Want a more bike-friendly Monterey County?

As we refer to in January 2020 Bike Buzz, there are good reasons to get involved in infrastructure planning. It’s quick and easy to rant online; it takes more effort to effectively advocate for the changes you’d like to see in your community and beyond.

One way to help improve infrastructure and more is to stay informed and give input about the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC) bike-ped activities and projects.

Monterey County residents are encouraged to advocate for bicycling and other active transportation (walking, skating, scooting), by applying to serve as a committee member on TAMC’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee. In addition to  committee members, guests are welcome at these meetings, which are open to  the public.

Meetings are scheduled for the first Wednesday of each month, except no meetings in July or December—and be aware TAMC occasionally cancels a regularly scheduled meeting. (Get on TAMC’s email list for notifications.) Your participation at the meetings—whether as a guest or as a committee member—is needed and appreciated. Meetings normally begin at 6 p.m., with a light supper provided (i.e., sandwiches, etc.). Although meetings are scheduled to end at 8 p.m., they often end earlier—sometimes as early as 7 p.m.

Photo below: This entrepreneurial youth in Castroville is one of the many Monterey County paleteros, bicycle couriers, and others—even an automotive shop—using cargo bikes or trailers. People bicycling Castroville will be glad to hear that in 2020, a TAMC bike-ped meeting will be held in Castroville for the first time.

Read on to learn more—including about meeting locations, lack of representation for various communities, and other details about TAMC meetings.

As of January 3, 2020, the 2020 meetings have tentatively been scheduled for some new locations. Most months they are still planned for Salinas; and one month each, they are planned for Gonzales or Sand City. But for the first time, they are also scheduled, one month each, for Castroville and Marina. For all meeting dates, locations, agendas, and packets, refer to http://www.tamcmonterey.org/board-committees/bicycle-pedestrian-committee/meetings-agendas/. [UPDATE: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, meetings were held remotely only May 6, 2020 – February 1, 2023. Check with TAMC for any changes and for future meeting locations.]

(History: Prior to 2020, most meetings had been held in Salinas or Sand City, except that the May 2018 meeting was in Gonzales. Some people had expressed interest in participating via conference call; note the Brown Act requirement here.)

Lack of representation

[4/21/20 update: According to TAMC’s 5/6 meeting agenda, only 7 of 13 voting membership spots are filled at this time.]

Notice all the empty spots in TAMC’s bike-ped committee membership. What’s the impact of that? The interests of people who bike, walk, skate, and scoot in those areas of Monterey County are not being optimally represented at the meetings.

According to the TAMC website on January 3, 2020, committee vacancies include that there’s no representative for the cities of Del Rey Oaks, Gonzales, Marina, and Soledad; and no representative for Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments, Monterey Bay Air Resources District (formerly Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District), Monterey County Health Department, North County Recreation and Park District, and Fort Ord Reuse Authority.

There are also many vacancies for alternate representatives, including Monterey County Supervisorial Districts 1 and 3; cities of Carmel, Greenfield, King City, Monterey, and Sand City; and California State University Monterey Bay, Caltrans District 5, and Monterey Salinas Transit.

Visit a meeting to check out what the committee does. Maybe you’ll end up deciding to volunteer to serve on the committee (and in some cases, your employer may pay you to attend). Even if you don’t become a committee member, you’re welcome to attend the meetings anytime.

Maybe your schedule is already packed with bicycling advocacy tasks (we can relate—see our numerous projects), and you simply can’t add in serving on TAMC’s bike-ped committee. Or maybe you are eager to give input to TAMC but just can’t make it to any Wednesday eve meetings. You’re still encouraged to contact TAMC about other ways to stay in touch with the committee’s work (e.g., getting on their email lists), and to provide your input.

For example, Bicycling Monterey’s founder regularly reviews the packets issued before each meeting. And we occasionally provide written input for the committee’s consideration, such as for the April 3, 2019 meeting—April 3 Bike-Ped public comments; for the January 9, 2019 meeting, https://bikemonterey.org/casa-verde-near-fremont-in-monterey-and-other-developments-also-monterey-county-fair-event-center-bicycle-parking.html; and for the November 7, 2018 meeting, https://bikemonterey.org/nov-7-tamc-bicycle-and-pedestrian-advisory-committee.html.