BikinginLA

Day 35 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Nope. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas abruptly resigned, despite winning re-election to a second term in November, citing fears for her personal safety over her support for a sanctuary city.

Or maybe it had something to do with a civil rights complaint filed with the EPA citing close ties to Ed Clancy, head of the San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, which administers the California ebike incentive program.

The complaint alleges the ebike voucher program discriminates against Black people, making their vouchers harder to redeem and charging additional fees, along with a number of other allegations.

Just one more example of the total shitshow this program has devolved into.

The only question here is whether the DOJ investigation Reichert mentions is the state investigation we already knew about, or whether a federal investigation has been launched as well.

Why did Super Sanctuary Nora Vargas resign? She had heat coming from every direction. A whistleblower filed a civil rights complaint with the EPA alleging her ties to Pedal Ahead, a nonprofit run by Ed Clancy, & claimed he donates to her campaigns. Meanwhile, the DOJ has been… pic.twitter.com/oHMpV9QyDb

— Amy Reichert (@amyforsandiego) February 3, 2025

Thanks to Malcolm Watson for the heads-up.

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Despite lifting the new tariffs on Mexico and Canada yesterday, at least temporarily, Trump allowed the additional 10% punitive tariff on goods imported from to go into effect, as we discussed yesterday.

Adding insult to financial injury, he is also reportedly closing the de minimis loophole, which allows goods from China valued below $800 to be shipped directly to the consumer, bypassing import duties and regulatory scrutiny.

That’s what allows Chinese websites such as Shein and Temu to offer such low prices.

It’s also what has allowed low-end Chinese ebikes sold through Amazon and Walmart to flood the market.

So it may not necessarily be a bad thing. Even if it means you could pay more for components.

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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going. 

San Mateo, California is taking a page from Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s playbook, with a vote last night to consider ripping out the two-year old Humboldt Street bike lanes because drivers are whining about a loss of parking.

No bias here. An English town is benevolently lifting a ban on bicycles on the city’s main shopping street after four years — but only permitting bicycles restricted to the same hours as delivery trucks, rather than allowing the access other shoppers and employees enjoy.

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Local  

Long Beach will hold a public town hall meeting to discus the city’s Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway Project a week from Thursday.

 

State

Calbike asks, not unreasonably, why there’s still no new bill in the state legislature to legalize Stop As Yield, aka the California Safety Stop, aka the Idaho Stop Law, after two new studies showed it works, improving safety for bicyclists while reducing conflicts at intersections.

The award-winning Arthritis Foundation California Coast Classic Bike Tour is returning for the 25th consecutive year this September.

San Diego continues to fall short of its Vision Zero goals, with 19 people killed by traffic violence in the county last month — including one riding a bicycle that we weren’t previously aware of.

 

National

My bike-friendly Colorado hometown will join other cities across the state in celebrating Valentines Day with a Winter Bike to Work Day, allowing bike riders to spend the day with their one true love — their bicycles. Yet somehow, no one marks the day to encourage people here in Southern California to bike to work in winter, despite having nearly ideal weather for it. Then again, the summer Bike to Work Day has been nearly moribund here post-pandemic, so why should a winter one be any different?

A Florida couple are now both facing charges after investigators concluded the husband lied about being behind the wheel in a deadly hit-and-run that killed an eight-year old girl as she was riding a bicycle, after they discovered he was at work at the time of the crash, and it was the wife who was actually driving.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers the burning question of when should you replace your bicycle.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An Irish parliament member is calling for a public inquiry into the death of a 23-year old man riding a bicycle, after it was revealed the driver of the car had 42 previous convictions, including convictions for traffic violations, theft and possession of heroin, and was was on bail at the time of the crash.

Bicyclists in Melbourne, Australia are complaining about new bike lanes that they say is make things more dangerous, because the concrete dividers do nothing to keep drivers from pulling out into the bike lane, keep taxis stopping in them or prevent pedestrians from using them as sidewalks.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mountain Bike Action says Tom Pidcock And Mathieu Van Der Poel could give Switzerland’s Nino Schurter a run for his money as the world’s top cross-country mountain bike racer. 

Pez Cycling News considers the most shocking moments in cycling history, starting with Lance the doper. And Landis the Mennonite doper, too.

A San Luis Obispo website says a secretive, underground, unsanctioned and arguably illegal bike race known as the SLO Little 500 “puts the fun in dysfunction.”

 

Finally…

Celebrate Black History Month by riding brakeless. That feeling when you race through the muck and mud with a $300,000 Swiss watch on your wrist.

And now you, too, can have a built-in handlebar dashboard on your bike. Because there just aren’t enough ways to suck the fun out of bicycling already.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin.