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From:Bike Walk Bus Alliance <br />To:GRP-City Council <br />Subject:Public Comment: Agenda Item 9A <br />Date:Monday, December 22, 2025 9:41:54 AM <br />You don't often get email from bikewalkbus@gmail.com. Learn why this is important <br />Dear City Council members, <br />Although the proposed ordinance to amend Chapter 8 of the Redwood City Municipal Code is <br />good to see, especially with updating definitions for the current micromobility reality, I want <br />to suggest some additional revisions based on my experience as a resident and cyclist in <br />Redwood City. I am the founder of Redwood City's newest transportation advocacy group, <br />Bike Walk Bus Alliance (BiWaBA). I have been strongly connected to other residents and <br />people who ride bicycles and use my bike for most trips out of the home. <br />I have issues with the following in the proposed amendment: <br />1. Section 8.3 basically makes riding on the sidewalk illegal. I think there is a strong safety <br />value for people not comfortable such as high injury corridors without protected bicycle <br />facilities to use the sidewalk, and I ask that exceptions be made for these. One example is <br />Jefferson Avenue west of El Camino. <br />2. Section 8.5 makes it illegal to park your bike against anything that isn't a bike rack or stand <br />in the Downtown Business District. This doesn't take into account that a lot of the downtown <br />business district doesn’t have convenient, highly visible bike parking. A suggestion would be <br />to require enforcement to be conditional on easy, convenient bike parking nearby - meeting <br />conditions mentioned in Redwood City's own Bike Parking Guidelines - and if that's not the <br />case work with business owners to improve the bike parking situation. Helping people ride <br />bikes to businesses and other destinations are proven to help the local economy and create <br />loyal, recurring customers, meaning adding more bike parking can only help Redwood City <br />businesses. <br />3. Violations for this article would cover a range of issues from bike parking, tail light <br />reflectors and trick riding, I would ask for some leeway for rule enforcement to give fix-it <br />tickets for fixable issues - for instance missing reflectors - for certain, low risk issues they <br />catch. <br />I am personally looking forward to more infrastructure projects that continue to move the <br />needle to make Redwood City a safe place where anyone can ride a bike. <br />Thanks, <br />Karvin Dassanayake <br />BiWaBA - Bike Walk Bus Alliance