Conservation means changing habits

In a joint meeting of the Sonoma City Council and the Community Services and Environment Commission Wednesday night, one thing became clear: while there is ample will to reduce emissions, it’s not so easy to leave the cars at home.
Commissioner Ilene Addison proposed to inventory public transportation and study how it would be possible to reduce private car use. Her inventory would identify areas where small changes in schedules could make public transportation more user friendly. Right now, she said, she’d found that a trip to San Francisco, by taking a bus to Petaluma and then another to the city, could take three and maybe four hours. Another problem with attempting to bus through Petaluma is that if one should drive to Petaluma, hoping to take the bus from there, one would find there’s no commuter parking. “We’ve got to do better than that.”
David Wishingrad suggested that senior citizens such as himself would be helped if there were a lending program of three-wheeled cycles available. He said bike lending programs were springing in many cities, Amsterdam, Montreal, and there are even several in California. “I think this would be a wonderful opportunity for Sonoma to get involved in,” he said. But there are cautions about that, too. “I’m concerned for the safety of bicycles on city streets. But we’re up for all kinds of ideas and would like to see the city council get active on a bicycle-friendly community.”
Commissioner Nickolai Mathison said, “We believe bicycling is a self-promoting activity. You have bike consciousness constantly reinforced. If the city leads by example, a certain segment will follow in its wake. So we want to push the city in that regard, but I don’t think we have anything new.”
Mayor Joanne Sanders seemed to agree, “It’s been four years working on the bike plan. It would be nice to see some progress. We just need to get out there and ride.”