During last week’s rant regarding inaction versus involvement, a few people mentioned that you don’t know how to find out what’s going on. How can you help if you don’t know the issues and agenda? Here’s a partial guide to where I turn for discussion.

The Twitter Firehose

Most of the good discussion these days seems to happen on Twitter. You can still follow along if you don’t create an account, though it might be a little easier if you do. Please feel free to tweet your own horn because I’m sure I’ve missed more than a few. People and hashtags to follow include:

• Janet Lafleur, who also blogs as Lady Fleur and sits on the board of the California Bicycle Coalition.
• Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition.
• Sarah the professional transport nerd.
• Jaime and her husband Geoffrey.
• Cowgirl Bike Courier.
• Alta planner Christopher Kidd, who lives in the East Bay but follows South Bay issues.
• Think Bigger San Jose.
• East Side San Jose Bikes.
• Autonomous San Jose rides around the East Side and downtown San Jose.
• Brad Grantham posts photos of blocked bike lanes.
• Michelle Thong.
• JB David.
• Local discussion hashtags to follow include BikeSJ for San Jose and BikeMV for Mountain View.

Facebook

I know of a few Facebook pages where discussion tends toward South Bay issues. These include:

• I Walk I Bike I Vote, which is probably where you’ll find the most current and provocative discussion on items like the San Tomas Aquino Trail, Levi’s Stadium, regional planning agency decisions, land planning, taxes and so forth.
• Friends of Caltrain, because so many people who ride the train also ride bikes.
• Whoever posts to Western Wheelers Bicycle Club in Palo Alto does an amazing job tracking current bike issues all around the Bay Area.
• San Jose Bike Party for silly fun on a bike.

I’m sure there are more — please post your suggestions in the comments.

Email discussion lists

These are through Google Groups. As before, please add your suggestions below.

• Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition general discussion list.
• Bike San Mateo County, no affiliation with SVBC.
• The primary purpose of SF2G is to organize group rides from San Francisco to the South Bay, but non-participants can lurk to get updates from a very well-informed and politically savvy group of cyclists.

Forums, News, etc.

Occasionally I still take a peek at North California regional discussion at BikeForums.net.

Streetsblog SF occasionally covers South Bay issues. (See, for example, today’s story about how Mountain View’s decision to reject Google’s office expansion may impact Google’s bike plan funding.) Streetsblog receives funding from San Mateo County Public Health to cover Peninsula transportation. I’m told they seek funding for same for Santa Clara County.

I’ve devoted a lot more editorial space and time covering South Bay issues over the past year. Should I continue and expand this? Should I start a Silicon Valley bike discussion forum? Would anyone like to help with improved South Bay bike issue coverage?

Don’t forget to visit the Bike Silicon Valley website. Current issues on their home page include the Lincoln Avenue road diet (super important!), funding for bike parking at Caltrain (super important!), and bike lanes on El Camino Real in Menlo Park (super important!).

The tools are in your hands — go and do great things!