New Crosswalk Adds Shortcut to School Route

One crosswalk can make a huge difference for students walking and biking to school.

Students traveling across Lawrence Expressway in west San Jose to get to Archbishop Mitty High School or Cupertino High School used to have to cross at either Stevens Creek Boulevard or Bollinger Road. Using either crossing could add 30 minutes or more to a student’s route to school.

I was proud to open a new crosswalk this morning for pedestrians and bicyclists at the intersection of Lawrence Expressway and Mitty Way. This allows students to travel through quieter side streets rather than heading down busy roads.

The crosswalk can also lead residents directly to the San Tomas Aquino/Saratoga Creek Trail, rather than taking an indirect route far out of the way.

The crosswalk was a cooperative project between the county’s Roads and Airports Department and the City of Cupertino. But many of the advocates pushing to get the project completed were community bicyclist and pedestrian groups, including the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition. Thanks to a grant obtained by the county, bicyclists and pedestrians now have a faster and safer way to get across Lawrence Expressway.

Keeping Up With the Team Bike Challenge No Matter What

My Team Bike Challenge teammate, Leslee Hamilton, found a way to hop on a bicycle even when she visited Washington, D.C., on a business trip this month.

While visiting the nation’s capital, Leslee rented a bike to explore the city’s sites.

“It’s a good alternative to taking a cab to get to the Franklin Roosevelt Memorial,” she says.

Leslee has been biking to work every day this month as a member of my team for the Team Bike Challenge. Leslee, myself and three other teammates have been biking as much as possible to show how easy it is to make the bicycle a primary mode of transportation.

For Leslee, however, biking to work is a much more serious endeavor. For about six years now, she has ridden the 3.5-mile roundtrip from her house near Cahill Park in San Jose to the Mineta Transportation Institute downtown. She parks her bike in her office on the fourth floor.

“The only downside is that I have to take the elevator,” she says. “Without the bike, I used to take the stairs.”

Although the ride from home to work is pretty much a straight shot for Leslee, she says she encounters a lot of traffic.

“That’s why I love to ride the Guadalupe River Park Trail,” she says. “I’ve never had a serious problem with cars, but I’d just as soon not share the road.”

As current president of the Board of Directors for the Friends of the Guadalupe River Park & Gardens, Leslee has worked to improve and extend the trail running through downtown San Jose. She and I both look forward to the day that the trail goes from Alviso to Almaden Valley without interruptions.

For people who don’t regularly bike to work, Leslee says all you need is a little inspiration.

“Six years ago, I saw someone from my neighborhood bike to work, and it took the same amount of time as driving,” she says. “At that moment, I knew I could ride my bike to work every day.”

Still Biking Strong After Bike to Work Day

As many as 100,000 people pedaled their way to work yesterday for 511’s 13th annual Bike to Work Day.

The South Bay kicked off the event with the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s CEO/Celebrity Bike to Work Day Challenge, and I was happy to join fellow elected officials, media columnists, and local business leaders on a ride through downtown San Jose.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has been promoting Bike to Work Day to show Bay Area residents alternatives to their daily commutes on local freeways. As Santa Clara County’s representative on the commission, I have worked to reduce commute times and find environmentally friendly ways to get to work. Be sure to check out the photos of the event to see who biked to work in your neighborhood.

Last night, I stopped by the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition’s “Bike Away From Work Bash” at Gordon Biersch in downtown San Jose. I had a chance to relax after a long day of biking with refreshments and a silent auction to support bicycling as an everyday means of transportation.
I am still going strong in the Team Bike Challenge, so even after yesterday’s events, I jumped on my bike this morning and headed to my office.

After biking to work today, I pinned a green ribbon onto my lapel to commemorate Asian and Pacific Islander HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. Supervisor Liz Kniss and I presented Lance Toma of the Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center and Dena Dickinson, co-chair of the HIV Planning Council, with an official proclamation from the county to show our support for an important issue.

HIV/AIDS affects all communities, and we need to everything we can educate all our residents about the disease. The official awareness day is tomorrow, but we decided to hold an event at the County Government Center today and feature many organizations and performers that support the Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

Rolling Down Santa Clara Street for Bike to Work Day

Dozens of business and community leaders took off on their bicycles from the San Jose Diridon Train Station today, rode down Santa Clara Street, and arrived at City Hall to celebrate Bike to Work Day 2007.
The 8 a.m. ride was a challenge to CEOs, media personalities, and elected officials to be role models for the annual event. At a press conference after the trip, I was pleased to join fellow elected officials in acknowledging everyone who left the car at home and hopped on a bike. Not only does this annual event prevent waves of environmentally unfriendly gases from pouring into our atmosphere, it also shows commuters the ease of biking to work.

As Santa Clara County’s representative on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, I was happy to see so many commuters finding ways to bike to work, whether they live near or far. The commission, which oversees transportation planning for the entire Bay Area, is always working to ease residents’ commutes. I’m glad that this morning’s Energizer Stations kept bicyclists going strong.

At the press conference, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed said he wants to increase the number of bike lanes throughout the city. Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group which issued the challenge to local leaders, highlighted local businesses such as Webcor Builders and Lockheed Martin for setting good examples for their employees by supporting Bike to Work Day. As promised, San Jose City Councilmembers Sam Liccardo and Pete Constant rode a tandem bicycle, and their colleague Pierluigi Oliverio rode his own bike alongside.

Even though the morning commute of Bike to Work Day is over, there are more events still to come. Tonight is the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition’s “Bike Away From Work Bash.” Coalition Executive Director Corinne Winter led the pack this morning, and I will join her at Gordon Biersch in downtown San Jose tonight for the bash. The event goes from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

My biking days are far from over. Not only will I continue to bike to work for the rest of this month for the Team Bike Challenge, I will do so as often as possible in the future. I hope all of you learned easy ways to work exercising into your daily schedule.

Thanks to John Storey for taking the photo of me talking with Sam, Chuck, and Pete.

I Accept Your Bike to Work Day Challenge

I will be meeting with dozens of other local leaders tomorrow morning for the CEO/Celebrity Bike to Work Day Challenge. With my bicycle ready to roll and my helmet strapped on tight, I’ll join business executives and elected officials at 7:50 a.m. for a bike ride from the San Jose Diridon Train Station to San Jose City Hall.
Expected participants include San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed; Councilmembers Sam Liccardo, Pete Constant, and Pierluigi Oliverio (Sam and Pete reportedly will be riding together on a two-seater bike); Gary Richards, also known as the San Jose Mercury News Mr. Roadshow; and Carl Guardino, president and CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, which is sponsoring the challenge.

During our ride, we will stop by the Bike to Work Day Energizer Station at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Library. I hope to see some of you refueling with refreshments and picking up a Bike to Work Day 2007 tote bag.

Once we get to City Hall, local business and political leaders will host a press conference to tell why they think biking to work is important for our community.

After work tomorrow, I plan to stop by the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition’s “Bike Away from Work Bash” at Gordon Biersch in downtown San Jose. Bring some cash to participate in a silent auction featuring donations from local Bike to Work Day sponsors. I hope to see you there.

A Vision of Integrated Trails throughout Santa Clara County

The Friends of the Guadalupe River Park and Gardens had a lot to celebrate last night at their annual Window on the River Park event. Executive Director Kathy Muller and hundreds of volunteers could all be proud to hold the event in the River Street Historic Park for the first time.

I have worked with the organization for 10 years now to extend trails throughout our entire valley, and I was pleased to announce that the Guadalupe River Park’s trails will connect to Alviso by November.

The trail will also extend south to connect to Almaden Lake and eventually to the Los Alamitos Trail, allowing anyone to hike, jog, or bike the trail from north San Jose to Almaden Valley.

The grand vision I have is an integrated trail network that connects together the Guadalupe River Trail, the Los Gatos Creek Trail, the Penitencia Creek Trail, the Coyote Creek Trail, the Willow Glen Spur and many others.

I also got a chance to catch up with Leslee Hamilton, president of the Friends’ board of directors and a member of my Team Bike Challenge team, the Rainbow Riders. Our team is eighth out of more than 40 teams competing in Santa Clara County. Leslee and I took a short walk along the Guadalupe River Trail to talk about how bicyclists can incorporate trails into their daily commutes.
Corinne Winter, executive director of the Silicon Valley Bikes Coalition, joined us and reminded us about the official Bike to Work Day festivities on May 17. Energizer stations with free beverages and giveaways will help bicyclists in the morning, and the Silicon Valley Bikes Coalition is throwing a Bike Away from Work Bash from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. that evening at Gordon Biersch in downtown San Jose. I hope to see many of you there.

City Hall Promotes Biking through Safe Storage

Blue and gold streamers decorated the doorway of the San Jose City Hall Rotunda today in honor of San Jose State University’s 150th anniversary. As an alumnus and professor of SJSU, I was pleased to see so many people celebrate the university’s history.

I rode my bike the approximately 2 miles down Sixth Street from the County Government Center to City Hall, luckily avoiding the light rain we had earlier this morning.

City Hall promotes biking to work by offering a locking bike cage. Rather than leaving bicycles where they might be stolen or bringing them up the elevators to offices, city employees can receive the access code to the bike cage and store them in a covered environment.

I was glad to have a roof over my bike to shield it against the rain so I could have a dry ride back to the office.

When I got to City Hall, I was greeted by John Brazil, coordinator for the City of San Jose’s Bicyclist and Pedestrian Program. As part of the city’s Department of Transportation, the program offers bicycle safety classes and coordinates installing new bike racks around the city.


To help plot bike routes for Bike to Work Day, the program offers a great map of bikeways. This map is in addition to maps of the city’s extensive trail network. I know from experience that these can help plan a beautiful off-road commute.