Bicyclists Appeal to City for Help

The survivor in a horrific bicycle accident near Caltech that left a 25-year-old bioengineer dead joined bicycle advocates at City Hall on Tuesday night imploring the city to make bike riding safer.

Catrina Kurtz was riding along Del Mar. Blvd. with Phillip Jordan O’Neill  when he was struck from behind by a car on June 15, 2013.

“If Pasadena had a stronger network of protected thoroughfare lanes, that wouldn’t have happened. I’m here to appeal to you to not let his death be in vain,” Kurtz said.

The cyclists gathered in the audience as the City Council’s Municipal Services Committee heard an informational update on the revision process for the Bicycle Transportation Plan.

The original proposal was rejected by the Committee last July as falling short in key areas.

“Our goal is going to be to improve the comfort level not just on the corridors we brought up, but on all the corridors we can within the city,” Richard Dilluvio of the City Transportation Department said in his presentation Tuesday night.

The city has one bicycle boulevard on north Rigo and Dilluvio said more bicycle boulevards would work well for north/south corridors. He said protected bike lanes were preferred for East/West routes.

The city will analyze all the streets for the feasibility of adding protected bicycle lanes including three factors: what physical changes need to be done to the roadway, what the cost of construction would be, and the cost of maintaining.

The bicycling community has asked for a connected network of protected bicycle lanes on specific corridors. Streets running north and south that could integrate protected bicycle lanes include El Molino, Wilson, Sierra Bonita, and Craig. East to west corridors include Washington, Orange Grove, Villa, Union, Green, Colorado and Del Mar.

“The point that’s gotten lost was about having a project that was really transformative, that sparked the imaginations of people that don’t bike on a daily basis, that consider bicycling something that only people who wear spandex do. To do something innovative, bold, and put Pasadena on the map,” Jonathon Edewards of the Downtown Pasadena Neighborhood Association said.

Another cyclist spoke about her friends she sees riding to school and work everyday on the sidewalk because they feel unsafe on the roads. Candice Sue wants to be included in the city process.

“Were here to help you, we really want to work with you. Tell us what we can do, keep us involved,” Sue said.

“I appreciate staff’s response to the comments of this committee and the enthusiasm of this bicycling community who is participating in this event, in this effort. It’s very helpful,” Councilmember Margaret McAustin said. “I want to encourage your continued participation.”

After the meeting cyclist Karyn Cunningham said, “We just have to keep showing up to every meeting until we see the change.”

“I’m convinced Pasadena is changing and this is the direction we need to move in,” McAustin said.

One concern of the city is overcoming how to maintain streets with street cleaning when a protected bicycle lane places a barrier to the curb.

The city will continue working with Complete Street Coalition and other cyclists to gain input as they move forward with the bicycle plan.

“We want to make Pasadena’s streets safer for everybody and I think the key, the core items are we need a protected network of bicycle lanes, not just shared roads, but protection lanes on the ground, to actually make people safer in reality,” Edewards said. “We’re eager to get community input and feedback too into the plan.”

Dilluvio said he would return to the committee with a full draft plan after research and several more community meetings.