Comments for Stockton City Limits

Comment on Can a bike share program work in Stockton? by Jon Seisa

Jon Seisa — Thu, 23 May 2013 03:07:50 +0000

Exactly, David, “ENTICING” is the word. You hit the nail on the head. That’s what has to be amp-ed up, these convenient features to make biking conducive to one’s daily needs (I can see a whole bike lifestyle Ad campaign for this), like picking up groceries, a trip to the Farmer’s Market for fresh produce, taking little Fiddo to the pet groomers, an artist delivering his art to a studio, being able to bring or pickup your garments at the drycleaners or a consignment shop for resale, and of course your main article point of bike availability, sharing, access and storage. Then clamoring participation will follow. Because think about it, when one takes a bus, yes it will drop you off along the Miracle Mile or near a grocery store and so on based on bus stop locations and take you great distances, but you still have to walk quite a distance to bus stops and establishments and carrying items and bags (depending on how heavy) gets rather grueling for more than a couple blocks. Even trying to navigate on and off a bus with an armful can get rather cumbersome and limited in terms of what you can physically carry with two arms, BUT with a bike with baskets, you can carry MORE, and right up to the doorstep of your destinations with minimal walking. It’s far more convenient and easier, and this might be capitalized upon to generate enthusiasm for a Stockton biking culture.

Comment on Why Stockton needs to embrace biking by David Garcia

David Garcia — Thu, 23 May 2013 02:07:20 +0000

I agree. Stockton has miles of waterways that could become great for biking. The city did draw up a waterfront connections plan just a few years ago, but as with other projects, it has been sidetracked due to more pressing issues. I hope the city can realize its potential with its waterways in the future.

Comment on Why Stockton needs to embrace biking by Bill Fuhs

Bill Fuhs — Thu, 23 May 2013 00:03:48 +0000

I’ve never met the mayor, but if he is sharp enough to get elected–I bet he reads SCL. I don’t have a Facebook, so lets see if he picks up the challenge here.

As far as a comparison with Sacramento–Stockton has “better bones”. Wide, beautiful streets, more waterways, more opportunities. I consider the American River Parkway (along the American River) as one of the world’s finest rides. Thirty two miles from Old Sac to Folsom, no cars allowed. Stockton could be better!

Comment on Why Stockton needs to embrace biking by David Garcia

David Garcia — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:56:37 +0000

You are right, bike lanes by themselves won’t do the trick. there needs to be a network that makes it easy and safe for people to get from point A to point B, as well as worthwhile destinations. Stockton needs to look no further than Sacramento which has ranked very highly as a bikeable city. We share the same geography and climate, and we have a street grid in and around downtown that can make biking very attractive.

You can certainly use my site to proclaim whatever you would like to the mayor. I would probably post this challenge on his facebook page, though. I am not sure if the mayor has time to read my articles.

Comment on Why Stockton needs to embrace biking by Bill Fuhs

Bill Fuhs — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:15:57 +0000

I agree that biking is the answer to many of Stockton’s problems. Unfortunately, Biking only works when it is faster and safer than other forms of transportation–you can’t just throw in a bike lane here and there and expect good results.

Mr. Garcia, can I use SCL to challenge Mayor Silva to a race? I challenge the Mayor to a race from San Joaquin Bike Coalition (SJBD) (235 N. San Joaquin St) to UOP. He can scoot, drive, run, taxi or fly on a Spanos Jet. I will ride my bicycle. A fair warning , I am about twice the Mayor’s age, so I have many more years of exercise.

Here are the rules:

The Mayor must allow me to set up “Bike Lanes”, “Bike Boulevards” and “Sharrow Streets” such as those used in Palo Alto, Portland, Pennsylvania and Milwaukee. All of the cost can come from Measure K funds.

I promise not to touch, and/or change Pacific Avenue–we will leave that to the cars, buses, trucks and other lumbering things.

Thanks,

~~Bill Fuhs

Comment on Can a bike share program work in Stockton? by David Garcia

David Garcia — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:10:02 +0000

Jon, you make a great point. Here in DC, the bikes have straps to hold small items in the front, which is not very conducive to hauling bags. Other programs have better carry-on capacity. For example, Denver’s bike share has actual baskets which I think are very helpful and quite frankly make the program more enticing.

Comment on Can a bike share program work in Stockton? by Jon Seisa

Jon Seisa — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:00:05 +0000

It would be really neat (and practical) if more of these bikes had three wire-baskets to transport and bring home purchases (2 on each side of the rear tire and one on the handle bars over the front tire). Otherwise, it would be difficult to hold a grocery bag while steering, as well as unsafe, and what would the point be if you could bike to the Miracle Mile, takeout eateries or stores if you cannot bring home what you purchased due to quantity or cumbersome size of the items, or their fragileness, like a carton of eggs. None of those bikes in the photos seem to have the convenience of baskets to hold anything for transporting items, so in essence retail shopping is not really promoted to its greatest potential as a result. I would think local merchants would want to see this feature advocated as well, and both consumers and merchants will mutually benefit; and biking would be made a more pragmatic transportation.

Comment on Why Stockton needs to embrace biking by Can a bike share program work in Stockton? | Stockton City Limits

Can a bike share program work in Stockton? | Stockton City Limits — Wed, 22 May 2013 18:45:02 +0000

[…] week, I discussed why Stockton should become more-bike friendly; Biking promotes good health, provides an economic boost to merchants and offers alternative […]

Comment on Why has Jerry Brown turned his back on California’s cities? by Jon Seisa

Jon Seisa — Tue, 21 May 2013 04:09:18 +0000

Well, I wouldn’t completely factor out political aspirations and ambitions just yet; but I definitely see your point about the disappointing easy way out (sigh). Californians deserve way better than this.

It just baffles me that for a state with a leading maverick trend setting business sector and renowned think tanks (like the RAND Corporation of Santa Monica [the 6th ranked think tank on Earth], Silicon Valley’s Stanford University and Singularity University, and Pepperdine University’s Davenport Institute of Public Policy and Graziadio School of Business and Management) that application of creative ingenuity and innovative solutions weren’t sought or tapped by the governor from such institutions and their cutting edge leaders for his Budget Solution Task Force. And surely there are other successful state budget management models that could have been gleaned for ideas and inspiration for a truly genuine and comprehensive fiscal budget overhaul. But rather, the best they could muster up and implement was a mere and mediocre “Borrow-From-Peter-To-Pay-Paul Model” and then continue business as usual. We’ll just have to keep holding his feet to the fire.

Comment on Why has Jerry Brown turned his back on California’s cities? by David Garcia

David Garcia — Tue, 21 May 2013 01:56:34 +0000

I would be shocked if Brown sought the presidency. He is definitely taking the easy way out and I am very disappointed that he has not attempted to fix the state’s structural problems. Instead, he has pulled money from here and there to patch up the budget, but not fix it.