Forget Black Friday. It’s just three more days to the official start of the 8th Annual BikinginLA holiday fund drive!
Thanks to our longtime friend Jim L for getting us off to an early start with his generous donation!
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The pre-trial PR campaign is kicking into high gear.
Wealthy socialite Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of the prestigious Grossman Burn Center, wants us to know that she is just so very misunderstood, and isolated from all her rich friends.
Just because she killed two innocent little kids while speeding along on surface streets at what police investigators have estimated as up to 80 mph in a 45 mph zone.
No, she says, she wasn’t drunk or street racing with her friend, former Dodger Scott Erickson, even though they were reportedly zig zagging and leap frogging one another’s cars.
And no, I don’t remember him, either.
I do, however, recall her victims, 11-year old Mark Iskander and his 8-year old brother Jacob, who were violently run down as they were crossing the street with their family.
She faces 34 to life if she’s convicted on both murder counts, and is walking free on $2 million bail pending a March trial.
Hopefully she’ll show up for that one, unlike five previous hearings.
Seriously, LA Magazine should be ashamed for allowing themselves to be used like this.
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Today’s must-read comes from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, who has 11 transportation suggestions for newly elected CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.
The ideas range from implementing the Sunset4All Complete Streets project, and the Temple Street lane reduction and bike lanes blocked by outgoing Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, to capping the 101 Freeway with a public park.
It’s more than worth the eight minutes it will take to read.
Let alone turning all the ideas into action.
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The LA Times has compiled an annotated transcript of the racist and otherwise offensive recording that lead to the resignation of former City Council president Nury Martinez and LA County Federation of Labor chief Ron Herrera.
The recording has also lead to repeated calls for councilmembers Kevin de León and “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo to resign, although the latter will be leaving next month anyway, after losing his bid for re-election, while the former refuses to do the right thing.
The conversation also bizarrely featured disgraced ex-Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.
Kevin de León
Over the weekend, I called a buddy of mine who is a former U.S. attorney.Nury Martinez
I have one of those, too. It’s good to have one of those.Kevin de León
Cool. We’re very close. And he, he had the Lance Armstrong case too, when they were going to indict Lance Armstrong.Nury Martinez
The cyclist?Kevin de León
The cyclist. Yeah.Nury Martinez
What did he do? Doping. Is it dopingKevin de León
Yeah. And the case was coming out of the L.A. office of the U.S. attorney’s office here…
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Enter this number in your phone. And take it with you when you ride.
You can lodge a complaint about Parking Enforcement Officer misconduct by calling the Central Parking Enforcement Office at 323-224-6565.
— City of Los Angeles (@LACity) November 21, 2022
Meanwhile, Ann Arbor, Michigan, is considering following New York’s lead by offering a bounty on drivers who block bike lanes.
Maybe our new councilmembers could consider something like that here.
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This is who we share the internet with.
Car drivers have to move over in the lane for obstructions all the time (mail trucks, trash trucks, etc.). How hard is it for a biker to move over? What happening to sharing the road?
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A regional transportation group has put a Des Moines, Iowa model bike safety on hold, somehow fearing a backlash over the common sense reforms.
A British driver was caught on video speeding down a protected bike lane, either oblivious to or not caring about the oncoming bike riders who were forced out of the lane.
Sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A 20-year old man in the UK was sentenced to six-months time served for rebelling against his parents attempt to have him committed by brandishing a machete while riding with a group of other bike riders, even though the only injury anyone suffered was a dog bite after the group was chased by a small pack.
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Local
Babe star James Cromwell added his voice to a campaign to halt plans to restore the ecologically degraded Los Angeles Ballona Wetland Ecological Reserve, which includes plans for a ten-mile bike and pedestrian path; no word on what the pig had to say.
Ride hailing and micromobility provider Lyft has pulled all of their bikeshare bikes and e-scooters out of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, after failing to secure a longterm contract from city officials.
Glendale has received a $6 million state grant for the Verdugo Wash Visioning Project, which will create a 9.4-mile-long linear park and nature trail for walking and cycling, courtesy of Assemblymember Laura Friedman.
State
A mountain biker used his bike as a shield when he was charged by a mountain lion on a San Luis Obispo trail, leading to a brief standoff before the big cat retreated. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.
The $20 million bike and pedestrian path on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is entering the final year of its four-year pilot program, as impatient motorists chomp at the bit to get it back.
The CHP has released a photo of the suspect vehicle in the hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bike in North Highlands earlier this month.
National
Fortune says the four-year old e-scooter industry is finally getting around to being as green and sustainable as they claimed, after quietly polluting for years.
No irony here. A Portland bike rider was lucky to escape serious injury when he was run down by a red light-running hit-and-run driver in a crash caught on video, while he was riding to an event to mark the World Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic violence.
A Kansas City business owner says his business is suffering because Missouri drivers are apparently incapable of figuring out a parking-protected bike lane.
A decades old Fayetteville, Arkansas bicycle charity is shutting down after giving away tens of thousands of bikes to kids in need; the 76-year old wife of the man known locally as the Bicycle Man continued the program for nine years after his death, and hopes to give away another 1,000 bicycles before shutting down after the holidays.
‘Tis the season. A Louisville country music station has collected over 1,500 bicycles, as well as monetary donations for Toys for Tots and the Salvation Army, to ensure that every local kid has a gift for the holidays.
The rich get richer, as New York announced plans to expand the city’s bike lane network next year.
A 60-year old New Jersey man is on his 14th bike trip across the US; he’s covered over 39,000 miles since he first hit the road on his ‘bent five years ago, after recovering from getting hit by a drunk driver.
‘Tis the season, too. A kindhearted Baton Rouge, Louisiana lawyer is giving away over 450 new bikes to local kids.
International
In honor of the World Cup, Road.cc creates their own all-star team of bike-riding soccer stars.
British residents say they want a bike with an ABS anti-lock braking system.
An Irish paper is up in arms after local officials “wasted” the equivalent of nearly $12,000 building a 600-foot separated bike lane, complaining it’s an “embarrassment” that even bike riders don’t want.
Pink Bike features seven weird and wonderful bikes currently for sale on the platform.
Hanoi, Vietnam is considering establishing a public bikeshare service to to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution, with 1,000 bikes at 94 stations.
Finally…
Your new fixie could be a Wu-Tang Clan bike. That feeling when the kids are riding on thin ice. No, literally.
And bike riding while blind and blind drunk.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin, too.
Confused by the new. Every lucense renewal should require a written test with the new laws highlughted and the most missed questions added.