It is great to have the aid station in front of the King Library and to see SJSU's alternative transportation folks from Transportation Solutions have a presence there. However, it would be nice to see them do more than attend a one-day-a-year event and actually do something to enable bicycling as an alternative transportation solution for real commuters. For years I have been asking them to approach the university about getting access for employees to shower facilities, that already exist for students.
Not having access to shower facilities is a real barrier to bicycle commuters.
The problem with HPV's at SJSU
I am not against bicyclists, or bicycling, but I am seriously against very dangerous use of them. I am an avid cyclist. I know that cycling, even done carefully, can result in serious injury or death. I am not against anything that involves a risk, but I am against unnecessary risk. I am against what I feel is a grossly dangerous situation. That is why I have been complaining for years about how bicycles and other human powered vehicles are being used at SJSU. In my opinion, so far the university has done nothing to manage what I feel is a real risk on our campus. More on this topic can be found here.
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
Many of the people who ride bicycles on the sidewalks at SJSU do so in ways that risk serious injury to themselves and others. Cyclists riding with no hands are unable to take evasive action if a pedestrian, cart or disabled person steps into their path. Usually cyclists who ride like this way are not wearing helmets.
This bike position is especially prone to falling. These cyclists, as well as endangering others, risk head injuries that could kill them or leave them permanently disabled.
[My blog about human powered vehicles at SJSU]
[More photos of human powered vehicles on and around SJSU]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
Here are some of the photos I have made recently of bikes locked to the exterior stairwells of SJSU's Clark Hall. These stairwells are used routinely as exits from the classrooms in Clark Hall and would serve as emergency exits from Clark Hall in the event of an evacuation. In addition to the obvious safety issues, I am concerned about the barriers these are for people with disabilities.
I have tried to get University Police to act on this. My understanding from conversations I have had on this is they are waiting for more bike lockers. In my opinion; to put the needs of bicyclists before providing accessible facilities is a form of discrimination directed at people with disabilities. I think we should be striving to provide accessible physical facilities just as we are striving to provide accessible technology.
When I addressed the issue to the Disability Resource Center at SJSU, Lucille Surdi the ADA Compliance Specialist wrote me back:
The ADA Compliance Office has spoken with Chief Barnes regarding your notification to us of the bikes being locked to the exterior stairwells of Clark Hall. The Chief and UPD are working over the past several months with AS Transportation and FDO to address this situation throughout the campus for the entire campus community. Proposals are being developed for more bike racks and more bike cages. This situation is being overseen with coordination from other university departments and is diligently being addressed. UPD is currently enforcing the issue of unsafe bike parking and has impounded many bikes that create a hazard. You are correct, safety is always the primary concern and please do report any direct safety issues to UPD as soon as possible.
I had a previously scheduled appointment next week to discuss this issue in person with them. In the same e-mail Surdi said:
My office had scheduled a meeting with you and I for next week but I do believe that this matter is being appropriately handled and prioritized and there is no need for a meeting. We thank you for bringing this to our attention and we will be monitoring this situation in the coming weeks.
Sounds like bureaucratic double-speak to avoid doing anything to me. In my opinion providing safe emergency exiting of buildings as well as accessible facilities is more important than having people be able to park bikes all over campus. I am a cyclist myself, I rode my bike to work this morning. It amazes me how many abandoned bikes there are in the bike lockers and chained to poles on campus. Perhaps these can be removed if we really need more on campus bike parking.
UPDATE: March 11, 2009
Yesterday University Police Chief Andre Barnes came over and spoke with me and looked at the problem personally. I really appreciate that! He explained to me some of the issues they have been having with dealing with impounding bicycles and enforcing regulations regarding the parking of bicycles on campus. In my opinion this is not about impounding bicycles or creating new demands on scarce resources.
The cyclists I have spoken to who were parked there. seem to have not been aware they were creating a hazard. Perhaps something as simple (and as cheap) as campus foot patrols or CSOs posting notices on bikes informing bike owners that they are blocking fire exits, as well as creating barriers to people with disabilities, could go a long way to mitigating this situation and improve safety as well as accessibility. Maybe if you just ask folks to park elsewhere, they will. This does not have to be expensive.
[Click Here to See More Photos]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
Here is the February 2009 issue of the Black and Blue Bottom, the Almaden Cycle Touring Club newsletter. I layout the newsletter for this club. These are in PDF format:
Yesterday evening while walking to my car, moments after a near miss by one bicyclist I was hit by another. Fortunately I was not injured or knocked down. There were witnesses and I filed a police report (Case #090020.)
Both cyclists were riding at excessive speed, in the dark with no lights.
What is it going to take for this university to deal with this safety problem, somebody getting seriously injured or killed?
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
A recent Mercury News article said, “accusing San Jose Unified School District of falling short on traffic safety, the mother of a sixth-grader struck and killed by a motorist has filed a claim against the district, saying it shares the blame in the death of the youngster who was riding her bike home on the last day of school.”
I have more on this and other information on my blog related to this issue:
San Jose State University has been warned time and time and time again. There are 40,000 people at SJSU who share our paths and sidewalks with skateboarders and cyclists. One wrong step, one slip, one mistake and a tragedy could happen here.
Earlier this year the California State University Employees Union (SEIU Local 2579), which is the union representing most of the university staff employees, escalated the safety grievance regarding the use of non-motorized vehicles on the SJSU campus to the Chancellor's Office. Indications are a hearing of the grievance may be approaching. If the union is unsuccessful at this level it can take the matter to binding arbitration.
[Click here to see related blog]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
I have been a long standing advocate for the safe use non-motorized vehicles on and around SJSU. I have taken this position not because I am an old man standing on my porch yelling at kids running across my lawn. I have taken this position because I have seen far too many people hurt and am aware of the risks involved to both cyclists and pedestrians in an accident. We need to remember that most of the folks we see riding bicycles on our campus also ride them on the streets around our campus. This accident was a block north of SJSU.
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
Tuesday morning I was walking from the bookstore to my office. I came upon a bicyclist and a pedestrian yelling at each other. The pedestrian said, "watch where you are going, you almost hit me!" The cyclist said, "(expletive deleted but it started with F) next time I see you I will hit you!." After the cyclist left I spoke to the pedestrian. He said he was going to file a complaint with the university police department.
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
I rode my bike to work again today, that makes over 100 miles on my bike this week. Today was also a Spare the Air Day and the hottest bike commute I made so far this year. It was a good day to ride.
At the aid station near SJSU I met the mayor. He was riding with a police escort. I wonder if they biked to work that day too? Did they drive to the Mayor's home so they could ride in with him?
[Click Here to See More Photos]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
Just in case you don't know who Gus is, let me tell you. Gus Lease is one of the nicest people you might ever meet and on top of that; he is a university treasure. Gus has been on the faculty at SJSU for 56 years. He sings the national anthem at graduation. Gus was once the chairman of the Music department and he currently teaches Music History in the History department.
He has dedicated his life to SJSU. He has lived much of the history of this university. He remembers and tells stories about our university that are a pleasure to listen to. When he first told me about the skateboarder who almost hit him he said, "if he had hit me going as fast as he was, I think he would have killed me."
Gus parks in the campus disabled parking spaces on the north part of seventh street. Gus wrote:
About two weeks ago when I was parked on 7th street, I got out of my car and was going to the back of the car to get my teaching equipment out of the trunk when a skateboard rider coming down the street almost hit me. Since I have a disability and use a cane to walk, had I been hit, I could have suffered a serious injury. Also, today one of the student bicycle riders along the sidewalk between Clark and the administration building was going extremely fast and had to swerve to avoid hitting me.
I do hope you will relate my concerns to the committee that Skateboarding, and bicycling on Campus is a serious Safety issue for all who are walking on campus.
Gus C Lease
Department of History
May 7, 2008
In a recent Email on the same topic, University Police Chief Andre Barnes said, "I am not in agreement with you that it is a significant safety hazard or a position that I can argue comfortable in favor of changing the current policy."
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
I know during our recent phone call you said you and your officers had not seen or reported much dangerous activity or unsafe practices on the part of operators of non-motorized vehicles including skateboards, bicycles and razors (at SJSU.) At 4:35 pm on May 5 I saw these youths doing acrobatics on the railings of the east side of Clark Hall. I called the UPD dispatcher and the call was logged on my cell phone at 4:35pm. Since it was time for me to go off work, I went back into the building, got ready to go home, took my camera and went out of the building. I had expected to see an officer there since it is maybe 750 feet from there to UPD. Since I saw no officer I started taking pictures. I kept taking pictures. I shot about 25 photos until I finished my roll of film. (Yes, I still shoot film.)
I then walked over to the bike corral and got my bicycle and rode home (circumnavigating SJSU of course.) I never saw any officers and I guess it is no wonder they never saw any dangerous activity or unsafe practices on the part of operators of non-motorized vehicles that day.
[Click here to see more related photographs]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
Discrimination and the bike policy
The photo shown above is of a university employee riding his bicycle as he is exiting a university building. There has been something bothering me, something I couldn't quite put my finger on, that has nothing to do with the safety argument related to president Kassing's new bike policy, the part that extends this benefit, "Bicycles are not permitted in buildings unless in a private office, closet, or enclosure..."
The other day it hit me, like a ton of bricks, I should have been more sensitive to it. Like the rider in the photo above, very few of the folks I have seen keeping bicycles in their offices are minorities. Our highest areas of minority employment are among job classifications that do not have a private office, closet, or enclosure where they can store a bike. Most of the minorities in our bargaining units work in classifications that would not be able to use this benefit. I am concerned that by extending this benefit to classifications that are much more likely to be non-minority, my university may have committed de-facto discrimination.
Article 25.1 of our union contract should be also added to this grievance, the part that says, "The CSU prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, religion, ancestry, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, physical disability, mental disability, veteran status, marital status, pregnancy, medical condition and/or national origin..."
To be able to keep their bike at their work place, in my opinion, that benefit like all benefits have to be given to all employees without prejudice, even unintentional prejudice.
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
More on the safety issue
People chaining their bikes to stairs and fire exits is a relatively common occurance at SJSU. I have several photos of this in my growing photo archive.
I saw the article in today's Spartan Daily. While not accurate in every detail on some things, I think it caught the spirit of the issue.
In the article University Police Department Chief Barnes reportedly said he had not seen or heard about many safety issues linked with non-motorized vehicles that convince him to revisit the policy. According to the Daily; "There hasn't been any factual evidence that we can see that would cause us to change our mind," he said. "I understand that some people would not like to have them riding, but from an enforcement standpoint, based on the numbers and issues we've seen, we don't see any reason why we would change the policy."
I know this may be a misquote, so I will give him the benefit of a doubt. Perhaps you may wish to send him this photo and the link to the others as well. His email is: Andre.Barnes@sjsu.edu
Today was a great day for a bike ride. I rode my bike again today. After riding about eleven miles to SJSU I did not see any reason to ride the extra few hundred feet to my desk. I rode around SJSU on the public streets and parked my bike in one of the many bike corrals around campus and walked to my desk.
[Click here to see more related photographs]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
It is about safety and health and not alternative transportation
In my opinion the recent change, by university president Don Kassing, to adopt a policy that allows the use of skateboards, razors and bicycles in the campus interior has the goal to encourage alternative transportation. This is good, in principle. But, I think this administration has been a bit too quick to decide and has let health and safety take a back seat to lofty goals and "good" principles. The end does not justify the means.
On the morning of Feb. 20, 2008 I was outside of Clark Hall taking pictures in the rain. A skateboarder scooted by and then he slipped and fell in front of me. His skateboard shot across the concrete and hit a pedestrian in the ankle. It was a glancing blow. The pedestrian was not injured. The fact nobody was hurt, this time, is not the point. It could have been more serious. What if the skateboard had hit a pedestrian more squarely? What if the pedestrian had been elderly or disabled. What if the pedestrianhad tripped and been injured? That, in my opinion is what this is about. This is about the assumption of unneeded risk by the university and exposing the campus population to danger for the sake of lofty goals and "good" principles.
For employees, the university is a work place. Employees are entitled by law (and contract) to a safe work environment. Students are entitled to a safe campus. Folks with disabilities are entitled to have a university that is not made inaccessible by dangers, obstacles and trip hazards. Tax payers are entitled to have state agencies not take unnecessary risks and exposure to lawsuit for the sake of pursuing lofty goals and "good" principles.
[Click here to see more related photographs]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
Editorial: On Encouraging Alternative Transportation
We do need to find alternatives to fossil fueled based transportation, but we cannot sacrifice safety in the process. A friend of mine just had a close call today with a bicyclist riding his bike inside of Clark Hall. My friend said, "that was scary."
If the university wants to encourage alternative transportation there are things that can be done, inexpensively like providing shower facilities to faculty and staff who ride their bikes to work.
In the short run, turning the campus into a free-for-all for bicyclists, skateboard riders and people using razors may seem like a cheap way to encourage alternative transportation, but that is not the case. Just wait until the first crash, until the first person gets hurt real bad and or killed and then sues the university. The university cannot plead ignorance. They have been warned. The staff employees union has filed a health and safety grievance and has provided the university with plenty of evidence about the hazardous conditions here. The entire campus is a job site for the people who work here and the university, under labor law, has a legal and a contractual obligation to provide a safe work place.
It is time for the university to stop taking the cheap way out and to get serious about encouraging alternative transportation. No solution that endangers the employees of the university (as well as other campus community members) is acceptable. No union can sit still when the safety of the members it represents is at risk.
[Click here to see more related photographs]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
Were previous bike and skateboard bans result of fatalities?
I have just been told that the original motivation for the previous bicycle policies (PD 89-03 and PD 90-01) and the Chancellor's Office's Coded Memorandum BA 88-06 (which was cited in those policies, but not the new one) was two fatalities on CSU campuses that occurred as the result of bicycle vs. pedestrian collisions in the late 80's. This needs to be investigated to be confirmed or refuted. I have copies of the previous presidential directives regarding the use of bicycles, skateboards and other human powered vehicles. The Chancellor's Office's Coded Memorandum BA 88-06 is mentioned in both of them, but not in president Don Kassing's new policy, Presidential Directive, PD 2007-06.
Questions
Safety First!
The overriding concern of the union is that the university is a workplace and the university has the responsibility inherent of all employers to provide safe working conditions. The legal and contractual responsibility of the university to provide safe working conditions overrides all other concerns in this matter.
References:
[Click here to see more related photographs]
Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, Campus Life, bicycling, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca
