SVBC Member Spotlight: Adam Cozzette

We are happy to spotlight Adam Cozzette in the latest Member Spotlights series on our blog!Adam is a software engineer at Google and a San Bruno resident. Although a rather new member of SVBC, he has become very involved as a volunteer for our office work nights, and an attendee at SVBC's San Mateo/Peninsula Local Team meetings. This week, he is part of a team at Google who are raising funds for SVBC during the company's Giving Week, an internal program where employees are encouraged to donate to their favorite non-profits.Are you an SVBC member, and wish to showcase your bike club’s work, events, and/or concerns? Contact us!How did you get introduced to Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition?A little over a year ago I learned that my city, San Bruno, was working on its first bicycle and pedestrian plan. I attended a community meeting about it, and I think that was the first time I realized that there were other people out there who cared about making our city more bicycle- and pedestrian-friendly. From then on I just gradually got more involved in bicycling and pedestrian issues in San Bruno. I thought it would be good to join a local bike advocacy group and frankly I just googled for that and found SVBC!What kind of activities and/or trips do you use your bicycle for?I use my bike for just about everything: commuting to work, running errands, picking up groceries, and visiting friends. On a typical weekday I take Caltrain to work but still ride about twenty miles getting to and from the train station on each end. I actually don't very often go out on a ride just for fun, but almost every ride naturally ends up being fun anyway since I'm on a bike!Over the past year or so I have also been gradually learning to be an amateur bicycle mechanic. I'm far from being an expert but I now know how to do simple things like replace chains and broken spokes and cables. It's hard to describe but I think there's a certain thrill you get when you maintain your own bike and start to learn how it all works. The next thing I'd like to try is wheel building, since I hear that it's a whole other art in itself.You have become a regular attendee of our San Mateo County/Peninsula Local Team meetings. What prompted you to attend? What keeps you coming?I wanted to try to take an active role in advocating for bicyclists. At these meetings we spend most of our time talking about transportation projects—either new bike infrastructure or just various projects in San Mateo County that affect bicycling. I think it's important for bicyclists to make their voices heard on these issues so that our needs are taken into account when our tax dollars are spent on infrastructure.Personally I also like the idea of pushing for change at the local level. I know there are important things to advocate for at the state level and higher, but still it feels distant and abstract. On the other hand if we're talking about sharrows on El Camino or a Caltrain grade separation in Menlo Park then those are real, tangible things that I can relate to. On the local level you can also have real influence by speaking up at committee meetings and city council meetings. Almost nobody goes to these, and so if you are one of the few who actually does then you can have a disproportionate impact and have leaders listen to what you say.Among your friends and people you know who don't ride a bike, what do you think would help encourage them to get out there?I think safety is the number one thing. There is a strong perception, perhaps exaggerated but not unfounded, that riding a bike on streets with motor vehicle traffic is inherently unsafe. Many people I talk to would love to bike if only they had a way to do so that didn't feel dangerous. We need to keep pushing for safer and more widespread bike infrastructure. Too often safety is de-prioritized in favor of moving vehicles as quickly as possible—we need to change this and make sure that safety is always the top priority.What do you think needs to be done to achieve 10% of trips taken by bike by 2025 in Silicon Valley?Frankly I don't know the full answer to this question, but I think part of the solution will have to involve land use and housing policy. Zoning codes tend to force housing to be unnecessarily far from important destinations like banks and grocery stores. Where I live, for example, almost everything is zoned as single-family residential, disallowing anything commercial. There are no coffee shops or even convenience stores within a reasonable walking distance; what does exist is reachable by bike, but it's not the easiest ride because it involves steep hills and heavy traffic. When I'm cooking dinner and realize I need a lemon or something, I want to be able to quickly run to a corner store, without needing to take a car or a 40-minute round-trip bike ride.Share with us what a dream day on your bike looks like.A couple of summers ago I went on a bike tour with a friend in the southwest of France. Each day we would just get up, glance at our map, and head off in whichever direction looked interesting. We hadn't really planned things out in advance and we didn't have a tent, so we just slept under the stars at campsites. It was beautiful and we had a lot of fun meeting people and tasting great wine. One time a friendly little dog came out of a centuries-old farmhouse and chased us a few miles down the road. This is the kind of thing I think of as my dream day on a bike.What would you say to someone considering becoming a member of SVBC? I believe that there is strength in numbers, and when we come together as a coalition we are far stronger than we could ever be working alone. If you can make a donation to financially support SVBC, don't forget to check and see if your employer will match it as well.Will you join Adam and the other 2,000+ members of SVBC? Join today and support our work to make our streets and trails safe for all users, improve and expand bike infrastructure where you live and ride, and get more people riding!