People Power

People Power is Santa Cruz County's advocate for human-powered transportation.

We imagine a human-scale world and work to make it a reality through educational efforts, community outreach, and grassroots political lobbying.

Our 300 members come from diverse backgrounds and have a variety of complementary concerns and issues: quieter neighborhoods, safer routes to schools, short- and long-distance bike lanes and paths, auto-free public space, smart public planning, and reduction of pollution, global warming, and wars over oil. These seemingly diverse concerns are all addressed by the movement towards human-powered transportation and away from fossil fuels.

We started in 1991 as a response to the first oil war. Our founders, Jim and Jessica Denevan, organized several bike ride demonstrations including one from Santa Cruz to San Francisco. We developed a ten-year plan for the city and county of Santa Cruz. Since then, much of our vision has become reality, especially in Santa Cruz city including bikes on buses, bike lanes on major streets, contra-flow bike lanes on one-way bottlenecks, and bike parking.

We are currently focused on county-wide issues and projects, particularly the rail trail between Davenport, Felton, and Watsonville, and the containment of a movement to widen Highway 1.