That sound you heard Monday was the official start of the Los Angeles mayoral race.
Normally, any contest with a standing incumbent in Los Angeles makes paint drying seem absolutely thrilling.
Particularly since this year’s race starts with LA Mayor Karen Bass enjoying an eight point lead over her closest opponent.
Except CD4 Councilmember Nithya Raman currently has the support of just 17% of eligible voters. Which means that Bass’ seemingly insurmountable lead after four years in office is based on only has 25% support.
And over half of the electorate has a negative opinion of her, making the race anyone’s to claim at this point.
The kickoff for the campaign was Monday’s first debate, sponsored by Streets for All and Housing Action Coalition. Although Bass and reality TV star Spencer Pratt, in third place with 14%, apparently couldn’t be bothered to attend.
Or maybe she was just off on another diplomatic mission, like she was when a large section of the city burned to the ground last year.
According to LAist, the candidates who could be bothered to show up were —
- Adam Miller, founder of a homelessness nonprofit and self-described lifelong Democrat, said the city is “broken,” physically and figuratively.
- Nithya Raman, an L.A. city councilwoman, said the city is “challenged.”
- Rae Huang, a Presbyterian minister, community organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said L.A. needs “new and fresh leadership.”
Apparently, the other 35 candidates qualified for the June primary were also otherwise occupied. Or maybe they just weren’t invited, since their combined support could be listed on the back of a postage stamp.
You know, those sticky things you used to put on snail mail to make it go places.
LA Public Press offers five takeaways from the debate, including a reminder that Nithya Raman has a masters in urban planning from MIT, adding to her urbanist bona fides.
You can watch the full debate below.
Please enjoy that photo of a bass by Gio Spigo from Pexels up there on the left, since Mayor Bass didn’t bother to show up for the debate.
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Meanwhile, Mayor Bass’ insisted that her stance on the Northern Extension of the K Line is being misrepresented, and she’s really a big ol’ supporter of extending the line.
Except, as Streets For All points out, her support is actually a delaying tactic, calling for extending the line while offering an amendment to approve it without selecting a final alignment, even though it has already been studied to death.
And even though that will just lead to more delays, and a loss of funding.
Apparently, she learned a lot during her time in Washington. Like how to take both sides of an issue.
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Metro Bike is hosting a virtual meeting at noon today to discuss expanding the city’s bikeshare system.
Meanwhile, Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website takes a look at Prague, Czech Republic’s successful bikeshare system to see what it takes to make one work — starting with broad availability.
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CicLAvia hosted a recent discussion on the state of open streets in the Los Angeles area, as Metro wants to tie all upcoming events to this summer’s World Cup and the ’28 LA Olympics.
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Active SGV is hosting a ride on April 4th to check out the new Whittier Narrows BMX pump track.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
The video of Ben Byra and U-23 national crit champ Luke Fetzer being harassed by a road-raging BMW driver in Newport Beach has now been viewed more than eight million times.
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Local
The deadline for input on the Monrovia Draft Bike Master Plan is this Friday, aka the day after tomorrow. So get it in, already.
State
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department is warning parents after a group of kids rode electric motorbikes through a Santee neighborhood performing “dangerous pranks” that they described as “doorbell ditching,” or what we called “ding-dong ditch” back in the Dark Ages. Although granted, no one was riding an overpowered virtual motorcycle or likely to get shot by a frightened homeowner back in the day.
Caltrans intends to install a crosswalk with flashing beacons on PCH near the Neptune’s Net restaurant, just across the Los Angeles County line, where the speed limit is 55 mph. Because of course drivers will screech to a stop from highway speeds for a few beacons flashing in the roadway.
A 46-year old woman died after she was bitten by a rattlesnake in Thousand Oaks’ Wildwood Regional Park, about a week before a teenaged girl was bitten when she fell off her mountain bike in the same area; a Costa Mesa man died after lingering in a coma for weeks when he was bitten while mountain biking in Irvine February 1st.
San Francisco is completely reimagining the city’s Folsom Street with a Complete Street project designed to prioritize non-motorized traffic. Which compares favorably with virtually every street in Los Angeles, where only motorized traffic gets prioritized.
Parking mania raised its ugly head in Santa Rosa, where city officials approved replacing a dying mall’s pedestrian plaza with parking spaces. Raising the eternal question of why a dying mall needs even more parking.
National
A writer for Electrek makes the case for why small, seated scooter-type bikes should be classified as ebikes, even if they don’t have pedals. Call them any damn thing you want, as far as I’m concerned, just not ebikes.
Portland, Oregon is launching a $20 million ebike rebate program offering up to $1,600 for standard ebikes and $2,350 for cargo ebikes. Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, where a nonexistent ebike voucher program provides eligible recipients absolutely nothing.
The Bureau of Land Management is considering opening 220 miles of Colorado offroad trails to ebikes, after opening hundreds of miles around Moab, Utah.
The founder of Strider Bikes recalls how the urge to get his two-year old toddler riding the trails around his Rapid City, South Dakota hometown as soon as possible led to the development of the pedal-less bike that forever changed bicycle training for the training pants crowd.
A New York councilmember wants a bike lane on a major roadway crossing Central Park, arguing that more people would ride if they could get from one end of Manhattan to the other.
A 56-year old Florida driver was arrested following a midnight crash that seriously injured a man riding a bicycle, after police discovered he’d been living under a fake name for 30 years to dodge a 1997 arrest and extradition warrant.
International
Road.cc recommends a dozen of the best pretend bicycling apps, for when you and your bike are both stuck inside.
The head of e-bikeshare firm Bolt says cities need more bike lanes to reduce traffic congestion and pressure on public transportation.
Momentum recommends the best places in North America to see cherry blossoms from your bike, from BC to DC. Or you can just ride your bike anywhere in Los Angeles and see just about everything, flowering or otherwise.
Um, okay. A Vancouver, British Columbia family known for tall bikes has developed a stacked, double-decker tandem that allows riders to switch positions mid-ride, without stopping, and are now working on a four-passenger version.
Must be nice. The Edinburgh, Scotland city council is fighting back against accusations of covering up figures suggesting a decline in bicycling rates, arguing that the bike network is pulling its weight, and the city needs more bikeways, not fewer.
Cycling Weekly considers the recent British study that shows bicycling saves the country’s National Health Service the equivalent of nearly $100 million, aside from any other activities, arguing that everyone benefits when more people ride.
Ghost bikes are becoming a point of contention between bicyclists and the city government of Melbourne, Australia, which says they don’t come under the city’s “plaques and memorials” policy.
Competitive Cycling
Italian cyclist Debora Silvestri is still hospitalized on breathing support after suffering multiple crack ribs going over the guard rail in a high speed mass crash in the women’s Milan-San Remo.
Former Olympic and world time trial champ Grace Brown says she’s glad she got out of the sport alive, arguing that UCI’s “extreme” focus on safety regulations hasn’t kept the peloton from getting more dangerous, as the high speed women’s Milan-Sanremo crash demonstrated.
If you needed any more proof that all-everything champ Tadej Pogačar is riding at the next level these days, he won Milan-San Remo with a mad descent on a cracked frame with a rubbing disc brake, following a bad crash earlier in the race.
Road.cc considers whether modern road bikes are really that much faster, more aero and comfortable compared to bikes from the ’90s.
Finally…
Where would Winnie-the-Pooh, Piglet and Eeyore mountain bike? That feeling when you scale a bridge with a bicycle on your back, then leave it flapping from the giant American flag at the top.
And why did the chicken use a pelican, puffin, toucan or tiger to cross the road — but not a pegasus, unless it was on a pony?
The chicken, that is.
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
