Newport Beach is one step closer to creating a Cycling Safety Committee following a unanimous vote at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.
The city clerk will be seeking applications for the seven-member group, which will work with city staff and the City Council to enhance safety for cyclists in the community.
“That is great news,” said John Tzinberg, a member of a cycling safety task force that met last winter. “I think having a committee will better help the Newport City become a more bike-friendly city.”
A staff report states that the committee’s planned projects could cost $78,000, which is not in the city’s current budget, leading to some discussion about setting priorities and keeping staff and City Council members informed of which plans to tackle first.
City Councilwoman Leslie Daigle said she hoped the committee members would focus on “low-hanging fruit” that would be easy to put into place without a lot of cost or staff time. She also emphasized that the committee should work closely with the city’s staff, who are experts on public safety.
“On these issues of roadway safety and all that, I’d like to see vigorous input from our professional staff because I view them on experts on roadways and public safety,” she said. “I’m not sure our (citizens) proposals are the best.”
City Councilwoman Nancy Gardner, who asked for the committee to be established, said that some of the committee’s planned tasks would be inexpensive and fast to implement, including meetings with cycling advocates and police and more road signs. The committee would work on plans that the task force developed during its short-term tenure.
Mayor Keith Curry said that public safety is important to Newport Beach.
“My don’t tolerate unsafe conditions,” he said. “If things were easy to do, we would do them.”
Applications can be found on the city’s websiteunder City Government/Citizen Participation, said City Clerk Leilani I. Brown. The deadline to apply is 4 p.m. Friday Aug. 27. You can fill out the application online and submit it, or bring it into the City Clerk’s Office.
Newport Beach has had three cyclist fatalities since July 2009, including a recent crash that killed a man on Spyglass Hill Road. Read our stories here, here, here, here and here.
