Portions of Pacific Beach streets will be car-free on Sunday, March 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to showcase the significance, benefits and joys of non-motorized transportation and to support and promote local merchants.
\nIt is the second such CicloSDias event \u2014 a free celebration open to anyone biking, walking, strolling or skating \u2014 to be held in San Diego.\u00a0This will be the first to happen in Pacific Beach. The first-ever car-free day was held in August 2013 in North Park and South Park in mid-city San Diego. Its purpose is to connect local communities and encourage mobility, according to organizers.
\nCicloSDias is co-sponsored by the San Diego County Bicycle Coalition and Discover PB, the beach community\u2019s business improvement district (BID).
\nSections of streets in Pacific Beach will be closed to car traffic along Garnet Avenue from Ingraham Street to Mission Boulevard, including Cass Street from Garnet Avenue to Turquoise Street and from Turquoise Street to La Jolla Mesa Drive.
\nStreet parking is affected at midnight the night before until 5 p.m. the day of the event to allow for street cleaning. Cars parked on the route after midnight will be towed, according to organizers.
\nIn addition to the road closures for the route itself, side streets along the route will also be effected.\u00a0 Streets one block east\u00a0 (Dawes) and west (Bayard) of Cass Street will be closed to traffic and will be “No Parking” areas.\u00a0Streets two blocks south of Garnet (Hornblower) will also be closed to traffic and parking.
\n“No Parking” zones are from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 30. Streets close officially at 9:30 a.m. and will reopen at 3 p.m.
\nThe car-free day is an opportunity for people to experience Pacific Beach from a different perspective, said Sara Berns, Discover PB\u2019s executive director.
\n“CicloSDias is a chance for local people, and hopefully from neighboring communities, to really experience a portion of our business district without the constraint of cars and to really slow down and check out all of the great businesses you might miss while driving by,” said Berns, who noted Pacific Beach businesses are encouraged to participate by being allowed to set up in front of their businesses for this one day only for any outdoor display or seating.\u00a0
\nBerns said, however, that all health department, ABC and city regulations must still be followed. For example,\u00a0no cooking outside\u00a0is allowed by businesses, but setting up tables and chairs for people to sit and eat food ordered from inside is permitted.
\n“This is an opportunity to see some of the great movements in public space that are happening all over and show PB what could be,” said Berns.\u00a0“We hope everyone comes out and takes a ride or stroll along the route with their family and friends to check out PB in a new way.”\u00a0
\nAndy Hanshaw, executive director of San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, which spearheaded last year\u2019s first CicloSDias, said the roots of the cycling event can be traced to Bogata, Columbia, which held similar pro-cycling events as a “response to pollution and traffic congestion.”
\nEver since, non-motorized days have been embraced internationally, including in the United States. Hanshaw said five such events were held last year in the Los Angeles area.
\nHanshaw said the goals of CicloSDias events are many.
\nHe said the March 30 event should benefit Pacific Beach.
\n“It\u2019s a great opportunity in the non-tourist season to get more people into the beach community, and for local residents to really see the community,” he said. “We\u2019re excited to be working with the PB community. This is a great opportunity for people of all ages to come together and move about in an entirely different way.”
\nMoving forward, Henshaw said the idea will be to host CicloSDias events in different neighborhoods of San Diego to introduce residents to the advantages of non-motorized travel.
\nFor more information, visit www.sdcbc.org or www.pacificbeach.org.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Portions of Pacific Beach streets will be car-free on Sunday, March 30 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. to showcase the significance, benefits and joys of non-motorized transportation and to support and promote local merchants. It is the second such CicloSDias event \u2014 a free celebration open to anyone biking, walking, strolling or skating \u2014 […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":260501,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Portions of PB streets to be car-free for March 30 cycling promotion","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-260500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}