BikinginLA

Maybe he really did hit his head.

Something has to explain the seemingly overnight change in the Mayor’s support of bicycling.

His first four years in office, L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa never let the word bicycle pass his lips in public. Or if he did, it occurred outside the hearing of the bike community, leaving many cyclists — myself included — to assume he was anti-bike.

Evidently, we were wrong.

It was just seven months ago that Villaraigosa captured the attention of L.A. cyclists by voicing support for CicLAvia, even if he didn’t actually use the word. And just a month since he stunned the entire city by falling off his bike and shattering his elbow.

No, it wasn’t the fall that shocked us — it was that he was even on a bike.

Former Richard Riordan and longtime bike advocate Alex Baum; all photos courtesy of George Wolfberg.

Now, less than a month later, bicyclists were the invited guests at the Mayor’s first Bike Summit — where he received a pair of training wheels, courtesy of cyclist and former Mayor Richard Riordan and BAC Chairperson Emeritus Alex Baum. And in two short hours, had made an impression, grudgingly perhaps, on a highly skeptical house of roughly 300 bicyclists.

What he said was less important than the mere fact that he stuck around for the full two hours and listened to a long line of cyclists voice their suggestions.

And their complaints.

So instead of the press event some of us feared — though there was a lot of that — it became an actual conversation.

The Mayor started things off by talking about his near-collision and discovery of the possibilities of cycling on last year’s trip to Copenhagen, and quickly morphed into the need to enforce the vehicle code and change the car culture on the streets of L.A.

With a panel that included LADOT General Manager Rita Robinson and Planning Director Michael LoGrande, among others, he addressed complaints ranging from Joe Linton’s remarks about the errors in the bike plan, to Jessica Meaney’s comment that “Roads are for everyone, not just the brave.”

Along with Brent Butterworth’s statement about drivers who think they know traffic law without truly understanding it. “People are driving around with laws in their heads that they made up.”

And please forgive me if I spelled anyone’s name wrong.

BAC Chair Glenn Bailey seemed to sum up the attitudes of audience members when he called on the Mayor and his staff to “safely accommodate bicycles on all streets, in all projects, without exception.”

The Mayor said Los Angeles was committed to building 40 miles of bikeways each year for the next 5 years, and 1600 over the next 25 — even though the city has built only 372 miles of bikeways in the previous 13 years. And responded favorably, but noncommittally, when cyclists asked for a biking equivalent of the Mayor’s 30/10 plan to speed up the pace of transit projects.

The CicLAvia group makes its presentation.

Villaraigosa responded to comments about CicLAvia with a promise to attend, and reiterated his support for a 10% set-aside for from Measure R funds for bike and pedestrian projects. He also said that he will soon film PSAs to promote bicycle safety, safe driving and helmet use, and will encourage local TV stations to play them.

However, he drew a round of boos when he said he’ll ask the state legislature to pass a mandatory helmet law, noting his doctors said he would still be hospitalized if he hadn’t been wearing his at the time of his accident. At least one audience member, BAC Vice Chair Jay Slater, agreed though, noting that the state already has a mandatory helmet law for minors. “Aren’t the brains of those over 18 just as valuable as those under,” he asked?

Mayor Villaraigosa agreed with 11th District Council Member Bill Rosendahl, the only Council Member who spoke — or appeared to be in attendance, for that matter — that they should work for a statewide three foot passing law, as well. Both also seemed to support the City Attorney’s plan for a civil anti-harassment law that would allow cyclists to sue drivers who assault, threaten or harass them, regardless of whether criminal charges are filed.

He assured the audience that his representatives will show up — and stay — for meetings of the city’s own Bicycle Advisory Committee, and that city staff and engineers will attend bike-related meetings when appropriate; if smaller cities like Glendale and Burbank can have staff attend meetings, he said, “so can we.” And that the city will look for opportunities to work with other agencies and jurisdictions to coordinate bicycle programs and capitalize on opportunities for funding.

On the other hand, he said the city had fixed potholes at three times the rate of the previous city administration, but that was going was going to slow down due to L.A.’s budget problems. Even though he acknowledged the risk that presented for riders.

Finally, the Mayor announced that he wanted to meet with cyclists again in a year to evaluate the city’s progress.

So is this the day that the Los Angeles finally turned the corner to become the bike-friendly city it always should have been?

Probably not.

Don’t get me wrong. This was huge, and hugely successful.

But there’s still a lot of work to do. And Mayor Villaraigosa still needs to demonstrate that his support goes beyond mere words and meetings, and will lead to the genuine action and hard choices that will make a difference on our streets and for our safety.

But it’s a start.

After five years in office, the Mayor is finally talking to us.

More importantly, he actually seems to be listening.

The Mayor and other panelists actually seemed to listen, but will it result in real change or more talk?

You can hear my comments about the Bike Summit, along with a brief interview with the Mayor, by downloading the podcast of Monday’s AirTalk with Larry Mantle on 89.3 KPCC.

………

At the beginning of the meeting, Mayor Villaraigosa said that he’d just received word that a bicyclist had been killed in the San Fernando Valley Monday morning. So far, I haven’t been able to find any information to confirm that report. If you have any information, let me know.

This could be one of the biggest days in L.A. bicycling. Or just a colossal waste of time.

Monday morning, L.A. cycling’s new BFF, L.A. Mayor Antonio “Bionic Elbow” Villaraigosa, is hosting his quickly arranged Bike Summit at Metro Headquarters, One Gateway Plaza.

In just a few short weeks, Villaraigosa has gone from barely mentioning the word bicycle, to actually riding — and falling off — one. And now, according to a story by the Associated Press, he’s become a newly minted advocate of bike safety and cyclists’ rights.

Villaraigosa says the city needs to invest in bicycling infrastructure and focus on traffic safety enforcement to make streets safer for cyclists.

“We also have to have a cultural paradigm shift,” Villaraigosa said in an interview with The Associated Press. “We have to recognize that even in the car capital of America, drivers have to share the road.”

The real test, tough, will be what happens in the Metro Board Room on Monday and in the weeks and months that follow.

Hopefully, the Mayor will seize the opportunity to begin a real engagement with the cycling community, show some genuine leadership and start a two-way conversation that will benefit both bicyclists and the community at large.

Or he could turn it into just another press event, pop in to make a brief statement and get his picture taken with cyclists, then duck out to deal with some “unanticipated crisis” or another.

One approach will win him a lot of new friends, yours truly included. And finally set this car-clogged city on a path towards complete streets and greater livability.

The other will leave a roomful of very angry people demanding an end to the sort of lip service that has too long been employed to buy us off for yet another few years.

Because we’re not going to settle for that any more.

Villaraigosa didn’t ask to be cut off by a careless cab driver, making him the unintended poster boy for everything that’s wrong with L.A. bicycling, and giving him a bully pulpit to push for change on our streets.

But it happened, he is and he does.

The question is, what is he going to do with it?

Larry Mantle’s AirTalk program may host a discussion of the Bike Summit after the 11 am conclusion of the Summit on 89.3 KPCC if they can make the necessary arrangements.

………

Wilbur goes on a road diet, and gets bike lanes — along with the long-promised lanes on Reseda Blvd. Finding a faux fur bike on Abbot Kinney. Bicyle Fixation challenges L.A. to sign up for the future of wayfinding. San Francisco challenges Portland and Long Beach to a bike-friendly smackdown. The Times looks at the Black Hawk Co bike ban, where gambling tour buses own the roads and bikes are banished; Chewie offers the city manager’s email address for anyone who wants to weigh in and threaten to do your gambling elsewhere. After Lance pulls out, Levi Leipheimer sets a new record in winning the Leadville 100 mountain bike race. Rolling in the vanguard of the vast bicycle conspiracy. A North Carolina newspaper says danger lurks at every turn, and never ride at night; a Michigan lawyer offers much better advice. Bicyclists have to obey the law too, but we can’t control other riders who break it. Then there’s the Alabama driver who says cyclists are the real danger on the road; yeah, we’re the ones who kill nearly 40,000 people every year. A cyclist says helmets aren’t the key to safety, drivers are; a New Zealand study shows head injuries dropped before the mandatory helmet law went into effect. Riding the Continental Divide from Alaska to Argentina, and waking up to guns more than once. Jan Ullrich withdraws from public life, but not because he lost a court case over the Operacion Puerto doping scandal. Purple Harry’s eco-friendly bike floss. A Toronto cyclist dies a month after a solo helmetless collision. Britain’s Cambridge United Football Club installs bike parking to encourage fans to ride to the matches.

Finally, a Brit cyclist moves to a new town and finds himself on trial for riding naked, something his old neighbors evidently didn’t object to, though his ex did.