Bike Lanes on Soquel! Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and Celebration
by Micah Posner
On January 27th, I was riding back from the EcoFarm conference in Monterey. It was cold and dark and wet and we (Ken Foster and I) got to the stretch of Soquel between Capitola and Seabright and prepared to fight for our existence. There they were, gleaming white and black in the wetness- new bike lanes on Soquel.
What a sense of belonging! We now have a place on the road into and out of town—a continuous bike lane down Soquel from Pacific Avenue in Santa Cruz to Freedom Boulevard past Aptos. And it is time to celebrate!
Please join us at 5:00 PM on February 28, by the Walgreen's parking lot, on Soquel, between Frederick Street and Hagemann Avenue for a Bike Lane ribbon cutting ceremoney with Mayor Emily Reily. Following the ceremoney we'll ride in the new lanes, and celebrate at the Bicycle Trip (1127 Soquel) with music, refreshments, and door prizes. Of course any speeches will use bicycle-powered amplification. Valet bike parking will be offered.
As a People Power member, you have extra reason to celebrate. The bike lanes are one of People Power's biggest victories to date. In October of 2001, the City Council voted against a Broadway-Brommer Connection—putting plans for an East-West bicycle connection on hold indefinitely. Several nights later, a group of cyclists spray-painted bike lanes on Soquel at 3:00 AM. The Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper interviewed Mayor Keith Sugar who said that he supported bike lanes on Soquel and could understand cyclist's frustration. People Power worked with Bruce Van Allen and Heath Maddox (a county planner at the time) and, with the help of Councilman Tim Fitzmaurice, brought a plan for bike lanes on Soquel to the Council. Though the Council did not decide on the lanes at that meeting, they did direct Public Works to set up a Soquel Bike Lane Task Force for the purpose of creating consensus around a plan for the lanes.
No one thought that consensus would actually happen. Soquel was not an easy place to put in bike lanes. Either the street would have to be narrowed to three lanes for automobiles (one in each direction with a turn lane in the middle), or some precious (due to its proximity to the front doors of the businesses) car parking would have to be removed, in order to accommodate the lanes. A task force was set up with members of the business community, neighbors and bicyclists. The Public Works Department did not want to reduce automobile through lanes, nor did some neighbors on both sides of the Soquel, who worried about cars speeding through their neighborhoods to avoid congestion. People Power and other cyclists simply continued to hammer the fact that something had to give, because we had a right to a place on the street. Eventually the Eastside Business Community, led by Gary Basque of Staff of Life and Tom Hart of the Santa Cruz Medical Foundation approved a plan drawn up by Ron Marquez of the Public Works Department that created bike lanes with a minimum amount of car parking removal. Public Works wanted to preserve turn lanes and all other amenities and "do the project right". This took more than 3 years.
Though our pressure for the lanes was crucial, we wouldn't have the lanes without support from the Eastside Businesses, the entire City Council and the Public Works Department, specifically Ron Marquez (retired), Chris Schneiter, Cheryl Shmitt and Tom Sharpe, to be specific. One of the reasons to show up for the party is to show our appreciation. We certainly ask them for a lot and, this time, thanks are in order.