PRESS RELEASE
Bike the Bridge! Coalition
Contact:
Jason Meggs, BTB!C East Bay Coordinator,
PAGE: 510-720-2818 ; work: 510-643-5722 ; voicemail: 510-273-9288
FAX: 510-486-1528 ; e-mail jmeggs@lmi.net
Web site http://www.bikethebridge.org/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, October 2, 2000
BICYCLISTS TAKE THE BRIDGE!
Bicyclists protest Governor Davis' deadly actions, transportation, housing
& environment.
Press spokesperson is at the south end of the Transbay Transit Terminal
(bike shuttle stop)
As this release is being faxed, a group of bicyclists has rallied to bike
the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. While the cyclists are protesting a
wide range of outstanding issues, this demonstration is an emergency
response to the Governor's VETO of Senate Bill 1629 (the "Good Roads
Bill") last Friday, along with other important legislation including SB
1809, which would have allowed more trails to be built.
This group has no intention of blocking traffic! In fact, bicycles are
traffic and everyday bicyclists are being blocked from travel even as we
suffer for and subsidize single-occupancy motor vehicles. The last major
bridge ride was September 10, 1998. At that time, the CHP needlessly
blocked both the Transbay Terminal and Fremont off-ramps, causing a major
backup -- in violation of their own policies and the law. In addition,
the CHP has in the past illegally arrested bicyclists on the bridge --
biking the bridge is a mere infraction.
ISSUES WHICH WE ARE PROTESTING:
1. Governor Davis' veto of SB 1629 and 1809, and his theft of our tax
dollars by cutting us out of the largest transportation budget the state
has ever seen. 25% of traffic fatalities are suffered by bicyclists and
pedestrians, yet we receive less than 1% of transportation funding. Davis
ignores the epidemic of fatalities which is plaguing our streets, and the
road rage, poor planning and inequity that is responsible;
2. The Army Corps of Engineers' rubber-stamping of the proposed
replacement of the East Span. The proposed new bridge would be
exorbitantly costly and would remove the invaluable rail access;
3. The proposed "Southern Crossing" which would simply exacerbate the
effects of sprawl and motorcar dependency, drain our precious
transportation funds, and irreparably harm the fragile bay;
4. The system of motorcar dependency which has been allowed to develop in
the Bay Area and across this nation which destroys our communities, tears
out housing, drives up housing prices, promotes urban blight, leaches tax
dollars, paves over our farmlands, destroys habitat, spreads disease and
fuels deforestation, saps huge amounts of our precious and dwindling
natural resources, and sets us up for inevitable economic and
environmental collapse. The Bay Area should be focusing on building
sustainable cities, in the form of car-free communities well-served by
transit; Our group is inspired by Car Free Cities, a landmark new text by
J.H. Crawford (www.carfree.com) and Think Big, a new film by Eric
McCaughrin, (copies available), showing what a sustainable Bay Area could
look like;
5. The system of oil dependency which is directly responsible for genocide
of indigenous peoples across the world, for global warming and its
impending holocaust, and for the destruction of habitat and ecosystems
which is causing the earth to lose species at an unprecedented rate of
extinction;
6. The building of motorcar-only structures such as the Bay Bridge which
prohibit sustainable modes of travel. The right to travel under one's own
power is an inalienable right which shall not be abridged.
7. Discrimination and violence against bicyclists and pedestrians by
police, motorists, transportation planners, traffic engineers, government
officials, transit service providers, courts, and employers.
People not associated with this protest who can speak to the legislative
issues include:
James Corless, Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP),
(415) 415-956-7795
Debbie Hubsmith, Marin County Bicycle Coalition: (415) 488-1245
Chris Morfas, California Bicycle Coalition, (916) 446-7558
Josh Hart, Rails to Trails, (415) 397-2220
Dave Snyder and Leah Shahum, San Francisco Bicycle Coalition,
(415) 431-BIKE, ext. 2 or 3)
Robert Raburn, East Bay Bicycle Coalition, (510) 530-3444
Zachary Wald, BayPeds, (510) 334-6598
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PRESS RELEASE