One of the challenges of taming the chaos of downtown Santa Barbara is trying to find a balance between encouraging bicycling as a mode of transportation and addressing the complaints of those who feel that teenage bikers have taken over the roads.
In the latest response to this conundrum, the City of Santa Barbara is considering a few sweeping changes to its bicycle ordinance, which are intended to ensure that e-bikes follow the same rules as other bicycles, but come with a few new amendments that bicycle advocates are worried may be unfairly targeting specific groups or riders.
The changes will come across the city’s Ordinance Committee on Tuesday , where policymakers will discuss the details of the city’s motivation behind these amendments, which are modeled after a similar ordinance in Huntington Beach.