This Is How We Roll in Redondo

There are a lot of things I love about living in Hollywood Riviera, Torrance, and one of the coolest is the turbo boost that gravity provides my bicycle when it comes to launching it downhill from my home towards the beach bike path.

For 17 years now I've been taking advantage of this pedal-free glide down to that beautiful beachside bikeway where I regularly watch dolphins play in the surf as I ride north along the coast. Almost every time I do, I think about how lucky I am to live where I do and get to do this year round.

Back in the 1960s when I was delivering newspapers on my Stingray bike in Westfield, NJ, I didn't realize that I was practicing zero emission, non-polluting transportation. I wasn't worried about my carbon footprint four decades ago.  I also wasn't worried about keeping my cardiovascular system in good shape or my cholesterol numbers down, but all of those things are part of my reality today.

That's why I jumped at the chance in November to help my friend, Todd Dipaola, launch the new South Bay Bicycle Coalition (SBBC). I had a blast working with other great volunteers from throughout the South Bay in helping the new coalition earn Health. That grant money is now going to pay for the first-ever South Bay Master Bike Plan that will link the cities of Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Lawndale, Gardena and Torrance.

There are a lot of people in each of those cities who deserve kudos for this spanking new coalition coming out of nowhere and winning such a significant grant, but it was Redondo Beach and Mayor Mike Gin who stood up and took the lead city role when the time came. 

And it was Redondo Beach Councilman Steven Diels, an avid, lifelong bicyclist, who personally responded to all of our communications, enthusiastically joined the South Bay Bicycle Coalition, actively participated in the process, pushed for Redondo to be the lead city and was as excited as the rest of us when the grant was announced.

It should really come as no surprise that Redondo Beach was so instrumental in making this happen because the city has been so bicycle friendly and so ahead of the pack for so long. Redondo already has a master bike plan and has made major strides in implementing it. No South Bay city has more miles of bikeways or dedicated bike lanes and nobody has had them longer.

"The bicycle culture permeates throughout Redondo Beach from the elected officials down to city staff," said Diapola, the chair of the SBBC. "They're a city that knows why this is important, has seen the benefits from it and continues to push forward. As a result they've won millions of dollars in bicycle fundings that other cities haven't even thought to ask for."

So what's this new South Bay Master Bike Plan going to mean for Redondo Beach riders? In a word--connections. Redondo Beach shares borders with Torrance, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Lawndale and Hawthorne, but right now there's no integrated bike routes that connect these cities. The ability to travel safely on a bicycle from one city to the next, to work, to shops, to school or wherever you want to go becomes possible when we take all the  cities' disjointed routes and logically network them together.

That's exactly what's going to happen over the next year, and you've got a say in the process. 

Workshops and public input sessions will be scheduled over the next several months and the SBBC wants to hear from you. Visit our web site to sign up for updates, come to our monthly meetings, become a fan on Facebook and communicate with me here on RedondoBeach.patch.com. I'll be writing on bicycle issues weekly, keeping you up to date and answering your questions.

Till next time, have a great ride!