Tag Archive for Measure HLA

This town ain’t big enough for anti-bike lane columnists, welcome to Bike Month, and the annual Pasadena Ride of Silence

May 1, 2025 / / No comments
Day 121 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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No bias here.

A columnist for the Los Angeles News Group says the situation on LA streets is best described as a Western, spaghetti or otherwise.

It wouldn’t be about cowboys versus Indians. It wouldn’t be about ranchers versus homesteaders. It wouldn’t be about gold miners versus general store operators.

It would be about drivers versus bicyclists.

“Mister, this road ain’t big enough for both of us” could replace “Eureka” as the official motto of California.

According to writer Susan Shelly, it would pit all those good townsfolk who drive cars, delivery vans, ambulances “and other motor vehicles relied upon for timely transportation,” against a group that “apparently is not in a hurry to get anywhere.”

And the group that is not in a hurry — aka the people on bicycles, joined by transit users — have somehow made it their mission to slow down traffic, something the people who have “to be somewhere quickly” don’t appreciate.

So guess who the bad guys are in this scenario?

Never mind that slowing down traffic improves safety and saves lives for everyone. And it’s not the people on two wheels who are out there killing people like a drunken gunslinger shooting up the town saloon.

She goes on to examine the Measure HLA lawsuit filed by Streetsblog editor Joe Linton over the lack of bike lanes in Metro’s semi-Complete Streets makeover of the Vermont Ave corridor, while misrepresenting the debate over the adoption of the city’s mobility plan in 2015.

There was resistance from some council members to adopting a plan that aimed to slow city traffic on major arteries. But advocates said it was simply “a vision statement” and “an aspirational document.” Bonin said it would “help us get active transportation funds from the state.” Council President Herb Wesson reassuringly told reluctant colleagues, “This is a concept. If you choose to vote on this today, it will not be put in place tomorrow.”

It was actually an LADOT official blindsiding advocates when she described the 2010 Bike Plan — which was subsumed into the mobility plan — as merely “aspirational,” just days after a successful fight to get it approved by the city council, who passed it with unanimous support.

And Wesson’s comment was a reference to the plan’s 20-year timeline, which meant that it would not have to be put in place right away. But that never meant it wouldn’t be put in place at all.

Shelley ends with a return to the lawsuit over the city’s failure to enforce the requirements of Measure HLA on Vermont, after describing the measure as something put on the ballot by “fuming-mad bicyclists.”

And never mentioning that it passed with overwhelming support from a broad spectrum of voters.

The city disputes that it is obligated to make these changes, but meanwhile, Metro, a countywide agency, is removing a traffic lane on Vermont Avenue to build a dedicated bus lane, enraging the bike-lane people and causing the movie to have an exciting but complicated subplot.

In the final scene, everyone realizes there’s no money for any of it, and the drivers win.

It’s not the bus lanes “enraging the bike-lane people,” as Shelley says. The “bike-lane people” I know are all in favor of a dedicated bus lane.

Instead, it’s the fact that Metro isn’t also building the bike lane that’s called for in the mobility plan, and so required by law under the terms of HLA.

It’s also not true that the money isn’t there.

In fact, the Vermont Ave project is budgeted at a whopping $425 million. And it will cost a lot less to install bike lanes now while the whole street is under construction, rather that going back and installing them after this project is finished.

But why let a couple inconvenient facts like that ruin a good metaphorical screed?

Never mind that the drivers are already winning.

But then, the cowboys in the black hats usually do win until just before the hero saves the town and rides off into the sunset, to beat her metaphor like the dead horse it is.

Photo by Ahmet Çığşar from Pexels. Think of it as a metaphorical columnist suffering from windshield bias driving ever more car traffic.

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Welcome to National Bike Month.

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Bike Month also means it’s time for the annual Pasadena Ride of Silence at the Rose Bowl on May 21st to honor fallen bicyclists.

PASADENA, CA, April 28, 2025 – The cycling community of Pasadena invites the public to join in for the annual Ride of Silence on Wednesday, May 21st, at 6 p.m. This solemn event, now in its 23rd year, honors cyclists who have been injured or killed on public roadways and raises awareness about sharing the road safely.

  The Pasadena Ride of Silence will begin at the Rose Bowl in the north end of Lot I, with registration and check-ins beginning at 6:15 p.m., announcements at 6:30 p.m., and white doves from White Dove Release will be sent off individually to honor the cyclists lost during the last year at 6:50 p.m. At 7 p.m., a police escort will lead cyclists en masse on a slow and silent 7-mile route to Pasadena City Hall, where attendees will observe a moment of silence to honor friends and family lost to traffic violence. The ride will finish at the Rose Bowl with free tacos for all registered participants. 

 The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported that 1,105 cyclists were killed by drivers of motor vehicles in 2022, the highest number ever recorded since the federal government started collecting data in 1975. Experts believe the increase in fatalities is due to several factors: inadequate street designs to include safe lanes for cycling, larger vehicles such as pickups and SUVs, which are deadlier in size and shape, higher horsepower in vehicles, and distracted driving. 

The NHTSA has finalized a new Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard to make automatic emergency braking (AEB), including pedestrian AEB, standard on all passenger cars and light trucks by September 2029. Making this safety feature standard (previously, it was bundled with expensive tech packages) is part of the Department’s National Roadway Safety Strategy to address the crisis of deaths on the roads and hopes to make U.S. roads dramatically safer for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists alike.

“We ride in silence to honor those we’ve lost, to raise awareness for the safety of all cyclists, and to remind the world that we belong on the road too,” said Thomas Cassidy, Pasadena Ride of Silence organizer. 

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Yep.

That pretty well sums it up.

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

A town in Illinois voted to make things more dangerous by requiring anyone on any type of bicycle to ride single file, reducing visibility of bike riders and encouraging unsafe passing, in a misguided effort to reign in teens on ebikes.

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Local 

NPR picks up the story of DTLA’s bike-riding, chainsaw-wielding tree assassin, and the effect his crimes had on the local community.

 

State

Calbike says bills creating a quick-build bike lane program and creating a bike highways are likely to end up in the Appropriations Committee’s Suspense File, which could lead to an eventual floor vote, or could just provide a way for opponents to quietly kill them.

Streetsblog argues that the California Ebike Incentive Program needed a win after endless delays and the total disaster of the first round of vouchers, and instead ended up with more egg on their face when the website crashed during yesterday’s second round of voucher applications, leading them to cancel the application window.

A new report analyzing state-by-state bike theft data shows California has the nation’s highest rate of stolen bicycles, almost double that of number two Texas.

Irvine is hosting the Orange County city’s second annual CicloIrvine open streets event this Saturday.

New stats have reignited the debate over the curb protected bike lanes on Coast Highway 101 through Cardiff, as a member of the Encinitas Mobility and Traffic Safety Commission reports the 42 crashes since 2020 represent a 400% increase compared to the 14 years prior; however, the chair of BikeWalk Encinitas says there’s no way to know how many lives may have been saved by the barriers.

Life is cheap in San Diego County, where a woman who killed a 71-year old man riding a bicycle while she was fleeing from the Border Patrol with a car full of undocumented immigrants, and driving at twice the speed limit on the wrong side of the road, was sentenced to just three years and five months behind bars — even though she had faced up to 20 years behind bars.

A new volunteer Bakersfield bike patrol trained by the National Ski Patrol will provide security and help to people in need on the Kern River Bike Path.

A Sacramento letter writer says yes, cops should ticket all those dangerous scofflaw bike riders. Never mind that people in cars, trucks and SUVs pose a much greater risk to everyone.

 

National

A new study published in the journal PLOS One demonstrated that both seniors riding ebikes and regular bikes showed improved cognitive function compared to a non-bicycling control group, while the ebike group had more confidence in completing the assigned rides.

Seattle bike riders protested a dangerous bikeway design where a protected bike lane ends suddenly and dumps riders into dangerous traffic, prompting the city to install temporary barriers to protect riders.

This is the cost of traffic violence. Residents of Pleasant Grove, Utah are remembering a nine-year old boy was killed by a hit-and-run driver as he was just trying to cross the street on his bicycle; police later took a man in his 80s in for questioning.

Women behind bars in Idaho are being trained to repair bicycles to donate to people on the outside, and will get a bicycle upon their release.

Sad news from my ostensibly bike-friendly Colorado hometown, where a longtime local bike advocate and the leader of a weekly no-drop ride was killed when he was struck head-on by a motorcyclist who made an ill-advised pass of another motorbike rider close to a curve.

Indianapolis just opened a new bridge with two-thirds of the surface devoted to bicyclists and pedestrians, and just one lane in each direction for cars.

Maine’s Acadia National Park offers 45 miles of forested scenic gravel roads that are closed to cars.

A Boston TV station examines the city’s “simmering debate” over bike lanes, after the mayor ripped out protective barriers on a number of bike lanes because angry drivers found them inconvenient.

 

International

No surprise here. A new study shows that pedestrians and bicyclists are far more likely to be killed by today’s massive, flat-grilled pickups and SUVs, with a 44% higher fatality risk overall, and 82% higher for children.

Road.cc examines the pros and cons of hiding an AirTag or other electronic trackers on your bike to help find it if it gets stolen.

A slideshow features bizarre bicycle designs the writers didn’t think were possible. Thanks to an anonymous source for the link.

Canada’s Banff National Park is extending a spring and fall ban on cars on a section of the Bow Valley Parkway through the park, after a successful three-year pilot program.

A writer for The Guardian says it’s no wonder BBC broadcaster Jeremy Vine has stopped posting bike cam videos, because the rage directed towards bike riders is off the scale — and comments from politicians deliberately stirring up anger to troll for votes don’t help.

A Scottish website recommends eight of the best bike paths in Glasgow, for your next trip to the land of Bobby Burns.

A Greek travel website recommends riding your bike around the Aegean island of Spetses.

Great idea. Our German correspondent Ralph Durham reports seeing traffic lights with the poles illuminated by LED lights on a visit to Izmir, Turkiye, turning the poles red, yellow and green to match the traffic signal.

Here’s another one for your bike bucket list, as Momentum offers everything you need to know about Japan’s Shimanami Kaidō bike route, calling it a paradise for bicyclists.

 

Competitive Cycling

America’s only remaining Tour de France winner confirmed that he’s running for president of UCI, the umbrella organization in charge of bike racing around the world.

Cyclist recounts the complete history of the Pinarello Dogma, calling it the most dominant race bike in modern cycling history.

 

Finally…

Evidently, a sidewalk-level bike lane without noticeable markings is just a sidewalk. Beating your 75-year old neighbor because of where he put his garbage is not an approved use of an ebike wheel.

And now even shopping cart drivers are out to get us.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Another failure as CA ebike voucher website crashes, don’t DOGE LA protest tonight, and bringing HLA to LAC

April 30, 2025 / / No comments
Day 120 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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You’ve got to be kidding.

The California E-Bike Incentive Program had more than four months to work out all the bugs after their disastrous, deliberately throttled first round.

And they screwed the pooch again.

There’s just no good way to put it. Yesterday’s second round of voucher applications was yet another demonstration of the sheer incompetence of the people running this program.

I signed onto the program’s application window on at exactly 5 pm yesterday. Or rather, I tried to. And apparently, so did everyone else.

What I got when I clicked on the “Apply” button was…nothing. So I tried again. And again. And I kept trying, and kept getting the same result — the very definition of insanity,

Until I finally got this.

Judging by the responses when I posted about it on Twitter/X and Bluesky, so did nearly everyone else. A few, very few, people managed to get in.

Eventually, so did I, entering the portal for the voucher lottery with exactly five minutes left in the application window.

Then two minutes later, I was kicked out. And so was everyone else.

The program administrators knew the volume they could and should expect, after more than 100,000 people tried, and mostly failed, to apply for vouchers in the first round.

Yet they somehow still gave just one hour for all those people to apply. Then remarkably — and foolishly — recommended that everyone the enter the room as early as possible, virtually guarantying they would all hit the “Apply” button exactly at the same time.

And bringing the website crashing down, taking the voucher window down with it.

Going forward, they should provide at least a 12-hour window to apply, if not a week, so it doesn’t crash the system. Then inform the winners by email, giving them another 24 hours to get their applications in.

And don’t throttle the damn applications.

Just release all the remaining funding at once, so people at least have a reasonable chance of getting a voucher. Unlike the current round, where the 1,000 available vouchers represented less than 1% of the anticipated demand.

Once program proves successful — and there’s no reason why it wouldn’t — go back to the legislature to request another round of funding.

Then fire troubled San Diego nonprofit Pedal Ahead, which was contracted to administer the program, and consider moving oversight of this program out of CARB, because they have clearly shown they can’t handle it.

No other ebike rebate program anywhere in the US has had as much difficulty launching, and needed as much time, as California. We were the first to approve an ebike voucher program, and the last to get it up and running right

This whole damn thing should be investigated by the state, because it’s hard to believe anyone could be so fucking incompetent by accident.

They also need to figure out what the hell they’re trying to accomplish, because they have two glaringly conflicting goals.

When you visit the California Ebike Incentive Program website, and watch the required video on climate change, the message is about getting people onto ebikes and out of their cars.

But by limiting applications to lower income residents, and favoring people with the lowest incomes, the clear intent is to provide those people with reliable transportation, whether or not they even own a car.

Which is something they should have figured out in those first three and a half years.

But somehow, didn’t.

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Don’t forget tonight’s die-in on the steps of City Hall to protest the mayor’s draconian budget cuts and layoffs, which could set safer and more livable streets — and Measure HLA — back for years.

Even the General Manager of LADOT thinks it’s a lousy idea.

Dying-In Los Angeles – A Protest for Safer Streets: Don’t “DOGE” LA Safety

A coalition of non-profits and road safety advocates will be hosting a protest on the steps of LA City Hall to raise awareness of LA’s dystopian-level budget cuts.

If these cuts go through, there will be no funding for new safety improvements next year — no speed reduction measures, no protected bike lanes, no pedestrian upgrades. Nothing.

Join us at 6pm, April 30th – LA City Hall.

And don’t forget to sign the petition telling Mayor Bass not to DOGE LA safety.

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Streets For All wants your support today for a Measure HLA-style ordinance for LA County.

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Bike Culver City want you to celebrate the cars of the past, while demonstrating that bikes are the future.

We’ve grown up surrounded by cars powered by fossil fuel-burning engines. Many of our fondest memories occurred in a car: our first kiss, riding to a beach party, feeling independent for the first time, experiencing pride of ownership, and cherishing and caring for a beautiful machine. Today, these modes of transport have become cherished relics—too precious to drive, costly to operate and maintain, and plagued by traffic congestion, rude drivers, and their contribution to poor air quality.

Displaying cars as cherished relics is appropriate, given their immense sentimental value. Bike Culver City welcomes over 500 exhibitors to our city on Saturday, May 10th, from 9 am to 3 pm, https://www.culvercitycarshow.com. Please bring your bike to commemorate this event during National Bike Month and send a photo of yourself and your bike in front of your favorite relic to aardus@yahoo.com. We will post the image as part of the Bike to the Future II display at https://www.facebook.com/groups/bikecc. Please patronize our local businesses as you always do.

The Car Show street closures provide thousands of walkers and strollers with the opportunity to enjoy downtown Culver City safely on foot, free from the dangers of traffic, as well as air and noise pollution. Imagine the paradise if downtown street closures were not just a once-a-year event. Join us!

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

After a driver in Baton Rouge, Louisiana struck a man riding a bicycle, he pulled a gun on the victim, ordering him “not to get (his) mf’n license plate” — yet the police somehow responded by telling bike riders to be aware of their surroundings, rather than, say, watch out of angry armed nut jobs.

No bias here. Residents of a DC neighborhood are calling for new protected bike and bus lanes to be removed because delivery drivers are now parking in the one remaining traffic lane, instead of, say, calling for increased enforcement to stop illegal parking.

Japanese bike riders say the country should be focused on building better bike infrastructure, instead of cracking down on bad behavior by bicyclists.

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

An Australian columnist says she’s not opposed to ebikes, but the dangerous bad behavior of ebike riders has got to stop. Although maybe someone can explain why the newspaper chose to illustrate ebikes donated to emergency departments with a picture of ebike-riding young women in tiny bikinis.

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Local 

Culver City announced a 15-week beautification and maintenance program on the Ballona Creek Bike Path, leading to periodic disruptions on Thursdays between 6:30 am and 4 pm.

A Burbank writer for the Sierra Club says trade your car for a bike, and you’ll discover beauty and nature even in the heart of the city.

Pasadena is planning a jam-packed calendar of events to celebrate Bike Month next month, including National Ride a Bike Day, and Bike to School and Bike to Work Days.

Sad news from Castaic, where a man riding a bicycle died after going into cardiac arrest; the victim has not been publicly identified.

 

State

About damn time. A bill moving through the California legislature would require drunk drivers to install breathalyzers in their cars after their first offense.

They get it. The usually conservative Los Angeles Daily News says the California DMV is working to keep dangerous drivers on the road, instead of getting them off.

San Francisco Streetsblog looks at the new curbside protected bike lanes on the city’s Valencia Street, which replace the much maligned centerline bike lanes.

Novato rejected plans for a new bike lane, with the city council voting 4-1 to preserve a lousy 27 parking spaces over saving lives.

 

National

Mountain bike legend Tom Ritchey is crowdfunding his new autobiography, promising to add extra pages if he can get the total up to $75,000 by May 15th.

Trek has launched a new technical support hotline, with help available for any brand of bike through their new AI-free Trek Ride Club app.

That’s more like it. A Portland, Oregon man was sentenced to 10 years for manslaughter and an additional 7-½ years for attempted murder for running over and killing a pedestrian, then driving up on the sidewalk and attempting to run down a man riding a bicycle who had yelled at him.

It takes a major jerk to vandalize and destroy a San Antonio, Texas ghost bike.

That’s more like it, part two. An Illinois man will spend the next ten years behind bars for the hit-and-run death of a 64-year old man riding a bicycle, after he veered onto the wrong side of the road while driving at nearly three times the legal alcohol limit.

That’s more like it, part three. A repeat drunk driver was sentenced to at least nine years behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a 30-year old bike-riding Ohio man, and had his driver’s license suspended for life.

New York’s congestion pricing plan cut traffic and raised $159 million in just the first three months, but Trump wants to kill it anyway.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A Louisiana man is still bikepacking at 78.

 

International

Momentum recommends the best cities to fall in love with your bicycle all over again this summer. None of which is Los Angeles.

An estimated 1,000 Critical Mass riders rode through a newly opened tunnel under the Thames River, where bicycles are prohibited.

Sad news from Scotland, where a 49-year old man was killed by a driver during the Etape Loch Ness, a 66-mile timed ride around the famed home of the Loch Ness Monster, aka Nessie; the ride was on a closed course, but the crash occurred on a road used by riders to return to the start, which wasn’t closed to cars.

A woman plans to ride her bike 1,200 miles across the UK to talk to farm women for her Ph.D, saying the country’s extensive network of bike paths will make it possible.

British TV host and dedicated bike rider Jeremy Vine has sworn off posting his videos depicting bad behavior by drivers and the dangers on the streets due to the abusive comments he gets, including explicit tweets about his wife. Although a British bike racing broadcaster says Vine’s videos made bicyclists look militant and unhinged.

Forbes says Germany offers a “robust cycling network of more than 320 routes, covering some 62,000 miles through country landscapes and storied cities.”

You’ve got to be kidding. Life is cheap in New Zealand, where a truck driver walked without a day behind bars, and can keep driving, after the judge blamed the lack of a bike lane for the death of a 28-year old woman riding a bicycle, and not the man who ran over her in the Kiwi equivalent of a right hook.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cycling Weekly says the American bike racing calendar in sabotaging itself when gravel, mountain bike and road events all occur at the same time.

America’s other ex-Tour de France champ is finally back on his bike, taking part in last weekend’s Belgian Waffle Ride, while saying it took gravel to get him riding again.

Red Bull looks forward to next month’s Giro d’Italia, which will pay homage to the late Pope Francis with a route passing through the Vatican gardens behind St. Peter’s Basilica, and in front of the Santa Marta hotel where Francis lived.

 

Finally…

That feeling when mountain bikes break your bones, but horses are what scare you. Anyone can ride around in a circle; try one of these bike races if you want a real challenge.

And your next very expensive Swiss watch can honor everyone’s favorite Italian cycling legends.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

First shot fired in Vermont Ave HLA battle, NYT argues for sprawl, and lack of interest in LA Neighborhood Council elections

April 11, 2025 / / No comments
Day 101 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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And so it begins.

After speculating yesterday that officials were virtually daring someone to file suit alleging Metro’s Vermont Avenue bus rapid transit project is violating Measure HLA, someone did.

Longtime bike advocate and Streetsblog Los Angeles editor Joe Linton filed a lawsuit against the City of Los Angeles alleging that the city failed to implement the safety improvements included in the mobility plan, as required by the Healthy Streets LA ordinance passed overwhelmingly by voters last year.

According to a statement Linton provided to Streetsblog,

I live very close to Vermont Avenue, where my family and I walk, bike, and/or take transit nearly every day. Since 2014, I have attended meetings focused on Vermont transit improvements, where I and many other advocates have pressed for complete streets, including bike lanes that have long been part of the city’s plans for Vermont. I was, and still am, excited that L.A. City voters approved Measure HLA, which requires the city to gradually implement its plan for a more transit-friendly, more walkable, and more bikeable Vermont.

In researching my Streetsblog coverage of Measure HLA and the Vermont Transit Corridor project, I became frustrated encountering repeated instances where the city continues to ignore its own plans for a safe and truly multimodal Vermont.

Linton goes on to say he’s not looking for any personal gain, other than recouping his attorney fees.

Rather, he hopes the lawsuit will result in a settlement that will deliver long-delayed safety improvements that will “save lives, foster public health, stem climate-harming emissions, and improve the quality of life for Vermont Avenue’s pedestrians, bus riders, and bicyclists.”

Linton is represented by a pair of attorneys who should be well-known in the Los Angeles area, former state Assemblymember Mike Gatto and longtime Bicycle Advisory Committee member Jonathan Weiss.

Which suggest LA City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto will have her hands full trying to defend Los Angeles in this matter.

Lord knows I wouldn’t want to go up against either one of them. Let alone both.

You can read the full text of the lawsuit here.

Something tells me it won’t be the last.

Photo by Sora Shimazaki from Pexels.

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A writer for the New York Times Magazine makes the case for more sprawl as the answer to America’s crippling housing shortage.

No, seriously.

According to Conor Dougherty, author of Golden Gates: The Housing Crisis and a Reckoning for the American Dream,

The solution is to build more. That’s not controversial — housing is one of the few remaining areas of bipartisan agreement. The rub, as always, is where and how to get it done. Over the past decade, dozens of cities and states have tried to spur construction by passing laws that aim to make neighborhoods denser: removing single-family zoning rules, reducing permitting times and exempting housing in established neighborhoods from environmental rules.

That shift is important, especially in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles that have little chance of lowering housing costs or reducing their homeless populations without building up. But cities are difficult and expensive places to build because they lack open land. Adding density to already-bustling places is crucial for keeping up with demand and preventing the housing crisis from getting worse. It will not, however, add the millions of new units America needs. The only way to do that is to move out — in other words, to sprawl.

He goes on to examine what has limited growth over the last several decades, from anti-sprawl legislation and stringent zoning requirements, to the pervasive effects of NIMBYism.

Even if all the regulatory restraints were removed tomorrow, developers couldn’t find enough land to satisfy America’s housing needs inside established areas. Consequently, much of the nation’s housing growth has moved to states in the South and Southwest, where a surplus of open land and willingness to sprawl has turned the Sun Belt into a kind of national sponge that sops up housing demand from higher-cost cities. The largest metro areas there have about 20 percent of the nation’s population, but over the past five years they have built 42 percent of the nation’s new single-family homes, according to a recent report by Cullum Clark, an economist at the George W. Bush Institute, a research center in Dallas.

Admittedly, Dougherty makes a strong case.

But what he fails to consider is the concomitant problems of endless sprawl, as we in SoCal know so well, from crushing traffic congestion and smog to declining inner cities and the ever-rising casualties from traffic violence.

Not to mention living, not miles, but hours from the services you rely on, such as healthcare and courts, and continuing to mandate car dependency while killing walkability and bikeability.

Yes, we desperately need more housing. A lot more.

But we need to build it in places and ways that don’t exacerbate all the other problems that destroy our quality of life at the same time.

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No surprise here.

According to LAist, elections for LA’s Neighborhood Councils are seeing their lowest voter turnout in years.

Part of the problem, aside from the difficulty of casting a ballot, is an almost total lack of local news coverage in today’s Los Angeles, resulting in a large segment of the population who have no idea what Neighborhood Council district they’re in, or that they even exist in the first place.

The other problem is that for every NC like Mid-City West or North Westwood council that’s responsive to and representative of the local community, you have too many overly dominated by one or two strong personalities, or NIMBYs who just say no to everything.

They should be a place we can go to address city problems on a micro, rather than macro, level, and trust those concerns will be heard and acted on. Especially in a city with far too few council districts, where every councilmember represents more than a quarter million people.

Mayor Bass is reportedly considering ways to reform, reinvigorate or replace the Neighborhood Council system.

But while change is needed, I’m not sure she’s earned the trust to lead this process anymore.

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

No bias here. A London tabloid says “fuming Brits” have initiated a petition demanding numbered license plates and liability insurance for all bike riders. Even though the last petition demanding the same thing died for lack of interest.

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Local 

West Hollywood approved a proposal to study the feasibility of installing Class IV protected bike lanes on Beverly Blvd, although without any changes to the current lane design, which would seemingly hamstring the project.

 

State

Calbike examines the 14 ebike bills currently under consideration in the state legislature, including efforts to redefine some ebikes to clean up the blurred lines between electric bicycles and e-motorbikes, which we’ve been calling for here.

The California Coastal Commission approved plans for a bike path connecting Cayucos and Morro Bay along Highway 1 in San Luis Obispo County, filling a gap in the 1,200-mile California Coastal Trail.

Yesterday marked the first day of the four-day Sea Otter Classic, as more than a thousand bike industry brands showed off their wares at the Laguna Seca racetrack

Palo Alto is in the process of updating its 2012 bike plan, including opening up more of the city’s major roadways by installing protected bike lanes.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is understandably protesting plans to allow driverless Waymo autonomous cars on the city’s currently carfree and pedestrianized Market Street. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

 

National

Forbes offers advice on how to stay safe on your next ebiking vacation.

A Grand Junction, Colorado writer examines the push for better bike and pedestrian infrastructure, after voters elected a full slate of city council candidates opposed to a new protected bike lane.

Is nothing sacred? Someone stole a $450 bicycle from a Kroger Coca-Cola display promoting Indiana University’s iconic Little 500.

Madonna is one of us, bundling up for a cold-weather ride through New York’s Central Park.

South Carolina bicyclists protested plans for a new luxury hotel in an area they say is “just a heaven for cycling,” fearing it could harm their safety on the road.

Urbanize questions whether Atlanta is worthy of the new Atlamsterdam moniker, saying it’s not as bike-friendly as the city in the Netherlands, but getting closer. On the other hand, as a nickname, it kinda sucks.

 

International

Momentum offers ten ways bicycles deliver the freedom cars only promise. Although I would swear we’ve seen this one before.

A writer for Cycling Weekly says he’s already lost over four pounds and his head feels clearer just a month into exploring sober curiosity. I’m a week into involuntary sobriety myself, thanks to a new medication that’s incompatible with my occasional beer. 

The Surfrider Foundation is protesting plans to build a two-mile paved bike path along the Puerto Rican coast, arguing it’s being built too close to the shore and fails to adopt a nature-based approach, fearing it could both destroy and be destroyed by the waves.

An English rugby player is biking 220 miles from his home stadium in Batley to London to raise funds to upgrade the stadium’s floodlights, after he was banned for eight matches for his role in a mass brawl. But isn’t mass brawling the whole point of rugby? 

Yet another study, this time from Finland, shows that bike commuting is still the smartest and healthiest way to get to work.

Three young men captured the attention of South Africans by riding their bikes the 1,100 miles from Limpopo to Cape Town.

A new Australian study warns of the dangers of hidden bike flaws that can lead to catastrophic failure of frames or key parts, suggesting changes need to be made at an industry-wide level.

 

Competitive Cycling

Look, I like American cyclist Sepp Kuss as much as anyone outside his own circle of family and friends, but is taking part in an early Basque Country breakaway that ultimately fizzled out really something to celebrate?

On the other hand, Portuguese cyclist João Almeida’s solo breakaway win in the same race is something to celebrate.

 

Finally….

The next time you ride your bike across the border, maybe leave the half-pound of meth and fentanyl hidden in the frame at home. Your next bike could double as a sex toy.

And your next golden raincoat could be made four of waterproof copper.

Yes, there’s a golden opportunity for a sex joke there. And no, I’m not going to make it.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LADOT beats HLA deadline but claims everything is exempt, and Metro/LADOT Universal Basic Mobility months late

April 10, 2025 / / No comments
Day 100 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

The only surprise is they did it.

Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports that LADOT made their Wednesday deadline to post a website listing their progress on Measure HLA, as required by the ordinance passed by the voters a year ago with two-thirds support.

But of all the resurfacing projects on all the streets in LA — which sounds like a line from Casablanca — they only managed to list seven lousy projects.

And surprise, surprise, claim they are all exempt from the measure.

Every last one.

According to Linton,

The website lists just seven projects, all of which LADOT claims do not trigger Measure HLA.

The seven projects are:

The website includes no status, no dates for these seven projects. Most are pending; it appears that just one (Roscoe) has been completed.

What’s not on the map? In late 2024, LADOT claimed that three projects had been triggered by HLA: Hollywood, plus Reseda Boulevard and Manchester Boulevard. Reseda and Manchester are absent. The ballot language states that the website shall include completed projects. It’s not clear why they have been omitted.

It seems clear from the obvious foot-dragging, obfuscation and needless delays that LADOT and city leadership have no intention of complying with Measure HLA, and are looking for any excuse they can find to avoid living up to it.

That includes Metro’s Vermont Ave project, where the official consensus seems to “So sue us, already.”

Let’s hope someone takes them up on it.

………

No surprise here, either.

After a successful Phase 1, Phase 2 of Metro and LADOT’s universal basic mobility program has been beset by seemingly endless and unexplained delays.

The second phase of the Metro Mobility Wallet was supposed to launch last year, providing 2,000 low-income residents with $1,800, divided into two equal payments.

The money is intended to be used for any transportation expenses, from paying for bus passes or rideshare, to buying a bicycle. But more than four months later, no one has been able to access a dime on the preloaded debit cards.

It’s possible that the problems lie with the card provider, who is reportedly having problems with another client, as well.

But even if that’s the case, it raises questions of why — like the California Air Resources Board and a seemingly moribund ebike voucher program — they chose a provider who is unable to service the program, raising obvious questions of judgement.

And if not, the questions becomes just who or what the problem is.

………

The defense attorney for Sean Higgins, the driver accused of killing the hockey-playing Gaudreau brothers as they rode their bikes the night before their sister’s New Jersey wedding, wants to have the charges against his client tossed.

Which is pretty much what every defense attorney everywhere wants.

However, his reasoning is that the grand jury wasn’t told the brothers had been drinking before getting on their bikes, and were legally drunk at the time of the crash.

Even though, unlike driving, biking under the influence is perfectly legal in New Jersey.

And even though their drinking had nothing to do with why Higgins was attempting to pass two other drivers on the right, while speeding and over the legal alcohol limit, with two wheels on the shoulder and two on the grass verge when he slammed into the Gaudreau’s bikes.

But other than that, sure.

………

Caltrans is looking for input on a draft plan to remake LA’s killer highway, to make it a little less, uh, murdery.

RELEASE OF PCH MASTER PLAN FEASIBILITY STUDY FOR PUBLIC COMMENT AND UPCOMING MEETINGS

Today, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is pleased to announce the release of the draft of the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study for a 60-day public review period ending on June 09, 2025. The draft Study can be viewed online at bit.ly/3YhpEnP

Caltrans invites members of the public, stakeholders, and any interested individuals to review the Draft Study and leave your thoughts in the comment box provided here or via email to 07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com. When providing comments via email, please include the relevant section title, page number, figure, or table number when applicable to help us accurately locate the part of the document you’re commenting on.

The draft document will be formally unveiled for public comment at a meeting at Malibu City Hall today, Wednesday, April 9, from 5:30 – 8:00 PM. The meeting will also cover two PCH pavement rehabilitation projects in the cities of Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Malibu, which aim to extend the pavement service life and improve ride quality for motorists on PCH from Santa Monica to the Los Angeles/Ventura County line. For those who cannot attend the April 9 meeting in person, two virtual meetings are also planned to discuss the two pavement rehabilitation projects and Draft PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study. Community members are invited to participate in these workshops to learn about the latest updates and provide input.

For more information, please visit the project website or email 
07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com 

………

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

The bikelash is real. A protected bike lane appeared to be the decisive issue in the Grand Junction, Colorado city council race, with all the winning candidates campaigning against it, with the exception of one woman who ran unopposed.

Houston’s mayor backtracked on his anti-bike lane agenda in the face of withering opposition from bike riders, promising to install a dedicated, but non-protected bike lane to replace the protected lane he ripped out, rather than the previously threatened promised sharrows.

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

A 65-year old British woman faces charges for the hit-and-run crash that left a two-year old kid with a permanent scar on his head, after crashing into him as he walked with his mother, while she was illegally riding her ebike on a walking path.

………

Local 

Secret Los Angeles considers the ten most scenic bike trails and routes to explore around the city. Not all of which are all that, you know, scenic.

Streets For All urges support for extending the bus lanes on Lincoln Blvd south from the Santa Monica border to near LAX; the transportation PAC also says a proposal to extend the Ballona Creek Bike Path to the creek’s headwaters is getting closer to reality.

It looks like WeHo bike lanes could be getting a touch of Pantone 349C, aka Hollywood Green, after the city council moved a proposal to paint the city’s bike lanes to the consent calendar to likely be approved at a coming meeting.

 

State

Heartbreaking news, as authorities identified the 13-year old boy killed by a driver while riding his bike in Clovis yesterday, after leaving home without permission and without his helmet.

Mountain Bike Action considers the history and legacy of the Sea Otter Classic, calling it America’s greatest mountain bike event. Although fans of the Iron House Classic and Leadville Trail 100 might beg to differ.

Bay Area businesses, including a local bike shop, complain about the “pain and trauma” inflicted by Trump’s on-again off-again tariffs; meanwhile, a Minneapolis bike shop owner is in “panic mode” over the tariff uncertainty.

 

National

People For Bikes says they’re endorsing the Children’s Bill of Rights in Sport because every kid deserves a safe place to ride.

Portland is adding signage and infrastructure improvements to help support the city’s growing bike bus movement.

Washington State is launching a lottery for the state’s $4 million ebike rebate program, with winners getting a $300 voucher towards the purchase of an ebike, and income-eligible households receiving up to $1,200.

A Minnesota bicycle advocacy group is testing an ebike-to-work pilot program, providing five Duluth businesses with ebikes for seven months for their employees to use.

A Loyola of Chicago student recommends bicycling through the city this spring, saying it turned a 45-minute walk into a pleasant 10-minute ride.

 

International

No bias here. That feeling when a far-right British pol complains about spending for bike lanes no one is using, that everyone is using, while a former Top Gear host says he’s not worried about a dangerous roundabout because he has a car, not a child’s toy.

 

Competitive Cycling

The Redlands Bicycle Classic opened with a time trial at Lake Perris yesterday, followed by a road race today, and a circuit race tomorrow, ending with a downtown crit on Sunday.

 

Finally….

Seriously, I’ve got nothing.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Los Angeles HLA website deadline today, blame LA for automotive hegemony, and bike-friendly Friedman hosts town hall

April 8, 2025 / / No comments
Day 98 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A new WordPress feature, which is what this site runs on, shows how many paid subscribers each site has. 

This one, for instance has exactly zero.

Because we don’t charge a dime to sign up, and never will.

Just enter your email in the popup window, or in the box at the bottom of the righthand column, and you’ll find all the best bike news waiting in your inbox every morning, from around the corner and around the world.

Nothing could be easier.

………

Streetsblog reminds us that one requirement of Measure HLA, which passed overwhelmingly one year ago today, is that Los Angeles has to post a public-facing website tracking the city’s progress in implementing the law within one year.

Anyone want to bet they’ll make the deadline?

I didn’t think so.

………

Speaking of anniversaries, it’s been 100 years since Los Angeles approved one of the worst city ordinances in history, officially giving drivers priority over pedestrians on LA streets.

And yes, over bicyclists, too.

The landmark 1925 Traffic Ordinance set the blueprint for the rest of the country, forming the scaffolding on which we’ve built an ever-rising toll of traffic violence and carnage. Not to mention our history of ever-expanding roadways, too often wiping out entire neighborhoods in the process.

So if you’ve ever wondered why you’re forced to wait endlessly at a corner, waiting for the little walk signal saying you can now use the tiny few feet of roadway provided to people on two feet, or why motorists expect you to hug the curb or door zone to ride a bike, you can thank the foresighted forebears of our ennobled city, made glorious by its endless devotion to the motor vehicle.

I’ll hope you’ll join me in giving them the solute they so richly deserve.

Yes, that one.

………

New 30th District Congresswoman Laura Friedman is hosting an in-person town hall at LA City College on Monday.

Friedman was the sponsor of a number of bike-friendly bills when she served in the California Assembly, so she should be open to pleas to maintain federal active transportation and traffic safety funding.

And maybe even spare the struggling bike industry and its customers from crippling tariffs.

Event Details: 
  • Date: Monday, April 14, 2025 
  • Time: Doors open at 5:30 PM | Town Hall starts at 6:00 PM 
  • Location: Los Angeles City College, Student Union Building, 3rd Floor, 855 North Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90029
  • RSVP & Submit a Question in Advance: https://forms.office.com/g/1jd8ss9HDX 

Please note: The room has a maximum capacity, and RSVPs will be given first access to the town hall. Seats are not guaranteed, even with an RSVP. 

………

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

Advocates for a “contentious” curb-protected bike lane in the Houston Heights neighborhood of the eponymous city fear it could be the next traffic safety project on the mayor’s chopping block, after the city already ripped out two similar projects.

No bias here. A Scottish letter writer complains that “cities have been mutilated” by bike paths, because some people on bikes do bad things, and the “idea that more and more cycle lanes will lead to more cyclists avoiding cars, trains or buses is a pipe dream.”

………

Local 

Streets For All urges you to turn out at City Hall tomorrow to support pedestrian safety at the dangerous intersection of Glendale Blvd and Fletcher Drive.

Los Angeles City Planning just approved a 53-unit, mostly affordable housing project next to Stoner Park in West LA, allowing the developers to include zero — count ’em, zero — car parking spaces, but also cutting the normally required longterm bike parking spaces in half, from 44 to just 22. And yes, my wife, who grew up in that area, has laughed at that name her entire life. But only because it’s true.

Streetsblog offers an open thread on Sunday’s Hollywood to Koreatown CicLAvia, featuring editor Joe Linton’s usual great photos, as a Redditor asks why not do it every Sunday? Why not, indeed?

ActiveSGV invites you to join them this Saturday on an easy nine-mile exploration of the SGV Greenway Network, beginning at San Gabriel River Park.

The Claremont City Council voted unanimously to ban Class 3 ebikes, which can reach speeds of up to 28 mph, from the city’s Claremont Hills Wilderness Park.

 

State

Drivers are illegally parking diagonally in front of a La Jolla nursing and rehab home, partially blocking the bike lane on Torrey Pines Road. After all, what could possibly go wrong?

Santa Barbara’s Stinner Frameworks is now one of the highest-volume framemakers in the US, producing 2,000 frames a year, with the capacity for 3,000.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where the Kern County Coroner identified a 52-year old woman who died in the hospital 11 days after she was struck by a driver while riding her bike. And no, KGET-TV, she was not struck and killed by an apparently sentient vehicle that was driving itself.

Life is cheap in Bakersfield, where a woman faces just 180 days behind bars and community service after pleading no contest to a felony charge of vehicular homicide, for the collateral damage death of a bike rider — after running a red light while doing at least 65 mph in a 40 mph zone; the other driver in the crash faces just misdemeanor hit and run and vehicular manslaughter charges.

 

National

Bittersweet news, as the wife of hockey star Johnnie Gaudreau gave birth to his son, seven months after he and his brother were killed by an aggressive driver while riding their bikes in New Jersey last August, one night before their sister’s wedding; it’s the couple’s third and last child.

Kindergarten students in a Hawaii elementary school received new balance bikes that can be converted to pedal bikes, courtesy of the philanthropic HDR Foundation and All Kids Bike.

 

 

International

A writer for Cycling News says if he ran the bike industry for a day, all helmet straps would be black and all bib shorts would have pockets.

The vicar of a 170-year old Manchester, England church blames new bike lanes for plummeting attendance, claiming parishioners are now getting lost because of them. Although if only 100 people were attending services even before they were installed, I suspect the bike lanes may not be the problem.

Cape Town, South Africa will now require a license to ride any ebike that can exceed 28 mph on city streets.

Officials in Taipei, Taiwan warned residents not to ride bikes after drinking, with possible fines ranging from the equivalent of $36 to $72; refusing a breathalyzer test could double that.

Less than 12% of Taiwanese bike riders wear helmets, in a country where it’s not required and not part of the bicycling culture.

 

Finally….

Your next ebike bike might be a kayak. That feeling when a revolutionary cross between a chainless ebike and an electric motorcycle disappears from the market without a trace.

And seriously, if you’re riding a bike with meth and pipes secreted in your clothing, put a damn taillight on it.

The bike, that is. Not the meth.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Prosecutor contradicts Magnus White killer’s claim she hadn’t been drinking, and LA approves minimal HLA minimums

April 4, 2025 / / No comments
Day 94 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

She was drinking before the fatal crash.

Or maybe she wasn’t.

Yeva Smilianska testified on the witness stand Thursday that she was busy working, and so wan’t drinking, the night before she admittedly killed 17-year old US National Team cyclist Magnus White outside Boulder, Colorado.

Her former friend and coworker, Nereida “Neddy” Cooper, testified that Smilianska actually had the night off, and was drinking at the bar they both worked at until it closed. Then they went to her home and shared an open bottle of whiskey until they both went to bed around 6:30 am.

Less than six hours later, Smilianska was standing on the side of the road where White lay dying next to his mangled bicycle.

Her lawyer claims Smilianska isn’t responsible for White’s death because she fell asleep behind the wheel before drifting onto the shoulder. Smilianska told the court she was sleepy but sober at the time of the crash, and police at the scene said she didn’t appear to be intoxicated.

She also says she was unemotional at the scene because she “completely turned off” after seeing White lying behind her.

But prosecutors introduced a pair of text messages Smilianska sent hours after the crash, which she said she didn’t remember.

I don’t think so but we have to remember I was drunk as well. To be honest, when you guys were gone I continued to drink and honestly I don’t even remember how I drove myself home. That’s fucked up.

But anyway the drinks you just told me sound like enough to get drunk…

Nah I’m fine. I’m just scared of myself cos I drove SO drunk I don’t even remember it. My whole way home. I was mad and I really fucked up…

Which kinda makes it seem like she was drinking to me, but I’m not on the jury.

………

The Los Angeles Street Standards Committee approved the proposed minimum standards for street projects impacted by Measure HLA, which requires that the city build out the previously approved mobility plan when streets are resurfaced.

Which matters because the minimum is probably all we can count on from the city these days.

Advocates questioned the use of shared bus/bike lanes where separate bus lanes and painted bike lanes are called for, as well as the city’s failure to define crosswalks for Pedestrian Enhanced Districts.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Times offers a good recap of the debate over whether Measure HLA applies to the Vermont Transit Corridor, explaining both the scope of the Metro project, and the arguments for why HLA does and doesn’t apply to Metro.

Transit advocates argue that the exclusion from the Vermont Avenue project ignores voters’ mandate to follow the mobility plan, which calls for improved bike lanes on that street; Metro and city officials have countered that the measure applied only to the city of Los Angeles — not to the countywide transit agency.

“We don’t think it’s legal,” said Michael Schneider, who heads Streets for All, the advocacy group behind the ballot measure. “HLA is a city measure, and Metro is a county agency, but Vermont is owned by the City of Los Angeles, and the city is working with Metro. They’re permitting it, they’re providing technical expertise, they’re spending staff time and money. This falls under Measure HLA, which requires a bike lane on Vermont.”

However, Metro has threatened to sue if the county agency is required to comply with the city ordinance, arguing that adding bike lanes to the project would delay it five years and require them to acquire additional properties along the route.

Move LA Executive Director Eli Lipmen summed up the whole debate as succinctly as anyone.

Lipmen said that more people will be hurt if Metro does not allow for new protected bike lanes in its plans and hopes there is still time for conversation

“Vermont needs to happen and needs to happen as soon as possible. We cannot delay this project another second,” Lipmen said.

He’s right.

On both counts.

………

A crowdfunding campaign for a Bakersfield mother killed by a pickup driver while riding her bike last month has raised a paltry $700 of the relatively modest $5,000 goal.

……….

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

No bias here. The Sausalito city council turned down a half-million dollar grant to install bike lanes on the most ridden road in Marin County, even though it’s on the city’s High Injury Network and in alignment with city policies, deeming the project “too controversial” thanks to the torches and pitchforks of the “change nothing” crowd.

No bias here, either. The governor of Idaho signed a pair of bills redefining roads as “for the primary benefit of motor vehicles,” while restricting where standalone bike and pedestrian projects can be built, and prohibiting projects that would narrow roadways.

………

Local 

Claremont conditionally approved an ordinance to allow ebikes on the city’s Claremont Hills Wilderness Park trail; it will come back up for a second, final vote on April 22nd.

 

State

San Diego County Crime Stoppers is pulling out all the stops in the hunt for the driver, and the car, who killed an ebike rider in a Clairemont hit-and-run last weekend. Which is exactly how it should be, and exactly what Los Angeles doesn’t do.

She gets it. The head of the Mineta Transportation Institute asks if the convenience of turning right on red is really worth the risk to bike riders and pedestrians.

San Francisco approved plans for a parking-protected bike lane on Oak Street leading to Golden Gate Park, but will divert riders into a park to make room for turning cars.

 

National

People For Bikes considers the effects of Trump’s tariffs on the bike industry — not to mention what you’ll pay for your next bike and parts — with import taxes as high as 46% on Asian nations, where most bicycles are made. Best advice is to buy what you can now, before prices go up and availability goes down.

 

International

Momentum lists the six most bike-friendly North American airports, none of which are LAX. Or any other California airport south of San Francisco.

London’s bicycling and walking commissioner says it would be “extremely unpleasant” to have thousands of bicyclists riding through a newly pedestrianized Oxford Street, but bike riders complain about the “weak and wiggly” alternatives provided for bikes. Although the real news is that London has a bicycling and walking commissioner, unlike a certain SoCal megalopolis we could name. 

British custom framebuilder Feather Cycles is the latest bike brand to bike the dust, as the owner says he could make more money as a food delivery rider.

Stars and Stripes recommends resources for long-distance bicycling through Europe, most of which apply to us non-service members, too.

Around 80 university students are riding nearly 800 miles to Strasbourg, France to call for European Union support for a Serbian anti-graft project to halt corruption in the Balkan nation, as it seeks membership in the 27-nation bloc.

 

Competitive Cycling

The teams competing for this year’s Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift were announced Thursday, including all 15 WorldTour teams, along with seven teams from the ProTour.

Two-time world and Olympic champ Remco Evenepoel is expected to return to racing at Switzerland’s Tour de Romandie at the end of this month, after suffering multiple fractures, dislocated collarbone and bruised lungs when he was doored by a Belgian postal van driver in December.

You know the Lotto cycling team missed the mark when their new team kit is best described as “an explosion in a paint factory.”

Velo will live stream all the races in the USA CRITS series this spring. Which may the only way you’ll see them, since most of the races are in Georgia, and all are in the South other than a single race in Nebraska.

 

Finally….

Seriously, who knows the best bikes better than Brit GQ?  You win some, you lose some, and sometimes you just take a coffee break.

And that feeling when they raised the speed limit, but you could still get ticket for going too fast.

In a bike race.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA officials vote against the will of LA voters on Vermont BRT project; LA 50 wants your input; and Bike Oven art crawl

March 28, 2025 / / One comment
Day 87 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

So let’s get this straight.

The Metro Board unanimously approved plans for the Vermont Transit Corridor bus rapid transit project — but without the bike lanes required by law under voter-approved Measure HLA.

According to LAist,

Founder and CEO of Streets for All, Michael Schneider, told LAist in a statement that Metro ignored “the law and will of the voters” by voting to move forward with the design of the project without bike lanes…

The disagreement here isn’t about the bus lanes themselves — Schneider and other transportation advocates in L.A. agree that improvements to transit on the corridor are needed.

But the question is whether Metro, a countywide transportation agency, is required to comply with Measure HLA, a city-level initiative.

Metro doesn’t think so, and it has threatened legal action if it is forced to comply.

To repeat, it’s not a question of whether the bike lanes called that are called for in the city mobility plan are required under HLA, which applies to all but the most minor street resurfacing projects on Los Angeles city streets.

But rather, whether the city ordinance applies to a county agency.

Proponents of HLA — myself included — say it does.

Metro takes the contrarian stand, however, arguing that it only applies to work actually done by the city, rather than projects done by outside agencies on the city’s behalf.

Although a better question might be why Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and CD6 Councilmember Imelda Padilla voted against a city ordinance that they are legally required to implement.

And whether by doing so, they violated their obligations as officials elected to represent the City of Los Angeles, which is why they are on the board in the first place.

Because the people who put them there are the same ones who voted overwhelmingly to approve the measure.

And the same ones they will face when they run for re-election.

Correction: I’m told Karen Bass did not vote against HLA, if only because she missed the meeting. Blame Padilla, CD5 Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky, and LA representative Jacquelyn Dupont-Walker. 

Rendering of Vermont BRT project, sans HLA mandated bike lanes. 

………

LA 50 wants your input on who should get the latest round of LA 50 Challenge Grants.

Although they don’t apparently trust us to vote directly on the recipients anymore, but rather just express opinions that will apparently influence their choices.

………

The Bike Oven co-op is hosting an art ride on North Figueroa tomorrow night.

………

Local  

Pasadena police with conduct a bicycle and pedestrian safety operation today, focusing on driver behaviors that endanger bicyclists and pedestrians — although they are legally required to enforce the law equally, whether it’s someone on four wheels, two wheels or two feet who commits the violation. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limit lines, so you’re not the one who gets written up.

 

State

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton says the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres may be behind the Dodgers in the standings, but are miles ahead of LA in providing bike and transit access to their home stadiums. Okay, so maybe I was the one who threw in a little shade about the standings. 

Laguna Beach becomes the latest Orange County city to succumb to the spreading ebike panic, adopting an ordinance restricting the speed and use of ebikes in the city. Although once again apparently failing to distinguish between ped-assist bicycles and throttle-controlled electric motorbikes.

Sausalito debates whether to accept a grant for a “controversial” safety project that would require bike lanes in each direction on a dangerous stretch with no crosswalks, where bicycles and cars are forced to share a single lane in each direction, and drivers use the center turn lane for free parking.

Sad news from Woodland, where a man in his 50s was killed when he was run down by a man driving a tractor, while riding in a bike lane on a rural road outside the Sacramento suburb. Although thee’s no word on why the driver was in the bike lane, and why he somehow failed to see the victim despite operating a slow-moving vehicle. And no, tractors aren’t allowed in bike lanes, any more than any other motor vehicle. 

 

National

Blogger Craig Medred takes a deep dive into how the law protects dangerous drivers, when most fatal crashes are just written off as “oopsies.”

Grist considers who will be hurt most by Trump’s freeze on funding for bike lanes and other pedestrian safety projects. That’s easy — everyone. Because as the story says, “infrastructure that prioritizes safety over speed…are proven solutions that protect everyone.”

Nice change in Portland, where the Downtown Neighborhood Association wants fewer traffic lanes, instead of demanding more.

Residents of Chicago’s predominantly Latino Southwest Side debate whether protected bike lanes will improve safety, or lead to gentrification. Even though the bike lanes would protect low-income workers and immigrants who may not own a car, and rely on a bike to get to work, school or other destinations.

In New York City bike-related violence, a food delivery worker was stabbed in the back with a screwdriver when he attempted to defend his bike from thieves trying to take it, and pair of “crazed” men used their own bicycles to beat another man senseless on New York’s Upper East Side.

 

International

British parliamentarians called for urgent reform of the country’s Cycle to Work program by opening the bike voucher system to low-income workers, freelancers and retirees. Because salaried white collar workers aren’t the only ones who could benefit from biking rather than driving.

Momentum says stop bending over, and ride upright on one of these Dutch-style bikes, instead. Personally, I’ll take the Pashley, Guv’nor. 

An Indigenous man riding an ebike in a Sydney, Australia suburb was killed when a police sergeant somehow ran him down with his patrol car while attempting to make a traffic stop; he was found to have $10,000 in cash and three ounces of meth on him after he was killed. Which does not justify the cop using lethal force to make the stop unless the victim somehow threatened him — even if the cop knew or suspected he was dealing drugs.

 

Competitive Cycling

Former Dutch pro Laurens ten Dam says he slept under the stars surrounded by cows and grizzly bears with pepper spray tucked under his pillow last year during the 3,000-mile Tour Divide race from Canada to Mexico.

 

Finally….

Take a stand on apartment bike storage, or turn your bike into an objet d’art. Seriously, you haven’t lived until you’ve ridden a fat bike across the Gobi Desert in the middle of winter.

And forget those flammable lithium-ion batteries, and fuel your bike with the stuff that blew up the Hindenburg instead.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

15-year old ebike rider busted for DUI, HLA foot-dragging means worsening LA streets, and trial date for killer Vegas teens

March 26, 2025 / / No comments
Day 85 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Teenaged ebike riders are in the news once again.

And once again, for not-so-good reasons.

Like the 15-year old boy who was busted for DUI after crashing his ebike into a parked car in Newhall Monday night, suffering minor injuries and major problems.

Or the 16-year old ebike rider who was hospitalized after getting hit head-on by a driver while riding salmon in Rancho Cucamonga Tuesday morning.

Although, as always these days, the question is whether these scofflaw victims, who haven’t been publicly identified, were riding electric motorbikes or ped-assist bicycles.

Because police reports and the press don’t seem to be able to distinguish between them.

………

According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, the city’s foot dragging on implementing Measure HLA is resulting on worsening conditions on some of the streets that had been scheduled for repaving.

That’s even though pavement cracks and pot holes can pose a significant risk to bike riders, especially after dark when they can be almost impossible to see.

And even though Los Angeles has already paid out large settlements for bike riders seriously injured by crumbling pavement.

………

Jesus Ayala and Jzamir Keys, the two formerly teenage suspects accused of recording themselves laughing as they intentionally ran down and killed former Bell police chief Andreas Probst as he rode a bike in Las Vegas, are now scheduled to go on trial November 3rd.

………

This is what the Vermont Corridor could look like, if Metro continues to refuse to comply with Measure HLA, which requires bike lanes, as well.

………

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

He gets it. Former Top Gear host James May calls out the “anti-cycling rage” of London’s Telegraph newspaper, saying the “anti-cycling opposition out there ‘smacks of sheer bloody-mindedness.'”

………

Local  

Streetsblog takes a look at the newly opened Big Dalton Bike Path, nee Vincent Community Bikeway, which traverses three-miles through Irwindale, Covina, Azusa and unincorporated points in between, and is part of a planned 130-mile bike network through the San Gabriel Valley.

The manager of the Velo Pasadena bike shop says the shop has been burglarized “constantly” since the start of the pandemic, losing a total of over a hundred grand worth of bicycles — including three break-ins in just the past three months.

 

State

The Triathlon Club of San Diego talks with BikinginLA sponsor, Oceanside bike lawyer and tri supporter Richard Duquette.

La Mesa is starting its own ebike incentive program, offering 150 vouchers to people over 18 who live and plan to ride in the city. Let’s just hope they manage to do a better job than California has so far. 

After Berkeley gave 56 free ebikes to a group of low-to-moderate income residents, they reported driving less, but also learned how crappy it is to ride there.

Marin County approved an ordinance banning children under 16 from riding Class 2 throttle-controlled ebikes; presumably, Class 1 ped-assist bikes are still okay.

The Sacramento city council was scheduled to vote on approving a quick-build bike lane program for the state capital. Something a certain megalopolis to the south could stand to emulate. 

 

National

A writer for Cycling News says skip the power meter, and use a heart monitor instead — even if it’s ugly and sits on your chain collecting grease. Or better yet, skip them both and just enjoy riding a bike if you don’t race for a living.

A legal website calls out the deadliest and safest states for bicyclists, as well as offering strategies for how to make things safer. Good news and bad news — California didn’t make either list. 

Bike riders in Houston protested the removal of concrete armadillos along a formerly protected bike lane; they had intended to form a human bike lane, but moved to the sidewalk when police threatened them with criminal sanctions. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the heads-up. 

You’ve got to be kidding. An Illinois county board member was cited for a lousy crosswalk violation, despite leaving the scene after hitting a little kid riding a bicycle with the walk signal; she ended up driving herself to the police station, claiming she was confused and didn’t know what to do. Seriously, if you don’t know that you’re supposed to stick around after a crash — especially after hitting a little kid — you shouldn’t be driving. Or in office, for that matter. 

New York State will begin an ebike voucher pilot program in Ossining offering up to $1,000, with plans to eventually expand to the greater Hudson River region. Apparently, the rest of the state can keep paying retail. Unless you know a guy with a few that fell off a truck. 

 

International

An English man was left shaken after he tried to recover his bicycle from the young thieves who grabbed it outside a bike shop; he was chased, threatened and beaten, but somehow ended up with his bike.

Researchers in Sweden and Iran have developed a better shock-absorbing material that contracts bilaterally, resulting in bike helmet liners that provide better protection from head injuries; because it’s 3D printed, it can also be custom crafted to fit individual heads.

Forbes says add sunny Morocco to your bike bucket list.

An exploring website says the story of the bike-touring Chinese grandmother calls out the problem of “silver tourism,” as China caters to older tourists, while most Western country’s don’t.

A Kiwi website credits the extensive bike lane network Christchurch built after the city was devastated by a 2011 earthquake for its high rate of bike riding, using the damage as an opportunity to re-envision its streets. Something else a certain SoCal megapolis could learn from after the recent fires.

 

Competitive Cycling

Belgian police raided the home of a doctor previously “affiliated” with a professional cycling team, after noticing “atypical prescribing behavior” that raised the possibility of doping practices. But the doping era is over, right? 

 

Finally….

Apparently, bike lanes make it hard to visit long-closed libraries. Now you, too, can take your final bike ride after you’re gone.

And if you’re not inclined to walk your bike up an incline, maybe you should be.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

PCH public workshops back on the table, support bike lanes on Vermont Ave, and pedestrian safety expo next month

March 25, 2025 / / One comment
Day 84 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

SoCal’s killer highway is back on the table.

Caltrans has rescheduled the public workshops to consider the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study to improve safety on the deadly roadway, which remains one of the state’s most popular riding routes, despite a glaring lack of safe infrastructure.

The previously scheduled meetings were postponed due to the Palisades Fire.

Here’s what their press release says.

UPCOMING WORKSHOPS FOR THE PCH MASTER PLAN FEASIBILITY STUDY

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and the City of Malibu invite the public to the Round Three workshops for the PCH Master Plan Feasibility Study on April 9 (in-person), April 16 (virtual) and May 12 (virtual). The first three public workshops in July 2024 (Round One) gathered input from residents, businesses and other stakeholders to identify safety priorities for the highway. Based on that input, Caltrans held three more workshops on Aug. 28, Sept. 12 and Oct. 23, 2024 (Round Two), focused on presenting and soliciting feedback on design alternatives and other recommendations to improve safety on PCH. Following Round Two, Caltrans developed a draft of the Study that it will present during the upcoming workshops (Round Three). At the Wednesday, April 9, meeting, Caltrans will formally release the Study to the public and begin the 60-day public review period.

The upcoming workshops will also cover two PCH pavement rehabilitation projects in the cities of Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Malibu, which aim to extend the pavement service life and improve ride quality for motorists on PCH from Santa Monica to the Los Angeles/Ventura County line. Community members are invited to participate in these workshops to learn about the latest updates and provide input.

For more information, please visit the project website or e-mail: 07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com.

Click here to register for the April meeting, or here for the May workshop.

Photo from the Caltrans press release.

………

Streets For All is calling for support for bike lanes on Vermont Ave at Thursday’s Metro board meeting.

Something that’s required under Measure HLA as part of the city’s mobility plan when the street is re-striped to install bus lanes, even if Metro’s lawyers don’t seem to agree.

On Thursday the Metro board has an item on its agenda (Item 9) to approve the LPA (locally preferred alternative) for the Vermont Bus Rapid Transit Project.

Vermont Ave has more bus riders than any other street in LA County, and we think BRT on this street is one of the highest impact transit projects in the region. We are incredibly supportive of the project.

However, Vermont is also one of the most dangerous streets in LA with nearly 50 people killed in the last decade. Despite this, Metro has aggressively pushed back on implementing Measure HLA‘s required bike lanes as part of the Vermont BRT project.

If the bike lanes don’t go in during this project, when Metro is doing the expensive work (curb ramps, repaving, etc.), then the City of Los Angeles will be fully responsible for implementing them at a later time, entirely on its own dime.

At a time when both road deaths and the City’s budget deficit are at a record high, we cannot afford to not implement the bike lanes as part of this project.

Click the link for tips on how to help.

………

LA Public Health is hosting a pedestrian safety expo in Roosevelt Park on Friday, April 11th.

And yes, it matters, because we’re all pedestrians at some point (click here if the tweet/xeet doesn’t embed).

https://twitter.com/heybikela/status/1904350768951673220

………

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

No bias here. A right-wing group called for a DOGE-style crackdown on “unethical” British bicycling and walking advocacy group Sustrans, and its “taxpayer-funded, deeply unpopular, and undemocratic restrictions on motorists.” Um, sure. Because nothing is more unethical than taking an inch of road space from overly entitled drivers. 

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

A 49-year old man was killed as he exited his double-parked car and was struck by New York food delivery rider on an ebike who reportedly blew through a stop sign.

………

Local  

No news is good news, right?

 

State

San Diego public TV and radio station KBPS examines the city’s new draft Street Design Manual, which calls for narrower lanes and more options for protected bike lanes, but still allows slip lanes and right turns on red.

Downtown Temecula will get a trio of new green bike lanes, replacing the current white-striped lanes to make them more visible.

Sad news from Sacramento, where a 59-year old man was killed when he was struck by a driver while riding his bicycle. And no, ABC10, he did not “collide with” the car, someone driving a car crashed into him — as the story itself says in the second paragraph, contradicting the headline and lede. 

 

National

Around 70 Portlanders rode in support of a Palestinian paracycling team 7,000 miles away.

Denver is releasing the year’s first round of ebike vouchers, offering $450 off a standard ebike or $1,400 for an adaptive ebike. Meanwhile, California has only managed to release a single extremely throttled round of vouchers, limiting it to just a tiny fraction of the demand. 

About “100 real-life human beings” turned out for a Chicago bike ride to call for replacing parking spaces with a protected bike lane on an Uptown street.

Untapped New York introduces the bicycling advocates who are keeping up the good fight for better bike infrastructure, despite Trump’s freeze on federal funding.

Philadelphia bike riders are happy to see plans call for a protected bike lane on a bridge over the Schuylkill River, but don’t like the two-way design that doesn’t line up with existing bike lanes on either side.

Speaking of Philly, a bike lane placed in the middle of a neighborhood sidewalk is drawing mixed reactions. So let me simplify this: Sidewalk level bike lanes good, bike lanes in the middle of the sidewalk bad.

 

International

Momentum offers a beginners guide to getting started with bike commuting.

A new British study shows the safety in numbers hypothesis even applies to e-scooters, finding the presence of e-scooters appears to result in a 20 percent reduction in the risk of bicycling collisions.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a 20-year old man will spend just 13 years behind bars for murdering a 34-year old father-to-be, in what began as an effort to retrieve a stolen ebike, and escalated to a series of threatening emails and roadside arguments before the killer stabbed the victim to death; two other men who were with the killer at the time of the stabbing were arrested, but not charged.

You still have time to make it to Liège, Belgium for Bike Week.

 

Competitive Cycling

UCI’s Track Cycling League bit the dust, killed by an apparent lack of interest after just five events in four years; it will be replaced by a new Track World Cup.

Double Tour de France champ Jonas Vingegaard is back to gentle training after suffering a concussion earlier this month when he crashed during Paris-Nice.

Thirty-nine-year old Los Angeles-based former pro and current author Phil Gaimon will be honored with the Legends Award at next month’s Redlands Bicycle Classic, a race he won in 2012 and 2015.

 

Finally….

Start bike commuting, and say goodbye to road rage. Your next ebike could be a boat, or a camper. Or both.

And that feeling when you think you could do a better job of restructuring the government than Elon Musk, and offer your services as a bike-making outsider.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

NM kids face murder in death of bike-riding scientist; killer Playa street claims fresh victim; Metro threatens suit to prevent safer streets

March 20, 2025 / / No comments

This is getting old.

Nearly two weeks in, I’m still struggling with Covid, and need a few more days before I get back to our usual updates. Just another of the many joys of diabetes, which can make Covid hit harder and last longer than it might otherwise.

Hopefully, we’ll be back on Monday to catch up on what we missed.

But there are a few stories this week that can’t really wait, so let’s do a quick update in the meantime.

………

It’s happened again.

Or rather, it happened last year, and the authorities are just now catching up.

According to multiple sources, three Albuquerque teenagers face charges for stealing a car, and intentionally crashing it into a man riding a bicycle while they recorded themselves laughing.

And if that sounds familiar, it should. And more than once.

The victim, a beloved physicist at the nearby Sandia National Laboratory, was killed when the kids “bumped” him with the car.

The 13-year old driver and the 16-year old egging them on from the back seat both face murder charges — as could the 11-year old waving a gun and laughing from the passenger seat.

Yes, I said eleven. With a rap sheep of violent crimes that makes John Gotti seem like an extra from Westside Story.

Apparently, New Mexico law allows them to be publicly named, and charged as adults.

Police became aware of the video shortly after the May 29, 2024, murder of 63-year old Scott Habermehl, but it apparently took until now to uncover the identities of his teen and preteen killers.

Habermehl was a dedicated bike commuter who was said to have ridden more than a quarter million miles over the last 30 years, and did absolutely nothing to cause his death.

The older teens each face felony charges of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, leaving the scene of an accident involving great bodily harm or death, and unlawful possession of a handgun.

The younger boy is likely to join them.

Thanks to Joel Falter for the heads up. 

……….

It’s happened again, again.

Because once again, an innocent person has been killed on Vista del Mar in Playa del Rey, eight years after then Councilmember Mike Bonin tried to fix the deadly street, only to have then Mayor Eric Garcetti rip it out after caving to angry pass-through drivers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, two cars — excuse me, drivers — collided in the 8200 block of southbound Vista del Mar, near Dockweiler Beach, with one car spilling over the embankment and killing a woman walking below.

Twentynine-year old Cecilia Milbourne died at the scene. A 70-something man also suffered minor injuries.

The crash occurred exactly where a road diet had been installed by Bonin after the city paid $9.5 million to the family of 16-year old Naomi Larson, who was killed by a cab driver as she was crossing the street in 2015.

That road diet was removed, along with other nearby bike lanes and other safety improvements, when Garcetti pulled the rug out from under Bonin, ordering them to be ripped out to appease drivers who were apparently willing to sacrifice a life or two if it meant they could have a little faster commute.

And reverting the road to a four lane speedway.

It only took a few years after that before the deadly roadway claimed another life. And two more after that.

Now, after another woman has been killed — at least the fifth in just ten years — that blood is on Garcetti’s hands, and everyone who demanded the removal of the safety improvements just so they could continue to go “zoom! zoom!”, innocent victims be damned.

Not to mention whoever designed the damn thing.

………

Metro has bizarrely come out against bus lanes and safer streets.

According to a post from Streets For All, the ostensibly safety-oriented county transportation agency is threatening to sue if they are forced to comply with Measure HLA when they make changes to the streets.

Even though the law clearly applies to any significant street projects, regardless of who is responsible for them.

Which is kind of like Metro arguing that speed limits and traffic signals don’t apply to them, either.

Here’s how Streetsblog’s Joe Linton responded to Metro’s threat.

So, Metro will fight the city in order not to install bus lanes, bike lanes, crosswalks, curb ramps, all approved a decade ago.

Metro is blocking routine upgrades to all the ways their riders get to bus stops and rail stations, plus blocking bus lane facilities that would improve Metro bus speeds.

Really.

Really, indeed.

It’s worth noting that Metro’s board is made up of elected officials and appointees from cities throughout LA County, and led by board chair and County Supervisor Janice Hahn.

So you know where to direct your anger.

………

Finally, Glendale is hosting their own CicLAvia-style open streets event May 31st on South Glendale Ave, in conjunction with Metro and Community Arts Resources (CARS).

Here’s how the press release describes it:

GLENDALE, Calif. (March 18, 2025) — Southern California’s newest open streets event, Let’s Go Glendale, will transform a portion of S Glendale Ave into a car-free space on Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The community is invited to explore the area on foot, bike, scooter, wheelchair or any other way that moves you.

The City of Glendale’s Open Streets Event, Let’s Go Glendale, is presented by Metro and produced by Community Arts Resources (CARS). This free day features a full schedule of carefully curated performances and activities along a meaningful vehicle-free route through the city’s south. People of all ages are invited to discover local businesses, enjoy delicious food, listen to live music and connect with the city’s vibrant cultures in the open streets. It’s an opportunity to walk, roll, shop and stroll through Glendale with a whole new perspective! A full schedule of event locations, activations and a detailed route map will be announced in April.

WHEN: Saturday, May 31 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

WHERE: City streets along S Glendale Ave will be closed to car traffic and opened to pedestrians. Full route details will be released soon.

ADMISSION: This event is free to attend and open to the public.

MORE INFORMATION: For more information visit, letsgoglendale.com

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