Tag Archive for EPA

Civil rights complaint filed against administrator of CA ebike incentive; loophole closed on Chinese imports

February 4, 2025 / / No comments
Day 35 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Nope. Nothing out of the ordinary here.

San Diego County Board of Supervisors Chair Nora Vargas abruptly resigned, despite winning re-election to a second term in November, citing fears for her personal safety over her support for a sanctuary city.

Or maybe it had something to do with a civil rights complaint filed with the EPA citing close ties to Ed Clancy, head of the San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, which administers the California ebike incentive program.

The complaint alleges the ebike voucher program discriminates against Black people, making their vouchers harder to redeem and charging additional fees, along with a number of other allegations.

Just one more example of the total shitshow this program has devolved into.

The only question here is whether the DOJ investigation Reichert mentions is the state investigation we already knew about, or whether a federal investigation has been launched as well.

Thanks to Malcolm Watson for the heads-up.

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Despite lifting the new tariffs on Mexico and Canada yesterday, at least temporarily, Trump allowed the additional 10% punitive tariff on goods imported from to go into effect, as we discussed yesterday.

Adding insult to financial injury, he is also reportedly closing the de minimis loophole, which allows goods from China valued below $800 to be shipped directly to the consumer, bypassing import duties and regulatory scrutiny.

That’s what allows Chinese websites such as Shein and Temu to offer such low prices.

It’s also what has allowed low-end Chinese ebikes sold through Amazon and Walmart to flood the market.

So it may not necessarily be a bad thing. Even if it means you could pay more for components.

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

San Mateo, California is taking a page from Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s playbook, with a vote last night to consider ripping out the two-year old Humboldt Street bike lanes because drivers are whining about a loss of parking.

No bias here. An English town is benevolently lifting a ban on bicycles on the city’s main shopping street after four years — but only permitting bicycles restricted to the same hours as delivery trucks, rather than allowing the access other shoppers and employees enjoy.

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Local  

Long Beach will hold a public town hall meeting to discus the city’s Orange Avenue Backbone Bikeway Project a week from Thursday.

 

State

Calbike asks, not unreasonably, why there’s still no new bill in the state legislature to legalize Stop As Yield, aka the California Safety Stop, aka the Idaho Stop Law, after two new studies showed it works, improving safety for bicyclists while reducing conflicts at intersections.

The award-winning Arthritis Foundation California Coast Classic Bike Tour is returning for the 25th consecutive year this September.

San Diego continues to fall short of its Vision Zero goals, with 19 people killed by traffic violence in the county last month — including one riding a bicycle that we weren’t previously aware of.

 

National

My bike-friendly Colorado hometown will join other cities across the state in celebrating Valentines Day with a Winter Bike to Work Day, allowing bike riders to spend the day with their one true love — their bicycles. Yet somehow, no one marks the day to encourage people here in Southern California to bike to work in winter, despite having nearly ideal weather for it. Then again, the summer Bike to Work Day has been nearly moribund here post-pandemic, so why should a winter one be any different?

A Florida couple are now both facing charges after investigators concluded the husband lied about being behind the wheel in a deadly hit-and-run that killed an eight-year old girl as she was riding a bicycle, after they discovered he was at work at the time of the crash, and it was the wife who was actually driving.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers the burning question of when should you replace your bicycle.

This is why people keep dying on our streets. An Irish parliament member is calling for a public inquiry into the death of a 23-year old man riding a bicycle, after it was revealed the driver of the car had 42 previous convictions, including convictions for traffic violations, theft and possession of heroin, and was was on bail at the time of the crash.

Bicyclists in Melbourne, Australia are complaining about new bike lanes that they say is make things more dangerous, because the concrete dividers do nothing to keep drivers from pulling out into the bike lane, keep taxis stopping in them or prevent pedestrians from using them as sidewalks.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mountain Bike Action says Tom Pidcock And Mathieu Van Der Poel could give Switzerland’s Nino Schurter a run for his money as the world’s top cross-country mountain bike racer. 

Pez Cycling News considers the most shocking moments in cycling history, starting with Lance the doper. And Landis the Mennonite doper, too.

A San Luis Obispo website says a secretive, underground, unsanctioned and arguably illegal bike race known as the SLO Little 500 “puts the fun in dysfunction.”

 

Finally…

Celebrate Black History Month by riding brakeless. That feeling when you race through the muck and mud with a $300,000 Swiss watch on your wrist.

And now you, too, can have a built-in handlebar dashboard on your bike. Because there just aren’t enough ways to suck the fun out of bicycling already.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Discussing bicycle-based recycling, and Caltrans addresses equity while CTC rushes to avoid new Complete Streets law

October 23, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 68 days left until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 

Photo courtesy of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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Let’s start with news of a November EPA webinar to discuss a Mexican bicycle-based recycling program.

Something we could easily do here.

EPA webinar: Recyclables Collection Using Source-Reduced Vehicles

On November 13th at 9 am PT, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is offering a free webinar on recyclables collection in México, using bicycles. The webinar will feature an overview of ‘source-reduced’ vehicles, followed by presentations from Hermosillo-based Biciclando and México City-based Bike Recycling MX.  Register here.

Thanks to André Villaseñor for the heads-up. 

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California’s two transportation agencies seem to be taking different approaches to the state’s new Complete Streets law.

Streetsblog accuses the California Transportation Commission of trying to rush through new highway funding guidelines before a new state law goes into effect, so they can avoid having to adhere to it.

On the other hand, Caltrans has created a new equity tool in an effort to avoid the highway building mistakes of the past, which bulldozed low income neighborhoods and ignored the needs of anyone not inside a motor vehicle.

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A writer for Slate looks at CicLAvia and sees a vision of what Los Angeles could be, suggesting the city follow the Parisian model of building carfree facilities for the 2028 Olympics, then converting them to daily use afterwards.

Which would require a lot more foresight than we’ve seen from city leaders so far.

But still.

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It’s now 308 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 40 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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

No bias here. An English police department is criticized for stoking culture war by staging the poorly named Operation LYCRA targeting scofflaw bike riders.

In the wake of a Parisian bike rider allegedly murdered by a road-raging driver, Cycling Weekly writes that cars can be weapons, as any bike rider can tell you. Or as I learned the hard way courtesy of my own road-rager, cars are bigger than me, and they hurt. 

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

Singaporeans are incensed after a couple spandex-clad bicyclists are caught on video having a conversation while riding in a bus lane, as a bus follows slowly behind them.

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Local  

Metro is providing free bus, train and Metro Bike rides on Election Day, making it even easier to bike the vote.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton looks at the debate over a lane reduction and bike lanes on Fountain Ave that’s currently roiling the contest for city council.

 

State

Calbike is holding a fall sale on their bicycling merch.

A Huntington Beach teenager was cited after recklessly riding an illegal ebike through the town while disregarding all traffic laws. And once again, a news outlet confuses an electric motorcycle with an electric bicycle.

A 64-year old man was seriously injured after losing control of his ebike in San Diego’s Balboa Park, with injuries ranging from a fractured pelvis, facial bones, clavicle and ribs to a brain bleed; fortunately, none were considered life-threatening.

He gets it. A Petaluma father says bike lanes increase freedom for everyone, whether it’s to school or the supermarket.

Sad news from Napa Valley, where a 45-year old man was killed striking a curb on his bike after drinking, and hitting his head on utility box.

 

National

A Seattle writer says ebikes aren’t cheating and nothing to be jealous about, because they’re the future of bicycling.

Dallas city leaders are inviting bicyclists to their annual ride to City Hall with today. Which serves as yet another reminder that bike-riding Los Angeles Mayor Bass has done absolutely nothing to reach out to the bicycling community since taking office.

A Chicago council committee advanced a bill that would cut the default maximum speed limit from 30 mph to 25 MPH. Which isn’t exactly “20 is plenty,” but it’s a start. 

This is who we share the road with. A speeding New York driver caused a chain reaction crash that injured 17 people, and left a couple crumpled SUVs on a historic bike path; fortunately, none of the injuries were serious. But tell me again about that bike rider you saw run a stop sign. 

DC’s Friendly Heights is about to get a pair of friendly protected bike lanes.

 

International

Momentum writes in praise of riding slow and leaving the spandex at home.

While the premier of Ontario wants to limit bike lanes to side streets, the CBC looks at studies from around the world to conclude that bike lanes actually ease congestion and reduce emissions. And are good businesses. And don’t get me started on the difference between the British Commonwealth and US meanings of “table” something.

The charity responsible for operating London’s Royal Parks is requesting legislation allowing the prosecution of bicyclists who exceed the park’s 20 mph speed limit.

A British bicyclist wonders whether it’s time to stop reporting traffic crimes to the police, since they just ignore it, anyway.

Momentum takes a look inside the massive Parisian bike parking garage at the even more massive Gare du Nord rail station, as the city is rapidly becoming a dream city for bicyclists.

Road.cc says the myth about Chinese carbon wheels being weaker than other wheels is exactly that.

 

Competitive Cycling

Why bother buying UCI-approved frames for your cycling team, when you can just slap some UCI inspection stickers on a bunch of Chinese knockoffs? You can read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you.

No surprise here, as multi-disciplinarian Mathieu van der Poel was named the Dutch cyclist of the year Monday night, while Marianne Vos won for an exceptional tenth time.

Cyclinguptodate considers whether American cycling has ever recovered from Lance. Nope.

 

Finally…

Why ride the roads when you can pedal the rails? When you’re carrying a glass pipe with meth on your bike, put a damn light on it — and when that’s only meth “residue,” get yourself a good lawyer.

And you might get your next driving ticket from an ebike-riding cop.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin

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