Sunday, April 23, 2017

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, good bye!

After 30 years in Temecula, we are moving on, and out of the area. So no more posts as Bicycle Temecula.

That sound you hear is applause at City Hall from the bike hating City Council members and their faithful minions on the Public Safety Commission and City Staff.  Hold it down guys while I make my apologies.

Sorry I pointed out that you did NOT spend $500,000 on bicycle infrastructure as you claimed so confidently in public. In fact, you spent about $499,000 less than that, most of it on pretty bike sharrows in Old Town. But you seemed to enjoy making fun of me in front of the cameras at the City Council meeting, even though the facts, as they say, were clearly on my side... so I don't feel that bad. You did have the "alternative facts" on your side, so keep clapping guys. Keep clapping. Kellyanne Conway would be so proud of you. Maybe get Sean Spicer to announce your next "updated master plan for bicycle trails." He can make it believable.


Sorry I made fun of the pretty bike sharrow you painted in Old Town so your out-of-town $100,000 a year consultants had something to post on your pretty (expensive) web page hiding behind the folksy title "Hike/Bike Temecula." Who would guess that Hike/Bike Temecula is just your PR guys earning their six figures one pretty picture at a time? I guess that PR fluff move is about over -- I rode through Old Town today and most of the sharrows have already been sandblasted off the pavement. Gonna miss those sharrows, although motorists paid absolutely no attention to them and police never had any intention of citing anyone for ignoring them, did they?

Sorry I wrote about Temecula Police not citing motorists for harassing and threatening cyclists -- with the exception of the motorist who bumped a cyclist who also happened to be a ranking member of local law enforcement. But that wasn't really Temecula police, was it? Wasn't it Highway Patrol? My comment was the only motorist to get in trouble with law enforcement around here was a guy who had the most rotten luck of hitting a guy who happened to be a bike but also happened to have a   badge. How many motorists have been cited for violating the state mandated three foot minimum passing space for cyclists by Temecula Police? One.

So as I leave, there is still no connected system of bike lanes or paths to help cyclists get around safely in Temecula (although the city is poised to build a dirt track at the Ronald Reagan Sports Park, and that will REALLY make it safer to ride in town), there is still no signalization (buttons that cyclists can reach) to help us get across intersections with a green light, no special sensors that recognize cyclists and change to a green light, no special lights that let cyclists make right turns first so we don't get "right hooked" and killed by inattentive motorists -- nothing. Cities across the county, the state and nation have installed all of the above, and much more.

But not Temecula.

And in the end, that is what I am most sad about as I leave Temecula. I tried to move our leaders to support cycling, but to no avail. As I took one last ride through Old Town tonight, I realized that Temecula has become a city of beer bars and bikers -- the kind that ride Harleys with straight pipes loud enough to rattle windows and set off car alarms.

There are other places to ride bicycles of course. and a lot of us are moving to them. That seems to be the only choice for some of us. Young people in particular -- they seek progressive, "green" cities with forward thinking leaders.

And that is definitely not Temecula.