Members Wanted: Santa Fe Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee

Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee (BTAC) Seeks New Members

Hikers, Bikers, Walkers, Runners: All Santa Fe County Residents Welcome To Apply By 5 p.m. Friday, June 19

SANTA FE, NM, June 1, 2020 – The Bicycle and Trails Advisory Committee (BTAC) was established in 2003 by a resolution of the governing body to bring direct community involvement into the city’s plans and policies related to bicycle and pedestrian trails, and to advise the governing body on such matters.  Applicants need not be bicyclists, all trail users are welcome to apply. DEADLINE for submissions is 5 p.m. June 19, 2020.

The duties of the committee include:

•             Prioritize bicycle and pedestrian trail related projects and review all phases of the projects' design and construction progress

•             Advise on policies, programs and ordinances as they relate to bicycle and pedestrian trail safety, design and construction

•             Organize media and educational campaigns to provide information and promote bicycle and pedestrian trail related activities and education

•             Work with other agencies for the enhancement of city and county trail systems

•             Review and recommend Parks Master Plan updates related to trails

•             Seek funding from city, state and federal sources

•             Pursue designation of the city of Santa Fe as a bicycle friendly city

•             Advise on policies, projects, ordinances and funding as they relate to cycling and pedestrians as safe alternative means of transportation on roads and trails

BTAC is currently chaired by City Councilor Michael Garcia, and the committee is now seeking new members.  Members are recommended by the city council to be appointed by the Mayor, with a balance of membership diversity based upon area of interest, council-district residency, and recently with the option to include a county resident.  Applicants must live in Santa Fe County and there is no compensation.

BTAC meets on the second Thursday of each month from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the City Council Chambers, 200 Lincoln Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico.  The meetings are open to the public.

Interested residents may apply by submitting a letter of interest and a resume to:

Romella Glorioso-Moss, AICP

Engineering Division, Roadway & Trails

City of Santa Fe, P.O. Box 909

Santa Fe, NM 87504-0909

Or by Email: rsglorioso-moss AT santafenm.gov

The remaining BTAC meetings for 2020 are scheduled for:

July 9, 2020

August 13, 2020

September 10, 2020

October 8, 2020

November 12, 2020

December 10, 2020

DEADLINE for submissions is 5 p.m. June 19, 2020.

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Contact: Romella Glorioso-Moss, AICP/ Staff Liaison; (505) 955-6623, rsglorioso-moss AT santafenm.gov

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

With the riots going on across the nation over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis cop, we hear that the SpaceX mission went off fine. That reminded me of this song.

2020 Santa Fe Century Ride Cancelled

Details here.

National Bike Month in the Time of COVID-19

Newly gussied up south end of the Rail Trail 
just N. of  Spur Ranch Road in Eldorado. 
Nicely socially isolated.

Right now its nice to be healthy and not completely shack-happy. Many are out of jobs or otherwise in rough shape. So its a tough time to celebrate anything, including National Bike Month which to many riders is an exercise in gleeful self-indulgence rather than a serious commitment to sustainability and fair transportation policy.

Here in Santa Fe, we have abandoned mass efforts in favor of individual celebrations. Here is one link to what is going on if you have not found it already. Santa Fe Bicyclists Forge Ahead with Bike Month Celebration

Be that as it may, as William DeVaughn would say, be thankful for what you've got. At least for the moment, most of us still have our health. In Santa Fe we have trails and quiet roads. Be safe and stay healthy out there. This is not the time for careless abandon of social distancing or taking  "hold my beer" risks out on the roads and trails. As someone on the Los Alamos bike list said yesterday with regard to the virtual time trials being held up there and with folks recording results on Strava, put your maximal effort into the uphill sections rather than risking a high speed, fates to the wind, downhill crash. The last place you want to be visiting is an ER. The hospitals are busy enough without you or me showing up with a broken collarbone. I generally avoid the LaTierra trails labelled "Technical: use at your own risk" as some are pretty sketchy for an old klutz.

Weekdays are better days to explore the more popular trails as at least some users are apt to be working from home or still on the job. If you can break away from the home office during the week, do so. I did an abbreviated Rail Trail ride on Sunday but it was busy, so I aborted it. Monday was much quieter, so I took the full ride to the end of the improved trail at Spur Ranch Road in Eldorado (and a tip of the helmet to the city and county for the nice extension of the improved trail). Weekdays seem best for LaTierra Trails but on this most recent Sunday afternoon (this added later), they were pretty quiet.

See U on the trails, but keep yer distance!

And to close, musically...

\

Go Ride Yer Bike on May Day! You Have Nothing to Drop But Your Chains!

Of course, May Day (which is to some folks Labor Day) just happens to coincide with the first day of National Bike Month



And

A little red book

John Allen showing the colors

Yours Truly
A sickle doesn't do much good in a bike repair shop

John Forester, RIP

Effective Cycling, First Edition
this copy originally belonged to the dad of
a workplace friend at LANL

John Forester checked out of this life on about 14 April and is now riding in The Hereafter. A last interview with John by Peter Flax, done last year, has been reprinted from Medium to Bicycling Magazine.  I'll provide both links to be fair.

Depending on one's point of view, one knew (and either loved or loathed) Mr Forester based on his Effective Cycling training program and book (I have a copy of the first edition as well as the sixth and files from an early draft of the seventh!) or his adamant opposition to separate facilities for cyclists. I'll stay out of that one for the most part except to say that I think John did cyclists a lot of good with his Effective Cycling training, at least for those who took it, and furthermore, the cadre of "vehicular cyclists" he nurtured ensured that lousy bikeway design would have a harsh spotlight aimed at it.I'll note also that the Effective Cycling pedagogy is the underlying basis for much of today's cycling training including the League of American Bicyclists' Smart Cycling programs and the independent CyclingSavvy.

Bikeways have come a long way since the seventies and eighties. Nowadays, bicycling in many locations is seen as essential for good urban traffic management and healthy living and less likely to be hammered in as a hideous afterthought. That doesn't mean cycling policies and infrastructure are optimal.

I got involved with bicycling advocacy in Honolulu in the early nineties when the city and state were willing to slap together facilities ranging from excellent to dreadful with few enforced standards. We fought tooth and nail to ensure cyclists were not confined to torturous "bicycling sidewalks" such as the one the City and County of Honolulu once built in Kailua. So as a cyclist since the late 1970's, I appreciated those who worked to ensure I would not be confined to second class status. Even today in progressive locations such as Santa Fe, one cannot get around town only on bikeways; one may not even have access to one without first riding on a road, so one must have equal, safe, and legal access to the roads. Not to mention, be competent to ride on the road.

John Forester. Photo: Peter Flax

 And on that note we should all tip our hat to Mr. Forester for the training program he set up. A vehicular cyclist doesn't HAVE to mean an anti-bikeway cyclist. It means a cyclist who is competent and confident to ride where the cyclist needs to go on the available transportation resources provided to him or her, whether it be a roadway or a bikeway. A cyclist who does not feel as though he/she/whomever does not have a right to the road. A cyclist who has a keen eye for transportation engineering and knows good design from bad design, and can spot troublesome designs before, as John Schubert used to say, the moment of impact.

Neale Pickett and Yours Truly teaching a BikeEd class in Los Alamos a few years ago. 
That's me behind the camera.Neale is kneeling in left foreground.