CALL TO ACTION: BIKE SUPPORT NEEDED ON ADAMS BY ORANGE COAST COLLEGE
We’re issuing our first call to action: please e-mail the Costa Mesa City Council (citycouncil@costamesaca.gov) to support adding bicycle infrastructure to Adams Avenue between Harbor and Fairview as part of the Pinecreek and Adams intersection rebuild.
The entrance to Orange Coast College on Adams Avenue (Pinecreek and Adams) is the busiest entrance to the campus. This leads to the campus’s largest parking lot, but many students using active transportation also use the entrance: some live in the large apartment complexes that line Adams in this area, and many more live in the neighborhoods to the north or west of campus. Even students biking in from Huntington Beach or via the Santa Ana River Trail use this entrance.
The City has recently secured grant funding to reconfigure the this key intersection, which is a tremendous win. The city’s current plans for the intersection feature removing the high-speed slip lane with no pedestrian crossing on eastbound Adams, and replacing it with a slower-speed slip lane that has a clearly marked crosswalk and curb cuts, as well as adding a crosswalk on the western side of the intersection. These will be incredible improvements.
However, there are currently no plans to do anything to address bikeability in this rebuild. Students riding along Adams need to choose between either the 40 MPH street that lacks even a bike lane or the cramped sidewalk that has many driveways, dog walkers, and other pedestrians. Let’s get them some support!
Adding even more urgency to this need is that in the fall of 2020, OCC will be opening new student housing, with 800 student beds located almost directly at the Pinecreek and Adams intersection (you can see the construction from Adams Ave.). Many of these 800 students are going to want to bike to the nearby shopping at Harbor/Adams and Fairview/Baker. Let’s get them some support too!
Please e-mail the City Council (citycouncil@costamesaca.gov) today and ask them to incorporate support for people riding bikes along Adams between Fairview and Harbor as a part of the Pinecreek and Adams intersection rebuild.
Questions? Want more information? E-mail our OCC rep (and secretary) Marc Perkins at marc@cmabs.org.
THIS SUNDAY: RIDE THE PARKS OF MESA VERDE WITH COUNCIL MEMBER ARLIS REYNOLDS
Council Member Arlis Reynolds’s Father’s Day ride was so successful that she’s planning to hold monthly Costa Mesa rides on the third Sunday of each month. This month’s ride will be this Sunday (July 21) at 2pm, and will tour the parks of Mesa Verde.
Meet at the Balearic Community Center (1975 Balearic Drive in Costa Mesa) with your bike and a helmet at 2pm. During a calm, mostly flat 7-mile ride, we’ll visit six different parks, including Moon Park (perfect for the day after the 50th anniversary of the moon landing). The ride should be done by 4pm.
More information on the Facebook event page.
JULY MEETING: GREAT DISCUSSION ON OPEN STREETS
Our general meeting on July 15 featured Bryan Estrada talking about the possibility of hosting an open streets event (a la CicLAvia) here in Costa Mesa. Bryan looked at how Long Beach (“Beach Streets”) and Los Angeles (CicLAvia) organize their events, and pointed us to 8 80’s excellent Open Streets Toolkit as a resource for starting work towards planning for a Costa Mesa event.
The main portion of the day was starting to consider good route possibilities: Bryan brought blank maps of the city, and attendees got to work sketching, with a goal of a route around 3 miles long that traveled to “iconic” areas of the city along with residential areas and avoided problem areas.
There’s no shortage of work to do to make this idea a reality (especially since Bryan pointed out that for these types of events to be successful they should be repeated multiple times a year), but folks in the room were excited about the potential. If you’re interested in helping work towards holding open streets events here in Costa Mesa, let us know!
NEXT GENERAL MEETING
Our next general meeting will be Monday August 19, 7pm in Costa Mesa, and will feature a presentation by Russell Toler on “Reimagining Our Streets.”
OCTA BRISTOL STREET STUDY
The Orange County Transit Authority (OCTA) is asking for public input to a study of the Bristol Street corridor, to define potential mobility improvements along this heavily traveled route. Here is OCTA’s description of the study.
Take the survey here (bristol-survey.com) and show your support for low-cost, high-impact improvements for all street users, like dedicated bus lanes and protected bike lanes!
UPCOMING EVENTS
July 22, 5-6pm in Lion’s Park: Community Meet and Greet with Lori Ann Farrell Harrison, Costa Mesa’s new city manager. More details here.
August 13, 5:30pm: Huntington Beach Picnic Procession run by OCTA Bike and Walk ‘n Rollers. Their description says “Designed for riders who want to improve their skills, each three-hour interactive adventure includes a classroom discussion, safety workshop, fun ride and lunch/snack at the ride destination. You’ll also learn essential bike skills such as flat repair, route planning, and commute basics such as what to wear, road etiquette, and more.” More information, and RSVP ($10), here.
August 14, 11am online: America Walks webinar on “Connected and engaged: community outreach strategies for transportation.”
August 18, 9am-4pm in Los Angeles: CicLAvia open streets event “Meet the Hollywoods”.
August 19, 7pm in Costa Mesa: Our next general meeting - a presentation by Russell Toler on “Reimagining Our Streets”.