Maybe there aren’t so many angry voters after all.
The effort to recall CD11 Councilmember Mike Bonin over last year’s Playa del Rey road diet fiasco has hit a snag, as organizers say they need another $300,000 because they can’t afford to hire enough minimum wage signature gatherers to circulate the necessary petitions.
As a result, the recall effort has been put on hold until at least November.
If it happens at all.
Organizers claim to have raised nearly $100,000 for the recall effort, but somehow spent all but $20,000 — including a $6,000 consulting fee to co-chair Alexis Edelstein.
This comes after a bungled press event in which organizers attempted to file the necessary forms to begin the recall process, but left out a required signed affidavit. Then somehow never managed to make it back with the right forms.
But what it really boils down to is a lack of support to recall the popular councilmember, who won re-election just last year with 71% of the vote.
Not to mention a distrust of the people behind the campaign, including Edelstein himself.
Something tells me Bonin will sleep easy tonight.
But the fight will go on. Because the real reason behind the failed recall effort, aside from furthering Edelstein’s political career, was to intimidate city officials into halting any more road diets in the city.
And as CD4 Councilmember David Ryu’s recent rejection of the planned 6th Street road diet shows — one that local resident had fought for — in that, they’ve been very successful.
Above, a typical complaint about the since-removed road diet on Vista del Mar in Playa del Rey.
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If you read the comments to virtually any news story about bicycles — which I wouldn’t recommend — you’ll quickly find most accuse bike riders of being lawbreaking scofflaws who flaunt traffic regulations every chance we get.
Evidently, they’re wrong.
According to a new Florida study, bicyclists rode in compliance with traffic laws 88% of the time during daylight hours, and 87% after dark.
Meanwhile, drivers obeyed the law just 85% of the time.
And of the three near collisions and one actual collision involving bicyclists during the study, drivers were blamed in three of the incidents, along with a lack of infrastructure.
Show that to the next person who says we all break the law.
And tell ‘em to shove it.
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Let’s call it a tie for today’s best bike news.
Costa Mesa police and The Cyclist bike shop teamed up to give a new adult tricycle to a man who’s suffering from stage four cancer, after his $400 trike was stolen just before Christmas.
And a nice follow-up story from New Zealand, where a couple is still riding together after 44 years of marriage even though she has Parkinson’s; her husband modified a three-wheeled e-cargo bike to hold her wheel chair in front of the handlebars.
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Local
The LA Times says keep mountain bikes out of federal wilderness areas, despite a bill that would legalize their use.
If you can find one of the Ofo dockless bikeshare bikes around Griffith Park, they should be free to use for the remainder of this month, if a North Carolina story is correct.
Walk Bike Long Beach released a report on their efforts to make the city a better place to do both.
State
San Francisco’s Patrick Traughber is tracking all bicycling fatalities in the city, as well as calculating how many years of life was lost with each crash.
A San Francisco electric scooter-sharing company will be adding ebikes to their dockless rental fleet.
Officials are letting a curb-protected San Francisco bike lane fall into disrepair, despite repaving the traffic lanes next to it.
It’s bad enough that a firebug may be setting fires across Berkeley, but setting a bike on fire crosses the line.
National
Bike Snob says maybe you only need one bike after all.
Advice for aging Baby Boomers: Forget the car and get on a bike.
Women’s Health offers tips to get more out of your bicycling work out. Or you could just enjoy riding your bike, and let the workout take care of itself.
Oregon drivers face the horror of having to pump their own gas. This time, read the comments.
Nevada follows a pattern seen around the US, as traffic deaths decline for people in motor vehicles, but increase for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The war on bikes goes on. An Arizona cyclist is recovering after he was shot with a pellet gun from a passing car.
New York finally bans cars from Prospect Park after 50 years of trying. Maybe LA could take a page from their book, and at least start reducing motor vehicle access to Griffith Park.
A DC website offers advice on how to bike safely and comfortably in terrible weather. Which comes just in time for Angeleno bike riders, who actually saw clouds yesterday.
International
A Niagara Falls man was busted for trying to sell a $10,000 BMC bike that was stolen from a tourist’s car six months ago. Of course, that’s Canadian dollars; it was just an $8,000 bike in US dollars.
The Guardian’s Peter Walker offers advice for new bike commuters, including that the occasional soaking rain or buffeting wind is part of the joy of riding to work. Meanwhile, Cyclist magazine offers tips on how to become a better bicyclist this year.
After a British boy’s bike was stolen, he responded by organizing a bike safety and awareness workshop to keep others from suffering the same fate.
The real news isn’t that a UK paperboy’s bike was stolen, but that they still have paperboys in the UK.
Caught on video: An Irish food delivery cyclist plows through flood waters from a massive storm to get a meal to its destination.
Five must-sees on your next bike tour of France.
An Aussie rapper is under arrest after leading police on a car chase, nearly crashing into a bike rider in the process.
Life is cheap in Singapore, where a delivery driver was sentenced to 15 months for killing a bike rider after taking medications to induce sleep and driving anyway; he was so out of it he didn’t even know he hit anyone.
Competitive Cycling
Pro cycling is putting the disc brakes on.
No irony here. Lance will host a reception for the Netflix doping documentary Icarus that was partly inspired by his own fall from grace, calling it “incredible work.”
Finally…
Don’t fake a mountain bike crash just to steal someone’s backpack. Maybe taking on a downhill mountain bike course on a Walmart bike isn’t the best idea.
And cars are attracted to bikes like tornados are to mobile homes.
Whether or not we’re on them at the time.
