• WOBO is run entirely on volunteer power.
• We're efficient and effective and 100% of donations go into public outreach materials and programs to make Oakland more walkable and bikeable.
• Help us do more by making a donation or purchasing a WOBO annual membership (Individual - $35, Household - $50, Individual w/WOBO t-shirt - $ 50). To contribute or discover member benefits, visit our Donation Page.

Help put the "Walk" in WOBO! At last month's meeting (which saw our biggest volunteer turnout yet) we told you all about our priority bike campaign. Apparently you liked what you heard, because we got tons of sign-ups up to help with Broadway bike counts, outreach at community events (like to Bike to the Movies Night) and collecting signatures from businesses in support of the campaign. At this month's general meeting, we're asking for your help identifying WOBO's next pedestrian campaign.

Come to this Tuesday's general meeting – at a new location this month: 2301 Broadway, Suite B – with your top ideas for how WOBO can make walking in Oakland safer and more inviting! Snacks will be served. Details: Tuesday, Feb. 24 from 6:30-8:30pm at Bay Area Wilderness Training (2301 Broadway, Suite B – enter on 23rd Street)

On the morning on February 4th, 23-year old Brandon Thomas was the victim of a car vs. bike hit-and-run on San Pablo Avenue, as reported in this Streetsblog story. After three weeks, he remains in a coma.

At Walk Oakland Bike Oakland our thoughts are with Brandon and his family. Sadly, an incident like this one underscores the need to make the streets of Oakland safer. The section of San Pablo Avenue from Adeline to Ashby is a dangerous one during most times of day (with drivers routinely going 5-20 miles over the limit), and during off-hours it can get even worse.

So what are we to do? The two biggest things you can do to help yourself are ride defensively (which includes making yourself visible and knowing your rights) and work for safer roads for cyclists. The next two newsletter items are along these lines.

If you'd like to get comfortable riding your bike in an urban setting and learn the "rights and rules" of cycling, registration is open for the EBBC's Spring bicycle safety classes. You can sign up online at ebbc.org/safety. For this Spring, they're offering their regular Day 1 and Day 2 safety classes, and they have added a Family Cycling Workshop for parents and kids. Later in the Spring the EBBC will be offering their first bicycle safety class taught in Spanish.

The SF Police Department has recently added a new training video to their curriculum, explaining bicyclists' legal rights and illustrating some common San Francisco cycling situations and the appropriate police attention they require. It's got useful information for everyone on the road, not just police officers – take a look and share the link.

If you've tried to park your bike in Oakland lately, you've probably noticed old meter poles without meter heads, or a noticeable absence of meter poles altogether. Here's the good news: the City has started the process of installing bike racks to replace the thousands of meter poles removed last year.

As of this writing, racks have been installed in the Dimond and Fruitvale districts, with College Ave, Piedmont Ave, and the Grand/Lake area slated to see racks starting next week (weather permitting). After those areas have been tended to, the city plans to place racks in Old Oakland, Chinatown, Downtown and other areas affected by parking meter removals, in addition to dealing with the backlog of bike rack requests. In total, the City will install over 350 racks in the coming months.

As for the future of bike parking, how about an automated bike-parking station which stores up to 9,400 bikes underground and can retrieve your bike in 23 seconds (or less). Is this science fiction? Nope, it's the new bike parking tower at Kasai Station in Tokyo. For more information, click here.

A community bike workshop is starting up in Fruitvale with the hope of being a resource for the Latino immigrant communities – populations who rely heavily on bicycles but to whom few bicycling resources have been targeted. The shop is at the Oakland Catholic Worker house at 4848 International Blvd, and (for the time being) shop hours are Mondays from 1pm-dark.

They've got tools, a bike stand and everyone is welcome. In time they hope to offer open shop hours, earn-a-bike programs and off-site repair clinics, but right now they're looking for volunteers to work on bikes. Spanish-language skills might be more important than bike mech savvy in this case, so if you're interested in helping out (or just want more information) contact Morgan Kanninen: morgan.kanninen (at) gmail.com.

Thanks to the Bay's hard-working bike advocates (with a big shout-out to the SFBC and EBBC), this month Caltrain's Board of Directors approved a plan to increase bicycle capacity to help prevent bike commuters from getting bumped. The older gallery bike cars will increase their bike capacity from 32 to 40 and the newer Bombardier cars will boost bike capacity from 16 to 24.

The increase is less than advocates were asking for but still more than provided for in Caltrain's initial proposal. This is a step in the right direction but still doesn't prevent cyclists from getting bumped. Our suggestion: if you get bumped, use the SFBC's BIKES ONboard email link to send an email to Caltrain. For more on this story, check out the Streetsblog article.

40th St Corridor Artquest (feat. Manifesto Bikes) – Feb. 21st from 6-9pm

Manifesto Bicycles, Rowan Morrison Gallery, Premium Tattoo and Vintage, and Issues are each hosting art receptions in their businesses on the same evening as part of the 40th Street Corridor Art Quest. In addition to local artwork, the public is invited to get their "treasure maps" stamped at each location and enter for several chances to win gift certificate prizes from the participating venues.

There will be music, refreshments, lots of affordable products (many manufactured locally), and even a street-art LED light installation connecting the spaces. All the owners of these businesses, as well as the exhibiting artists, are also residents of Oakland. Details: Manifesto is located at 421 40th Street between Shafter & Webster.

The Crucible's Bike Fixathon Weekend – Sat, Feb. 22nd from noon-5pm

The Crucible offers Bike Fixathon events the last Sunday of every month. These bike repair and maintenance workshops are free to any West Oakland resident under 18. This is an opportunity to learn more about how to fix and maintain your bicycle and to meet others interested in cycling. Join them for repairs on flats, brakes, chains and shifters, as well as free studio tours! They may not be able to fix everything, but they'll do their best, and show you how to repair your own bike too! Details: Saturday, Feb. 22nd from noon-5pm at The Crucible – Back Door (8th at Union).

WOBO Volunteer/Membership Meeting – Tues, Feb. 24th from 6:30-8:30pm

NEW MEETING LOCATION – 2301 Broadway, Suite B
Come to this Tuesday's general meeting with your top ideas for how WOBO can make walking in Oakland safer and more inviting! Snacks will be served. Details: Tuesday, Feb. 24 from 6:30-8:30pm at Bay Area Wilderness Training (2301 Broadway, Suite B – enter on 23rd Street).

Bike to the Movies Night – Thu, Feb. 26th

Join Speakeasy Theaters in making Oakland the coolest place to bike! The last Thursday of every month, the Parkway will valet park your bike for free and give you a voucher for a discounted movie ticket (good for the first two shows), making your admission $4! This month's featured movies: Gran Torino (6:30pm) and the 2009 Oscar-Nominated Animated Short Films (7pm). Details: Thursday, February 26th at Parkway Speakeasy Theater (1834 Park Blvd, Oakland).

1st Tuesday Treehouse Talk: Streetsblog – Tue, March 3rd at 6:30pm

Come meet the folks from SF Streetsblog. Learn about the history of Streetsblog and hear what's in store for the San Francisco Bay edition. Welcome to all; bike parking in the office (bring your bikes up in the elevator). Details: March 3rd, 6:30pm. SFBC HQ – 995 Market Street (at 6th).

Oakland Art Murmur/Critical Mass Ride – Fri, Mar. 6th from 6-9pm

Join us at Oakland's Art Murmur on March 6th. Look for the WOBO banner at our table near 23rd & Telegraph and come talk with us about walking, biking, art or what have you. Free stickers? We've got 'em! And say the magic word ("please") and we'll clean your bike chain, free of charge.

If you're looking for a is a pre-Murmur bike ride, then you can join Oakland's fun-loving Critical Mass riders (it's a social ride, really) for a mini-bike tour that ends at the Art Murmur with things already in full swing. For more info about the ride, click here.

Bicycle Film Festival Deadline for Submissions – Sat, Mar. 7th

The Ninth Annual Bicycle Film Festival is seeking film submissions with a strong theme or character of bicycles. This includes all mediums and styles such as animation, experimental, narrative, documentary and music videos. For more information and entry forms, visit the BFF website: bicyclefilmfestival.com.

Back when a single-gear bike was the only option one had, tweed was the performance fabric of choice. Now that these bikes are in fashion once again, it was only matter of time before cyclists felt the need for tweed. After a successful tweed ride in England, on February 12th it was San Francisco's turn. For pictures from the event, check out the SF Tweed Flickr page.

What about the cycling dandy who doesn't want to get their finest finery wet while riding? How about Drybike, the handlebar-mounted umbrella holder from the Netherlands. Just looking at the pictures you can tell it's not built for high speeds, windy days or crowded bike paths.