Some Background
It was in mid-July of 2021 that city of San Diego construction crews began striping the road along 30th Street in North Park for the city’s newest protected bikeway project. It was known as the 30th Street Protected Bikeways Mobility Project, and called for protected bike lanes from Juniper Street to Adams Avenue. It also did away with some 450 curb parking spots along the corridor, but incorporated “floating” parking, commercial loading zones, timed parking and accessible spots from Upas Street to Adams Avenue. Floating parking are spots that are not next to a curb but are a few feet away and are marked with striping on the road.
Transportation, cycling and environmental advocates expressed support for the project in the belief that it would create a safer environment for people who bike along the popular corridor. Yet, residents and businesses owners repeatedly spoke out against the project because of the reduced number of parking spaces and disability advocates had concerns about their safety and fewer accessible parking spots.
Kevin Faulconer was mayor in May of 2019 when he directed staff to move forward with designing protected bikeways along 30th Street which would replace all parking spots with bike lanes. This despite a law suit against the city over the project by an outspoken group, Save 30th Street Parking. Pat Sexton, president of the group, said removing parking spots and the center lane was not good for the community.
“It won’t work,” Sexton said of the new design, adding she was surprised staff introduced a plan the public had not seen. The lawsuit was dismissed and the 30th Street bike lanes were installed.
One of the biggest proponents of the bike lanes was the now-controversial group Circulate San Diego and its head, Colin Parent, a friend and ally of current mayor Todd Gloria. Circulate and others claimed the new bike lanes would create safer conditions for cyclists, improve safety and increase business. Gloria took up the cause of the 30th Street changes. And one of his long-time administrators, Brittany Bailey, was also a big proponent.
Kate Callen, who currently writes for the Rag and is one of its administrators, has been a longtime North Park activist. In early October of 2021, Callen performed a study of bicycle use along the contentious 30th Street corridor and its new bike lanes. She found that the fears and predictions of opponents of the bikepath project were true: there was less business and local residents were having a difficult time finding parking.
Here’s part of a Rag report from that time:
Callen took a careful count from security video of bike lane riders (bikes, scooters, skateboards) on the 3400 block of 30th Street during peak commuting times, between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday, Oct. 4 through Friday, Oct. 8. Over the course of those 20 hours, the average number of riders per peak commuting hour was 16.
Callen, a former San Diego Bureau chief for United Press International, said: “People have been asking for years for any data, the city has been saying we will get to it eventually.”
This important study has ramifications for other communities, such as Normal Heights and Ocean Beach, where bicycling extremists have pushed for the premature removal of parking and for so-called “road diets” that create dangerous conditions.
Why did Callen do the study? She said: “The community was kept in the dark until just before (former Mayor Kevin) Faulconer announced it as a done deal. When people first heard about it, they didn’t believe it. How could the city do something so outrageous without telling us?”
She also stated:
“We have a lot of people in Save 30th Street that are avid bicyclists and have been for years.” Even with the new bicycle lanes, “they will not ride on 30th Street,” she said, because it’s too narrow and they already ride on Utah Street, which is very wide.” She added, “Nobody has really told us why the bike lanes were needed.”
As JW August wrote in a December 2021 piece for Times of San Diego, entitled, “Battle Over 30th Street Bike Lanes Pits Businesses, Residents Against San Diego’s Climate Goals”:
Merchants and residents along the bike path say they appreciate the research Callen has done because they’ve wanted some solid information to bolster their contention that the limited bicycle traffic does not justify the hardship locals face every day dealing with the city-installed bike lanes. They also question the environmental value when car and truck drivers circle the area looking for parking spots or go into nearby neighborhoods to park.
August detailed the safety concerns of other residents and merchants in the area.
Now, irony of ironies, with a twinge of tragedy, Brittany Bailey — mentioned earlier as a Gloria administrator — is now a witness in a lawsuit filed by her husband against the City of San Diego. As CBS8 reported, Bailey now alleges the design of the 30th Street bike lanes contributed to a crash that injured their young son.
Brittany Bailey, a Grants and Special Projects Manager in the Mayor’s Office and longtime advocate for cycling infrastructure, is named as a witness in a tort claim filed by her husband, Brian McIntosh. The incident took place in North Park in September 2024, along a stretch of 30th Street that has sparked debate for years over bike safety and parking.
According to the claim, McIntosh was riding his bicycle northbound on 30th Street with their young son secured in a child seat when they approached a car that was illegally parked in the white cross-hatch markings next to the bike lane with a portion of the car infringing on the lane itself. As a passenger opened the car door into the bike lane, the collision sent both father and son crashing onto the pavement and sidewalk. The child suffered visible injuries and emotional trauma, including anxiety around traffic and roadways. (Disclosure: years ago when the online Rag was in its infancy, Bailey worked with its staff.)
And wouldn’t you know it, Circulate San Diego CEO Colin Parent was quoted by CBS8 as saying the current infrastructure — which he pushed for — doesn’t go far enough to protect riders. “30th Street is a great example where the city took proactive steps to build bike lane facilities, but they’re not as safe as they really could be,” said Parent. “These plastic bollards are not going to stop a car that wants to go through.” (Parent and Circulate since 2022 have also led the Gloria crusade to dismantle San Diego’s community planning groups — who are the principal custodians of neighborhood infrastructures.)
As CBS8 reported, “Not everyone was surprised by the crash. Local business owner Liz Saba, who runs Presley & Company Fine Jewelers on 30th Street, says she and other merchants warned the city about the dangers of placing bike lanes on such a busy corridor.”
“We told them from the beginning that they were going to be dangerous,” Saba said. “30th is a super busy thoroughfare, and the way they designed the bike lanes makes no sense.” Saba says she finds it ironic that Bailey, a vocal supporter of the project, is now involved in a legal claim against the city.
“She was the biggest proponent for these bike lanes… I’m sorry she’s been in an accident. I have no ill will, but she was warned,” Saba said. “I don’t feel that she should be suing the city.”
Curious that Ms. Bailey deleted several tweets about the incident, including a description of she and her husband seeing the car from “a block away” and continuing to watch it as they approached the vehicle “at walking speed.” She also claimed that while her husband required surgery, her child was “very chill” and “okay”:
https://web.archive.org/web/20240915072556/https://twitter.com/Bee_Bailey/status/1835218479877964091
https://web.archive.org/web/20240916013744/https://twitter.com/Bee_Bailey/status/1835493238935056472
https://web.archive.org/web/20240916014016/https://twitter.com/Bee_Bailey/status/1835493874695098703
https://web.archive.org/web/20240915193018/https://twitter.com/Bee_Bailey/status/1835400769719407041
https://web.archive.org/web/20240915072713/https://twitter.com/Bee_Bailey/status/1835218799093858674
I love Archive!
The woman suing is correct. The person illegally parking in the bike lane causing on accident should be the one to blame here. It is idiotic to claim that because nobody was biking on the road before, with its completely unprotected design, that there shouldn’t be a bike lane. Imagine setting up a camera on a highway, seeing no bikes, and concluding that therefore there is no need for bike infrastructure. In addition, every study ever conducted on streets with businesses has found increased business traffic when bike lanes are added, even when parking is removed. It is short sided thinking to say that removing parking must hurt businesses implicitly when foot traffic actually goes up with proper bike infrastructure installed.
The city must fully commit to completely protected bike infrastructure like every civilized place in the developed world. For God’s sake the weather is ideal for biking in San Diego. Can we for once stop blaming those who do not want to drive for everything and start providing ability for people to get around through multiple modes of transport. Sorry, but this article just has the wrong attitude here.
100%.
Sorry, but you just have the wrong attitude here. Your bias is blinding you to the reality of the situation — the entire situation that goes beyond this accident. Sure, the driver was wrong, but the hypocrisy of biking extremists who were blind to the warnings about the unsafe conditions and now cry foul because they were injured by those unsafe conditions is too much to ignore. The bike lanes on 30th were ramrodded through the community by politicians and staff beholden to extremists who clearly didn’t have the community’s best interests at heart.
Thank you, great comment. And Everett Hauser, an avid cyclist, said prior to the bike lanes going in, the devout cyclists won’t use the lanes. I asked why, he said they’re “too slow”.
Over forty years ago I was working on a bikeway project and I naively proposed that the same design that was used on Friars Road should be employed. I was astonished at the vehement opposition for that design from cyclists. What I thought was a great idea (a grade separated bike lane with a barrier separating bikes from auto/truck traffic) was considered to be unsafe by its potential users.
The same thing is going on now in the north coastal cities. There is an effort to remove the barrier between bike lanes and cars as it is not safe, i.e., the curb itself is causing accidents including a fatality, if I am not mistaken.
0%
This story gave me a good laugh. Not because anyone actually was hurt but because of a past set of exchanges I had with Bailey back when I was on Twitter. She was the ultimate bike lane fanatic. She very quickly blocked me despite being a city employee. To be suing the city she works for and lives in over something she gloated about up to this point is beyond laughable. I hope the court tosses her case.
“Bee” also blocked me when I was on Twitter. No one could even have a logical discussion with her because she was so single-minded! Sorry the kid was clocked but can we call it what it is—->> CARma, Baby!
I thought the exact same thing Geoff. I hate to see someone hurt, especially a child, but the irony in this lawsuit is like a concrete curb smacking these people in the face. It’s quite astounding.
Colin Parent, whose nonprofit champions corporations that design and pour lots of concrete (https://www.circulatesd.org/corporate_membership), advocates again for more unsafe infrastructure.
His pitch for curbs to ‘protect’ bike lanes is frightening. In Encinitas cyclists are fighting to have those curbs removed after the death of Ryan Currie, a 48-year-old widower in the Cardiff Highway 1 bike lanes where local cyclists believe he hit one of those “safety” curbs. https://thecoastnews.com/encinitas-cyclists-officials-reignite-debate-over-protected-bike-lanes/ https://www.facebook.com/groups/556935515245051/
Again and again, studies worldwide show that more than half the bicyclists arriving in ERs were injured in solo vehicle crashes. Instead of advocating for more concrete obstacles for people to crash into, Circulate should hire an actual, trained safety expert for a sound opinion on how to keep cyclists – especially children – safer while riding.
Parent, trained as a lawyer and self-positioned as a traffic safety advocate, has reported thousands of hours lobbying the mayor and city council for the failed Vision Zero program that’s caused the city and SANDAG to spend hundreds of millions of dollars – contracted to Parent’s clients – on infrastructure that has not increased actual safety despite people saying they feel safer.
It’s noteworthy that this was handed to NBC7. No lawsuit has been filed, per court records. Suing governments involves first filing a claim with the city within six months of the injury, and that seems to be the claim status here. The city normally does not release these claims so I have to infer this was handed to the news media – with whose cooperation?
Thank you Marty G.
Her family should not be able to sue the city. She was completely on board with the bike lanes as they were designed.. I’m also confused on how someone that works for the mayor can sue the city? Irony at its finest.
And let’s not forget, the community of North Park wanted the nice wide street of Utah to be where the bike corridor would be installed. Steve Whitburn campaigned on this promise. But once elected, Steve was mesmerized by the trace of Todd Gloria who decided the bike lane would be on 30th. Have we seen either of these guys riding bikes? Have we seen either of these guys in North Park outside of a photo op? Let’s make sure we fire them both out in 2028 and end their political careers.
Biting the hand that feeds you ?
Without a design flaw to demonstrate, good luck wining against the city legally speaking.
According to published reports there are twelve managers for the city bike lanes.
Which staffer “manages” 30th Street ?
What do each of the twelve actually do and cost us ?
The same dangerous condition of public property is now installed on Clairemont Drive.
The lane seems to host invisible riders.
I did try to find a staff listing for the twelve bike lane managers on the city website but was unsuccessful.
If anyone has this information, please share.
Whoever is “managing” the bike lane on Balboa Avenue needs to inspect the missing and broken delineators and clean up the trash.
How often are the lanes actually inspected ?
This bike lane also hosts ghost riders.
Let us not forget that pedestrian and cyclist traffic deaths have risen since the adoption of Vision Zero. Circulate San Diego’s response is to claim that it is the result of the construction of new safety measures not occurring quickly enough. There is a certain kind of crazy that says “what we are doing is having the opposite effect of what we are trying to accomplish, so we need to do more of it quicker.”
Or maybe we just ignore the data.
Whoopsie, what a treasure trove of tweets obviously describing a different bike crash than the one NBC reported on. Poor family, two bike crashes in one day – at the same spot, almost the same scenario!
Is it a crime to make a monetary claim against the city and lie about what happened? Or maybe a firing offense?
Funding for the 12 bike lane managers appeared on page 13 of Todd Gloria’s May Revision to the Proposed Fiscal Year 2022 Budget. I wrote about it in a 2021 Times of SD commentary, the link is below, here’s an excerpt:
“At a time when city funds are tight and bike lane usage is still anemic, Gloria will spend $828,616 in TransNet funds on 12 full-time positions. The new hires ‘will be responsible for the design and installation of approximately nine miles of new or upgraded bicycle facilities throughout the city per year.’ The money seems earmarked for personnel only. It’s unclear if any funds will support actual construction.”
Since then, a lot of people have spent a lot of time trying to determine where those positions have been buried. On June 21, the Rag ran an inewsource article, “Mystery $175K City Job Has Never Appeared in San Diego Budget,” link is below. Just imagine how many high-paying jobs for favored friends are squirreled away at City Hall.
https://timesofsandiego.com/opinion/2021/08/27/stealth-local-government-forces-san-diegans-to-read-the-fine-print/
https://obrag.org/2025/06/mystery-175k-city-job-has-never-appeared-in-san-diego-budget/
It looks like the “bike managers” are only tasked with design and installation of new bike lanes.
If you know, which department is in charge of maintenance of older bike lanes like the one on Balboa Avenue ?
I have reported the issues in the past to my clowncil office with mixed results.
It almost seems to me as if city staffers take advanced courses in passive aggressive responses.
So $828K in salaried positions for nine miles of bike lanes? $92K per mile for management oversight of a relatively small set of projects? Big surprise that the city is broke.
Bicycles are an elite form of travel. Think about it. Can a disabled person operate a bike…maybe in some extreme examples? How about the elderly? AND lets get real about people going to work.
Basically we’ve been duped into spending tons of money on infrastructure that caters to a VERY small member of overall traffic.
Sure, bikes are great in Europe. BUT this is America son, we dont have any more time or money for people who want to diddley bop on our roadways and then turn around and sue our tax dollars.
Let’s not leave the great Chris Ward, who employed the complainant when he was the Councilmember for District 3, out of the equation.