Tuesday, November 27, 2007



Tonights Sunset from my house. The sunset and palms tree is so Cali.




Down at Hendry's last night.
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Down at Hendry's Beach yesterday Evening and caught a cool reflection of the cliff. It is fun to flip the picture around, it is hard to tell what it is. The tide was about as low as it can go. You could walk halfway out to the swim buoys.
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Friday, November 09, 2007



A letter written in response to KTYD bike vs Car Segment:

Part 1: http://www.keyt.com/news/local/11052931.html
Part 2: http://www.keyt.com/news/local/11131136.html

Take note that the location was a prefect one for the issue at hand but no one expressed it. The spot JP picked, pedestrian cross walks on state street, is symbolic of the state of accommodation for cars , cyclist and pedestrians. Cyclist are by far the least accommodated. Pedestrians have a network of side walks and cross walks for their exclusive use. Drivers have a road system that have controls to manage the traffic and pedestrian crossings. Cyclist are thrown in with the cars but not welcome. They are out casts. Yes there are bike lanes but far from adequate. They mysteriously disappear when they are needed the most. Cars get to park in them (what if I parked my bike in the road or sidewalk, how would that go over?) They cause right hand and left hand turning conflicts with cars. They are often filled with debris, uneven pavement, drainage holes making it more dangerous to ride in them and then confuse drivers that see you riding in "their" lane. Even the designated bike paths are not respected. The water front is really a mutli use path. The pedestrians have a perfectly good sidewalk but choose to walk the path 4 abreast and block cyclist, walk out into it without looking etc. The bike path out to UCSB is probably the best bike path, but I still see people out walking it, running with head phones on, dog walkers ands kids playing. The Cyclists have really not been given a chance to play fairly. That in my opinion is why cyclist bend the laws that are not always appropriate for cyclist. Here is an example. The Milpas bike lane under the 101 underpass heading toward the traffic circle. The light turns red on Milpas for the 101 exit ramp to turn left or right onto Milpas, no cross traffic. There is no reason for a cyclist to have to stop there as they do not cross any traffic lane nor does any traffic cross the bike lane. It is clear. It is as silly as making the pedestrians on the sidewalk stop and wait. There should be a sign that says "Bike lane does not have to stop on red". Unless Cyclist demand that there be better accommodations there will be conflict and "law breakers". It is built into the system. It is interesting to see the drivers and pedestrians just complain and wish the cyclist would behave themselves or go away. Roberts point declaring that Drivers and Pedestrians should do there part in demanding cyclist be accommodated is right on.
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Tuesday, November 06, 2007



A nice wispy sunset from Franceschi Park . Funny thing that I went up there to take pictures and got kicked out because the park closes at sunset.
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