>>> Making bicycle riding safer and easier is a way to keep San Diego a livable region. It gets us out of our cars and where we want to go faster than walking sometimes. Not everyone feels comfortable on a bike. There are reasons why we don't. If we ride a bike, we may not identify with the biking community. The San Diego bike coalition is holding a summit this weekend. Maybe you can be a part of it if you're not already. And Studio we have Michelle ran an educational program manager with the San Diego bike Commission. And on Skype we have -- who is an anthropologist and author of biking the culture and resistance. Thank you for being with us. Michelle tell us how this comes about and tell us what you are focusing on. >> We are focusing on a lot of different issues. We have three days. The first day is a half day women them tran summit. And we focus on trends related issues. The second day as public officials from all over the county and from our a region cup Baja California we will talk about all different issues from infrastructure to electric bikes to building different infrastructure for mountain bikes. It's all E bikes, it's all over the board. >>> One of the focus will be inclusion and transportation justice. You talked about the intersection between bicycles and social justice. >> That is why we invited a Dona who is an expert on this topic we will communicate about the relationship to race, class, gender, gentrification, it all ties in together along with active transportation. >>> Although nio you work on biking making it more inclusive what does that mean to you ? >> and in terms of making biking more inclusive, that is a topic I focused on for more than a decade starting with the dissertation project starting with bicycling and racing class in Los Angeles. Over the years, have been able to engage with bicycle advocates on a number of different levels. What I have learned is that we do not have a lack of diversity in terms of who uses bicycles. In fact, bicycling is a low-cost transportation solution. As you might imagine, that means a lot of people biking on a daily basis are immigrants, people who are looking for access to the American dream, bicycling is a tool for getting there. even though we have that diversity in terms of users, we do not have a diversity in terms of who is advocating for bicycling and who is planning for bicycling, and who is envisioning the future of the sustainable streets. >>> I understand that data suggest the mat desk a vast majority of people you see on bikes are men. It is not just the guys with the expensive equipment, the calf muscles, the real cyclists. It is a much bigger community. How are you reaching out to them? >> The best ways to reach out to people currently biking and are not already engaging with organized bike movements, I think it has to do with expanding outreach and finding ways to serve the needs that are not being served. That gets into how bicycling ties into social and racial justice. This newer concept of mobility justice that people around the country and especially here in Southern California are working on developing. >>> Safety affects all of us, many of the things you're advocating for would affect the whole community. Let's talk a little bit about the basics and the things that would affect more specific communities. >> As we know community south of the 8 and the 594 freeway have infrastructure. But we have been doing at the bicycle coalition is focusing on community south of the 8 and the 594 community to advocate with public officials as well as holding bicycle classes for people. We also communicate directly with people from these communities and teach them how to be bike instructors. It is the working inside their own communities with their communities to help people understand how to ride a bike safely. >>> Al Dona, what kinds of things are barriers to the quality and bicycling? >> I would say buyout -- barriers to quality and bicycling involved looking further up the food chain then typically has been the focus within advocacy efforts. That means usually, the way the bicycle advocacy has been formed in this country, the focus is on end-users. Who is going to be writing and that street. How is that experience of bicycling going. This is obviously an important focus. I don't think that we are going to lose that anytime soon. There is a huge amount of efforts focused on that where there could be expansion is looking at these questions of how are we forming new design strategies or engineering interventions in order to increase bicycle safety? Who is involved in deciding of all the different strategies that are out there, all the different ways around the world that people are being creative with increasing access to bicycling, how is that particular strategy, the big ones in the U.S. are bike share, mission zero, things like that, how are these things chosen and who is in the room. If we start looking there, we can see real opportunities to diversify and bring other perspectives into the planning stage so that when we get to the end user point of things, we will of been implementing strategies that will work for a broader range of people. >>> This event that starts on Thursday will be mobility justice. How are you hoping it will improve mobility justice. >> We hope to be able to bring, because I was able to be a part of the conference, we saw how amazing the organizers were at bringing people of color's voices and women's voices and trans people's voices to the table. We are excited about the large amount of panelist that we are bringing so we can amplify their voices. We are excited to have lots of people in the room who might not necessarily have access to public officials who will be there as well. It is a good opportunity to bring all different types of people who might not normally be able to communicate with each other at the same place at the same time. >>> Great. Thank you for joining us today. >> Great to be a part of the conversation. >> Thank you for inviting us. >>>The bike Summit starts on Thursday runs through Friday and Saturday in Balboa Park.
The intersection of bicycles and social justice will be the focus of San Diego’s inaugural bike summit.
Bike advocates, community members and elected officials will gather Thursday at the Museum of Photographic Arts for three days of workshops and panels on strategies to improve bicycling in every community in the San Diego region. Organized by the San Diego Bike Coalition, the summit begins with a discussion on women in the bicycling community.
Adonia Lugo, an urban anthropologist and author of the book, “Bicycle/Race: Transportation, Culture and Resistance," is the summit’s keynote speaker. Other topics of discussion include: placemaking and open streets, climate action and complete streets, along with cross-border collaboration for bicycling.
Lugo and Michelle Luellen, education program manager with the San Diego County Bike Coalition, discuss equity and inclusion in bicycling Tuesday on Midday Edition.
