Maybe we should check the weather forecast.
Because hell appears to have frozen over.
Streetsblog reports that a new painted bike lane has been installed on a .8 mile section of North Figueroa in Cypress Park.
Which wouldn’t be major news, except it’s located in the 1st Council District, where Councilmember Gil Cedillo has worked to block bike lanes since taking office nine long years ago, while keeping North Figueroa one of the deadliest corridors in Los Angeles.
Cedillo has gone so far as to ask the council to remove all proposed bike lanes in CD1 from the city’s mobility plan, arguing that the people in his district don’t ride bikes. And evidently forgetting that many people in the immigrant-rich district rely on bikes as their primary, if not only, form of transportation.
It’s not clear why the councilmember, whose opposition to safety projects earned him the moniker Roadkill Gill, had an apparent change of heart.
One clue comes from LADOT spokesperson Colin Sweeney, who notes that the new bike lanes wouldn’t inconvenience the people in cars.
L.A. City Transportation Department (LADOT) spokesperson Colin Sweeney wrote that “StreetsLA recently completed resurfacing on Figueroa after which LADOT restriped the street to bring it up to current standards. In this instance, restriping created space to add a bike lane to the existing configuration without impacting other road users (no impact on parking or number of travel lanes).” North Figueroa was repaved between Pasadena Avenue and the 110 Freeway.
Although neighborhood advocate Felicia G. has another, equally plausible explanation.
Cedillo has been in office 9 years. The community has asked for a safer @fig4all the entire time.
Because he’s up for re-election soon *surprise* a bike lane is squeezed in?
No car travel lanes removed, Figueroa moving as fast & dangerous as ever.#northeastla deserves better. pic.twitter.com/Z4rYehNUp8
— Felicia G. (@hippierunner) February 12, 2022
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Another day, another SoCal hit-and-run.
The Santa Monica Lookout reports a 16-year old girl is in critical condition, and a 29-year old man is behind bars following yet another hit-and-run collision.
The victim was injured around 2 a.m. Sunday, when Maximiliano Ramos Santiago allegedly slammed into her bike at Chelsea Ave and Santa Monica Blvd in Santa Monica.
Santiago was arrested at his home yesterday, and booked on charges of felony hit-and-run and driving without a license.
Which would have given him plenty of time to sober up, assuming he had been drinking, which is highly likely given the time of the crash.
Let’s hope she makes a full and fast recovery.
And that the driver who did this is held fully accountable for leaving a young woman bleeding in the street.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Santa Monica Police Investigator Evan Raleigh at 310/458-8954, or call the watch commander at 310/458-8426.
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It looks like the upper section of the Ballona Creek bike path will be out of commission for the next four and a half months.
Speaking of Ballona Creek Bike Path, the stretch between the end near La Cienega Station and Duquesne appears to be closed due to Higuera Bridge work until 6/30/22. Will it randomly open on weekends like it was for me a couple weeks ago? Who knows! #culvercity pic.twitter.com/8tAlHJ52cM
— E/Expo Line Ledger (@expolineledger) February 15, 2022
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Local
A letter writer takes the LA Times’ Robin Abcarian to task for questioning the value of Vision Zero when, she said, eliminating traffic deaths is doomed to fail. Although that name of that letter writer seems sort of familiar.
State
Getting flowers by bike in San Diego.
Solano Beach has rejected a $10 million claim from the family of 75-year-old Allen Hunter II, who was killed by an alleged drunk driver while riding in a painted bike lane on Highway 101 in the city last summer; filing a formal claim is the first step before filing a lawsuit, and usually gets rejected pro forma.
A letter from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider argues that Rancho Mirage can, and should, make convert Highway 111 into a real street that meets the needs of all users, rather than just the ones in cars. Exactly the same arguments apply to PCH in Malibu, as well, which should be the city’s Main Street, instead of a sewer for pass-through drivers and their cars.
Residents of a San Mateo neighborhood overwhelming oppose plans for a bike lane network, preferring preserving street parking over the safety of people on bicycles; however, people in the rest of the city support the project.
Santa Rosa police are looking for a suspected bike thief who used a fraudulent ID and credit card as security to take a $7,000 mountain bike out for a test ride, and never came back.
National
Streetsblog invites you to vote on the worst kind of bicycle infrastructure; among the choices are Orange County favorite painted bike lanes next to high speed roadways, and sharrows, which only exist to help drivers improve their aim and thin the herd.
The New York Times says pedestrian fatalities are spiking, due in part to a surge in reckless driving. Although it’s possible that the jump in reckless driving might just have a tiny bit to do with carmakers ads showing that’s exactly how you’re supposed to drive their damn cars.
Electrek marked Valentines Day with a look at the best ebikes designed to carry two people.
A new $15 steerer tube cap promises to secure an Apple AirTag out of sight to locate your bike if its ever stolen.
Fast Company says Peloton should have seen it coming.
Writer Mitch Albom, author of The Five People You Meet in Heaven and The Stranger In the Lifeboat is one of us, making a call for people in Detroit to donate their underused bicycles for people who can’t afford a car.
A new documentary follows seven Boston women who ride their bikes through the city at night.
I want to be like him when I grow up. A Pennsylvania man is still riding at 90 years old, although the area’s hills mean he does most of his riding inside. Which makes him an ideal candidate for a ped-assist ebike to get back on the road.
Police in Virginia are looking for a 74-year old diabetic man who went missing Sunday morning while riding his bike to a friend’s house around eight miles away; his daughter says he may be in the early stages of dementia.
International
Cycling Weekly says friends don’t let friends buy bikes that seem too good to be true. And probably are.
Thieves cleaned out a Welsh family’s entire collection of nearly $30,000 worth of mountain bikes.
Now you, too, can ride the legendary cobbles of Flanders.
Competitive Cycling
A trio of pro cyclists explain how they keep their relationships from going off the rails while living a bike-centered life. As usual, read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.
Finally…
If you can’t get it out, dissolve it. What it’s really like to be a pro cycling race photographer.
And I’ll take any excuse to see Sophia Loren on a bicycle, even if she is facing the wrong way.
Love is like Sophia Loren and Raf Vallone riding this bike: it looks easier than it is.#coolbikevalentine pic.twitter.com/7IIfOHDeYk
— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) February 14, 2022
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
