By Brian Myers
More than 100 people met up with bicycles outside Ibarra Elementary School in City Heights Aug. 29 for a community ride along Orange Avenue and nearby high-pedestrian areas.
The three-mile bike ride was organized by a collaborative of local transportation advocacy groups, including Environmental Health Coalition and City Heights Community Development Corporation.
“You get to see the community from a different lens,” City Heights resident and City Council District 9 candidate Georgette Gómez said.
The City of San Diego considers the bumpy ride along Orange Avenue a bike route, or a roadway used by motor vehicles and cyclists with special markings indicating shared usage.
City Heights parent Marco Antonio Montiel said the avenue, with five neighboring schools and a public park between 35th Street and 49th Street, is not safe for the many pedestrians, cyclists and skateboarders that use the corridor.
“We need something to slow down the traffic and make it more safe for our kids,” Montiel said.
During a stop at Teralta Park, Bridget Enderle, a project manager with SANDAG, informed the group about a proposed $200 million project that is aimed at making the area safer for non-motorized transit.
“The North Park-Mid-City project runs along Orange Avenue that we just rode, and another one that comes north-south is the SR 15 Central Avenue Bikeway project,” Enderle said. “We’re approaching them as complete streets projects – making streets better for everybody who live there, walk there, catch the bus there (and) ride a bike there.”
The projects will create additional bike lanes and bike routes to the area.
Kyle Nguyen and his son Nathan are from the South Bay and came out to the ride in City Heights.
“It could be better if we had a bike lane, but I’m sure we can share the road with the cars and hopefully people will be aware of it and drive a little bit safer,” Nguyen said.
“The streets are for people, too,” said Monique López, a policy advocate with Environmental Health Coalition. “We need safe streets and we welcome the infrastructure that’s going to be necessary to make our streets safer.”
The collaboration that organized the bike ride invites the community to meet about healthy commuting options as part of the City Heights Built Environment Team. The next meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17 at the Scripps City Heights Wellness Center on Wightman Street.
Ongoing SANDAG bikeway planning and community meetings are open to the public and dates can be found on their webpage.