No surprise here.
Thirty-seven-year old Jairo Martinez pled not guilty for the alleged drunken, hit-and-run death of Andrew Jelmert in Griffith Park last month.
Martinez was charged with felony counts of murder and hit-and-run driving resulting in death, as well as a misdemeanor charge of driving with a suspended or revoked license following a previous DUI conviction.
He reportedly ran away on foot after killing Jelmert, who was participating in a training ride for next month’s 545-mile AIDS/LifeCycle Ride.
Martinez remains behind bars on $2 million bail.
The murder count stems from receiving a Watson notice after his previous DUI conviction, which states that he could be charged with murder if he kills someone while driving drunk anytime in the future.
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There might be hope for LA’s 1st Council District after all.
Current CD1 Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo has apparently made it his life’s work to throttle traffic safety projects that pose the slightest risk of inconveniencing motorists or annoying local business owners.
Like the fully funded and shovel-ready lane reduction on deadly North Figueroa he halted as one of his first acts upon taking office, after holding a series of sham public meetings with predetermined outcomes. And despite vowing to support the project when he was begging for our votes.
An act he followed up by actively blocking bike lanes in the district he runs like a fiefdom, going so far as trying — and thankfully, failing — to have every bike lane in CD1 removed from the city’s mobility plan.
Yesterday, though, the Los Angeles Times took the rare step of endorsing the opponent of a sitting councilmember, selecting progressive policy advocate and community organizer Eunisses Hernandez over Cedillo.
Here’s the salient part of the endorsement for our purposes.
The council member (Cedillo) has also been a barrier to building bike infrastructure and street projects designed to make it safer and easier for people to travel without a car. Council District 1 has some of L.A.’s most deadly streets, yet he voted against the city’s Mobility Plan to make the car-dominated streets safer and more inviting for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit. He blocked bike lanes, including directing city staff to remove bike lanes from the widened Spring Street bridge.
Hernandez, on the other hand, has made transportation and street safety top priorities within her larger environmental justice and climate change agenda. She said she would launch community reviews of the most dangerous intersections, and advocate for bike lanes, bus benches and shelters, redesigned streets and pedestrian plazas, so it’s easier for people to get around without cars.
Cedillo was in serious danger of losing last time around when the community rallied around challenger Josef Bray-Ali — until Cedillo’s campaign leaked a handful of intemperate, ill-advised and offensive comments Bray-Ali had posted to various websites.
It will be interesting to see what Cedillo comes up with this time to attack his opponent. Let’s hope Hernandez has a few less skeletons in her closest.
Because people in CD1 are dying for a less regressive representative.
Too often, literally.
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A KABC-7 remote broadcast captures an attempted bike theft in the background on live TV.
I love LA! Live ABC7 story about Chappelle; watch the background.
byu/LAKnobJockey inLosAngeles
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Yet another reminder to register your bike today.
And yes, it’s free, for life.
“@CalgaryPolice say around 2,900 bikes are stolen each year with only a 12% return rate. Since partnering with online registry, @BikeIndex, that return rate has nearly doubled.” @JillianCode @citynewscalgary @albertabikeswap https://t.co/SgOIxhOnMh
— Bike Index (@BikeIndex) May 9, 2022
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Bicycles. Good as gold for more than 125 years.
Australian goldminer pictured after a 1000-mile (1,600-kilometre) round trip to the Mt Rugged Gold Rush, 1895. pic.twitter.com/HxXrDemDdm
— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) May 9, 2022
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A partially paralyzed filmmaker offers a short video calling for greater trail access for e-mountain bikes.
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Okay, I’m impressed.
Even if it would be easier to just pick it up and walk up.
https://twitter.com/CyclingTodayEn/status/1523578457854144512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1523578457854144512%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Froad.cc%2Fcontent%2Fnews%2Fcycling-live-blog-9-may-2022-292621
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Local
Vice talks with Silver Lake resident Eric Brightwell, who has been living carfree in Los Angeles ever since his broke down 11 years ago, leading to the unexpected discovery that he doesn’t need one here.
Metro will hold a public meeting on the 18th to discuss the agency’s proposed budget for the next fiscal year, which funds a return to pre-pandemic levels of service.
A Santa Clarita kid was lucky to escape without injuries when a hit-and-run driver ran him down as he rode his bike in a parking lot. Although the local paper seems to have missed that part about a bike in their own story. Thanks to Joe Linton for the heads-up.
State
Seal Beach police announced a crackdown on drivers who threaten the safety of bike riders and pedestrians ths month through speeding, failing to yield to pedestrians or bicyclists, illegal turns and running red lights or stop signs. Although nothing says they won’t ticket you for the same violations, so ride to the letter of the law while you’re in the city.
This is the cost of traffic violence. A man was killed in Encinitas when he got out of his car to pick a flower on the other side of the road, and was stuck by another driver.
Seriously? A San Diego TV station says someone was taken to the hospital following a collision between a driver and a bike rider, but they aren’t sure which one was injured. Yet somehow, the Union-Tribune was able to figure it out.
Katy Perry is still one of us, going for a Mother’s Day bike ride on the beach somewhere in California with her 20-month old daughter and fiancé Orlando Bloom.
National
Planning Magazine writes in praise of the humble sidewalk, calling it the best infrastructure investment communities can make.
Money Inc. considers the most important things to wear mountain biking. I’d say pants, but that’s just me.
A Mt. Hood ski area is banning bikes this summer, after paying out a $10.5 million settlement when a mountain biker was paralyzed hitting a signpost placed directly next to a double black-diamond trail.
Denver bike riders are putting up signs around the city to remember the victims of traffic violence, and remind drivers of the risk they pose to others on the road around them.
Speaking of Denver, the city’s recently enacted, first-in-the-nation ebike rebate program is already driving an increase in ebike sales at local bike shops.
Frustrated with the city’s inaction, a small group of Chicago bike riders conducted their own DIY traffic study at an intersection where a bike rider was killed, catching drivers running red lights and driving at pedestrians in the crosswalk, as well as threatening the study volunteers.
A Pittsburgh driver pled guilty to ten charges, including vehicular homicide and DUI, for killing a man riding a bike while the driver was high on heroin.
Once again, a faulty ebike battery has torched a bike shop, this time in New York.
Writing for New York Streetsblog, a 20-year transportation engineer calls for responsive countermeasures to curb traffic violence, and “reach the very small percentage of dangerous drivers who can’t be stopped otherwise.” Although most of us might call it a large percentage.
A Delaware beach town installs sharrows in a misguided attempt to protect bicyclists, apparently unaware that studies show sharrows are worse than nothing. Although they do help drivers improve their aim at us.
WaPo offers an introduction to gravel biking.
International
Nova Scotia gets its first bicycle traffic signal, which halts right turning traffic so bikes can cross the intersection.
A delivery rider from Brazil is on trial for killing a 16-year old boy in Dublin, Ireland, in a confrontation with another man over the theft of a second delivery rider’s bicycle. And yes, that’s every bit as confusing as it sounds.
A British paper talks with the motorists who helped bring a couple of road racing drivers to justice for killing a man riding a bicycle, who had the misfortune of being in their way.
Competitive Cycling
British pro Tom Pidcock won Sunday’s mountain bike World Cup race in Albstadt, Germany by a wheelie big margin, popping a wheel as he crossed the finish line. Sorry.
Finally…
Live out your bike mechanic dreams, without leaving your sofa. When you can’t decide whether to ride a bike or a kick scooter.
And maybe the Dutch one hit wonders were a lot cooler than we thought.
Correction: Two-hit wonders. Thanks to Opus for the catch.
Remember that song Radar Love by Golden Earring, about driving too fast? Well, here they are. pic.twitter.com/blFBzRZTd4
— Cool Bike Art (@CoolBikeArt1) May 9, 2022
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
Golden Earring was not a one hit wonder, they also scored on the charts with Twilight Zone which was similar as that was the vogue at the time, about mobsters instead of fast cars.
Correction: Two-hit wonder.