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Panel to promote bike-friendly SD

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Aiming to reduce pollution and traffic congestion by making San Diego more bicycle-friendly, the City Council appointed eight residents to the city’s first Bicycle Advisory Committee on Tuesday.

The committee will help city officials pursue projects that could make bicycling safer and more convenient in San Diego, including many featured in the city’s new Bicycle Master Plan adopted last year.

More bicycling is a key part of a Climate Action Plan under review at City Hall that would reduce local greenhouse gas production by encouraging more residents to commute by bicycle and mass transit.

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“We need to think about more innovative, safer infrastructure that will encourage more people to ride,” said Point Loma resident Andy Hanshaw, one of the appointees. “We can follow examples that are taking place all across the country.”

Hanshaw, executive director of the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition for the last three years, said Portland, Tucson and several Bay Area cities are ahead of San Diego in many ways.

“In large part, we’re catching up,” he said.

But Hanshaw said there’s reasons for optimism in San Diego and across the region, where several other cities have recently adopted master plans and SANDAG plans to spend $200 million over the next decade on bicycle projects.

“All across the region things are happening to make bicycling better for everyone who rides,” said Hanshaw, 49. “We have more political will and support than we’ve had in a long time. I look forward to working with the committee members and elevating San Diego to be a premier city for bicycling.”

The other members of the new committee will be Kyle Heiskala of Hillcrest, Kathy Keehan of Rancho Bernardo, Michael Brennan of Hillcrest, Nicole Burgess of Point Loma, Petr Krysl of University City, Randy Van Vleckof Golden Hill and Samantha Ollinger of City Heights. Their terms are all scheduled to end in July 2016.

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