Los Angeles leaders are focused on fighting the coronavirus.
But that doesn’t mean they can’t provide safer transportation and exercise options for LA residents during the shutdown.
That’s the case nonprofit group Streets for All has been making with city councilmembers and the mayor’s office in recent days.
Here’s what they have to say.
COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on Los Angeles; tens of thousands are out of work, hundreds of thousands are working from home, and millions have been ordered to only leave their homes if absolutely necessary.
Because of these changes, our road space far exceeds the required amount for vehicle traffic. At the same time, for their own physical and mental health, many Angelenos need to get to/from work if they are an essential employee, need to go to the market or a doctor’s office, or perhaps just need to go for a run, bike ride, or go play with their kids. It isn’t possible to do this and maintain 6’ of space on our current transit, sidewalk, and bike lane infrastructure.
Proposals to enhance mobility and open space access in Los Angeles during COVID-19:
Pilot a temporary emergency safe streets network to slow down speeding cars and give residents a safe 6’ distanced option for active transportation while reinforcing connections to grocery stores, hospitals, LAUSD food centers, delivery services, parks, and other essential resources. View our potential network.
Create an accelerated path for street closure requests to increase local access to open space, especially in neighborhoods with limited park access. Potentially using the framework studied with Play Streets. These could be hard closures block by block, or maintaining local access for parking.
Specifically we suggest:
Waiving fees and insurance requirements
Giving Neighborhood Councils the same request exception as council offices
Under the new orders, customers can’t enter the bicycle shops, retail sales are banned, payments are to be made by credit card or debit card remotely; customers must leave and pick up bicycles outside the store; and the bikes have to be disinfected before being brought inside. Staff must also wear protective equipment and the stores have to be routinely disinfected.
The president of an Illinois advocacy group says it’s time to get back on your bike and shift the perception of bicycling from a sport to transportation.
Bicycling says Covid-19 will deal a serious blow to pro cycling, as teams fold and the sport may never be the same. Pro cycling never recovered from the doping scandals, and many teams have for been circling the drain for years now; this will only speed the process.
Thanks to Matthew R for his very generous donation to help keep SoCal’s best bike news coming your way every day. Contributions of any amount are always appreciated, especially in times like this.
Very disappointing news today, as the coronavirus shutdown claimed another victim.
This is part of an email that was forwarded to me today.
…I’m writing to tell you that this will be the last email you get from me at LACBC. As of Friday March 27, my time as an employee of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition officially came to a close.
As you probably know, LACBC has been struggling financially for over a year now. Thanks to the tremendous work of Eli Akira Kaufman, the Board of Directors, and my fellow staff, we were on a path to recovery, until recently. Unfortunately, the current pandemic has effectively put a hold on the contracts I’ve been managing, our annual LA River Ride is hanging in the balance, and our finances are even tighter than before. Eli and the board have had to make some difficult decisions for the sake of keeping LACBC rolling.
That message comes from Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Education Director Colin Bogart, the coalition’s longest serving staff member, and the last remaining link to the group’s founding.
I also want you to know that it’s been a great joy and a pleasure to work at LACBC and with all of you. I’ve always considered myself lucky to be doing this work and to be able to work with so many great people. And I’m forever grateful to those of you who have volunteered your time or supported LACBC through various fundraising efforts. I hope that you will continue to do so. LACBC still needs all of you.
Lastly, this is not good-bye. Instead, it’s more like “see you later.” As many of you know, I truly believe in bicycling as a means to make our world a better place. I’m not going anywhere and I intend to stay engaged. (Some of you may recall that I myself was a volunteer and a board member for years before I was hired)…
If you believed, like me, that Colin would be the one turning out the lights if the worst ever came for LA County’s leading bicycle advocacy group, this day brings special sadness.
It marks an end of an era stretching back two full decades, and the final, last loss of institutional memory for the LACBC. Thanks to board term limits and staff turnover, no one is left who has been with the coalition more than four years.
And trying to tell people they can’t ride bikes on a bikeway. Or let their kids ride legally on a sidewalk.
Twitter post
Actually, that section of the Municipal Code reads,
No person shall ride, operate or use a bicycle, unicycle, skateboard, cart, wagon, wheelchair, roller skates, or any other device moved exclusively by human power, on a sidewalk, bikeway or boardwalk in a willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.
Which kinda changes the whole meaning.
So you and your kids can feel free to ride any bikeways, boardwalks or sidewalks that are still open right now.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
March 31, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on US gives up everything for Lent, tactical techniques to slow speeding drivers, and sharing the road with driving dogs
As we noted yesterday, this site will not observe April Fools Day.
With everything that’s going on in the world right now, you need to be able to trust what you read. Especially here.
It was rewarding to see dozens of people riding bikes in the former Biking Black Hole of Beverly Hills as I passed through with my wife over the weekend, ranging from spandexed roadies to families with small kids.
More evidence that people will return to the streets if they feel safe, and bring their kids with them.
Notably, there were no large groups of riders; the largest non-family group I saw was just three people riding together, and staying widely spaced from others on the street.
Which is exactly what we need to do for the foreseeable future.
………
David Drexler reports that the beachfront Marvin Braude bike path through Santa Monica was shut down over the weekend, as announced, after people ignored social distancing requirements to pack it the previous weekend.
He also says the newly widened bike path was open north of the pier, though very few people were taking advantage of it.
And with the other closures in place, the primary route people were taking to get down to the beach appeared to be the steep California Incline, below.
………
This is what an everyday hero looks in the age of Covid-19.
A nurse in the UK felt like she’d been targeted after someone broke into her car and stole her bicycle, uniform and other items, then used a stolen key fob to break into her partner’s home. But the joke may be on the thief because the dirty uniform could be infected with Covid-19.
I want to be like him when I grow up. An 80-year old Portland man continues to ride a bike, 15 years after he rode every street in the city — then set out to ride every street in the suburbs, too.
The wife of a 40-year old British man is telling the world to take Covid-19 seriously, as the “young, fit” British bike rider recovers following a terrifying seven-day struggle for his life.
A Brit triathlete flaunted the country’s coronavirus lockdown by taking a nine hour, 200 mile ride he termed the Tour of Norfolk, saying if it’s okay to go out for a one-hour ride, it’s okay to go out for five or six. Even though he exceeded that by 50%.
The Tour de France could be held without spectators this year, if it’s held at all. Although it would be virtually impossible to clear spectators from the 100+ mile stage routes, and would do nothing to prevent transmission of Covid-19 between the cyclists and crews; the best hope is that the virus simply recedes by then and allows the race to go on.
One the other hand, South African cyclist Nic Dlamini finally got the all clear from his doctors after national park rangers broke his arm last year while trying to seize his bike for the crime of not paying the entrance fee on a training ride. But now there are no races to ride, and the entire country is under a total lockdown.
March 27, 2020 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Coronavirus closures in Redondo Beach, bike thieves target frontline med workers, and China blames US cyclist for virus
If you just can’t get enough BikinginLA, I’ll be talking about bikes in the age of the Covid-19 coronavirus with Leo Duran on KPCC’s Take Two this afternoon.
If you’re in the LA area, tune in to 89.3 between 2 pm and 3 pm — Duran’s segment should come on around 2:45 pm — or listen live online wherever you are.
And David Drexler sends photographic proof that the popular Santa Monica stairs are closed for the foreseeable future.
Thanks to Jim Lyle for Redondo Beach links. Photo of Redondo Beach bike path by Ted Faber.
………
As we’ve said too many timesalready this week, there’s a special place in hell for anyone who’d steal a bike from a medical professional anytime, let alone someone treating patients during the coronavirus crisis.
Yet there seems to be a worldwide rash of bike thieves targeting busy doctors and nurses.
Thanks to Philippa Moore for the heads-up about the Nottingham doctor, who just happens to be her brother-in-law.
………
Bike business is booming throughout the US, despite the calls for social distancing.
Or maybe because of it.
People all around the country are dusting off their bikes or buying new ones, and enjoying one of the few outdoor activities still available to most people while keeping them safely separated from others.
Bicycling tells the unexpected tale of American and British bike riders who met by chance in a lonely teahouse in the middle of a Kazakh desert, as they were both riding around the world from opposite directions.
