Tag Archive for Hugo Soto-Martinez

Boerner calls for licensing ebike riders, the untapped power of ebike rebates, and H’wood Blvd remake presumably on track

July 10, 2023 / / One comment

And so it begins.

California 77th District Assemblymember Tasha Boerner, a Democrat from Encinitas, has responded to the Northern San Diego County city’s ebike state of emergency by calling for requiring a license to ride one.

Not for kids.

Not for specific classes of ebikes, like the high-powered, throttle-control ebikes that are really low-powered motorcycles disguised as electric bicycles.

But for everyone.

No matter how experienced you are on a bicycle, evidently. Or whether you’re already a licensed driver, or even hold a motorcycle license.

Let’s hope this was just a badly worded announcement. But this appears to be nothing more than an electrified version of the long-standing, and long debunked, demand that bike riders should be required have a license if we’re going to “share the road.”

You know, just like those grown-up, highly trained and law abiding people in the big, deadly machines.

And it would likely be the first step in a very slippery slope to requiring licenses for everyone on two wheels.

Not to mention it doesn’t do a damn thing to address the ever-increasing size of massive motor vehicles literally designed to do maximum harm to anyone outside of them. Or the people who buy and drive them, too often under the influence, frequently while distracted, and usually while speeding.

But sure, let’s blame kids riding their ebikes to school or the beach, because they’re an easy target. Especially when drivers see them rolling through stop signs they shouldn’t be required to stop for in the first place.

There’s a legitimate argument for providing ebike training, especially for teen riders too young for a drivers license.

And for taking another look at over-powered ebikes that are sold with “wink wink” speed limitation software that is easily hacked to exceed state ebike class restrictions. Or banning the use of pedal-less, throttle-controlled ebikes.

But throwing up a road block to the growth of ebikes is exactly the wrong move when our streets are slowly grinding to a halt due to too many cars in our cities, and our state is literally on fire as a result of extreme conditions fueled by climate change.

We need to do everything we can to get more cars off the roads, and more bikes on them, electric and otherwise.

Not put up legal roadblocks to stop it.

Thanks to BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette for the tip. 

Photo by Maxfoot from Pixabay.

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Speaking of ebikes, Bloomberg’s CityLab examines the untapped power of ebike rebates.

You know, like the untapped power of California’s long-gestating and underfunded ebike rebate program.

Their story is pretty well summed-up by this subhead:

Voucher programs can speed uptake of less-polluting electric bicycles and get more people out of cars. Why are states and cities limiting their effectiveness?

Why, indeed, Assemblymember Boerner?

………

There may be hope yet.

A Twitter conversation over the weekend — yes, Twitter is still a thing, despite the best efforts of Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk — raised the question of whether the plan to remake Hollywood Boulevard is still on track.

The proposal would reduce traffic lanes and parking, while installing wider, walkable sidewalks, bollard-protected bike lanes and outdoor dining areas appears to be moving forward, based on nothing more than the fact that its website is still live.

A lot depends on the council district’s current king, uh, councilmember, Hugo Soto-Martinez, though.

The project was developed by his predecessor Mitch O’Farrell, who used it as an argument for his re-election.

At the time, Soto-Martinez voiced his support for the project. But if he’s done so after his election, I haven’t heard it. And it doesn’t appear to be mentioned on his council website, which is odd for such a significant project.

Given the outsized power Los Angeles councilmembers have to approve, kill or modify any project within their council district, for any reason, his support will be mandatory before any work can begin on the street.

And don’t get me started on the long-standing need for a Times Square-style pedestrian plaza at Hollywood and Highland.

Thanks to Andrew Rudick for the heads-up.

………

Here’s your chance to get in a good bike ride, while you advocate for improvements to South Los Angeles streets.

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The Los Angeles Times finally printed their story about gravel biking in yesterday’s paper, over a month after it appeared online.

Meanwhile, Cycling Weekly offers tips on how to turn your roadie into a gravel bike.

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I like it.

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

An English motorist faces charges after he was recorded on video using a separated bike lane as his own personal traffic bypass.

A road-raging Scottish cab driver screamed and swore at a bike rider for not using a bike lane that’s less than three feet wide and stops abruptly, before cutting him off and hitting him.

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

Yet another reminder to remain at the scene of a bike crash, as a Toronto bicyclist was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries following a collision with a hit-and-run bike rider. Seriously, you have the same obligation to stay after a crash as drivers do, even if too many of them don’t take it seriously. 

No, smashing the doors of a British grocery store in an attempted armed robbery is not a recommended use for a bicycle.

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Local 

She gets it. LA Times media columnist Carolina A. Miranda reviews a pair of new books discussing how America’s wasteful parking obsession results in needlessly high housing prices.

Los Angeles is considering mobility improvements in Central LA in advance of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, including new bus lanes, bike lanes and mobility hubs.

CD2 Councilmember Paul Krekorian officially reopened the new and improved intersection at San Fernando Road and Arvilla Ave as part of the final phase of the nine-mile San Fernando Bike Path project.

Walk Bike Glendale begins their Summertime Series of bike rides, starting with a community ride featuring Glendale Mayor Dan Brotman on July 22nd.

 

State

Fountain Valley police are looking for the hit-and-run driver who critically injured a 20-year old Huntington Beach man when he was rear ended while riding in a bike lane in the Orange County city on the 4th of July.

Loma Linda University Medical Center reports a teenager’s life was saved when surgeons discovered a non-cancerous tumor on his spine after he was seriously injured in a collision while riding his bike.

San Francisco bicyclists say there’s no salvaging the centerline protected bike lanes on Valencia Street.

 

National

CBS This Morning takes an in-depth look at America’s unsafe streets and rising pedestrian death rates, and the reasons behind them.

WaPo examines how car brakes and tires are spewing increasing amounts of particulates into the air we breathe, even as tailpipe emissions continue to decrease.

TechCrunch recommends the best ebikes for every type of rider.

A new Utah study shows that only 7.3 percent of suspected serious bike crashes and just 6 percent of fatal bike crashes occurred in or near a bike lane, while a third of bicycling deaths occur at intersections bike riders can’t find a safe way to cross.

This is the cost of traffic violence. The director of the Fargo Marathon was killed when he was struck by a pickup driver towing a boat trailer while he was riding a bike in the North Dakota city; he was described as an avid runner and cyclist, and the general manager of the local ski area.

A couple men in their 60s are recreating their bike ride to the Canadian border, 50 years after they first did it as Wisconsin teenagers.

A Cleveland bike advocacy group took the rare step of advising bike riders not to use a new green bike lane over a local bridge, warning that it ends abruptly after a short distance, dropping bicyclists into a busy shared lane.

Kindhearted Utica, New York cops gave a six-year old girl a new bicycle, after a group of teenagers “borrowed” the bike she got for her birthday just four days earlier, and never returned it.

A New York program is distributing donated bicycles to migrants recently arrived in the city.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers whether baking soda can make your bicycling performance rise like it does cakes.

An architecture site examines ten cities embracing bicycles as part of their urban planning. None of which is Los Angeles. And only one of which is even in North America. 

Thieves in Montreal cut down a small tree to steal a bicycle locked to it, a reminder not to lock your bike to living things. Like people. Or dogs. 

What Toronto’s new bike-friendly mayor could mean for the city’s bike lanes.

A Welsh father is committed to developing a popular bike park in memory of his son, who died in a mountain bike crash on a trail he built himself.

Police in the UK are facing well-deserved criticism for fining a young mother for “cycling-related anti-social behavior” for riding her bicycle on the sidewalk, rather than risk a dangerously busy street.

British bike advocates are criticizing Northern Ireland’s “shameful” failure to reduce bicycling deaths, as the rate of bicycling fatalities has remained the same over the past decade. Meanwhile, American bike riders would be happy if our rate of bike deaths was anywhere close to ten years ago.

What to pack for your next Irish bikepacking trip.

An Indian teenager amazingly avoided getting crushed when he was struck by a school bus and run over, after his brakes failed riding downhill on a wet street.

A 12-year-old Palestinian boy miraculously walked out of a Jerusalem hospital, after surgeons reattached his head to his neck when he suffered an internal decapitation in a collision while riding his bike.

 

Competitive Cycling

Very disappointing news, as Mark Cavendish’ attempt at breaking the legendary Eddy Merckx’ record for Tour de France stage wins came crashing to a halt when he crashed out of the race with an apparent broken collarbone in stage eight. Cav needed just one win to make the mark his own, in what was to be his final Tour — or is it? And does anyone really care what Lance has to say on the subject?

As the Tour reaches its first rest day, two-time winner Tadej Pogačar continues to make incremental gains, cutting his deficit in the race to just 17 seconds behind leader Jonas Vingegaard on the Puy de Dome, while Canada’s Michael Woods scored the biggest stage win of his career.

Once again, fan interference has caused a crash in the Tour de France, knocking podium contender Simon Yates down in the standings, and sending Steff Kras to the hospital by ambulance, and out of the race.

Velo reports the Dutch Alpecin Deceuninckteam is raking it in with Tour de France primes, while the once-mighty Soudal Quick-Step team languishes at the bottom.

L39ION of Los Angeles continues to dominate the American Crit Cup, as Skylar Schneider and Ty Magner won the elite women’s and men’s races at the Bailey & Glasser LLP Twilight race in Boise, Idaho.

 

Finally…

Who need bass strings when you can use bicycle brake cables? Who needs a horse and buggy when you’ve got an ebike?

And your next bicycle could be made of LEGOs.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin.

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

Motorcyclist gets 4 years for killing Carlsbad bike rider while fleeing cops, and tales of an Entitled Cyclist in Los Angeles

March 17, 2023 / / Comments Off on Motorcyclist gets 4 years for killing Carlsbad bike rider while fleeing cops, and tales of an Entitled Cyclist in Los Angeles

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

This is the amateur Olympics of drinking, so ride defensively. And assume every driver you see on the road after lunch this afternoon is under the influence.

Or maybe after breakfast. 

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Photo by Suzy Hazelwood from Pexels.

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No surprise here.

As expected, a motorcyclist who killed a man riding a bicycle while fleeing from police near a Carlsbad state park has been formally sentenced to four years behind bars.

Twenty-nine-year old Eric Monte Burns pled guilty to a single felony count of evading an officer causing death, with an allegation of causing great bodily injury to his passenger, for the death of 69-year old Solano Beach resident Brad Allen Catcott last August.

Burns was fleeing from a park police officer for speeding and reckless riding at Carlsbad State Beach, with a 22-year old woman on his bike, when he slammed into Catcott as he merged his bicycle into a turn lane.

Catcott died at the scene, while both Burns and his passenger were seriously injured.

Prosecutors dropped charges of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and DUI, with up to ten additional years in prison, in exchange for the guilty plea.

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One of the stars of Los Angeles Bike social media has caught the eye of the LA Times.

Times staff writer Ryan Fonseca, editor of the Essential California newsletter, spoke with 41-year old bike commuter Tom Morash, better known on Twitter,  Instagram and YouTube as Entitled Cyclist.

Tom’s online moniker formed as he got more involved in Bike Twitter and noticed a widespread “attitude that drivers have towards cyclists as being entitled.” Then his penchant for sarcasm kicked in.

“I’m trying to turn the idea of entitled around to mean: ‘Yes, I’m entitled to be able to move around the streets without getting run over by you.’”

Fonseca goes on to describe the sensation of watching Fonseca’s nearly daily videos of close calls, blocked bikeways and overly aggressive drivers from the comfort of his desk chair.

Watching Tom’s videos can be a harrowing experience — and I’m viewing them safely from my office chair. The number of near-collisions he’s faced due to speeding, inattentive driving and sometimes deliberately aggressive drivers is all the more shocking as I remind myself that this is one person’s regular commute in a county with millions of people and tens of thousands of miles of roads.

On top of the multiple tons of speeding metal that Tom has to watch out for, his feed is full of parked vehicles and trash cans blocking designated bike lanes and sidewalks. He also regularly documents the conditions of bike lanes and other safety infrastructure as he navigates L.A. and neighboring cities.

It’s a good read, and well worth a few minutes of your day to read the whole thing.

And if it gets some drivers to recognize themselves and reconsider the way they operate behind the wheels, that’s a win for all of us.

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Advocacy group BikeLA, formerly known as the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, aka LACBC, is urging you to urge CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez to add bike lanes to newly repaved Belmont Avenue between Temple Street and Beverly Blvd.

Assuming you live in his district, that is.

And maybe we could get the Temple Street road diet killed by his predecessor back on the table, while we’re at it.

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If you were planning to ride the east section of Angeles Crest Highway this weekend, you might want to think again.

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You’re invited to a family friendly ride Sunday morning.

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We may have missed this one earlier this year, but it’s no surprise that bicycles have become tools of survival for the embattled people of Ukraine.

And never mind that World Central Kitchen founder chef José Andrés should have received the Nobel Peace Prize long before now.

Or maybe knighthood. Or sainthood.

Or all of the above.

Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up.

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The war on cares may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.

Penn State reminds bike riders and users of mobility devices to be visible and predictable. Effectively putting the onus for safety on vulnerable road users, and not on the people in the big, dangerous machines who create the peril in the first place.

No surprise here. A DC audit cites a lack of funding and oversight for the failure of the city’s Vision Zero program, as traffic deaths trend the wrong way. Then again, you could write the same story for virtually any major American city, Los Angeles included.

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Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

Calbike calls on the state to fully fund active transportation and Complete Streets, and stop wasting money on climate-killing freeway projects. Amen to that.

A travel website describes “eight perfect ways” to enjoy Oceanside by bicycle.

Nearly 3,000 people are expected to take part in Saturday’s San Diego Padres Pedal the Cause, with routes ranging from 25 to 75 miles; this year’s event could see the cancer research fundraising ride top $20 million.

 

National

She gets it. The author of Romper’s Parenting column says raising kids would be so much better without cars.

Portland is hopping on the ebike bandwagon, as the city’s Clean Energy Fund is proposing a $20 million ebike rebate program. Those crickets you hear are Los Angeles officials not contemplating a similar program.

Kindhearted Illinois cops arranged the donation of a new bike for a man whose bicycle broke down during a recent snowstorm, depriving him of his sole source of transportation.

This is who we share the road with. A “recidivist reckless driver” has been offered a plea deal of nine years behind bars for driving against traffic on a New York street before crashing into another vehicle, and sending them both onto the sidewalk where they killed a three-month old girl and gravely injured one of her parents; the wrong way driver has nearly 100 previous red light and speed cam violations on his record. Just one more example of authorities keeping a dangerous driver on the road until they kill someone.

Speaking of New York, the city is planning a makeover of dangerous Delancey Street, from the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge in Manhattan to the Bowery; 38 people have been killed or injured in the area directly below the bridge in just a five-year period.

Despite that, the Daily Sabah says exploring New York by bike is safer and more efficient than you might think.

 

International

The CBC says Canadians can look to Finland as an example of how to improve winter bicycling in the country.

The European Parliament voted to require “favorable” minimum requirements for bike parking spaces in new and renovated buildings.

No bias here. A London columnist is shocked! shocked! to discover a price tag for the equivalent of nearly $4,900 for a new cargo bike, while noticing the disparity between cargo bike-riding affluent parents and non-affluent delivery workers. But he probably wouldn’t think twice of people paying ten or twenty times that much for a motor vehicle to haul their kids, or deliver takeout. Or takeaway, as they call it.

That’s more like it. An English mayor tells drivers to stop being selfish by parking in bike lanes.

Forbes calls the British-made Hummingbird single-speed folding bike the lightest and best foldie on the market. And it can be yours for the low, low price of just $4,260.

The UK’s Factor Bikes is offering a limited edition gravel bike in honor of the late Kenyon cycling star Suleiman ‘Sule’ Kangangi, who died in a high-speed crash during last year’s Vermont Overland race.

Monaco’s Prince Albert II is one of us; the country’s Sovereign Prince has ordered a custom bicycle from Italian bikemaker 3T. You can get your own relatively off-the-shelf version starting for a little over eight grand. 

They get it, too. India Today considers how to make the country’s crowded roads safe for people on bicycles, “given the vehicular indiscipline and reckless driving.” I think the “vehicular indiscipline of drivers” will be my new go-to phrase. 

Bicycling Australia reviews World Bicycle Relief’s single-speed Buffalo Bike; Trek has named the bike, designed to provide transportation for people in underdeveloped countries, as their Bike of the Year for two years running.

 

Competitive Cycling

Colombian pro Miguel Ángel López hasn’t taken too well to his sacking by the Astana-Qazaqstan cycling team over alleged links to a Spanish doping ring, filing a nearly $2 million lawsuit challenging his firing.

New independent cycling website Escape Collective previews tomorrow’s Milan-San Remo, the first of the year’s five Monuments; France24 says double Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar is ready for it.

VeloNews says a new generation of Americans are ready for a breakout year on this year’s WorldTour.

French sprinter Hugo Hofstetter put his Bianchi race bike through an unplanned stress test yesterday, breaking not one, but two sets of handlebars in the final 30 miles of the GP Denain race.

 

Finally…

Now you, too, can own your very own family-operated bikeshare system; read it on Yahoo if Bicycling blocks you. Who needs Everesting when you can set the record for vertical descent?

And that crappy feeling when you wipeout into a pile of manure on live TV.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

LA city officials back off “aspirational” mobility plan, CD13’s Hugo Soto-Martinez talks bikes, and still more bike giveaways

December 16, 2022 / / Comments Off on LA city officials back off “aspirational” mobility plan, CD13’s Hugo Soto-Martinez talks bikes, and still more bike giveaways

Just nine days left in the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

We’re on the cusp of the last full weekend of the fund drive, just slightly ahead of last year’s record pace. But we need your help to push it over the top, and best last year’s total for the 8th consecutive year!

So thanks to Matthew L and Tom C for their generous donations to keep all the latest bike news and advocacy coming your way every day.

Now it’s your turn, so donate today via PayPal or Zelle! 

Every contribution, no matter how large or small, is truly and deeply appreciated, and gets us that much closer to our goal.

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Before we get started, thanks to Paul Jamason for this tweet that took me by surprise yesterday. 

https://twitter.com/sdurban/status/1603544746118373376

But that’s what I do, all day and every day, confronting misinformation and disinformation about bikes and the people who ride them. And working to shine a light on the problems we face just trying to get from here to there in one piece. 

So if you value that work, and have a few extra bucks to spare, ask yourself what it’s worth to you, and donate now to help keep this vital work going.

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Today’s must read comes from Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, who calls out Los Angeles city officials for their mealymouthed support of the city’s Mobility Plan 2035, which we are once again told is merely “aspirational,” despite its overwhelming approval by the city council.

But what has been disturbing has been the city’s wholesale backing off of the Mobility Plan as a plan. Instead city staff – from the Planning Department, Chief Legislative Analyst, Department of Transportation, and others – are casting doubt on the city’s approved plan. This occurred repeatedly in an October 6 CLA memo and a November 30 City Council Public Works Committee meeting [audio] discussing the city council’s alternative version of HSLA.

CLA staff repeatedly characterized MP2035 as just “a policy foundation,” “a working guide,” “not an implementation tool with specific projects,” and “street segments indicated on the network concept maps represent potential opportunities.” (emphasis added).

He goes on to add this.

At the committee meeting, (Department of City Planning) Planner Emily Gable stated that MP2035 is “guidance” for a “general vision.” MP2035 network maps are “guides for decision-makers.” She called the plan “aspirational” and emphasized its “flexibility.”

It’s instructive to note the pernicious double standard of how the city is treating other aspects of the Mobility Plan.

Bus lanes? Guidance.

Bike lanes? Policy foundation.

Safe walking? Aspirational.

Car capacity? Build it exactly as the plan specifies.

Then again, that’s nothing new.

Just weeks after the 2010 Bike Plan was approved, which was later subsumed into the mobility plan, we were told by an LADOT official that it was merely, yes, aspirational.

But here’s the thing.

While the city may consider the mobility plan aspirational, people who ride bikes just aspire to do so without fear.

We aspire to have safe routes allowing us to ride across the city, and through our own neighborhoods.

We aspire to be treated as equals on the road.

We aspire to have secure places to park our bikes when we get to our destination.

And we aspire to have city officials who actually give a damn whether we live or die.

It’s a good piece. So take a few minutes to give it a read.

Then get mad as hell.

Because your safety and right to ride should never be just aspirational.

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If, like me, you missed Streets For All’s virtual happy hour with newly installed CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez on Wednesday, the transportation PAC has posted a recording online so we can all catch up.

This is how they describe it.

In this month’s happy hour we give an update on Venice Bl and our state efforts, talk about upcoming neighborhood council elections, and go over some wins and fails. Our special guest is Hugo Soto-Martinez, newly elected Councilmember for District 13, City of Los Angeles. We discussed many possible bike, bus, and pedestrian projects, including Fountain Ave, Santa Monica Bl, Hollywood Bl, Vermont, and capping the 101 freeway.

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Speaking of Streets For All, the group wants you to request a ballot for the Democratic Party’s ADEM representatives to help elect pro-transit delegates.

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‘Tis the season.

A religious group will donate a total of 500 bicycles to kids in need in Madera and Fresno, California this weekend.

A Bozeman, Montana bike shop is conducting their ninth annual children’s bike giveaway, hoping to donate at least 110 bikes to break last year’s record.

Kids in Sioux Falls, South Dakota will build a sense of pride and generosity by building 120 bicycles tomorrow, which will be given to less fortunate children as Christmas gifts.

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

There’s not a pit deep enough for the middle-aged British dog walker who chased down and attacked a teenage girl as she rode her bike, after shouting threats at her. Nothing justifies violence, whatever the reason for his anger.

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Local 

New CD1 Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez filed a motion instructing city officials to report back on the condition of the streets in her district, which had been neglected under former Councilmember “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo, while directing that construction of bicycle infrastructure simultaneously coordinated with street repairs.

New LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath has been seated on the Metro board, giving it a fresh voice with a track record of supporting bikes, walking and transit.

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, better known as the LACBC, announced their official name change to BikeLA.

 

State

San Francisco Streetsblog says the removal of traditional parking meters in the city means fewer places to park your bike. LADOT was supposed to conduct a study a few years ago about whether bikes could be safely locked up to parking meters here in Los Angeles, but as far as I know, the practice remains technically illegal, though seldom enforced. 

A Napa Valley paper examines the work of the Napa County Bicycle Coalition.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a woman was killed in a collision while riding her bike Thursday evening.

A Rancho Cordova man will be charged with murder after ambushing a 60-year old ebike rider with a machete, for no apparent reason.

 

National

Equitable Cities is conducting a survey of bicycling in the Black and Hispanic communities; you could be entered to win one of ten $200 gift cards for completing the survey.

The Bike League wants you to contact your Congress members to push for a return of the Bicycle Commuter Benefit in any year-end tax or spending legislation. Maybe they could also push for the ebike rebate the feds teased us with earlier this year.

Bicycling recommends eight “hilarious” Insta reel creators they say you have to follow. Even though you don’t. As usual, read it on Yahoo if the magazine blocks you. 

Gear Junkie explains the myriad joys of the derailleur.

Red Bull considers whether you really want a BMX or a mountain bike.

There’s a special place in hell — and hopefully behind bars — for whoever sexually assaulted a 12-year old Virginia girl before stealing her bicycle.

A newly completed Complete Street in Sarasota, Florida, complete with a lane reduction and sort-of protected bike lanes, is part of the planned 336-mile Florida Gulf Coast Trail. But as usual, local business owners are complaining.

 

International

Cycling Weekly considers what to eat and drink before, during and after a long bike ride, which they define as lasting longer than three and a half hours.

Frightening story from Wales, where a 14-year old boy’s heart suddenly stopped while on a group ride with his stepdad, even though he was an experienced mountain biker; he survived, despite four days in a coma, because one member of the group performed CPR while others raced for a defibrillator.

Belgian ebike brand Cowboy is dealing with the problem of recycling ebike batteries by recycling the entire bike instead, refurbishing and reselling them at a reduced price.

The most popular electric vehicle in Deutschland isn’t a car, as Germans are 2.5 times more likely to ride an ebike than drive an EV.

 

Competitive Cycling

The nascent National Cycling League announced $7.5 million in startup funding from a diverse group of investors, including NBA All-Star Bradley Beal; the league will consist of teams made up of eight men and eight women, who will compete for a slice of the $1 million purse in closed course crits in cities across the US. Although it’s kind of sad that a relatively paltry $7.5 million reflects the largest ever investment in US bike racing, when it’s just a rounding error on Beal’s annual salary. 

Track cycling fans should head down to the Velo Sports Center in Carson for a full weekend of racing, starting tonight.

 

Finally…

Your bike can be an electric generator contributing to the power grid. And now you, too, can own newly Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema’s used $7,900 tri bike.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

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

Soto-Martinez calls for new bus and bike lanes in CD13, San Diego op-ed calls bike lanes a rip-off, and drivers behaving badly

December 14, 2022 / / One comment

Less than 12 days left in the 8th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Which means time is running out to show your support for SoCal’s best source for all the latest bike news and advocacy, delivered fresh to your favorite screen every morning!

So let’s all thank Nina M and Todd T for their generous donations to ensure the bike news you need is ready and waiting when you need it. 

Don’t wait. Donate today via PayPal or Zelle.

Or better yet, stop what you’re doing and donate right now to keep all the bike bike news coming your way every day!

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You can’t say things aren’t changing in Los Angeles these days.

And Hollywood in particular.

In his first council session after replacing the recently ousted Mitch O’Farrell in LA’s 13th Council District, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced a motion calling for LADOT to report back with a list of bus lanes, bike infrastructure and pedestrian safety improvements that can be implemented within the next 18 months, as well as calling for placing shelters at every bus stop in the district.

https://twitter.com/streetsforall/status/1602864863667101697

Quite a change from O’Farrell, who spent eight years slow walking most safety projects, if not outright blocking them.

You can ask Soto-Martinez about his plans for the district at this evening’s Streets For All virtual happy hour; RSVP here.

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No bias here.

A retired university professor suggests that San Diego’s commitment to building bike infrastructure, with a goal of achieving a 10% bike commuting rate, is just another special interest rip-off.

Is this a joke? Or is it a monumental rip-off perpetrated by a very small but clearly well-organized special interest group of biking enthusiasts?

And then there is a safety issue. To date, there seemingly has not been any effort by the city or the state to either educate or enforce the multiple safety issues that are important for a mutual use of roadways by bicycles and automobiles. Few bikes on the road after dark have reflectors or lights; it is very rare to see a bicyclist signal to turn. And bicyclists blow through red lights and stop signs consistently — usually as they fly down one of the hills.

Just wait until he sees how people drive, in their big, smelly, two-ton death-dealing machines as they text on their phones, roll stop sighs and race to the next red light.

Of course, his proof that it’s a rip-off is that he and his husband don’t see bikes in the exact bike lane they’re watching, at the exact moment they’re watching it.

And never mind that the well-funded advocacy groups he complains about are in fact dramatically underfunded nonprofits who have to beg for money to continue their work every year.

It would be of interest to know which consultant arrived at this 10 percent number — and how. Special interest groups are focused, connected, well-organized and funded. My guess is that they were heavily involved in the planning for the pathways. And while clearly their prerogative, their influence seems to have outweighed the broader public good.

In reality, the broader public good includes getting people out of their cars — electric or otherwise — before we succeed in our so far successful efforts to destroy our planet, unless and until the erstwhile world’s richest man manages to find another one to move us all to.

And, of course, he can’t manage to make his case without the stunning revelation that “San Diego is not Copenhagen, Stockholm or Amsterdam.”

No, it isn’t. San Diego has much better weather for much of the year. And none of those cities were bike-friendly until they made the commitment and difficult transition to become that way.

But there is one thing he gets right.

San Diego is hilly, built around numerous canyons and hillsides. Yet I somehow managed to find relatively flat routes to get wherever I was going when I lived down there decades ago.

I doubt it’s gotten any hillier since.

Then there’s the ability of ebikes to flatten that terrain, and let anyone ride up and down them with minimal effort.

And if you’re to believe the local media and panicked seaside city officials, the entire place is already being overrun by ebike-riding social terrorists.

It’s possible that the city’s efforts to increase bicycling rates may fail, with too many people clinging to their steering wheels like Charleston Heston to his guns.

But it’s far too soon to give up, when the city’s bike network is still in its nascent stage. Let alone when its success is the only way the city can meet its climate goals.

So give it time, and keep building bikeways.

The worst thing that will happen is that the city will continue to get safer and more livable.

And maybe someday, someone in Copenhagen or Amsterdam will insist that they’re not San Diego.

………

This is who we share the road with.

Fortunately, no one was seriously injured, except for the driver of the suspected stolen truck.

And a Laguna Beach hardware store was forced to close when a woman somehow drove her Tesla through the outer wall. Luckily, no one was injured.

………

You only have until the end of this month to offer your input on how to make Redondo Beach Blvd and Ripley Ave safer and more comfortable spaces to bike and walk.

………

After yesterday’s item about the brief flight of a pedal-powered plane, Steven Hallett reminds us about the Gossamer Albatross, the human-powered plane that successfully crossed the English Channel all the way back in 1979.

………

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

New York building owners are banning ebikes and e-scooters over concerns about battery fires, even though the problem is largely limited to refurbished batteries and mismatched chargers.

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

The people have spoken. People commenting here have all said we should stop linking to articles here where bike use is just incidental to some crime, rather than central to the story. So from here on, this section will be reserved for bike riders who fuck up big time. Let’s just make sure it’s not you, k?

Or me, for that matter.

………

………

Local 

A Los Angeles actor and producer makes a pilgrimage to the great bicycling meccas of Europe.

In what should be must-see viewing for local and state officials, the new documentary 21 Miles in Malibu examines LA County’s killer highway, calling it one of the deadliest stretches of roadway in California.

 

State 

Caltrans is holding a webinar on Friday to present a progress report on the the Statewide Bike and Pedestrian Plan, with public comment extended to January 13th. Yes, Friday the 13th.

Streetsblog examines the worthy active transportation projects that didn’t get funded by the California Transportation Commission under a one-time, $1 billion state funding boost, demonstrating just how much demand there is for better bike and walking infrastructure.

‘Tis the season. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office held their annual Christmas Bike Giveaway for the 33rd straight year, donating 300 bicycles refurbished by county jail inmates to kids in need.

San Francisco Streetsblog checks the progress on the new curb-protected bike lanes on Oakland’s iconic Telegraph Ave.

 

National

A writer for Planetizen argues active transportation and micromobility can do far more to provide cost-effective cuts in emissions than most current emission reduction plans. Meanwhile, Government Technology suggests micromobility has rebounded from its pandemic-induced downturn.

A Streetsblog podcast talks with historian and author Peter Norton about the history of roadside memorials to the victims of traffic violence.

Bike Portland reports the city is working with the FHA to build several advisory lanes, where bike riders get a lane on both sides, and drivers share a single center lane.

Kindhearted Texas cops worked with a nonprofit group to give a boy with special needs a new bike after his was stolen. Don’t get me started on what kind of schmuck would steal a bike from a special needs kid, though.

More on the Michigan bike shop owner killed in a Florida collision while delivering bikes to children affected by Hurricane Ian; 57-year old Steven Pringle was a grandfather and Army vet who founded a nonprofit providing “bicycle therapy” to veterans by repairing bikes to give to children in need.

The bike lanes on New York’s Roosevelt Island Bridge got a new weather-resistant surface, replacing the metal grate that was prone to causing tire punctures.

New York building owners are banning ebike and e-scooters over fears of battery fires.

 

International

CityLab sees a big opportunity in tiny electric minicars.

Quebec rules that a bike rider who was grazed, but not hit, by a passing motorist is entitled to compensation for her injuries. Although someone should tell them that getting “grazed” is getting hit. And so is getting sucked in or blown off the road by a passing vehicle. 

A London micromobiity company is placing a cognitive function test within their app, which will require ebike and e-scooter users to prove they’re not intoxicated before they’re allowed to rent one. So why can’t we do the same thing for motorists?

Portugal is the first country to reduce the value-added tax, or VAT, on bicycles in an effort to encourage increased ridership.

A Norwegian student praises the kindness of people in India’s Uttar Pradesh province, after thieves stole his phone, credit card, ID and other documents while on an around the world bike tour.

Bizarre story from Australia, where a young woman pled guilty to manslaughter in the death of a 7-foot tall man who was last scene riding his bike, after arguing that she only thought her boyfriend and another man were going to “kick the shit out of him,” not kill him.

 

Competitive Cycling

Colombian cyclist Miguel Ángel López was unceremoniously fired from his Astana-Qazaqstan cycling team, after the team found “probable” connections to a Spanish doctor being investigated for suspected drug trafficking and money laundering. But the era of doping is over, right? Or did they just get better at hiding it?

A Burbank website profiles a 16-year old mountain biker who competes in competitions throughout the US.

 

Finally…

Your bike could soon tell you when it needs new shoes. Why reinvent the wheel when you can just build a better kickstand?

And that feeling when bikes get squeezed out by pickleball.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

 

Category: General / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

PR plug for killer socialite, transportation ideas for CD13, and ex-Tour de France champ discussed in racist recording

November 22, 2022 / / One comment

Forget Black Friday. It’s just three more days to the official start of the 8th Annual BikinginLA holiday fund drive!

Thanks to our longtime friend Jim L for getting us off to an early start with his generous donation!

………

The pre-trial PR campaign is kicking into high gear.

Wealthy socialite Rebecca Grossman, co-founder of the prestigious Grossman Burn Center, wants us to know that she is just so very misunderstood, and isolated from all her rich friends.

Just because she killed two innocent little kids while speeding along on surface streets at what police investigators have estimated as up to 80 mph in a 45 mph zone.

No, she says, she wasn’t drunk or street racing with her friend, former Dodger Scott Erickson, even though they were reportedly zig zagging and leap frogging one another’s cars.

And no, I don’t remember him, either.

I do, however, recall her victims, 11-year old Mark Iskander and his 8-year old brother Jacob, who were violently run down as they were crossing the street with their family.

She faces 34 to life if she’s convicted on both murder counts, and is walking free on $2 million bail pending a March trial.

Hopefully she’ll show up for that one, unlike five previous hearings.

Seriously, LA Magazine should be ashamed for allowing themselves to be used like this.

………

Today’s must-read comes from Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, who has 11 transportation suggestions for newly elected CD13 Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez.

The ideas range from implementing the Sunset4All Complete Streets project, and the Temple Street lane reduction and bike lanes blocked by outgoing Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell, to capping the 101 Freeway with a public park.

It’s more than worth the eight minutes it will take to read.

Let alone turning all the ideas into action.

………

The LA Times has compiled an annotated transcript of the racist and otherwise offensive recording that lead to the resignation of former City Council president Nury Martinez and LA County Federation of Labor chief Ron Herrera.

The recording has also lead to repeated calls for councilmembers Kevin de León and “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo to resign, although the latter will be leaving next month anyway, after losing his bid for re-election, while the former refuses to do the right thing.

The conversation also bizarrely featured disgraced ex-Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong.

Kevin de León
Over the weekend, I called a buddy of mine who is a former U.S. attorney.

Nury Martinez
I have one of those, too. It’s good to have one of those.

Kevin de León
Cool. We’re very close. And he, he had the Lance Armstrong case too, when they were going to indict Lance Armstrong.

Nury Martinez
The cyclist?

Kevin de León
The cyclist. Yeah.

Nury Martinez
What did he do? Doping. Is it doping

Kevin de León
Yeah. And the case was coming out of the L.A. office of the U.S. attorney’s office here…

………

Enter this number in your phone. And take it with you when you ride.

Meanwhile, Ann Arbor, Michigan, is considering following New York’s lead by offering a bounty on drivers who block bike lanes.

Maybe our new councilmembers could consider something like that here.

………

This is who we share the internet with.

That was followed by this comment, from someone who apparently fails to grasp the concept of a protected bike lane.
Car drivers have to move over in the lane for obstructions all the time (mail trucks, trash trucks, etc.). How hard is it for a biker to move over? What happening to sharing the road?

………

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

No bias here. A regional transportation group has put a Des Moines, Iowa model bike safety on hold, somehow fearing a backlash over the common sense reforms.

A British driver was caught on video speeding down a protected bike lane, either oblivious to or not caring about the oncoming bike riders who were forced out of the lane.

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

A 20-year old man in the UK was sentenced to six-months time served for rebelling against his parents attempt to have him committed by brandishing a machete while riding with a group of other bike riders, even though the only injury anyone suffered was a dog bite after the group was chased by a small pack.

………

Local

Babe star James Cromwell added his voice to a campaign to halt plans to restore the ecologically degraded Los Angeles Ballona Wetland Ecological Reserve, which includes plans for a ten-mile bike and pedestrian path; no word on what the pig had to say.

Ride hailing and micromobility provider Lyft has pulled all of their bikeshare bikes and e-scooters out of Los Angeles and Santa Monica, after failing to secure a longterm contract from city officials.

Glendale has received a $6 million state grant for the Verdugo Wash Visioning Project, which will create a 9.4-mile-long linear park and nature trail for walking and cycling, courtesy of Assemblymember Laura Friedman.

 

State 

A mountain biker used his bike as a shield when he was charged by a mountain lion on a San Luis Obispo trail, leading to a brief standoff before the big cat retreated. Thanks to Victor Bale for the heads-up.

The $20 million bike and pedestrian path on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge is entering the final year of its four-year pilot program, as impatient motorists chomp at the bit to get it back.

The CHP has released a photo of the suspect vehicle in the hit-and-run that killed a man riding a bike in North Highlands earlier this month.

 

National

Fortune says the four-year old e-scooter industry is finally getting around to being as green and sustainable as they claimed, after quietly polluting for years.

No irony here. A Portland bike rider was lucky to escape serious injury when he was run down by a red light-running hit-and-run driver in a crash caught on video, while he was riding to an event to mark the World Day of Remembrance for victims of traffic violence.

A Kansas City business owner says his business is suffering because Missouri drivers are apparently incapable of figuring out a parking-protected bike lane.

A decades old Fayetteville, Arkansas bicycle charity is shutting down after giving away tens of thousands of bikes to kids in need; the 76-year old wife of the man known locally as the Bicycle Man continued the program for nine years after his death, and hopes to give away another 1,000 bicycles before shutting down after the holidays.

‘Tis the season. A Louisville country music station has collected over 1,500 bicycles, as well as monetary donations for Toys for Tots and the Salvation Army, to ensure that every local kid has a gift for the holidays.

The rich get richer, as New York announced plans to expand the city’s bike lane network next year.

A 60-year old New Jersey man is on his 14th bike trip across the US; he’s covered over 39,000 miles since he first hit the road on his ‘bent five years ago, after recovering from getting hit by a drunk driver.

‘Tis the season, too. A kindhearted Baton Rouge, Louisiana lawyer is giving away over 450 new bikes to local kids.

 

International

In honor of the World Cup, Road.cc creates their own all-star team of bike-riding soccer stars.

British residents say they want a bike with an ABS anti-lock braking system.

An Irish paper is up in arms after local officials “wasted” the equivalent of nearly $12,000 building a 600-foot separated bike lane, complaining it’s an “embarrassment” that even bike riders don’t want.

Pink Bike features seven weird and wonderful bikes currently for sale on the platform.

Hanoi, Vietnam is considering establishing a public bikeshare service to to reduce traffic congestion and environmental pollution, with 1,000 bikes at 94 stations.

 

Finally…

Your new fixie could be a Wu-Tang Clan bike. That feeling when the kids are riding on thin ice. No, literally.

And bike riding while blind and blind drunk.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

Video highlights LA Vision Zero fail, missing OK bike riders murdered, and Times endorses Soto-Martínez in DC13

October 18, 2022 / / One comment

It’s been seven years since Eric Garcetti signed the Vision Zero declaration, which committed Los Angeles to ending traffic deaths by 2025.

Okay, you can stop laughing now.

It wasn’t long before the city realized just how hard that would be, and how much change it would require, before quickly shoving it far back on the shelf where they hoped no one would notice.

Funny thing is, though, we told them that. The city held a series of public meetings and solicited comments from the public — without bothering to enlist the advocates who had fought for it.

But we showed up anyway.

One of the biggest things people stressed in these meetings was that it would require wholesale changes in how we get around. Something that somehow didn’t make it into the final Vision Zero Action Plan, which instead proposed a policy of nibbling at the edges of the city’s most dangerous corridors, in hopes the combined incremental changes might somehow make a difference.

You can see how well that worked out.

Another thing we stressed was the need for a change in attitude among LA drivers, assuring the city the program would fail unless there was a large scale reeducation campaign informing motorists that they don’t, in fact, own the road, and that even the best drivers are capable of killing and maiming innocent people unless they learned to drive carefully around vulnerable road users.

And to use the long-abused and misused term, to share the road with people on bikes and on foot, making room and giving them a wide berth, rather than running them off the road.

That, too, was ignored.

I mention this because of this video posted by father and Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, as a driver on what should have been a quiet side street threatened to call the police because Schneider had the audacity to ride a cargo bike in the street with his four-year old kid.

I share it, not because it’s uncommon, but because this sort of crap is all too common.

There are few of us brave enough to mix it up with motor vehicles that haven’t run into drivers like this at one time or another. Sometime literally.

The attitude persists among too many drivers that streets are for cars, and too dangerous for people walking or on bicycles, without grasping the irony that they are the very people who keep that way.

Until that changes — or rather, until our elected leaders care enough about saving human lives to actually do something to make it change — Vision Zero will continue to fail.

And people will keep dying needlessly on our streets.

Photo from LA Streetsblog. 

………

Speaking of Vision Zero, a pair of NACTO executives argue that cities urgently need to fix dangerous arterial streets, which make up just 15 percent of all roads but are responsible for a whopping 67 percent of pedestrian deaths.

And Streets For All is urging you to support a proposal for a pedestrian plaza on deadly Sawtelle Blvd at tonight’s Zoom meeting of the West LA Sawtelle Neighborhood Council’s Planning and Land Use Management Committee.

Because clearly, it’s up to us to keep pushing for a safer, more livable city for all Angelenos.

………

It never seemed like the story of the missing Okmulgee, Oklahoma bike riders was going to end well.

But the real story is so much worse than anything we imagined.

The four friends inexplicably disappeared after setting out for a bike ride Sunday evening. A massive search turned up nothing, until their bodies were found Friday — shot, dismembered and dumped in a local river.

To complicate matters, it turns out the men were killed while committing, or at least planning, a crime. Although just what that crime might have been is unknown at this time.

Cellphone records show they traveled to a pair of salvage yards, five and eleven miles from where their bodies were found. One of which showed “evidence of a violent event” nearby.

Police are looking for a person of interest in the case, who also disappeared Sunday night, and reportedly may be suicidal.

………

No, it’s not.

………

This effectively makes the case for why slower speeds save lives, showing the difference between roughly 50 mph and 20 mph.

………

Inspiring video demonstrating that bikes aren’t just for the able-bodied, as British pro mountain biker James Anderson competes despite suffering from Monoplegia, an acute form of Cerebral Palsy.

………

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

Police in New York are looking for the bike-riding man accused of two sexual assaults in the East Side and West Village neighborhoods. There’s not a pit in hell deep enough. 

A British mother of four claims she was forced to sell drugs after failing in debt to a drug gang, after she was busted for peddling heroin and coke by bike.

………

Local

The Los Angeles Times makes a surprising endorsement, picking challenger Hugo Soto-Martínez over incumbent CD13 Councilmember and acting council president Mitch O’Farrell.

Councilmembers Kevin de León and “Roadkill” Gil Cedillo have been stripped of their committee assignments, as pressure mounts for them to resign in the wake of a racist taped conversation that was leaked last week.

People for Mobility Justice is teaming with Metro to host a free bike tour of East LA taco vendors and bike infrastructure this evening, starting at Mariachi Plaza.

WeHoVille gets the candidates for West Hollywood City Council — or most of them, anyway — on the record for their support, or the lack thereof, for proposed protected bike lanes on deadly Fountain Ave. Too many of whom insist on seeing it from a windshield perspective, preferring to protect parking and high-speed traffic over human lives. 

Metro is hosting a webinar meeting tonight to discuss bike and pedestrian improvements near the planned Sepulveda Blvd G Line — aka Orange Line — station.

Metro has released an interactive map of its Draft Prioritized Active Transportation Network, showing where in LA County the agency thinks it should make multimodal improvements

 

State 

No surprise here, as pedestrians made up 25% of all traffic traffic fatalities in California in 2020, with pedestrian deaths climbing 4% over the previous year.

Carlsbad’s Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream is hosting a fundraiser today for a local firefighter and his 16-month old daughter, after their wife and mother were killed by a driver while riding her ebike with the girl in August.

Sad news from Kern County, where a Bakersfield man was killed riding a bicycle in the city early Saturday morning.

San Francisco is headed for its worst year for traffic deaths and injuries in 15 years, making its goal of zero traffic deaths by 2024 increasingly unlikely; researchers blame inadequate and misdirected police enforcement.

More sad news, as the CHP is searching for the hit-and-run driver who killed a man who was riding a bike in Sacramento just after midnight Sunday; the victim wasn’t carrying ID and hasn’t been identified. Meanwhile, a CHP officer is in critical condition after he was struck by a drunk driver while investigating the crash.

 

National

He gets it. CNN’s Chris Cillizza uses Black Panther’s African utopia of Wakanda as a model to illustrate why it’s time to move our cities beyond the failed and destructive age of car culture.

A mom of twins offers a rave review of her first thousand miles on an e-cargo bike.

Cycling Weekly shares some of the best custom and yet-to-be-released handmade bikes from Portland’s seventh annual Chris King Open House, while Cycling News highlights five bikes from London’s recent Bespoked custom bike show.

The Las Vegas Raiders are adding additional bike racks and planning to stripe bike lanes outside their stadium, in response to demand from fans riding bikes to the games.

Horrible story from Michigan, where a bike rider was killed when he was dragged several blocks underneath a car by a hit-and-run driver.

The New York Civil Liberties Union is arguing a case before the state Supreme Court, demanding that cops and courts treat search and seizure of people on bicycles the same as they do people in cars.

 

International

A new international study shows a bike rider in New York is 25 times more likely to be killed than a similar rider in Vancouver, and faces roughly the same risk as a bicyclist in Auckland or Buenos Aires. Unfortunately, Los Angeles wasn’t included in the study.

This is who we share the road with. A Welsh driver was allegedly using Facebook and Instagram behind the wheel, moments before killing an off-duty police sergeant as she was riding a bicycle; he claims it was his 13-month old son using his phone at the time of the crash.  Sure, let’s go with that.

 

Competitive Cycling

An Irish columnist marks the 10th anniversary of Lance Armstrong’s downfall by arguing that his punishment was “draconian and probably excessive,” but caused by the same “bloody-mindedness” that led to his seven Tour de France wins.

Former Italian great Mario Cipollini was sentenced to three years and a fine of 85,000 euros — the equivalent of nearly $83,750 — after being convicted of domestic abuse and threats against his ex-wife and her current partner.

US national road race champ Kyle Murphy has signed with L39ion of Los Angeles, as the LA-based cycling team apparently looks to compete as a Continental team next year, after dominating the American crit scene.

Zwift is sponsoring the first physical location for the LA Bicycle Academy, a cycling team founded and led by people of color to help young people from underserved communities enter the sport.

 

Finally…

That feeling when the internet has misses the point entirely. Or when your only race fan is a monkey. No, a real one.

And apparently, bicycling fashion has changed just a tad over the years.

https://twitter.com/may_gun/status/1582184306453061633

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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

WeHo merchant calls for licensing cyclists, racist Palo Alto road rage attack, and Hugo calls for carfree Hollywood Blvd

October 4, 2022 / / Comments Off on WeHo merchant calls for licensing cyclists, racist Palo Alto road rage attack, and Hugo calls for carfree Hollywood Blvd

No bias here.

The owner of West Hollywood’s gay-forward novelty boutique Block Party says forget bike lanes and install EV chargers instead, while trotting out all the old cliches about licensing bike riders.

Fast forward to 2022, a debate about removing the parking lanes on Fountain and to install bike lanes in their place, eliminating two for cars to drive. Those bike lane people are ferocious in their arguments. If you had to drive a bike and cars whipped past you it might cause a sense of anger that you deserve a safe space too. But perhaps bike riders who choose to use the road should also be licensed. Maybe they should pass a written test to travel 40 miles down the road. Perhaps they can pay a license fee to help offset the cost of these installations. As a partially sighted part-time driver I can say that it is difficult to drive past the bikes who often show little respect for the road weaving in lanes. But that is another story.

Because apparently, our tax money doesn’t count — even though it pays for the roads he drives, whether we use them or not.

Never mind that studies have repeatedly shown that a licensing program for bicyclists would cost more than it would bring in, while dramatically reducing ridership exactly when we need more people on bikes. Or that bike riders pose a lot less risk to others than people in cars do.

Especially people with bad eyesight.

Besides, are you really going to tell a six-year old she can’t ride her bike because her license expired?

So maybe the next time you’re in WeHo, stop in and tell him why you’ll be spending your money somewhere else.

Besides, not many of us can really pull off the spangled banana hammock look.

Not that our significant others would actually want us to try.

………

Crap like this really pisses me off.

A Black Palo Alto man was the victim of a racist road rage attack and hit-and-run last week, for the crime of riding his bike in the traffic lane.

In other words, exactly where he should have been.

The victim had moved into the lane to pass a driver who was attempting to park. Yet when he stopped at the next stop light, he was accosted by a white pickup driver for “riding in the middle of the road.”

The two men began arguing, at which point the truck driver called the cyclist, who is Black, a racial epithet. The victim reported to police that the driver spat on him, reached out to grab his arm, and then drove the truck into the side of the bicycle. The cyclist fell to the ground.

The cyclist said the truck drove over his bicycle, and the driver turned north on Webster Street and then east on Lytton Avenue. The cyclist later saw the truck turn back onto University Avenue heading east and continue driving. The cyclist’s leg had a small laceration, which paramedics treated at the scene. His bicycle was damaged but remained rideable, police stated.

It’s possible that the victim could have moved into the lane suddenly, without signaling or checking behind him, and cut off the driver. Or not.

None of which justifies violence, let alone racism.

The local police are investigating it as a hate crime, as well as an assault with a deadly weapon and injury hit-and-run.

Which is good, because there’s just no excuse for this. Ever.

Period.

And no pit deep enough for someone who could do something like this.

………

Things could finally be looking up in Hollywood.

While CD13 Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell has called for a much needed Complete Streets makeover of Hollywood Blvd, challenger Hugo Soto-Martinez has raised the ante with a call for pedestrianizing sections of the iconic tourist attraction.

Meanwhile, Los Angeleno examines the race between O’Farrell and Soto-Martinez; while O’Farrell has been justly criticized for blocking bike and traffic safety plans until recently, Soto-Martinez is calling for more bike lanes in the district.

………

Finish the Ride and the LACBC hosted a Clean Air Ride over the weekend.

Speaking of which, Metro will offer free bus, train and bikeshare rides tomorrow for California Clean Air Day.

………

Someone did an impressive job trolling St. Louis officials by installing old bike helmets and an official looking public notice calling on pedestrians to use them crossing the street.

All to call attention to the city’s unacceptably high death rate.

………

Evidently, ebikes have been around a lot longer than you may think.

………

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

Horrible story from the UK, where police are looking for four men who chased down a 21-year old bike rider with their car, then got out and stabbed him to death, apparently because the driver had crashed into the victim.

No bias here, either. A victim-blaming road sign in England’s Hertfordshire county instructs bike riders to “Please consider other road users.” Because anti-social bike riders kill so many motorists, evidently.

………

Local

Streetsblog eyes the new bike lanes on 1st, 3rd and 7th Streets in DTLA.

Your next bike could have a “Los Angeles” frame with a camo finish. Although that color choice may not be the best option if you actually want drivers to see you.

Santa Monica announced a crackdown on scofflaw drivers who park on the city’s sidewalks and parkways starting next month, urging people to “stop parking like a jerk.” Now tell them to do bike lanes, where the city has allowed delivery drivers to park for decades with no repercussions.

 

State 

Streets For All offers a full recap on transportation-related bills signed or vetoed by Governor Newsom, as well as bills that died in the state legislature. Meanwhile, Streetsblog offers a similar roundup of active transportation, transit and climate bills.

LAist takes a deep dive into California’s new Freedom to Walk Act, which doesn’t actually legalize jaywalking after all; it’s still technically illegal to cross the street in the middle of a block, but police are now directed not to cite it unless crossing poses an imminent danger. However, California’s restriction against jaywalking only applies to blocks with a traffic signal on each end, so it’s already completely legal anywhere else.

The CHP has received a $1.2 million federal grant to “promote the importance of drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians looking out for one another so that everyone can safely share the road.” Maybe they could put the money to better use by giving their officers more training in bike law and bicycle crash investigations.

The victim in Sunday’s fatal head-on crash in Fresno County has been identified as a 51-year old Anthropology professor at Clovis Community College; the driver of the Acura supercar who needlessly took her life as she rode her bike has been identified as a 47-year old Clovis man. Thanks to Keith Johnson for the heads-up.

 

National

Streetsblog talks with Elizabeth Creely, of the San Francisco-based grassroots advocacy organization Safe Street Rebel, on how to start a grassroots safe streets movement in your city. Or you could ask Streets For All founder Michael Schneider, who’s done a helluva job in just a few short years.

Singletracks revisits their most popular mountain bike product reviews.

Great idea. Bentonville, Arkansas will host the first-ever bike festival for deaf bicyclists next week.

Eleven scenic Hudson Valley bike rides for your next trip to the Empire State.

Philadelphia is investing $23 million in the city’s Vision Zero budget for next year, $6 million more than originally proposed. That compares with $38.5 million in Los Angeles, which has a population 2.5 times higher; LA would have to spend another $20 million to match Philly’s per capita spending.

Mississippi’s Gulf Islands National Seashore has reopened with the first phase of a new bike and pedestrian pathway, with the second phase due in two years.

 

International

The fourth annual Ebike Future Conference will be held virtually next week, including a virtual expo that will run automatically for the next 22 days.

Bike Radar examines why people and businesses are swapping cars for bikes, transforming their lives and operations by taking to two wheels.

Forget micromobility. The latest trend is minimobility, with three and four wheeled vehicles designed to carry one or two people and fill the gap between bicycles and motor vehicles. Which is a pretty damn big gap, if you ask me.

While bicycling fatalities continue to climb in the US, British bike deaths dropped 21% last year.

Brussels is the latest major European city learning to love the bicycle; the Belgian capital has already come a long way from its car-centric past.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as two riders explore archeological relics and forested parks — and the local hospitality — by biking Jordan’s ancient trade route.

No, an Indonesian bike shop isn’t giving away free ebikes in response to a government gas price hike.

Former Italian pro Omar Di Felice announced plans for a record bike ride across Antarctica, riding to the South Pole and across the continent to the base of the Leverett Glacier and back.

 

Competitive Cycling

Once again, the pro peloton is justifiably complaining about race conditions, saying “UCI doesn’t care about our safety,” after complaints about dangerous conditions in the CRO Race were ignored by officials.

Pinarello unveiled the world’s fastest 3D-printed bike, allowing maximum customization for Filippo Ganna in his attempt to set a new hour record.

Red Bull looks at L39ion of Los Angeles founder and multiple national crit champ Justin Williams, and his mission to change bike racing for the better.

 

Finally…

Get a Covid shot, get a shot at winning a bicycle. Apparently, bike surfing is an effective way to make sure drivers see you at night.

And few people realize that sharrow is a portmanteau of arrow and sheep.

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G’mar chatima tova to all observing Yom Kippur tonight. 

Thanks to Matthew Robertson for his latest monthly donation to help keep all the best bike news coming your way every day. Any donation, no matter how large or small, is always deeply appreciated. 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin, too.

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