Christopher White Promoted to Program Director

Posted on by San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is pleased to announce that Christopher White has been promoted to Program Director. He will manage our Program Team, which reaches tens of thousands of people each year with education, access to biking and free valet parking.

In his role as our Program Coordinator for Adult Bicycle Education for the last one-and-half years, Christopher has managed and taught classes all over the city and built strong relationships with our partners, from the SF Municipal Transportation Agency to Bayview Hunters Point Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in our Communities (BMAGIC). He’s initiated new education relationships, such as with Jump Bikes and multiple companies and agencies that hire professional drivers, training their vehicle operators to drive safely around people on bikes and bike infrastructure. In addition, he brings leadership experience from his many years as Founding Artistic Director of the SF experimental performance troop Mugwumpin. He is also the author of our popular column, Wheel Talk for Wheel People.

“I’m excited to advance the organization’s core value of Transportation Justice, building a coalition of advocates for sustainable, active transportation,” Christopher says. “All our programs introduce people to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and I look forward to working to see our dreams of access to safe and healthy transportation for all San Franciscans fulfilled.”

Reach out and say congrats to Christopher.

Wheel Talk: A Wheelie Great First Year

Posted on by Christopher White

Wheel Talk for Wheel People is a monthly advice column written by Christopher White, our Program Director. Though bikes, biking and getting around SF are our areas of expertise, feel free to ask anything!

It may be hard to believe, but it’s already time to celebrate a whole year of doling out wheel talk to all of you wheel people. That’s right, we’ve pedaled out a full dozen columns, answering over 30 of your questions. And what a year it’s been! Your SF Bicycle Coalition has taught hundreds of people young and grown how to ride a bicycle or how to keep themselves safe on SF streets; huge biking improvements have been put in the ground on streets like Folsom and Townsend streets, with more coming on Valencia, Howard, and others.

To celebrate, we thought about highlighting three of the most popular columns from the past year. But then I had a rethink: Those are the ones that the MOST people have read.* I want the less-seen columns to get a little more love! So without further ado, here are the top three columns that you shoulda read (but probably didn’t):

WHEEL TALK: The Case of the Unresolved Case

WHEEL TALK: Shine on, LED Kitty!

WHEEL TALK: Is MIPS Just Spin?

And fear not, all you wheel people: there’s plenty more to come! We need lots more of your questions to keep this little sweet-and-sour confection spinning like salt-and-vinegar flavored cotton candy. Click the button below to submit your question!

Ask Me Anything

* Missed them? The top three stories from 2018 were about phones, shoals and scooters.

Whitney Ericson shares her amazing journey as an intern

Posted on by Chris Bannister

Ever wondered what it’s like to intern at one of the largest and most effective bicycle advocacy groups in the country? Whitney Ericson interned with us last summer as a Bicycle Education intern. We spoke with Whitney to get insight on her internship experience and how it helped her focus her career interests.

Tell us about yourself.

I grew up in San Francisco and have always loved living in a diverse city with incredible outdoor access. I am currently a senior at Middlebury College in Vermont where I am an Environmental Studies major with a focus in literature.

What attracted you to interning with the SF Bicycle Coalition?

I have always loved to bike. I raced mountain bikes on the high school team and at Middlebury. I got my first road bike a few years back and immediately began exploring the Green Mountains and Champlain Valley of Vermont. I was fortunate enough to have biked with Bike and Build, a nonprofit organization that engages youth and young adults in service-oriented cycling trips around the Pacific Northwest and across America. During this time, I began to understand the need for safer bike routes on a national scale. I wanted to intern at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition to combine my passion for biking with my desire to make biking more inclusive, accessible and safe.

What were some of your major accomplishments with us?

I researched ways to improve the bike education program and helped find new clients for our professional driver education course. During our bicycle workshops, I helped participants feel safe, confident and comfortable biking in the city through individual hands-on instructions. I also had the opportunity to volunteer at many community and transportation events where I was lucky to tell people about our free bike safety classes.

How has your time at the SF Bicycle Coalition affected your future?

Since working at the SF Bicycle Coalition, I have been thinking about pursuing a career in bike transportation planning. I would love to see biking and walking become more easily integrated in urban environments.

Any fun stories during your intern experience?

My first time using a bike trailer (a perk of membership), I biked across the city with the Pride floats for our contingent in the Pride parade. Many onlookers were both perplexed and excited as they saw our Marketing and Events Manager Susan and I get into the spirit of Pride!

We’re looking for some great people to join our 2019 spring intern team! If you’re interested in interning with us check out our internship postings and apply today.

Welcome, Jeremy!

Posted on by Jen Gennari

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition welcomes Jeremy Hobbs as our new Technology Strategist. Jeremy, who joined the team in October 2018, brings 15 years of technology management and leadership expertise to the role, including experience serving as the CIO of the San Francisco Art Institute.

A SF Bicycle Coalition member since 2012, Jeremy loves to travel by bicycle and has ridden long distances on four continents. He holds a BFA in Art & Technology, Photography and Art History and a BA In Visual Critical Studies from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

When did you first hear about the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition?

Fortunately, I came across the SF Bicycle Coalition at one of our Bike-to-Work Day street party extravaganza stations. It was clear to me from that moment onward that the Bicycle Coalition was an amazing organization, bringing strong advocacy and programs to SF and the Bay.

What excites you most about your new role?

My goal is to make everyone’s work a little easier and more productive. I’m motivated to ensure that staff members have the tools they need to get the important work of the organization done effectively.

It’s great to be working at a place where the mission aligns with my values. I believe in promoting person-powered transportation, confronting transit’s environmental impact and climate issues broadly, ensuring the health and safety of street users and communities, and advocating for a new transit and infrastructure paradigm.

When you’re not working to advance technology at the SFBC, how do you like to spend your time?

I enjoy bikepacking, nature, the arts and many other pursuits related to adventures outdoors and of the intellect.

Breaking: Protected Bike Lanes on Valencia Approved

Posted on by Kristen Leckie

Safety can’t wait on Valencia Street.

That was the message we made clear at the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board meeting this afternoon, backed by 40 speakers and following nearly 500 submitted letters of support. Our urgent calls for change made a difference, as the SFMTA Board unanimously approved protected bike lanes on Valencia between Market and 15th streets.

Powerful testimony was shared over nearly two hours of public comment on this item. Our community organizer, Andy Gonzalez Cabrera, shared a story from streetside outreach where they connected with a man who bikes here every day but was injured after being doored. Speaking in only Spanish, he told Andy how he struggled to communicate with the driver because of language differences. When others stopped to see if he needed to go to the hospital, he refused because he didn’t have health insurance and didn’t want the police to show up.

A wide range of people spoke, including a sixth-grader from Friends School, parents who bike with their children on Valencia, and many people who have been hit by drivers while biking along this corridor.

At the end of the day, these are the people who are impacted when the City delays action for street safety, and that’s why we mobilized and showed up in numbers to make this protected bike lane a reality.

This victory was made possible because of our members who turned out time after time, from open houses to community outreach to committee meetings. Our campaign took a big leap forward in September, thanks to leadership from Mayor Breed, who directed SFMTA to implement a near-term protected bike lane on Valencia Street within four months.

Bolstered by additional outreach led by the SFMTA, we are proud that today’s approval will help meet that deadline to bring safety improvements along these few blocks early next year. Support from Supervisors Hillary Ronen and Rafael Mandelman were critical to getting us here, and we will continue to look to our elected leaders to push the City to do more and to do it quickly.

We know the work doesn’t end here. Our vision for Valencia Street is a corridor-wide transformation with a street design that keeps Uber and Lyft drivers out of the bike lane. As one of the busiest bike routes in the city with a bustling nightlife and a long history of community engagement, join our people-powered campaign to bring this long-term vision to life.

Keep Our Valencia Campaign Strong

Winterfest Wow and Thanks

Posted on by San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

Winterfest brought together the best of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition in a celebration of our members and all things biking — from the family-friendly bike parade to our advocacy work for safe streets to the fix-a-flat competition and cool temporary tattoos.

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon in Golden Gate Park, partygoers played games and drew on the graffiti wall, bid on art and bikes, enjoyed bánh mì from Bicycle Banh Mi and beverages from Guayaki and Fort Point Beer, and “rode” virtually across the Bay Bridge, thanks to Arup.

We are grateful to all of our sponsors for their support as well as the talented artists and the generous bicycle shops and manufacturers for donations. Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Skip, for their generous support and for the fun chance to test out e-scooters.

It was great to see friends and families connecting. Check out the fun (and tag yourself and your friends!) in our Winterfest album.

Meet Frankie, SF Bicycle Coalition Ambassador Extraordinaire

Posted on by Chris Bannister

Meet Frankie Burton, a dedicated and active member of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition who has been volunteering with us since 2013. Frankie is a passionate Bicycle Ambassador who has worked many of our street campaigns and has also helped out at special events, including Winterfest and the Golden Wheel Awards.

We caught up with Frankie to hear more about what she enjoys about being a San Francisco Bicycle Coalition member, and what keeps her coming back as a Bicycle Ambassador.

When did you start bicycling in the Bay Area?

I started biking in the Bay Area in 2007 when I moved here. Biking became  my primary means of transportation in 2003 in Isla Vista and Goleta when I went to UC Santa Barbara to study environmental studies.

When did you become a Bicycle Ambassador?

A few years ago, I wanted to attend Winterfest but wasn’t able to afford a ticket. I learned that volunteering grants you free admission to the event, so I decided to sign up as a volunteer. I had such a great time volunteering at Winterfest that I decided to become even more involved, so I attended the next Bicycle Ambassador training. I’ve been volunteering ever since.

What’s your favorite part about volunteering as a Bicycle Ambassador?

I am an extroverted transit nerd with over a decade of professional community outreach experience who is passionate about cycling, so being a Bicycle Ambassador is a great fit! It is rewarding to be a contributing participant at SF Bicycle Coalition events where our community often expresses appreciation for the work we do. My partner and I volunteer together now, which is a fun way to spend quality time contributing to our community and expressing our passion for biking.

When not volunteering or riding your bicycle around town, what do you do for work/fun?

I am a project manager at an environmental, infrastructure, transportation and water public participation and communications consulting firm, Katz & Associates, where we help people communicate about things that matter. We are a women-owned and small business with noticeable impact. We work on projects people rely on every day, but may take for granted, which also happens to be the projects I am passionate about. It is an opportunity to practice and see the power of empathy daily.

Since 2008, I have been singing with Conspiracy of Venus, an all-female voiced ensemble of 20-30 singers based in San Francisco that explores the creative frontiers of music under the artistic direction of Joyce Todd McBride. We interpret Joyce’s daring and inventive arrangements of beloved songs, ranging from popular classics (Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” and David Bowie’s “Life On Mars”) to edgy contemporary pieces (Bjork’s “Possibly Maybe” and “Hunter”), as well as original compositions by Joyce, with dazzling technical verve and tons of personality.

Want to become an Ambassador like Frankie? Sign up for our next Bicycle Ambassador training (December 6, 5:30 – 7:00 pm, 1720 Market St.) today!

A Better Design for Caltrain Bike Cars

Posted on by Janice Li

With Proposition 6 soundly defeated by California voters earlier this month, billions of dollars of critical transportation funding were preserved statewide. This included $165 million in grant funding to modernize Caltrain, and we’re ready to see Caltrain move forward swiftly with the planning and allocation of those funds.

We’ve consistently supported the purchase of more electrified train cars with this funding to continue expanding capacity on our regional transit system. However, when designs for the new electrified cars were revealed, we were immediately concerned that the bike cars lacked seats in view of bikes. Now that funding is secured, your San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is urging Caltrain to resolve this known issue.

Let’s Address Bike Security Onboard

The Caltrain Board will be meeting on Dec. 6, and to make sure our concerns are heard, we’ve written a letter to outline this issue with one, simple request: The new electrified bike cars must provide seats in view of bikes.

The new bike car layout holds 36 bikes but will lack an adequate number of seats in view of bikes. Given that bikes are stolen onboard even today with the current bike car designs, we urge Caltrain to address this problem directly for their new electrified cars.

We know that Caltrain electrification is critical to the ongoing and future sustainability of our region. With new cars and more frequent, reliable service, let’s make sure that our public transit doesn’t take a step backwards in accommodating bicycles onboard and instead, continues to be the bike-friendly transit system it has always been.

Protected Bike Lanes On Valencia Up For Approval

Posted on by Kristen Leckie

With a room full of attendees at last week’s Valencia workshop, the City’s project team revealed plans for protected bike lanes from Market to 15th streets. If we want to see this urgency continue, take action and write a letter of support today as this project looks to be approved by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board on Dec. 4.

Write a letter of support today

If approved by the SFMTA Board, these four blocks of fully protected bike lanes will be the first necessary step to create a welcoming, comfortable Valencia Street for all. We know the street is plagued by chronic double-parking in the bike lane and change is needed. That’s why our members have been turning out at SFMTA workshops and countless Valencia Member Committee meetings to bring real change along the corridor.

With Mayor Breed’s recent leadership, the project was fast-tracked and we now have the opportunity to see that the project is successfully delivered within the four-month timeline given. Support is critical now, so please take a moment to write an email to the SFMTA Board today and share why we need to put people first on Valencia Street.

Here are some suggested talking points to include in your email, and we encourage you to share your own personal stories of what it’s like to bike on Valencia.

  • I bike on Valencia Street regularly and strongly support protected bike lanes on the corridor. I am excited to see the City remain committed to the four-month timeline set by Mayor Breed and I hope to see the start of construction in January.
  • Valencia is long overdue for a people-friendly design that prioritizes those biking and walking along the corridor and this is a step in the right direction.
  • I strongly urge the SFMTA Board to continue work to bring long-term improvements to the rest of the corridor as soon as possible.

If you’re with us and want to see construction begin in January, let’s make sure this project moves swiftly through approvals so we can carry this momentum for more protected bike lanes into 2019 and beyond.

Statement Regarding a Resignation from the Board

Posted on by SF Bicycle Coalition Board

The Board of Directors would like to inform the membership that Chema Hernández Gil has made the decision to step down from his position on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. The Board is sad to lose his voice and talents. This wasn’t an easy decision for Chema as he has dedicated years of work to the elevation of the organization. The Board would like to recognize his service and thank him. We wish him well and look forward to his continued involvement.

In accordance with the duties vested in us, the Board deliberated on whether or not to appoint a replacement to serve out the remainder of Chema’s term, which is due to expire Feb. 26, 2019. As with most board actions, the issue was first considered by committee and the committee report was provided to the full Board. In addition, the Board appreciated receiving input from 18 members via email or public comment in support of filling the vacancy with the runner up from the last board election. While there are merits to such an approach, a majority of the Board voted to keep the seat vacant for the remainder of the term, believing that the downsides of filling the vacancy outweighed the benefits, with a board election coming up in January. The effort to bring a new director up to speed, as the organization heads into its busy year-end period, was deemed to be greater than the gain, given the critical nature of year-end fundraising and the fact that a Board election is pending. The 14 remaining directors are committed to stepping up in the interim to ensure that we serve the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition’s members and staff to the best of our ability.

The board election in January/February 2019 will be for eight open seats inclusive of the current vacancy. Any member in good standing is eligible to run for the board. We encourage interested members to visit Board of Directors: 2019 Director Election to learn more about how to become a candidate. The deadline to commit to run for the Board is Jan. 9, 2019. We look forward to welcoming a new cohort of directors in February to continue our work together.

We want to thank all of the members who contacted us and attended the Board meeting about this issue. See you in the bike lane!

If you have any questions, please contact us at board@sfbike.org.