Tag Archive for Bob Blumenfield

CicLAvia releases calendar of 8 events across LA, more from Saturday’s City Hall Die-In, and LA hip hop history bike tour

January 24, 2023 / / Comments Off on CicLAvia releases calendar of 8 events across LA, more from Saturday’s City Hall Die-In, and LA hip hop history bike tour

Mark your calendar.

Nonprofit group CicLAvia released their full schedule of open streets events for the coming year, with eight CicLAvias spread throughout the city.

The list includes two new one to two mile CicLAmini events targeted to walkers, instead of bike riders.

In addition to the previously announced five-mile Valley CicLAvia on Sherman Way February 26th, you’ll have a chance to take part in the following events.

  • April 15: Mid-City Meets Pico Union presented by Metro
  • May 21: CicLAmini – Watts presented by Metro
  • June 18: South LA – Vermont Ave presented by Metro
  • August 20: Koreatown Meets Hollywood presented by Metro
  • September 17: CicLAmini – North Hollywood
  • October 15: Heart of LA presented by Metro
  • December 3: South LA – Leimert Park Meets Historic South Central presented by Metro

The group also announced an additional event on February 10th, when Los Angeles Ale Works will release their new seek-la-VEE-ah West Coast India Pale Ale at a CicLAvia season launch party and fundraiser at Ivy Station Complex, Culver City, during the 5-10 pm Night Market.

So now you can drink CicLAvia while you ride, walk, scoot, skate or roll it.

………

As we mentioned yesterday, Saturday’s die-in at Los Angeles City Hall, hosted by a long list of advocacy groups, protested the worst year on LA streets in recent memory, with 312 people needlessly killed in the City of Angels.

Although you’d think this city would have made more than enough angels by now, since even one death from traffic violence is one too many.

Here are just a few faces and images from the day.

Organizers distributed 312 white flowers to symbolize the 312 lives needlessly lost to traffic violence.

Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE) Founder Damian Kevitt, holding the three flowers on the left, led the day’s events.

 

From center to right, California Assembly Member Laura Friedman, LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, state Senator Anthony Portantino, and Streets For All's Michael Schneider

From center to right, California Assembly Member Laura Friedman, LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, state Senator Anthony Portantino, and Streets For All’s Michael Schneider; my new friend Max reclines at lower right

Participants lay still for 312 seconds of silence in honor of the 312 lives needlessly lost

California Assembly Member Laura Friedman, LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, state Senator Anthony Portantino stand above Damian Kevitt at the mic

Meanwhile, Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports just over 200 people attended the protest; he offers his own photos from the day.

………

Volume Four of the Temple Tactics hip hop blog talks with Conkrete Mike P. about his bike tours exploring West Coast Hip Hop Historical Sites.

Although apparently, you can also do the tours by car, if you insist.

………

The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.

No bias here. A New York columnist says the city could make a fortune just fining bicyclists for moving and equipment violations, including riding backwards — which is physically impossible — and insists that ebikes somehow aren’t bicycles. Just wait until someone tells him about cars and the things their operators do, including driving backwards. And I suppose electric cars aren’t real cars, either.

No bias here, too. A British Columbia man who claims to be a bike rider blasts what he calls the city’s most disruptive protected bike lanes, blames “woke” politicians for them, and claims no one ever uses them. So a columnist went out in the middle of the day and counted 13 bicyclists in just ten minutes.

The British media is going crazy over the shortest bike lane ever, which isn’t actually a bike lane — just a seven-foot half circle designed to give bicyclists a safe place to pull over.

But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.

There’s not a pit in hell deep enough for an Iowa man who faces charges for throwing a children’s bike at a woman before punching her in the face, and knocking her to the ground.

………

Local 

Streets For All calls for ending LA’s bizarre policy of automatic street widening, which results in brief mid-block curb carve-outs in front of new construction, and have been mistakenly called bike lanes; a motion to end the policy will be heard at tomorrow’s Public Works Committee meeting.

 

State

Students in Los Alamitos will now have to complete an ebike safety course and have a permit to ride an ebike to school.

A 63-year old San Diego man suffered a number of broken bones when his beach cruiser was rear-ended by a driver on Pacific Highway in the Morena neighborhood Saturday night; the victim was reportedly riding without lights or reflectors.

A new report shows bike and pedestrian injuries have nearly been eliminated on Santa Barbara’s Promenade since cars were banned, without a single fatality or severe injury in the past four years.

A couple dozen protestors blocked traffic at a San Francisco intersection where a 64-year old woman was killed by a driver two weeks ago, demanding improved pedestrian safety in the neighborhood.

 

National

It’s a very sad commentary when a review site recommends stationary bikes to use if riding a bike in your city seems too dangerous. Instead of, you know, just making it safer to actually ride a bike. 

Axios examines the ever-expanding American pickup truck, which has continued to increase in size, power and capacity over the past four decades, even as buyers use it more for shopping and dropping the kids off at soccer practice, and less for hauling anything but ass. And which presents ever increasing danger to anyone outside of them.

Makes Use Of offers advice on how to avoid ebike fires.

Life is cheap in Utah, where a hit-and-run driver was sentenced to up to 15 years behind bars for the alleged drunken death of a 13-year old boy riding his bike last year — or he could be out in less than a year with good behavior.

If it’s any consolation, over twice as many people were killed on Colorado roadways last year than the 312 killed on Los Angeles streets — even though the state’s population is just 40% higher — making it Colorado’s deadliest year in four decades. And I hope no one actually takes any real solace in that. 

Streetsblog reports that more children under 18 were killed on New York streets last year than any other time since Vision Zero was adopted 2015; the site also reports the NYPD is a lot better at solving hit-and-runs in white neighborhoods than in communities of color.

Police in Charlottesville, Virginia say charges against a driver in a fatal crash will depend on whether the victim was riding his bike across the street or walking it; one means the victim was operating a vehicle and had to obey the rules of the road, while the other makes him a pedestrian who the driver had to yield to. Yet either way, the victim is still dead and the driver still killed him. 

Seriously? Key West, Florida has put a proposed ebike ban on hold in hopes the state will take action. Because the risks posed by ebikes are so much greater than the ones from cars, evidently.

 

International

Road.cc awards their choices for accessories of the year, which may not all be available here in the US.

A Penn State student spent his winter break riding a bike over the world’s highest volcano, climbing over 20,000 feet over 11 days to top Chile’s Ojos del Salado.

A Toronto lawyer is challenging the constitutionality of a speeding ticket she received for violating the 12 mph speed limit while riding downhill in a park; she claims imposing a flat speed limit on non-flat terrain increases the risk for bike riders.

The latest road danger in England’s West Midland’s region are foot-long laughing gas canisters abandoned in the roadway by people abusing nitrous oxide intended for the catering industry — apparently including people imbibing behind the wheel.

Sad news from the UK, where the two bike riders killed by a hit-and-run driver we mentioned yesterday turned out to be a father riding with his 16-year old son; the 37-year old alleged driver was arrested after abandoning his car.

A British bike storage company claims Brexit has crippled its business, which is down 25% since the country left the European Union.

A Kiwi website makes the case for why the country needs an ebike rebate. Then again, every city, state and country should offer rebates for ebikes. Including this one.

 

Competitive Cycling

Outside takes a deep dive into the murder of rising gravel cyclist Moriah “Mo” Wilson, which begins with pro cyclist Colin Strickland’s belief that every woman should own a gun for their own protection — including ex-girlfriend Kaitlin Armstrong, Wilson’s accused killer.

It was a split verdict in the trial of two men charged with robbing Mark Cavendish and his family at knifepoint in a brutal 2021 home invasion; one of the defendants was found not guilty, while 31-year-old Romario Henry was convicted on two robbery counts. A third man had previously pleaded guilty, while two others remain at large. As usual, read the story on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

 

Finally…

That feeling when someone steals your new bike prototype before you can even build the damn thing. Presenting the perfect Ti touring bike for people with more dollars than sense.

And the perfect accessory for bike riders who really wish they were cars.

………

Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Permanent memorial for young Valley bicyclist, Aussie distracted driving cams, and more NY anti-bike bias

September 3, 2019 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: Permanent memorial for young Valley bicyclist, Aussie distracted driving cams, and more NY anti-bike bias

One tragic note before we get started.

I’m told that a man from Altadena has been gravely injured in an apparent solo fall while riding with a friend in the Northern California backcountry.

The victim is currently being treated in a Bay Area hospital for severe neck, spine and brain injuries.

I’m withholding his name and other details for now out of respect for his family and their privacy.

But prayers or best wishes are definitely in order.

………

He gets it.

Bike advocates rededicated the ghost bike for 15-year old Sebastian Montero, who was killed by a speeding driver while riding his bike in Woodland Hills on Easter Sunday last year.

The ceremony also saw the installation of the city’s first permanent marker honoring a fallen bicyclist, one of up to 20 per year the city will install with a reminder to drive safely.

Photo from Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s Twitter account

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield struck the right tone, reminding the small audience about the big hole Montero’s death left in the lives of everyone around him.

And that a simple sign wasn’t going to fix anything.

“The signs themselves are wonderful,” said Blumenfield. “[But] they’re not going to solve our problems with people dying on the roads.”

It will take a renewed commitment to Vision Zero by the people elected to serve all of us — not just the people in the big, dangerous machines.

And a willingness on their part to stand up to NIMBYs and angry drivers that has been sorely lacking in the city in recent years.

………

Great idea.

Inspired by the death of his friend James Rapley, the Australian bike rider killed on Temescal Canyon while on a layover at LAX six years ago, an Aussie entrepreneur has developed an automated camera system designed to capture drivers illegally using a handheld cellphone.

The automated cameras from Acusensus are designed to work like red light or speed cameras to provide photographic proof of the driver breaking the law, along with the license of the car.

Presumably, tickets would follow in the mail.

It would likely require a change in the law to use them in California, where red light cameras are allowed at local discretion, but speed cameras are currently prohibited.

However, it should withstand privacy concerns, since there is no legal expectation of privacy for anything that is readily visible in public.

Although the state’s overly entitled drivers would likely rise up to complain, just like too many do over any attempt to hold motorists accountable and keep them from breaking the law.

But there are few things the state could do virtually overnight that would have a greater impact on safety and do more to save lives.

………

No bias here.

The bike-hating New York Post says bike riders are killing pedestrians, and accuses the city of not doing anything to stop it.

Then they go on to explain there were seven pedestrian deaths in the last nine years — something works out to less than one a year, along with another 250 injured each year.

While one death is one too many, the paper doesn’t bother to mention how many bike riders were injured or killed in crashes with pedestrians.

Never mind who was actually at fault in those crashes.

And as anyone who has ever had a pedestrian step out into bike lane without looking, or turn suddenly in front of your bike can tell you, it ain’t necessarily the person on two wheels.

Nor do they bother to put it all in perspective by citing the 100-plus pedestrians killed by motorists each year.

Which only works out to a margin of slightly 100 to one, anyway. Making it pretty damn clear who represents the real danger to people walking.

But who cares about facts if it sells newspapers.

Right?

………

Speaking of which, a New York study shows zombie pedtextrians isn’t really a thing after all.

………

Go for a Monday mountain bike ride with the great Peter Sagan.

But maybe drop a little dramamine first.

………

Thanks to Sgt. Helper for forwarding video of a bike-riding nun who could probably drop most of us.

Well, me anyway.

https://twitter.com/TrumpPatriotPL/status/1167874990810648577

………

Local

Hats off to LAPD officer Andrew Gonzalez, who rode his bike 300 miles from LA to Stanislaus County to deliver a flag to the family of a fallen Newman police officer who was killed during a traffic stop last year.

Katherine Schwarzenegger and Chris Pratt are two of us, as they enjoy married life on a mountain bike ride in Los Angeles.

NoHo’s Chandler Bikeway is set to get $1.2 million in improvements. None of which is apparently aimed at improving safety for bike riders.

E-scooters are officially banned in the ‘Bu.

The Daily Breeze recounts the story of deadly Vista Del Mar, including the failed 2017 attempt to install a road diet, which was ripped out when drivers insisted on their God-given right to go zoom zoom even if it keeps killing people.

 

State

A San Diego woman suffered severe head trauma when a driver leaving a parking lot smashed into her bike as she rode on the sidewalk. Yet another example of why riding a bicycle on the sidewalk isn’t as safe as most people think.

After a Murrietta boy was hit by a car while riding his bike, the kindhearted people at Target gave him a new one.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a 56-year old bike rider died after allegedly making an abrupt left turn into the path of a pickup driver.

San Jose police bust ten suspects in a series of burglaries targeting bike shops, as well as construction sites and school districts in the Bay Area.

A San Jose columnist goes for the jugular, arguing that a bike rider killed in a head-on collision on popular Mount Diablo would be alive today if parks officials hadn’t ignored a judge’s 27-year old order to improve the roadway. Thanks to Robert Leone for the link.

Officials identified the victim in last week’s fatal hit-and-run in East San Jose as a 44-year old San Jose man. Thanks to Ralph Durham and Robert Leone for the heads-up.

Indicating a total misunderstanding of what speed limits are for, a Santa Rosa-area letter writer says drivers should be required to drive the speed limit, and bike riders should get the hell out of the way so they don’t slow down the more important people in cars. Just like drivers, bicyclists are required to pull over when safe to do so if there are five or more vehicles stuck behind them and unable to pass; the law does not apply if there are two or more lanes in each direction, or if the people can safely pass them.

Three new members were named to the U.S. Bicycling Hall of Fame in Davis; the trio will be inducted November 2nd.

A Eureka woman was busted for trying to pass a phony $100 bill at a bike shop to buy a bicycle for…wait for it…$5.46. Sound like maybe she was getting a fake bike for her fake money, anyway.

 

National

New rules for the national parks system would allow ebikes on any trails other bicycles are allowed on, providing new access to the wilderness for older or less able-bodied riders.

Buzzfeed says Amazon’s next day delivery is bringing chaos and carnage to America’s streets, while the company avoids responsibility for the harm they’re causing.

New street design guidelines from the American Society for Landscape Architecture show why inclusive cities start with safe streets.

Guarantee your kid wins playtime at the park with his or her very own Harley-Davidson e-balance bike.

Portland police finally busted the bike thief who stole a 69-year old man’s $11,000 bicycle in a strong-arm robbery in July; a friend of the victim had filmed the thief riding it shortly after the theft.

A hit-and-run bike rider rode over the hind leg of an eight-month old Labradoodle puppy on an Idaho greenbelt, snapping it in two, then simply rode off. Which makes him no less of a cowardly a-hole than any heartless hit-and-run driver. Schmuck.

Kansas City MO develops the usual factions in the fight over bike lanes, as advocates argue for improving safety and boosting local businesses, while opponents fear harm to businesses and want to keep their dangerous streets just the way they are.

A Texas man refuses to take no for an answer after doctors told him he’d never ride a bike again when he lost his leg in a horseback riding accident, completing a 168-mile ride on a prosthetic leg he designed and built himself.

An 18-year old girl rode 550 miles on a tandem bike with her father from Chicago to Toronto for her first day of college, while a Flint MI bike shop owner saved the day when they developed a crack in their tandem’s steering tube.

More proof hit-and-run isn’t just a California thing, as Chicago police are looking for the heartless coward who slammed into a mountain bike rider, and left him to die on the side of the road. Thanks to Art S for the tip.

After a legally blind Indiana man’s bike was stolen, a friend spotted it on someone else’s porch and stole it back.

Congratulations to Ohio officials for keeping a dangerous driver on the roads until he killed someone. The alleged drunk driver who killed a bicyclist on Saturday had been charged with driving while impaired seven years ago, but prosecutors pled it down to a single count of reckless driving with a small fine; the victim was chief counsel to a former Ohio governor. Which means his blood is on their hands.

A driveway vigilante is under arrest after a New York driver took the law into his own hands, deliberately slamming his SUV into the screwdriver-toting bike rider he suspected of breaking into his vehicle, and killing him.

New York’s former parks commissioner says bike and pedestrian traffic in Central Park has become so chaotic and dangerous due to its growing popularity and lack of pedestrian and cycling safety infrastructure that he won’t ride his bike there anymore.

An op-ed in the New York Daily News says sure, bikes are all fine and good, but the city’s Belmont neighborhood needs its parking. Unlike, say, every other neighborhood that says the same thing, until they find out they’re actually better off with more bikes and fewer cars.

Need a haircut? A bike-riding New York barber says he’ll go anywhere to cut hair, traveling from Machu Picchu to Tokyo.

Now that’s more like it. A Philadelphia man is suing a delivery company for repeatedly blocking a bike lane, as well as the city’s parking authority for failing to enforce it.

A Delaware man who is “hardly a bike-phobe” says they’ve already had several bike riders killed in the area, and its totally the fault of those careless, lawbreaking vacationers on bicycles.

An op-ed in the Washington Post says we can have an enormous impact on improving our cities by making it easier to ride a bike and harder to drive a car.

Life is cheap in Virginia, where a woman walks without a single day behind bars despite a conviction for reckless driving in the death of a man riding his bicycle.

A new Clemson University study confirms that daytime taillights can significantly improve your safety. Speaking strictly for myself, I’ve had far fewer close calls since I’ve started riding with multiple taillights and an ultrabright headlight during the day. As much as it really pisses me off to have to do it. 

 

International

London is changing building design rules for skyscrapers to reduce the wind tunnel effect for bicyclists.

A British writer calls for taming the automotive hegemony on our streets by banning all car advertising.

Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden is one of us, too, going for a casual ride with her two daughters.

A new study shows cargo bikes are more efficient than delivery vans in urban areas, so the UK government put its money on…flying taxis.

It’s a long, long way to Tipperary, and an Irish columnist just wishes you’d show a little respect and use your bike bell on the way there.

Yet another study confirms the safety in numbers effect, as a new Belgian study shows motorists will adjust how they drive in relation to the number of bicyclists on the street.

South African police ended a nearly two-year reign of terror when they arrested a Zimbabwean man for murdering a bike rider and a hiker in a national park, as well as eight other nonfatal stabbings and muggings.

A New Zealand charity refurbishes bicycles to give to refugees, and teaches the recipients how to ride them, giving them new hope in the process.

An Aussie op-ed says just painting bike lanes on a street and assuming bicyclists will be safe and motivated to use them is delusional, and does nothing to encourage more people to give bike riding a try.

The Philippines considers a bill that would require elected officials to use public transport. We need something like that here, like requiring officials — elected and otherwise — to walk, bike or use transit at least once a week.

 

Competitive Cycling

A “crazy week” ends at the Vuelta with yet another leader change.

Cyclist looks at the winners and losers in the Vuelta’s first week, while Cycling Weekly confines itself to five talking points from stage 9.

One of those losers was Tejay van Garderen, who was forced to drop out with a broken finger following a crash on Thursday.

Rouleur considers how tiny Slovenia rose to the top of the cycling world.

A Mexican cyclist got a two-year ban after getting busted for doping. But the doping era is completely and totally over, right?

Once again, a bike rider is a hero, as a bicyclist competing in a Russian bike race loses control and veers off the course, but grabs a little girl to protect her as he falls.

Finally…

Yes, a bike lane can save your life the next time you inhale a wasp while riding. If you’re going to take your loaded shotgun into Home Depot, at least get off your bike first.

And don’t toss trash out the window of your chrome-covered Lambo.

Especially if there’s a bicyclist around.

………

One final note. 

This is exactly how I feel when I post most mornings. Now if I could only figure out how to include a decent bottle of booze as a downloadable attachment.

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: DIY red cup protected bike lanes today, LA traffic deaths up despite Vision Zero, and a busy bike weekend

April 26, 2019 / / Comments Off on Morning Links: DIY red cup protected bike lanes today, LA traffic deaths up despite Vision Zero, and a busy bike weekend

It’s National Red Cup Project Day. 

So go out and stake out your own protected bike lane by using your favorite brand of plastic red cups to mark your favorite bike lane for just a few bucks.

And knowing LA drivers, for just a few minutes before they run them over anyway.

But still.

Then send me the photos or video, and I’ll post them on here.

………

Good piece from the LA Times’ Laura Nelson, who writes that, despite Vision Zero, traffic fatalities are up significantly in Los Angeles; advocates blame inaction by the city and a lack of commitment to improve safety if it means inconveniencing drivers.

I’d say that about sums it up.

………

It’s a busy bike weekend in the LA area.

Culver City is looking for volunteers to clean up Ballona Creek on Saturday, presumably including the bike path.

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield hosts his annual Blumenfield Bike Ride in Reseda Saturday morning.

Long Beach’s popular Beach Streets open streets event takes place on Saturday, as well.

And the ever-popular CicLAvia rolls through the streets of Wilmington on Sunday, with their first event of 2015.

………

KCBS-2 looks forward to Monday’s arrival of LA’s first two-way bike lane on Spring Street in DTLA.

Although unlike the photo they use to illustrate the story, it probably won’t be cobbled.

………

Kindhearted Santa Clarita sheriff’s deputies surprised a young boy with a new bike after his was stolen; credit the local Bicycle John’s outpost for donating the bike.

Thanks to Nina Moskol, Chairperson of the Santa Clarita Valley Bicycle Coalition for the heads-up.

Speaking of Santa Clarita, the city’s mayor looks forward to next month’s visit by the Amgen Tour of California, while encouraging residents to explore the city by bicycle.

And a columnist for The Signal decries a “relative bloodbath of pedestrian and bicycle accidents” in the area, saying more must be done to improve safety, especially on busy six-lane McBean Parkway.

………

Today’s common theme: mountain bikes.

Recently retired football great Rob Gronkowski is one of us; Bicycling offers a little unsolicited advice as he takes up mountain biking.

Congratulations to gun maker Smith & Wesson, whose attempt to enter the mountain bike market ranks 41st on USA Today’s list of the 50 worst product flops of all time.

Finishing our mountain bike trifecta, Outside offers seven tips for beginning mountain bikes, whether or not they answer to Gronkowski.

But wait, there’s more!

The Orange County Register’s David Whiting takes a docent-led mountain bike tour through the volunteer-managed Irvine Ranch Conservancy, which he says most people have never heard of, even though at 40,000 acres it’s nearly as big as Bryce Canyon National Park and even more spectacular.

………

Local

Spectrum News 1 is the latest LA news outlet to look at the city’s new program to install permanent memorials to fallen bicyclists.

A former LA city planner states the obvious, suggesting that LA traffic congestion is only going to get worse and that solutions like walking and biking remain woefully underfunded, without the safe infrastructure necessary to make them work. However, he also blames increased density and transit oriented development, as well as reduced parking requirements, calling them frauds, without citing evidence to back it up.

An op-ed in the LA Daily News says California drivers won’t willingly give up their cars.

This is who we share the beach with. A woman tells what it was like to get run over by an LAPD SUV while sunbathing on Venice Beach.

Santa Monica’s Breeze bikeshare program could be on the chopping block due to competition from dockless bikes and e-scooters, as the city faces budget cuts and layoffs under a program to speed payment of its $448 million unfunded pension liability. 

He gets it. An op-ed from the vice chair of the Long Beach Transit board of directors says everyone deserves safe streets.

This is who we share the roads with. A Long Beach bus driver faces charges for sideswiping more than a dozen cars while driving at three times the legal alcohol limit.

Signal Hill police will be cracking down on violations that endanger bike riders and pedestrians net month.

 

State

California’s Complete Streets bill moves forward after passing through the Senate Transportation Committee; SB127 would require Caltrans to consider the safety of all road users on any state-owned road.

That’s more like it. An El Cajon woman driving with a suspended license got three years behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a nine-year old boy who was riding his bike to school.

A San Diego TV station says bike riders and skaters at a new pump track think the park isn’t big enough for both of them.

A 75-year old Indian Wells man was hospitalized with significant injuries after he somehow crashed into the back of a parked city van Thursday morning.

Riverside sheriff’s deputies are still on the lookout for the red light-running hit-and-run driver who killed a 21-year old Eastvale man as he was biking home from work five years ago; deputies originally arrested a man who admitted to driving while “drunk out of his mind” and thought he had hit something that night, but phone records placed him miles from the crash site.

The speeding driver in the Sunnyvale crash who intentionally rammed eight pedestrians and bike riders as they waited at a red light was reportedly suffering from PTSD from his time in the Army; witnesses said they heard him repeatedly moan “Thank you, Jesus” following the crash.

 

National

A tax bill pending in Congress could mean an extra $53 a month in your pocket for commuting by bike.

Fast Company says people only realized just how much they’d miss ebikes after they were taken away.

Breaking a sweat today can provide health benefits up to a decade later.

An Oregon weekly offers its annual bicycling edition, with stories ranging from BMX and gravel grinding to low stress bicycle networks.

Phoenix says what’s a few traffic deaths between friends, bucking the national trend by voting not to adopt a Vision Zero plan.

A new study from an Arizona professor recommends leading bicycle intervals or split LBIs to reduce the risk of collisions with right-turning drivers.

Colorado comedian Wally Wallace discusses the second edition of his bicycle and comedy festival in tiny Trinidad CO, choosing the city of slightly more than 8,000 people because it’s halfway between Los Angeles and Chicago by train.

A Boise, Idaho bike cop is about to log 100,000 miles on his bike.

A Minneapolis transportation columnist says if you want a happy commute, travel by bicycle.

The NYPD is cracking down on red light-running bike riders, after a woman suffered a fractured skull that left her in a coma when she was struck by a food delivery rider who blew through the light. Seriously, unless you live in Idaho or Arkansas, stop for the damn red light, already — especially when pedestrians are present.

A DC website says it’s very charitable to conclude that the cop who hit a bike rider as he rode in a crosswalk actually had the right-of-way, as the local police insist.

Life is cheap in North Carolina, where a speeding driver who killed an 18-year old basketball star while he was riding his bike walked with just 75 days behind bars — and even that was suspended.

A travel writer visiting New Orleans says bikeshare is a surprisingly good way to tour the city.

 

International

Research papers usually tell just half the story about exercise science, since they too often leave women out of the equation, according to a Cycling Weekly writer.

Heartbreaking video from England, where a balance bike-riding three-year old became collateral damage in a road rage dispute between two drivers; remarkably, the truck driver who killed him was cleared of wrongdoing. Evidently, road rage is perfectly legal in the UK, even if it kills an innocent person.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in Britain, where a “remorseless” hit-and-run driver walks without a single day behind bars for leaving a triathlete with serious injuries after deliberately cutting in front of her bike — and saying she deserved it, calling it karma, for the crime of delaying his car for a few moments. Let’s wish him well, because karma’s got a nasty way of coming back to bite you in the ass.

Seriously? Japan Today points out the dangers of reckless bicycling, while noting that police blame bike riders for “nearly 100%” of crashes with pedestrians. While we have an obligation to ride safely around people on foot, anyone who’s ever had someone step off a curb or turn around in front of them knows that’s pretty damned unlikely.

The Japanese man whose wife and three-year old daughter were killed when their bike was struck by an 87-year old driver calls attention to elderly people who can no longer drive safely. We’ve got to find a better way to identify unsafe drivers and take the keys out of their hands. Because despite what Elon Musk says, self-driving cars are a long way off.

 

Finally…

When you’re sexually harassed by your e-scooter.  Here’s your chance to tour Winterfell by bike.*

And yes, I would.

In a heartbeat.

*dragons not included

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Not so fast for Vision Zero funding, Union Street protected bike lane, and Blumenfield bike ride

April 23, 2018 / / 4 comments

So much for the $91 million we were promised for Vision Zero.

Just days after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced he was proposing that amount for Vision Zero in next year’s budget, it turns to be yet another disappointment.

Instead, the newly released budget contains $90 million for all street safety improvements, which includes Vision Zero and any other street improvements. And while it’s a significant increase, that’s up from $78 million for street improvements in last years budget, not the $27 million that was budgeted for Vision Zero, as we were led to believe.

As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Meanwhile, the budget does call for $71 million to repave LA’s broken streets, and another $41 million for sidewalk repairs.

………

The bruising battle for safer streets goes on in Pasadena, with a public workshop schedule for May 9th to consider plans for a protect bike lane on Union Street.

Greg Gunther of the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition has put together this practically perfect primer for the project:

Protected bike lanes (PBL) are a simple concept with powerful benefits.

  • In essence, they’re like sidewalks for bikes
  • They put a protective buffer between drivers and bike riders
  • They make it pleasant for anyone to bike – just as sidewalks make it pleasant for anyone to walk
What are the benefits?
  • Increase safety 
    • 89% fewer bicyclist injuries 
    • Reduce driving stress by bringing predictability to the street 
    • Less sidewalk riding reduces pedestrian injuries
  • Promote economic vitality
    • Business revenue increases along PBL routes (NYC DOT, Measuring the Street, New Metrics for 21st Century Streets)
    • Bicycle lanes increase the value of nearby property

Why do PBLs Matter?

  • With increased safety, comes increased ridership (Do you think that biking in Pasadena feels unsafe?  You’re not alone… )
    • Most surveyed expressed an interest in riding a bike more often, but resist because it feels unsafe (2012 – Jennifer Dill)
    • Safe places to ride increase ridership – protected bike lanes have shown to create a proven spike in bicycle traffic (2014 – Monsere, et al)
  • With increased ridership, comes universal benefits
Why on Union Street?
  • Union Street is a major east-west corridor in Pasadena’s Central District – when combined with the proposed Bike Boulevard on Holliston Avenue we will have a network that connects Caltech, Pasadena City College with the Playhouse District, the Civic Center, Old Pasadena and the Gold Line
    • Current traffic volumes are far below the street’s capacity
    • Current plans for the street also include multiple pedestrian enhancements to make the entire street segment safer for everyone 
  • In the future, there are also plans under discussion that would create a “link” restoring historic connections between the Central District and the Arroyo – after that, watch out!
    • The Arroyo Seco Bike Path already provides more than 2 miles of protected bikeway from South Pasadena through Highland Park to Mt. Washington
    • Future improvements are slated to connect downstream to the Los Angeles River – bringing Downtown L.A. within biking reach across comfortable and safe protected lanes
What can I do to help make sure this happens?
  • Make sure you weigh in to voice your preferences
    1.  At minimum, Visit the project website and share your thoughts http://bit.ly/UnionStProtectedBikeLanes
    2.  Even more help:  Send an e-mail that registers your support to Rich Dilluvio [ RDilluvio@cityofpasadena.net ]
    3.  First Prize:  Attend the City’s Community Workshop
      • Wednesday, May 9th – 6:30 to 8:30pm 
      • Pasadena Presbyterian Church – 585 Colorado Blvd (@ Madison) – Gamble Lounge

“The best thing about a bike-friendly city isn’t the bikes – it’s the city!”

………

David Drexler took part in the rescheduled Blumenfield Bike Ride through Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s 3rd Council District in the San Fernando Valley on Saturday.

According to Drexler,

It was a great ride with all streets closed by LADP for us so we did not have to stop. I highly recommend it — lots of bike advocates were there and it was very well run.

He also reports the councilman’s wife and two kids were along for the ride, and Blumenfield told him they regularly ride as a family.

There may be hope for this city yet.

Councilman Blumenfield addresses the crowd

A good sized group gathers as Blumanfield prepares to lead the ride

It always helps to have a police escort

………

Richard Fox sends word of a new Facebook group for casual SoCal bicyclists.

A new Facebook group has been created for casual cyclists to share favorite rides, announce events, and develop ideas to improve cycling facilities throughout SoCal. Casual cyclists are those who prefer to ride at slow to moderate speeds on trails and low-traffic roads with bike lanes, or even sidewalks when roads seem dangerous to ride on. Most public cycling organizations and bike clubs are composed of road cyclists, racers, and commuters that lobby for safer roadways. We also want safer roadways, but we prefer riding on bike trails away from traffic altogether. This group joins together all the SoCal regions so that we can share experiences beyond our boundaries and help each other in our lobbying efforts. Follow or join at: www.facebook.com/groups/430036694076594/.

………

Local

Great piece from LA Times columnist Steve Lopez, who spends a day at a South LA bike shop to get a feel for the city’s spandex-free bike culture. Thanks to Alan Ginsberg for the heads-up.

A fundraiser organized by an LAPD officer raised over $5,000 for the family of fallen teenage cyclist Sebastian Montero; police are looking for his bike that was stolen two months before his death so they can return it to his mother.

The AP offers a brief report on Sunday’s CicLAvia.

Somehow we missed this one last week, as Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward and Bikes Belong founder and former Long Beach Bicycle Czar Charlie Gandy talk bike politics and environmentalism on Bike Talk.

 

State

It’s a well-deserved seven years behind bars for the 18-year old driver who killed a Cal Poly San Luis Obispo student as he rode his bike to class in a drunken hit-and-run. Cases like this are doubly tragic; not only is one life needlessly ended and another ruined; but two families shattered.

 

National

c|net provides your guide to dockless e-scooters.

A new documentary about the faith and determination required to compete in the Race Across America will screen in theaters across the US on May 22nd.

Arizona’s Pima County offers a $2.1 million settlement to a bicyclist who was seriously injured on a bike lane described as a death trap.

The Illinois legislature is considering bills that would require drivers to learn the Dutch Reach, add bike questions to the driver’s test, and teach bike safety to school children.

A Massachusetts paper says the best way to celebrate spring is from behind the handlebars. Something we can probably all agree on.

A Brooklyn letter writer gets it, saying you don’t have to ride a bike to know that carving two blocks of police parking out of a protected bike lane is a mistake.

The same day the LA area celebrated its latest CicLAvia, New York opened up 30 blocks of the Great White Way to bikes and pedestrians for a two-mile carfree open streets event.

If they can do it there, we can do it anywhere. New York finally gives the boot to cars in Central Park. Raising hopes that maybe one day we can see cars banished from Los Angeles city parks, including Griffith Park. Because parks are for people, not cars.

 

International

A 60-year old Canadian woman is riding solo through 5,000 miles of the US and Canada.

No irony here. A British bus driver spent the day training to share the road with bicyclists, then got hit by a bus while riding his bike back home; police say the cell phone in his back pocket may have saved him from paralysis.

Nice video from the UK, where a man surprised his 88-year old father, a former cycling champ, with an ebike and swiftly got him back to racing form.

A 77-year old Scottish man spent three weeks shoveling dirt and debris from three miles of roadway to make it safe for bike riders, after being told the local government wouldn’t get around to it until summer.

Who says politicians are useless? A member of the Scottish parliament rescued an 81-year old bike rider who accidentally rode into a canal.

A Bollywood actress complains that five-star hotels don’t accept bicycles. But rides her single speed bike to them anyway.

Police in New Zealand are taking to their bikes after recognizing what the rest of us already knew — that bikes give you a better view of what motorists are really doing in their cars.

Tragic story from New Zealand, where a mountain biker has spent the last two months in a hospital paralyzed from the neck down except for a little movement in her arms after she was struck by careless trail rider, and calls for better bike rider behavior.

The killer hit-and-run epidemic has spread to law-abiding Japan.

 

Competitive Cycling

Spoiler alert: Skip this section if you’re still planning to watch yesterday’s Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Cycling Weekly provides five talking points from Liège-Bastogne-Liège to impress everyone around the water cooler, who probably never heard of it.

Luxembourg’s Bob Jungels won the men’s race, while Michael Woods became the first Canadian to podium in Liège-Bastogne-Liège; Dutch rider Anna van der Breggen won the women’s race for the second year in a row.

Italy’s Alberto Bettiol will miss the Giro after breaking his left clavicle and a rib in the race, while women’s great Marianne Vos suffered a broken collarbone in a collision with another cyclist.

A semi-pro New Zealand cyclist is showing signs of improvement after being roused from a drug-induced coma following a collision that shattered his upper body.

Everything you always wanted to know about Lance Armstrong but probably didn’t care enough to ask.

 

Finally…

Be vewy, vewy quiet, we’re hunting KOMs. Why buy an ebike when you can just build one yourself?

And if you’re going to ride a bike naked in the middle of a thunderstorm, fasten balloons securely to protect your modesty.

Although if you actually had any, you probably wouldn’t be doing it to begin with.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Wasted time at HHWNC meeting, Glendale-Hyperion Bridge meeting, and Bob Blumenfield bike ride

February 22, 2018 / / 5 comments

So much for that.

I sat through three hours of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council last night, until they finally got around to discussing the draft Hollywood Community Plan.

Then stormed out after chairwoman interrupted my comment to argue with me, denied she was arguing with, then told me my time was up. All before I barely said anything.

Which is the second time I’ve attended one of their meetings, and been denied a chance to speak.

Nice when your neighborhood representatives refuse to listen.

Although I did stay long enough to hear a Hollywood Hills homeowner on the council tell us that we don’t need a bike lane through the Cahuenga Pass when bicyclists can just take the Red Line from NoHo to Hollywood.

Which pretty much sums up windshield bias. And tells you what we’re up against.

Update: A much calmer India Brookover stayed after I left, and offers this recap of what happened.

I was at the council meeting tonight and wanted to let you know how they voted, which actually ended up being pretty interesting. Also wanted to highlight some clarifications that were made.
The subjects of the motion were really unclear. The addendum, particularly the “infeasible” part is actually language gathered from a letter from the Outpost Estates Homeowners Group of the 5th district, not Anastasia Mann’s words.
Suzanne Warren, chair of district 5 (where homeowners group was located) actually ended up questioning the language of determining the lanes as unfeasible and said there was no reason to preclude a feasibility study. The transportation chair introduced a motion to strike the language regarding infeasibility from the addendum and remarkably, it passed unanimously.
I hope I’m getting everything right (its been a long night) so please check the minutes when they are posted. I found that the meeting turned out surprisingly successful. I was happy to see we had some allies on the board who countered the car-centric ethos I was expecting to hear.
It’s not a gigantic win but its certainly notable.

Hopefully, this will lead to a more promising discussion of Hollywood bike lanes and lane reductions in the days to come.

And maybe I’ll actually get a chance to speak next time.

Apropos of nothing, a here’s nice, calming, pretty bike photo downloaded from Pexels.com that I intend to stare at until I calm down.

………

There will be a meeting tonight to discuss progress on the Glendale-Hyperion Bridge Project, which is slated to get bike lanes on both sides, but a walkway on just one.

Also on the agenda is design options for the nearby Red Car Pedestrian Bridge.

………

Third District LA City Councilmember Bob Blumenfield will host his 5th annual bike ride next month.

 

………

Local

Los Angeles is adding more Leading Pedestrian Interval signals, giving people crossing the street a head start before motorists get the green light. Now they just need to change the law so bicyclists can go with the LPI signal, as well.

The LA City Council has voted to develop a plan to inspect and repair all the cracked and crumbling bike lanes in Los Angeles. Or you can read about it in a surprising good report from Chinese news agency Xinhua. Of course, developing a plan is not exactly the same as doing it.

Culver City is asking for input to help update their Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan.

Streetsblog’s SGV Connect podcast talks about the coming complete street project and protected bike lanes in Monterey Park.

LA County has approved a grant to develop an East San Gabriel Valley Active Transportation Plan.

 

State

There’s something seriously wrong when a six-year old Fullerton girl isn’t even safe from a drunk driver when she’s playing on the sidewalk.

A San Diego TV station asks if the Hillcrest neighborhood should have more parking or bike lanes. But somehow can’t seem to find a single bike rider to talk to.

Streetsblog looks at the creeping criminalization of walking, in the wake of Montclair’s idiotic law prohibiting pedestrians from using an electronic device or listening to headphones while crossing the street. Meanwhile, new motor vehicles come equipped with high-resolution touch screen displays, built-in WiFi and high-power sound systems.

 

National

A one cent increase in the gas tax would more than fund all federal spending for bike and pedestrian projects in the United States.

Cycling Tips offers photos from some of the great bikes at the North American Handmade Bicycle Show.

Bicycling looks at the growing NASCAR bicycling community, asking if they could be cycling’s best safety advocates.

You might want to think twice before you buy a Giro or Bell helmet, or a Camelbak water bottle, unless you’re okay with your money going to a company that also makes AR15-style assault rifles.

Great idea. A nonprofit group donated 200 bicycles to help Las Vegas kids get to school.

A Salt Lake City Op-Ed says Utah’s proposed stop as yield law is all about safety.

A new Colorado bill would leave it up to individual cities to decide whether to implement an Idaho Stop Law, allowing riders to go treat stop signs and red lights as yields. The problem with that sort of local control is that what is legal in one town could be banned in the next, leaving riders subject to tickets if they unknowing cross city limit signs.

A fellow rider remembers his friend, fallen cyclist and author Andrew Tilin, who was collateral damage in a crash between two drivers as he knelt to fix a flat in Austin TX.

The Des Moines Register profiles the city’s new active transportation planner, one of 16 new positions created by a 12 cent property tax increase.

A Philly weekly dispels common myths about bicycling.

A writer in Savannah GA complains it’s been six long years since the city had built any bicycling infrastructure.

You know bikeshare is catching on when it comes to the Florida Keys.

 

International

Two Canadian cyclists had their bikes stolen just day’s after completing a 500-mile winter fundraising ride around Lake Ontario.

Caught on video: A 13-year old British girl with a helmet cam records a near head-on collision on a narrow country road when an impatient driver couldn’t wait a few more seconds to pass her. But sure, tell us again about those scofflaw cyclists.

An Irish website offers advice on beating bike thieves. And no, it’s not about what kind of club to use. Unfortunately.

Your next job could be bicycling and filming through Europe and West Africa for the next four months. Just don’t expect to get paid.

Al Arabiya offers a little more information about the horrific crash that killed four teenage Saudi cyclists on a club ride, and seriously injured six others; the murderous schmuck behind the wheel driver attempted to flee after smashing into them at more that 100 mph before crashing into another car. And four other members of the club were injured when their car was hit by a truck as they rushed to see their friends in the hospital.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Manx Missile, aka Mark Cavendish, suffered a concussion and whiplash after colliding with four other riders when a team car driver unexpectedly hit the brakes in front of them in the Abu Dhabi Tour.

 

Finally…

When your bike light maps potholes for you. A new crowdfunding campaign promises to give you eyes in the back of your helmet.

And who says mountain bikes can’t fly?

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , ,

Morning Links: No charges in NorCal triple hit-and-run, Koretz calls climate crisis, and LA on Amazon shortlist

January 19, 2018 / / One comment

File this under you’ve got to be kidding.

Authorities in Contra Costa County have decided not to file charges against an 83-year old man who kept driving after rear-ending a woman riding a bike last October.

He then returned 40 minutes later, and rear-ended two men riding their bikes in the opposite direction.

But despite being arrested two days later on suspicion of three counts of felony hit-and-run, prosecutors concluded they couldn’t prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt.

So why even try, right?

Which means that a dangerous driver is once again allowed to remain on the roads.

And drivers are once again reminded that the authorities don’t take hit-and-run any more seriously than they do.

………

CD5 Councilmember Paul Koretz teams with fellow Councilmember Bob Blumenfield to introduce a motion calling for a climate emergency response in spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “fierce urgency of now,” in response to the recent fires and mudslides.

Which means he will undoubtedly reverse his position and approve bike lanes on Westwood Blvd and elsewhere on LA’s Westside, to provide a safe alternative to driving and reduce greenhouse gasses.

Right?

Don’t hold your breath.

………

Los Angeles has somehow made it onto Amazon’s not-so-short shortlist of cities under consideration for their second headquarters.

However, given that one of their primary requirements is that the chosen city must have a good bicycle network, LA can probably look forward to getting a participation trophy.

Thanks to David Wolfberg for the heads-up.

………

Peter Flax sends news that the new bike path bypassing construction in Marina del Rey opens today.

………

Local

Chicago Streetsblog writer Steve Vance visits Los Angeles, and says it’s easy to get around by transit and bikeshare.

Curbed editor Alissa Walker lives kid-friendly and carfree in LA.

No irony here. Mar Vista’s dermatologist, neighborhood council member and self-appointed planner says LA needs to approach planning as engineers, rather than social justice warriors. Except when the engineers at LADOT do exactly that, neighborhood NIMBYs and pass-through drivers reject it because it’s not the kind of social engineering they want.

Orphan Black actress Tatiana Maslany is one of us.

The Pasadena Star-News looks at Monterey Park’s approval of a protected bike lane on Monterey Pass Road; as one resident pointed out, it could be the first step in revitalizing the street and getting people out of their cars.

Sheriff’s deputies issued 69 citations for bike and pedestrian safety violations in Santa Clarita on Wednesday, all of which went to motorists. And 46 of which were for distracted driving.

Long Beach restaurant owners are worried about the effect of the Amgen Tour of California’s shoreline start on their Mother’s Day business.

 

State

A former California resident is re-releasing the book she wrote following her round-the-world bike tour 30 years ago.

This is pretty much the definition of NIMBY. Five Encinitas residents are suing the city to block officials from opening a park gate to give kids a safe route to their elementary schools; they complain that it will be used by people who don’t live in their neighborhood to enter the park.

A Denver poet is delivering handwritten “dreams” by bicycle to subscribers in San Diego.

Visually impaired people from across the US are in Chula Vista for a para triathlete training camp to learn how to be guided by a sighted triathlon partner.

An allegedly drunk Apple Valley bike rider refused medical treatment after dodging a car in one direction, then getting hit by one headed in the other.

A Morgan Hill columnist says hosting a stage of the Amgen Tour of California could put the city on the map.

Bike East Bay is hiring a fulltime outreach coordinator and a trio of part-time interns.

Sad news from Danville, where a 73-year old ebike rider was killed after hitting a speed bump.

 

National

People for Bikes explains all about ebikes.

Bicycle Times offers advice on how to avoid bicycling burnout.

Bicycling talks to badass winter bike commuters from five cities with tough winters. Although they somehow left out Los Angeles, where riders are sometimes forced to endure partly cloudy days and temperatures in the 60s.

No, this is badass. A man who lost part of his skull years ago in a bike crash is overcoming his fears and finding hope by riding his bike across the US to get on a waiting list for treatment at a San Diego clinic.

A writer for Britain’s Cyclist magazine takes on the world’s toughest climb on Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

Portland calls their adaptive bikeshare trial a success. Let’s hope Metro Bike is paying attention; a lot of nontraditional riders could benefit from a program like that.

Caught on video: A writer takes a low-tech bike ride in the Las Vegas rain looking for the latest bike tech.

A Dallas photographer depicts the bike carnage he found looking for dockless bikeshare bikes in the city, while Dallas tells the companies to clean up their act, or else.

 

International

A woman who wears a size 18 offers advice for other plus-sized bicyclists, or as she calls it, biking while fat.

A Canadian letter-writer says money spent building a bike boulevard would have been better spent providing education for the bike-riding public. Which would do little to protect them from dangerous drivers.

London’s transportation department says reports of a slash in the bicycling budget are wrong, but don’t expect more of the city’s cycling superhighways anytime soon.

Royal-in-law Pippa Middleton looks fashionably annoyed by the London paparazzi as she rides her bike in the cold.

A London HuffPo writer says what shocked her most about taking up bicycling was the support she received from bike-riding strangers.

A travel writer for the Washington Post rides the length of Great Britain, from Land’s End to John O’Groats.

The 125-year old Dutch bike maker Gazelle rolled out its 15 millionth bicycle.

 

Competitive Cycling

Philippine website Rappler — which has been ordered shut down by the country’s increasingly authoritative government — profiles SoCal’s Filipina-American cycling champ Coryn Rivera.

Australia’s extreme heat is causing organizers of the Tour Down Under to shorten race routes.

The head of cycling’s governing body tells Lance Armstrong to stay the hell out of Flanders, not that he can stop him. Meanwhile, coming clean about being dirty has cost Lance $100 million and counting.

 

Finally…

Just what every bicyclist needs: a high-tech toilet. Getting hit by a car seems like an extreme way to get out of a murder trial.

And you know it’s a strong wind when you can’t even hold onto your bike.

 

Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Blumenfield community ride, the fur is starting to fly in CD1, and interactive Vision Zero map

April 17, 2017 / / 7 comments

Bike-friendly LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s long-delayed community bike ride will finally roll this Saturday, after a rainout earlier this year.

………

It’s starting to get rough in LA’s 1st Council District.

A columnist for Downtown News says it’s just a matter of time before the mud starts to fly in the CD1 council race. Although he confuses Gil Cedillo’s massive lead in fundraising with community support, since most of his money has come from outside the district.

Meanwhile, the LA Times raises questions about an endorsement agreement Cedillo’s challenger, Joe Bray-Ali, signed with former candidate Jesse Rosas, who lost in the primary election.

However, it appears to be much ado about nothing; agreements like this are made in virtually every runoff election to gain the support of a former rival. And the agreement not to build bike lanes on North Figueroa without community consensus is a non-issue, since there was community consensus in favor of the bike lanes before Cedillo pulled the plug.

Correction: I originally identified the former candidate as Jesse Rojas, not Rosas. Thanks to Walt! for the correction.

………

A new Vision Zero LA interactive map allows you to explore where and how people were killed in traffic collisions in the city, and your neighborhood, in recent years.

………

Don’t forget that bike lanes are on the agenda of tonight’s meeting of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council Transportation Committee, 6 pm at the Hollywood Methodist Church, 6817 Franklin Avenue.

If you live, work or ride in the Hollywood area — or would like to if it felt safer — you owe it to yourself to attend.

………

Dutch cyclist Stephen Blom discusses the unexpected kidney failure that nearly cost him his life.

An 18-year old high school senior from Fayetteville AR with Type 1 diabetes is training with the Team Novo Nordisk junior team as he tries to break into the pro ranks.

………

Local

It sounds like a response to Vision Zero, but it’s not. A traffic signal is being installed on Central Ave where Jorge Alvarez was killed in a hit-and-run last December; however, the light had been approved just days before Alvarez was killed.

The Source released renderings of the extensively named Airport Metro Connector 96th Street Transit Station, which will offer a people mover connection to LAX, along with a Bike Hub and street bicycle access.

Los Angeles is taking applications for new plazas and parklets to encourage bicycling and walking, calm traffic and improve safety and economic vitality.

The Glendale city council approves funding for the city’s first CicLAvia, just in time for June’s Glendale Meets Atwater event.

Bike SGV is looking for bicyclists who want to be featured on their blog to show the diversity of cycling in the San Gabriel Valley.

An Isla Vista pedestrian was robbed of his wallet by a fixie-riding gunman. Impressive observational skills; most people couldn’t tell a fixie from a geared bike, let alone under duress.

 

State

A man and his dog are passing through San Diego a second time in the midst of their record-setting ebike ride throughout the US; they’ve currently covered over 9,300 miles through 31 states, triple the old record.

An Isla Vista pedestrian was robbed of his wallet by a fixie-riding gunman. Impressive observational skills; most people couldn’t tell a fixie from a geared bike, let alone under duress.

The proposed U.S. Bicycle Route 85 would run from the Canadian border to Tecate, Mexico, and pass through Truckee as it roughly follows the Pacific Crest Trail.

 

National

A new study confirms what many bike riders already suspected: Most smartphone-equipped drivers use them virtually every time they drive.

The LA Times recommends riding a bicycle to see the lava from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano up close.

A Wyoming mayor opposes a bike lane in his city because he doesn’t know whether a right-turning driver or a cyclist would have the right-of-way at an intersection. Never mind that question has been settled for about as long as there has been a right-of-way.

A Wisconsin bike advocate and former cop is promoting the use of an ultrasound device that measures an exact three-foot passing distance, and records the results on a Go Pro camera for evidence in court.

The commitment of St. Paul MN to making itself a more bikeable, walkable city is being questioned after city officials nixed two bike and pedestrian-friendly traffic circles from a planned street makeover.

Nashville TN has opened a new protected bike lane in the downtown area, the first of 186 miles of new bike lanes planned for the next 20 years.

A Connecticut bike rider has become the latest bicyclist to be struck by a police car, as the officer was responding to a call with lights and siren. Meanwhile, another rider was struck by a private security officer in North Carolina.

Once again, the NYPD bends over backwards to blame the victim in a bicycling fatality. Never mind that the driver made what should have been an illegal left turn from the right lane.

Philadelphia remembers a literature critic, vampire expert and “warrior bicyclist” who passed away recently at 73.

Once again, they get it wrong. Rather than focusing on the people in the big, dangerous machines, Jacksonville FL cops will be cracking down on their potential victims, instead.

 

International

An adventurer from the Cayman Islands will tackle the Race Across America as a follow-up to climbing Denali and Mt. Everest.

Cornwall, England bike cops are getting helmet cams to help protect vulnerable road users.

An Aussie writer calls for legislation to end the war on cyclists after a 23-year old triathlete is sprayed with industrial lubricant from a passing car. Although the one-meter passing distance he calls for — the equivalent of our three-foot laws — would do little or nothing to prevent harassment like that.

 

Finally…

A new city never really feels like home until you ride naked through the streets. Testing bike lane bollards since people can’t seem to stop driving over them.

And nothing unusual here, just a bike-riding, 125 million-year old dinosaur-loving accused killer from the Planet Argon.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bike Events, Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , ,

Morning Links: Bike berating truck driver, rescheduled Blumenfield ride, and Bray-Ali gets matching funds

February 3, 2017 / / 8 comments

This is getting old.

A bike rider in the South Bay gets passed by the road raging driver of a large pickup, who then steps out of his truck to berate him and tell him to get off the fucking road.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJpPFUmy4_c&feature=youtu.be

LAPD officers have told me that a driver can be charged with assault the moment he gets out of his vehicle, since merely exiting the vehicle can be seen as a threat.

………

LA Councilmember Bob Blumenfield’s bike ride along the LA River and through the West Valley has been rescheduled for the 26th of this month.

Considering how some members of the council don’t seem to give a damn about us, you should take advantage of a chance to ride and talk with one who does.

Speaking of which, one of those bike-unfriendly councilmembers has raised nearly 10 times the funds of Josef Bray-Ali, his Bike the Vote-endorsed challenger in CD1, who qualified for matching funds by raising $49,000 in mostly small contributions.

Clearly, Bray-Ali’s route to victory will depend on volunteer efforts and word-of-mouth, rather than trying to outspend his opponent.

Which means we have to do everything we can to get a more bike and safety-friendly voice on the council, in a district that desperately needs it.

………

If your bike flats on Mandeville and you don’t have any tubes left, maybe you can catch a ride with some helpful cops.

………

Cycling in the South Bay’s Seth Davidson sort of reviews LA-based ex-pro cyclist and cookie lover Phil Gaimon’s new book, and says it’s subversive, insightful, and really, really funny.

………

Apropos of nothing, and nothing to do with bikes, but this totally cracks me up.

………

Pro cyclist Andriy Grivko has been kicked out of the Tour of Dubai after punching race leader Marcel Kittel in the face; a very pissed off Kittel says he deserves a six month ban.

Cycling Weekly highlights the best bike punches caught on camera.

Two Aussie cyclists are riding the exact route of the 1928 Tour de France to honor a four man team from Down Under who competed in the race.

………

Local

Streetsblog says Los Angeles has striped new bike lanes on Heliotrope Drive in what used to be known as the Bicycle District, replacing sharrows that should have been bike lanes to begin with.

The LACBC looks at three things they learned during the recent Ask An Officer panel discussion with BikinginLA sponsor Jim Pocrass, including that there aren’t enough cops on the street, and the ones who are too often don’t have enough resources or receive adequate training. Which is something we’ve been pushing for since this site was founded.

Speaking of the LACBC, they’re in the market for a new Deputy Executive Director of Advocacy. I’d take it, but I refuse to wear a badge.

Help distribute books to free street libraries on Saturday’s Street Librarians Ride.

A Claremont paper looks at the last, sad days of 82-year old Coates Cyclery.

The mayor of Santa Clarita invites residents to get in shape by using the city’s 115-mile bike network, including 85 miles of natural and paved pathways.

CiclaValley goes bike lane shaming in Solvang and Santa Paula.

 

State

People in San Diego’s La Mesa neighborhood are being frightened by a bike-riding man with a gun. Or maybe not.

I want to be like him when I grow up. An 81-year old Pauma Valley man plans to ride across Canada with a hundred other bicyclists next summer.

A road improvement project in Victorville will include six miles of new bike lanes.

A Fresno letter writer says the city needs to embrace bicycling to clean the air and defeat asthma.

San Francisco unveils a new protected bike lane through the city’s McLaren Park this Saturday. Plans are also in the works for protected lanes on the Embarcadero, where traffic has reached “brutal” levels.

Marin mountain bikers band together to demand better access to the county’s trails, saying they represent up to 45% of all trail users, but are allowed on only 10% of them.

The Sacramento Bee says it’s time to pump up your bike tires and join the city’s Bike Party.

 

National

Outside Magazine asks if gravel bikes are marketing hype or the future of cycling. Short answer, probably neither.

A Chicago paper says the judge missed an opportunity to send a strong message on DUIs when he sentenced a drunk driver to just 10 days in jail for killing a bike rider. Gee, you think?

You can now legally ride your bike in downtown Youngstown, Ohio.

Tennessee’s Bike Elf fixes up bikes and gives them to kids who get straight A’s, after signing an agreement to do their best.

A 2002 New York public access TV show offers a look at how bad bicycling was back in the city’s dark ages before Janet Sadik-Khan.

A DC rider creates a simplified, easy-to-read bike map based on transit maps. If someone did that here in LA, all they’d get is a bunch of disconnected lines looking like someone spilled a box of matches. And almost as useful.

Speeding in DC will cost you a cool $500, but running over a bike rider is a relative bargain at just $150.

A new Virginia law would prohibit drivers from using bike lanes to pass stopped cars on the right, while another would create a vulnerable user law.

Sometimes, all it takes to form a band is riding your bike past another New Orleans musician.

 

International

The Canadian driver caught on video forcing his car into a bike rider who was trying to block his path has finally been charged with assault, among other charges, after police falsely claimed the victim didn’t want file charges.

Caught on video: Doesn’t look like much; just a guy riding his bike on the sidewalk. Except it’s a London cop’s official police bike, which he just stole from a rack after cutting the lock.

London’s Heathrow Airport actually wants people to bike there, calling for one of the city’s bicycle superhighways to be extended to the airport to make it easier for passengers to leave their cars at home.

Eight Welsh midwives will ride from London to Paris in hopes of delivering £14,000 — the equivalent of over $17,400 — for women’s cancer research

Stealing one or two bikes is bad enough; taking 22 from an English bike shop is unforgivable.

Irish police investigating a jewelry store heist are looking for a bike rider who may have witnessed the crime.

Horrifying story from India, as onlookers filmed a teenage bike rider for 30 minutes after he was hit by a bus, rather than helping him or offering comfort as he lay dying. A newspaper asks if the country needs a “Duty to Help” law.

Caught on video too: A South African website freaks out over footage of a woman happily riding her bike in the middle of a busy highway sans helmet.

A group of Taiwanese and Tibetan cyclists demonstrate in Taipei to call attention to the 60th anniversary of the Tibet National Uprising Day next month.

 

Finally…

Seriously. If you’re going to carry cocaine on your bike, don’t ride salmon — and put some damn reflectors on it. For once, you can count roadkill on the highway, rather than risk being it.

And bicycling doesn’t require a co-pay.

 

Category: Advocacy & Politics, Bicycle Safety, Bike Cam Video, Product Reviews, Road Rage / Tags: , , , ,
 
Wordpress Theme by ThemeZee