Encinitas will renew its annual funding for a bike education program that’s offered at many area schools, but the City Council wants more information about what’s being taught and how the contracts are awarded.
In a 3-1 vote, with Councilmember Marco San Antonio voting no and Councilmember Jim O’Hara abstaining, the council agreed last week to provide money for the coming year’s programs, while asking for more information. The bike safety programs occur at elementary schools within the Encinitas Union School District, as well as some middle schools and high schools in the San Dieguito Union High School District.
In the coming school year, Encinitas is contributing $30,600 to the elementary programs and $16,200 to the high school district ones.
O’Hara said he wanted to delay the council’s vote until August, which is after the council ends its annual, month-long summer recess. That would give the city time, he said, to get additional information about the school districts’ contract bidding process and allow city officials to explore setting “guard rails” on how the courses are taught. O’Hara made his request after a frequent council meeting attendee said she had concerns about the funding requests and the political views of one instructor.
San Antonio said that O’Hara’s proposal to delay the vote “makes sense to me” on financial grounds. Others on the council opposed it, saying delaying the vote would mean the bike safety courses couldn’t start at the beginning of the school year when kids need the instruction most.
Councilmember Joy Lyndes, who called the safety courses a “good program,” and Mayor Bruce Ehlers said they were fine with asking the school districts for more information, but not at the risk of delaying the start of the program. Councilmember Luke Shaffer also said he “didn’t want to hold up the kids” and ultimately voted in favor of the spending request, but said he had concerns about whether an instructor might be “manipulating” the program.
Taught by various certified instructors through school district agreements with the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, the safety courses offer kids on traditional bikes and e-bikes advice on crossing intersections, using bike facilities, wearing helmets and exhibiting “safe riding behaviors,” among other things, a city staff report states.
The courses have been offered at area schools for several years and the latest city funding requests were listed for approval last week on the City Council’s consent calendar — a collection of items that are considered routine in nature and typically approved without comment. They were pulled off that list and given a full council debate in response to a request by frequent council meeting attendee Rachel Graves.
Graves said she had no issue with the idea of bike safety education, but said she believes one instructor — Encinitas resident and longtime cycling advocate Kristine Schindler — might be giving “one-sided viewpoints” and promoting cycling over vehicle use. She also wanted more information about how the districts are awarding the contracts and said the districts should start video recording the safety talks.
Graves said she was raising the issue now because Schindler has recently spoken at city meetings in opposition to council actions and gave a presentation to the city’s Youth Commission, a city-appointed group of teens who advise the City Council on youth issues. At these meetings, Schindler voiced her opposition to changes the council is pursing to a roadway project on Santa Fe Drive, among other things, Graves said.
Schindler told the council that Graves is mischaracterizing how she presents herself at city meetings and misrepresenting what she says at those meetings. When she spoke to the city’s Youth Commission, she did so as a city resident and a bicycling enthusiast, and not in her role as a school bike safety instructor, Schindler stressed. That’s also how she describes herself when she speaks to the City Council on bike issues, she said, adding that she has a legal right as an Encinitas resident to voice her views at council meetings.
She added that she also believes Graves is misrepresenting what she has said at public meetings about bike verses car use, and about the city’s status as a cycling-friendly place. Schindler said she works with a number of cities and believes Encinitas has been doing more than other jurisdictions in recent years to improve conditions for cyclists.
Going by vehicle verses walking or cycling has been a topic at city meetings of late. After the November elections, the council majority shifted. There are three new council members, and they, plus the city’s new mayor, have all said Encinitas needs to do more to improve vehicle congestion issues, saying the prior City Council overemphasized cyclist and pedestrian projects.
There’s also a political split between the new council majority and Schindler. Schindler supported former mayor Tony Kranz, a Democrat, in his recent failed re-election bid, while Ehlers, O’Hara and Shaffer were all endorsed by Reform California. Run by Republican Assemblyman Carlo DeMaio, Reform California declares on its web site that it’s “dedicated to taking back our state from the far-left politicians and special interests.”
San Antonio was appointed to the council earlier this year in a 3-1 vote, with Lyndes opposed. Lyndes is the only council member who received the San Diego County Democratic Party’s endorsement.