Posted by Founder, Bicycling Monterey

Speak up for bicycling and other active transportation: Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s Bike-Ped Committee

Click here for more info about TAMC’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, including 2024 meeting dates.
For a gallery of some related photos, scroll down this post.

As of January 6, 2024, TAMC’s BPAC committee had 4 women and 16 men, and 34 vacant seats.

It’s quick and easy to rant online! It takes more effort to advocate for the changes you’d like to see in your community and the world.

Monterey County is big, with 3,281 square miles of land. Imagine the challenge of identifying and keeping track of bicycling and other active transportation (e.g., walk, skate, scoot) infrastructure needs throughout every piece of the county. Then imagine how helpful it could be if more Monterey County residents communicated what those specific needs are right where they live or travel.

The county has over 439,000 residents. How many Monterey County residents will advocate for bicycling and other active transportation?

Among people advocating are members and alternate members of TAMC’s bike-ped committee. Below, learn how other Monterey County residents can also help advocate via the committee.

Also below: More Tips for Advocates.

Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee meets ten months of the year. Its primary purpose is to provide input to Monterey County decision-makers about bicycling and pedestrian transportation infrastructure, safety, and maintenance.

Perhaps you’ve seen Bicycling Monterey’s post urging more public participation: https://bikemonterey.org/monthly-meetings-tamc-bicycle-pedestrian-facilities-advisory-committee-public-welcome.html. We also point out that there are typically many vacancies on the committee. If you might like to fill a vacancy, refer to https://www.tamcmonterey.org/bicycle-pedestrian-committee.)

Monterey County residents are indeed encouraged to attend the bike-ped meetings, and if you wish, to speak up and express your ideas or concerns during a meeting. At the appropriate times, the chairperson will ask if there is any public comment. For details, refer to any meeting’s agenda (provided on TAMC’s site: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/bike-and-pedestrian-facilities-advisory-committee)—and note that it is also an option to submit written public comment, as we sometimes do.

Feel like a fish out of water at such meetings—because the vocabulary and acronyms used are unfamiliar to you? You’re not alone. That’s why a Bilingual Glossary of Transportation Terms was created in 2023; see https://bikemonterey.org/glosario-bilingue-de-terminos-de-transporte.html.

Can you communicate directly with a committee member who represents your county supervisorial district or your city?

Apart from the meetings, it may also be possible to communicate with an individual committee member or alternate directly, to offer your ideas or concerns. If you contact a committee member or alternate, they may or may not bring up your ideas or concerns at a future meeting, even if those fall within the committee’s jurisdiction.

If they do bring up at a meeting the ideas or concerns you’ve expressed, that definitely does not mean it will necessarily result in an outcome you hope for (e.g., a new protected bike lane in your neighborhood). Appointed representatives of a city or supervisorial district are expected to relate to the public with courtesy and impartiality. However, it would be inappropriate for them to make any promises that could be construed as binding on the committee, TAMC, or any public agency or municipality. (California’s Brown Act restrictions specifically address that and more.)

Nonetheless, expressing your thoughts to a committee member/alternate (or at a meeting) can help the committee and TAMC staff discover new and helpful ideas, or become aware of issues that they might not have known about, had you not spoken up.

TAMC’s website lists committee members: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/bike-and-pedestrian-committee-members. (Note: sometimes that web page hasn’t yet been updated with the most current member roster.)

The following TAMC bike-ped committee members have historically welcomed contact from Monterey County residents who live in the area they represent.

Monterey County Supervisor District 5 representative on TAMC’s bike-ped committee, Martin Wegenstein, welcomes District 5 residents to contact him by email at martinweg [AT] outlook [DOT] com.
Not sure if you live in District 5? Refer to the left side of the following Monterey County map: https://www.montereycountyelections.us/files/mced/data_public_maps/by_election/2016-06-07/Maps/Precincts_2016_June_7_Election_MCSup5_1_All.pdf

A note for TAMC’s bike-ped committee members and alternates

If you welcome people who live in the Monterey County area that you represent (i.e., a city or county supervisor district) to contact you, please let us know. We will be happy to update this post with your name and preferred contact information.

More Tips for Advocates

See “Where to report a bikeway maintenance need in Monterey County” for how to report vegetation overgrowth, traffic signal not triggered by bicycles (no bike detection), potholes, debris on shoulders or bikeways, bikeways not clearly marked, damaged or missing bikeway signs, construction obstacles, and other conditions interfering with safe and efficient travel by bike.
See “How to get notifications about Monterey County municipal meetings affecting people who bike” for links to various local cities and to County of Monterey.
Specific to TAMC’s meetings, get notifications by scrolling down TAMC’s Contact page— https://www.tamcmonterey.org/contact-us—to “Would you like to receive our agendas?” Then scroll that box for a list of options, which include “Bicycle and Pedestrian Committee.”

If you have questions about TAMC’s bike-ped committee, contact TAMC’s bike-ped coordinator via email or phone. Current coordinator’s name is usually found on the following page: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/bicycle-pedestrian-committee; and all staff contact info is here: https://www.tamcmonterey.org/staff / .