City staff is requesting City Council approval to spend $312,345 of taxpayer funds on a mini street sweeper to clean protected bike lanes. This item is included in the “Consent Calendar” for the May 6th City Council meeting. The “Consent Calendar” means that it is considered routine and will not have any discussion during the public meeting; it will be approved with many other routine items by a single vote.
Staff Report
Within the background and discussion, ”...staff notes that operating a mini street sweeper would ultimately require less time than the current practice of hand sweeping the protected bike lanes.”
In a recent post, I referenced $18,000 that the City asked our Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trails Committee (BPTC) to authorize as a Measure BB request.
Again, the whole proposal to BPTC was this:
Staff recommends the Bicycle, Pedestrian and Trails Committee support the use of approximately $18,000 in 2024/25 Measure BB funds to increase the crosswalk visibility at all crossing guard locations by adding ladder striping to the locations where ladder stripes are not present (approximately $18,000). [my emphasis]
And when questioned, staff was unable to answer which crossings they meant or even how many crossings $18k would fund. When pressed, the staff member who presented guessed that two or three intersections could be done, depending on how many legs of the intersection were striped.
The 2018 Bicycle & Pedestrian Master Plan ranks the 580/680 Overcrossing “corridor” as the third priority. The project included eight interchanges, four on each freeway – excluding Fallon. The priority score was 13 – three points each for connectivity, demand, safety, and feasibility, and one point for safe routes to school.
Corridor Ranking
First, and most obviously, these eight overcrossings are not a “corridor”. Quietly, staff scoped the project to mean only three 580 overcrossings:
On March 24, 2025, the Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trails Committee (BPTC) met, and city staff presented an item on Measure BB funds.
In the “Background” staff wrote, “On an annual basis staff creates and provides a list of projects to the BPTC...” In my public comments I said that I laughed at that statement when I first read it. Is it more than coincidental that my public comment to City Council (“Silencing your Constituents) the previous week said the opposite? The official record will not show my comments, but it will show this statement from staff.
Yesterday, I spoke at our City Council meeting and included that I'm with Indivisible Tri-Valley. This was in regards to initiation of an updated Bike/Ped Master Plan. It is required to be updated every five years and we are in year number seven.
I told them that my April 2022 comments suggesting staff begin work on the updated Bike/Ped Master Plan were recorded as, “...urged the Committee to bring up matters for discussion.” Then, in July 2022, the City adopted “action minutes” so comments such as mine would not be recorded at all, only yea/nay results of votes. And then, in 2023, City Council determined that our committee would benefit from a reduction in the number of members and decrease in frequency of meetings (no reasons given). Therefore, fewer residents will have fewer opportunities to not have their comments recorded. How is this better?
I said, you are my elected representatives. Your actions have reduced transparency and accountability. How do you expect to represent us if you are blocking this channel of communication?
As is the manner of City Council meetings, they thanked me for my comments (which will not be recorded).
Foothill Road Corridor
In 2013, a 58-year-old woman was killed while cycling with her husband on Foothill Road near Golden Eagle. The story made national news (NPR article) because of the driver's tweets like, “Someone come on a death ride with me !!!”.
In 2018, a study was completed for the entire Foothill Road Corridor from Castlewood to 580.
Bernal Ave & Stanley Blvd – Protected Intersection
Future headline: A 72-year-old Woman was Killed while Cycling Across the Intersection of Stanley Boulevard and Valley/Bernal Avenue
In 2016, a 72-year-old woman was killed while cycling across the intersection of Stanley Boulevard and Valley/Bernal Avenue. She was riding southbound on Valley Avenue and crossed Stanley from the railroad underpass toward McDonald's. I did not see the final police report, but I understand that they believe she was in the intersection after the light turned red.
I'd like to believe that something I really like, bicycling, is also a good thing to do. I advocate for bicycling in my local community. For many years, I volunteered on my city's Bicycle, Pedestrian, and Trails Committee. It was clear to me that the city viewed investments in bicycle infrastructure as a benefit for a tiny special interest group.
