More Hidden History of the Bicycle in the North State

Construction Workers Ride Bikes in Clear Creek Tunnel
Construction Workers Ride Bikes in Clear Creek Tunnel

Sometimes we come across little tidbits of our the bicycle’s place in the history of the North State that are too good not to share. We recently came across this photo and article from the December 20, 1961 Redding Record-Searchlight:

LEWISTON— It was one of the strangest bicycle rides in the world.

Marvin Higday and Bob Day were clipping along on their lightweight bicycles thousands of feet inside the $36 million Clear Creek tunnel.

Higday and Day were just part of the crews that were winding up the big tunnel job last week. They work for Continental Drilling company, which is drilling test cores from the tunnel’s concrete lining for the U.S. bureau of reclamation.”

The 11-mile long, 17 1/2-foot diameter tunnel would have been quite an interesting bicycle commute, especially without today’s high-lumen bicycle headlights!
from the December 20, 1971 Redding Record-Searchlight

We’re Hiring! Bicycle Valet Lead, Saturdays at the Farmers Market

Are you an energetic person who enjoys bicycling and working with people?

Shasta Living Streets is a successful growing organization seeking an enthusiastic Bike Valet Lead to join our team to provide amenities that will inspire individuals and families to choose to bicycle to events and daily activities.  This is a part-time position,  5-6 hours on Saturday at the Farmers’ Market.

The Bicycle Valet Lead will answer questions and talk with people about opportunities for cycling in our community, about their interests and concerns, and how they can be involved to build a bicycle friendly community.  As a Bike Valet Lead you will provide services and engage people to help build quality of life in Redding and Shasta County through excellence in active living.

We look forward to meeting you.  Thank you for your interest.

Job Description:  LivingStreets_Bike Valet_desc

 

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About the Bicycle Valet Program at the Farmer’s Market

Bike Valet turns community events into bikeable destinations by providing turnkey valet bicycle parking services for event participants who arrive by bicycle. Bike Valet is like a coat check for your bike. The goal of the Bike Valet Program is to make our region a more livable and more prosperous place by enabling more people to choose bicycling for everyday travel.

This year we are partnering with the Shasta Growers Association to provide bicycle valet parking service, free to all Farmers Market patrons, on Saturday at Redding City Hall.

This program helps individuals and entire families feel better equipped and more confident about riding a bike together for everyday travel that will extend to other outings and bike/walk opportunities, for example, when children start school. This service helps people take initial steps to get out and ride, to learn about resources, and to build confidence and comfort for daily active living in their own neighborhoods.

This location and venue provides an opportunity to reach out to families and individuals that we otherwise do not reach. We will gather input and fun photos and share these with our members and the public to help inspire others and build local community support for active lifestyles.

Please review the job description, and send a detailed resume and cover letter explaining how you personally connect with Shasta Living Streets mission and why this position is a good fit for you.

Via Mail

  • Anne Thomas, Executive Director, Shasta Living Streets.   P.O. Box 941, Palo Cedro, CA 96073

Via Email

  • athomas@shastalivingstreets.org

 

Whole Earth Festival, 5k Hustle, Music & Beer Garden April 23 

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April 23 The Whole Earth and Watershed Festival

Redding City Hall

The Whole Earth Hustle!  5k Run/Walk
Join in the fun – proceeds of this run will benefit Friends of the Redding Trails local efforts to maintain and extend our trails.  More info:  The Whole Earth Hustle

  • 8:00 am to 9:15 am.  Run/Walk check-in.
  • Start and finish on the North lawn. Runs through Henderson Open Space.

Fountain Bar & Beer Garden   Noon – 5:00 p.m.
We are bringing a new Beer, Wine & Cold Drinks Bar to the festival. Enjoy the local music at the Miracle Mile Stage while you have a cold drink. Proceeds support Shasta Living Streets and Shasta Land Trust.   More info: Music and Fountain Bar and Beer Garden

Music in the Fountain!  Presented by Miracle Mile Records

  • Jim Dyar Band
  • Rainy Day Picnic
  • Nick Ciampi Band
  • Buckhorn Mountain Stompers
  • Carl Anberg Trio
  • Jonathan Foster

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More information  

wholeearthandwatershedfestival.org

 

 

Kids, bikes, smiles and fun for everyone – It’s Kidical Mass!  

Bring your family and favorite tricycles, balance bikes and scooters. We will also have a selection of bikes and helmets available to borrow. 

Please join us!                                          
Children will ride a fun obstacle course to learn riding and safety skills.  Parents will enjoy the colorful spectacle and learn resources and tips for riding more with families and children.  Staff from The Bike Shop will help with bicycle maintenance.  Join the raffle to win a PUBLIC balance bike.  A special treat – Turtle Bay’s resident animals will stop by to entertain everyone!  

Saturday, April 16

11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.  

at  Turtle Bay Exploration Park’s Quarry Patio Garden

It’s Week of the Young Child and National Opening Day of Trails!

Friends of Redding Trails

Hosted by Friends of Redding Trails, with First 5 Shasta, Healthy Shasta, Redding Recreation, and Turtle Bay Exploration Park.

Friends of Redding Trails is a part of Shasta Living Streets, we all work together to bring events and resources to our community.

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Transit = healthier lifestyles, vibrant communities & economic development

Photo:  Redding.com
We are pleased to announce Shasta Living Streets is a voting member of the Social Services Transportation Advisory Council  in order to better serve you, our members, and our community.

Margie McAleer has attended meetings in the past year on behalf of Shasta Living Streets, she is a member of the Council. Margie says, “I look forward to working with SSTAC to bring functional and realistic transportation to all members of Shasta County.

We frequently hear interest from our members for supporting RABA and improvements to transit. Our members want to use transit to get to and from the college or from home to work.  We also have a number of members unable to drive, who are dependent on walking, bicycling and transit.

Good transit brings many benefits and helps us meet city and regional goals:
  • Enables trips that include more walking and biking and promotes the active daily lifestyles that young people and older residents are seeking today.
  • Reduces transportation costs for families and individuals, raising quality of life and encouraging economic well-being.
  • Helps secure new redevelopment funding targeted to transit related development. In California funds for redevelopment have pivoted, not vanished. This year alone $320 million is available through the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program that will go toward development in downtown core areas that encourage walking, biking and transit usage.

State award for bringing parklets to major downtown streets

California Streetsies: Local Advocacy with the Biggest Statewide Significance

Congratulations everyone!  We – YOU – won a Streetsie!  Silly name, nice award.  How great to be celebrated for the contributions by our volunteers and supporters, members and donors.  It’s nice to see Redding and Shasta County recognized for these positive community results.

The parklet project is an example of the type of demonstration strategy Shasta Living Streets produces to showcase community support for improvements and innovations. Together we are making a real difference for better bikeways, walkable cities, trails and vibrant public places. Thank you for your support.

READ THE AWARD

This award is a tribute to the dozens of volunteers and the collaboration of many groups and businesses who made the project possible, including:  Enjoy the Store, Cascade Properties, Ryan Russell Studio, Dignity Health, Mix 101, Aztec Construction, Sierra Pacific, Scout & J.Miller Coffee, Carnegie’s, Tantardini’s, J&A Foods, Amarte, Dulceblomma, Foundry Square, In-Dwelling, Sierra Nevada, California Street Shop, Healthy Shasta, The Shasta Historical Society, Moseley Family Cellars, Carousel, Shameless O’Leery’s, View 202, Lucy Hair Enhancement, Red Arrow, Rader Excavating, Civic Auditorium, TEDx Redding, Catalyst Young Professionals, Op-Test, and the thousands of people and participants who came by and enjoyed the parklet. This project was a collaborative effort with both the City of Redding and Caltrans District 2.

Great positive press for innovation, collaboration and vibrant public places in Downtown Redding

Great positive press for innovation, collaboration and another first by YOU! – Shasta Living Streets volunteers and partners, City of Redding and Caltrans District 2

Read the article on StreetsblogCA.org, here

Redding’s Successful Parklet May Help Bring Statewide Guidance

by Melanie Curry   Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Thank you everyone for all your hard work and contributions!
This parklet – your parklet –  was made possible by dozens of volunteers and a collaboration of many agencies, groups and businesses, including:

Caltrans District 2, City of Redding, Enjoy the Store, Cascade Properties, Ryan Russell Studio, Dignity Health, Mix 101, Aztec Construction, Sierra Pacific Scout & J.Miller Coffee, Carnegie’s, Tantardini’s, J&A Foods, Amarte, Dulceblomma, Foundry Square, In-Dwelling, Sierra Nevada, California Street Shop, Healthy Shasta, The Shasta Historical Society, Moseley Family Cellars, Carousel, Shameless O’Leery’s, View 202, Lucy Hair Enhancement, Red Arrow, Rader Excavating, Civic Auditorium, Catalyst Young Professionals, Op-Test.  And all the thousands of people and participants who came by and enjoyed the space.

This was a very successful project.  City of Redding is now designing standards and policies for local businesses to have living streets amenities of more permanent parklets and bike corrals- and now Caltrans HQ is working on policies that will help other cities in California!

Community Renewal – People Powered – Downtown Play – Public Goodwill – Business Focus – Beautification

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We won an Award! Innovative safety measures for cyclists

Introducing the Flying Wedge!

Caltrans District 2 and Shasta Living Streets win state award for newly designed rumble strip markings in Shasta County that make for a safer commute by bicycle.  

Caltrans Excellence in Transportation Award Winners 2017

We are very pleased to have partnered with Caltrans for the innovative new hazard-alert markings, to help cyclists ride safely along highway shoulders – the Flying Wedge!  Allen Kost, Anne Thomas worked together with Caltrans over a couple of years to make this happen.  Keith Williams (Caltrans Bicycle Advisory Board Member, SRTA) also assisted.

People ride this route every day and the new markings are an elegant way to keep everyone safe.  These new markings are the first of their kind in the state.

Many people ride roads like this between their homes, businesses, and daily errands because there is often no other option.    Shasta Living Streets and our volunteers have been collaborating with Caltrans for nearly three years to make travel safer for people on bicycles, by alerting cyclists to rumble markings in the roadway.

BEFORE

Impossible to see the road hazards

 

 

IMG_0635AFTER

These markings alert people on bicycles to rumble strips and grates in the road

 

 

 

More markings along HWY 44

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Allen Kost has been riding in Redding and Shasta County for many years.  He provided valuable input on this project for a number of years, and has this to say:

After riding bicycle for many years on State Highway 44 and hitting rumble strips from time to time as they seem to hide in plain sight, the new warning markings that have been added by Caltrans are a most welcome sight.  In the past I have been jolted, had tire damage that ensued in delayed flat tires, some by blow out, and know a friend who crashed on a rumble strip that resulted in an ambulance trip to the ER.

These rumbles do hide in plain sight. Now with the new white markings a cyclist can concentrate more on the other parts of the road feeling assured that the rumbles won’t pop up so unexpectedly. In addition to marking the rumbles Caltrans District 2 is also marking the drainage grates and other utility covers that could also pose a hazard to the unexpected rider.

I find the new markings to be a great addition to making my commute along Hwy 44 a safer and more enjoyable trip. Hopefully these markings will become the norm throughout District 2 and the State of California.  A  big thank you Caltrans District 2 for a job well done.

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Learn more – What we do

Support –Join or renew today!

 

 

California Street Market Hall – The Pop-up is back!

A culinary and local business pop-up offering local gourmet foods and gifts

1729 California Street at Cascade Square in Downtown Redding

November 21 – December 13

Schedule – Final Weekend, December 11-13

Friday, Saturday 8:30am – 10pm, serving food, beer & wine.  A number of new gift vendors this Saturday

Farewell Party Saturday night with DJTwitch and his crew.  Come join us!

MARCHFOURTH! Tickets on sale here all weekend.

The wildly popular Market Hall is back for another, longer period for the holidays.   It’s a place to meet friends, have coffee and pastries, lunch with colleagues and friends.

Enjoy delicious coffee, Italian pastries, sandwiches, salads, and more!  With a variety of artisan vendors that will change throughout the month.

Check here for more details as the weeks progress.

carnegies_logo_outlined Dulceblomma Floral Design Logo (with Flower Strip) JEdwardMiller_Logo_HighResscouttantardinis

Community Renewal  – Ÿ People Powered Ÿ –  Downtown Play Ÿ –  Public Goodwill Ÿ-  Business Focus Ÿ- Beautification