Much ado about San Jose

Remember San Jose?? That City you hated to bike through?

Remember San Jose?? The City that didn't want to open the EIR mandated bike path along 87?

Remember San Jose?? The City that spent a fortune to bring Indy Cars to downtown while they said they didn't have money to fix the bike path along 237?

There have been some rough times in San Jose, but lately, when I hear talk about San Jose . . . it sounds more and more like "yadda yadda yadda MORE BICYCLES" and " yadda yadda yadda MORE BIKE PATHS " than the stuff of my memories (see above)

What's going on???

I mean, of course SVBC is proud to be in the middle of it all. We decided to make San Jose a priority for us back in 2006, right about the time we challenged the City to be ranked as a bicycle friendly community by the League and moved our office to it's current location on W. Santa Clara. But did you read the proposal that came out today from Sam Liccardo's office? Here's a short synopsis through the eyes of the merc:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_10300289

If you're lazy and don't feel like following the link, let me reprint the headline for you:
"Councilman unveils plan to make downtown San Jose more bike friendly."

Physically separated bikeways . . . bike loaning programs . . . and this general notion that we need to make the core of San Jose downtown appealing for the masses to navigate by bicycle are all major features of the plan.

The plan is really ambitious and creative. I mean, I've ridden such pathways in China and Amsterdam and I must say, they significantly change the riding experience, and you can't argue with the mode-share in either of these places.

So, what happened??? I mean, was it global warming, gas prices, the Amgen Tour, the amazing advocacy work of SVBC? We may never know, but as far as I can tell there are lots of good people working to make things better for cyclists in San Jose, and I feel rather privileged to be involved in it. It's particularly exciting to see San Jose City Council-members championing these ambitious, pro-bicycle projects in their City.

Someday I'll be sitting around telling people "back when I was a kid, cycling in San Jose was terrible!" and they'll look at me like I'm from another planet. Can't wait.