AnonymousBy Phil Unander, Owner of Larry’s Auto Parts in Old Town Goleta
The City of Goleta has just unveiled their plans with options to address traffic issues in Old Town. Keep in mind that Hollister Avenue is the only route connecting Goleta to Santa Barbara on the south side of the 101 freeway. The proposed changes according to Therese Lopes, the senior project manager from the City, are “to help enhance safety and operations for all modes of transportation.”
The current solutions proposed, in my opinion, do not match the problems. Reducing traffic lanes from 4 to 2 will likely cause delays and produce traffic backup at Fairview and Patterson Avenues. This has been the conclusion from several studies done in recent years by the County and City.
A consultant recently hired by the City, Nayan Amin says that with timed traffic lights, there will be an acceptable delay at peak times, and he feels this will not cause people to take alternate routes. We also have a severe parking shortage in Old Town, and one proposal eliminates parking from the south side of Hollister, which is 28 spaces. This number was cited as not significant, but with the potential of 6 cycles per parking space per day, 168 spaces is significant. We have in excess of 24,000 vehicle trips per day on Hollister between Highway 217 and Fairview Ave.
According to the same consultant, there are fewer than 100 bike trips per day along this same corridor. A business owner on Hollister conducted a bike count Wednesday May 8 (which was also “bike to work day”) and Thursday May 9, from 7:00AM until 9:00AM. The count was 27 bikes Wednesday and 24 bikes on Thursday during that time period. A few years ago the businesses on my block asked for signatures from anyone that opposed trading parking for a bike lane.
We collected over 2000 signatures in 3 weeks from people that actually used Hollister and parked in Old town. These signatures were submitted to the City. The City is now largely basing their decisions on the 250 respondents to an online survey taken recently. I do not dispute that traveling by bike on Hollister through this downtown corridor can be dangerous at times, but to consider any reduction in parking or traffic lanes to accommodate bike lanes is a solution that is disproportionate to the problem.
There are many alternate solutions and locations for the bike lane that are far easier, safer, and much less of an impact to the people that choose and need to drive and park. I am urging the City council to place the weight of their decision where the need is the most.
Even the author concedes this corridor is dangerous for cyclists. I want to highlight it is not just dangerous for cyclists, pedestrians, transit riders, and GASP even drivers. Making this a complete street would improve safety for everyone. There’s a lot of evidence out there that complete streets redesigns result in positive economic impacts for adjacent businesses.
This makes it better for everyone! Think of it this way. Every person that rides a bike, walks, or takes the bus is one less car on the road. There is sufficient parking available in Old Town. Maybe patrons cannot park directly in front of your business during the peak hour, but they can walk a couple blocks. This does not cause anyone business.
For one I would love to not fear for my life and my babies life everytime we cross Hollister Avenue. These types of treatments will encourage more people to walk, ride bikes, and take transit. Yay less cars! Not saying that auto supply businesses don’t have a place in our world, but we should be encouraging better community!
1. “There is sufficient parking available in Old Town.” – Where? —— 2. ” Every person that rides a bike, walks, or takes the bus is one less car on the road.” – You’re erroneously assuming that people will decide to bike or walk instead of driving (see #4). ——- 3. “This does not cause anyone business.” – How do you know? Are you a business owner in Old Town? ——– 4. “These types of treatments will encourage more people to walk, ride bikes, and take transit.” – No, they cause more traffic. People won’t stop driving their cars through Old Town just because it’s 2 lanes. It’s a main corridor between SB and Goleta. People who are driving to and from aren’t going to add an extra few hours to each way of their trip by walking or try to carry their families or groceries or CAR PARTS on their bikes. It won’t happen. There are easier and better ways to make cycling safer, we just need to brainstorm more and stop just removing lanes of traffic and/or parking for businesses.
To me, Old Town has never felt like a community or a destination, specifically because of the status quo: four lanes of hurried traffic. It’s not fun or charming to walk around, and I personally never spend my money there (I’ve lived in Santa Barbara more than a decade). Modernizing the traffic and infrastructure can only help commerce in Old Town going forward.
How about moving the bike lane OFF of Hollister? There are roads one block either way of Hollister that have much less traffic. Perhaps there are some improvements that would allow this. Moving the bikes and the traffic away from each other should be the goal – not to eliminate the traffic (which won’t happen without eliminating the businesses).
How is the consultant’s objective experience less valid than subjective observation?
Cause it ain’t subjective!!! It’s a fact that someone sat on Hollister and counted bikes. LOL, don’t let facts get in the way of your presupposed conclusion.
Cause it ain’t subjective observation, bro!!! It’s a fact that someone sat on Hollister and counted bikes. LOL, don’t let facts get in the way of your presupposed conclusion.
Look no further than second district and how Wolf has mismanaged her PUBLIC funding just like Perotte is doing in OT. These people do such a dis-service to the people they represent. We need to wake up folks and question these so-called leaders everyday. They bank on us sleeping so they can continue their crazy progressive agenda. Stay awake all!!
Phil, you obviously haven’t heard that the bike mafia in town holds much more weight than a lowly business owner that provides jobs and services. As they say, you can’t fight City Hall. Unsolited advice: remember that there is a pending extension of S Kellogg to connect to S Fairview (new roundabout to be at the hard turn near the airport). Ask Mr. Amin and your elected officials how this extension will affect both bike and car traffic through Old Town. Look forward to seeing you the next time I need parts.
Good observations Phil. I participated in the recent online survey about the downtown issues, but think all proposed solutions are problematic and will impede traffic and visibility causing more congestion and accidents. The city council seems bent of doing something even if it is wrong. I sometimes feel that if it doesn’t concern butterflies or bicycles the council isn’t interested.
Good luck with your cause, Phil! It’s really amazing how much cyclist advocates and anti-car groups have been able to bully their way around town. The only victory for common sense I’ve seen was when they dropped the proposition to remove parking on Micheltorena St. a couple years ago. That was only after months of opposition by the residents and businesses there and legal action being taken to stop it. It was mind-blowing to see them try to bulldoze their ideas over the needs/wants of the people who actually live and work there. Best of luck and don’t give up! Common sense can prevail if it’s persistent and strong.
The problem is lack of ingress/egress out of the corridor. Even with the Ekwell connection between Fairview and Kellogg, you still have to go under 217 or out Fairview. There has been no solution to this problem and this is exactly why any lane reduction on Hollister will result in backups at other places. But, we will get a first hand look at this scenario when the reconstruction of the San Jose Creek bridge starts sometime in 2018. We will have only 2 lanes at that point for from 18 to 24 months.
Phil, there’s no way to argue facts against a “Traffic Specialist” such as Mr Amin. Of course your actual data of two dozen riders today will transform into hundreds of riders post Hollister improvements. How can you argue against the magic of traffic science? And if Mr Amin is wrong regarding his studies, well the check for the consultancy will be cashed and we’re left with a road that doesn’t meet the needs of the community.
Exactly!! Hairbrained ideas from the Wolf/Perotte brain trust! My god we need positive change now!!
The fundamental problem with Old Town is that is was laid out at a time when there were few residents, few businesses, and even fewer personally owned cars. Today the practical reality of the situation is that things must change if we are to have smooth traffic flow and acceptable safety. The political reality is that no changes are going to be widely popular. The types of buildings lining Hollister just are not conducive to modern business practices and customer bases, yet any large scale demolition and rebuilding will bring an outcry. Personally, I commuted from a home near Magnolia Center to a job near K-Mart for twenty years. in 1995 it took me 11 minutes driving the 101, 12 minutes driving Hollister, 20 minutes biking Hollister, and a little over 45 minutes walking Hollister. By 2015 that was up to over 15 minutes driving 101 (due to increased wait times at various left turns), 25 minutes driving Hollister, 30 minutes biking Hollister, and 55 minutes walking Hollister (due to longer wait times at intersections. During the same ten years, the number of close calls on my bike increased and the number of times I was run out of or crowded inside of a crosswalk as a pedestrian went from zero per year to several times per day. essential all of this increase in problems is due to OT parking etc. Something should be done. Does Goleta have the common sense and political will to do anything effective?