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Local Stories by Local People
Memorial Ride For Killed Bicyclist
Another death in Old Town Goleta by motor vehicle occurred on August 8. On Sunday, August 19, a memorial bicycle ride was held for the so-far unnamed bicyclist killed by a turning truck. PTA safety representative Eva Inbar organized the event.
Goleta City Council members Roger Aceves and Michael Bennett met the cyclists at the end of the ride at Goleta City Hall and discussed what is to be done. Everyone thanked them repeatedly for coming and talking. (Council Member Aceves also met people at the start of the ride).
Some issues raised in the discussion:
1) There is no safe, legal place to ride on Hollister Avenue in Old Town Goleta.
2) An immediate remedy is possible: Remove about 15-20 parking spaces on one side of Hollister. Use that space for bike lanes and re-stripe the pavement.
3) The default position is to leave a deadly situation in place while there is vague talk of eventual discussions of solutions. Why isn't the default solution to remove the parking immediately and provide the bike lanes immediately during this time of planning and discussion?
4) Actual discussions and workshops have already been done at the expense of thousands of citizen-hours of time and effort. Plans were drawn up and then completely ignored. That all happened over ten years ago.
5) While we wait and do nothing, exactly where are bicyclists supposed to ride in Old Town Goleta?
6) The focus on the details of specific accidents misses a key point: If there is no place to ride that is both safe and legal, then won't people have to choose to violate either safe or legal?
7) During the ride, a child was riding on the sidewalk facing traffic. The police escort for the ride told the child that he must ride on the road in the correct direction. Would any adult ride where they are telling the child to ride?
8) What is being done to educate motorists of their legal responsibility to share the road? Not one person at the ride considered it at all reasonable to "take the lane" given the current state of motorist awareness.
Michael Bennett reminded us all of the Goleta Old Town Advisory Council (GOTAC) workshops and meetings going back to 1995. Those workshops and meetings generated a workable vision of Old Town Goleta that would have safe bicycle lanes, wider sidewalks and street plantings. It was to be the center of a revitalized community of Goleta.
Both Bennett and Aceves pledged to hold meetings and otherwise work to get back on track to that vision. They promised to work in parallel on immediate short term remedies as well as longer range planning.
pictures of memorial ride
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