City of Goleta Awarded Grant for Bicycle, Pedestrian Safety Education
Source: City of Goleta
City of Goleta is pleased to announce that we received a $40,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) that focuses on the safety of bicyclists and pedestrians.
“Our goal is that education will change poor behaviors and make our roads safer,” OTS Director Barbara Rooney said. “This funding will help ensure the safety of those out biking or walking.”
Grant funds will be used for a variety of activities promoting bicyclist and pedestrian safety:
- Education workshops geared toward youth and older adults.
- Education on the importance of safety equipment that improves visibility such as reflective armbands, bicycle headlights and taillights.
- Community walks and bicycle safety courses.
- Bicycle helmet inspections.
- Distribution of bicycle helmets to those in need following education presentations.
“We are excited to begin working on traffic safety programs,” said City of Goleta Public Works Director Charlie Ebeling. “We will work with the Coalition for Sustainable Transportation (COAST) to provide education to the community focusing on Goleta Union School District students, family members and caregivers.”
All in-person activities will follow COVID-19 safety guidelines.
The grant program runs from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2021.
Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
5 Comments
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Jan 13, 2021 10:39 AMI would love to see, and think it should be required, an accounting of total process cost/bureaucratic cost of advertising this grant, the many agencies cost of applying for it, the time spend evaluating these applications, the costs of processing the grant funds to the applicants, the cost of the applicants in receiving these funds and monitoring them to assure they are properly spent, etc. My guess is that it cost a lot more than $40K for this $40K pittance. The only reason for this nonsense of state grants to exist is to feather bed the jobs of those who get to play in that sandbox. Just send out money if available and let the locals decide how they want to spend it.
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Jan 13, 2021 04:31 PMThey'll spend $39,800 to decide they should purchase 4 bike helmets to hand out.
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Jan 14, 2021 10:24 AMYou "guess" a lot. How about speaking from facts? As someone who used to work in the state agency that made these grant, I can tell you that the administration cost from the state side is approximately 2.5 percent. Available accountings can be had through public records act inquiries. There are no advertising costs beyond emailing government agencies. The grant applications are a "fill in the blank" online form for the applicants. Then, why would someone spend more than they receive? Wouldn't they be ahead by not applying? Running these smaller grants are a quite small portion of the workforce's workload, not worth being a "featherbedding." In this specific case, it appears as though the Public Works Department is working with a non-profit to stretch the dollars. Your solution of "just send out the money" could easily lead to graft, corruption and not spending where promised.
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Jan 13, 2021 05:27 PMWould love to see the bike path repaved that goes out to Goleta Beach. It's has ruts the size of bicycle tires and is dangerous because of the condition of the pavement. Does anyone know who oversees the bike path?
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Jan 14, 2021 09:06 AMAgree CPLOCAL I love that bike path ! Unfortunately someone rode/drove on it after it was paved and before it was dry/set and ruined it :-( Very sad :-(