5/25/2013 "Why I Joined 'The Ride of Silence' - A Cyclists Story" Click
here
to read.
5/14/2013 Ride of Silence honors cyclists injured or killed on the road by Wendi Johanassen Click
here
for more.
5/21/2013 An Oakland cyclist was hospitalized following after a late night road rage incident with a truck driver. Witnesses said the driver dragged the woman at least 70 feet. Christin Ayers reports.
5/17/2012
Riders honor injured cyclists
Richmond police Officer Anthony Diaz, who rides on the department's bicycle patrol unit, rode with the group that placed the "ghost bike" at the site where Godinez-Garcia died. "The memorial is a powerful statement to bring awareness that we all need to share the road and respect safety," Diaz said.
5/17/2012
Watch the beautiful and touching Ghost Bike video by Richmond's Lana Husser
04/27/12
Driver arrested in Hit-and Run:
On 04/11/12, at approximately 0130 hours, a fatal hit-and-run collision occurred on Barrett Avenue at 33rd Street in Richmond, CA. A 47-year-old motorist identified as Tracy Denise Cooper was traveling eastbound on Barrett Avenue and broadsided a bicyclist traversing Barrett Avenue southbound at 33rd Street. The bicyclist died at the scene from major injuries. Cooper fled the scene immediately after impact. The bicyclist's was identified as 24-year-old Juan Godinez-Garcia of Richmond. On 04/27/12, Richmond police investigators located and arrested Cooper in a Berkeley apartment building. Felony hit-and-run charges have been filed by the Contra Costa County District Attorney's Office. Cooper remains in-custody awaiting arraignment.
4/11/2012 KGO ABC 7 News- Richmond police try to find driver that killed bicyclistUpdated at 06:59 PM today by
Lyanne Melendez
video
(KGO)
Richmond police are asking for help in finding a hit and run driver who ran down and killed a bicyclist early Wednesday morning. Richmond police say the bicyclist killed is 28-year-old Juan Godinez Garcia, a native of Guatemala. The incident occurred at 1:30 a.m. while neighbors were sleeping, that's why police say it's going to be hard to find the driver.
Richmond police found the bicyclist at the intersection of 33rd Street and Barrett Avenue. Garcia was already dead and the driver had fled. "This bicyclist was traveling across the intersection, so the person who was driving that hit him may not have even seen him, but it becomes a crime once they flee the scene," said Richmond Lt. Bisa French.
Nobody reported seeing the hit and run, but police say there are ways of finding the driver. "There should be some paint transfer maybe on the vehicle, maybe some dents on the vehicle," said French.
"There is no contest between a 6,000 pound vehicle and 150 pound person on a bike," said Brian Drayton. Drayton is a bicycle activist who owns Richmond Spokes. Wednesday he posted the incident on his Facebook page hoping one of his 2,000 followers may provide a lead.
A statewide traffic database operated by the California Highway Patrol lists Barrett Avenue as one of the most dangerous streets in Richmond. McDonald Avenue and Cutting Boulevard top that list. "The cars go between 35 and 45 miles an hour down there and you are talking multiple lanes in either direction and with the right of way straight through residential neighborhoods," said Drayton.
Drayton and other bicyclists have pushed for safety improvements in Richmond. The city council recently passed the Richmond Bicycle Master Plan to create bike lanes. Still, Drayton would like to see traffic calming devices that would force drivers to slow down.
This Friday night about 500 bicyclists will gather at the El Cerrito BART Station and from there they'll travel up San Pablo Avenue from Albany to Richmond. The Bike East Bay says they want to do this because they want to push for safer and better conditions for bicyclists.
A 55-year-old El Sobrante man was sentenced to two years in prison Thursday for striking a Martinez cyclist with his vehicle in 2008 and then leaving him to die on the side of the road.
Harold Brown was driving on McEwen Road near state Highway 4 on the evening of Nov. 24, 2008, when he crossed over the double yellow lines into the opposite lane and struck 49-year-old Mark Pendleton head on, according to the California Highway Patrol. Brown then fled the scene and hid his vehicle to avoid being caught, Pendleton's family members said.
An off-duty fire captain from Crockett found Pendleton shortly after he was hit and called for medical assistance, but Pendleton died at the scene, the CHP said.
Brown was not arrested until June 2, 2009, when investigators finally got a phone call that led them to a friend of Brown's, who told them he was the driver who had hit Pendleton, investigators said.
The Bike East Bay put up a "ghost bike" at the site to remind people that Pendleton's killer was still out there. After the bike was stolen twice, Denise Pendleton and her sons camped out at the site overnight to see if the person stealing the bike was the driver who killed Pendleton.
Full story on KTVU here
12/12/2011 From the City Manager's report -
San Francisco Bay Trail Connection, Castro Street to Point Molate Community Meeting
The City of Richmond's Engineering Services Department hosted a successful community meeting on the evening of December 1st to inform community members about the planned San Francisco Bay Trail Connection from Castro Street to Point Molate, and to gather public input on trail alternatives. The meeting was attended by approximately 45 people, including City Councilmember Tom Butt, District Representative Nathan Rapp from the Office of State Senator Loni Hancock, and representatives from the Association of Bay Area Governments' (ABAG) Bay Trail, Richmond Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee (RBPAC), Trails for Richmond Action Committee (TRAC), and Chevron. A presentation on the selection process for the recommended trail alternative was given by Questa Engineering Corporation of Richmond. The recommended trail alternative received broad support from members of the community, in addition to representatives from ABAG, RBPAC, and TRAC, with many in attendance posing excellent questions and commentary. The presentation slides can be found online at
http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentView.aspx?DID=8055
.
Staff is planning to present the Draft Architecture and Engineering Report on the planned trail to the
Richmond Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee
and the city's Design Review Board. The Final Architectural and Engineering Report will be presented to the City Council during the early part of 2012. Upon city approval, the project will move into the environmental review and final design phase through the Caltrans approval process. Staff will pursue federal and state funding sources to cover an anticipated cost of $15 to $20 million.
The planned trail connection will provide safe, convenient, and inviting access for bicyclists and pedestrians to the Point San Pablo Peninsula and the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge by closing a gap in the Bay Trail from Castro Street in Point Richmond to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge Toll Plaza. The project would correct an access deficiency in the state transportation system, and facilitate zero-emissions commuting to and from the Point San Pablo Peninsula, and eventually across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. The project would also enhance water-oriented recreational opportunities for residents and visitors by providing bicycle and pedestrian access to the bay shoreline along the Point San Pablo Peninsula. The project would complement land use development throughout the Point San Pablo Peninsula by providing low-cost commute alternatives, and by connecting the peninsula with City of Richmond greenways, parks, and shoreline developments.
12/02/2011 Tom Butt e-forum "Caltrans Should Help With Bay Trail Connection" and reporter Hannah Dreier "
Richmond moving ahead with missing link of Bay Trail
"
Click
here
7/14/2011 East Bay News Group, Bicyclist Dies in Crash at Pt. Pinole Click
here
to read
6/2/2011 Julia Landau:
As bikes get repaired, Richmond rolls out fixes for city
City and county health workers joined with community activists and organizers around this theme: Richmond's mission begins with something as simple as more bicycles.
On the same day the ballyhooed Amgen Tour of California race got rolling before thousands of spectators in Livermore, a much smaller and quieter bicycling event headed out of Civic Center Plaza in Richmond.
In fact, quiet was the whole point of the local ride on Wednesday.
The group ride in Richmond was part of the International Ride of Silence in remembrance of cyclists killed or injured while riding.
A group of riders that included members of the city's Bicycle-Pedestrian Committee and Craig Murray of the city Redevelopment Agency tied on arm bands (black for those killed, red for those injured) before they set out from the plaza for their first stop on San Pablo Avenue at the start of the Richmond Greenway.
The greenway is a designated cycling and walking route that led the riders to Carlson Boulevard, where they were joined by more riders, including Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who spoke about recent bicycling deaths in Richmond.
Those included Laura Casey, struck in an unsolved 2008 vehicle hit-and-run near where the mayor was speaking and Dan Weinstein, struck and killed in 2006 on a designated bicycle route on the shoulder of Interstate 580 near the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge tollbooth.
More numerous and less publicized are riders who have been injure
d.
Bill Pinkham, a participant in the Richmond ride, described how he was "doomed" and thrown off his bike as he passed an inattentive Advertisement motorist on Carlson Boulevard in an incident 10 years ago that left him with four broken ribs. Two months after that incident Pinkham, who is a board member of the Bike East Bay and the Contra Costa Bike Committee, was struck by a car whose driver admitted he had been drinking.
The riders continued along the greenway to their ultimate destination at the farmers market in Point Richmond.
While it is a day of remembrance, the day is also important to "raise awareness about bikes" and the importance of motorists and cyclists alike sharing the road, said Murray, a development project manager for the Redevelopment Agency who described himself as a "fair weather" bicyclist.
Pinkham said the Bike East Bay offers free bicycling safety workshops, with details available under the "Safety" link at bikeeastbay.org.
This was the first time Richmond has participated in the 8-year-old Ride of Silence and organizers plan to be back next year with a larger turnout.
May 28, 2010 Richmond City Manager Bill Lindsay recognizes Richmond BPAC for our participation in Bike to Work Day 2010.
Read the City Manager's Report
1/19/2010 Richmond City Council unanimously adopts a key Bike Plan resolution!
I-10. ADOPT a resolution accepting $100,000 in Transportation Development Act
Article 3 funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission for the
purpose of preparing a comprehensive Bicycle Master Plan, and APPROVE a
contract with Fehr & Peers Transportation Consultants to prepare said Bicycle
Master Plan in an amount not to exceed $75,290 - Planning and Building
Services Department (Richard Mitchell 620-6706).
Winter 2010,
Safe Pedestrians and a Walkable America
VOL. 49
Interesting info about peds and bikes. The first line says that pedestrians represent 11% of all traffic fatalities -- in California it's
20%!
Read more
The upbeat
2010 New Year Repor
t for the San Francisco Bay Trail in Richmond prepared by TRAC, the Trails for Richmond Action Committee. See the
Richmond Bay Trail Calendar
on TRAC's award-winning website.
Get out and enjoy the San Francisco Bay Trail in Richmond during 2010!
01/05/2010
by Roman Gokhman
Woman on bicycle critically injured in Richmond hit-and-run
RICHMOND -- A bicyclist was seriously injured after a presumed hit-and-run this evening, Richmond police said.
The collision occurred sometime before 7:45 p.m. on San Pablo Avenue between Robert Miller and Hilltop drives, Contra Costa Fire District dispatchers said.
The 52-year-old female bicyclist was traveling north in the southbound shoulder on San Pablo Avenue when she was likely clipped by the side-view mirror of a passing car, police Lt. Mike Gormley said.
Pieces of a mirror were found at the collision site. However, the victim told officers she was not sure whether she was struck by a vehicle, Gormley said.
That stretch of road has no nearby homes or businesses and is not lit at night, he said.
A helicopter landed at Hilltop Mall and took the bicyclist to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek.
Read
08/21/09 Tom
Butt
E-forum
Commentary
Richmond businesses have 120 days to enroll in a compulsory program which provides financial incentive for to commute via public transportation, vanpool, or bicycle.
Read
4/28/2009
Richmond City Council proclaims May, 2009 as
a month to recognize the benefits
of bicycling and to recognize bicycling promotional activities
such as the Team
Bike Challenge and May 14, 2009, as Bike-to-Work Day
Click
for archived agenda
2/2/09
No
Bay Trail money in State Lease to Chevron
1/29/09
"Chevron
Bay Trail access - Dead... I feel numb with grief."
-Robert
Raburn, Bike East Bay
Read
more
1/29/09 Richmond with support from a broad
coalition is seeking as mitigation that Chevron help
fund construction to close the Bay Trail gap between
Point Richmond and Point Molate.
The deadly Bay Trail gap
1/20/09
Application
withdrawn for a Kohl's Dep't Store at Pt. Isabel
1/10/09
Greenway
News Flash: Our city purchased the old Adachi property,
saving it from development and reserving it for the
Richmond Greenway. It's
on the
purple strip on the right side of the
Greenway
map.
"Carlson
Boulevard is a route that should have bike lanes according
to the Contra Costa Bicycle Pedestrian Plan. Instead, Laura
Casey lost her life."
-
Robert Raburn, Executive
Director, EBBC
12/28/2008 Richmond woman killed in double
hit-and-run by Karl Fischer West County Times
"A Richmond woman was killed Saturday evening after
being knocked off her bike by one car and then dragged
down the street by another. Both drivers fled the scene.
Laura Casey, 49, was riding her bike southbound on Carlson
Boulevard, just north of Ohio Avenue, around 6 p.m. when
she was rear-ended by a white, four-door sedan, said Richmond
police Officer Ramon Middleton. She fell off the bike,
into the left-hand southbound lane, where witnesses said
she screamed for help for about 30 seconds.
A second southbound car then hit Casey, dragging her 25
feet. Police did not have a description of that vehicle.
Anyone with information is asked to call Middleton at 510-621-1583.
Staff writer Matt Krupnick contributed to this story."
The
final draft of the Richmond General Plan transportation
(i.e."Circulation") element is nearing completion
(still!) with scant attention to bicyclists. Demand that
a Richmond Comprehensive Bicycle Pedestrian Plan be prepared
for inclusion in the general plan!
E-mail
our local lawmakers!!
Click
here
for the7/28/2008
Update to the Contra Costa
Countywide Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan - Issues & Options
Report.
Click
here
to review maps of existing and planned west
county ("WCCTAC") bicycle facilities Note,
this map doesn't include the Richmond Greenway and maybe
isn't quite up to snuff from the RBPAC perspective. Anyway-
take it for what it is.
Click
here
to view the 98 million $$ plans for the I-80
/ San Pablo Dam Road Interchange Improvements Project
4/15/08:
Marin
Independent Journa Editorial: Bicycle access
on bridge makes sense
Read
the article
New
Racks Installed in Central Richmond 1/26/08
The Richmond Redevelopment Agency has installed Richmond's new
bike racks in the west Macdonald Avenue street reconstruction
area next to the bus stop at Marina Way South across from BART.
Note that these racks are not surface mounted but poured in place
into the concrete sidewalk. In addition, the racks have two points
of connection in an inverted "U" rather than the
old tire twister or ribbon types of racks.
The original design was an inverted "V" with tubular
metal, but after consulting with RBPAC member and EBBC board
member Bill Pinkham, the agency instead chose a vendor which
provided metal that is not tubular but square.
This rack format will deter thieves who attack bike racks with
a pipe cutter tool designed to quickly spin around and cut round
metal.
5/25/2013 "Why I Joined 'The Ride of Silence' - A Cyclists Story" Click
2013 Richmond Ride of Silence featured on the frontpage. Click
5/17/2012
5/16/2012
5/16/2012
5/16/2012
May 20, 2010
12/29/2008
Richmond
police still seek witnesses in fatal hit-and-run crash
New
Racks Installed in Central Richmond 1/26/08
