It may be the last gasp for much-needed bike lanes on Santa Monica Blvd in the Biking Black Hole.
The LACBC calls on everyone to attend today’s Beverly Hill’s City Council study session on the proposed bike lanes, or if you can’t make it, email councilmembers in support of the bike lanes largely unsupported by the council.
As usual, Better Bike provides an in-depth analysis of both the roadway and city politics, saying it looks like the fix is in. And not in a good way.
I wonder if the city can be sued for failing to consider the needs of all road users as required by Federal law and the state’s requirement for Complete Streets (pdf). Especially if state and/or Federal funds will be used in the planned reconstruction of the streets.
Now that’s one Kickstarter I’d pitch in for.
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Local
A 27-year old bike rider was shot to death in South Los Angeles early Monday morning. Do we even need to mention what an incredible waste of human life that is?
A writer for City Watch says a less car-dependent Los Angeles is a fantasy. Then again, he’s probably right if we ignore alternatives and focus strictly on driving, even if the cars are driverless.
CD 1 Councilmember Gil Cedillo appears to sandbag his own street design public meetings for Northeast LA by failing to give sufficient public notice for anyone to actually attend.
State
A passer-by — or driver-by in this case — comes upon a Cypress bike collision, and is told the rider survived only because he or she wore a helmet — without noting what injuries the victim did or didn’t suffer, and whether a helmet could have actually made a difference. And never mind the inappropriate photo of a happy, helmet-clad kid.
Bicyclists ask for more space on Caltrain cars.
A Modesto letter writer says drivers have an obligation to stick around if they hit someone — although the driver who admitted hitting him on purpose actually did.
National
A new book looks at the history of Bicycles in American Highway Planning from 1969 to 1991, when an emphasis on motor vehicles marginalized bike infrastructure and set bicycling back 40 years.
The much loved Urban Velo succumbs to the times and ceases publication.
Bike friendly Portland encourages people to ride to the airport; if that was a viable option here, maybe we wouldn’t have such disastrous traffic tie-ups every holiday. We can dream, can’t we?
Nice. A non-profit organization founded by a Seattle man has given over 2,000 bicycles to survivors of human trafficking around the world.
Cherokee Schill, the Kentucky cyclist arrested for riding her bike in the traffic lane, has filed to run for Lt. Governor of the seemingly bicycling-challenged state.
International
We have met the enemy, and he is us. Brit bike scribe Carlton Reid illustrates how our paved roads — and yes, the cars on them — were begot by bicyclists.
Must have thin skinned police in Italy, as the cops who conducted the possibly flawed investigation into the death of cycling legend Marco Pantani threaten to sue the press for besmirching their reputations.
A new emphasis on cycling has helped change Rwanda’s international image.
Now that’s more like it. Singapore commits to becoming a bicycling nation by 2030, but a former official says it can be done in just six years.
Finally…
The perfect gift for your ultra-competitive toddler. A Korean company says it’s developed the first truly functional flat-proof bike tire.
And as if drivers didn’t have enough trouble seeing us, Russia’s Tinkoff-Saxo pro team unveils new camo training uniforms.
Well think of the Titanic deck… musicians playing, everyone else not having as good a time, sort of like flying ahead of a hydrogen bomb, an excellent way to live as long as possible, the time flys but is not shorter as we bike or beethoven. So it wasnot surprising when i learned a music store was importing modern nanofoamish tires to enhance the folding frame instruments for riding they sell as well. An ex of mine had bought. A lot of bassoon reeds from her favorite college professor, but ended up abandoning them and her bike to charge thousands renting s car a few days…we must do better, and with the ikes of Tsnnus can play most beatifully for the sustainability in not just promise. I wonder how many watts it takes to go the extra three percent sppeed or in same time distance even more now… probably solar availabke power woukd be enough,
So no more flatts or need to leave bike outside or wear sunscreen fir just hundreds. Thats lije a car diagnostic fee,
And of course the price of the wheels will drop even faster then solar shade watts have or can. But for now,,, holy cow! La already loves brightly colored wheels on fixies, now hub motored, folding, infinitiely transmissioned or just wuaintly derailered or not we can hav the turnkey vehicle experience like never before without the tons or keys or lock…expect more laws to force us not to bike as we want to … like almost all of us no are waking up tk.. Our streets. This aint China or N korea, but thanks Korea for 29 kph on 30 kph caloric spin for get this, about 300 hours per pair or a penny every two km right? Bike shops charge more to park at for new tubes then that!
It’s worth mentioning that a co-author of the city watch story is Joel Kotkin, a long time defender of suburban sprawl and auto mobility. Aside from making an excellent point about lowering bus fares and increasing bus service (a point on which I absolutely agree), the rest of the piece seems stuck in a 1950s vision of what works–widen roads for cars, watch driving and sprawl increase and then claim that people who don’t have any other choice prefer long commutes from their jobs to their far-flung suburbs. Oh, and in Kotkin’s suburban utopia, forget about bikeable roads for any but the most hard core riders.
Ms. Schill was recruited by the woukd be future democratic gov, a former gov engineer who also turned her politically off of remaining republican. Working at Subway alone, nor being jailed, did not help her see how personaly treasonous stayi.g nonprogressive was in the way retiring young did for Mr Young. Congestion is the problem , more for republicans and those who destroy our health and planet by fixing it do so for the paycheck or out of stupidity beyond that. We must stop being so gullible, we must i.vest i. Scjba ta.ks and choose the point of greatest vulnerability to occupy the most area in rush hour, not the contrary for a free Capacino or points to a raffle for our name to be thrown in the greenwash. Slow the cars down and the victims inside then can best escape. Slower means fewer and the myth of smog is not easally debunked as avoided by greater throughout perhaps but is our greatest fraud and can be seen in so called ‘smart’ car sizing. Shorter cars mean more drivers and nondriver deaths and asthma heart attack stroke casualties. If you must drive alone take turns using the longest schoolbus you can lease to do it and keep as many others from fitting there dumb asses onto the supposed to. Be for state to state highway air quality destroying network. We need to vklunteer to drive such busses around all day long so enough of them will tip the scales a.nd that means parking them only in the way and for free as possible.
Here we cherish women who designed interchanges and only leave ghe .amesof those fallen in there construction not from there blight to not burn such fiends every time. We find ourselves stacked three or four or more high like 9n a not rolling but blood powered coaster for the agony not amusement of it.
Women no longer hav to be so evil nor only make sandwiches to get ahead. I salute her for stepping as a lieutenant even. If to a better man. The price of poverty wages for more and more of us is revolution. An era where people not only car dealers can matter is for us to congest our way to. May it be swiftly brought.
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