Day 310 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025.
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We won.
More or less, anyway.
Less than a week after we joined with other organizations in an urgent call for support — although this is only an organization if you count the corgi — the Malibu Planning Commission voted 4 – 1 to approve desperately needed safety improvements on PCH.
Although there were changes that watered down the project to get commissioners on board.
According to public media site LAist,
- Caltrans decreased the number of new streetlights from 42 to 27.
- City planning staff will inspect and ensure the lights are compliant with the city’s Dark Sky Ordinance.
- Caltrans reduced the total length of new or upgraded bike lanes from 15 to 10 miles.
- Caltrans must engage with first responders and Pepperdine University about a sidewalk it plans to build between John Tyler Road and Malibu Canyon Road to clear any concerns over emergency access to campus.
Notice that the bike lanes have been cut by a third. So apparently, the goal is now to only cull a few people on Malibu’s share of SoCal’s killer highway, instead of actually eliminating traffic deaths, or anything.
Approval of the project was needed this month, or Caltrans would have shifted funding for the $73 million project somewhere else, likely never to return.
Although LAist makes clear that some aggrieved person could still try to throw a wrench in the works. And there’s no shortage of aggrieved people in the ‘Bu.
Appeals timeline starts: According to the city, an “aggrieved person” has 10 days after approval to file an appeal of a Coastal Development Permit, like the one the commission extended to the Caltrans project. If the project is appealed, the matter will go before Malibu’s City Council.
Meanwhile, the Malibu City Council unanimously approved an additional $1.6 million for “enhanced safety measures” along PCH, including innovative speed detection technology and infrastructure for speed cams.
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We may have to deal with feral SoCal drivers, but at least we don’t have to worry about aggressive mountain lions.
Usually.
Two Orange County mountain bikers ran into one on Sunday, which followed them down the trail as they tried to back away.
They were riding on a trail in Whiting Ranch in Lake Forest on Sunday afternoon when they recorded the big cat walking slowly down after them. Which is not a good sign, since they usually try to avoid people.
Adding to the concern, this is the same area where 35-year old Mark Reynolds was killed by a cougar back in 2004, apparently as he was fixing his bike.
The mountain bikers tried using their bikes to shield them from the big cat and yelling to frighten it off.
You can see from the video how well that worked.
Growing up in Colorado, where cougar encounters are far more common, we were taught to make yourself look as big as possible while maintaining eye contract and yelling while you slowly move away. Holding your bike or backpack up to make yourself appear larger could help.
But whatever you do, don’t run. Because that can trigger an attack response.
Experts say the young cat was probably just curious, rather than hungry. But just be careful and keep your eyes open if you’re riding in the area.
Or better yet, maybe ride somewhere else for the next few weeks.
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It looks like Calbike is finally starting to fight back over the ill-conceived cancellation of the California Ebike Incentive Program, calling on followers to write their representatives.
Although the better time to send out this email would have been when their executive director first found out about it in mid-October, rather than weeks later.
The state’s response to a wildly popular e-bike program? Cancel it and put the money towards cars.
CARB just pulled the plug on the E-Bike Incentive Project, folding what’s left of the funding into Clean Cars 4 All, a car trade-in program. Instead of helping people replace car trips, the state is rewarding people who already own one. It’s a telling political moment that mistakes “cleaner cars” for real progress.
This isn’t what climate leadership looks like. Over one hundred thousand Californians lined up for a modest voucher that would help them drive less, save money, and move freely. Ending that opportunity now ignores that clear demand and walks back hard-won progress.
Send a message now
Our state leaders can’t afford to shrug this off. It’s time to create a permanent fund for e-bikes — a real mobility solution, not another subsidy for car dependence. Contact your reps now.
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Streets For All is calling on Metro to spend just a tiny fraction of the $600 million it spends building freeways to fully fund CicLAvia.
Tell Metro to fully fund CicLAvia
Metro’s Planning and Programming Committee is currently reviewing Open Streets applications for Cycles 6 & 7 (2026 – 2028), but their own guidelines“include funding only for open and slow streets aligned with the major events 2026 and 2028,” leaving little or no support for local community Open Streets events in between.
CicLAvia is Los Angeles County’s largest recurring Open Streets program, drawing an average of 50,000 participants per event. These events transform city streets into safe, car-free spaces that promote public health, community connection, and environmental benefits:
- Nearly 50% of first-time attendees said they would have otherwise stayed home or been sedentary.
- A Preventive Medicine study found CicLAvia delivers measurable public-health benefits.
- Harmful air pollution (PM 2.5) drops by almost 50% along the route on event days, and by 12% in surrounding neighborhoods.
Yet while event costs continue to rise, Metro’s Open Streets funding has not kept pace. Concentrating funds only around major international events undermines proven, community-based programs that already advance Metro’s mission of improving mobility, public health, and sustainability. Metro invests more than $600 million annually in freeway projects. We urge the agency to fully fund monthly CicLAvias, modest investments with outsized returns for public health, clean air, and community well-being.
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Funny how bike lanes are always the problem when it’s the cars that are getting bigger.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:tr4cft75d5yyfurquqoctgug/post/3m4tlsntvj22n
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Bike lane haters keep losing at the ballot box in Massachusetts, despite misleading comments that bike lanes cause traffic congestion. Hint: It’s actually too many cars.
But sometimes, it’s people on two wheels behaving badly.
Apparently, a mass World Naked Bike Ride is okay, but riding naked by yourself along a New Zealand waterfront isn’t. Although most of the story is hidden behind a damn paywall, unfortunately.
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Local
No news is good news, right?
State
Orange County cities are playing catch-up to the massive boom in ebike popularity. Although once again, most of the problems come from people on often-illegal electric motorbikes, rather than ped-assist bicycles.
With a form of Doublespeak that would make Orwell proud, Encinitas is considering removing safety features on Santa Fe Drive to improve safety.
Sad news from Bakersfield, where a 32-year old man was killed by a driver while riding his bike
Healdsburg’s BiblioBike mobile bicycle library was honored by a national group for Excellence in Book Bike Outreach Programming.
National
A 69-year old Las Vegas man faces charges after he told police he killed a 77-year old man riding a bicycle after using marijuana and drinking an “unknown quantity of beers” before the crash; officers described him as “belligerently impaired” after the crash, and before he was taken away in an ambulance.
Voters in my bike-friendly Colorado hometown lived up to their reputation, approving plans to replace the former college football stadium with a shiny new bike park. And yes, that was the same stadium where I used to smuggle bourbon and rum inside my Sousaphone for the marching band.
Bike lanes on a busy Jacksonville, Florida street have gotten a new coat of green paint, although at least some bicyclists say it’s not enough to keep cars out and improve safety.
International
Momentum says London, New York and Paris rank at the top of the newest list of the world’s best cities — in that order — and what they have is common is they all put people first.
They get it. An English town is planning to spend the equivalent of $654,000 to upgrade the city’s main separated bike lane to keep delivery drivers from bypassing the widely spaced car-tickler plastic posts to park in it.
In the US, people have protested competitions that allow trans women to compete, but in the UK, several women turned down nominations to Cycling UK’s annual 100 Women in Cycling award because it excluded trans women and non-binary people from consideration.
You can add bikepacking along the Rhine River from the Swiss Alps to the North Sea to your bike bucket list, taking you from “Swiss mountain air to German castles, French Alsace flavors and Dutch windmills.”
Hundreds of people are expected to turn out next month with their bicycles festooned in twinkling lights and creative decorations for The Hague’s fifth annual Haagse Fietslichtjesparade.
Competitive Cycling
Good news for LA cycling fans, because multi-time former national champ Justin Williams is getting the band back together, reforming the L39ION of Los Angeles Continental-level cycling team with his brother Cory; the team dominated elite US racing until it was disbanded a few years ago.
Belgian pro Wout van Aert says it feels “pretty weird” to have a fanbase in the US, as he visits Laguna Beach. As if American cycling fans somehow don’t appreciate greatness.
Finally…
The manifold joys of drinking out of a garden hose on an ultra-endurance ride.
And a bet’s a bet.
Although it would have been nice to see Karen Bass on that bikeshare bike. Even if, as Steven put it in an email to me, Bass “would have had a prepared, pothole free, debris free, inconvenience free, (What? Stop at red lights????) route with a large security entourage.”
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Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
