I’m going with a shorter format today, after running out of time to keep working as the clock leaves 4 am in the rearview mirror.
The problem stems from my attempt to set our apartment on fire with an overheated wok last night, said attempt failing only after I remembered the $28 fire blanket I bought last year and stashed next to the stove, thinking I might need it someday.
That someday was yesterday.
So we’ll go with the day’s main stories for now, and catch up on the rest tomorrow. And if it seems like my heart’s not in it today, I can assure you it’s on the saddle and in the bike lane, where it always is.
My head, on the other hand, is another matter.
Today’s photo of 3rd Street Toronto barriers shamelessly stolen respectfully borrowed courtesy of Streetsblog’s Joe Linton
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Sort of good news today, as the LA City Council Transportation Committee voted to install new concrete Toronto barriers on the city’s protected bike lanes.
Which should raise the question of why LA city departments continue to be siloed, with one agency tasked with planning city streets, another with engineering them, and a third with actually building them.
But this being LA, no one bothered to ask that.
Instead, assuming the motion passes the full council, the department will be tasked with compiling yet another report to report back to the council on, reporting why they should or shouldn’t install the barriers themselves, or if they even can.
So I will report on the report, if and when they actually report on it.
And people wonder why nothing reportedly gets done around here.
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Seriously, would you like some cheese with that whine?
A WeHo Online op-ed complains that West Hollywood City Councilmember Lauren Meister was treated unfairly in her attempt to undo what the council had already done in voting to approve the planned protected bike lanes on Fountain Ave.
Meister, said the mister who wrote it, “demonstrated something increasingly rare on the West Hollywood City Council: a willingness to listen, reconsider, and think beyond the confines of a predetermined political position.”
According to the op-ed,
Her proposal was neither radical nor unreasonable. It simply asked whether there might be a better way to achieve safety for ALL users of Fountain Avenue.
Which is what the council had already done, in approving a plan that considered the needs off all road users, rather than just the ones who want to keep parking on it.
Apparently, all the councilmembers who supported the plan were unreasonable, if not downright rude, in their refusal to reconsider the votes they had cast mere months before, while those who didn’t were perfectly reasonable in requesting that they do.
Then there were the several dozen written comments originating from ZIP codes well beyond West Hollywood. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but the voices of outside advocacy networks should not be confused with those of residents who will live with the consequences of these decisions every day. Their interests deserve particular consideration, not dismissal as obstacles to someone else’s ideological vision.
Which would make perfect sense, if this was a matter that only affected residents of the city. But Fountain Ave has long been used more by people attempting to drive — or bike — through WeHo to some other destination, than as a quiet side street for those who live along the busy corridor.
If memory serves, Blake Ackerman, whose ghost bike sits at Fountain and Gardner, was riding home from work in DTLA to an apartment in Beverly Hills when he was killed by a hit-and-run driver just last year.
Countless studies show that improving safety on Fountain will benefit everyone who drives, bikes or walks along the corridor, while improving the quality of life for those who live nearby.
So it is not unreasonable for councilmembers to stick to a previous decision that was made after years of street studies and public meetings. It is, however, unreasonable to demand that it be reconsidered every few months.
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Apparently, the Central Valley Young Republicans are opposed to a proposed sales tax measure on next month’s ballot.
The Fresno County Transportation Sales Tax, otherwise known as Measure S, is a scam. The measure will extend the already high sales tax throughout Fresno County. And, while its creators promise “better roads” and “safer streets,” it will not improve either.
Instead, it pads the pockets of the nonprofit CEOs who wrote it and prioritizes the fundamental transformation of our beautiful, family-friendly Central Valley into a dump, similar to what the once beautiful city of San Francisco has become today.
This measure’s main objective is to create a more urban, public transit-dependent, cluttered way of life, similar to the disasters of Los Angeles and San Francisco, with unending bike and bus lanes driving cars off the road, funded and supported by the same elites and politicians who destroyed California and now want to destroy Fresno County.
Okay, but how do they really feel?
Because, evidently, clogging local streets with more and more cars, trucks and SUVs will somehow maintain their high quality of life, while providing alternatives to driving will destroy it.
Never mind the non sequitur of nonprofits padding their pockets.
There is a valid argument to be made about resisting higher taxes, or at least considering them very carefully. There can also be a discussion as to where and when to build bus and bike lanes.
But this ain’t it.
I only wish LA had “unending bike and bus lanes driving cars off the road.” Because what’s really driving cars off the road are all those other drivers in other cars, with increasingly less space to maneuver because of all the other drivers driving them off the road.
And they wonder why Republicans are an endangered species in California.
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Finally, we’ll end on the sad saga of ICE agents crashing into, detaining and breaking the arm of an American citizen in Long Beach on Saturday.
According to My News LA, four California lawmakers — US Representatives Nanette Barragán, D-San Pedro, and Robert Garcia, D-Long Beach, as well as Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, both D-California — sent a strongly worded letter to Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari demanding an investigation into the ICE attack on Ricardo Gonzalez.
But what’s missing from the letter — aside from the likelihood that it will be taken seriously under current DHS leadership — is the presence of any lawmakers with an R following their names.
Maybe I’m dating myself, but I remember when government agents in black SUVs detaining — let alone attacking — an American citizen would have drawn howls of protest from the GOP, as well Democrats.
Maybe someday, our Republican leaders will find their missing integrity. But today is clearly not that day.
The motion: Meister’s motion, which critics said came at the last minute, aimed to avoid the loss of 60% of the street’s parking as a result of the roadway changes. Meister said on Monday her motion was an attempt to weigh the approved plan against an alternative that “might accomplish the same safety objectives while preserving parking.”…
The vote: The motion failed in a 3-2 vote on Monday night. It would have directed staff to evaluate an alternative plan for the road that maintained street parking but didn’t include bike lanes. West Hollywood City Councilmembers Chelsea Byers and John Erickson and Vice Mayor Danny Hang voted to reject the motion. Mayor John Heilman and City Councilmember Lauren Meister, who introduced the motion, supported the effort.
Except, of course, it wouldn’t have accomplished the same safety goals. Studies show that protected bike lanes increase safety for all road users by as much as 90%. But forcing riders to use the traffic lane, or risk riding in the door zone, would make the street even less safe than it is now.
And right now, it’s pretty deadly.
Bluesky post
Today’s photo: Maybe we’ll have fewer ghost bikes now, like this one installed for Blake Ackerman last year on Fountain Ave. But let’s hope they move fast, because who knows what will happen after next month’s election.
Yet video shows the SUV speeding the wrong way on a one-way street before swerving into the path of Ricardo Gonzalez’ ebike, apparently based on nothing but the color of his skin.
A statement from ICE says Gonzalez hit their wing mirror. Which is hard not to do when a massive SUV cuts right in front of you.
An ICE officer can be seen jumping out, gun drawn. Gonzalez was tased and wrestled to the ground before ICE agents pinned him face down in the gutter, his hands cuffed behind his back.
Never mind that Gonzalez is a native-born American citizen who works for the City of Long Beach.
In the video footage, Mr. Gonzalez can be heard yelling. “You hit me with your car. I’m a U.S. citizen!” he says, using several expletives.
Mr. Gonzalez was later taken to a hospital for his injuries, the Long Beach police said. The police was not involved in immigration enforcement and did not make any arrests at the scene, the department added. It said its officers were called in for backup by ICE, which had reported that vehicles were being vandalized and that a person needed medical attention. The extent of Mr. Gonzalez’s injuries was not clear on Tuesday.
It gets worse.
In its statement, a spokesperson for ICE said the agency had been conducting a targeted operation to arrest a “criminal illegal alien.” The agency did not say whether it thought Mr. Gonzalez was that person. The agency also said its officers had used “the minimum amount of force.”
“ICE did NOT hit an individual on a bike. An individual was arrested after he smashed the mirror of a government vehicle,” the spokesperson wrote.
ICE described the man, whom the spokesperson did not name, as a “rioter.”
So evidently, getting hit by federal agents with their SUV, tased, cuffed and having your arm broken in an apparent case of mistaken identity is “rioting.”
Got it.
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Heartbreaking story from Cleveland, where police are looking for the driver who killed a 35-year old man riding a bicycle, after striking several other vehicles.
According to Cleveland’s WKYC, the tragic series of event began as police were directing traffic just before the end of the Brown’s football game. After officers observed the driver of a pickup truck squealing his tires, they tried to get him to stop, but he just fled on the wrong side of the road.
He struck one vehicle, then several others as he fled down the road, eventually losing a wheel. Despite that, he continued driving before striking and killing the victim.
He then abandoned the truck, fleeing the scene on foot.
Compounding the tragedy, the victim, William Mays, was riding a bicycle he was given him by the suburban Highland Hills Police Department this past July, after officers learned the bicycle he used to get to and from work had broken down.
They posted a memorial to Mays following his death, calling him a beloved member of the community, “remembered for his kindness, warm smile, and the joy he brought to our department.”
The only good news in this whole mess is that no one else was injured in this traffic violence rampage.
He says that parts of the city are beginning to feel like Amsterdam, thanks to more segregated bike lanes, or what we would call protected bike lanes.
But – and this is a big But – very few people will be able to get from A to B on segregated lanes alone. For virtually every cycle journey, however much you try to avoid busy roads without segregated lanes, it will prove impossible.
However, in my experience, it’s far worse than that, as older cycle lanes may well be all but invisible or in a decidedly poor condition, if not also litter, leaves and debris-strewn. I would go so far as to describe the worst examples as roads apartheid – smooth running for cars while cyclists have to put up with bumpy, rutted surfaces.
I believe where that has occurred, councils have got their priorities all wrong. The condition of cycle lanes should be as good as or better than that of the main carriageway – not the other way round.
Unfortunately, the story is hidden behind a paywall for the paper’s “premium” users. But it’s worth finding a way around it to read the whole thing.
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Note the lovely smoking factory in the background neatly framed by the tire.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
No bias here. A clip resurfaced this week of Texas Republican congressional candidate and “gunfluencer” Brandon Herrera fantasizing about killing bicyclists for the crime of being in front of him on the road — “They want to be treated like vehicles, like cars. But they’re not, they travel at fucking arrestable speed limits of not being a fucking car. And they expect you to respect the fact that they just want to be an asshole on Sunday mornings. I had fucking fantasies of running them all over and, you know, maybe one of these days I will.” Nice guy.
No bias here, either. A writer for London’s The Independent — yes, the same paper sportswriter Trent Crimm worked for on Ted Lasso — says now that the UK’s new prime minister is fining people who play loud music without using headphones, he needs to tackle the problem of people who ride bicycles on the sidewalk. Which sounds reasonable, until you consider that no one rides on the sidewalk if the street next to it is safe.
Congratulations, California. We’re number 2 — in more ways than one — on the list of states with the most bicycling deaths. Although with a population more than 24% larger than Texas, the next largest state, it would be surprising if we didn’t rank near the top.
He gets it. An op-ed from a New York bike advocate says the city needs smarter rules for Central Park, where pedestrians have access to all 51 miles of streets in the park, while bike riders are confined to a single 6.1-mile roadway shared with runners, rollers, walkers and dogs.
I can’t remember the last time a migraine knocked me out like that, or affected me so badly for so long after the pain was finally gone.
I’m told my migraines, and the associated dizziness, stem from a traumatic brain injury suffered in the infamous beachfront bee incident that put me in the ICU for a few days 20 years ago.
The impact knocked me cold for several minutes, erasing any memory of the crash and leading to one of those life-after-death visions you read about, which, real or hallucinated, both shattered and cemented my own personal faith.
The ER doctors at Santa Monica’s St. John’s hospital told me my helmet probably saved my life. But in those pre-MIPS days, it did nothing to prevent the concussions I suffered.
The first migraine I ever had came four years after that, and they’ve continued to grow more frequent and worse in the years since.
I’ve often been a critic, not of bike helmets, but of the overpromises made by so many people who equate bike helmets with seat belts or air bags, as if they would somehow magically protect you from a multi-ton motor vehicle traveling at highway speeds.
They won’t.
Even the best bike helmets are intended to protect you from relatively low speed falls off your bike, not collisions. But as I’ve learned the hard way, that limited protection can still make a huge difference in your health decades after a crash.
Now the Canadian-made Pikio Si Oblik has been rated the safest ever by the testing institute at Virginia Tech. It’s hard to recommend a helmet that costs nearly $400, especially when you can get a decent MIPS model for so much less.
But based on my own experience, it might be worth it.
Meister tells WeHo Online that the council didn’t receive any other options other than the bike lanes when they voted to approve the project — even though the street was subject to nearly a decade of discussion and public meetings — and she prefers a plan that would replace the bike lanes with parking spaces, calling it a “compromise.”
Although the C-words I would use are “capitulation,” and “convenience,” as in a surrender to the whims of motorists who are used to parking on the deadly street.
Never mind that protected bike lanes have been shown to improve safety up to 90% for all road users, while maintaining parking would only serve to keep the corridor deadly by forcing bike riders to use the single remaining lane or ride in the door zone.
Parking proponents will undoubtedly be out in force at the meeting, and will need to be met with an equal and opposite demand to improve safety for everyone. The alternative will be to keep Fountain Ave unrideable and unsafe to walk along and cross, as well as to drive.
If that’s the plan, they might as well save the money to pay for ghost bikes and white tires for all the victims yet to come.
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More evidence that ICE is out of control, after a Long Beach man was intentionally run down by ICE agents as he was riding an ebike and struck with an unmarked vehicle, then tased twice and handcuffed face down in the gutter, suffering a broken arm in the attack.
Ricardo Gonzalez was attacked by agents on Saturday, apparently because of the color of his skin, since they had no other means of determining his immigration status as he was riding his bike. Never mind that Gonzalez was born in Hanford, California, making him a US citizen by birth, despite Trump’s efforts to change that.
Note to ICE agents: Maybe try to determine someone’s citizenship and immigration status before you run them down with an SUV — or better yet, just don’t run them down in the first place.
Here’s what these critics miss: A bike lane makes a road safer even when no one is riding in it. Wide lanes invite speeding and inattention. Narrowing them slows traffic, and the striped buffer puts extra feet between moving cars and people on the sidewalk. Federal data cited by city staff show bike lanes on arterial roads cut car-bicycle crashes roughly in half. If anything, the city should go further and add bollards or other barriers, so a drifting driver hits a barrier before a person. That would also make riders feel safe enough to use the lanes more.
Now consider the money. Many roads in northwest and southwest Bakersfield were built with two lanes each way but enough pavement for three or four, on the theory that traffic would someday need it. At the pace we grow, that day is decades away, if it comes at all, and these roads will need rebuilding long before then. Where were the fiscal watchdogs when we paved all that unnecessary asphalt? Repurposing a few feet of it for the safety of everyone is a bargain by comparison…
And when it comes to bike infrastructure itself, fiscal conservatives have been making the case for years. The Kern County Taxpayers Association, hardly a group of free spenders, has long pushed for a better network of bike and walking paths across the city, including more than 50 miles of trails along abandoned and underused rail lines. When the region’s leading fiscal watchdog says safe places to walk and bike are worth the investment, critics who call it waste should take note.
None of this is a liberal plot to take away anyone’s car. It’s about two things conservatives have always championed: freedom of choice and public safety. People should be free to choose how they get around, whether that’s driving, biking, walking or some mix, to save money on gas, to get some exercise, or to let their kids gain a little independence. But that choice only means something if every option is reasonably safe. Too often, it isn’t. A parent may hesitate to let a 12-year-old ride to school. A retiree may not be able to safely walk to the corner store. Someone who can’t afford a car, or can’t drive one, may be taking their life in their hands just crossing the street. Keeping people safe is among the most basic jobs of local government, and the right to get home alive shouldn’t depend on being encased in a car. Responsible spending, personal choice, public safety and strong families are supposed to be conservative values. Safe streets serve all four.
Maybe someone should show this to Sean Duffy, our current Secretary of Transportation, and tell him enough with the “DEI bike lane” crap.
And I say “current,” because no one seems to have job security in this administration, except for those who seem to least deserve it.
My colleague Lily Janiak, our San Francisco Chronicle theater critic who bikes to shows and everywhere else, coaxed me along like a mother duck, warning me about the risks of tires sticking in streetcar rails, getting “doored”, and even other cyclists. Struggling to remember it all, I felt certain I was going to die.
In the process, I’ve gotten healthier, spent less money and saved time cruising past traffic jams. But the results extend beyond all that (and the smugness that often comeswhen cyclists lecture about health, money and traffic). I’ve become a better journalist and a better community member. I may not live longer — did I mention that I bike in San Francisco? — but I’m definitely doing a better job working for you.
Unfortunately, the story is hidden behind the paper’s draconian paywall. But it’s worth finding your way around it if you can to give it a read.
Years ago, Maximilian Schnell left his job and his life in Paris and began a nomadic lifestyle on his bicycle. The road has given him freedom and adventure. And he has set himself grueling physical and mental challenges.
Perfect Road, a documentary from Danish directors and cousins Adam and Christian Bonke, follows him on an extreme journey through some of Europe’s highest mountain passes, while also providing a meditation on modern life and character study. For one, even in an age of digital nomads, Schnell’s lifestyle pushes the envelope. And then, his relationship with his partner Nina makes him question his life priorities.
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We’ve seen this video before, depicting a Slovakian mountain biker outrunning a bear, possibly without even knowing he was doing it.
In one of the most shameful episodes I’ve seen, a Quebec City family called off a planned ghost bike ceremony for their 11-year old son after receiving “hateful” messages; a member of the group Souliers et vélos fantômes Québec — Ghost Shoes and Bicycles Quebec — called the comments “wildly inappropriate.” Seriously, there’s not a pit deep enough for anyone who’d send something like that to parents whose child had just been killed, under any circumstances.
There’s a special place in hell for anyone who would crash into two six-year old kids as they’re riding their bikes in Half Moon Bay, and just drive off leaving them on the side of the road; 37-year old Robert Schumann faces multiple charges after cops used a drone to track him down as he bravely hid in the woods to avoid capture. Fortunately, the children are hospitalized in stable condition. Once again, however, you’ll have to work your war around yet another unproductive paywall.
National
Aussie pro cyclist Lachlan Morton succeeded in setting a new record for the old Pony Express route last week, beating the relay team that carried Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural address to California by nearly 12 hours, while covering the 1,966-mile route in 6 days, 21 hours and 15 minutes. Although Morton did have the advantage of paved roads, pneumatic tires and something slightly more aero than a horse.
A London writer who wisely chooses to remain anonymous justifies why they’ve ridden though roughly 40,000 red lights and have no plans to stop, although kindly choosing not to ride through red lights and crosswalks when pedestrians are present.
Two German men are retracing the route of China’s Long March by bicycle; the military maneuver by the Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army became a defining chapter in modern Chinese history, leading to the defeat of the forces of Chiang Kai-shek in the Chinese Civil War.
Competitive Cycling
Former cycling scion Taylor Phinney finished eighth in the men’s individual pursuit at the 2026 UCI Track World Championships, while beating his personal best by a massive 11 seconds, nearly seven years after he retired from road racing. Although his wife Katarzyna Niewiadoma-Phinney is still kicking ass on the women’s road circuit.
Then the first news to pop up yesterday was a Long Beach man killed in a right-hook crash by a hit-and-run truck driver, in what oddly wasn’t called a hit-and-run. That was followed by a 13-year old on an ebike killed by a driver fleeing the police in Menifee.
But at least I don’t have to write about that one.
All this just days after LA advocates stormed City Hall on Tuesday with a demand to declare a State of Emergency on Traffic Violence, which I’d much rather be writing about.
And yes, I recognize the irony in being unable to write about a demand that drivers stop killing us because drivers won’t stop killing us.
Sigh.
So let’s start with the tragedy in Long Beach, if only because it happened first.
The Long Beach Post reports that a 68-year old Long Beach man, whose identity has not been made public, was struck by the driver of a semi-truck as he was riding on the sidewalk on PCH near Canal Ave on September 4th.
Yes, two weeks ago, and we’re just now finding out.
The crash occurred shortly after 11 pm as he was riding west on the south sidewalk, which should have been the safest place to ride along SoCal’s killer highway, but wasn’t. Because as he approaching a parking lot driveway, the semi driver pulled out from the parking lot, and turned right directly in front of him.
The victim stopped his bike, but trailer of the semi still struck him, knocking him to the ground — and presumably, under the truck’s rear wheels.
He was taken to a hospital, where he died a day later, according to My News LA, although the medical examiner didn’t bother to inform the Long Beach Police Department until September 10th.
And they still didn’t tell us for another week.
Nearly two full weeks after the collision, they still haven’t found the driver, and there is no description of the truck. Yet for some reason, the cops aren’t calling this a hit-and-run, apparently on the questionable assumption that the driver may not have been aware he hit someone.
My News LA reports the driver was leaving a restaurant parking lot; the only restaurant on the south side of that block is the Golden Star Restaurant at 1560 PCH.
Anyone with information is urged to call LBPD Detective Paredes at 562/570-7358; anonymous tips can be made through Crime Stoppers at 800/222-TIPS (8477).
This is at least the 47th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the 16th we know about in Los Angeles County. At least 13 of those SoCal deaths have been hit-and-runs.
My deepest sympathy and prayers for the victim and all his loved ones.
I’m in a severe time crunch tonight, between waiting for confirmation that the victim of the Vista ebike crash was actually riding an ebike, rather than the more common e-motorbikes, and a morning medical appointment.
But there are a few stories I feel a need to discuss today, starting with this one.
Someone in Sacramento is playing dirty in an effort to keep Forest Lawn Drive deadly.
As you may know, the deadly street — which has seen four fatal crashes in the last 13 years — was scheduled for a lane reduction and improved bike lanes after four years of design work and community meetings to improve safety.
That’s when our loyal mayor stepped in, in response to “urgent” pleas from big money donors Forest Lawn and Mt. Sinai cemeteries, to put the whole damn thing on “hold,” whatever that means. Although I suspect it’s Mayor Bass’ more polite term for “fuck you all, I’m backing the big bucks.”
Now someone in Sacramento has inserted language in a last-minute bill that would put a stop to the project. “Someone” being the key word, because if it turns out to be my legislator, who represents the area, I’ll do whatever I can to make damn sure he’s not my legislator anymore.
Friday night, two hours before the deadline to amend bills, lawmakers introduced SB 194—language threatening the long-planned safety project after opposition from cemeteries along the route.
Yes, they’re really trying to put this into state law. And they could send it to the Governor by Monday.
This is what it looks like when politics and powerful interests are put ahead of human lives.
We have 48 hours to kill this disastrous precedent and misguided, last minute back room deal. Read our full statement here.
Forest Lawn Drive should be a road that passes a cemetery—not one that sends people to it.
Damn straight.
I’m sick to death of people who supports reducing traffic deaths, as long as it’s somewhere else.
The proposal, which would amend a larger bill if approved, targets projects that would reduce lanes on roads that provide access to “two or more adjacent cemeteries” in cities with populations over 2 million. Los Angeles is the only city in California large enough to meet that requirement…
The city’s analysis of how traffic could be impacted show that the lane reduction would result in a driving delay of about 15 seconds during weekday evening rush hour and by a little more than a minute and a half during weekend peak hours, when traffic is heavier.
If approved, State Senate and Assembly bills 194 would require approval by City Council and the mayor, and mandate that the city hold a public hearing, before reducing “the number of vehicle travel lanes on a street that provides the only access to two or more adjacent cemeteries.”
As noted above, Los Angeles is the only city in the state that fits the bill — literally. And Forest Lawn is the only street I know of, other than Overland Drive, which also faces opposition to planned safety improvements, that meets the two cemetery requirement.
The proposed last-minute bill comes at the very end of the legislative session, leaving no time for debate, and must be approved by midnight tonight.
But as they say, you gotta follow the money. And there’s a lot of money.
Again, according to LAist,
Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks and Mortuaries, which operates a chain of cemeteries including the Hollywood Hills location, has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars lobbying against the project at the state and local levels, according to an LAist review of lobbying activity. Mount Sinai has also advocated against the project…
Records held by the California Secretary of State show that Forest Lawn Memorial Parks and Mortuaries paid a lobbying firm $125,000 between April and June to advocate the governor’s office and state legislature regarding “transportation issues.” No additional details are available.
Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur, who represents the project area, confirmed to LAist that he heard from Governmental Advocates, Inc., the lobbying firm retained by the cemetery. Zbur said the firm and other stakeholders reached out to his office about “the harmful impact of the proposed projects on access to the cemeteries and the surrounding area.”
According to city records, lobbyist Rick Taylor and Associates received $360,000 from a law firm working on behalf of the cemetery between 2025 and 2026. ReportsfiledwiththeL.A. City Ethics Commission about the lobbying activity list opposition to the Forest Lawn Drive transportation project as the subject.
If you’ve got a minute, which is literally about all it would take, email the ad hoc committee in charge of the bill.
Streets For All has already written the email for you. All you have to do is send it.
If you’ve got a couple more minutes, email your state legislator and/or call their office. Although I’m not going to waste time with my Assembly Member, since I already know whose pocket he’s in.
The bill would expand the program’s focus on connections between walking, biking, and public transit. It also would encourage larger, connected projects by coordinating ATP projects with State Transportation Improvement Program funding.
The legislation would impose progressively stronger penalties on agencies that repeatedly fail to spend awarded ATP funds in a timely manner.
The driver somehow jumped the curb, slamming into five people before crashing into a tree.
It’s not clear if the pickup was in the parade, or drove through it, but police don’t believe the victims were targeted.
A photo in the New York Post shows the pickup on the sidewalk, with several bikes parked nearby. The paper reports the driver appears to have backed out of a parking space, hit another vehicle, then driven forward onto the sidewalk.
Sounds like some damn good driving.
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After Saturday’s stage eight, the Vuelta is a race again.
That’s because Vuelta a España race leader Tadej Pogačar crashed out with 20 miles to go in the stage, sitting on the side of the road for several minutes attended by medical staff, before taking off his helmet and getting into an ambulance.
In an overhead video shot by the television helicopter, Pogačar suddenly swerved to the right, colliding with either a Visma-Lease a Bike or Uno-X Mobility rider before hitting the ground hard.
The crash and abandon is the first ever for Pogačar in a Grand Tour and his first DNF in any race since Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2023.
Finally, I’ve designed another bike-related T-shirt, although this one has a more spiritual bent.
As you may know, I never rode my bike without carrying a Madonna del Ghisallo medal. Now I’ve attempted to capture that same sense in a T-shirt dedicated to the patron saint of bicyclists. Because whether or not you’re a believer, a little divine protection couldn’t hurt.
You’ll find it in front and back, as well as cotton and quick versions, along with other bike designs, at my new easier-to-remember web address, bikinginla.store.
And as usual, they brought out the standard list of objections, claiming we’re taking space away from cars, and that protected bike lanes — which have repeatedly been proven to improve traffic safety for all road users — would somehow make the street more dangerous.
Never mind that it’s already dangerous, with speeding drivers zooming past a couple schools, two cemeteries and a library.
Naturally, they complain, like locals everywhere who haven’t been paying attention, that the city hasn’t done enough outreach. Because apparently, more than two years of outreach just isn’t enough.
One man even claimed that he drove both directions on Overland and didn’t see a single bike rider at the exact time and locations he happened to be passing by. And bringing to mind the old saying that just because you don’t see anyone swimming across the river, that doesn’t mean you don’t need a bridge.
Honestly, it would be funny if it wasn’t just so damn sad. Because you can hear exactly the same comments at any public meeting for any traffic safety project, in every neighborhood of every city.
And I have.
Wash, rinse and repeat.
I used to think the loudest voices, voicing the most complaints, represented the majority of people. Until Measure HLA passed by an overwhelming two-thirds majority. Which told anyone paying attention that most people — or at least, most people who bother to vote — want safer, more livable streets.
Unfortunately, that message seems to have somehow bypassed LA’s mayor and city council.
Let’s hope Culver City’s leaders get the message, anyway.
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It’s going to be a very busy weekend.
Because not one, not two, but three open streets events will take place on the same day this Sunday.
The list starts with the very popular Meet the Hollywoods CicLAvia connecting Hollywood with West Hollywood along Hollywood Blvd, Highland Ave and Santa Monica Blvd, from 9 am to 4 pm.
Then there’s Beach Streets in Downtown Long Beach, offering four hubs along Cherry, Broadway and Pine from 11 am to 4 pm, with the added bonus of the World Cup finale on a 16-foot LED TV, featuring Spain and a team to be determined at the North Pine hub.
Finally, there’s the COAST 2026 open streets festival in Santa Monica from 10 am to 6 pm, extending more than a mile in downtown on Ocean, Colorado, and Arizona aves, Third Street Promenade, and the Santa Monica Pier; they will also have a World Cup watch party, along with music and entertainment on four stages.
Which means if you plan it right, you could theoretically ride CicLAvia from WeHo to Hollywood in the morning, catch a train to Long Beach to watch the World Cup, then hurry your ass up to Santa Monica before they roll up the streets at 6.
I said it’s possible, not plausible.
Unfortunately, I’m going to miss all three, as well as the World Cup finale, because I have been told that celebrating my wife’s birthday with my in-laws trumps any and all other plans.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
As if it wasn’t bad enough competing for space on the streets, San Jose bicyclists had to cope with three people illegally riding their motorcycles on a local bike path; one person who was arrested, and had his motorcycle impounded, had covered his license plate in an attempt to avoid getting caught.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Three people were hospitalized when someone on an ebike allegedly crashed into the side of an SUV in Fullerton late Monday night, although there’s no word on how badly anyone was injured, only that the ebike rider and two people in the SUV suffered “injuries of varying severity.” There’s also no word on what type of ebike it was, since the cops seem to lump anything with a battery together as ebikes, whether legal or otherwise.
A 71-year old man will face multiple charges, including murder, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and hit-and-run causing death, for killing two 17-year old girls riding their bicycles in West Sacramento last year; the defense claims he wasn’t really drunk, just bipolar.
National
A slide show curated by AI highlights 13 US cities that excel at carfree living. Because really, who knows more about living carfree than some lifeless, legless artificial intelligence program?
No bias here. A Bend, Oregon paper examines whether the city should ban right turns on red lights, making an effective case for the increased risk they pose — then concludes that the city’s current policy of making a case-by-case determination works just fine, thank you.
Atlanta residents are calling for changes to a protected bike lane, after discovering the city’s drivers apparently lack the necessary skill to avoid crashing into the barrier protecting the bike lane. Although it’s better to crash into the barrier than the people riding on the other side.
Momentum says US cities should pay attention to Paris, which grew bicycling rates by 240% in just five years. To which every American city responded, “But we’re not Paris!”
China Daily says Chinese bicyclists are making a beeline to Shenzhen in Guangdong province for new bicycling facilities, including a 125-mile bike trail connecting “more than 10 of the city’s major peaks, 17 nature parks, eight large reservoirs, over a dozen historical and cultural sites and nine key urban development areas,” as well as a coastal bikeway linking parks, fishing harbors, docks and ancient villages.
Competitive Cycling
Four-time Tour de France champ Tadej Pogačar feasted on the tears of his enemies with another crushing victory in yesterday’s hilly 10th stage, for his third stage win in this year’s Tour, and a lead of more than three-and-a-half minutes after just a week and a half of racing.
Fans have taken to booing Pogačar, apparently because of his dominance in the race, although maybe it was just because he shamed the French riders on Bastille Day.
July 6, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Update: Man killed riding bicycle in Long Beach hit-and-run early Monday, 3rd Long Beach bicycling death this year
Police investigators concluded the victim, who has not been identified, was riding west on Cowles Street when he was apparently hit head-on by a driver turning east on Cowles from southbound Sante Fe.
He died at the scene, despite the effort of paramedics.
The driver fled in an unknown direction. There’s no description of the driver or the suspect vehicle at this time.
It’s not clear from the description whether the victim was riding on the wrong side of the roadway, or if the driver turned onto the wrong side. West Cowles is a relatively narrow, two lane street, so either one is possible.
Anyone with information is urged to call the Collision Investigation Detail of the Long Beach Police Department at 562/570-7355. Anonymous tips can be submitted through “LA Crime Stoppers” by calling 1-800/222-TIPS (8477), or visiting the LA Crime Stoppers Website.
This is the 36th bicycling fatality that I’m aware of in Southern California this year, and the 11th we know about in Los Angeles County.
Which means that drivers have fled the scene in just under one third of those SoCal bicycling deaths, and just under a third have been in LA County.
June 12, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Long Beach speed limits aren’t going up after all, and trying to stuff the e-motorbike genie back into the bottle — e-hooligans and all
Before we get started, after a couple of decades, I’ve finally gotten around to designing some t-shirts for this site.
The site is still rough, while I figure out how to do stuff on there. And I only have a few designs up at the moment.
But if you want to check it out, I’d appreciate any feedback on the shirts. And if you see anything you like, I’m offering a 20% discount until it officially launches at the end of this month.
So let me know what you think. Or better yet, send me a selfie wearing one.
The project, which also includes “15 new or relocated bus stops, 10 upgraded crosswalks with flashing beacons and five fully protected intersections,” is expected to be competed in two years.
The city is also raising the speed limits on 24 arterial streets to dangerously high levels, thanks to the state’s deadly 85th Percentile Law.
A representative of the City of Long Beach reached out on Wednesday to say the LB Post had misinterpreted the story, and the city wasn’t raising speed limits on the 24 arterial streets, but merely keeping them the same.
While the teen miscreants are still unidentified — which is surprising, given the clear look we get at one of their tender young faces — the media is responding in predictable fashion, blaming the problem on ebikes.
Tragic news from my bike-friendly Colorado hometown, where a man riding an ebike was killed by a driver in a T-bone collision, just days after his father died of Stage IV kidney disease. Note to 9News — when someone is killed by a driver, it’s a collision, not an ebike crash. And it really doesn’t matter what kind of bike he was on.
“Nearly” every one of the candidates running to replace Rep. Jerry Nadler in Manhattan’s 12th Congressional District supports a two-way bike lane bisecting the island on 72nd Street. I say find the one woman who doesn’t, and let her try to bike across the city without it.
A 51-year old government librarian has spent every day for the last week and a half riding his bicycle to the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC to take a selfie showing Trump still hasn’t taken his name off it, despite today’s deadline to remove it.
Not only did those three men from Argentina make it to Kansas City on time to see their country’s team play in the World Cup after an 11,000-mile bike ride, they even got free tickets to the team’s first game.
He gets it. A British Columbia man says all bikes are good bikes, and if “you are out pedaling and smiling, then it doesn’t matter what you ride.” Which is kinda like all dogs are good dogs, but with wheels.
Seriously? If you have a Canadian-made Carbo folding ebike, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission is urging you to stop riding it and dispose of it immediately because…they were shipped without rear reflectors, and some models don’t have chain guards. Apparently, it’s impossible to add those things yourself.
Zwift, Canyon Bicycles and Pedal Mafia launched a new North American U19 development team, with a goal of putting an American atop the podium at the Tour de France or Tour de France Femmes within a decade.
Finally…
After the Tour, there’s really nothing left but riding across the Mediterranean. If you’re a thrice convicted felon riding a bicycle while carrying illegal drugs and stolen credit cards, put a damn rear light on it, already — and don’t threaten a cop with your slingshot.
June 9, 2026 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Long Beach moves forward with Orange Ave Bikeway, protected bike lanes boost ridership, and moving an apartment by bike
Just a quick note before we get started.
From time to time, someone will reach out to me about a bicycling crash, sometimes asking for advice, sometimes just to share what happened.
If I think they should talk to a lawyer, I’ll usually recommend those guys over there on the right side of this page.
Just to be clear, I don’t get any kind of referral fee for that. I recommend them simply because I know and trust each one, and know they all ride bikes themselves, as well as understanding the intricacies of bike law and bicycle crashes.
And I would trust any one of them with my own case if I needed one.
I know there are a lot of other good lawyers out there — as well as the other kind — but I don’t recommend them simply because I don’t know them or their qualifications.
But I would offer one piece of advice.
Okay, two.
One, make sure the person whose name is on the door will be involved in your case. Trust me, it makes a difference.
Second, make sure they understand bike law, how your particular crash happened and why you have a case.
If you’re not comfortable after talking with them, don’t sign anything. Just walk out or hang up the phone, and talk to someone else. It’s your case, and your future, that’s on the line.
………
Oops.
Yesterday I linked to a story about an ebike crackdown in Long Beach. I removed the item after Andrew pointed out that the story was about Long Beach, New York, not the one here. So thanks to him for the correction.
It’s not the first time that has happened, either.
I strongly suggest that one city or the other change its name ASAP to end the confusion.
The project, which also includes “15 new or relocated bus stops, 10 upgraded crosswalks with flashing beacons and five fully protected intersections,” is expected to be competed in two years.
On the other hand, the city is also raising the speed limits on 24 arterial streets to dangerously high levels, thanks to the state’s deadly 85th Percentile Law. Correction: The city informs me that this is incorrect. Those 24 arterials aren’t seeing an increase, but are just remaining at the same speed limit they’re at currently.
………
If you build it, they will come.
A new study from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering examining 72 million New York bikeshare trips found that “protected bike lanes increased ridership after accounting for confounding factors, while painted lanes and sharrows showed no detectable causal effect.”
In other words, more people chose the safety of protected bike lanes, while rejecting paint and sharrows.
Then again, as we’ve said before, the arrows on sharrows are only there to help drivers improve their aim, while painted bike lanes may give us our own space on the roads, but offer no protection from errant drivers.
Then again, those little plastic bendy posts that too often pass for protection in Los Angeles won’t keep anyone out, either.
Crews also will restore historic balustrades, pylons, towers and light poles, with a goal of keeping the bridge’s look consistent while bringing it up to modern safety standards…
A consultant, Psomas, said the redesign will realign ramps and the LA River bike path, while building new bicycle and pedestrian facilities and upgrading drainage systems to protect river water quality. Those changes are designed to improve the connection between Atwater Village, Silver Lake and Los Feliz and the expanding LA River greenway, according to hoodline.com.
The project also aims to improve safety complaints from cyclists who squeeze into narrow shoulders on the bridge.
Although it’s a little disquieting that they chose to rely on Hoodline, rather than a more authoritative source like the City of LA, or even The Eastsider.
The California Air Resources Board appears to be doing Trump’s work for him, approving sweeping changes to the state’s cap-and-trade program that slashes funding for the state’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, just as the president is stepping on the gas to keep dirty fuels in demand. That comes after CARB killed the state’s ebike incentive program, because cars needed the money more than we do.
Good news from Ohio, where the man accused of punching out one man riding a bicycle, then purposefully driving into another before engaging in a lengthy standoff with police, will be held without bail pending trial.
Members of the Vermont/New Hampshire Upper Valley Cycling Club penned a powerful piece about “the unnamed person in North Haverhill,” a bike rider whose death at the hands of a motorist went unmentioned in the local press, as if it wasn’t even a person who died. Which is why I try to cover every bicycling death, because every person who loses their life deserves to be remembered. And every death is a reminder that one is one too many.
New York Streetsblog says a horrific crash on a street where a bike lane was removed at the insistence of local leaders “underscores anew how dangerous the roadway has become.”Too often we forget that bike lanes aren’t just for people on bicycles, but also serve as vital traffic calming measures that improve safety for everyone.
International
A Dutch town is putting up 20 kmph speed limit signs — 12.4 mph — on a local bike path, but won’t enforce it. So instead of a speed limit, it’s just a suggestion. Like pretty much all the speed limits here in California.
Huh? A Kuwait appeals court acquitted a Kuwaiti man who killed an “Asian” man riding a bicycle, because the victim had not followed “required safety and security procedures,” negating the negligence required for criminal liability. So, the driver was negligent, but not responsible. Got it.
