News Archives - Page 23 of 25 - Hawaii Bicycling League

City Council Bill 68 Deferred & Proposal for a GOOD Alternative

A Bad Bill Deferred

Bill 68 would have been BAD for bikeways and Complete Streets. It would have required a City Council resolution for every individual bikeway project. This flies in face on good systems planning which is needed to build a network of bikeways and embodied in the Oahu Bike Plan. It would roll back our landmark Complete Streets ordinance that made consideration of bikeways a requirement with all new construction, reconstruction, and maintenance projects. See bottom for info on why Bill 68 would h

Luckily, the the overwhelming opposing testimonies were heard. At the 11/19/15 hearing, Councilmember Trevor Ozawa, Bill 68’s introducer, started the hearing by saying that he was requesting that the bill be deferred and that he intends to work with DTS to come up with a positive alternative. Thank you to all those that were part of this opposing testimony.

GOOD alternatives

HBL met Ozawa and most of the other councilmembers to discuss Bill 68 and propose an alternative approach. The stated goals of Bill 68 is increased transparency, accountability, and public and council involvement in bikeway implementation. There are options to achieve these goals without impeding bikeway implementation, as Bill 68 will do. HBL looked at models from around the US and found the Seattle model to achieve these goals in a way that HELPS the advancement of bikeways and Complete Streets.

We have urged councilmembers to consider the Seattle model as an alternative to Bill 68:

Master bicycle plan with 20-year network (which we already have) – this provides the overall network vision to make cycling safe and accessible to all
5-year bikeway implementation plan updated on an annual basis – this creates a high level of transparency into how the priorities and projects identified in the master bicycle plan are being implemented, while allowing for response to unforeseen opportunities and needs.
Implementation update to council every 6 months
Use of a 2 public meeting process for bikeway projects with a significant potential for impacts, such as parking and traffic flow – this ensures that all members of the community have the opportunity to have their needs, desires, and concerns heard and considered in the final outcome

These combined procedures will ensure a high level of transparency in bikeway prioritization and implementation, accountability in implementation of the bike plan, and robust community and council involvement.

Stay Involved

Thank you to all those that submitted testimony, called your Councilmember, and urged others to act. Your actions played a GIANT role in Bill 68 being deferred in seek of a good solution. While the day’s news is positive, we are going to have to remain vigilant as it’s possible the next bill could be negative.

If you aren’t already, please join our Bike Advocacy Team to stay involved in this and other bicycle advocacy issues.

Bill 68 – Impediment to Bikeways, Bad for Complete Streets

The Oahu Bike Plan, which identifies needed bikeway projects, had an extensive public process.
The Oahu Bike Plan was approved by unanimous vote of the City Council on 12/7/12 (Resolution 12-307).
The City is required to update the bike plan every 5 years, so there are frequent opportunities for the public to weigh in on what should and shouldn’t be in the plan and the City Council has approval power for every update (Revised Ordinance of Honolulu 2-12.1(e)).
Bikeway projects with potential community impacts go through an additional project specific public process. Bikeway projects, such as Waialae Avenue and King St, go through a project specific public process involving public meeting, neighborhood board presentation, and direct outreach to adjacent property owners. Click here for a summary of all the outreach that occurred for King St.
While this bill is about so much more than the, we shouldn’t forget that the City Council initiated action towards King Street protected bike lanes with the unanimous vote on Resolution 14-46 CD1.
It would make bicycling projects more expensive and time consuming. Adding a City Council step to every bikeway project would add time to each project, which could increase the cost of projects.
In 2006, 72% of voters said that making Honolulu bicycle and pedestrian friendly should be a priority. This bill would slow and impede implementation of this strongly support priority.
It would make Complete Streets more difficult to implement. With the passage of Bill 26 in 2012, the City Council made Complete Streets the law. Bill 68 would make implementation of this more difficult and ultimately lead to many lost opportunities and fewer Complete Streets.
The Public Infrastructure Map is reserved for large infrastructure projects (i.e. wastewater facilities, police stations). The only transportation projects included in the PIM are major roads, and rapid transit corridors and stations. South King Street isn’t even on the PIM (see the PIM here).

#OptOutside and #RideAloha on Black Friday

Just HBL on Friday, November 27th, 2015 for an #OptOutside Bike Ride. Burn off that extra serving of stuffing and opt to be outside instead of shopping!

Ride will begin from Kahala Park (Corner of Pahoa & Moa St) at 8:30am. We will ride throughHawaii Kai, along the coast past Hanauma, to Kailua. With a short stop at Makapu’u Lookout, and potentially a ride into Bellows Air Force Base. We’ll arrive in Kailua around 10:30-11am, have brunch (bring some $ if you want food), then ride back to town. There will be two options for the return trip: going back along the coast or over the Old Pali road! Riders may also join us in Kailua and ride back to town.

Coastal Return Route is approx 50mile ride. Old Pali Loop is approx 40mile ride with a BIG hill!

OptOutside Route 1- Coastal OptOutside Route 2 – Old Pali

_{Return Option 1: Coastal Route – Approx 50 Miles}

Return Option 2: Old Pali Loop – Approx 40 Miles

Join the Facebook event or Sign Up for Updates Here

Create your own “OptOutside” photo from REI – Click Here

For questions, please contact travis@hbl.org

Ride is free to join. HBL Membership is encouraged, but all are welcome. Casual as well as faster riders can join, but overall pace will be set by the casual riders. Please be comfortable riding the distance. Anyone not comfortable with the full distance is welcome to still join us and then take the bus back from Kailua. Riders can also choose to join us in Kailua (around 11:30am or Noon) and ride back to town. We’ll likely be eating/meeting at Whole Foods on Kailua Road. Please bring money if wanting to buy food in Kailua. This is a self-supported ride. Please have flat tire repair kits and water.

**This ride is not associated with REI, simply joining their #OptOutside campaign**

Next up South Street – The City’s plans for a protected bike lane network

PBL 9.1.15 meeting crowd pic

On September 1, 2015 a room full of over 200 community members came out to hear about and weigh in on the City’s upcoming bikeway projects. The public comment period and successive rounds of clapping during the presentation made clear that the vast majority of those in attendance were in strong support of more bikeways. Click here for the City’s full presentation. The highlights from the meeting:

Getting projects on the ground

South Street 2-way protected bike lane to be installed by the end of 2015
Commitment to install at least one protected bike lane project per year (King 2014, South 2015, 2016 TBD, 2017 TBD, 2018 TBD, you get the point)
Ward Ave 2-way protected bike lane – conceptual design complete, possible construction 2016
McCully St bike lanes (conventional) – possible construction 2016
Halekauwila St 2-way protected bike lanes – conceptual design complete, to be implemented as part of rail construction
Pensacola St 2-way protected bike lanes – being considered, if selected construction it would be implemented with the planned resurfacing

Microsoft PowerPoint - Future Bikeways Public Meeting 2015-Rev.p

Protected Bike Lane Network Plan

The above highlighted projects are the initial pieces of what will become a full grid network of protected bike lanes between Chinatown and Kaimuki. While HBL is pushing for a bigger reach and more lanes (see below), the plan is a great start in getting us to the Minimum Grid we truly need.

Microsoft PowerPoint - Future Bikeways Public Meeting 2015-Rev.p

King Street – the numbers tell it all

The City’s presentation started with a review of various data being collected to evaluate the King Street protected bike lanes. While we’ve all seen the positive changes with our own eyes, the data shows these as objective facts:

Bringing cycling to the masses – 88% increase in bicycle ridership
Like voodoo magic for getting riders off the sidewalk – 67% riding on sidewalk before, 7% after
All for less than a minute inconvenience – average delay for someone driving the 2 miles from Alapai to Isenberg during afternoon rush hour is around 30 seconds

Minimum Grid – You Support

Everything sounds great, yeah!?! Now we just sit back and wait for the City to do their work. As demonstrated by the plan and list of near-term projects, the City wants to do this. But the reality is that there will be push back.

The truth is it’s not going to happen without all of us pushing. And pushing hard. Going to meetings. Speaking up. Writing our elected officials. Convincing our neighbors. Getting friends riding. Organizing. Speaking as one to make our voices stronger.

And in all this, we need to demand MORE. We need to make cycling truly accessible to everyone on Oahu. Those from ages 8 to 80, those from Waianae to Waimanalo. Here are just a few things you can do to be involved:

Add your name to Minimim Grid supporters
Get the facts on why protected bike lanes are needed so you can make the argument
Join HBL – our numbers are our strength
Get involved in your local advocacy group
Contact the Mayor, Governor, your councilmember, and your legislators to tell them this is needed
Write a letter to the editor
Convince a co-worker, neighbor, family member. And get them riding!

MinGridBarPlus

Instructors Needed

LCC training call out

We’re looking for enthusiastic instructors to teach our cycling workshops and presentations – Cycling Skills 101, Efficient Riding Skills, Adult Learn to Ride, Basic Bike Maintenance, Everyday Cycling, Senior Cycling, Staying Alert through Cycling, and Walk Bike Drive. You will be trained by the League of American Bicyclists and after completing the three-day seminar (April 8-10, 2016) we will pay you $25/hour to teach workshops! Click here to see what it means to be a LCI.

The seminar will be from April 8th through the 10th at the RevoluSun Innovation Center (at Ward). If you are hoping to become an LCI you must attend all the 23-hours of the three-day seminar. Here are the times and dates:

Friday, April 8: 5-9pm

Saturday, April 9: 8am-9pm

Sunday, April 10: 10:30am-5:30pm

Traffic Skills 101 is a prerequisite of the LCI course, and is approximately 9-hours long. It normally costs $75 to attend but HBL will cover the charge if you plan to become a League Cycling Instructor! Traffic Skills 101 will be on February 27th, from 8:30am-4:30pm at the Hawaii Bicycling League office. Sign up for TS101 course HERE.

If you have already completed the TS101 course, there is no need to take it again (but you’re welcome to if you’d like!). There is also an online option if you are not able to attend the TS101 held on O’ahu, please email malia@hbl.org if you think you will need to take the online alternative.

The main reason we are holding this LCI seminar is to generate more instructors who can help teach HBL’s adult cycling workshops. You will be asked to sign up to teach workshops (which pay $25/hour) after successfully completing the seminar, so if helping Hawai’i become safer, and getting paid to ride around on a bike sounds like what you would like to do, being an LCI is for you! If you help teach seven cycling workshops with HBL, the $300 LCI enrollment fee will be fully reimbursed to you!

Please send/email a letter of interest to Malia Harunaga (malia@hbl.org) with your name, current occupation, contact info and 1) number of years bicycling, 2) what you think is the biggest challenge that cycling faces on O’ahu, 3) why you want to become a LCI, and 4) what days/times/locations you would be able to teach at.

For more information, see HERE.

Taiwan Bike Tour – November 9-15, 2015

Taiwan

Trip was a great success! See upcoming trips at hbl.org/biketaiwan

Join HBL on a bicycle tour in Taiwan from November 9th to 15th! With discounted airfare from China Airlines and a group package, prices as low as $1429!

Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to experience Taiwan by bicycle! Special ticketing by China Airlines gives HBL members this affordable, fully supported tour. Hotel nights are in comfortable hotels and B&Bs. Tour is limited to 15 participants. Tour guide is a highly experienced cyclist. Air conditioned luggage carry vehicle serves as SAG when necessary. Breakfasts included.

More details:

11/10 – 06:00 pick up clients at airport by Car and deposit the luggage at the hotel, then assemble the bikes at hotel.
Taipei city tour by bikes from Golden China Hotel, 30 KMs including
Lin An-tai Historical House, Flora Expo Park, Taipei Fine Art Museum,
Confucius Temple, Baoan Temple, Grand Hotel, Martyrs’ Shrine, National Palace Museum, take riverside bike ways back to Flora Expo Park then back to Golden China Hotel.
Stay at Golden China Hotel or Similar

Lin An-tai Historical House : The Lin family came to Taiwan in the 18th century and engaged in trade in northern Taiwan. With the money they made, they built a house and named it. Today, the house is over 160 years old. It is famous for its delicate carvings; one of the examples is the creative dragon carving on the front door. There are six dragons, representing the six sons in the family. The carvings of vases and bats carry the meanings of good luck, wealth and safety. Some of the tiles and bricks of this ancient building have been restored due to its long history, but the stones and woods have remained intact over the long years. The crescent shaped pond in front of the building was used for defense, raising fish, prevent fire, water supply and keep a moderate temperature.

Taipei Confucius Temple: The history of the first Confucius Temple can trace its origins back to 1875 when the Qing court established Taipei as a prefecture City for Northern Taiwan. In 1879, construction began in Taipei City, including the literary and martial temples which were to be built inside the southern gate of the city. The temple holds ceremony on September 28, the birthday of Confucius, to commemorate Teachers’ Day. The ceremony follows the ancient ritual since Ming Dynasty. The display of music and dance, known as “display –presentation ceremony”, are in the veneration of Confucius.

Baoan Temple: The temple was founded in 1760 by immigrants from Quanzhou, Fujian province, and its modern size and design began to take shape in 1805. The main resident god is Baosheng Dadi, an historical figure revered for his medical skills. This temple features the usual dragon pillars, and also a pair of stone lion that are not so usual. Normally, of the two lions (one male, one female) that guard a temple, the male has an open mouth and the female a closed mouth; here, however, both have open mouths. It is said that they are not lions at all but a “humane beast” and a “law beast,” stationed there as an appeal to respect the law and carry out good government.

11/11. Taipei City tour by bikes, 30 KMs
Take Songjing Rd and Renai Rd to Taipei 101, Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, pass by Palace residence, NTU College of Medicine since 1897,
CKSMH, Presidential Office, The Red House, Longshan Temple, take Danshui Riverside bike way to Dadaocheng Whart, Dihua street, Ning Xia Night Market, then back to Golden China Hotel.
Stay at Golden China Hotel or Similar

The Red House: A Western-style red-brick octagonal structure in Taipei’s Ximen space built in 1908, is Taiwan’s first public market and the most well preserved historical site.

Longshan Temple: Founded in 1738 by Han immigrants from Fujian, this temple has served, in addition to being a house of worship, as a municipal, guild and self-defence centre. These days it is one of the city’s top religious sites, and a prime venue for exploring both Taiwan’s vibrant folk faith and its unique temple arts and architecture. Longshan is dedicated to the bodhisattva of mercy, Guanyin, though in true Taiwanese style there are over 100 other gods and goddesses worshipped in the rear and side halls. Matsu, Goddess of the Seae; Wenchang Dijun, the god of literature; red-faced Guan Gong, the god of war and patron of police and gangsters and the Old Man Under the Moon, known as the Matchmaker or the Chinese cupid.

11/12 Taipei to Hualien by Car and deposit the luggage at Hotel Chateau de Chine and assemble the Bikes there,
Cycling tour to MuGu Mu or Carp Lake, round trip 50 KMs.
Stay at Chateau de Chine or Similar
11/13. Hualien to Tienshiang biking thu Taroko 50KMs
Put the luggage on the Car, visit Hualien Stone Sculpture Museum and start from the Peace Park, taking cycling trial thru Qixingtan Lake, Taroko Gate way, Eternal Spring Shrine, Swallow Grottos, Chumu Bridge, Tianxiang.
Stay at Tienshiang Youth Hostel

Taroko National Park: Taroko is famous for its spectacular mountains and marble canyons. Cliffs and canyons stretch along Liwu River. Four million years ago, the island of Taiwan was formed by the collision of plates. After millions of years of wind erosion, the marble rocks were exposed and cut by Liwu River, creating impressive grand canyon’s.

Tianxiang: Its name commemorates Wen Tianxiang, who lived in the 13th century and was the last prime minister of the Song Dynasty. Scenic spots at Tianxiang include Xiangde Temple, Tianfeng Pagoda, a suspension bridge, the Wen Tian-siang Memorial Garden, the Plum Garden, and Tianxiang Church.
11/14. Tienshiang to Cinjin to Sun Moon Lake by Car
Stop at Sacred Tree, Huehuanshan, Wuling, Cingjing, Sun Moon Lake
Check in Sun Moon Lake Hotel and warm up cycling at the most beautiful cycling trial, 8 KMs.
Stay at Sun Moon Lake Teachers Hostel or Youth Hostel

Cingjing: It was once a cattle ranch of Seedig(Taiwanese aboriginal people); it wasn’t until the 1960s that this place was turned into farmland, providing livelihood to veterans from the Chinese Civil War. Today, Cingjing covers more than 700 hectares of rolling meadow, and is a hill station popular among locals, South Asians and Chinese visitors.
11/15. Sun Moon Lake Cycling Festival, 7:00-11:00, 30KMs or 50KMs.
After the festival, By car visiting Wenwu Temple, Holy Monk Temple, Tse En Pagoda or take a lake cruise, then by Car from Sun Moon Lake to airport at 18:00 for CI 2 23:00

Sun Moon Lake: An elevation of 748 meters above sea level, is the only natural big lake in Taiwan. Sun Moon Lake features the only full-range 3D tours (lake, sky and land) in Taiwan. The lake cycling trail has been dubbed by CNNGO, CNN as one of the most beautiful cycling trails in the world.

Supported by China Airlines

For more information contact: Brendon Hanna