So much for the $91 million we were promised for Vision Zero.
Just days after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced he was proposing that amount for Vision Zero in next year’s budget, it turns to be yet another disappointment.
Instead, the newly released budget contains $90 million for all street safety improvements, which includes Vision Zero and any other street improvements. And while it’s a significant increase, that’s up from $78 million for street improvements in last years budget, not the $27 million that was budgeted for Vision Zero, as we were led to believe.
As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Meanwhile, the budget does call for $71 million to repave LA’s broken streets, and another $41 million for sidewalk repairs.
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The bruising battle for safer streets goes on in Pasadena, with a public workshop schedule for May 9th to consider plans for a protect bike lane on Union Street.
Greg Gunther of the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has put together this practically perfect primer for the project:
Protected bike lanes (PBL) are a simple concept with powerful benefits.
- In essence, they’re like sidewalks for bikes
- They put a protective buffer between drivers and bike riders
- They make it pleasant for anyone to bike – just as sidewalks make it pleasant for anyone to walk
- Increase safety
- 89% fewer bicyclist injuries
- Reduce driving stress by bringing predictability to the street
- Less sidewalk riding reduces pedestrian injuries
- Promote economic vitality
- Business revenue increases along PBL routes (NYC DOT, Measuring the Street, New Metrics for 21st Century Streets)
- Bicycle lanes increase the value of nearby property
Why do PBLs Matter?
- With increased safety, comes increased ridership (Do you think that biking in Pasadena feels unsafe? You’re not alone… )
- Most surveyed expressed an interest in riding a bike more often, but resist because it feels unsafe (2012 – Jennifer Dill)
- Safe places to ride increase ridership – protected bike lanes have shown to create a proven spike in bicycle traffic (2014 – Monsere, et al)
- With increased ridership, comes universal benefits
- Reduces automobile traffic (Each bicycle rider is one less auto driver)
- Reduces air pollution (Hey L.A. – you’re still TOPS in the nation!)
- Improves personal and public health (How many steps did you get in today?)
- Union Street is a major east-west corridor in Pasadena’s Central District – when combined with the proposed Bike Boulevard on Holliston Avenue we will have a network that connects Caltech, Pasadena City College with the Playhouse District, the Civic Center, Old Pasadena and the Gold Line
- Current traffic volumes are far below the street’s capacity
- Current plans for the street also include multiple pedestrian enhancements to make the entire street segment safer for everyone
- In the future, there are also plans under discussion that would create a “link” restoring historic connections between the Central District and the Arroyo – after that, watch out!
- The Arroyo Seco Bike Path already provides more than 2 miles of protected bikeway from South Pasadena through Highland Park to Mt. Washington
- Future improvements are slated to connect downstream to the Los Angeles River – bringing Downtown L.A. within biking reach across comfortable and safe protected lanes
- Make sure you weigh in to voice your preferences
- At minimum, Visit the project website and share your thoughts http://bit.ly/UnionStProtectedBikeLanes
- Even more help: Send an e-mail that registers your support to Rich Dilluvio [ RDilluvio@cityofpasadena.net ]
- First Prize: Attend the City’s Community Workshop
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- Wednesday, May 9th – 6:30 to 8:30pm
- Pasadena Presbyterian Church – 585 Colorado Blvd (@ Madison) – Gamble Lounge
- At minimum, Visit the project website and share your thoughts http://bit.ly/UnionStProtectedBikeLanes
“The best thing about a bike-friendly city isn’t the bikes – it’s the city!”
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David Drexler took part in the rescheduled Blumenfield Bike Ride through Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s 3rd Council District in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday.
According to Drexler,
It was a great ride with all streets closed by LADP for us so we did not have to stop. I highly recommend it — lots of bike advocates were there and it was very well run.
He also reports the councilman’s wife and two kids were along for the ride, and Blumenfield told him they regularly ride as a family.
There may be hope for this city yet.
Councilman Blumenfield addresses the crowd
A good sized group gathers as Blumanfield prepares to lead the ride
It always helps to have a police escort
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Richard Fox sends word of a new Facebook group for casual SoCal bicyclists.
A new Facebook group has been created for casual cyclists to share favorite rides, announce events, and develop ideas to improve cycling facilities throughout SoCal. Casual cyclists are those who prefer to ride at slow to moderate speeds on trails and low-traffic roads with bike lanes, or even sidewalks when roads seem dangerous to ride on. Most public cycling organizations and bike clubs are composed of road cyclists, racers, and commuters that lobby for safer roadways. We also want safer roadways, but we prefer riding on bike trails away from traffic altogether. This group joins together all the SoCal regions so that we can share experiences beyond our boundaries and help each other in our lobbying efforts. Follow or join at: www.facebook.com/groups/430036694076594/.
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Local
Great piece from LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, who spends a day at a South LA bike shop to get a feel for the city’s spandex-free bike culture. Thanks to Alan Ginsberg for the heads-up.
A fundraiser organized by an LAPD officer raised over $5,000 for the family of fallen teenage cyclist Sebastian Montero; police are looking for his bike that was stolen two months before his death so they can return it to his mother.
The AP offers a brief report on Sunday’s CicLAvia.
Somehow we missed this one last week, as Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward and Bikes Belong founder and former Long Beach Bicycle Czar Charlie Gandy talk bike politics and environmentalism on Bike Talk.
State
It’s a well-deserved seven years behind bars for the 18-year old driver who killed a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student as he rode his bike to class in a drunken hit-and-run. Cases like this are doubly tragic; not only is one life needlessly ended and another ruined; but two families shattered.
National
c|net provides your guide to dockless e-scooters.
A new documentary about the faith and determination required to compete in the Race Across America will screen in theaters across the US on May 22nd.
Arizona’s Pima County offers a $2.1 million settlement to a bicyclist who was seriously injured on a bike lane described as a death trap.
The Illinois legislature is considering bills that would require drivers to learn the Dutch Reach, add bike questions to the driver’s test, and teach bike safety to school children.
A Massachusetts paper says the best way to celebrate spring is from behind the handlebars. Something we can probably all agree on.
A Brooklyn letter writer gets it, saying you don’t have to ride a bike to know that carving two blocks of police parking out of a protected bike lane is a mistake.
The same day the LA area celebrated its latest CicLAvia, New York opened up 30 blocks of the Great White Way to bikes and pedestrians for a two-mile carfree open streets event.
If they can do it there, we can do it anywhere. New York finally gives the boot to cars in Central Park. Raising hopes that maybe one day we can see cars banished from Los Angeles city parks, including Griffith Park. Because parks are for people, not cars.
International
A 60-year old Canadian woman is riding solo through 5,000 miles of the US and Canada.
No irony here. A British bus driver spent the day training to share the road with bicyclists, then got hit by a bus while riding his bike back home; police say the cell phone in his back pocket may have saved him from paralysis.
Nice video from the UK, where a man surprised his 88-year old father, a former cycling champ, with an ebike and swiftly got him back to racing form.
A 77-year old Scottish man spent three weeks shoveling dirt and debris from three miles of roadway to make it safe for bike riders, after being told the local government wouldn’t get around to it until summer.
Who says politicians are useless? A member of the Scottish parliament rescued an 81-year old bike rider who accidentally rode into a canal.
A Bollywood actress complains that five-star hotels don’t accept bicycles. But rides her single speed bike to them anyway.
Police in New Zealand are taking to their bikes after recognizing what the rest of us already knew — that bikes give you a better view of what motorists are really doing in their cars.
Tragic story from New Zealand, where a mountain biker has spent the last two months in a hospital paralyzed from the neck down except for a little movement in her arms after she was struck by careless trail rider, and calls for better bike rider behavior.
The killer hit-and-run epidemic has spread to law-abiding Japan.
Competitive Cycling
Spoiler alert: Skip this section if you’re still planning to watch yesterday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
Cycling Weekly provides five talking points from Liège-Bastogne-Liège to impress everyone around the water cooler, who probably never heard of it.
Luxembourg’s Bob Jungels won the men’s race, while Michael Woods became the first Canadian to podium in Liège-Bastogne-Liège; Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen won the women’s race for the second year in a row.
Italy’s Alberto Bettiol will miss the Giro after breaking his left clavicle and a rib in the race, while women’s great Marianne Vos suffered a broken collarbone in a collision with another cyclist.
A semi-pro New Zealand cyclist is showing signs of improvement after being roused from a drug-induced coma following a collision that shattered his upper body.
Everything you always wanted to know about Lance Armstrong but probably didn’t care enough to ask.
Finally…
Be vewy, vewy quiet, we’re hunting KOMs. Why buy an ebike when you can just build one yourself?
And if you’re going to ride a bike naked in the middle of a thunderstorm, fasten balloons securely to protect your modesty.
Although if you actually had any, you probably wouldn’t be doing it to begin with.
Councilmember Bob Blumenfields Bike Ride through 3rd Council District, reminds me back when CD4 Tom LaBonge used to sponsor summer bike rides thru the various parts of his district. Was a great way to meet neighbors & other cycling fans + visit various parts of the city. He did it for a number of years and the group got bigger every year.
While riding to brunch with my wife on the Reseda Protected Bike Lane (or cycletrack in Europe). We passed several people riding their bikes on the sidewalk.
How are we going to convince the city to build more protected bike lanes if people continue to ride on the sidewalk right next to the bike lane. It’s enough to drive me barking mad.
Riders on sidewalks next to a perfectly good bike lane (or riding salmon in a bike lane) can be so frustrating! However, I don’t want to spend my life yelling at them, although I do some times. Instead, I imagine that as gridlock slowly moves more people onto bikes, it will be more obvious that riders will need to follow the rules of the road. I expect the transition to be complete by the time I’m 320 years old!
There are a few golden rules in politics. The first is dont listen to what politicians SAY, just watch closely what they DO. The other corollary is that there are two rules for politicians. First …get elected. Second …get re-elected. Everything else is categorized under those two rules.