News has just come in that Los Angeles has been selected as one of ten cities to participate in the Big Jump Project.
The new initiative from PeopleForBikes is aimed at doubling or tripling bike ridership in specific neighborhoods by improving bike infrastructure.
As part of the Big Jump Project, Los Angeles will focus on improving bike infrastructure in downtown LA and University Park, the city’s business core. As a participant in the program, Los Angeles will annually receive the equivalent of $200,000 in technical support from PeopleForBikes, as well as an additional $50,000 in matching funds or financial commitments from local organizations….
Over the course of the next three years, the Big Jump Project cities will be laboratories for innovation, ultimately illustrating the ways in which U.S. cities and towns can tap into bicycles to radically improve the health and vitality of their communities.
The project is part of PeopleForBikes’ new PlacesForBikes program, a three-part plan including an easy-to-understand, data-driven system for rating bike-friendly cities; how-to resources for communities and businesses; and an annual conference for city and business leaders.
Los Angeles was selected along with New York City, Baltimore MD, Portland OR, Memphis TN, Providence RI, New Orleans LA, Austin TX, Tucson AZ and my hometown of Fort Collins, CO.
While it’s great that Los Angeles has been selected as one of the initial cities, it’s unfortunate that it is limited to the Downtown area, which has already seen a jump in ridership, and the area north of USC, which could definitely use the help.
It would have been nice to see infrastructure-starved areas like South LA, Highland Park and Hollywood included in the program, as well as other often ignored regions of the city.
However, as always, the problem in Los Angeles is political will, and the courage of local councilmembers to stand up to the inevitable NIMBY anti-bike backlash.
Or more precisely, the lack thereof.
Hopefully, when people see what can be done to make our streets safer and more inviting for everyone, they’ll demand improvements in their own neighborhoods, as well. And elect representatives who will respond to that demand.
The other concern is whether LA will finally provide adequate staffing and funding for LADOT to meet the requirements of our streets, so this doesn’t result in ignoring the urgent needs of other areas while attention is focused on just two neighborhoods.
As former NYDOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan stresses in her book Streetfight: Handbook for an Urban Revolution, cities must be able to respond quickly to needs and opportunities on the streets, rather than taking years to design — and redesign in response to local opposition and lack of leadership backbone — before even thinking about implementation.
Something Los Angeles sadly lacks, and seems unlikely to change.
Maybe this will be the kick in the ass the city so desperately needs.
Through the end of this month, BikinginLA will support local bike shops and other small businesses in the bike industry by offering deep discounts on our usual advertising rates. For more information, or to find out if your business qualifies, email the address on the Support and Advertising page.
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It looks like change is finally coming to LA area streets.
Streetsblog reports that thirteen new bike and pedestrian projects totaling $33.6 million have been funded through California’s Active Transportation Program, with another eight grants worth $28.78 million scheduled to be approved by SCAG — the Southern California Association of Governments — next month.
You can find a full listing of the projects, scattered throughout LA County, on the Streetsblog story.
But don’t hold your breath. As they note, the funding won’t actually be available for another two to three years.
The committee meets at 3 pm in room 1060 of City Hall in DTLA; if you can’t make it, he has a sample email and email addresses to send it to.
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Still more tragedy in the cycling world, as Ukrainian former U-23 world champ Dmitry Grabovskyy died of a suspected heart attack at 31. Meanwhile, tributes have flowed in for the 15-year old British cyclocross champ who died in his sleep over the weekend.
Now that’s more like it. Britain will offer equal prize money to both the men’s and women’s winners of the country’s national racing series.
Metro is holding a meeting this Thursday to discuss plans to improve access to Downtown’s Union Station, including a bike and pedestrian esplanade on Alameda Street.
An editor with the USC paper says there’s a silver lining to having her bike stolen, forcing her to slow down and notice things she used to ride past. Although you’d think a fine university like USC would teach the difference between breaks and brakes before the senior year.
San Francisco leads the state as the most dangerous place to drive a car, and ranks second in the nation for pedestrian injuries and fatalities. None of which suggests it’s exactly a great place to ride a bike, either.
The new PlacesForBikes project from PeopleForBikes — who have evidently decided to save money by removing the spaces from their names — will encourage bike-friendly cities by providing an alternative to the Bike League’s rating system.
A proposed Iowa bill would require bike riders to have a red LED taillight on their bikes, apparently even during daylight hours; the law was suggested by a blame-shifting driver who crashed into five — count ‘em, five — bicyclists with his motorcycle as the sun was setting, insisting he would have seen them if only they’d had flashing lights on their bikes. Sure, let’s go with that.
University of Michigan researchers have developed a way to make materials change from hard to soft, which would allow bike tires to automatically adjust to different surface conditions, among other applications. Yes, there’s an obvious joke there, and no, I’m not going to make it.
A group of bicyclist will follow a mostly offroad route on a ride from Seattle to Boston later this year to raise funds for a local alternative high school.
New York deployed 50 bike cops to control crowds at Saturday’s peaceful Women’s March, with one source saying a single officer on a bike can do the job of three cops.
Life is cheap in British Columbia, where an off-duty Mounty walks with just a $1,500 fine for killing a five-year old bike rider with his jacked-up pickup; he claimed he couldn’t see the boy, who was riding with the light in a marked crosswalk with his father and brother, as he turned right. If you can’t see a little boy directly in front of your truck, it doesn’t belong on the damn roads.
A Johannesburg mountain biker nearly lost an eye when he ran into an unmarked wire that had been left across the entrance to a pathway, despite verifying that the trail was open to bicycles.
As you may know, this site has long been a supporter of local bike shops.
So starting today, we’re putting a dollar figure on that support, with our first-ever sale on ad space.
Through the end of this month, BikinginLA will be offering deep discounts on our usual advertising rates just for local bike shops, or other small businesses in the bike industry. For more information, or to find out if your business qualifies, email the address on the Support and Advertising page.
Similar views can be found today on the Ballona Creek and the LA River pathways, as well as virtually any bike path along one of Southern California’s usually arid riverbeds.
Just in case you need a reminder of why local authorities sometimes seem to overreact by closing the paths whenever rain seems imminent.
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Look what came from India last week.
As the Onion once put it, “Visibility is crucial when biking. Ride with a lit highway flare in each hand.”
Since that’s not always practical, the Aster backpack from Lumos comes complete with built-in reflectors, front lights, tail lights, turn signals and brake lights.
I’m not normally a fan of the visibility arms race — any driver actually paying attention to the road should be able to see a cyclist without making us dress up like brilliantly lit dystopian clowns — it does promise to combine practicality with safety.
And while I’m more of a messenger bag guy, I’ll look forward trying this out and letting you know what I think.
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Nice piece from the Racers Who Ride Foundation, as pro racer Ozz Negri, Jr. discusses his love of bicycling and what #peaceontheroad is all about.
An Illinois family has given up their car and taken to their bikes as their primary form of transportation, and are documenting the experience to help others understand how to be less reliant on cars.
A Norfolk VA paper asks if the city council is crazy for going forward with a 10 mile, $62 million bike path. They have a point; according to a road builders association, they could build a four lane highway for the same price. However, the price tag also includes prep work for future high speed transit, even though voters recently killed plans for light rail.
Way to kill a burgeoning bike movement. Sales for pedal-assist ebikes have plummeted in Malta after the country required helmets and registration. That should serve as fair warning for those of us here in the US.
A team of self-appointed bike vigilantes hunt through the streets and alleys of Guangzhou, China for bikeshare bikes that have been appropriated for private use.
January 21, 2017 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Weekend Links: LA election debates, reforming CA Trans Commission, hi-viz skin, and better libidos through biking
Please forgive yesterday’s unexcused absence.
The sudden failure of a hard drive cable took my laptop down without warning, wiping out all the links I’d been saving, and leaving me without access to this site.
The good news it, it was a quick, easy and relatively affordable fix. So we’re back in business, and serving up a virtual smorgasbord of fresh, hot bike links.
A Long Beach city councilmember says people are free to push for changes to the number and color of the green bollards on Studebaker Road, but they were put there to slow traffic and improve safety.
State
A bill to restructure California’s Transportation Commission would require at least one of the six members to have expertise in bicycle and pedestrian safety; two would have a background in sustainable transportation, one in mass transit, and two working with disadvantaged communities.
After starting out with ambitious plans for a Complete Street makeover of San Diego’s El Cajon Blvd, the city settles on a watered-down approach with buffered bike lanes instead of protected lanes.
A Redding man is facing a murder charge for calmly riding away on his bike after setting a gas station clerk on fire; authorities still don’t know why, though.
National
Lawsuits are flying back and forth at the new company formed by America’s last remaining Tour de France winner to make low-cost carbon fiber, but not for bikes.
Caught on video: A road raging Wisconsin driver rolls a stop sign, then repeatedly attempts to cut off a bike rider before getting out of his car to confront him, and complaining that the cyclist is taking up too much of the road. Even though the sharrows indicate he’s exactly where he’s supposed to be.
When a local hotel is razed, an Indiana woman asks for, and receives, the 600 pound boulder she used to sit on to watch her late husband, a county sheriff, ride off to DC every year to honor officers killed in the line of duty.
A Michigan TV station lists three surprising benefits of bicycling, including boosting your libido. Which probably isn’t much of a surprise for those of us who do.
Life is cheap in Louisiana, where a hit-and-run driver walks after killing a cyclist; his victim wasn’t killed in the crash, but drowned in a ditch because the jerk who hit him didn’t bother to stop. Something’s seriously wrong with the prosecutors who made this deal; instead of being released on probation, he should be doing hard time on a 2nd murder conviction.
A Belfast woman is looking for the hit-and-run cyclist who killed her dog. I’ve had to dodge a number of dogs whose irresponsible owners let them wander across pathways on a loose leash. But, if you can’t avoid hitting a dog, human or any other animal, just stop already.
Caught on video too: Aussie police are looking for a sidewalk raging pedestrian who grabbed a 62-year old woman’s bike by the rear wheel and flipped her over the handlebars, tossing her face-first into the pavement.
Now they’re showing their support for others, with a fundraiser for the Milt Olin Foundation’s #HandsOff Movement to celebrate the shop’s sixth anniversary. Donations of just five or ten dollars will enter you to win prizes ranging from lights and helmets, to a new $2,500 ebike.
I can’t think of a better cause.
The Milt Olin Foundation was born from the tragic death of entertainment executive Milt Olin, who was run down by a sheriff’s deputy as he was riding on Mulholland Highway; the deputy was distracted by his cellphone and onboard computer, and never saw Olin riding in the bike lane. Remarkably, no charges were ever filed.
His family channeled their grief into forming the foundation, which unveiled the #HandsOff app and program last year, urging drivers to pledge to keep their hands off their phones while driving and encouraging others to join them.
By supporting them, you can help save lives. And maybe even get some great bike gear while you’re at it.
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Tonight marks the second LA edition of Draft: A PeopleForBikes meet-up at Pure Cycles in Burbank, 713 N. Victory Blvd.
The free event, which runs from 7 to 9 pm, will feature several luminaries of the local bicycling community, along with food and craft beer from Golden Road Brewing.
Michelle Mowery, senior project coordinator for LA RiverWorks
Don Ward, founder of Wolfpack Hustle
Dorothy Wong, director of SoCalCross PRESTIGE SERIES
Naomi Iwasaki, director of neighborhood services at the Office of Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti and Los Angeles Great Street Initiative
Members of the Zwift team.
The beer alone is worth the price of admission. Even though there isn’t any.
Team LACBC participates annually in Climate Ride California (June 9-13), providing LA cyclists with an opportunity to support the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and raise awareness of sustainability, active transportation, and environmental causes. The annual group charity ride features an all-new route this year, exploring the stunning California Central Coast, departing from San Francisco on June 9 and winding up 300 miles later in San Luis Obispo on June 13.
Riders chosen as a result of the nominating process will receive $2500 toward the minimum Climate Ride fundraising requirement of $2800. In addition, they will receive:
• Free Climate Ride registration ($100 value)
• Equipment support of up to $1000 (cycling and camping gear, as needed)
• Transportation assistance to and from the Ride (as needed)
The student government at traditionally bike-unfriendly USC discusses making the campus even more unfriendly to bicyclists by banishing bike riders to the periphery of the campus. Oddly, their rivals across town at bike-friendly UCLA don’t seem to have any problem welcoming bike-riding students and faculty on campus.
Advisory groups in exclusive La Jolla continue fighting to keep bikeshare from besmirching their fair city, preferring one car parking space over a handful of bikes, and insisting the town’s “topography is not conducive to more bicycles.” Oddly, I didn’t have any problem with the topography when I lived and rode down that way.
A Davis columnist complains that killing a cyclist doesn’t seem to be against the law in California, as a woman walks when the DA decides there’s not enough evidence to get a conviction in the death of a cyclist competing in a time trial — even though she may have been on her phone at the time of the crash. And even though no one bothered to test her for drugs or alcohol.
A Greenwich Village website says bikes will save the community when New York shuts down a major subway line for a year and a half for maintenance work.
A cyclist in the UK was forced to crawl off a busy highway when he fell off his bike and broke his hip — then had to wait two hours to be flown to a hospital.
An Indian TV network asks if riding a bike is worth the risk, and concludes that the country’s bad roads and lack of protections for vulnerable road users don’t help.
Just three months and four days after Deborah Gresham was killed in a Stanton hit-and-run, another person riding a bicycle has lost his life to another fleeing driver, just two and a half miles away.
According to the Orange County Register, the victim, who has not been publicly identified, was struck by a vehicle at the intersection of Chapman Avenue and Beach Blvd in Stanton around 2:40 this morning by a driver who fled the scene.
He was transported to UCI Medical Center in Orange 17 minutes later, where he died shortly after arrival.
No word on how the collision occurred, if the victim had lights on his bike, or who may have been at fault. However, judging by the taco’ed rear wheel on the victim’s badly mangled beach cruiser, it appears he may have been struck from behind with considerable force.
Garden Grove police stopped a 44-year old man whose car matched the description of the suspect vehicle at 3:15 am. KCBS-2 reports he was arrested for an alleged probation violation, but as of midday, had not been charged with the hit-and-run, though an OC sheriff’s spokesperson said no other suspects were thought to be at large.
A satellite view shows a eight lane road with double left turn lanes on Beach Blvd, and four to five lanes with turn lanes on Chapman, depending on direction; the Register ranks it as one of the ten busiest intersections in Orange County.
This is the third confirmed bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the first in Orange County. It’s also the third in Stanton in less than 18 months, and the second on busy Beach Blvd.
To learn more about Deborah Gresham’s tragic death, read this heartbreaking piece by former Bicycling Magazine editor-in-chief Peter Flax.
Update: The Orange County Coroner has identified the victim as 38-year old Paul Hurst.
Update 2: The Orange County Register says Hurst was a transient; the area in which he was killed has a heavy homeless population, and a number of low cost hotels frequented by people with no fixed address.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Paul Hurst and all his loved ones.
Thanks to Mike Wilkinson and Robert Peppey for the heads-up.
The first shoe has dropped in the race for city council in CD5.
Typical of LA’s gerrymandered council districts, the sprawling Westside district stretches east from Sepulveda to nearly encircle Beverly Hills, before reaching north to the San Fernando Valley west of Sepulveda.
For the past eight years it’s been represented by career politician Paul Koretz, who moved into the district once he was termed out of the state assembly, after serving on the West Hollywood city council.
His reasoning is that Westwood, which is included in LA’s High Injury Network under the Vision Zero plan, is too dangerous for bike riders. So his solution is to keep it dangerous, and shunt all those riders who currently use it as the most direct route between the Expo Line and the UCLA campus onto other less practical alternatives.
And with the exception of Motor Blvd, he has failed to implement any of the major bike lanes called for in the city’s Mobility Plan.
But the bottom line is that Koretz has had eight years to prove his support for bicycling is more than just talk. But his actions, particularly on Westwood Blvd, have proven otherwise.
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Heartbreaking news, as there’s an unconfirmed report that the owner of Santa Monica’s Bicycle Ambulance shop was killed while riding to work recently. I’m working on getting official confirmation; if anyone has any information, please let me know.
Update: A comment from Chris, along with an email from Brian Nilsen, confirms that a GoFundMe page raising funds to defray funeral expenses has been set up by the son of Tony Barnes, the owner of Bicycle Ambulance. There is also a ghost bike in Barnes honor at South Centinela Ave and Jefferson Blvd in Playa Vista. I’ve reached to the LAPD for more information.
Thanks to Stanley E. Goldich for the heads-up.
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San Francisco is threatening legal action to stop a Chinese app-based bikeshare provider from “dumping” thousands of rental bikes on the city’s streets without the proper planning or permits.
In other words, doing exactly what Uber did in moving into new markets, by establishing their ride hailing service first and dealing with the paperwork later.
But then, Uber was cars. And wasn’t Chinese.
And wasn’t threatening to disrupt the city’s existing dock-based bikeshare.
The LACBC is calling for bike riders to submit comments on a proposed redesign of Ventura Blvd in Woodland Hills by this Friday; the section under consideration currently has painted bike lanes, which the coalition would like to see upgraded to parking protected lanes.
San Diego has secured funding to begin design work on a crucial link between the Chollas Creek bike path and the planned 24-mile Bayshore Bikeway; the path would allow residents of lower-income areas to safely cross the I-5 and I-15 interchange and get to jobs in the downtown area.
No bias here. A Bakersfield bike rider gets hit by a drunk driver who flees the scene. Yet police still blame the victim for wearing dark clothing and not riding in a crosswalk — even though there was no reason for her to even be in crosswalk.
The war on bikes continues, as an Arizona bicyclist was shot repeatedly with BB guns by a man and woman in a passing car, with the couple’s child in the backseat. Seriously, there’s not a pit in hell deep enough for people like that.
A Colorado letter writer says “stupid is as stupid does” in deciding whether to ride on the roadways with motor vehicle traffic, suggesting — or rather, outright stating — that bikes don’t belong on public streets. I’d apply that same aphorism to people who can’t resist the urge to share their particular anti-bike bias with the rest of the world; saying it’s not safe to share the roads with motor vehicles is really just saying that people are incapable of driving safely, which I refuse to believe.
Chicago bike riders continue to ride through the winter as part of a two-week challenge. Oddly, no one seem to consider doing something like that here in Southern California, where the weather is much more conducive to year-round riding.
Now that a Canadian reporter has recovered from a near-fatal bike crash, she says it was one of the best experiences of her life, because it changed her for the better. And yes, she plans to ride again.
Toronto is studying near-miss incidents, as well as actual collisions, before and after bike lanes were installed on a major street, in order to get a more complete look at how safety has changed.
London cabbies bring traffic to a standstill to protest plans to close a key junction to motor vehicles; cyclists argue that taxis are one of the biggest causes of congestion and drivers are just supporting “the right to poison Londoners.”
That was the case in North Hollywood last week, when a bike rider was killed after falling in front of a car that had changed lanes to go around him.
According to an officer with the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division, the 50-year old victim was riding south on Coldwater Canyon Ave near Saticoy Street last Tuesday, riding with one hand while holding a cup of coffee in the other. When he moved left to go around a parked car, he clipped the car’s mirror and fell into the left lane, where he was hit by the car.
Tragically, the driver had seen him, and had already moved left to give him a safe passing distance.
No word yet on the victim’s identification, what time the crash occurred or whether he died at the scene.
This should be a reminder to stay out of the door zone, and hold onto your handlebars as if your life depends on it. Because sometimes, it does.
This is the second bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the second in Los Angeles County. It’s also the first in the city of Los Angeles since the first of the year.
Update: The victim has been identified as 52-year old Efrain Molina; the crash occurred at 5:55 am on Coldwater between Elwood and Saticoy.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Efrain Molina and his loved ones.
Welcome back from what was a three-day weekend for some, and just another Monday for others. Either way, I hope you took advantage of the weather, maybe took in the parade, and spent a little time on your bike.
The wife of a New Jersey chef has filed suit after he was killed riding his bike into a sewer excavation trench that was left unmarked and uncovered by workers.
A Philly writer says bike lanes are key to the city’s plans for safer streets, even if some residents don’t like them. Although a spokesman for a motorist group says people are going to drive at whatever speeds they feel comfortable with, regardless of any efforts to slow them down.
A Baton Rouge LA bike rider says he feels like an urban archeologist as he sifts through the litter on the side of the road, saying “what is deplorable is countered by what is captivating.”
You’ve got to be kidding. Police in England’s South Yorkshire say it’s not worth the effort to enforce the law against passing bicyclists too closely because not enough riders get killed to justify the cost.
The 62-year old chief information officer of a global electronics firm is working to make Singapore more bikeable; he says the island nation needs another five years to catch up to Japan’s bicycling culture.
It was a slow weekend on the local front, but there’s plenty of bike news from around the world for your entertainment and edification.
But before we start, let’s take a moment to remember the wisdom of Dr. Martin Luther King, with words as appropriate now as they were fifty years ago.
We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.
A message as meaningful for our streets as for our nation, and our world.
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Local
Once again, no news is good news. Right?
State
High desert cities are working to keep up with road repair on their crumbling streets; a new project in Victorville will add bike lanes along with pavement improvements — whatever that means — on La Mesa Road.
An app website lists the three best cycling apps all cyclists must have on their iPhones. Assuming they have iPhones. And for some reason, they filed it under “Hobby.”
In an update to the story of the homeless man who rode his bike from California to Wichita to build planes, because he said God told him to, a local bike shop talked him into letting them fix his bike and gave him new tires so he can ride on ice this winter.
A former Canadian pro cyclist is lucky to be alive after suffering sudden paralysis from the neck down when a blood vessel burst between two vertebrae; he was able to drag himself to his phone using only his chin, then had Siri call 911.
A Vancouver letter writer says there’s no need for business owners to worry about the loss of parking spaces to make room for bike lanes, because people on bikes will more than make up for it.
Caught on video: Ottawa police say no charges will be filed after video surfaces of a bike rider using his bicycle as a shield to block the path of a driver, who continually lurches into it. No word on what triggered the confrontation.
London’s mayor clarifies his recent remarks, saying he didn’t mean cycle superhighways cause pollution, but that badly planned construction of them causes congestion, which does cause pollution. That clears up everything, right?
