Tag Archive for Sacramento

Sacramento boy fatally shot after winning bike race, memorials for Aussie cyclist Melissa Hopkins, and US ebike incentives

Well, that was unexpected.

Thanks to Robert H for a surprising January donation to last month’s 9th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Even though the fund drive is officially over, donations of any amount are always welcome and appreciated. And help keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

………

14 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch in the fall, as promised; 30 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law.

………

A tragic story got even worse yesterday, when news broke that the killing of a Sacramento boy may have resulted from winning a bike race.

Ten-year old Keith “KJ” Frierson was riding the bike he got for Christmas when he was shot by another ten-year old boy, who allegedly found the gun in his father’s truck when he went to get his dad a pack of cigarettes.

Frierson’s mother alleged the other boy shot him after losing an impromptu bike race to the victim.

The alleged killer’s father, 53-year-old Arkete Davis, had the gun — which was allegedly stolen — despite being prohibited from possessing one as a convicted felon.

He reportedly dumped the gun in a trash can after the shooting to hide his son’s involvement.

The alleged shooter has been charged with murder; his identity has been withheld because of his age.

His father faces a host of charges, including illegal possession of a firearm, criminal storage of a gun, carrying a loaded weapon in a car, child endangerment and acting as an accessory after the fact.

………

The family of Olympic cyclist Melissa Hoskins announced her funeral will be held in her hometown of Perth, Australia, along with a memorial service in Adelaide after the Tour Down Under.

Her husband, former two-time world time trial champ Rohan Dennis, has been charged in the crash that killed her as she reportedly clung to the hood of their pickup while attempting to open the door.

Why she was on the hood has yet to be explained.

………

GCN offers a state-by-state guide to ebike incentive programs throughout the US, including California’s currently moribund program.

The site also alludes to a regional ebike incentive program currently operating in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties. But if that exists, I’m not aware of it.

Meanwhile, a San Francisco man has teamed with a local bike shop to lower the barriers to ebike ownership by launching a new subscription service.

The program, called Friiway, allows ebike-curious people to try quality Stromer or Riese & Müller ebike for several months.

Maybe by then, the state’s incentive program will finally launch.

………

If you haven’t already, sign the petition demanding a public meeting with LA Mayor Karen Bass to listen to the dangers we all face just walking and biking on the streets of LA, as well as the city’s ongoing failure to actually care enough to do anything about it.

Then please share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

Seriously?  A Florida TV station reports two people were killed last week because of ebikes, then describes how both ebike riders were struck by drivers, including one in a hit-and-run. But somehow, ebikes — not cars or the people in them — are the problem.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

An Illinois man faces drug charges after he was run down from behind while riding his bike without a light after dark, then attempted to bury the prescription pills, meth and syringes he was carrying under a nearby tree.

“Gangsters” on bicycles pelted an Indian shop with rocks after arguing with the shopkeeper, despite shaking hands after the dispute.

………

Local 

This is who we share the road with. A 21-year od woman was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon for attempting to ram her car through security barriers blocking access to the Pasadena Rose Parade on New Year’s Day; police say she was suffering from a mental health issue, and credit the barriers with saving the lives of nearby parade spectators.

 

State

Hats off to Hoodline for breaking the shocking news that California bike riders are required to adhere to traffic laws, just like drivers. And yes, that was sarcasm. 

Bike lanes have now been added to Santa Barbara’s increasingly popular State Street Promenade.

Sad news from Fremont, where someone riding a bicycle was killed in a collision with a commuter train.

 

National

A writer for Outside says bikes aren’t always the answer to life’s tragedies. But they help.

Bicycling offers expert advice on how to become a better bicyclist, according to experts. Read it on AOL if the magazine blocks you.

Cycling News says the new 2024 Trek Emonda may have been spotted in the wild.

A Minneapolis man has pled guilty to a single count of criminal vehicular homicide for killing a bike-riding Minnesota priest in 2021, but no word on whether he reached a plea deal or what his sentence might be.

Alexandria, Virginia is launching an ebike incentive program, while a bill to establish a statewide program has been introduced in the legislature. Meanwhile, California’s ebike incentive program remains moribund.

 

International

Toronto’s fire chief offered advice on how to avoid fires sparked by lithium-ion batteries after an ebike battery caught fire in a crowded subway on Sunday, filling the train with smoke.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 87-year old British man is riding and walking 100 miles on a 100-year old military bicycle, complete with decommissioned rifle and grenade, to raise funds for the hospital that saved his eyesight. Although I could maybe pass on the weaponry.

CNN recommends riding the Trans Dinarica Cycle Route, which follows quiet asphalt roads, forest trails and bike paths nearly 2,500-miles through all eight countries of the Western Balkans.

India’s most successful triathlete has established a foundation to provide bicycles to underprivileged girls, to give them freedom, fitness and access to education.

The Philippine government has committed one billion pesos to building new bike lanes. Which isn’t quite as impressive as it sounds, since that’s equal to about $18 million. But still.

 

Finally…

A pair of pedals on the floor does not a mini bike make, let alone a mini-bike.

And that feeling when a lawyer referral site reports a bicyclist was killed, but the bike turns out to be a motorcycle.

And the victim was a mule.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin

Juneteenth celebration at CicLAvia, settlement reached in Kizzee shooting, and 16-to-life for killer DUI bike path driver

Let’s start with a reminder about Sunday’s South LA CicLAvia.

The upcoming CicLAvia, arguably the nation’s largest and most popular open streets event, will run directly down Vermont Ave from Exposition to Century Blvd, before taking a three-block dogleg to the left along Century.

The Father’s Day event will undoubtedly see multiple celebrations of dads along the route, officially or otherwise.

It will also celebrate Monday’s Juneteenth legal holiday, which marks the day enslaved Americans in south Texas finally heard the long-delayed news of their freedom — marking the last of the southern slaves to be freed following the Civil War.

………

The father and aunt of Dijon Kizzee, who was fatally shot by a pair of sheriff’s deputies while riding a bike in South LA three years ago, have reached a conditional settlement in their lawsuit against Los Angeles County.

Settlement terms for the $35 million lawsuit were not announced.

Kizzee was shot 15 times as he tried to flee from the deputies over what began as a traffic stop for riding on the wrong side of the street.

Kizzee allegedly struggled with one of the deputies, striking him in the face and dropping a gun he was carrying; he was shot after he picked it up, even though he was running away from the deputies and didn’t point the gun in their direction.

His shooting came amid the protests over the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, leading many to argue he was killed for biking while Black.

No one was ever charged in the case.

………

The Sacramento driver who killed a 76-year old man while driving drunk on a riverfront bike path has been sentenced to a minimum of 16 years behind bars, with the possibility of life imprisonment.

Michael Dodson was riding his bike on the American River bike path when he was run down by 27-year old Armando Moreno-Rodriguez, who had somehow driven onto the ostensibly carfree pathway.

After crashing into Dodson, Moreno-Rodriguez drove another four miles on the path at speeds up to 35 mph before his car shut down, officials said.

Moreno-Rodriguez was convicted on charges of second-degree murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run involving death, and driving with a suspended license.

He had signed a Watson advisement after three previous due convictions, which states that he could be charged with murder if he killed someone while driving under the influence anytime in the future.

Which he did.

Moreno-Rodriguez had blood alcohol level of .27, over three times the legal limit.

………

Santa Monica Families for Safe Streets sent out a notice that the city’s new 17th Street protected bike lanes could be at risk.

Councilmember Phil Brock is has placed an item on the agenda for this Tuesday’s city council meeting tasking staff with looking into significantly undermining the new 17th St protected bike lane.

Let the City Council know that you support the bike lane by sending them an email.

Thanks to David Drexler for the heads-up.

………

The Ballona Creek bike path will be closed from 8 am to 3 pm on Wednesday and Thursday between Duquesne and Jackson Aves in Culver City.

As a result, last Saturday’s volunteer bush clearing effort was cancelled.

………

Good question.

Will LA’s largely apathetic bike community ever stage a large-scale protest ride on Wilshire Blvd?

Or anywhere else, for that matter?

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

No bias here. An Arizona letter writer complains about scofflaw bike riders blatantly disregarding traffic laws, arguing they make other bicyclists look bad and should all appear in court. Apparently failing to notice the people in the big, dangerous machines speeding, failing to signal lane changes and turns, and watching their phones instead of the street in front of them.

Horrible news from the Baltimore area, where a man is accused of intentionally running down a bike rider with his pickup, then getting out and physically attacking the victim until police arrived to halt the assault; the victim was lucky to escape without life-threatening injuries.

A Vancouver driver apparently tried to drive over a metal bollard thinking it was a plastic car-tickler bendie-post, while driving on what should have been a carfree bikeway.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly. 

A letter writer complains that while older bike riders stopped to help as she walked back to her car after suffering a flat while riding with her toddler, bike riders in their 20s just seemed annoyed that they existed.

A road raging bike rider and van driver engaged in a tug-of-war over the rider’s bicycle, after he had reached into the van and grabbed the driver’s keys before throwing them down the roadway.

………

Local 

This is who we share the road with. A La Puente homeowner was lucky to escape without major damage after two California Highway Patrol officers chasing a motorcyclist collided and crashed into the home’s front yard.

A Santa Monica resident complains that crime, including bike theft, is the beach city’s biggest wave.

 

State

The LA Daily News notes the passage of AB 645 last month, which would establish a speed cam pilot program in California, with just seven dissenting votes in the state Assembly; the bill must pass out of the Senate Transportation Committee by July 14 to stay alive. 

No surprise here, as Black bike riders and pedestrians in San Diego are four times more likely to be stopped by police than white people, just like they are in Los Angeles and the rest of the state.

British Prince Archie is one of us, after the four-year old son of Prince Harry and Megan Markle was given a $250 kids bike with removable training wheels, courtesy of Santa Barbara’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen bike shop.

It takes a major schmuck to steal a $10,000 bicycle from a rider participating in the AIDS/LifeCycle fundraising ride as they passed through Lompoc.

 

National

Your Strava privacy could be at risk.

An Oregon group donated over 400 refurbished bicycles to more than 300 families in need to help get kids on bikes this summer.

A Scottsdale, Arizona council member assures listeners the city “is not run by morons” as he defends a decision to build a road diet, despite opposition from three of the seven members of the city council.

After thieves stole the new ebike a well-known 70-something social and climate activist used as his only form of transportation, his fellow Longmont, Colorado residents have stepped up to replace it, raising over two grand of the $3,500 goal.

Speaking of Juneteenth, a 60-mile Texas bike ride traveled the route the newly freed people took from Galveston to Houston.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts letter writer complains about the city’s Schrödinger’s bike lanes, which appear to be simultaneously safe and unsafe due to the city’s incomplete data.

A Boston neighborhood group gets out the torches and pitchforks over a plan for a protected bike lane on the city’s Back Bay leading to Fenway Park, bizarrely arguing that improving safety for bike riders will somehow make it more dangerous for everyone. Which is exactly the opposite of what studies have shown. 

 

International

Bike theft in Vancouver has dropped 52% since the city began a free bike registration program with 529 Garage in 2015, declining every year since it was adopted.

A new London play uses bicycles to power the production about the disproportionate effects of the climate crisis for marginalized communities.

Fifteen Birmingham, England advocacy groups signed a letter calling for an “end to road violence” after three people riding bicycles were killed in three weeks, including a 12-year old boy; a vigil was held as drivers ignored a nearby red light.

British bikemaker Planet X will live on, after the company was sold in bankruptcy to Britain’s Winlong Garments Ltd.

Your next gravel bike could be an actual Lamborghini, yours for the low, low price of nine grand.

Italy’s transportation minister is calling for mandatory license plates, liability insurance, bike helmets and turn signals for bicycles and e-scooters, putting the burden to improve safety on the victims, rather than doing anything about the big, dangerous machines that actually pose the risk to everyone on the streets; even the UK’s conservative The Spectator calls it a step too far.

An Indian man tells the local press not to write any sad stories about him, as he uses a rented bike to make food deliveries because he can’t afford to buy a bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

The three stage women’s Tour Féminin International des Pyrénées was halted during the final stage, after riders protested the dangers posed by “oncoming traffic, parked cars and trucks blocking roads, hazardous motorbikes, and spectators wandering on the roads.”

 

Finally…

Why settle for magic beans when your bike could run on “intelligent beads” — and with all-wheel drive? We may have to deal with venomous LA drivers, but at least we don’t have to deal with actual rattlesnakes — on city streets, anyway.

And this may be my favorite Banksy-style street art

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Metro votes on NoHo to Pasadena BRT plan today, bike & ped bill passes senate committee, and gun-toting Sac trail driver

Let’s start with a quick reminder about today’s Metro Board meeting.

The board will give a final hearing for the North Hollywood to Pasadena bus rapid transit line, which includes plans for lane reductions, protected bike lanes and a more livable street on currently car-centric Colorado Blvd, based on the Beautiful Boulevard plan developed by Eagle Rock residents. .

Streets For All offers these tips for making a comment during the 10 am meeting.

  • Use these Talking Points put together by the Beautiful Boulevard Coalition (some are specific to Eagle Rock)
  • In order to make comments by phone, you will need to call in using the number and code above. When the item comes up, click #2 (pound-two) to request to comment.
  • You will only have 1 minute for your comment. (It may be helpful to write your comment down and read it aloud to maximize use of your comment time)
  • If you are watching online, please note that the video feed is delayed by 30 seconds and that you will need to mute your video stream when you speak to avoid background noise.

If you can’t call in, they recommend using this email tool from the Beautiful Boulevard coalition to submit your comments to the Metro Board.

I have another commitment, so I’m counting on you to call in for me.

Meanwhile, a writer for the Boulevard Sentinel suggests that only a small group of advocates support the plan, which he says received no opposition because opponents didn’t know about it.

Evidently, they somehow missed all those public meetings where it was discussed, along with the website promoting it.

But other than that, it was a total secret.

………

Glendale state Senator Anthony Portantino’s bill requiring cities to bake bike and pedestrian safety into their community plans is headed to the senate floor after passing both the Transportation and Governance and Finance committees.

SB 932 would force cities to take action to improve safety on the most dangerous corridors; otherwise, anyone injured there would have the right to sue.

Never mind that Los Angeles hasn’t updated its community plan since Ronald Reagan was in the White House.

………

Megan Lynch forwards a horrifying story from Sacramento, where a former San Diego County sheriff’s deputy has allegedly been brandishing a gun while threatening homeless people.

Rich Eaton, who now operates a business in the city, was named by victims in three police reports, in one case reportedly growling “I should put a bullet in the back of your head.”

And he apparently doesn’t let a little thing like a bike trail stop him.

The same victim claimed he saw Eaton brandishing a gun at another homeless man a few days earlier.

“Richard was in his vehicle on the bike trail at the top of the levee and I could see him pointing a gun out of the vehicle window,” the report says.

The other victim said Eaton pointed the gun directly at him as he tried confronting Eaton about driving on a path intended for bikes and pedestrians.

“I could see him holding the guns in his hand with the barrel sticking out the window pointing at me,” the second victim said. “He pulled the gun back and said ‘pussy.’”

Eaton is suing the city for failure to enforce its own laws by allowing homeless people to remain on his property, claiming significant damage and a loss in property value.

Even though the writer for Newsbreak says the value of the property has increased $2.3 million in just the last five years.

According to the story, police dropped the investigation into the incidents, at the discretion of the sergeant.

Maybe they could at least tell him to keep his car the hell off bike and pedestrian paths.

Correction: In the first reference to Rich Eaton, I somehow wrote his last name as Williams, for reasons that will forever escape me. Thanks to Andy Stow for the catch.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. The headline on this story from San Diego’s CBS8 isn’t the least bit misleading, suggesting that the city apologized to Rancho Peñasquitos residents for the new bike lanes on Azuaga Street, when the San Diego director of transportation actually apologized for a lack of effective outreach before they were installed. And yes, that was sarcasm.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

Police in Charlotte, North Carolina announced a crackdown on aggressive young bike riders they accuse of wrecking havoc in the city by riding recklessly and endangering drivers and pedestrians; one is accused of punching a driver in the back of the head, and later shooting into his car, leaving the man paralyzed.

………

Local

This is the cost of traffic violence. Relatives of Monique Munoz, the  32-year-old woman killed by a 17-year old boy in West LA, who slammed into her car after running a red light at over 100 mph in his Lamborghini SUV, have settled a wrongful death lawsuit against his family for a whopping $18.8 million. Which barely seems like enough under the circumstances.

Los Angeles Magazine lists beach cruisers as one of the 60 ways the city has changed the world, placing them between The Beach Boys and breast implants; they were invented by in 1976 by a 21-year old mechanic in his dad’s bike shop. The bikes, that is, not The Beach Boys. Or the breast implants.

Beverly Hills is installing a network of green sharrows on South Santa Monica Boulevard, North Doheny Drive and South Beverly Drive. Apparently in an effort to thin the herd and help drivers improve their aim.

626 Golden Streets returns this weekend with five miles of carfree streets connecting the historic San Gabriel and South Pasadena Mission Districts with downtown Alhambra.

 

State 

Volunteers removed a half ton of overgrown weeds and dry brush from a La Jolla bike path.

The curator of a museum in San Diego’s University Height neighborhood says he doesn’t think it can survive plans for a parking protected bike lane and fewer parking spaces on Park Boulevard. Because evidently, people who ride bicycles never, ever visit museums. Especially not if they’re safer and easier to get to.

Caltrans will reduce PCH to a single lane between Deer Creek Road and Sycamore Canyon Road in Ventura County for road work today; bicyclists will be allowed to mix it up with cars in the single traffic lane, though you may have to wait for traffic moving in the other direction.

 

National

Is anyone really surprised that ebike sales are outpacing sales of electric cars in the US? Ebikes are booming, while sales of electric cars have been lagging. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

Forbes rates their picks for the best bikes to ride anywhere for all kinds of riders. And for once, I can’t argue with their choices.

Charge your ebike while you ride with a hardshell backpack with a built-in solar panel.

Once again, authorities have managed to keep a dangerous driver on the road until it’s too late. A Utah man with four previous DUI convictions faces charges for killing a 13 year old boy when he right hooked the boy’s bike, before fleeing the scene with the kid’s bike still jammed under his truck; police said they could smell the alcohol on his breath when he was arrested at his home later. He should have lost his license permanently after the second conviction.

A new Utah mountain bike trail is bringing glamping to bike touring, with a series of six fully furnished huts capable of housing up to 14 people strategically located along the 190-mile path.

Smart move. An Illinois teacher uses bicycles as a reward for good work and to keep her students attentive and motivated; she hopes to send each one home with a new bike at the end of the year.

NBC News correspondent Stephanie Gosk writes that she took up road cycling during the pandemic, until a violent face plant resulting from a New Jersey pothole took her down hard. But she insists she’s not going to let that stop her.

 

International

Two new high tech, retro styled bike headlamps are raising funds on Kickstarter.

This is why people keep dying on the streets. A British taxi driver walked without a single day behind bars for killing a bike rider after his lawyer argued that the victim’s lack of hi-viz and flashing lights made him hard to see — even though he had steady front and rear lights and reflectors on his bike.

An 18-year old Indian man has developed the country’s first artificial inteligence-powered bike counter, complete with AI-sensor camera and a machine learning-based algorithm

 

Competitive Cycling

The 13th Annual Redlands PossAbilities Para-cycle stage race rolled alongside the Redlands Classic last week, using the same courses for the four stage race; national paracycling time trial and road cycling champ national Owen Daniels dominated the series, finishing first in the paraplegic category.

  

Finally…

Now you can be the proud owner of Elliot’s milk crate-basket bicycle from E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, although you’ll have to supply your own homesick alien. Maybe once you become mayor, you should stop punching teenage constituents in the back of the head.

Just a suggestion.

And you know you’re a bicyclist when you see a picture of a young Ann-Margret, and stare at her bike.

https://twitter.com/CoolBikeArt1/status/1519526824832774144

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

Bike riding Sacramento amnesiac identified, calling out Manhattan Beach hypocrisy, and bikeshare for circus bears

One quick note before we get started.

It’s my birthday this weekend.

One I’ve tried to put off as long as possible, because it’s one of the big ones — marking the official demarkation between angry young man and crotchety get-off-my-lawn curmudgeon.

So do me a favor.

Ride just a little safer and more defensively for the next few days. Because we don’t want to ruin your weekend, or mine.

And I want to see you back here on Monday.

Even if I will be a crotchety old fart.

Photo by Karolina Grabowska from Pexels.

………

Good news from Sacramento, where the man who lost his memory after he was hit by a driver while riding his bike, and had no idea who he is, has finally been identified thanks to tips from the public.

Unfortunately, we may never learn who he is, though, because the hospital won’t identify him, citing patient privacy.

And yes, it’s yet another reminder to always carry some form of ID with you when you ride.

………

This pretty much puts it in perspective.

Manhattan Beach commuters insisted on keeping Vista Del Mar a deadly throughway, while following a completely different set of rules in their own community.

………

This tweet from the UK kind of sums up the current state of bike commuting almost anywhere.

https://twitter.com/TheCycIist/status/1441020478978764809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1441020478978764809%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-23-september-2021-286571

………

Here’s your chance to be a somewhat different kind of bike messenger.

And you can still use the bike lane.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. A Yorkshire, England county councilor insisted that people on bicycles “do drive motorists somewhat insane,” and are “making themselves a great number of potential enemies and therefore dangerous situations.” And as an added bonus, trotted out the old myth that bike riders don’t pay for the roads.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

A 19-year old Missouri man was busted for vandalizing homes by riding a bicycle around his own neighborhood with a backpack full of spray paint, and marking walls with phrases like “Blood Gang” and “Death to America.”

An op-ed writer says the only things keeping Brussels, Belgium from being a pedestrian-friendly city is a long list of problems, from bad drivers to embarrassingly reckless bicycle riders. (Emphasis hers.)

………

Local

Long Beach is finally getting around to building the long-delayed Wrigley Greenbelt Project along DeForest Avenue from 26th Way to 34th Street, including what appears to be a meandering bike path.

Residents of remote Del Sur in the Antelope Valley are outraged after their hand-built BMX track was plowed under by the city.

 

State

Encinitas is the latest California city to adopt Vision Zero. Let’s hope they take it seriously, unlike a certain megalopolis to the north we could name.

San Diego belatedly installs car-tickler bendie posts along the bike lane through Balboa Park, too late to save the lives of a bike-riding woman and a scooter-riding man in recent months. But at least they’re doing something.

A writer for San Francisco Streetsblog says traffic engineers and DMVs need to learn from the aviation industry how to make Vision Zero work.

Life is cheap in Contra Costa County, where prosecutors have apparently concluded that the killing od long-time NFL coach Greg Knapp was no big deal, declining to file criminal charges against the driver who swerved into the San Ramon bike lane Knapp was riding in to run him down from behind; Knapp died five days later. More proof, if we needed it, that a little stripe of white paint doesn’t keep drivers out. And that authorities don’t always care when it doesn’t.

In a case of corporate Biking While Black, a Google product manager says he was stopped by security while biking across the company’s massive Mountain View campus, because they couldn’t believe he worked there.

 

National

Cycling News explains the difference between a hybrid and a gravel bike.

The Washington Post looks at efforts by Congress to combat climate change by encouraging alternative transportation, including a proposed $750 tax rebate for buying an ebike. Although if they were really serious about fighting climate change, they wouldn’t have reduced the proposed $1,500 rebate down to a paltry $750. Especially when e-car buyers get ten times that amount.

Smart Cities says “we can’t forget public transit, walking and cycling in the push to decarbonize transportation,” adding that preserving private vehicle use won’t move us to a more equitable transportation future.

CleanTechnica wants to know why bikes are booming in the US, while sales of electric motorcycles are stagnant.

A new PeopleForBikes campaign encourages commuters to fight climate change one ride at a time.

A commercial trucker’s website says you can thank bike riders, along with early “automobilists”, for today’s highways.

Newsweek says Vision Zero is gaining speed across the US. Unfortunately, so are most drivers.

Spy considers the best bike gloves for every season.

A pair of kindhearted Massachusetts cops dig into their own pockets to buy a new bike for a six-year old boy after his was stolen for the second time in weeks.

A Cambridge, Massachusetts group has refurbished and given away over 340 bicycles since it was founded last summer.

New York’s bicycle delivery riders won first-of-their-kind protections from the city council, guaranteeing them bathroom breaks, minimum delivery payments and the right to keep whatever tips they earn.

A Savannah, Georgia physician and columnist reflects on life’s priorities, and the “vast amounts of irrelevant garbage that distracts us from the wonder of life’s everyday miracles” after surviving a hit-and-run collision while riding his bike.

 

International

The Guardian wants to know why other big bike brands aren’t following Trek’s lead by tracking their environmental impact. And then doing something about it.

Tragic news from Ontario, Canada, where a man was found dead in ditch next to his bicycle; he is believed to be the 81-year old man who went missing after leaving home on a bike ride a week ago.

A Canadian op-ed writer pens a loving ode to the amazing bicycle.

He gets it. A UK letter writer says it’s angry and selfish driving that kills people on bicycles, not the actions of the victims.

An Irish woman was convicted of dangerous driving for running over a bike rider following a collision; the woman, who was driving alone despite only having a learner’s permit, said she panicked after the crash and hit the accelerator instead of the brakes.

Belgian ebike maker Cowboy is coming to America, after rapidly becoming one of the most popular brands in Europe, although they’re only making one model available in the US for now, at an early bird price of $1,990.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as the Croatian town of Vodnjan has built walking and bike trails to explore the city’s many churches, some several centuries old, as well as hundred of artworks and holy relics dating back to the fifth century. Okay, maybe just my bucket list. But still.

A man in Bangalore, India is lucky to be alive after he was knocked off an overpass when a motorcyclist sideswiped his bicycle; he survived by hanging onto some loose wires dangling over the side.

Hundreds of Mumbai bike riders took to the streets on two wheels to celebrate World Car Free Day.

 

Competitive Cycling

Road.cc says no, the pros aren’t switching to disc brakes just to get you to buy a new bike.

Cycling Weekly looks at UCI’s new gravel bike series, as well as a new ‘cross format and the relatively new sport of Snow Bike.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the nice cops explain you’ve been driving over a mile on walking and biking trails. At last, an ebike with an attached sidecar for your corgi…uh, dog.

And it’s about time Moscow had a bikeshare for circus bears.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Morning Links: Lime wins LA approvals, other cities fight climate change while LA does nothing, and snipping Ottolock

Lime has become the second company to win official approval to deploy scooters in the City of Los Angeles. 

The company follows Uber-owned JUMP, which received its permit a month ago

However, the hopes of many Angelenos that Lime would bring its dockless ebikes to the streets of LA may remain unfulfilled, at least for now. 

This is the press release Lime sent out yesterday announcing the approval

Scooter photo from Lime website.

………

Leave it to Minnesotans to show LA’s supposedly progressive leaders how to deal with traffic and climate change.  

As part of the city’s new housing and transportation plan, Minneapolis is eliminating parking minimums throughout the city

But that’s just the beginning. 

The plan calls for discouraging new surface parking lots, and prohibits new gas stations and drive-throughs. It also bans auto-oriented land use, such as auto repair shops, near transit stations, along with even stricter parking restrictions.

And in a move that would send Los Angeles NIMBYs running to their lawyers, it calls for increased density near traffic, and allows triplex apartments in every neighborhood — even those currently zoned for single family homes. 

The goal is to — wait for it — cut the number of local driving trips by 40%, while reducing emissions 80% in the next 30 years.

Compare that to the current Los Angeles policy, which is to hope that self-driving electric cars will somehow magically save us from having to make any tough choices. 

Good luck with that. 

These are all actions LA should take as quickly as possible, since California is already failing to meet its climate change goals.

And would, if the actions of our “progressive” leaders equalled their pro-environment, anti-climate change words. 

Instead, they’ll continue to fiddle while Rome burns in fear of further aggravating already angry drivers, and the dwindling number of homeowners who can actually afford a million-dollar single family starter home. 

Never mind making the hard choices the city, and our world, demand. 

………

A little closer to home, Sacramento followed the Minneapolis model by voting to ban new gas stations, drive-through restaurants and auto repair shops within a quarter mile of light rail stations, while requiring a conditional use permit with a half mile. 

The city will also eliminate off-street parking requirements within a quarter mile, and loosen restrictions in a half-mile radius around transit stations. 

Meanwhile, here in Los Angeles, 

<crickets>

………

Evidently, the popular Kickstarter sensation the Ottolock may be pretty and convenient, but may not protect your bike from thieves

In fact, it can apparently be cut through in just seconds. 

………

It may not be the Twelve Days of Christmas yet.

But it is first day of the last 12 days of the 4th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive, as we begin the final countdown on our year-end fundraiser!

Please take a few moments to join the 34 others who’ve already given their hard-earned money to support SoCal’s best source for bike news and advocacy, and help keep this site coming your way every day.

You can donate via PayPal, or through Zelle with the banking app that’s already on your phone, using the email address you’ll find on this link.

Anything you can give helps, and is truly and deeply appreciated, no matter how large or small. 

Or if you own a business, consider buying an ad on BikinginLA to show your support, while you spread your message to thousands of bike riders in Southern California and around the world. Then write off the full cost on your taxes next year!

………

Local

LA County approved 58 miles of multi-use, hiking, mountain-biking and equestrian trails in the Santa Susana Mountains near Santa Clarita. 

Bicycling looks at the international manhunt that belatedly brought Andrea Dorothy Chan Reyes to justice in the hit-and-run death of Agustin Rodriguez, Jr. as he rode to work in Whittier nearly two years ago. 

CiclaValley continues his tale of ‘cross crashes and victory

State

San Diego bike advocates cautiously support the creation of a new mobility board that combines the previous bicycle advisory and parking advisory boards. Yes, parking.  

The planned Complete Streets makeover of San Francisco’s Market Street gets a $15 million infusion from the feds

Marin residents debate whether to allow ebikes on the trails recognized as the birthplace of mountain biking, as bike riders explain how the bikes allowed them to return to the activity they love, despite advancing age, illness and injuries. The local paper sort ofendorses approving ebikes, while saying safety is paramount

Napa bicyclists are giving back with their time and money to help maintain the Napa Valley Vine Trail.

National

People For Bikes calls for mobility for all

Steve Carell is one of us, describing his “fun fan encounter” with the woman who ran him down from behind on his bike. Eighty-eight-year old Gene Hackman is one of us, too.

Clean Technica says urban planners should ignore the reactionary anti-ebike steps taken by Israel and New York, because ebikes offer strong benefits to cities and counties

Pink Bike considers the future of bike industry trade shows in a wake of Interbike’s announcement it won’t hold a show in 2019. Or maybe ever. 

No surprise here. Oregon’s $15 tax on the sale of all new bicycles over $200 is bringing in far less revenue than expected, collecting less than half of the projected $2.1 million

This is why people continue to die on our streets. After a 92-year old holocaust survivor was killed by an Oregon motorist, the local police rushed to blame the victim and exonerate the driver.

The Seattle Times endorses plans to complete the missing link in a 20-mile bike trail with a protected bike lane in the public right-of-way, despite alternative facts from area business owners. 

A Washington man who helped preserve the area’s last undeveloped natural space will be honored with a permanent memorial where he died after suffering an aneurism while mountain biking. 

The usual debate over bike lanes and road diets rears its ugly head in Colorado Springs CO, as supporters and opponents confront the topic at a city council meeting

‘Tis the season. Residents at a Wisconsin retirement home received two three-wheeled pedicabs from the Cycling Without Age program as an early holiday present. 

Boston bike riders want to city to cancel plans to remove flex posts that mark a protected bike lane on a bridge over the Charles River; the city plans to take them out to make it easier to salt and plow the bridge for motorists. 

The usual battle over who owns the streets is heating up in Harrisburg PA, as the city installs a number of projects intended to slow traffic and give more space back to local residents, bicyclists and pedestrians. 

International

A lawyer and former paramedic describes what it’s like to be on the receiving end of emergency treatment after experiencing the dreaded death wobble while descending on his bike at 40 mph. 

Not only did the authors of Vancouver’s Modacity bring their own Christmas tree home by bicycle, they’re collecting photos of other people around the world doing the same thing

Victoria, British Columbia asks the court to dismiss a lawsuit from the Canadian Federation of the Blind alleging that the design of the city’s protected bike lanes violate the human rights of sightless people. 

London plans to remove parking to make room for the first of the city’s cycle superhighways in South London.  

No bias here. A British paper automatically concludes a bike rider was at fault in a road rage dispute with a London cab driver who accused him of riding off after crashing into a pedestrian. From what I can see, they both come off as a pair of total jerks

The UK’s Cycling magazine offersa reminder that booze and bicycling don’t mix

Oslo crowdsources traffic data using children biking and walking to school. And discovers it works better than expected. 

Bikeshare comes to the streets of Tehran

Syrian social movement has gotten over 4,000 women on bicycles, despite harassing catcalls and a country disrupted by civil war. 

This is the cost of traffic violence. The curator of South Africa’s world-famous Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden died after he was hit by a car while riding his bike earlier this month. 

A pair of ill-prepared roadies take part in The Pioneer trail race in New Zealand, part of the grueling Cape Series. 

No shit. The widow of an Australian bicyclist complains about the inadequate charges against a road raging driver who caused his death after getting out of his car to confront him; he faces a maximum of a lousy two years for three traffic offenses. 

Competitive Cycling

In a surprise announcement, British broadcaster Sky is pulling the plug on its sponsorship of Team Sky after next season, leaving the future of the cycling’s most dominant team up in the air.  Meanwhile, the BBC asks why now and what’s next?

As Sky leaves, McLaren moves in. The English Formula One giant will become half owner of Vincenzo Nibali’s Bahrain-Merida team.

Rouleur continues its interview with cycling great Bernard Hinault

Finally…

Forget Rapha; now you can wear Peter Sagan.  Bicycling’s most WTF moments of 2018.

And now you’ll be able to get a safety warning from the driverless car that’s about to run you down. 

………

Thanks to Michael W for his generous donation to the BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive to help keep this site coming to your screen every morning!