Apparently, no one is safe from idiots with engines.
According to a tweet from the Norwalk Station of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, a woman was killed in a collision with a motorcyclist while riding on the San Gabriel River Bike Trail a little over two weeks ago.
Yes, on an offroad bike path.
And yes, her killer fled the scene.
The victim was identified as 31-year old Carla Becerra, who was killed in the crash on Saturday, February 1st.
#HitandRun Arrest 2/1/20, Carla Becerra (31) was cycling on riverbed bike path when she was struck & killed by susp riding a motorbike. #RIP
2/13 Brandon Lindsley (29) was arrested for the crime.
Twentynine-year old Brandon Lindsley was arrested for the crime eleven days later, and charged with vehicular manslaughter and hit-and-run last Friday. Since Becerra died, both should be felony counts.
Unfortunately, that’s all we know right now.
No word on exactly where or how the crash happened. And no explanation for what the hell someone on a motorbike was doing on a bike path.
Hopefully we’ll learn more on Wednesday, when the department is expected to issue a press release.
This is at least the seventh bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the third that I’m aware of in Los Angeles County.
Becerra was found lying unconscious on the path, with her bicycle several feet away. She was taken to Coast Plaza Medical Center, where she died.
Investigators identified Lindsley as a person of interest based on a distinctive tattoo seen by people who did not witness the crash itself. He was arrested after reportedly making incriminating statements to investigators.
Lindsley is being held on $105,000 bail in this case, as well as a no-bail hold on an outstanding warrant for assault with a deadly weapon.
Comments from Mike Wilkinson and Michael of CLR Effect say motorcycles aren’t unusual on the San Gabriel River Bike Trail, despite a prohibition on anything with an engine.
Maybe this will be a much-needed wakeup call to actually do something about it.
Update 2: Chris Klibowitz reports that the sheriff’s department gave the location as between Imperial and Firestone, rather than near the intersection, as KTLA reported, which makes a lot more sense.
Update 3: I received a message from Carla Becerra’s brother Quin, who offered a few details missing from previous reports.
According to Quin, the first call to 911 came around 6:45 pm on February 1st, as Carla Becerra was riding her bicycle south on the bike path, and Brandon Lindsley was traveling north on his motorcycle; he places the crash site roughly a quarter mile south of Imperial Highway.
Lindsley apparently fled because he had an outstanding warrant for a robbery assault with a deadly weapon.
Then again, he might have run anyway.
And still no explanation for why he was riding illegally on the bike path.
Adding insult to injury — literally — someone stole Becerra’s phone, earphones and ear rings while she was lying unconscious and dying on the bike path, sometime before the first responders could get there.
As a result, emergency personnel were unable to identify her for several hours, and her family had no idea where she was or what happened to her until they received the tragic news at 3 am the next day.
This is how Quin described his sister Carla.
My sister was a full time RN at UCI medical and at MLK hospital. She had worked her entire life, to buy my parents their dream home in Lakewood, even put her social and love life on hold to do so. She always put others before herself, just so her life can be taken away from someone so selfish. The messed up part about all of this is that if he (Brandon) was the one left unconscious then she would have stayed and made sure he made it. She had a huge passion for cycling and running. The only comfort my family and I take from this is that she left us while doing something she loved. It just wasn’t her time yet.
He concluded by noting that Brandon Lindsley will be arraigned on Tuesday, February 25th — the same day his victim will be laid to rest.
There are no words.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for Carla Becerra and all her loved ones.
February 18, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Redesigning our cities for people, Metro planner killed in SaMo, and illegal bike dismount signs on Wilshire Blvd
My apologies to anyone who saw a premature draft of today’s page while it was still under construction; I somehow hit the Post button instead of Save.
Blame a daylong rollercoaster dealing with the literal highs and lows of diabetes.
Shops on streets that are closed to private cars do not suffer, but quite the opposite. Living in a city without a car is perfectly possible: it is already significantly cheaper to rent a car as often as you need than to own one and have to face expenses such as insurance, parking or taxes. But all these solutions raise a fundamental question about changing our habits, about how we get to work, for example: working from home or flexible hours are increasingly established trends.
Sad news from Santa Monica, where Metro Transportation Planner Daniel Chuong was killed when he was struck by a driver while training with his brother for the LA Marathon.
This is so incredibly sad. A 34 year old LA Metro Transportation Planner killed by a car while running in Santa Monica. We need safer streets. pic.twitter.com/CT9YpKoZp4
However, the signs do not appear to be compliant with the California MUTCD manual — the state’s official traffic sign guide — and not legally enforceable.
Although I could be wrong on that.
………
Apparently, the bike lanes on Jefferson have been closed for sewer pipe work for the next year.
And as usual, there doesn’t seem to be any accommodation for bike riders.
The city restriped the Jefferson bike lane out of existence and now you have to merge into speeding traffic. @LADOTlivable this is going to get someone killed. What were you thinking?? pic.twitter.com/BFWJre34SC
However, the OC Register mentions that the driver fled the scene almost as an aside, before finally getting to a description of the suspect vehicle near the end of the story.
An Oklahoma couple is planning to set a new Guinness world record for the longest ebike ride, traveling 20,000 unsupported miles across 48 states. Get back to me when they actually do it. Because it’s easy to make plans, much harder to actually do it. As I’ve learned the hard way.
An Orlando, Florida writer confesses to blowing through stop signs while riding a bicycle on a trail dedicated to non-motorized transportation, where bike riders should get priority, but don’t. Each of the past two nights, I’ve watched drivers blow through the stop signs on my block without even slowing down. But let a bike rider do the same thing at 10 – 15 mph, instead of 30 or more, and people get apoplectic.
They get it, too. A writer for Rouleur says the one thing all bicyclist have in common, regardless of ability, is how vulnerable we are on the roads. And concludes that the culture, and the laws, have to change.
File this one under you’ve got to be kidding. Melbourne residents are calling for bikes to be banned from shared paths because riders are exceeding the ridiculously low 6.2 mph speed limit. I’m not sure my bike can even go that slow without falling over. Or maybe it can, and I can’t.
Adults over 50 are invited to compete in the Pasadena Senior Games, which includes cycling as well as a number of other sports. Although it’s not clear from the article whether you have to be a Pasadena resident.
February 17, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Stolen bikes and the jerks who take them, 9-year old San Marcos BMX bike flipper, and South African bicycle hip hop
Today’s a holiday, in case you hadn’t noticed. Which is easy to do if you didn’t get it off.
But my wife did, surprisingly enough.
So we’re going with sort of a Morning Links lite today, with most of the weekend’s bike news, so I can get a little sleep before she wakes me up too damned early in the morning; we’ll catch up on the rest tomorrow.
Today’s photo is what’s left of a bike after thieves stripped it, leaving its mangled carcass behind.
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Today’s common theme is stolen bikes and the jerks who take them.
Introducing my new favorite South African hip hop video.
Seriously, who can top rhymes like this?
When I hop on the metal and push on the pedal, there’s a certain peace that I get that’s really good for my mental.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes goes on. And on.
A Willits CA woman intentionally ran over a man on a bike who she had been arguing with; she was arrested after fleeing the scene, along with her husband and son-in-law, who were booked as accessories after the fact for helping with her coverup.
No bias here, either. A Toronto columnist says the city’s Vision Zero isn’t failing because drivers need more safety education, but rather, they break the law because they’re frustrated by gridlock caused by all those bike lanes and lower speed limits. Which doesn’t explain why drivers broke the law before all those things, though.
His death did not go unnoticed in Pacific Palisades, where he was a longtime resident, chair emeritus of the community council, and the former leader of the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association.
One he ultimately lost to a group of fellow advocates who preferred the danger of keeping bicyclists on deadly PCH to the optics of such an expensive bikeway project.
But George quickly got me involved in other projects, from joining the PCH Task Force to represent the needs on bike riders on the dangerous corridor, to connecting me with just the right people in the city and county governments to get finally piles of sand swept off the beachfront path months after a storm.
Which wouldn’t have happened without Wolfberg’s help.
Because George Wolfberg knew almost everyone at every level of the city, county and state governments. And even set up meetings with state Assembly Members and Senators to present my approach to halting hit-and-runs.
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to convince them at the time that hit-and-run was that big a problem.
I wonder if they get it now.
For years, I could count on finding links to some bicycling story or another from the Wall Street Journal or New York Times popping up in my inbox on a regular basis, with the email address invariably leading back to him.
And he never missed contributing to this site’s holiday fundraiser every year; it breaks my heart to think this last one was, in fact, the last one.
But that’s the funny thing about giants.
They don’t always tell you they are one. Or why.
I’d known for some time that George Wolfberg was one of the first members of the Los Angeles Bicycle Advocacy Committee.
But it wasn’t until yesterday that I learned he’d also served on the LA County BAC. Or that there even was an LACBAC.
I was familiar with the late LA bike legend Alex Baum’s work to bring the ’84 Olympic Games to Los Angeles, and that he was instrumental in bringing women’s cycling to the Games for the first time.
But I never knew Wolfberg had worked hand-in-glove with him, writing the original proposal for the Games that forced the International Olympic Committee’s hand by including women’s cycling as a demonstration sport.
Or that he was instrumental in bringing the World Cup to Los Angeles in ’94. Let alone that he fought the horrific South African apartheid by working to get the city to divest from the racially divided county, later earning thanks from Nelson Mandela himself.
And worked just as hard for the residents of South LA, setting up a meals program for soccer playing kids who didn’t get enough to eat at home.
I am poorer today, because I lost a friend and ally.
But more importantly, this city is poorer because it lost a true giant of a community leader. A man who did everything Los Angeles asked of him, then kept on doing more.
We will all miss George Wolfberg, even if most of us will never know it.
Banks’ public defender couldn’t get herself extricated from another case that’s currently at trial (these things happen), so today’s preliminary hearing was delayed until March 17th, and I’ll be there.
A film crew from USC was there to cover the proceedings, which were brief. Bogart was there, Spencer was there. I met a budding activist, new to LA from Chicago, who had lost his fiancee of 8 years, and another activist fresh from Corvallis.
Nobody’s bike was stolen during the hearing, but Bogart et al were in the elevator (with Courtroom 38’s bailiff!) when it jammed, so their arrival was delayed for 20 minutes.
Woon’s mama was there and holding it together as best she could, which of course meant rivers of tears. She wore a t-shirt with a picture of young Woon and his bike, from which his face beamed. She repeated the words he said to her as he walked out the door for the last time, and I could just about hear them in his voice. Then her body heaved with sobs. So many arms were there to comfort her, but there’ll never be enough.
After Banks accepted the motion for continuance, the Assistant DA spoke to us in the hallway, providing a basic overview of the prosecution process and a chronology of expected future events. Woon’s mama indicated that she’s unlikely to actually be in the same room with Ms. Banks.
Bates has made it clear that she is hostile to taxing people to pay for transportation, and hates the idea of paying for transportation infrastructure that doesn’t involve cars. At the hearing, she said that active transportation projects–“translated as ‘road diets,’ which is the term used these days,” she said, further muddling the topic–contribute to higher emissions by causing “mounting congestion on some of the primary arterials.”
“I think [the Active Transportation Program] had more to do with moving people out of automobiles and onto bikes and things where you create less greenhouse gas and the emissions, but when you’ve got the other two lanes and people are sitting in their cars, running, you have the same problem,” she said.
The transportation site’s Melany Curry had this to say in response.
Sure, it’s possible for a poorly designed road diet to increase congestion. But that’s not what happens, for the most part. And Senator Bates’ repeating the idea that they do is unhelpful, at best.
And blaming bike lanes for vehicle emissions is just gaslighting. Senator Bates is not alone in doing this, and she needs to stop. And she also needs to stop pushing that as a reason for the state to stop funding active transportation projects.
Seriously, give it a read.
Because we have to know who and what we’re up against out there.
And how to respond to made-up facts with real ones.
………
This is who we share the roads with. And the airspace, apparently.
Colorado Public Radio offers tips on how to keep riding in the snow. Which is not a problem you’re likely to encounter on International Winter Bike to Work Day here in Los Angeles.
A red light-running London driver has been convicted in the hit-and-run death of a bike rider, who slipped away after 18 months in a coma; his father, cousin and younger brother were convicted of helping him coverup the crime.
February 13, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Huizar calls for carfree Broadway in DTLA, Arroyo Seco Bike Path finally open, and studies support bus and bike lanes
Breaking news: KNBC-4 reported that a bike rider was critically injured last night in a collision at Hollywood Blvd and McCadden Place. However, video from the scene appears to show the victim may have been seated on a Wheels scooter rather than a bicycle.
Unfortunately, nothing has been posted online yet.
Since its inception in 2008 my Bringing Back Broadway initiative has successfully revitalized the historic corridor in DTLA. To further enhance the economic development of the area, I have introduced a motion asking for a study to look into the feasibility of a car-free Broadway. pic.twitter.com/RhMOcYEBFK
This comes after years of efforts to revitalize the corridor, including a road diet that cut the number of traffic lanes in half, and reopening or repurposing many of the street’s grand theaters.
Note to KCBS-2: Despite the headline in the above link, the proposed ban is on cars and trucks, not feet.
Good news, L.A. cyclists: Nearly 13 months after the Arroyo Seco bike path was closed due to damage from a major storm, the city completed repairs and the bikeway has been fully reopened. Here's what took so long: https://t.co/0g9cs1zCCdpic.twitter.com/tgUMNOc1kl
Deaths caused by motor vehicles and the people who drive them.
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Some things are universal. And definitely worth 35 seconds out of your day.
“Get a car, loser!” (presumably so you can be stuck in the same traffic gridlock I’m adding to) Sketch from 2019 Icelandic Lampoon show HT @ruvsjonvarp. As @bjornteits points out, the only thing unrealistic “is the fact that there are 2 people in the car.” pic.twitter.com/HcJqntz5FF
A must-read from Curbed, which argues that public meetings are broken and offers advice for how to fix them. Anyone who’s been shouted down by traffic safety deniers and NIMBYs in recent years knows just how broken the current system is.
Bike Snob’s Eben Weiss says recent Los Angeles transplant LeBron James is the new hero of bikeshare and bike lanes, saying children need access to bikes and safe places to ride them. Rumor has it he also plays basketball here in LA. LeBron, that is, not Weiss.
A Colorado CEO plans to ride a bike barefoot across the US, from Disneyland in Anaheim to Disney World in Orlando, to call attention to human trafficking; it’s the first known attempt by anyone to pedal barefoot across the country.
Goleta resident Eric Maurcio Ramirez-Aguilar was charged with felony counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, hit-and-run causing death, and driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, as well as special allegations of fleeing the scene of a fatal collision and injuring multiple victims.
He was already on four years supervised probation for misdemeanor child cruelty at the time of the crash, with an order to abstain from all drugs and alcohol, and attend AA meetings twice a week.
Needless to say, he didn’t.
Allegedly.
The couple leaves behind four kids, ranging from 10 to 20; a GoFundMe page for their care has raised nearly $170,000 of the $300,000 goal.
This one should be pretty self-explanatory, since it’s clearly up to us to get the hell out of the way of drivers, regardless of who has the right-of-way.
Streetsblog’s Damien Newton applauds Mayor Garcetti’s new climate directive calling for a major shift to green transportation in the next decade, but points out he’s running out of time to get anything accomplished while he’s still mayor. Let’s just hope Garcetti actually reads it.
This is who we share the roads with. A Florida woman faces charges for literally running away after shifting a car into gear and running over her friend, who had somehow fallen out and struck a tree following a road rage dispute with a motorcyclist in Hollywood. And yes, that’s every bit as confusing as it sounds.
No bias here. A writer for the Guardianblames bike lanes and pedestrian crossings for traffic “grinding to a halt” in central London, despite what he calls a complete absence of private cars — even though by his own admission, they’ve actually declined by just 15%. Never mind that the real cause of traffic congestion is all those delivery trucks, ride hailing drivers and all the other cars and trucks on the streets. In London or anywhere else.
DIY cycling is growing in Peshawar, Pakistan, as local men — and yes, women — are buying inexpensive Chinese bikes and rebuilding them as racing bikes, while making the rest of their kits and gear themselves.
Which would be a big deal, if he actually follows through this time.
There’s a lot to like in the plan. Starting with a commitment to active transportation; according to My News LA, the plan would
— promote walking, bicycling and micro-mobility with a comprehensive citywide network of active transportation corridors, including protected bike lanes, paths along regional waterways and low-stress neighborhood bike improvements;
The order also calls for more cool streets and roofs, a congestion pricing pilot program, zero emission buses, and increasing transit speeds by 30% in the next ten years.
More importantly, it calls for reducing Vehicle Miles Traveled through expanded use of transit, walking, bicycling and micromobility.
I really like this part but it's the least specific when it comes to implementation—basically making sure that any changes to the right of way are made in a way that reduces VMT. This could be really big if the on-the-ground policies actually support it. pic.twitter.com/YtR3RS8pp2
And of special interest to many of us, more frequent open streets events.
Today @MayorOfLA announced a new executive order to speed the implementation of the Green New Deal plan to reduce emissions introduced almost a year ago.
The bike plan seems depressingly vague. We'll see if he has the political will to achieve any of it. So far he has not shown to care at all about safe bike routes. pic.twitter.com/8VI2s9L33r
— Let's Get Neighborhood Approval to Save the Planet (@ChrisByBike) February 10, 2020
It remains to be seen whether that implementation plan for an active transportation network means we’ll finally get around to building out the hard-won 2010 Bike Plan that was unanimously passed by the city council when Garcetti was still council president.
Or if they intend to re-invent the wheel yet again, with or without our input.
“Can we make this happen?” Garcetti asked Monday, speaking broadly about the city’s sustainability goals. “We don’t have a choice.”
But they added —
It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to achieve one of the key goals laid out in the city’s Green New Deal: A nearly 50 percent reduction in the number of miles LA residents drive daily.
The problem, of course, is that we’ve been here before.
Any progress on the bike plan, or the mobility plan that subsumed it, ground to a near complete and total stop after Garcetti took office as mayor.
And any real progress on the mayor’s own Vision Zero plan came to a halt the first time drivers complained about a road diet.
The result that not only have bike and pedestrian deaths not declined by 20%, as the plan called for by this year, they’ve actually gone up.
So this could be the beginning of the groundbreaking, tide-turning movement to re-invent the City of Angels into the more livable — and survivable — city so many of us have fought for.
Or it could be just another bold plan that will soon by gathering dust on the shelf.
It’s all up to Mayor Garcetti.
And whether he’s suddenly found the political will to see it through.
Police took the alleged drunk driver into custody three hours later in nearby Carpinteria. He was a passenger in a car, whose driver was returning from Ventura County after learning that Aguilar was a wanted man.
Authorities threw the book at him, and deservedly so.
According to the site,
Aguilar was booked into Santa Barbara County Jail on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, driving while intoxicated causing injury, hit and run causing death or injury, fleeing the scene after committing manslaughter, and driving while intoxicated, with an enhancement for causing the deaths of more than one person.
He remained in custody Monday night, with bail set at $100,000.
Fortunately, the dog somehow survived the crash, and was turned over to a family member.
Let’s hope Aguilar gets the hard time a crime like this calls for.
But let’s face it.
As long as drunks continue to get behind the wheel, we’re not safe anywhere. And no amount of jail time can bring back the lives they take.
Remarkably, he found the car parked in a nearby apartment complex, with passenger side damage matching the details of the crash.
Police arrested the 85-year old driver, Tashiro Isa, on suspicion of felony hit-and-run and vehicular manslaughter.
Once again raising the question of how old is too old to drive.
Thanks to Ted Faber for the heads-up.
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The LAPD is asking for your help to find the heartless coward who fled the scene after backing into a 92-year old man, leaving him bleeding in the street.
Or as we call it here in balmy Los Angeles, Friday.
Friday, Feb 14th might ring a bell as a holiday, but this year another special international event is happening. It's @WinterBiketoWorkday. Ride to work, ride to school, ride for our future. PEARL iZUMi is encouraging all employees to ride in … https://t.co/K4jlUdIfdbpic.twitter.com/9wF5AZSihw
After a British truck driver knocked a bicyclist off his bike in a left hook, the equivalent of our right hook, the driver refused to admit he was behind the wheel — and walks with just a fine and points against his license.
Palo Alto considers fixing a “terrifying” intersection used by around 4,000 cars and 20 bicycles per hour during the morning rush. Maybe more bike riders would use it if it wasn’t so scary.
An arrest warrant has been issued for an Aussie man who failed to show up for sentencing after pleading guilty to killing a bike rider; the victim frequently posted videos of close passes while calling for a safer passing distance.
New Zealand’s Georgia Williams is making a comeback to the women’s pro cycling tour after being knocked off her bike by the increasingly common Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport, aka RED-S, which prevented her from getting enough fuel for her body while making her bones more brittle.
And apparently, Los Angeles used to be a lot better for bicycling.
I just remembered discovering this 1897 newspaper quote about cycling in LA: "There is no part of the world where cycling is in greater favor than in Southern California, and nowhere on the American continent are conditions so favorable the year round for wheeling." Hmmmm
February 10, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on 91-year old actor killed on Venice Blvd, LA Times endorses Ryu in CD4, trash cans in bike lanes, and bike videos
Is this really the Los Angeles traffic safety deniers want?
The longtime television star was crossing to the theater, where his wife was volunteering as an usher.
“Many of us do this, including the audience,” (theater publicist Judith) Borne said. “The crosswalk is out of the way. Many people … just cross” the lanes.
And there’s the problem.
The street is designed to maximize traffic flow, with pedestrians expected to walk at least a full block in either direction to use a crosswalk to cross the wide, four-lane street.
Except people usually won’t do that.
Most people tend to take the most direct and convenient route. Which in Bean’s case, meant crossing without a crosswalk.
And no, that’s not jaywalking.
Under California law, every intersection has a crosswalk, whether or not it’s marked on the pavement.
Which is often what it means when the police say, as they did in this case, that someone was crossing outside a marked crosswalk.
However, it’s also perfectly legal to cross in the middle of the block, as long as it’s not controlled by a traffic signal on both ends; in this case, the only traffic signal is on Oakwood Ave on the east end of the block.
What’s missing from the street are the safe, convenient crosswalks, and narrowed streets at intersections to slow speeds and reduce crossing distances, that advocates have long been calling for.
And which are exactly the sort of safety improvements that groups like Keep LA Moving and Restore Venice Blvd have been fighting, in an attempt to prioritize the convenience of drivers over the lives and safety of human beings.
If something like this had been in place on every block, rather than just some parallel painted lines where they pose the least inconvenience to drivers, Orson Bean might have lived to see his 92nd birthday.
Here, what planners call a ‘bump out.’ It’s a foundational #VisionZero move: a narrowing of the intersection – in this example to correspond with street side parking – to make the walk across the street shorter for pedestrians, while also slowing the movement of cars. #SafeCitypic.twitter.com/R6QR1NVqwA
The @latimes Editorial Board just endorsed David E. Ryu for #CD4. They said he liked data driven solutions, but he ignored the data on the Rowena bike lanes' safety improvements & spent $88,000 to study ways to remove them – not to improve them! @KeepRowenaSafepic.twitter.com/9eDlfsKvYj
If you have any questions about your vote in the March 3rd election, Bike the Vote LA will help answer them tonight.
Join #BikeTheVote LA on Feb. 10 in #DTLA for a happy hour ballot party! We’ll go through the whole primary ballot together to discuss how the various candidates and measures stack up. #bikeLA#lavoteshttps://t.co/5c6mv5WJoC
Ok #bikeLA twitter – what can one do about @LACitySAN bins littered all over the bike lanes? (Other than protect the lanes!) This was just a few on Silver Lake Blvd today of which there were many more. Often a problem on Griffith Park Blvd. too. @bikinginla @MitchOFarrell pic.twitter.com/5XQ4csodPY
Looks like someone is fed up with cops parking in bike lanes.
Hey @NYPDTransit: stop parking BEHIND THE SAFETY BARRIER in the Columbus Circle bike infrastructure like it’s the Employee of the Month space. We’re not going to stop until this ends. pic.twitter.com/dUsBd6oSrr
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Police in the UK are looking for a driver who intentionally knocked a teenage boy off his bike. Note to Southern Daily Echo: The car didn’t “nudge” the victim’s tire, the driver did using his car as a weapon.
Sometimes, though, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
After leading a Washington deputy on a slow speed chase when he refused to pull over for a traffic stop, a Minnesota man threw his bicycle at the officer, took a fighting stance, and said he was baddest man in the world and was going to beat the cop up, then threatened to burn the cop’s home down and kill him after the deputy tased him. But other than that, he seems like a perfect ambassador for the sport, right?
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Local
The San Francisco bike rider who was convicted for killing a pedestrian in a crosswalk while allegedly racing through the streets trying to claim a Strava KOM is now running attack ads against George Gascón, the DA who charged him, as Gascón runs for the same post in Los Angeles. Which seems like a damn good reason to vote for Gascón, if you ask me.
An Iowa woman wants to know why her husband was killed in a violent fall when the experienced bicyclist was wearing a helmet and riding uphill. And why police discount evidence that he may have been clipped by a passing driver.
Thanks to Domus Press for a very generous and unexpected donation to help keep this site coming your way every day. Donations are always welcome, in any amount and for any reason.
The good news is, my recent bout with high sugar is finally getting back under control after my doctor put me on a new medication.
The bad news, I’m still shaking after a sudden blood sugar crash knocked me out for a few hours last night.
Which serves as the latest in a series of periodic reminders that diabetes sucks. If you’re at risk, get tested. And do whatever it takes to avoid it, or at least get it under control.
Seriously, the only good thing about diabetes is that cookies and candy are lifesaving medication.
Get out and ride this weekend. And stay safe out there.
We’ll see you back here next week to catch up on anything we missed.
February 6, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Guest post: Los Angeles finally moves forward to support two national bike routes
A few years ago, longtime SoCal bike advocate Bill Sellin started copying me on emails in his fight to get various local leaders to support a pair of US Bicycle Routes across the region.
It was, clearly, a hard battle.
First one city, then another came on board. Santa Monica was no surprise; Beverly Hills was.
But the holdout, for reasons that never really became clear, was the 800 pound gorilla in the process, the City of Los Angeles.
Apparently, that’s changed.
Let’s let Bill tell the story.
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Some time ago you asked about getting an update on the USBR progress and I had nothing — the City of LA was holding out and DOT staff made it clear they were being told to not designate any more streets for any kind of route designation.
But…
I want to let you know that after years of effort, the City of LA is being prodded to move forward on supporting the USBR (US Bicycle Route) designation of 2 national bike routes across the City.
Adventure Cycling Volunteers have been getting local jurisdictions to simply send a letter of support to CalTrans, so that CalTrans can apply to AASHTO for route designation.
I have been working on portions of USBR 66 from Needles to Santa Monica. Bike friendly cities like Santa Monica, West Hollywood, South Pasadena and Pasadena jumped right in. Even hold outs like Beverly Hills and Alhambra signed on support. The County has given support to USBR 95 around Marina del Rey and USBR 66 across East Pasadena.
The City of Los Angeles, facing law suits from cyclists crashing on our city streets, as well as political backlash for improving cycling infrastructure, has been resistant to doing anything toward the USBR support for fear of being blamed for designating a street as part of a route, if the pavement is in disrepair, until every street is cataloged for hazards.
Even though CalTrans previously established the Pacific Coast Bicycle Route along the older Bicentennial Route, along our coast from Oregon to Mexico across the City.
That existing route is proposed for National designation as USBR 95 across Washington, Oregon and California. To get it supported by the City of Los Angeles and a few other ‘hold outs’ is required to complete the process.
Segments of proposed USBR 95 in Los Angeles connect Malibu & Santa Monica, Santa Monica to Marina del Rey, Marina del Rey to El Segundo, Torrance to Carson and Carson to Long Beach. I have been working with the County, Santa Monica and El Segundo along with the City for those segments of USBR 95 as well as USBR 66.
The Proposed USBR 66 rolls west from the San Gabriel Valley on its way from Needles. It drops out of South Pasadena / Alhambra on Mission, then crosses LA on Historic Route 66 along Cesar Chavez / Sunset to Fountain and enters West Hollywood on Willoughby. It resumes on Santa Monica Blvd (historic Rt 66) from Beverly Hills across West LA to Ohio into Santa Monica on Broadway.
Every day cyclists ride these segments of roadways, and all are on the City of Los Angeles’ Neighborhood enhanced route plan from 2016.
Many adventure cyclists continue touring these epic routes by bicycle, the best way to be a tourist in Los Angeles for cyclists from all over the world.
Both of these routes are proposed and adjusted with local agency input prior to support, based on the existing Adventure Cycling route system. These maps and guides have helped cyclo-tourists find their way across our country since the 1970’s when it started as BikeCentennial.
Now we have some strong political movement to resume talks stalled since 1916 to secure support from the City DOT.
Mike Bonin, Councilmember from District 11, submitted a motion on January 17th to direct the DOT to support both routes to CalTrans, install sharrows & BMUFL signs on streets not already designated or with bike lanes or cycle tracks, install USBR wayfinding signs and report back with options to further enhance bicycle tourism along the designated routes.
Whereas, the segments of US Bike Routes (USBR) numbers 66 and 95 that pass through the City of Los Angeles are critical to completing these two important national bike routes, and
Whereas hundreds of touring cyclists need to navigate the city each year and have difficulty finding safe, convenient routes, exactly the guidance that the USBR network is intended to provide, and
Whereas the proposed USBR alignments make maximum use of existing approved bikeways in the city, and
Whereas if the USBRs are designated, the city will always have the opportunity to change and update the route with CalTans if better cycling infrastructure is added or better alignments present themselves over time, and
Whereas, despite years of engagement with the city, little progress has been made to approve alignments for the proposed US Bike Routes,
Therefore, the Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee encourages the city to move forward with providing a letter of support to CalTrans for the proposed USBR 66 and 95 alignments in Los Angeles, identifying alternative alignments if needed, to achieve submission for approval of these USBRs as soon as possible.
Given these powerful motions to support, we trust the LA City staff will promptly resume discussions to identify the best available alignment of the proposed route and support them to CalTrans, completing a missing link of these statewide projects to connect out the national network of bikeways.
Once Adventure Cycling volunteers get every city along the routes to support the route to CalTrans, CalTrans will submit it to AASHTO and, if approved, the designation will go into effect and we will see new USBR signs go up!
