Well, we are back on the fall side of Labor Day and that means Oakland’s 50,000 kids are back in school.  Do you give much thought to HOW they get to school?   There has been extensive research on how kids no longer walk or bicycle to school, which is a real shame and a real problem.  We need to help make our childrens’ lives more active to fight off higher rates of obesity and the diabetes which follow.

But how?

One simple step Oakland can take is to identify a Safe Routes to Schools staff person.  This person would focus on coordinating with the school district and city staff, including OPD, to help make walking and bicycling to school safe and convenient.  Roads like Hegenberger and Park are difficult for children to cross- but that’s exactly what they have to do!  San Francisco, by comparison, has a team of staffers working on this very issue.

It’s time the City stepped up to help our kids!

write to: officeofthemayor@oaklandnet.com

See More from the Transportation & Land Use Coalition (TALC) based in downtown Oak:

http://www.transcoalition.org/c/sr2s/index.html

seems like crazy talk, I know, but it’s true. a business actively encouraging you to ride, your bike, which you already do, for a discount.  madness. those great folk over at the Parkway theater are offering discounts for folks that ride to movies and they will park your bike - for you! See below for more deets - and we’ll all be looking for your there!
>>>>>Join Speakeasy Theaters in making Oakland the coolest place to bike! The last Thursday of every month, first 2 shows, The Parkway will valet park your bike for free and give you a voucher for a discounted admission ticket.<<<<<

some v cool upcoming events to help you (re)discover downtown Oakland’s amazing parks:

10,000 Steps, an interactive community-based project designed to increase
awareness of historic parks in downtown Oakland, invites you to two greening
events!

There will be an old-fashioned “Field Day” at Jefferson Square Park (between
6th and 7th and Jefferson and Martin Luther King Jr. Streets) on Saturday,
July 26 from 1 to 3 pm.  With the Old Oakland Neighbors, the 10,000 Steps
team will conduct a detailed needs survey of the park.  The City will soon
be improving this park and wants to hear from local residents.  After the
hard work, stick around and play some favorite summer games: three-legged
races, balloon toss, and tug-of-war.  Refreshments and prizes provided; all
ages welcome!

On Friday, August 1 (First Friday), 10,000 Steps will act as stewards of
Frank Ogawa Plaza in the vicinity of the Oakland Art Gallery from 5 to 8 pm.
Equipped with a multifunctional workcart made from re-used materials, 10,000
Steps will invite passers-by to engage in cleaning and weeding as well as
story-telling: tell them why urban green space is important to you.  These
stories will be featured on the website www.10000stepsoakland.org

it’s so easy to get bogged down.  can’t do this, can’t do that.  too many distractions, too much B.S.

time to can the excuses and get serious.  WOBO will be working extra hard in the coming months on two priority campaigns - and we want you to join us!

1. Bike Broadway - from Lake Temescal to Chinatown and Jack London.  It can all be done, bike laned out.  Too many car lanes, zero bike lanes to go with the section from 27th - 580.  Get out the paint gun!
2. Funded Bike Parking program - the saga of the parking meter removal is still not solved as the needed $200,000 has not been committed by the City.  We have to persevere and get that fixed, once and for all!

There are still a lot of other project we’ll be working on, but we hope you’ll come out and support our efforts on these.  Check the website for how to get involved, and get involved.  Make it easy.

See you out on the street - WOBO

check out the invite below and join us tomorrow night on telegraph.
great to see hundreds of folks out in downtown Oakland today for Bike to Work Day, kudos to our City Councilmembers who rode in:

May 15th is bike to work day! And you can ride in with your City Councilmember to celebrate the day and chat them up on biking in Oaktown. I’ll be leading District 1’s ride down Broadway, including a trip down Webster to scout the downtown bike lanes campaign.

Join us. There’s coffee and pancakes waiting at the end, drawings and good times.

Map to find YOUR route & meet up time:

http://www.oaklandpw.com/AssetFactory.aspx?did=2983

Remember our event at Mama Buzz May 16th from 6 - 10, 2318 Telegraph. Here about campaigns and how you can get involved. It’s up to us.

Join the City of Oakland, Walk Oakland Bike Oakland  , East Bay Bicycle Coalition, and Wheels of Justice Cyclery to
kick-off Bike Month at “First Fridays After Five,” the Oakland Museum
of California’s monthly after-work fete on Friday, May 2, 5-9pm.

•  Free valet bike parking!
•  Learn (or teach   about the best routes, clothing, bike tune-up
needs, and gear at the Bike to Work Advice Booth.
•  Get an early start on Cinco de Mayo and salsa with hot, hot, hot
Dr. Loco and his Hot Jalapeño Band in the café.
•  Full cash bar; museum, store and café open.

Don’t miss the most exciting party in Oakland with a low carbon
footprint! All ages welcome. Included with museum admission ($8
regular/$5 student). Free to Museum members. 

this weekend really put summer squarely in my head.  more riding, more walking.  and we have some work to do on those fronts as all of you know.  if you want to make Oakland better, get involved with one of our top three campaigns - or let us support you on your campaign of choice!

• Bike Broadway from Temescal to Downtown and beyond!
• Secured funding for secure bike parking - replace Oakland’s lost bike parking!
• Safe Crossings - get the city to adopt a cutting edge crosswalk policy asap!

there is much to do.  tons of great events to socialize coming up later this month and into May.  get involved, join us!

CAMPAIGNS: http://www.walkoaklandbikeoakland.org/pages/page.php?pageid=5

“Putting in bike lanes is exactly what the Other Urban Repair Squad does.” Last summer the, the Toronto based group of vigilante cyclists hit a stretch of Bloor between Ossington Ave. and Dufferin St.”

Read the whole article.

WOBO naturally does not condone breaking local laws in the name of activism, but this is how to get noticed by the city if you want bike lanes.  The message is clean, concise, and powerful. We want bike lanes, they are easy to build, and people will use them. An alternate approach would be the guerrilla application of sharrows, iconic indicators that bicycles are entitled to take the lane as needed.  These are more powerful and effective than bike lanes, as they indicate that bicycles are traffic, not merely an annoyance cordoned off to limited thoroughfares. 

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