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Started Nov. 16, 2014
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Recently Posted Articles
- Prose and Cons of new 2016 Bicycle Transportation Plan
- Raised Bicycle Lanes
- A Bicycle Ride on the Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View
- Cupertino is Mostly about Education
- Incentivizing Employees to Live Close to Work and Reduce Traffic
- Smart Growth for our Communities
- The Deadly Third Rail of Growth
- Free Public Transportation for Cupetino
- Union Pacific Railroad Trail Update
- Mitigating traffic around Tri-School Area
- A Community Mall that Reduces Traffic the Larger it Grows – Thinking Outside the Box
- A Building Moratorium between Developments to Control Growth
- Vallco – Housing for Apple 2 Employees to Mitigate Traffic
- What We Can All Do to Help Save Our Planet
- Need for More Bicycle Trails
Category Archives: Article
A Bicycle Ride on the Stevens Creek Trail in Mountain View
Last week I had the opportunity to ride my bicycle on the Stevens Creek Train in Mountain View… Overall the trail was about 5 mile long and terminated at Shoreline where it intersected the Bay Trail, another very nice bicycle trail worth exploring later… The entire trail is paved and well maintained with a lot of wildlife, trees, and vegetation along the way. There are only a few spots where Steven Creek itself is visible until you approach the bay near Shoreline. It has the feel of being close to nature in spite of traffic noise, much nicer than the much shorter way overdeveloped Stevens Creek Trail in Cupertino. Continue reading
Posted in Article, Considerations, Examples
Tagged bicycle trails, bridges, crossed over freeways, hwy 101, hwy 85, mountain view, shorline, Stevens Creek Trail
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Smart Growth for our Communities
I have been involve in the Smart Growth movement for about one and a half years now and have read numerous articles and subscribe to a news letter. Smart Growth isn’t about one way of doing things. It has its … Continue reading
Posted in Article, Examples, Growth, Ideas, Smart Growth
Tagged Apple Campus 2, community, efficient, environment, impact, land use, movement, natural habitat, philosophy, smart planning, sustainability, Vallco
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The Deadly Third Rail of Growth
At the heart of any community of people is housing, a place where people live and feel a sense of home and belonging, a comfortable and familiar place to rest and be oneself. But jobs are ultimately the reason people move from location to location in order to secure their livelihoods. Some may claim that they moved to a specific location for other reason such as schools or more affordable houses but in essence it is the prospects of a good job that bring them to the area… Continue reading
Posted in Article, Considerations
Tagged Apple, city council, congestion, Growth, Housing, imbalance, income, jobs, priorities, sustainable, tax revenues, third rail, Traffic
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Union Pacific Railroad Trail Update
In November of 2014 I wrote a short blog post titled Union Pacific Railroad Trail for Bicycling and Walking. This infrequently used railroad track owned by the Union Pacific Railroad runs a considerable distance through Cupertino. The railroad runs to the Lehigh Cement Plant just outside Cupertino where about once a day it bring in petroleum coke to use as fuel for its huge rotary furnace. An unofficial trail called the Union Pacific Trail runs from Prospect Road and Stelling Road to the South next to Saratoga 3.4 miles to North Foothill Blvd. to the North ending at the Lehigh Cement Plant. Continue reading
Posted in Article, Bicycle, Considerations
Tagged Bicycle trail, Cupertino, Joe's Trail, Lehigh Cement Plant, PG&E, railroad tracks, Saratoga, Union Pacific, water district, water pipe
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What We Can All Do to Help Save Our Planet
The primary culprit of Climate Change is excessive Climate Change (CO2) being released into the atmosphere from the insatiable appetite of Our Affluent Lifestyle. There is almost no part of our lives that does not impact Climate Change from the goods we consume to the conveniences we treasure. So there are plenty of opportunities for each of us to mitigate Our Individual impact. It isn’t only about government regulating carbon emissions. It is also about each of us doing our part to reduce the use of energy that is responsible for greenhouse gas emissions… Continue reading
My Motives for Establishing this Blog
Some might get the wrong impressions that I want to improve our bicycle lanes to suit my purpose. After all aren’t I a frequent biker who simply wants our streets to be safer and easier to bike so I can more easily get around town? First let me start by saying that I am a very casual cyclist. On average I bicycle 1-3 times a week for about 30 min. each time primarily for exercise. Yes I’d love to bicycle around town a lot more but the amount of time and effort I am putting into popularizing biking simple is not worth the effort to simply make biking more available for myself. Continue reading
The Reason Bicycles Have No Powerful Advocates
I’ve said in some of my blog posts how energy-efficient, low-cost, non-polluting, very safe, and mechanically simple bicycles fundamentally are. Bicycles are the most Efficient means of Transportation devised by man. They are the panacea for local and intermediate commuting. … Continue reading
Posted in Article, Considerations
Tagged Bicycle, corporate profits, efficient, keeping jobs, low cost, mechanically simple, no polluting, too simple
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Future Cupertino Traffic Projections
[Note: this article has a followup that include data from the latest General Plan numbers for anticipated growth.] Here are some census data from 1990 to 2010 of adults 18 years and older: 1990: 31,533; 2000: 37,083; 2010: 42,227 When … Continue reading
A Recent Post I made to Nextdoor About Bicycles and Cars
The following was a comment I posted on Nextdoor (you must be a member and log in) regarding the city wasting money on signs for bicycle going the wrong direction and the new green bike lanes. I am a 71 … Continue reading
Smart Growth Is Sustainable Growth
Smart Growth as defined by Wikipedia “is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood schools, complete streets, and mixed-use … Continue reading
My Bucket List for Biking and Walking in Cupertino
Here are the things I how to see, do, and experience in Cupertino: Convince the City that Bicycles are a major part of the solution of traffic mitigation and for Sustainable Growth for the City. This is the center theme … Continue reading
Heated Conflict between City Government and Residents
There have recently been a number of contentious and heated discussions between Cupertino residents and City Council involving proposed commercial developments in the General Plan Amendment. The city is concerned that more than 30% of the its sales tax revenues … Continue reading
A City without a Mission
I feel that Cupertino is like a child trying by trial and error to finds its way. It is a city without a Mission, Purpose or Vision. There is no theme by which to guide the city towards the future. … Continue reading
Posted in Article, Considerations, Ideas
Tagged no guiding principles, no vision, Smart Growth, sustainable, vision, what is best for the community
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Smart Growth and the Role of Bicycles
I’ve been recently doing some internet research and giving much thought into SMART GROWTH. Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_growth presents a great discussion about it. It is a sustainable solution to urban development that counters the negative impact of car-centric urban sprawl. It addresses … Continue reading
Posted in Article, Considerations
Tagged bicycle lanes, car-centric, city growth, Cupertino, dependance upon cars, Housing, jobs, Smart Growth, urban sprawl
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What I Wished the City Would Do – Bicycle Paths
Background: Cupertino is a rather medium small city in the San Francisco Bay Area with a population of about 50,000. It is the home to Apple the most profitable company in the world. The city government has a healthy general … Continue reading
Posted in Article, Considerations, Ideas
Tagged bicycle lanes, Class 4 protected bicycle lanes, safely use
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Perhaps it is Time for a Change
Since its popularity when Henry Ford made the car affordable to most American the nation has rapidly grown and the vast migration to the West was made far easier as traveling long distances became dramatically easier. Urbanization and owning a … Continue reading
What are Class IV Cycle Tracks (protected bicycle lanes)?
Until very recently a very important bicycle lane design, one specifically intended to make bicycling safe from cars, did not legally exists. Some of the leaders in safe bicycle lane designs went ahead and copied designs from Europe and other … Continue reading
