Bike Bakersfield, Calbike Team Up to Flip the Script on Kern County Grand Jury

Earlier this week, bicyclists met at Dagny’s Coffee in Downtown Bakersfield for the “Bakersfield Beats the Heat” Ride to City Hall. Cyclists attended the afternoon City Council meeting to voice support for creating safer cycling infrastructure. 

In late May, a Kern County Grand Jury released a bizarre four-page report that noted the safety and environmental benefits of bicycle lanes. But it also found that they are a waste of money because it’s hot in Bakersfield, there is low air quality in the Central Valley, and the city’s consultants for their bike plan are bike planners.

Shortly after it was released, CalBike executive director Kendra Ramsey wrote an article for Streetsblog reviewing the report’s finding and noting that while the report may be a useful public relations tool for people that don’t like bicyclists or bike lanes, it does not have any legal authority. The report suggests the city do certain things by July 1, and September 1. So far, Bakersfield has not complied.

But this week’s rolling event was a master class in how to spin potentially bad news into positive coverage. Despite the claims that the heat is too much for bicycling in the report, viewers of the nightly news (embed at bottom of story) were treated to the sight of dozens of bicyclists riding together in the middle of the day to City Hall. Speakers in the news clip included Ramsey, local bicyclists and Bakersfield Councilmember Bob Smith, who rode with the group.

“The grand jury has no authority,” Smith said. “It is not consistent with the goals of the City Council.”

While the bicycle rally led off the news at Bakersfield Now yesterday, a story at the top of the website today is about a bicyclist killed by an errant driver…a grim reminder that regardless of what any report says, the city still needs to do more to protect bicyclists.

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