Tag Archive for Canoga Park

Canoga Park bike rider wanted for fatally shooting driver, and accused Oceanside hit-and-run driver pleads not guilty

July 28, 2021 / / Comments Off on Canoga Park bike rider wanted for fatally shooting driver, and accused Oceanside hit-and-run driver pleads not guilty

LAPD detectives are looking for a bike-riding man who murdered a driver in Canoga Park on Monday afternoon.

The shooting took place around 2:18 pm, when the man on the bike shot into the driver’s car following some sort of dispute near the 6400 block of DeSoto Ave.

Forty-three-year old Glendale resident Mkher Alaverdian was pronounced dead after he was taken to a local hospital.

There’s no description of the shooter or his bicycle, and no word on whether this was a road rage dispute or some other kind of argument.

Anyone with information is urged to call LAPD Valley Bureau Homicide at 818/374-9550, or 1-877/LAPD-24-7 after business hours.

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Twenty-four-year old Bailey Tennery pled not guilty to a single felony count of hit-and-run causing death yesterday.

Tennery is accused of being the driver who sped away after killing Jackson Williams as he rode his bike in Oceanside on July 15th.

She remains in custody on $150,000 bail.

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This is why protected bike lanes are necessary.

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Like more of this, please. And not just in Willowbrook.

https://twitter.com/multimodalLA/status/1420217792062582797

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The cycling fuckups continue at the Tokyo Olympics.

World time trial champ Anna van der Breggen was abruptly threatened and pulled off her bike while doing a recon ride on the time trial course, by a security guard who didn’t recognize her as an Olympic competitor.

It also doesn’t help when an official walks across the track while you’re training.

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

A pair of Wisconsin men face charges for allegedly shouting at a bike-riding couple from their car and telling them to ride on the sidewalk, then getting out to confront the victims and steal their phones, keys and IDs.

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Local

Los Angels Magazine says LA and California stand to lose big if the proposed bipartisan Senate infrastructure plan fails, which is looking more likely every day.

 

State

The San Diego County Bicycle Coalition says it’s fine with restaurants taking over parking spaces, as long as they play by the rules, and replace any bikeways they might block.

Twelve young women stopped in Lompoc on their way down the West Coast on a 1,700-mile bike ride from Seattle to San Diego to call attention to human trafficking.

Bay Area bike riders will get a new protected cycle track near UC Berkeley.

Kindhearted Richmond cops dug into their own pockets to buy a new bicycle for a 12-year old boy, after his new bike was stolen just two days after his birthday.

An Oakland bikemaker who works out of his garage gets tasked with building a custom bike for 6’6″ Golden State Warriors forward Juan Toscano-Anderson.

 

National

A federal ebike rebate bill has been introduced in the US Senate; like a previous House bill, it would provide a 30% refundable tax credit on the purchase of ebikes up to $1,500.

Outside recommends their favorite bicycling base camps, including one in California.

Colorado mountain bikers are joining with residents to fight a proposed 63-acre expansion of a Salida gravel mine that would force the realignment of a popular bike trail.

An Illinois bike shop was collateral damage in a police shooting, when a 19-year old woman was shot and killed by police after waving a gun while complaining about a closed drive-thru, then attempting to speed off with a cop hanging inside her window; she crashed into the shop after she was shot while allegedly aiming her car at the cop who opened fire.

Not even a slap on the wrist for a Moline, Illinois cop who killed a 13-year old boy while responding to an emergency call, even though she slammed into his bike while driving well over the speed limit without lights and siren activated.

After the story of a Michigan boy’s stolen bike was shared on Facebook, a Good Samaritan stepped up to buy him a new one.

A pair of Ohio brothers decide to shut down the bike shop they grew up in, opened by their parents 67 years ago.

A New York man is planning to bike 8,000 miles through ten states to get more kids on bicycles, raising funds to donate new bikes to underprivileged children around the country; the Black bike rider who grew up in the city’s low-income Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood says if he can do it, most people can.

The New Jersey legislature has passed a bill requiring drivers to change lanes to pass bike riders; it now goes to the governor, who is expected to sign it.

Evidently, the bicycling death of former Wyoming Senator Mike Enzi is about the only thing that can bring about a bipartisan agreement in DC.

There’s a special place in hell for whoever left a ten-year old Florida boy lying in the street after slamming into the bike he was riding. And no, turning yourself in later does not make it all better.

 

International

Momentum Magazine looks at five petite handlebar bags for riding around town. I’d go for the last one, myself. But I’ve always been a sucker for that classic look.

A Toronto architect wants to transform a “car sewer” with scary bike lanes into an “inhabited bridge” for people, as well as cars.

An English man was sprayed with bleach by an attacker who attempted to steal the bike he was riding; the victim was treated and released at the scene. Police later arrested a 28-year old man for the attack.

Add this one to your bike bucket list — a five-day Coast and Castle ride through England and Scotland.

 

Competitive Cycling

Switzerland stands alone atop women’s Olympic mountain biking, as the country swept the gold, silver and bronze medals, led by winner Jolanda Neff.

VeloNews offers a photo essay of the men’s Olympic cross-country mountain bike race won by Tom Pidcock of Great Britain.

The inaugural TransRockies Gravel Royale got the green light for this August; the 233-mile, four stage gravel grind will roll through the indigenous Ktunaxa Nation in the Canadian Rockies, featuring around 23,000 feet of climbing.

 

Finally…

The LEGO bicycle of your dreams may finally be here — if you can read German. Now you, too, can own a pair of weird-looking, 3D-printed carbon bike shoes, for the low, low price of just $1,900.

And who needs energy bars when you can just tape pizza and potatoes to your top tube?

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

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

LA scores major Canoga Park bike grant from state, frightened bull scatters bike race, and Ride for Love rolls Saturday

February 10, 2021 / / Comments Off on LA scores major Canoga Park bike grant from state, frightened bull scatters bike race, and Ride for Love rolls Saturday

The California Transportation Commission has released the latest round of state funding for active transportation projects.

The CTC, which is distinct from Caltrans, selected just 49 projects statewide, out of a remarkable 454 applications, for this four-year cycle.

The good news for LA is that a major project in the San Fernando Valley made the cut.

Highlights include the largest monetary award in the ATP’s history, $31 million for “Connecting Canoga Park.” This project will make improvements within the Canoga Park neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley, focusing on improving intersections and bike facilities. It will add a new Class IV bike path between the L.A. River Greenway and the Orange Line path, create enhanced crosswalks, and add urban cooling elements.

Funding was also approved for three Safe Routes to School projects in the City of Los Angeles.

Other projects in LA County include sidewalk improvements and a $7.5 million cycle track on Pacific Avenue in Long Beach, as well as projects in Maywood, Bell Gardens and South El Monte.

In addition, the commission blessed active transportation projects in San Jacinto and Perris in Riverside County, Ontario and Muscoy in San Bernardino County; San Diego, Oceanside, Imperial Beach and National City in San Diego County; and a Safe Routes to School project in Ventura County.

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The peloton suddenly rides in reverse when confronted by a frightened bull in the middle of a Spanish bike race.

https://twitter.com/stereo100xela/status/1358444112211509259

For the Español challenged, like me, that tweet translates to —

#Ciclismo| This happened during the start of the 5th stage of the Tour Por La Paz in Jalapa. A scared bull, pounced on the cyclists waiting for departure. Fortunately no one was injured. The animal continued its course and the riders managed to get out. Via Hard To Pedal.

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South LA’s annual Ride for Love rolls this Saturday.

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Metro Bike invites you to take a self-guided ride along the Westside’s Ballona Creek.

https://twitter.com/BikeMetro/status/1359210471384096770

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Thirty-three minute of mountain bike fails leading up to one spectacular stunt no one has done before.

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

Police in North Carolina are looking for a man who hit a woman in the head with a bicycle while shopping in Walmart.

A Japanese man charged with bike rage may be a repeat offender; he says he did it “…because all the cars were putting pressure on me…” and he wanted to make trouble for them.

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Local

Zocalo Public Square examines how Karate Kid reboot Cobra Kai illustrates the topographic and class divides between the neighboring cities of Reseda and Encino, with an expanded bike path connected to the LA River coming to the former.

Streets For All will host a virtual happy hour with recently elected LA Councilmember Nithya Raman.

 

State

La Jolla approves plans to extend San Diego County’s Coastal Rail Trail through the exclusive city.

Solvang will get a new $12 million bridge on Highway 246 courtesy of the state, while the city will pitch in another $1.2 million to widen it enough for bike lanes and pedestrian improvements. Which is probably just another word for sidewalks. 

A Fresno man is expected to recover after he was stabbed by three men who took his bike in an early morning attack.

Sad news from South San Francisco, where a man died after crashing his ebike into a parked car in an early morning wreck, wearing a novelty helmet that offered little or no protection. And possibly after drinking.

A new proposal calls for taking advantage of lower traffic to install a bike lane on San Francisco’s Bay Bridge.

 

National

Last year may have been one of the worst years on record for hit-and-runs involving people on bicycles, as unofficial figures from Outside show 26.3% of drivers who killed a bicyclist last year drove away like the heartless cowards they are. That tracks with what we see here in Los Angeles County, where roughly a quarter of all bicycling deaths involve hit-and-run drivers each year.

Gear Junkie highlights five “badass” female outdoor photographers, including three who take some pretty awesome bike photos.

A governing website offers advice on how local governments can include bicycling in their municipal codes.

Bicycling asks if you should be double masking when you ride. Short answer, maybe, but make sure you can breathe. As usual, you can read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. 

Ostensibly bike-friendly Portland tosses out a 24-year old plan for bike lanes on a popular commercial street in favor of maintaining parking and five lanes of motor vehicle traffic.

Chicago traffic fatalities spiked 45% last year, despite — or maybe because of — the pandemic, as average speeds increased while traffic rates declined; bicycling deaths more than doubled over the year before.

That’s more like it. An Indianapolis man with a history as a habitual drunk driver got nine years behind bars, and another three years probation, for fleeing the scene after killing a man on a bicycle.

Kindhearted local businesses and organizations pitched in to help a Massachusetts man known as the Bike Man fix his truck after he blew an engine, with a car dealer tossing in a new engine and a repair shop installing it; he uses the truck to deliver bicycles, back packs and food to people in need.

A 22-year old New York driver faces charges of assault, hit-and-run and reckless endangerment for fleeing the scene on foot after critically injuring a delivery rider.

Philadelphia will install its first curb-protected bike lane, placing it along the center median to avoid conflict points at driveways.

 

International

Bike Radar drills down to the nerdy details that should inform your decision to buy a bike.

Cycling News examines the best women’s winter bike jackets.

Your next ebike could tell you how to avoid air pollution, let alone avoid adding to it.

Bike, run, walk or swim farther than you have before, and a bike-riding English professor — the country, not the language — will plant a tree in your honor.

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in the UK, where an unlicensed and uninsured driver walked without a single day behind bars for the hit-and-run crash that seriously injured a bike rider.

Europe’s longest bike bridge just opened in the Netherlands.

Manilla bike riders are calling for the city to speed up plans to install protected bike lanes.

 

Competitive Cycling

Maybe Fayetteville really is America’s Bike City, as the Arkansas town will host professional mountain bike, cyclocross and road races in 2021.

 

Finally…

Maybe one day you, too, can be a bicycling brewista. That feeling when you win a bike for watching a bicycling show, but don’t ride one.

And how to ride a bike at 68° below zero.

Which is probably not something you have to worry about here in Los Angeles.

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Be safe, and stay healthy. And wear a damn mask, already. 

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

Update: Bike rider killed in Canoga Park, apparently the innocent victim of a two-car collision

July 17, 2014 / / 11 comments

Once again, a bike rider appears to have been the tragic collateral damage of someone else’s collision.

According to KTLA-5, a woman in her 40s, whose identity has not been publicly released, was riding her bike on the 7100 block of North Shoup Ave just below Sherman Way around 4 pm, when she was somehow involved in a collision with two motor vehicles.

Details are still very sketchy; the best clue to what happened comes from a fire department spokesperson who described it as “a two-car accident also involving a bicyclist.”

The rider was killed at the scene; at least one other person was taken to a nearby hospital with critical injuries.

An aerial photo showed the victim covered by a tarp on the sidewalk, her mangled bike resting against the curb in front of the two vehicles that were apparently involved, one of which ended up on the sidewalk.

This is the 53rd bicycling fatality in Southern California this year, and the 21st in the County of Los Angeles. She is also the 7th bike rider to lose her life in the City of Los Angeles this year.

Update: A writer for the Huffington Post who lives in the neighborhood fills in some of the missing details. 

Linda Milazzo reports seeing news of the collision on her Twitter feed, then driving to the collision site after seeing a helicopter hovering overhead.

According to Milazzo, the victim was standing on the sidewalk next to her bike when a northbound car turning left onto Sherman Way collided with a car driving south on Shoup; the second car went onto the sidewalk where it struck the victim, who suffered “multiple traumatic injuries to her face and body.”

The victim wasn’t wearing a helmet; Milazzo was told no when she asked an investigator for the Coroner’s office if that could have made a difference. 

And this is why you should always carry ID when you ride. The victim, identified only as a woman around 40 years old, didn’t have any with her. While authorities think they know who she is, final identification will have to wait for confirmation from fingerprints or dental records next week.

Update 2: The LAPD Valley Traffic Division reports that it was a DUI collision. And while the victim has not yet been publicly identified, a comment from Jocelyne below says she knew the victim, who was most likely standing on the corner waiting for a bus; suggesting that the bike may not have been hers.

My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and her loved ones.

Thanks to Melissa Pamer for the heads-up.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , ,

Dear God, not again — 17 year old cyclist murdered by hit-and-run driver

April 21, 2011 / / 8 comments

Just a week after Encino cyclist Jim Swarzman was laid to rest, another cyclist has been killed by a hit-and-run driver, this time on the streets of Canoga Park.

In a case that brings to mind year’s tragic death of teenage rider Danny Marin, a 17-year high school senior identified as Alex Romero was struck and killed near the intersection of De Soto Ave and Valerio Street around 9 pm last night.

According to multiple reports, the Chatsworth High student was riding north with another 17-year old rider when Romero was struck from behind by a gray Toyota Corolla traveling at a high rate of speed, killing him instantly. The driver of the hatchback then fled the scene without stopping.

The two cyclists were reportedly riding side-by-side in the far right lane of De Soto when the collision occurred; reading between the lines, Romero evidently had the inside position while the other rider, who was uninjured, was positioned closer to the curb. KABC-7 reports that there were multiple witnesses to the wreck.

L.A. Weekly indicates that he was a star soccer player at El Camino High School, suggesting that he may have recently transferred since he’s identified as student at Chatsworth.

Police are looking for a gray — or possibly silver — Corolla with moderate to severe damage to the right front end. Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Krajchir at (818) 644-8034 or email 26481@lapd.lacity.org. Anonymous calls can be made to Crimestoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

My deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

Dear God, not again — 17 year old cyclist murdered by hit-and-run driver

April 21, 2011 / / 8 comments

Just a week after Encino cyclist Jim Swarzman was laid to rest, another cyclist has been killed by a hit-and-run driver, this time on the streets of Canoga Park.

In a case that brings to mind year’s tragic death of teenage rider Danny Marin, a 17-year high school senior identified as Alex Romero was struck and killed near the intersection of De Soto Ave and Valerio Street around 9 pm last night.

According to multiple reports, the Chatsworth High student was riding north with another 17-year old rider when Romero was struck from behind by a gray Toyota Corolla traveling at a high rate of speed, killing him instantly. The driver of the hatchback then fled the scene without stopping.

The two cyclists were reportedly riding side-by-side in the far right lane of De Soto when the collision occurred; reading between the lines, Romero evidently had the inside position while the other rider, who was uninjured, was positioned closer to the curb. KABC-7 reports that there were multiple witnesses to the wreck.

L.A. Weekly indicates that he was a star soccer player at El Camino High School, suggesting that he may have recently transferred since he’s identified as student at Chatsworth.

Police are looking for a gray — or possibly silver — Corolla with moderate to severe damage to the right front end. Anyone with information is urged to contact Detective Krajchir at (818) 644-8034 or email 26481@lapd.lacity.org. Anonymous calls can be made to Crimestoppers at (800) 222-TIPS.

My deepest sympathies to his family and friends.

Category: Bicycle Safety, Injuries and Fatalities / Tags: , , , , ,

Proof that cyclists aren’t always the good guys

March 7, 2010 / / 4 comments

According to the Times, an 18-year old man was killed when he ran into traffic to escape a bike-riding robber on Thursday evening.

Responding to a report of a traffic collision about 8 pm, police officers discovered Miguel Alvarenga unconscious in the street in the 20600 block of Sherman Way in Canoga Park.

Reports indicate that Alvarenga was hit by a car when he ran out into the street to escape the cyclist. The would-be robber fled on his bike; Alvarenga died of his injuries the following day.

Homicide detectives are asking the public to help identify the cyclist. Anyone with information is urged to call 818/756-3363; callers can remain anonymous.

Obviously, the fact that the robber was on a bike is secondary to the crime he was trying to commit.

But he is every bit as responsible for the death as the hit-and-run driver who was apparently fleeing another crime when he killed a cyclist and critically injured his step-brother in San Bernadino last month.

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CicLAvia currently ranks 51st out of 100 proposals in the Pepsi Refresh Project; only the top 10 in each category receive funding.

So it’s time to get clicking, L.A. — you can vote up to 10 times per day.

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The Fly V Australia racing team is unveiled in Beverly Hills, with plans to ride in the Amgen Tour of California; evidently, my invitation to the event was lost in the mail. Better signage forms the backbone of the Backbone Bikeway Network. The Times reviews belt-drive bikes. Pasadena’s new bike plan could be a blueprint for more thoughtful use of public space. Cindie Davis Holub, the cyclist killed in Scottsdale last week when a garbage truck tried to pass without sufficient room, was an experienced rider from Massachusetts training for a triathlon. Colorado’s governor is finally home after four days in the hospital following a cycling accident. Participants in Miami’s Beer Snob Bicycle Pub Crawl are warned about cycling under the influence.  A new record in the frozen bike race over Alaska’s legendary Iditarod course. Would Luke Skywalker refuse to ride because he didn’t have a bike lane, or would he boldly take and hold the lane? What happens when joggers and cyclists conflict in a 4-foot wide strip of asphalt? The case against the former Ontario government minister who deliberately killed a Toronto cyclist is delayed until April 14. Passersby rescue a Windsor, Ontario cyclist trapped under a car. A London borough is investing £2 million pounds to encourage 20,000 new riders to take up cycling. A big-hearted UK girl will ride on Sunday to raise £700 for Haiti earthquake relief; you can donate through her website.

Finally, British conservatives plan to cut the chauffeur budget and tell government ministers to ride a bike instead. Can anyone imagine American conservatives suggesting something that?

I didn’t think so.

Category: General / Tags: , , ,
 
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