The Bicycle Hubitat

Shop gears up to help cyclists fix own bikes

The Transit Center has the newest branch of the area’s Biking Alliance.

By RYAN HAGEN, Press Enterprise/ SB Sun

 A low-cost bicycle repair shop that shows people how to fix the problem themselves the next time it occurs opened May 9 at the San Bernardino Transit Center.  

Called Bicycle Hubitat, the workshop uses largely donated parts and is run by volunteers, said Mark Friis, as he waited for the day’s first customer.  

Friis is executive director of the Inland Empire Biking Alliance, a nonprofit organization that aims to make biking and walking safer and more accessible, and which runs the service along with Omnitrans and the nonprofit group San Bernardino Generation Now.  

“We supply the tools and show them how to do it themselves,” Friis said. “It’s like the saying: ‘Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, you feed him forever.’ ”  

The day’s first customer was Levi King, 46, of San Bernardino.  

Friis walked him through tightening his brakes and fixing his kickstand.  

“I really appreciate it,” King said, saying he had needed to fix the problem for a while. “I didn’t have the money to do it.”  

The service was free Monday. Going forward, the cost will vary by repair but be low cost, Friis said.  

The “Bike Hubitat” expands on other services the Biking Alliance offers in Loma Linda, Rancho Cucamonga and its flagship, the Redlands Bike BBQ, which started in 2010 and offers bike repair lessons Tuesday through Thursday and Saturday.  

“Our clientele generally is students – college and high school – and homeless people,” Friis said.  

It also will help the large number of Omnitrans riders who use bicycles, said Omnitrans spokeswoman Nicole Ramos.  

“Some of them are dependent on their bikes for transportation, so lowcost, expert advice right here (at the transit center) where they already are should be a huge help,” Ramos said.  

Ramos also asks people to take a selfie with their bike and share it on Twitter or Instagram with the tag #bikehubitatSB to be eligible for prizes.  

The San Bernardino Transit Center location, at 599 W. Rialto Ave., will be open from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday.   

PHOTOS: JOHN VALENZUELA, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER   Mark Friis, executive director of The Inland Empire Biking Alliance, and program drector Nina Mohammed repair a bike during Bicycle Hubitat’s workshop at the San Bernardino Transit Center in San Bernardino on Monday.

Friis looks through his tools. He says clients of the shop are typically high school and college students, though a large number of Omnitrans riders also use bikes.

http://www.pe.com/articles/friis-803202-san-bernardino.html

Next year, you can take train to Coachella, Stagecoach festivals

From the Press-Enterprise:

This is really exciting. I still can’t believe there isn’t an Amtrak line to Palm Springs, but if there are enough people who use this for Coachella and Stagecoach, then maybe Amtrak will get serious and build a regular line for the desert cities. This is a growing region and Palm Springs is becoming more popular with younger adults for weekend get-aways.

Maybe those famous words from Field of Dreams will ring true again, “if you build it they will come.”

CHOO-CHELLA: Next year, you can take train to Coachella, Stagecoach festivals

Funds have been approved to underwrite LA-to-Indio ‘demonstration trains’ for both events in 2017 and 2018.

Transit and air quality officials say there will be special train service next year and in 2018 for both the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival to help reduce air pollution from the massive traffic both events bring to the desert. RODRIGO PENA, CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

By RICHARD K. De ATLEY / STAFF WRITER

Published: May 2, 2016

Updated: May 3, 2016 7:07 a.m.

Two of the desert’s most popular, and traffic-jamming, events will get train service for at least the next two years with special event runs from Los Angeles to Indio for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and the Stagecoach Country Music Festival, transportation officials said Monday, May 2.

Don’t sign up yet. Still in the works are ticket prices, the round-trip schedules, and possible stops along the way. Amtrak trains are planned for the 2017 and 2018 versions of the festivals, which are a week apart at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.

A festival train as a way to reduce traffic air pollution has been in discussion during previous years, said Riverside County Traffic Commission Deputy Executive Director John Standiford.

Now there’s money to fund it. The multi-agency member Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Committee has approved $1.2 million to run demonstration trains both years, said Greg Pettis, who is chair of the committee.

Pettis, who is also mayor pro tem of Cathedral City and represents the Coachella Valley on the RCTC, said in an email that the funds will subsidize ticket sales to make the trains possible.

Transportation and air quality officials have linked before for other special-run trains to venues that draw huge crowds and put lots of cars on the highways, such as Dodger and Angel games, the Orange County Fair and Fontana Speedway races.

The just-ended version of the Coachella Festival drew 198,000 people over two three-day weekends, and the Stagecoach Festival drew 75,000 for its single weekend.

For the two festivals “the trains will run from L.A. Union Station to Indio, where folks will either be bused directly to the site or go via taxi or other means to their respective hotels,” Pettis said in an email.

Planners are currently looking at outbound from Los Angeles on Friday and return trains at the end of the weekend’s performances, Sunday night or Monday morning.

“Price has yet to be determined but we want it to be cost effective vs driving, traffic, and time considerations,” Pettis said. He said a three-car train can carry “hundreds” of passengers, but more cars could be arranged, depending on ticket sales.

There is no passenger train platform in Indio, and the Riverside County Traffic Commission will build a temporary one to handle the three weekends of passengers Standiford said. The cost is still under review.

Festival promoter Goldenvoice, the RCTC and others involved will begin discussions in a few weeks to lay out details.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Standiford said. “I know it’s a year away, but it will be very busy between now and then.”

From the Sacramento Bee

Bill would limit communications for California Coastal Commission

http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article67539122.html

 

I really miss going to these meetings and being involved with what is going on with our coasts. I went to many many meetings with the Coastal Commission during the fight to stop the 241 Foothill South Extension. And we won! We Saved Trestles!

It was so sad to see what was happening at the Coastal Commission. And then right after at the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

It’s time to get back out there and keep the fight going!

 

Bicycle Friendly University Program Graduates to New Heights | League of American Bicyclists

My alma mater is still a Silver ranked Bicycle Friendly University!

http://bikeleague.org/content/bicycle-friendly-university-program-graduates-new-heights

Plastic Microbeads

I’m going to take a step away from bikes for a minute here to talk about something else important, plastic microbeads. They’re used in a lot of skincare products to exfoliate. However they end up going down the drain and are too small to get captured at water treatment plants and end up in waterways.

In 2013 the 5 Gyres Institute released their first report about microbeads in the Great Lakes. Since then they have continued their research and education about the dangers the micro-plastics pose to marine ecosystems in both the Great Lakes and our planets oceans.

Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, introduced a bill in California in February 2014 that would have required microbead products to be off shelves by Jan. 1, 2016, but it fell one vote short of passing the state Legislature. Bloom plans to carry a similar bill in 2015.

To read more about plastic microbeads, visit the 5 Gyres Institutes website at http://5gyres.org/how_to_get_involved/campaigns-microbead/