Let’s offer a round of congratulations to Eli Akira Kaufman, the new Executive Director of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition.
Although you may know it better as the LACBC.
Kaufman takes over an organization that has spent the last few years in transition, following the departures of former LACBC Executive Directors Tamika Butler and Erik Jansen in just the past 18 months.
Hopefully he’ll be able to steady the bike coalition, and provide the stable leadership the LACBC desperately needs as the LA area’s leading voice for bicyclists, at a time when our streets have been in turmoil due to a lack of support at city hall.
The simple fact is, we need strong, effective leadership from the LACBC, in the halls of city hall, in the media and on the streets. And the LACBC needs strong, effective leadership in order to provide it.
So let’s all pat him on the back and wish him well.
And tell him to roll up his sleeves and get down to work.
………
Speaking of Executive Directors, pedestrian advocacy group LA Walks is in the market for a new one.
Current ED Emilia Crotty is stepping away after three and a half years to be closer to her family on the East Coast.
She’s been a strong advocate for safer streets for people on foot, and all other road users, and will be missed.
………
If you’ve lost a Diamondback Sorrento recently, you may be in luck.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on.
Portland police are looking for whoever has been tossing nails into a bike lane, using different kinds of nails at different times of day.
A separated bike lane in New York’s East Village was sabotaged with broken glass, as well as graffiti calling for a return of street parking.
………
We mentioned earlier this week that New Mexico State Rep. Angelica Rubio is biking across the state to attend the opening session of the legislature.
Now Bike Santa Fe’s Brian Kreimendahl forwards word that she’ll be introducing a bill to mandate a five-foot passing distance in the state.
The bill also allows drivers to briefly cross the center line when safe to do so to pass someone on a bike, a provision California Governor Jerry Brown vetoed in an earlier version of our state’s three-foot law.
Let’s hope she arrives safely at the legislature; the safety of all the state’s bike riders could depend on it.
And let’s hope someone in California’s legislature follows her example, and re-introduces the provision Brown killed.
………
Local
CicLAvia’s annual pLAy day in LA fundraiser is scheduled for the afternoon of Sunday, February 10th.
A writer for UCLA’s Daily Bruin says Elon Musk’s tunnels will only benefit the people who can afford an all-electric autonomous vehicle, and he’d be better off donating the money to the mayor’s Twenty-Eight by ’28program to build road, transit and bike projects before the upcoming LA Olympics.
The good news is Monterey Park has installed a new buffered bike lane on Riggin Street. The bad news, it’s just over half a mile long, giving way to sharrows on either end. As we’ve said before, the arrows in sharrows are only there to help drivers improve their aim.
State
California has finally revised CEQA rules to eliminate LOS (Level of Service) standards that considered bus lanes and bike racks bad for the environment, although the new rules don’t go into effect until next year.
San Diegans are invited to learn how to fix their bikes and make jewelry from bike parts.
A Modesto man was stabbed by a man on a bicycle while delivering newspapers in a “bad neighborhood.”
National
An Alaskan man was set on his path to become a stuntman stand-in for Kevin Bacon and Keanu Reeves when a truck ran his bike off the road, wrecking it while he walked away injury-free.
PC Magazine tries out Nordic Track’s new Virtual Reality stationary bike at CES in Las Vegas, and says it’s a fun workout — if you don’t throw up.
A Kansas man has pled guilty to second degree murder for intentionally running down a man riding a bicycle, claiming the man had struck his mother with a lead pipe.
A Lubbock TX website says the growing number of e-scooters are increasing the need for bike lanes in the central city.
A Chicago letter-writer tells drivers to learn the Dutch Reach and save a life.
A Minneapolis bike writer says there’s still hope, even though the theme of the past year was conflict between drivers and bicyclists.
Two years after an Ohio teacher crowdfunded enough money to buy every kid at her school a new bicycle, the project has morphed into a nonprofit to give kids bikes, as well as other “joyful” things like Halloween costumes.
A Boston letter writer says an auto-first policy is a road to ruin.
Massachusetts plans to get more bicyclists on the roads by focusing on improving safety and accessibility.
New York’s TransAlt advocacy group asks the city’s leaders for a Bike Mayor like London has,. Although we need it here in Los Angeles a lot more than they do.
A DC writer takes a deep dive into the liability issues surrounding e-scooters, after she ends up in the ER when the one she was riding came to a rapid and unexpected stop.
Life is cheap in Louisiana. The widow of a fallen East Baton Rouge councilmember says a lousy 12 days behind bars for the driver who killed him and injured another man as they rode their bikes is a perversion of justice. No shit.
International
The Guardian offers suggestions from around the world on how to encourage urban bicycling, from providing free bicycles to putting spikes on drivers’ steering wheels.
Road.cc goes to the source and gets the inside scoop on how to protect your bicycle from a professional bike thief.
After an English bike rider complains about a close pass by a bus driver, a cop tells him maybe he should drive a Hummer.
A new British bike helmet promises to protect your skull and grey matter even if you get run over by a bus. And remains wearable after surviving 200 impacts.
This is who we share the roads with, UK edition. A drunk van driver smashed into the home of a 92-year old woman, barely missing two young schoolgirls on bicycles, after careening through the town.
Paris is planning free transit and bikeshare for kids.
French bikemaker Coleen has introduced a very cool looking ebike based on a 1941 design by French architect Jean Prouvé.
One more for your bike bucket list — an adrenalin-pumping bike tour of the Greek Isles for a mere $7,000 per person.
Horrifying story from India, where a bike rider was struck by a hit-and-run driver, severing his leg, while the force of the impact threw him into the back of passing truck; his body was finally discovered over 250 miles away. Unfortunately, the Indian press uses the same term to describe bicyclists, motor scooters and motorcycles, so it’s unclear just what kind of bike he was riding.
Entrepreneur looks at the not-unexpected collapse of Chinese dockless bikeshare company Ofo, which dismissed its entire international business department. Meanwhile, the company has pulled its 6,000 out of London, where most of the surviving bikes had been illegally converted to private use.
Competitive Cycling
Congratulations to Redlands bike club GS Andiamo, which got USA Cycling’s nod for Division II Cycling Club of the Year for 2018. Thanks to David Huntsman for the heads-up.
Peter Flax confesses what it was like to be a fondo VIP for Bicycling magazine.
Speaking of Bicycling, the magazine suggests 15 mountain bike races you should seriously consider entering this year. Unless you don’t ride mountain bikes, that is. Or race. But otherwise, sure.
Finally…
If you’re going to ride off on your bike after throwing a flaming Molotov cocktail into your neighbor’s yard, try not to get caught on the security cam. More proof you can carry anything on a bike — even a stolen flatscreen TV.
And this must be where dockless bicycles go to die.
