Dinner and Bikes Night

The Emmons Family arrives
on a bicycle built for two,
or maybe four.

Last night was a truly memorable moment in San Jose bike culture. Elly Blue and two of her friends arrived in San Jose as part of their Rambling Road Show. They are in the second week of a five week tour across the western United States and will be arrive back in Portland on October 1 to give their last presentation.  The event was held at Silicon Valley Debug a fantastic art space just north of the Alameda. The folks at SV Debug were excited yesterday just having released their freshly updated website.

Elly arrived with Joe Biel and Joshua Ploeg. All three are some of the most incredibly talented people I have met in a while and that's speaking from the Silicon Valley, the often mentioned center of all things innovative in this world.

Joe Biel is a film maker (not that anyone uses film anymore) and showed us a selection of very short films about bicycle culture and activism, including excerpts from Aftermass, his forthcoming documentary about bicycle activism in Portland, Oregon over the last twenty years. Joe has been part of Microcosm Publishing since he started it in his closet 15 years ago.

Joshua Ploeg is a traveling vegan chef, who improvises climactic culinary masterpieces on two hours’ notice. His book In Search of the Lost Taste is a Microcosm smash hit. He has several cookzines, including the popular Fire and Ice and the brand new So Raw It’s Downright Filthy. Joshua was amazing last night using what little resources he had to whip a multi-course wonder of vegan goodness.

Joshua whipped up an amazing meal
last night for all attendees.

The crew brought with them books, zines, t-shirts, stickers, and other schwag that was amazing. The list of titles from both Microcosm as well as other publishers was extensive. Elly is a writer, speaker, publisher, zinester, and one of the best communitarians I have yet to meet. She currently writes for Grist.org and as of late has written a series of 10 articles relating to bicycle economics. She publishes a blog and a zine, both called Taking the Lane.

I first met Elly while attending a conference several years back. The event was attend by folks from all over the world. This is were I heard or met some key people in the wonky world of transportation policy; Todd Litman from VTI, Andy Clark from League of American Cyclists, Mia Burke author and president of Alta Planning, Gil Penalosa former Parks Director for the City of Bogota, Columbia and the creator of the now ubiquitous cyclovia phenomenon. It was during the final days of the conference that I got to experience Portland's first ever cyclovia (what they call Sunday Streets) event. After hearing Gil Penalosa speak about it and seeing it in Portland for myself I brought the idea back to San Jose under the name Via Velo.

It was good to see the midweek turnout to hear Elly and her crew speak. Outside of the monthly San Jose Bike Party event its difficult in this town to get people interested in anything beyond the actual ride. Advocacy is not on the top of most San Josean's list so to speak. But I was pleased last night to see a interested group of locals wondering what it was like to bike in that big raincloud to the north.

Afterward, several of us did a post dinner ride on a wonderfly warm summer evening through the downtown area. Along the way at 10 o'clock in the evening we met other cylists out enjoying the beautiflul weather. Maybe we are slowing growning into our own bikey culture.  Thanks everyone for the great evening.

Elly sharing wonky talk and making fun!

Post Dinner Ride.

Location:701 Lenzen Ave. ,San Jose,United States

How much does it cost?

With all of the talk lately of drastically reducing costs at the City of San Jose I just got to wondering how much does an average police cruiser costs the city in total equipment costs. Some of the equipment I have notice in today's cars include:

• The original cost of the car.
• Add-ons such as suspension and engine enhancements.
• Paint and lights (light bar and spot)
• New back seat, cage and handles and locks.
• Radios and computers
• Shotgun and secure holder
• GPS and camera pod (lately I have seen large camera pods on top of the light bars on some units).
• Trunk Contents- Accident Response Kit, Defibrillator, First Aid Kid

 If anyone knows the answer to this or knows if I left out any squad car add-ons let me know. I figure an accuracy of about $5,000 up or down show be reasonable enough. Any guesses?

New Amtrak iPhone App

Last month (August 3rd to be exact) Amtrak released it's first iPhone app. In one month's time it's received 92 reviews, many of them highly favorable. Many of the reviews praise this free app for its ease of use and also the ability to update the user's iPhone calendar. Others criticize the app's propensity to crash. I can say that I have experienced only one crash in the many times that I have used this app, but I can honestly say that I absolutely love it. I have made reservations up until 12 hours before departure with no problems.
Here is a list of many of the great things I love about the app.

1. The look and GUI (graphical user interface) is great. Easy to use the first time.
2. The ability to save (or bookmark) multiple stations.
3. Instant confirmation with the ability to create a calendar reminder.
4. Station information for all domestic stations
5. Easy integration with Amtrak California.

Although I think this is a great step by Amtrak here are some fixes that I believe would be helpful in subsequent releases.

1. Saved payment data option. User has to re-enter payment information each time.
2. Some users have complained about the time zone issue, but I have only used in Pacific Daylight Time so far and haven't had any issues.
3. Not easily integrated with Amtrak's reward program.
4. Not easily integrated with Amtrak's discount program.
5. The "Rewards" and "Discounts" badges (since they are not used as frequently) take up valuable screen real estate at the top of the screen.
6. Integration with Amtrak's or Amtrak California's Twitter accounts would be great.
7. It would be nice if the train status section was live or interactive using GPS. Train status seems to be just reformatting the train schedules.
8. A U.S. route map.
9. A section similar to station descriptions that would describe onboard bicycle policy and also a section (or a link) describing bedroom accommodations.

It would be great to have a paperless check in system so I didn't have to insert my credit card into their station kiosk but this is a minor detail in a great app/system. Given all of the federal security issues (IDs and ticket signing) that are counter to customer convenience I still think they've done a great job.

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Bioswales for Emeryville

Emeryville has made some major investments in complete streets. On the way to the Emeryville Amtrak station this morning I caught some glimpses of bioswales, bulb-outs, and redirects.



Bioswales serve two functions; to filter stormwater runoff and as a measure of traffic calming. Bulb-outs or curb extensions narrow
the gap that pedestrians are required to cross while also calming traffic.




Lastly, redirects also prevent exessive or non-local cut-through traffic from excessive use of neighborhood streets. Typically bicycles and pedestrians are allowed access as the picture shows (Salem St. at 47th).

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Location:Shellmound St,Emeryville,United States

Cafe Culture is for Canadiens not for Californians

Sad to see this morning that the table and chairs that used to welcome customers to Peet's Coffee's only downtown San Jose location are gone. When I asked the manager he said that they won't be coming back. He mentioned that the property manager requested they be removed, "because we have to share the building." Not really sure I understand the response but it sure is another step backwards in making downtown San Jose a welcoming and comfortable city.

I find it more pleasant outdoors given that the local staff have no control of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning), and the temperature is kept at bone chilling levels. In most nationwide retail chains the trend is to control the thermostat and lighting centrally to control expenses. This apparent savings however comes at a big loss to the customer.

Given that the location sits on the south side of Santa Clara Street, the spot just outside the front door was comfortably protected from the sun on summer mornings and afternoons. I wonder the if the real reason was for Peet's to keep the "undesirables" away.

-••••••••••••••
p.s. All is not lost however. I spotted the following scene out in front of Philz Coffee @ Paseo de San Antonio moments later.



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Location:N 1st St,San Jose,United States

Willow Glen gets a new hat shop

While walking along Lincoln Ave. this afternoon I spotted a new independent hat shop in town. For a city of over one million people it's about time. Now if we could get a few more chocolate shops.


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Location:Iris Ct,San Jose,United States

WGFMA - walls, gates, fences, moats, and asphalt.

Just 200 feet from the new City Hall is this
gate security build for a diplomat.


The mantra that you often hear in the Silicon Valley after the one about innovation is that San Jose is the safest large city in America. Although the city recently lost its first place title, San Jose still uses the rankings as a key marketing slogan.  This may be so but what is so puzzling is that by walking the streets of downtown San Jose you get the feeling that it has one of the worst crime rates in America.

In fact in a recent San Jose Mercury News Article, one resident of the quaint neighborhood of Willow Glen talked of "putting video cameras on their house to help catch crooks". Oh yes and add that to the list, signs that shout "Warning you are under video surveillance."

Maybe walls, fences, and gates will prevent crime, but not from the way that it was intended. With all of the subtle and not so subtle ways that you prevent crime you end up driving people away from your downtown.

In many new urbanist neighborhoods, the goal (similar to the fundamental tenants of the Internet) is make the designs more open and transparent. Create spaces where people want to watch street activity and pedestrians want see activity on the street, in restaurants, and in retail shops. James Kunstler, author of "The Geography of Nowhere" and TED presenter, calls this the permeable membrane of the street. In the street photo below notice how the developers of the two buildings pictured below choose to incorporate an open walkway, with commercial spaces located nearby. Missing are the typical signs that a city has given up in controlling crime; the use of fences, walls, and gates. In the photo the front doors of these homes open up directly to the street, no fences, gates, or walls are visible.


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 The photos included in this post are just some those I took on a lunchtime walk around the downtown commercial core of San Jose, CA. Although many of these designs (such as the moat located at City View Plaza), and the AT&T switching building were conceived and then built over 30 years ago, many recent building design have the look of a ghetto fortress with a patina of middle income high rise.

If cities only understood that the real deterrent to crime are vibrant, busy streets that have successful business districts that draw customers and out of town visitors. In downtown San Jose this means to doing away with the fortress like mentality of the Adobe building (as well as most high tech offices). With corporate cafeterias, gyms, and retail located on site the only time workers leave the building is to get in their cars and hop on the freeway home.


"The Moat" separating the
customers from their money.
Wells Fargo Bank - San Jose Main Office.

 


At the iconic and historic Market Street
and Santa Clara Ave, one giant,
blighted parking lot.

 



From the street to your house only
30 feet and three locked gates.

 


Walls, asphalt, and a porta-potty...oh my.




This is a wall, a barred fence,
and a chain link fence all rolled into one.


-









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Location:S 2nd St,San Jose,United States

In the Silicon Valley - Cities designed by code monkeys



Photo: Isaac Porras


Sometimes in this land of innovation it sure feels as if cities are designed by coders; and bikeways and sidewalks are designed in the form of a badly designed subroutine.

Proceed to next pedestrian obstacle;
If
         Obstruction =1;
Then "Deviate path around workaround";
Else
        "Try playing tag with car traffic";
Endif
Proceed through massive Silicon Valley corporate campus parking lot;
/* Feel small and forgotten, at least until you get back on the bus later this evening*/

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Dinner & Bikes Tour to Arrive from Portland

Mark your Calendar for the Dinner and Bikes Tour, Wednesday, September 7, 2011 from 7:00  to 9:00 PM at the San Jose offices of DeBug (see map below).

According to Elly and her crew, here’s a good idea of what you can expect at one of the tour events:

Dinner and Bikes is an evening of gourmet vegan food and bicycle inspiration. Our goal is to create an interactive, engaging event that brings together people with diverse interests and catalyzes new thinking and action around food and transportation

The evening will start at 7pm and last until 9pm, leaving plenty of time for questions, as well as audience discussion about local issues in bicycle transportation. You’ll fill up your plate, find a seat, and enjoy new and amazing flavor combinations while touring vegan chef Joshua Ploeg describes the meal and ingredients and, if we’re lucky, tell one of his traveling stories.

Joshua Ploeg is a traveling vegan chef, who improvises climactic culinary masterpieces on two hours’ notice for you and your date and perhaps also your entire circus troupe, using ingredients from the nearest store in your fully equipped kitchen or just the rice cooker and blender someone left behind in the corner of your squat if that’s how you roll. In adverse circumstances, his food only gets fancier. His book In Search of the Lost Taste is a Microcosm smash hit. He has several cookzines, including the popular Fire and Ice and the brand new So Raw It’s Downright Filthy.

PDX by Bike

Then we get to the bicycles. Elly Blue provides an interactive primer on the economics of bicycle transportation, complete with inspiring photos and jaw-dropping statistics. Then Joe Biel will take the stage with a different selection each night of his very-short films that explore different aspects of Portland, Oregon’s bicycle activism and culture.

Joe Biel will show a selection of very short films about bicycle culture and activism, including excerpts from Aftermass, his forthcoming documentary about bicycle activism in Portland, Oregon over the last twenty years. Joe has been part of Microcosm Publishing since he started it in his closet 15 years ago

You’ll also be able to peruse our mobile book and zine shop, featuring transportation and food related titles.



Here is the official website: Rambling Roadshow

To get an accurate count you can sign up (RSVP) on Facebook.



View Larger Map

City of San Jose sponsoring lunchtime bike seminar

Kidical Mass Participants
enjoying the "May Day Ride"

The city of San Jose is sponsoring a free lunch-hour seminar on practical cycling tips for commuting, shopping, and exercising. The seminar will be held in the main city hall building on the 5th floor, Room 550 at 200 E. Santa Clara, St., San Jose. For more info or to register contact John Brazil (john.brazil@sanjoseca.gov), Bicycle Coordinator with the City of San Jose no later than August 16, 2001.

See flyer below for more info:



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Location:200 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose, CA

Bike share in San Jose?

On a trip last year to Portland to attend a conference I was so impressed with the many and varied ways that you can rent, borrow, or share a bike in the city. Our conference supplied a fleet of bikes for a tour of the city. A local vendor set up shop in the hotel garage so that twenty of us could take off on a tour of the city.

Many Portland hotels offer free loaner bikes (complete with helmet and lock). Just sign the waiver and off you go. While staying at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, near  the Rose Garden Arena I did just that and found a wonderful new restaurant on the North Williams bike corridor. Called Tasty and Sons, this restaurant is just one of many new business that are buoyed by the increase in bicycle traffic along the corridor. The popularity of the Williams Street bike lanes even warranted an article in the January, 2009 issue of Sunset Magazine. Many hotels in the downtown area also have their own fleet of loaner bicycles or are within a couple of minute walk to a vendor that rents bicycles.

While searching on the hotel's website I found this "tip". The actually are encouraging you to ride their free rail system or pedal yourself and ride one of their free bikes to get out and enjoy their city. Very nice indeed.

Park your car, save money and help the environment. Utilize MAX-Portland's Light Rail system when exploring Portland. Access the light Rail just 3 short blocks from our front door. Max Light Rail offers, Fareless Square allowing you ride into downtown Portland for FREE OR USE ONE OUR COOL COURTESY BICYCLES TO PEDAL YOURSELF.

On my return to San Jose I thought I would do a quick survey to see what hotels offered the same loaner system in downtown San Jose. 

• Hotel DeAnza - No
• Crowne Plaza Hotel - No
• Fairmont Hotel - Yes (if you are a member of their presidents club program, but there is no evidence that they actually have bicycles on the premise.)
• San Jose Hilton Hotel - No
• Four Points Sheraton Hotel - No
• San Jose Marriott Hotel -Yes $10 for 1 hour $25 for 3 hours
• St. Claire Hotel - No
• Ramada Inn - No

Its interesting to note that out of the eight hotels surveyed only one makes loaner bikes available and they are not free. That hotel is the San Jose Marriott Hotel at $10 per hour. It is interesting to note that the local Crowne Plaza hotel doesn't offer bicycles to loan.

From the Marriott's web page:

The San Jose Marriott provides our Guests with the ability to easily balance priorities in a stylish, inviting atmosphere. We enable your success through our friendly service culture.

Guests of The San Jose Marriott Hotel enjoy First-Class Guest Services and Hotel Amenities including; Fitness Center, Outdoor Pool, Jacuzzi, Top Shelf Dining and much more.

What is interesting to note is that the Marriott offers a free fitness center (treadmills, stationary bicycles, etc), but you must pay for the bicycles. With only four bicycles, Marriott's "fleet" couldn't have cost them more than $2,000 up front whereas a fitness center ends up costing them more for the space and equipment.

Imagine the boost to downtown San Jose as well as outlying neighborhoods if downtown hotels offered bicycles available to loan to guests. With the city's commitment to expand on street bicycle routes, bicycle trails, and bike parking this makes perfect sense to bring hotel guests to local restaurants, coffee houses, and stores. More on this topic later.

Victorville, California - Foreclosure Amongst The Sprawl

After seen the national attention given to the recent demolition of a semi-completed suburban development I decided to look further into the town of Victorville. From the air you can see where it has taken on the characteristic look of sprawled out suburban living. The Mall at Victor Valley is remarkably noticeable even and a distance almost resembling the orbital path of geosynchronous satellites.

• 4-30-07: Bear Valley Road Traffic
  I lived in Victorville for many years and recently moved to Jess Ranch in Apple Valley. Now that I live in Apple Valley, I realize that some of the traffic is coming from Apple Valley drivers trying to get to the freeway or the Mall. I know Victorville is responsible for Bear Valley Road, but does Apple Valley give Victorville any money to improve Bear Valley Road?
  
  Brian's Answer:
  The average daily traffic (ADT) on Bear Valley Road (number of vehicles in a 24 hour period) from the fall of 2005 was as follows:

Location	Highest day	7-day Average
At the Mojave River	58,200	52,200
West of 2nd Ave	53,100	49,100
Between Mariposa Rd & the I-15 northbound ramps	73,500	69,300

The ADT at the Mojave River was about 75% to 79% of the ADT near I-15. Victorville is responsible for only part of Bear Valley Road, because it lies within four different jurisdictions. Each of the local governments are responsible for maintaining the road within their respective jurisdiction. In general, they do not pay one another for improvements or maintenance outside of their limits.

The jurisdictional limits are as follows: From the Mojave River to the east, it lies within Apple Valley (to the Town limits). Between the Mojave River and I-15, the north half is in Victorville, and the south half is in Hesperia (although because the road curves, the City limits are not always at the center of the road). From I-15 to the City limits (two miles west of US 395) it lies within Victorville. It is called Duncan Road west of US 395. Beyond the Town or City limits, it lies within the unincorporated County of San Bernadino.

There is a cooperative agreement between Victorville and Hesperia for maintenance and timing modification of the traffic signals for twelve shared intersections. Apple Valley, Hesperia and Victorville also completed a joint federally funded project that rehabilitated pavement and improved a number of intersections from I-15 to Kiowa Road, on about eight miles of Bear Valley Road. The local governments matched the federal grant with some of their local funding.

Another restaurant closes in less than six months

On the heels of the closure of a similar sized restaurant two months ago, a restaurant from the Popeye's Chicken chain closed after less than six months in business. The last sign that the restaurant was suffering was the daily offerings of free samples to passersby on Santa Clara street.

According to a letter posted on the door the site will taipan as an independent chicken restaurant. This closure is only a couple of months after the closure of a Penguin Froyo yogurt shop just two doors down.






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Location: 30 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose, CA

My own private parking

Spotted an interesting use of public space for private profit at the downtown San Jose P. F. Chang's restaurant.

Most unsuspecting downtown drivers who are used to the drive-up spots found at many suburban national chain restaurants would assume that these are P. F. Chang's spaces, but upon a closer look one sees (12 minute) parking meters which are partially obscured by their sidewalk signs. Also, if you look closer the curb color code hasn't seen fresh paint in quite a while, further confusing the typical suburban based San Jose motorist.

It would be interesting to see what city staff thinks of this. By the way in each instance I've have seen a car parked in a space with an expired meter.

Curb in front of P.F. Chang's
on San Fernando

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Location:S 1st St,San Jose,United States