{"id":55411,"date":"2025-07-11T00:02:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T00:02:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/55411\/"},"modified":"2025-07-11T00:02:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T00:02:13","slug":"south-county-report-chula-vista-to-e-bikes-slow-your-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/55411\/","title":{"rendered":"South County Report: Chula Vista to E-Bikes: Slow Your Roll\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Facebook comments are unsparing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s it going to take? Someone getting injured, or worse, dying, before something is done?\u201d wrote Chula Vista resident Juan Arteaga on the Eastlake Chula Vista Residents Facebook community page recently.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSeems like teens are out of control\u2026so dangerous!\u201d wrote Alexandra Wyman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDid you call the police?\u201d asked Zainab Al-Khabbaz.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The comments go on for pages. \u201cShame on their parents.\u201d \u201cThese kids need to be held accountable.\u201d \u201cThey are an accident waiting to happen.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The subject of this outpouring of community angst: Children and teenagers, some appearing as young as 10 or 11 years old, rampaging through the streets of eastern Chula Vista on high-powered electric bicycles, or e-bikes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Videos accompanying the litany of online comments show kids weaving through traffic, taking over roadways in wheelie-popping swarms, riding straight at oncoming cars, blowing past pedestrians on sidewalks and rocketing alongside cars going what looks like 30 or 40 miles per hour. The videos play like outtake reels from a pint-sized biker gang movie.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my [expletive], what the [expletive]?\u201d one driver calls out as she films two girls perched precariously on an e-bike riding straight at her car in the left lane of a six-lane roadway.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Chula Vista city leaders took action to address what City Councilmember Michael Inzunza, who represents southeastern Chula Vista, called one of his constituents\u2019 top concerns: The danger posed by small kids on big bikes with no rules.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Without a single public speaker in opposition, the Council voted unanimously to adopt the strictest e-bike regulations in San Diego County.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The new rules, set to take effect next month, ban children under age 12 from riding e-bikes, require riders under age 18 to wear helmets, forbid riders under 18 from carrying passengers and require all riders to obey traffic laws and stay off sidewalks in business districts and other designated areas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing this to keep our kids and families safe,\u201d said Inzunza, who spearheaded the new rules after hearing repeated complaints from residents while campaigning for City Council last year. \u201cThere is no reason on God\u2019s great green earth that a fourth or fifth grader should be going down the sidewalk at the speed of a motorcycle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inzunza said the law was \u201cnot meant to be punitive, but to educate kids and keep our community safe.\u201d He cited research compiled by city staff showing that e-bike injuries are on the rise and are more severe than regular bicycle injuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In just the past 12 months, he said, 16 people in Chula Vista were injured in e-bike accidents, 12 of them requiring emergency room care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assistant City Manager Tiffany Allen said the city will partner with local school districts to inform students and parents about the new regulations. For the law\u2019s first 60 days, she said, police will issue warnings to violators.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Starting in late October, police can issue $25 tickets, which riders can waive by completing an online safety course. Repeat violators will be subject to increasing fines up to $250 and could have their bikes confiscated by police, Allen said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we were little kids, we rode those little Tyco Barbie bikes,\u201d Inzunza said at Tuesday\u2019s Council meeting. \u201cE-bikes are not that\u2026This measure is to protect our children and communities.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shuttle Aims to Connect Gaylord Hotel, Downtown Chula Vista<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Chula Vista Mayor John McCann holds a pair of oversized scissors as he prepares to cut a red ribbon in front of a shuttle on Wednesday, July 9, 2025. \/ Photo by Jim Hinch <\/p>\n

It\u2019s getting easier to get to the Chula Vista bayfront.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, wielding a giant pair of golden scissors in front of the recently opened Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center on Chula Vista\u2019s redeveloping waterfront, Mayor John McCann cut the ribbon inaugurating a new shuttle service that will connect hotel and other bayfront visitors to destinations elsewhere in the city, including nearby transit hubs and Chula Vista\u2019s Third Avenue shopping and dining district.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Joined by other city leaders and representatives from the Gaylord resort and the Metropolitan Transportation Service, McCann said the free shuttle service marks a small but crucial step forward in his city\u2019s ongoing effort to transform its once industrial bayfront into a world-class waterfront district.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thrilled to launch a new service that reflects our city\u2019s commitment to sustainability, accessibility and economic growth,\u201d McCann said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The shuttle, which starts running this week, will take riders on two routes from the Gaylord resort to stops at trolley stations on E and H streets, Third Avenue, the Chula Vista Center shopping mall and the Living Coast Discovery Center wildlife sanctuary.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The 12-passenger electric Ford vans will depart every 15 minutes and currently are free to ride. The city initially will pay for the service using $2.7 million in revenue generated by billboards along an MTS right-of-way within city limits. Future funding mechanisms are under discussion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City Councilmember Cesar Fernandez, whose district includes much of the bayfront, said the shuttle is part of an ongoing effort to leverage tourism generated by the Gaylord resort and boost business activity in west Chula Vista.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a working-class community,\u201d Fernandez said. \u201cThe idea they can get access to the bayfront, that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCann said the shuttle would further cement the bayfront\u2019s role as an economic engine during what he often calls \u201cChula Vista\u2019s decade.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is going to be the jewel of San Diego,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Other News<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of our partner news organizations, inewsource, published an in-depth story<\/a> this week showing how a powerful labor union used revenue from an affordable housing complex it owns in National City to fund political campaigns and other efforts to wield influence in San Diego politics. The story sheds light on San Diego\u2019s recent shift from generations of Republican leadership to dominance by Democrats and their union allies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

U.S. Rep. Juan Vargas on Thursday joined other San Diego and California Democrats in introducing legislation that would empower the Environmental Protection Agency to manage water quality in the Tijuana River and expedite solutions to the river\u2019s ongoing sewage crisis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other Tijuana River news, two recent Union-<\/a>Tribune<\/a> stories spotlight studies showing the environmental effects of the river\u2019s sewage crisis. The studies show that sewage in the river causes elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide gas and has led residents to report rising numbers of health problems, including headaches, nausea and difficulty breathing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ahoy, Pepper Park visitors in National City: Starting July 23, Port of San Diego construction crews will begin work to transform the park\u2019s current playground into a pirate-themed play space featuring a splash pad, picnic facilities and a bayfront overlook. The playground will remain closed during construction until early next year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Family Health Centers of San Diego today announced it is partnering with the city of Chula Vista to offer mobile monthly mammography screenings at the city\u2019s Civic Center Branch Library on F Street and the South Chula Vista Branch Library on Orange Avenue. A mobile mammography van will offer onsite mammograms and other screening services at the two libraries during the second and fourth weeks of each month.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Facebook comments are unsparing.\u00a0 \u201cWhat\u2019s it going to take? Someone getting injured, or worse, dying, before something…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":55412,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,16214,3549,7264,34159,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-55411","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-chula-vista","12":"tag-san-diego","13":"tag-sandiego","14":"tag-south-county","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114831670807970839","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}