Walking & Biking
News & Ideas
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Happy Summer!
We hope everyone is enjoying their summer, and getting out for some great hikes and rides! This issue has some useful advice for everyone who likes to walk or hike to make sure that you are getting your best stride. Though hikes in our local parks can feel close to nature, consider an evening walk right in your neighborhood. It can be refreshing as the temperature cools and likely there will be fewer people nearby to stay safely distanced from. (Don't forget safety: wear bright clothing at dusk and cross at corners.) We also highlight the new student designed banners for active transportation, and have another great hike review for inspiration.
Read on for all this plus our local news!
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Vote Today for SVBC Bicycling Person of the Year!
Jennifer Shearin, one of our very own WBC Board members, has been nominated by a well-known regional bike advocate to be the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition’s Bicycling Person of the Year! It's a great recognition for Jennifer and Walk Bike Cupertino to be considered for this award and we'd love for her to win as a great recognition for our community's hard work in advocating for the Regnart Creek trail.
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Cupertino City Study Confirms Regnart Trail will help with Library and Civic Center Parking
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The last Cupertino City Council meeting on July 7 included a review of a parking study for the Cupertino branch of the Santa Clara Public Library. Difficulty finding parking at the civic center has been an ongoing complaint of library patrons as well as City Hall and Community Hall users.
The study by
Kimley-Horn
, a subconsultant to
Pakpour Consulting Group
, identified options and provided recommendations to improve parking utilization. Currently, the civic center has a deficit of 25 spaces, which will balloon to over 200 if the proposed library expansion is built. It is highly necessary at this time and for future construction to not only increase parking spots available, but to implement strategies to decrease the total number of needed parking spots.
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City Staff confirmed that the Regnart Trail (which will connect to the McClellan lanes) will increase Civic Center parking supply by 10 spaces when completed.
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The City Staff also rejected several ideas for recommendation, including
Read more...
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Study Recommendations to ease parking deficit
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Increase parking supply:
- Convert a space from car to motorcycle parking on Rodrigues
- Move the 4-minute bookdrop stalls to Torre Ave
Decrease demand for parking:
- Add secure bike parking at City Hall
- Encourage telecommuting
- Designate carpool spaces
- Continue "guaranteed ride home" program
- Education program to encourage walking/biking to library by patrons
- Shuttle bus to library from schools
- Parking cash-out ($5/day) for employees
- Stipends for employees for biking, walking, carpooling & public transit
- Restrict all parking to 2 hours
Managed Parking:
- Add valet parking for large events
For costs and timing associated for each recommendation, click below for the full staff report.
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Click on map for larger view
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- Cupertino's Acting Sustainability Manager Gilee Corral gave a Climate Action Report for the city on June 20. It showed for 2017--the most recent year of data available--that only 2% of all Cupertino employees used active transportation to get to work (9% carpooled and 1% were working from home at that time). See the full report here.
- On June 17, the Cupertino Bicycle Pedestrian Commission reviewed the plans for Phase 2 of the McClellan Road Class IV (protected) bike lanes. Phase 2 is from Stelling to Torre, including along Pacifica to connect with the Regnart Trail. See key slides here.
For more news, click
here
.
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Simple Tricks to Help You Walk Better
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Everyone is walking more these days and that’s great. Walking has been shown to boost your health, your mood, and even your creativity. Go out your front door at 6pm and most days you will see many of your neighbors enjoying the pleasures of walking around the neighborhood and getting some easy, quick exercise and fresh air. But did you know that most of us could improve how we walk to use our muscles better and protect ourselves from injury? Read on for some simple tricks to walk better.
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Sports scientist Joanna Hall has dedicated her career to coaching people in how to walk the way their bodies were designed to, which no longer comes easily in this sedentary era.
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“I approach this as you would do if you wanted to get better at tennis,” she says. She developed her
Walk Active
programme to enable people to ease their aches and pains as they exercise, rather than exacerbate them. Lifestyle, ageing and injuries mean that when we put one foot in front of the other, the way we use our muscles may be, she says, “suboptimal for improving our posture, or reducing joint strain and getting the most out of walking”.
Read more...
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Join WBC and your friends on Strava!
Track your walking and biking activity
and see what others in the club are doing
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Student designs highlight active transportation
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Have you seen the beautiful new banners along Stevens Creek and near City Center? They are designed by our very own Cupertino students to advertise Cupertino Safe Routes to School! These banners are a great way of bringing community art to public spaces to encourage and promote alternative transportation use by students throughout the City.
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I hope my banner will inspire our community to make a cleaner, safer Cupertino."
~ Indira Abhyanker
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Cupertino SR2S held the contest in late 2019 to encourage students from our local high schools of Monta Vista, Cupertino and Homestead to think about how they would illustrate through public art the importance of active transportation. After review of all the entries by our Safe Routes to School Coordinator Cherie Walkowiak and Assistant Matt Schroeder, six banner designs were chosen. Three of the winning designs were from
read more...
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Trail Review - Zinfandel Trail
By Seema Lindskog, WBC Board Member
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When the hot sun is beating down mercilessly, a cool mostly-shaded trail with some ups and downs for exercise, spectacular views, and a bubbling creek at the start and end is just what you need. The Zinfandel trail is 4 miles out and back from Cooley Picnic Area to Picchetti Winery and back. It’s an easy and beautiful trail suitable for both adults and kids, and you usually won’t encounter too many people on it. Keep this hike to yourself!
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The Cooley Picnic Area is roped off right now due to COVID-19, so you’ll need to park across the road in the Canyon Picnic Area parking lot, then walk the short 1min to get to the Cooley Picnic Area. Cross the picnic area to get to the trailhead at the far end, past all the picnic tables. You will see the bubbling creek to your right as you start on the trail.
Read more...
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The dried up pond is a great stopping point
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The bridge to Picchetti winery
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Send us a review of a walk, hike, run, or ride!
This trail review is the third in a series of narratives of personal hikes, bike rides, runs, or walks taken in our local area
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If you'd like to write a review, Walk-Bike Cupertino would love to spotlight it in our newsletter and on our website! Reviews should be 500 words or less, and must include some pictures. All submissions are subject to approval, editing, and can be used by Walk-Bike Cupertino in future publications. Contact us
here
if you'd like to submit one:
info@walkbikecupertino.org
.
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Walk-Bike Cupertino never shares or sells any personal information
.
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Happy Walking and Biking,
Your friends at Walk-Bike Cupertino
Find much more, including maps, safety data, and information on all the city projects at:
walkbikecupertino.org
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