City Council Meeting on Bicycle Safety

Following a recent tragedy in October, where a quarry truck, driving
illegally on a city street, struck and killed a high school student,
there is an intense, but temporary interest in bicycle safety in the
city I live (Cupertino, CA).

Two weeks ago, a three year old, riding with his parents got hit by a
minivan that did not stop at a stop sign. The kid was okay, being small
enough to fit under the van.

Since I have lived here (since 1999) the city has been taking deliberate
steps to make the city much less safe for cyclists and pedestrians. They
have defunded the sheriff's department which eliminated bicycle safety
education and reduced traffic enforcement. They have removed traffic
control devices which reduced traffic on local streets. They have given
away entire roads to private companies, roads that were previously
heavily used by cyclists (one to Apple, one to a shopping center
developer). They have greatly increased traffic congestion by approving
massive high-density housing projects. To be fair it has not been all
negative. They build a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge over a freeway and
they re-built a small bridge that allows pedestrians and bicyclist to
avoid one busy road (over the strong objections of those that live nearby).

Last night there was a long public meeting on the subject of bicycle and
pedestrian safety. At least some of the city council members have good
intentions, including the mayor, but our city lacks a police department,
the public works director is not knowledgeable about traffic calming or
bicycle & pedestrian safety, and while there are commissions for
bicycles and pedestrians and public safety, they can't fill them or even
get quorums for meetings because so few people will remain on the
commissions because the city staff and city council pay little to no
attention to anything they do.

Surrounding cities do a lot better. Mountain View (Google), Palo Alto
(HP), and Santa Clara (Intel), have been taking positive steps to
increase bicycle safety. The major employers are relevant because they
have a much stronger sense of civic responsibility than the major
employer in my city (Apple) who basically does nothing for the city
(other than take 35% of the sales tax that the city is entitled to
(though this is an improvement since it was 50% up until 2013)); this
bizarre rebate deal was struck when Apple was close to bankruptcy in
1997 and Steve Jobs asked for this money).

Basically, the city wants to spend no money and do nothing, while
appearing to be concerned. The sheriff's department has decided to
increase enforcement of the bicycle helmet requirement.

On 12/18/2014 3:26 AM, sms wrote:
Following a recent tragedy in October, where a quarry truck, driving
illegally on a city street, struck and killed a high school student,
there is an intense, but temporary interest in bicycle safety in the
city I live (Cupertino, CA).

Two weeks ago, a three year old, riding with his parents got hit by a
minivan that did not stop at a stop sign. The kid was okay, being small
enough to fit under the van.

Since I have lived here (since 1999) the city has been taking deliberate
steps to make the city much less safe for cyclists and pedestrians. They
have defunded the sheriff's department which eliminated bicycle safety
education and reduced traffic enforcement. They have removed traffic
control devices which reduced traffic on local streets. They have given
away entire roads to private companies, roads that were previously
heavily used by cyclists (one to Apple, one to a shopping center
developer). They have greatly increased traffic congestion by approving
massive high-density housing projects. To be fair it has not been all
negative. They build a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge over a freeway and
they re-built a small bridge that allows pedestrians and bicyclist to
avoid one busy road (over the strong objections of those that live nearby).

Last night there was a long public meeting on the subject of bicycle and
pedestrian safety. At least some of the city council members have good
intentions, including the mayor, but our city lacks a police department,
the public works director is not knowledgeable about traffic calming or
bicycle & pedestrian safety, and while there are commissions for
bicycles and pedestrians and public safety, they can't fill them or even
get quorums for meetings because so few people will remain on the
commissions because the city staff and city council pay little to no
attention to anything they do.

Surrounding cities do a lot better. Mountain View (Google), Palo Alto
(HP), and Santa Clara (Intel), have been taking positive steps to
increase bicycle safety. The major employers are relevant because they
have a much stronger sense of civic responsibility than the major
employer in my city (Apple) who basically does nothing for the city
(other than take 35% of the sales tax that the city is entitled to
(though this is an improvement since it was 50% up until 2013)); this
bizarre rebate deal was struck when Apple was close to bankruptcy in
1997 and Steve Jobs asked for this money).

Basically, the city wants to spend no money and do nothing, while
appearing to be concerned. The sheriff's department has decided to
increase enforcement of the bicycle helmet requirement.

And yet, the useless League of American Bicyclists praises Cupertino as
a "bronze level bicycle friendly community."

--
- Frank Krygowski

On Thursday, December 18, 2014 3:26:50 AM UTC-5, sms wrote:
Following a recent tragedy in October, where a quarry truck, driving
illegally on a city street, struck and killed a high school student,
there is an intense, but temporary interest in bicycle safety in the
city I live (Cupertino, CA).

Two weeks ago, a three year old, riding with his parents got hit by a
minivan that did not stop at a stop sign. The kid was okay, being small
enough to fit under the van.

Since I have lived here (since 1999) the city has been taking deliberate
steps to make the city much less safe for cyclists and pedestrians. They
have defunded the sheriff's department which eliminated bicycle safety
education and reduced traffic enforcement. They have removed traffic
control devices which reduced traffic on local streets. They have given
away entire roads to private companies, roads that were previously
heavily used by cyclists (one to Apple, one to a shopping center
developer). They have greatly increased traffic congestion by approving
massive high-density housing projects. To be fair it has not been all
negative. They build a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge over a freeway and
they re-built a small bridge that allows pedestrians and bicyclist to
avoid one busy road (over the strong objections of those that live nearby).

Last night there was a long public meeting on the subject of bicycle and
pedestrian safety. At least some of the city council members have good
intentions, including the mayor, but our city lacks a police department,
the public works director is not knowledgeable about traffic calming or
bicycle & pedestrian safety, and while there are commissions for
bicycles and pedestrians and public safety, they can't fill them or even
get quorums for meetings because so few people will remain on the
commissions because the city staff and city council pay little to no
attention to anything they do.

Surrounding cities do a lot better. Mountain View (Google), Palo Alto
(HP), and Santa Clara (Intel), have been taking positive steps to
increase bicycle safety. The major employers are relevant because they
have a much stronger sense of civic responsibility than the major
employer in my city (Apple) who basically does nothing for the city
(other than take 35% of the sales tax that the city is entitled to
(though this is an improvement since it was 50% up until 2013)); this
bizarre rebate deal was struck when Apple was close to bankruptcy in
1997 and Steve Jobs asked for this money).

Basically, the city wants to spend no money and do nothing, while
appearing to be concerned. The sheriff's department has decided to
increase enforcement of the bicycle helmet requirement.

NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN

COMPARE YOUR TAXES TO HP/INTEL TOWNS....HEHEHHEH IBM et al

I live in a NEW town where the rich winter people are taxed then go home - 80%
pop - by May. The streets are paved with gold.

Over on the east coast, County Services dress in rags

On Thursday, December 18, 2014 12:26:50 AM UTC-8, sms wrote:
Following a recent tragedy in October, where a quarry truck, driving
illegally on a city street, struck and killed a high school student,
there is an intense, but temporary interest in bicycle safety in the
city I live (Cupertino, CA).

Two weeks ago, a three year old, riding with his parents got hit by a
minivan that did not stop at a stop sign. The kid was okay, being small
enough to fit under the van.

Since I have lived here (since 1999) the city has been taking deliberate
steps to make the city much less safe for cyclists and pedestrians. They
have defunded the sheriff's department which eliminated bicycle safety
education and reduced traffic enforcement. They have removed traffic
control devices which reduced traffic on local streets. They have given
away entire roads to private companies, roads that were previously
heavily used by cyclists (one to Apple, one to a shopping center
developer). They have greatly increased traffic congestion by approving
massive high-density housing projects. To be fair it has not been all
negative. They build a new bicycle/pedestrian bridge over a freeway and
they re-built a small bridge that allows pedestrians and bicyclist to
avoid one busy road (over the strong objections of those that live nearby).

Last night there was a long public meeting on the subject of bicycle and
pedestrian safety. At least some of the city council members have good
intentions, including the mayor, but our city lacks a police department,
the public works director is not knowledgeable about traffic calming or
bicycle & pedestrian safety, and while there are commissions for
bicycles and pedestrians and public safety, they can't fill them or even
get quorums for meetings because so few people will remain on the
commissions because the city staff and city council pay little to no
attention to anything they do.

Surrounding cities do a lot better. Mountain View (Google), Palo Alto
(HP), and Santa Clara (Intel), have been taking positive steps to
increase bicycle safety. The major employers are relevant because they
have a much stronger sense of civic responsibility than the major
employer in my city (Apple) who basically does nothing for the city
(other than take 35% of the sales tax that the city is entitled to
(though this is an improvement since it was 50% up until 2013)); this
bizarre rebate deal was struck when Apple was close to bankruptcy in
1997 and Steve Jobs asked for this money).

Basically, the city wants to spend no money and do nothing, while
appearing to be concerned. The sheriff's department has decided to
increase enforcement of the bicycle helmet requirement.

The surrounding cities have police departments. IIRC, Cupertino still thinks its a small town that can get buy contracting with SCC Sheriff's department. I think Saratoga does the same thing -- or it used to. Even when I was a kid, Los Gatos had a police department. Andy and Barney, but they were totally integrated in to the community and policed all the time -- on or off duty. Officer Heinz busted me for riding my bike the wrong way when I was seven -- on University Ave (the one in Los Gatos). I went to bicyclist training class, ages before Frank was certified.

Your community is so rich, I'm sure you can sell improved policing if its tied to the protection of property and the keeping of order. Throw in the bicycle and pedestrian part later. As far as facilities go, what do you want? I commuted to two different jobs in Cupertino from my dive in downtown SJ, and it was fast and easy -- back in the '80s. Don't tell me things have changed in 30 years!

-- Jay Beattie.

P.S., I had one short term job in Cupertino and used to ride down Homestead everyday at the same time as this guy who rode to work on a scooter. He would slow down; I would jump on and get motor-paced. Great guy -- I don't know if had more than 50 words with him and probably got paced 20 times.