Year In Review From the Gilroy BPAC

The beautiful thing about living in Gilroy, California is that we can ride our bikes 365 days a year.  Even in the middle of December as I’m writing this in my kitchen, the sun decided to take over the sky with a perfect riding temperature of 68 degrees.  I took advantage of this and rode a 40 mile loop up over Mt Madonna, where the fresh smell of the trees soaking in the fog overcomes my senses.  Riding back down SR 152/Hecker Pass all the sounds of the city disappear as I’m cutting through the wind.  I’m finally starting to see some of our advocacy work pay off as I pass Burchell Rd heading to Santa Teresa Blvd.  The shoulders are getting cleared back to allow a safe 3 ft of passing by vehicles, and the historic deodar cedar trees are getting trimmed by Caltrans.  My stomach is rumbling for some fresh baked Sweet Sicily cookies and espresso.  As I lock my bike up Hecker Pass Plaza, I can already smell the authentic cookies that I am about to devour.  I begin to think about the successes that the Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (Gilroy BPAC) had in 2019 while riding back down 3rd St.  It’s time for another year in review of what we have been up to.

As with any dynamic community engagement plan you need to be ready to interact on social media, and that doesn’t mean you are trying to put out multiple fires at once.  Community engagement is not something that you just pre-plan with cookie cutter statements.  It’s ever evolving and you need to be aware of the current situations 24/7 and not just business hours.  As I was reading through posts on Next Door, I found someone looking to give a BMX bike to a kid in need.  I quickly reached out and told them I could help.  We have developed relationships with many schools and organizations.  I contacted Ascencion Solorsano Middle School Counselors and they found a student who struggled with transportation to school and a bike was the perfect solution. The donor provided a bike lock, tubes, and a note that mentioned if at any point in his life he is in the position to help someone, he pays it forward.

Gilroy is a Complete Streets City by resolution and we successfully advocated for bike lanes, green bike lanes, pedestrian enhancements, and more along SR 152/1st St.  When Monterey Rd was repaved from 1st-8th St we advocated for the bike route that you see.  Gilroy Public Works added 6 miles of bike infrastructure in 2019. Each year we focus on achieving a higher score with Santa Clara County’s Healthy Cities initiative.  In 2019 we achieved the Bicycle Friendly Community Award and drafted Gilroy’s first Access to Water Policy.  This means that when you go to a public facility there is access to water, and this supports a healthy community.

We spearheaded the formation of Gilroy’s Safe Routes to School Task Force, along with Santa Clara County Public Health and National Safe Routes Partnership.  We meet quarterly at GUSD District Office with members of GUSD Admin, School Board, City Engineering, Gilroy Police, Public Health, and our Commission.  Thank you, City Council, for approving the Citywide Sidewalk Survey in the last budget cycle.  We have remained focused on creating Gilroy as a walkable community and we will be applying for a walk friendly designation in 2020.  Commissioner Patrick Flautt is currently seeking residents to sit on our new Pedestrian Safety Sub-Committee.

Several items on our 2019 work plan have been approved and are coming to City Council in 2020.  We recommended approval of the Back-In-Angle parking pilot program and it will be presented to City Council the 1st quarter in 2020.  This is the only type of angled parking we recommend. It's the safest for all users of the road.  We will be working on a test section for this style of parking on Eigleberry St this Summer for possible future use around the City and in the Downtown.  We do not support or recommend parallel parking on any street for safety of motorists, pedestrians, and bicyclist.  It's a highly dangerous maneuver to reverse out blindly into a traffic lane.  The citywide E-Scooter/E-Bike policy framework and permit process will take place through a Request For Proposal (RFP) process in the 1st quarter of 2020 and we are planning to have an operator in place by the 3rd quarter of 2020.  Measure B Education & Encouragement should start to be noticed citywide after the mid-year budget review takes place.   One plan that I want to highlight is the Community Engagement Plan.  The Gilroy BPAC already does this throughout the year and now get invites to participate with many Community Based Organization’s (CBO) events.  We need supplies to help us look official.   We currently use our own pop up tent and tables.  Community Engagement is what we do best and doesn’t cost much each time, we’d like a Gilroy BPAC pop up tent with barriers for the lines we get when providing helmet fittings and a table linen to help us stand out.  That way everyone will know what we are doing.  It will act as advertisement for Walk/Bike Gilroy.  A good thought out E&E plan will enhance current recreational tourism and economic development in Gilroy.  We will continue to work with Chamber of Commerce, Visit Gilroy, and GDBA.  Bike Gilroy/Walk Gilroy will align with their strategies as well.

Check out the Bike Gilroy on the Bibs

We will continue to move Gilroy forward in 2020 with the opening of the first BMX dirt pump track at Christmas Hill Park, the introduction of a strong Bike Parking Ordinance, advocating for the development of the Hillside Adventure Park behind Gilroy Gardens, and continue to work with Gilroy’s amazing organizations.  We are actively embracing, advancing ideas, and projects that promote the concept of free-range people in the City of Gilroy.  We advocate for building and planning that considers future generations as well as current residents who don’t own cars.  Advancing mobility options reflects what we are teaching the youth in our community through Safe Routes to School and why we are nationally recognized as a Bicycle Friendly Community from the League of American Bicyclists, as well as recognized by the World Health Organization as an Age-Friendly Community.  #GilroyBPAC

Measure B (Education & Encouragement for Bike/Ped)

By now Santa Clara County’s Measure B Education & Encouragement (E&E) funding should not be a surprise to anyone that’s reading this blog.  These funds are meant to cover activities and the development and distribution of materials that are designed and intended to satisfy the following goals.  Educate, and/or encourage safe walking or bicycling for residents or visitors of every age and ability; communicate to residents and visitors the benefits of walking and bicycling; and communicate to school children, residents, and visitors the rights and responsibilities of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists.  When I was appointed to the Gilroy Bicycle Pedestrian Commission (#GilroyBPAC) in 2017, the measure had just passed.  It quickly was challenged in the courts and the sales tax collected was held in escrow.  

The challenge was not successful and VTA’s Board of Directors earlier this year approved the budget for fiscal years 18/19/20/21.  Each city by now knows the exact amount of funding they can receive each year.  Both the funding agreements and template needed by the cities have been distributed to staff.  The template is then submitted for approval to the VTA and contains the Project Activities Description, Project Goals, and Proposed Evaluation Metrics.  Once approved you are ready to start your programs.  The funding to each City is based on population and the projection of sales tax.  The VTA Board sets it during their budget process.  It’s a use it or lose it funding program.  Sales tax can fluctuate as well.  What’s clear is the amount of funding approved for fiscal years 18/19/20/21.  I am going to share the experience that I have had in Gilroy and how we have chosen to implement the program.  

During our 2017 Gilroy BPAC Strategic Planning session we decided to focus on Safe Routes To School.  County Public Health was already in Gilroy working off a grant for our schools.  Measure B E&E quickly became a hot topic and the approximate funding of $32,000 annually was reported by Staff to us.  A dedicated funding source to continue the momentum created by our existing Safe Routes To School (SRTS) program was exciting and gets us on the path of sustainability.  We then reported to City Council at our annual presentation about the opportunity.  We continued to watch over the court challenge and waiting for the opportunity to hit the ground running when the time is right.  

At our June 2019 Gilroy BPAC meeting we had a presentation from Lauren Ledbetter, VTA.    Fiscal years 18/19/20/21 have been approved by the VTA Board earlier this year and are available for Gilroy.  We are getting $35,648/year and that gives us $142,592 available today to spend/plan on education & encouragement.  It’s important to get this program into the mid-year budget cycle, because it’s a use it or lose it program.  You need to provide written explanation to carry over funds over three years from a fiscal year.  We are currently in FY 20.  This started FY 18.  June 30, 2020 will be end of three year for FY 18.  I feel that we can do a great job sustaining the momentum we have while utilizing the savings we have built up from past fiscal years in Measure B.  Gilroy City Council approved the funding agreement with VTA in August 2019.  

We decided to keep Measure B E&E on our monthly agenda, now was the time to develop the programs.  For our September meeting our Gilroy BPAC drafted the first general work plan for Measure B E&E.  It was a broad stroke and we tried to cover everything our City has engaged in.  Our Gilroy BPAC drafts all of our documents ourselves and we don’t utilize staff time for any of them.  I contacted VTA with the approved work plan and asked if it needs to go into more specific details, and I was then told a template will be used for formal submission.  VTA also told me that the work plan needed to go deeper and separate into individual work plans.  City Staff reported to us that they had no plans for the funding and needed a “champion” to run the program.  They were at full capacity to manage a program.  After the meeting Vice-Chair Sean Reedy and myself began brainstorming and drafting work plans.  We always had in mind that while we wanted them to be Gilroy specific, they are written up to be used across the County for any city.  In talking with other BPAC’s and city’s we know, we quickly realized that no plans were being drafted.  We have the ability as BPAC’s to be the forward thinkers and plan.  Sometimes that’s not possible for City Staff.  The have to deal with what’s in hand at the moment.  Everyone was waiting around for the “template” before they moved forward.  By the October 2019 meeting we had drafted 6 work plans.  All can be found on our website http://www.cityofgilroy.org/280/Bicycle-Pedestrian-Commission and by searching Gilroy Bike Ped. 

Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Bike to Work Day Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Community Bike/Walks Counts Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Community Engagement Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E General Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Online Media Campaign Work Plan
Gilroy BPAC Measure B E&E Safe Routes to School Work Plan

Before we advocated for the work plans to City Council we met with Gilroy’s City Administrator and Director of Finance.  The City Administrator stated that since this is a program for the next 30 years, in order to sustain it, it needs to be entered into the upcoming Fiscal Year 2020 (FY20) Mid-Year Budget as an amendment.  The Finance Director who reviewed the funding agreement and stated that it seemed to look straight forward, and no reason to believe that we shouldn't' be able to expense and then receive the funding back from VTA within 30 days.  This sounds correct to me as well because I believe if VTA were to make this more difficult, then cities probably wouldn't be bothering with the agreement for the amounts we are receiving.  At our December annual presentation to City Council we recapped the year and then focused on advocating for our work plans.  The advocacy has paid off.  This Jan/Feb during the Mid-Year Budget review the program will be introduced and will incorporate the Gilroy BPAC work plans for council review and approval.

So in passing along this information I propose the following questions to you.  Is your City ready to start spending Measure B E&E funds?  Have they signed the funding agreement?  Do they have work plans?  If you don’t know these answers, contact your local BPAC.  I am always available for questions as well.  Zachary.Hilton@cityofgilroy.org #GilroyBPAC @hoseman16