September Wrap-Up

 

Assembly candidate Jed Leano meets with Active Sierra Madre members (📷: J. Lloyd)

News: 

• ASM members and others met with Assembly Candidate Jed Leano. Leano outlined his priorities and policy ideas for reducing homelessness, promoting sustainable transportation and aligning these policies with the state's climate goals. It was a pleasant gathering of friends and neighbors!
  
• The city's Transportation Subcommittee heard a presentation from Zack Deukmejian of TransDev, the company that runs many local transit systems, to discuss shortcomings of the existing Gateway Coach shuttle and possible alternatives such as micro-transit. Sierra Madre is currently served by Metro's Micro transit service, Metro Micro. You can download the app and hail a ride for $1. 
• The Sierra Madre Blvd. sidewalk-widening and water main replacement project continues downtown. It should make the downtown area more walkable, ADA accessible, and allow more outdoor dining.

Calendar: 

• October 4: Bike, Walk, and Roll to Sierra Madre Elementary. Walk, bike, or roll to school with your student! 
• October 29: Arroyo Fest: 626 Golden Streets. Walk or bike car-free Arroyo Seco Parkway!
  

Hot Links: 

• Encouraging walking, biking, and public transit is an effective way to reduce excess vehicle travel. (Planetizen). 
• Evidence mounts on toxic pollution from tires. (Yale Environment 360) 
• Car enthusiasts should hate car dependency. Here's why. (Hello Road)
  

Sierra Madre Blvd sidewalk project (📷: J. Lloyd)

First Day of Fall!

 

Walk, Bike, and Roll to School Day, Oct 4!

News: 

•  The Sierra Madre Transportation Subcommittee met last week and discussed opportunities for public events where residents can provide input on public transportation alternatives for our city. No dates have been set yet (probably not until after the holiday season), but stay tuned! In the meantime if you have suggestions or input about transportation needs in Sierra Madre, you can reach the committee at transportation. @cityofsierrmadre.com
  

Calendar: 

• Sunday Sept. 24: Meet and Greet with Assembly candidate Jed Leano, Sierra Vista Park (pergola), 11:00AM. Light refreshments served. RSVP HERE. 
• Wednesday Oct. 4: Walk, Bike and Roll to School Day, Sierra Madre Elementary School! Walk, bike, and roll with your kids to school!
  
• Sunday Oct. 29: ArroyoFest! Ride your bike, walk, jog, or scoot along historic Arroyo Seco Parkway, which will be closed to cars for this free event. Experience the magic of a car free parkway! You can take your bikes, scooter, skateboards, on the Metro to South Pasadena station and access the route from there. 
  

Hot Links: 

•  If you want kids to do well in school, get them to bike there (Momentum). 
• It’s not just cities—suburbs and exurbs need to adopt and implement climate plans too (Brookings)
• Discovering Los Angeles by bike, rail, bus, and foot. (The Source)
  

 

New Protected Bike Lanes in Pasadena!

 

 

Congressmember Judy Chu and State Senator Anthony Portantino were among the dignitaries on hand to open the new Protected bike lanes on Union Street in Pasadena on Sept 9. (📷 Banaf Rahimi)

News and Updates: 

• Union Street Protected Bike Lanes Open. Last Saturday (9/9) was the official opening of the new 2-way protected bike lanes (also called a bikeway or cycle-track) on Union Street in downtown Pasadena. It was an amazing event attended by Congressmember Judy Chu, state Senator Anthony Portantino, and an estimated 400-500 people of all ages who ride the route for the grand opening (see article on Sen. Portantino, below). Cities that create more safe streets for biking enable more people to choose this healthy, sustainable mode of transportation. 
  

Calendar:

• Sunday Sept. 24: Meet and Greet State Assembly candidate Jed Leano, 11:00AM, Sierra Vista Park pergola. An opportunity to meet a champion of sustainable transportation and housing who could be our state Assembly member. State funding is crucial for these efforts, so don't miss this opportunity to hear what he has to say. He is interested in hearing from us, too! Casual attire, refreshments served, no donation required. RSVP HERE. 
• Wednesday Oct 4: Walk, Bike and Roll to school day, Sierra Madre Elementary School! Sierra Madre Elementary parents are participating in the first Walk, Bike, and Roll day!
  

Hot Links: 

• Senator Portantino's Bike Conversion is Paying Off For All (Streetsblog). Electing candidates who actually use alternative transportation on a regular basis (not just photo ops) is essential for good transportation policy, and Sen. Portantino's experience biking shows why. It's also why Jed Leano's candidacy is important. Talk is cheap. Experience matters. 
• There's A Car-Sized Hole in Recent E-bike Safety Concerns (L.A. Times) Times reporter Ryan Fonseca discusses how recent news stories raising safety concerns about e-bikes ignore the larger problem of unsafe infrastructure and the fact that most of the danger associated with e-bikes comes from drivers: "If the goal is to understand what makes streets dangerous, we have to look at cars. The biggest danger bike riders, pedestrians and everyone else face is a transportation system built to move cars and move them quickly."

September Rides and Events

 

Biking to Mary's Market is not only fun, it reduces Canyon traffic and avoids the parking hassle! An e-bike flattens those Canyon hills and allows you to enjoy the sights and sounds on the way up!

Updates: 

• The city's new Transportation Subcommittee has been tasked with addressing gaps in our public transportation service, advocating with regional transportation agencies like Metro, and planning improvements in local transportation that align with sustainability and safety goals. They want to hear from you! You can email them at: transportation@cityofsierramadre.com .
  

Calendar: 

• Sept. 9: Union Street bikeway grand opening! Ride the new protected bike lanes on Union Street in Pasadena. 9:30 AM Pasadena City Hall. Register Here
  
• Sept. 24: Meet and Greet AD-41 candidate Jed Leano! Sierra Vista Park, 11:00AM. RSVP Here. 
• October 4: Sierra Madre Elementary's first "Bike,Walk, and Roll to School Day"! See flyer, below.
  

Hot Links: 

• Oakland Residents call for protected bike lanes after child dies in collision. (Oaklandside)
  
• How to start a bike bus in your community. (Momentum Mag)
  
• Going car-less in L.A.: Angelenos share their secrets. (LA Times)
   

Labor Day Weekend Updates

 

"I love the bicycle. I always have. I can think of no sincere, decent human being, male or female, young or old, saintly or sinful, who can resist the bicycle." (novelist William Saroyan)

News and Updates: 

• The city's Transportation Subcommittee met to discuss the lack of transit options in Sierra Madre, which has a disproportionate impact on transit dependent members of our community, such as those too young or old to drive, and others unable to drive. Metro has made the Micro Metro service available to Sierra Madre since July 2020, when Metro suspended bus service to the city. Micro Metro is a local, on-demand vanpool service. It is viable option for some trips, but it has a limited service area. The city wants to explore additional transit options for the community and will be meeting with Metro and other local transit agency representatives.
  

Calendar: 

• Saturday Sept. 9: Ribbon cutting ceremony and bike ride to celebrate the opening of the Union Street Protected Bike Lanes in Pasadena. Pasadena City Hall, 8:30am - 11:00am. Take your bike on the Metro from Arcadia or Sierra Madre Villa station to Memorial Park station in Pasadena. Register here. 
• Sunday September 24: Meet and Greet with CA state Assembly candidate Jed Leano. 11:00am - 1:00pm, Pergola area, Sierra Vista Park, 611 E. Sierra Madre Blvd, Sierra Madre. Families welcome, refreshments served. Much of the funding for transit and active transportation improvements for our community comes from the state, and it's important to have a strong advocate for these issues in Sacramento. RSVP here.
  

Hot Links:

• As a counterpoint to some of the recent scare-mongering about teens on e-bikes in the New York Times, Micah Toll offers a variety of reasons ebikes are good for teens in his article "Why More Teenagers Should Ride Electric Bikes." Safety concerns should be addressed through youth bike safety education and safer infrastructure (e.g., bike lanes), but the upsides far outweigh the downsides. E-bikes are better than encouraging teens to drive, Toll argues: "An e-bike for teenagers means freedom, but it’s also an early lesson in alternative transportation. It teaches kids from a young age that we can move ourselves around in a way that is both efficient and sustainable. We don’t have to burn gallons of fuel to get to school or buy a carton of milk." 
• Vox.com asks, in "Plane vs. Car Safety" why our air travel in the US is relatively safe while our car travel keeps killing more Americans every year. When it comes to car travel, there are three things we can learn from Air travel safety. (1) Do not accept highway deaths and injuries as inevitable. They are preventable; (2) Focus on systemic solutions, not individual behavior. Making streets safer for all road users is more effective than asking everyone to follow the rules. (3) Regulate and discourage the growth of oversized vanity Pickups and SUVs, which are more likely to kill or injure other road users in collisions.