Damien Newton

The Bicycle Tree in Santa Ana was a victim of its own success, and rapidly running out of room. So it closed in March, to give it time to move to a bigger place. This Saturday it will re-open at its new address, 702 West 17th Street.

Welcome to the first episode of SGV Connect, the podcast formerly known as #DamienTalksSGV, covering the issues, places, people and events that impact mobility in the San Gabriel Valley.

DamienTalks with Bike SGV's Jose Jimenez about the Los Angeles County's first traffic school program for people on bikes

The City of San Mateo will host a pair of community meetings next week in San Mateo and Burlingame over the proposed 101/Peninsula Avenue Interchange project which would relocate on-ramps and off-ramps to eliminate the partial interchange and create a single, full-access interchange at Peninsula and Airport Boulevard.

Monday starts Bike Week in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. And Thursday, May 11, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition (SVBC) brags that "tens of thousands of regular and first-time Bay Area residents will bike to work for the 23rd Annual Bike to Work Day."

There's a truism among advocates for making streets safer for all users: Before an area can walk the walk, they will spend a couple of years talking the talk. That means that before cities and counties and communities begin building the bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure to calm traffic and make streets safe, there will be years of planning and a lot of outreach for great progressive transportation plans.... that for the most part will sit on the shelves where they are placed.

There will be many news stories generated by the announcement of the details of President Donald Trump's proposed budget next month. In advance of the announcement, the campaign to preserve funding for the electrification of Caltrain, is working with advocates around the state and country to preserve a nearly $650 million grant agreement scuttled by the Trump Administration in February.

After a handful of small setbacks, East Palo Alto's dream of providing a safe crossing over the 101 Freeway for people riding bicycles and people walking is nearly a reality. This new bridge will provide a long-awaited connection between the city's east and west sides.

To call the 626, the San Gabriel Valley's mammoth open streets event, a success would be an understatement. Even with the rain, the event attracted roughly 100,000 participants. They biked, jogged, walked, or rolled the seventeen miles of car-free streets along a route that was roughly parallel to the Gold Line Foothill Extension that opened last year.

DamienTalks with new person-on-the-street correspondent Brian Velez