06-29-2026 Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committe - Jun 29, 2026

meeting

Santa Clara Boards and Commissions 5h 30m 1 speaker 8 agenda items transcribed 2 days ago official recording ↗

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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

What are the opening procedures and roll call for the meeting?

Chair Magus 0:07

All right, this meeting will be recorded. The Zoom application will notify you that this meeting is being recorded. Please press continue on the Zoom application to stay in the meeting. If you'd like to speak on agenda item or during public presentations, please raise your hand on the Zoom application or press star nine on your phone. Please only raise your hand while the item you're seeking to speak on is being presented. staff will enable speaking at the appropriate time. And I'll pass it over to Chair Magus. Thank you. And good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting. I now call this meeting to order on Monday, June 29th, 2026 at 4.04 PM. And I guess I'm taking, am I taking roles?

Chair Magus 1:05

All right. I'm going to go from the bottom of this list. Member Scherer?

Member Kratz 1:16

Sure.

Chair Magus 1:17

Member Kratz?

Member Kratz 1:20

Present.

Chair Magus 1:21

Member Gennaro? Let us know he was going to be absent today. Member Haro?

Ajmal Poyagar 1:28

Present.

Chair Magus 1:31

Member Dong, let us know he was going to be late. Member Marinaro is absent today. And Chair Magus is here. So we have a quorum, but barely. I think we need a motion to excuse members Marinaro and Chinara. Can somebody make a motion? And do we need to excuse the late member also? Okay, so Member Dong is going to be quite a bit late to this meeting. So if I could have a motion to excuse those.

Ajmal Poyagar 2:12

Can I make a motion to excuse the members?

Member Kratz 2:14

I'll second that motion. Thank you. All in favor?

Chair Magus 2:20

Aye. All right, that brings us to public presentations. This part of the meeting is reserved for persons to address the bicycle and pedestrian advisory committee on any matter not on the agenda that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the committee. The law does not permit action on or extended discussion of any item not on the agenda, except under special circumstances. The commission or staff may briefly respond to statements or questions and the commission may request staff to report back at a subsequent meeting. A reminder, comments can be mailed to BPAC at SantaClaraCA.gov. And if any member of the public would like to make comments, please line up at the microphone or raise your hand in Zoom.

Chair Magus 3:19

We are not doing speaker cards today, but if those who are speaking in person could sign in, we have a much better chance of spelling your name right and getting the notes. accurate. Is there any member of the public who wishes to speak on a matter not on the agenda? You have anybody? Anybody online?

Ralph Garcia 3:45

Yes, we have two members of the public. The first is Diane Harrison.

Chair Magus 3:51

Go ahead, Diane.

Diane Harrison 3:53

Okay, I'm unmuted. Yeah, I did send this to the email. Santa Clara is lagging behind its neighbors, Sunnyvale and San Jose, in 21st century bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and in the corresponding concern over the rapidly expanding climate crisis. This is a systemic failing led by a council historically more concerned with property values and the convenience of motor vehicles than with the state of the planet. At our level, it has meant staff members who by and large don't live in Santa Clara and or don't ride a bike or walk for transportation and are required to attend our meetings and make a show of caring about our issues. More recently, the council has conspired with a compliant city attorney to remove committed bicycle activists from the BPAC and keep them from returning by taking over member selection and inventing a conflict of interest in having a husband and wife

Diane Harrison 4:47

Both outspoken advocates are on the committee simultaneously. Had we gotten a bike lane on our street instead of other more deserving streets, they might have had a point, but that did not happen. Betsy, and only Betsy, is an exception, and I salute her for her unending diplomatic demeanor. The most recent power grab attack has been on our subcommittees, their elimination, their consolidation on the agenda, and their time limits, ensuring that nothing of consequence gets accomplished. Of course, every subcommittee recommending something that staff doesn't like has had those recommendations shelved or outright refused. There is no effort to update a 31-year-old antiquated traffic calming policy while using it as a justification to shut down multiple attempts to improve cycling, pedestrian, and in some cases, motoring conditions.