projects to include safe facilities for all modes of transportation, or else justify an exception and provide an opportunity for public input. We’re putting the pressure on to ensure the city is actually following its policy on this and all other street projects.
Also on Tuesday, the Council will receive a presentation on electrification of the city’s own fleet of vehicles. CRTP supports rapid fleet electrification, but we also think it needs to be paired with vehicle safety retrofits and efforts to reduce driving by city employees. We are recommending the Council adopt RCCER’s model Safe & Sustainable Fleet policy, which does all of these things, including making a commitment to intelligent speed assistance technology that would keep city vehicles from exceeding the speed limit.
In other Eureka news, the city’s Transportation Safety Commission this week recommended significant changes to downtown parking management, including installing meters in some currently free public lots, increasing the hourly meter rate, and adjusting time limits. CRTP supports these changes, but we are advocating for the city to extend metering to curb parking as well – and to adjust rates to ensure a reasonable occupancy level and prevent cruising for free parking.
The Humboldt Transit Authority Keeps Those Buses Running
Listen to the latest EcoNews Report, featuring HTA General Manager Greg Pratt and co-hosted by CRTP Executive Director Colin Fiske, to learn more about how our local transit agency is tackling the challenges of providing service in a rural county while making plans to increase ridership and decrease emissions. Recently the agency announced another major transit grant for the region, which among many other things will help the Yurok Tribe re-start bus service between Willow Creek, Weitchpec and Orleans.
If you’re not yet a local transit rider, there’s another chance to start next week with 350 Humboldt’s latest Bus Adventure! These excursions are “a chance to get comfortable with public transit while meeting new people, chatting with old friends, doing something positive for climate change and exploring parts of our community.” Next Wednesday (5/17), the group encourages you to ride the bus to Blue Ox Millworks at 1st and X in Eureka. The group will meet at Blue Ox at 11am, tour the facility (self -guided, $15/person), and then have lunch or snacks (bring your own) at the picnic tables and take a walk on the Bay Trail. There are even free single-ride bus passes available for those who need them! Email Cathy at cathyck@sbcglobal.net with questions and to RSVP.
Keep on Making Those Street Story Reports!
Reports of hazards on the street, as well as near-misses and even actual collisions, help CRTP advocate for safety improvements and help local governments get safety grants. The more reports we have, the harder it is for decision-makers to ignore. You can even review reports other people have made if you want to advocate for safety improvements yourself! So make reporting on Street Story part of your routine. La versión de Street Story en español está disponible aquí.
News from Beyond the North Coast
Will EVs Make Americans Even More Parking-Obsessed?
For EV owners without their own driveways or garages, the hunt for a prime parking space – one with a charging station – and the need to move the vehicle after it’s charged could focus even more attention on the problems of vehicle storage. But is it even even possible for Americans to become more obsessed with parking than we already are? Regardless, EVs clearly won’t solve all the problems caused by cars. Federal parking reform can’t come soon enough.
Biased Crash Reporting Standards Lead to Biased Crash Data
National standards used by law enforcement to report car crash data have long distracted from crucial street design problems and fed into victim-blaming narratives about people walking and biking. Those standards could soon get even worse if advocates are not successful in their reform efforts.
The Collector is CRTP’s weekly transportation news roundup, published every Friday. We focus on North Coast news, but we also include relevant state, national and international transportation news – plus other items that we just find kind of interesting! To submit items for consideration, email colin@transportationpriorities.org.