San Jose Local Team begins “Meet the Candidates” ride series
The San José local team identified 5 priorities at the beginning of the year, one of the priorities was to connect with Council members in concerning districts. The first in our "Meet the Candidates" ride series was a ride through District 6 with candidates Olivia Navarro and Michael Mulcahy led by San Jose local team member Heather Werner. Building relationships with councilmembers and city staff is key to the advocacy work that we do. Creating these relationships is crucial because:
Influence on Policy: Councilmembers and city staff have the power to influence and implement policies that promote safer and more accessible biking infrastructure. Our collaborative efforts can drive significant changes in local transportation policies.
Community Support: When local officials and staff are engaged and supportive, it sends a strong message to the community about the importance of sustainable transportation. Their involvement can inspire more residents to participate and advocate for biking initiatives.
Resource Allocation: City staff and councilmembers can prioritize funding and resources for bike-friendly projects. By fostering these relationships, we can ensure that biking infrastructure receives the attention and investment it deserves.
Collaborative Problem-Solving: Working closely with city officials allows us to address challenges and find solutions more effectively. Their insights and expertise are invaluable in navigating the complexities of urban planning and transportation.
The route was designed by Heather to compare and critique the high stress and low stress bicycle infrastructure along the route. The ride began at Frank Bramhall Park, where we rode down Willow Street which showcased a mixture of shared and buffered bike lanes to the Los Gatos Creek Trail. The Los Gatos Creek Trail portion highlighted the comfortable and low stress experience that can be had by providing green infrastructure and bie lanes that are protected from points of vehicular conflicts. The trail ended abruptly at the Pruneyard Shopping Center and pushed us to navigate through the perilous Pruneyard parking lot by bike. Once doing so we found ourselves on what is absolutely one of the best physical descriptions of a high stress high roadway, Bascom Ave. The speed limit on Bascom Ave varies from 30-40mph and provide no protected bike lanes for bicyclists (see photo below) this provided great hand on experience to better understand the infrastructure improvements being proposed by VTA.
Our next stop was along Bascom Ave at the Bascom Branch Library where we received a presentation by VTA Senior Transportation Planner, Lauren Ledbetter on the Bascom Corridor Complete Streets Study. The study evaluates 5.9 miles of Bascom Avenue from I-880 near the Bascom-Forest and Rose Garden neighborhoods in San Jose, past Valley Medical Center, the Pruneyard in Campbell, and down to the Farnham and Ponderosa neighborhoods near SR-85. For more information on VTA's participation ,highlighting their work on the Bascom Ave complete streets corridor click this link https://www.vta.org/blog/vta-talks-bascom-complete-streets-group-ride-san-jose-council-candidates .
Thank you to all who joined to provide input, to Heather Werner for leading such an amazingly curated ride, to our candidates Olivia Navarro and Michael Mulcahy for joining us for what we hope will be the first of many important conversations on how to make District 6 safer and VTA’s Lauren Ledbetter for eagerly volunteering to share with us the VTA’s plans for Bascom Ave. (Just a sidenote Lauren is a mother of 2 and rode the entire route with us on Mother’s Day!!)
