Tag Archive for Measure HLA

LA Board of Public Works rejects Linton’s HLA appeals, and Rad Power rejects CPSC’s not-so-rad ebike battery recall

November 26, 2025 / / One comment
Day 330 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Just a quick note before we get started. 

As usual, this will be our last regular post for the holiday week. I’ll be taking tomorrow and Friday off to spend with family, so we’ll see you back here bright and early on Monday. 

Although if you’re not too busy hitting the Black Friday sales — or better yet, getting out on your bike and avoiding the hell out of the whole mess — come back Friday for the kick off of our 11th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive. 

I’ll do my best to put the fun back in fund drive, while simultaneously begging you to part with a small portion of your own hard-earned funds to help keep this whole thing going for another year. 

Today’s photo depicts yours truly signing the original petition in support of Measure HLA, corgi in tow, with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider. 

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Okay, one more quick note. 

Because I’m thankful this year for a lifetime on two wheels, which has led me to so many of my best experiences and memories. 

And I’m even more thankful for you, and everyone else who reads this site. Because I couldn’t do what I do without you. 

So in all sincerity and with deepest humility, thank you. 

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To the surprise of absolutely no one, LA’s Board of Public Works rejected the overwhelming majority of Measure HLA appeals heard on Monday.

According to LAist,

First round of appeals: The Board of Public Works partially sided with the appellant in one appeal and rejected the other six. Joe Linton, in his capacity as a resident and not as editor of Streetsblog L.A., filed all the appeals heard on Monday. “It’s the very first time, so we’re kind of throwing a lot of spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks,” Linton told LAist. “Not a lot stuck.”

One appeal approved: Linton partially won his appeal claiming the city did not adequately install pedestrian improvements along a nearly half-mile portion of Hollywood Boulevard that it resurfaced last year. The city said it will publish an “appeals resolution plan” to fix sidewalks there within the next six months. “It was really obvious to me that the city’s justification … was not true, so I was glad that that was acknowledged,” Linton said.

Streetsblog’s Damien Newton explains further.

Per the text of the Measure HLA ballot measure, the city does not have to implement its mobility plan if the city is only completing “restriping without other improvements.” This exemption is listed alongside pothole repairs, utility cuts, and emergency repairs. In the six appeals that the board voted to reject, the city did not “restripe” the existing configuration, but installed new lane striping to change traffic patterns, added parking, bike lanes, turn lanes, etc.

The appeals argued that these changes go beyond “restriping without other improvements.”

The city disagrees.

The city’s position appears to be more or less along the lines of: if a street reconfiguration project included installed pretty much any kind of lane striping, then it’s exempt from HLA because it’s considered “restriping without other improvements.”

In other words, the city is basically daring Linton to sue them, after he already filed one lawsuit over Metro’s failure to include the required bike lanes in the redesign of the Vermont Ave corridor — again, in his own capacity, and not as a representative of Streetsblog.

Four more appeals filed by Linton will be heard by the commission on Monday.

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Seattle ebike maker Rad Power Bikes says thanks, but no thanks, to the ebike battery recall ordered by the feds, arguing that such a massive recall would put them out of business.

Not that their prospects look too good right now, with or without it.

Meanwhile, a writer for a surf site puts tongue firmly in cheek to discuss the “grom immolation terror” brought on by the recall, while questioning why the Consumer Product Safety Commission is even still around following the Trump budget cuts. “Grom” being slang for a young or inexperienced surfer, and by extension, any inexperienced and/or overly enthusiastic teen — the opposite of what waits for me in the mirror every morning. And you’re welcome. 

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Thanks to the generosity of a fallen bicyclist’s family, all donations to Streets Are For Everyone will be matched dollar-for-dollar through the end of the year.

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

Cycling Weekly considers what it will take to turn down the hatred, opprobrium and vilification that bicyclists are subjected to on a near daily basis.

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Local 

Calbike examines how Metro’s Nina Kin, Tech Lead on LA Metro’s Digital Experience Team, is building more reliable data and trust for transit riders on bicycles, as Metro begins to recognize that transit and bikes are two “halves of the same promise.” And no, that’s not an exceptionally awkward and unwieldy job title at all.

Joe Linton, acting this time in his capacity as Streetsblog editor, offers an open thread and photos from Sunday’s Stranger Things 5 CicLAvia on Melrose Ave, where a good time was reportedly had by all, human and demogorgon alike.

Pasadena approved a contract of up to $4.8 million to move forward with a new design for the Pasadena Ave and St. John Ave Roadway Network Project, including a safer and more accessible bicycle and pedestrian network — without removing existing traffic lanes, of course.

Santa Monica announced plans for a Holiday Sweater Community Ride on Saturday, December 6th, offering guided bike tours of the Bergamot Area First/Last Mile Improvements, departing from the 17th Street/SMC Metro Station from 10 am to noon.

 

State

Evidently, those public radio budget cuts have hit hard, as San Diego public radio station KBPS is just now catching up with CARB’s heartless shiv through the heart of the California Ebike Incentive Program, while adding little or nothing to the story.

The Riverside County District Attorney’s Office urges parents to think twice before buying ebikes for their kids, warning that they can be held criminally liable for whatever mischief the little miscreants get up to with them. And once again, conflating electric dirt bikes and motorbikes with regular ped-assist ebikes, to the benefit of no one. 

The Kern County coroner identified the victim killed by a driver while riding his bike last week as an 81-year old man, who deserved better. Then again, so does anyone else who’s still riding at that age. 

Caltrans pushed bike lanes planned for a Tiburon street makeover back to 2029, after advocacy groups questioned limitations imposed by a school bus operator.

 

National

Vice examines hacks to safely store a bicycle in your apartment, and says ditch the backpack and try panniers, instead.

American voters approved nearly $2 billion in bicycling improvements sponsored by People For Bikes in the recent elections.

A pair of Congressional members introduced the bipartisan Bicycle Instruction, Knowledge, and Education (BIKE) Act, which would make bike safety education a standard part of youth learning nationwide.

A UK citizen married to a US resident was nabbed by immigration authorities while riding his bicycle in Montana, despite having a pending green card application.

 

International

A new study from the Journal of the Obesity Society suggests that evening is the best time for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity — like bicycling — to help improve and control your blood sugar. Note to Bicycling: If you intend to hide the story behind a paywall for subscribing members only, don’t leave a link to the story just above the blockage notice. And if the study is readily available, the story ain’t that exclusive.

The London Times examines how bicycles have changed lives for indigenous Colombian students and adults.

If you build it, they will come. Daily bicycling journeys in London are up 12.7 percent over last year, and 43 percent above pre-Covid levels.

A member of the British Parliament proposes legislation banning the annual World Naked Bike Ride, arguing that the country’s police can’t ignore “flashers on bikes.” Just wait until someone tells him about Lady Godiva.

A writer for Cycling Weekly imagines what the UK’s future could look like if the country could actually learn from the Netherlands. At this point, there just ain’t enough weed in the world to conjure up visions of an Amsterdam’ed Los Angeles. 

The New York Times talks with Dutch-Canadian author and advocate Melissa Bruntlett, co-writer with her husband Chris of the recently published Women Changing Cities: Global Stories of Urban Transformation.

The New York Times also talks with French ultracyclist Sofiane Sehili, who spent 50 days in a Russian hoosegow after trying to cross the border despite Russian border guards refusal to acknowledge his previously approved visa, while attempting to set a new record for the fastest crossing of Eurasia.

 

Competitive Cycling

A sports website catches up with America’s other ex-Tour de France winner, turned whistleblower, turned weed entrepreneur, Floyd Landis.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you get busted for illegally modifying a DIY ped-assist ebike to do nearly 40 mph. Now you, too, can buy grandma her very own $40,000 one-off bespoke bike.

And your next indoor exercise bike could be a giant, horned, spinning marble disk.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA Public Works delays HLA appeals, not guilty plea in fatal PCH hit-and-run, and remembering the victims of traffic violence

November 17, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 321 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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You can cancel those plans to attend Los Angeles Board of Public Works meeting, in-person or online, today.

Apparently acknowledging their “oopsie” in scheduling hearings for appeals of Measure HLA denials without the required ten day notice, they have rescheduled the appeals for one week from today, on November 24th.

You’re urged to attend the meeting in person to support Joe Linton as he challenges the denials of seven projects he says met the requirements for implementation under Measure HLA.

Because it’s a lot harder to ignore a room full of bicycle and traffic safety advocates in person than a bunch of people waiting to comment online.

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The Long Beach woman accused of killing one bicyclist and injuring two others on PCH in Huntington Beach last month has pled not guilty.

Forty-three-year old Amber Kristine Calderon entered the plea to three felony hit and run charges in the death of 45-year old minister and father Eric John Williams, as well as critically injuring the other two men.

Calderon is free on a relatively paltry $100,000 bond; no word yet on the results of her toxicology tests.

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Sunday was the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, which included a moving commemoration surrounding Los Angeles City Hall.

According to a notice from Streets Are For Everyone,

WHAT: As part of World Day of Remembrance for Traffic Victims (WDoR), Streets Are For Everyone (SAFE), The Emily Shane Foundation, The California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Auto Club of Southern California (Auto Club) and other traffic safety organizations will hold a visual tribute Sunday, November 16, to honor the 711 people killed in traffic crashes across Los Angeles County in 2024.

Volunteers will cover a nearly four-block radius surrounding Los Angeles City Hall Park Center with 711 empty black chairs, each adorned with a yellow rose. The display symbolizes the empty seats left behind at dining room tables, outdoor patios and upcoming holiday gatherings, highlighting the impact traffic violence has on the Los Angeles County area. Families of victims are invited to honor their loved ones by bringing a photo or personal memento, or by writing their loved one’s name on a remembrance card to place on one of the empty chairs.

WHY: In 2024, 711 people were killed in Los Angeles County due to traffic crashes. In 2023, there were 814 people killed in crashes on Los Angeles County roads. WDoR is a global event held every third Sunday of November to remember people left behind by traffic violence or personally impacted by car crashes – and a call to action to support safer streets and improve road safety.

Let that sink in.

Seven-hundred-eleven dead on LA County streets.

Then let something else sink in. Because as of this writing, no Los Angeles news outlet has even bothered to cover it. Or at least not post it online.

Evidently, people dying of traffic violence is just an everyday thing around here. Literally.

I’m not in the mood to punch down tonight. But as much as I appreciate this tweet/post from LADOT, they are the ones responsible for creating the road conditions that contributed to far too many of those deaths.

As well as the ones who haven’t fixed them.

Meanwhile, San Diego residents turned out Sunday to call for safer streets on the World Day of Remembrance, hosted by Families for Safe Streets San Diego.

More than 250 people mounted the steps of the Massachusetts State House to mark the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, and demand stronger traffic safety laws to combat a rise in bicycling deaths.

And a ten-mile bike ride was set to roll Sunday from Bethesda, Maryland to Washington, DC for the World Day of Remembrance; past rides have drawn more than 1,000 people.

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In yet another study that shouldn’t surprise anyone, researchers in the UK have found that free bicycle programs in some of the most disadvantaged areas resulted in improved health and wellbeing, as well as reduced social inequality for those who use them.

Sport England commissioned the report on behalf of the Active Wellbeing Society and examined the effects of free bike schemes in Birmingham, Essex, and Ealing. Their results show that the scheme, which includes wraparound support of bike lessons, maintenance and group rides free of charge, also strengthened community cohesion and encouraged more sustainable, environmentally-friendly behaviours. The schemes receive public funding but also rely on volunteers.

More than 12,000 bikes have been distributed since 2015 through the respective schemes (Birmingham Big Bikes, Essex Pedal Power and Let’s Ride Southall) and are estimated to have delivered an average return on social and economic investment of £11.80 for every £1.

That works out to $15.55 for every $1.32 invested.

The more than 1,200 bicycles distributed in three cities also resulted in significant reductions in preventable deaths and disease.

Comparing the data to the Office for National Statistics found that the scheme prevented 16% of expected new cases of disease among participants and 6% of expected deaths. The participants’ life satisfaction, when measured on a scale of 1-10, also increased by averages between 0.5 and 1.8.

So what the hell are we waiting for?

I mean, besides safer streets to ride them on.

Meanwhile, another study shows that households that use cargo bikes can cut their car miles in half.

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They get it.

https://twitter.com/ActiveSGV/status/1990099317294551051

But you may not be out of luck if you live in the San Gabriel Valley.

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‘Tis the season.

The kindhearted staff at a Duluth, Minnesota ski and bike shop collected over 300 pounds of food from their equally kindhearted customers, and delivered it by bicycle to a local nonprofit.

Hundreds of volunteers turned out in Pensacola, Florida to build over 500 bicycles to donate to local kids in need.

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

No bias here. A Kansas City letter writer says she supports safe infrastructure for bicyclists, but the city is going too far in prioritizing bike riders over drivers by removing traffic lanes on several major streets. As if drivers still don’t have near-total dominion on the overwhelming majority of city streets.

No bias here, either. The author of a Portuguese website dismisses a lawsuit filed by a bike advocacy group to keep the new mayor Gaia from ripping out a bike lane, because he never heard of them.

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

You’ve got to be kidding. It turns out that the yellow bicycle that 2019 Tour de France champ Egan Bernal rode into Paris wasn’t stolen after all — the Colombian cyclist staged the whole thing as a publicity stunt to promote his gran fondo. Let’s hope that nobody goes. 

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Local 

KTLA-5 reminds us that the Melrose Ave CicLAvia this coming Sunday will host a takeover by Netflix’ Stranger Things.

The Los Angeles Times reports we have a limited opportunity to save an El Sereno open space for a new park offering panoramic views of the LA area, but only if the 110 acre Elephant Hill Open Space can be saved from developers, and local landowners convinced to sell.

The LAPD arrested a man they called “the Mountain Bike Bandit,” accused of committing over 20 burglaries and escaping by bicycle.

Apparently having ended crime in Hermosa Beach, local officials touched briefly on the decrease in crime at a recent public forum, before devoting all their attention to the problem of, yes, ebikes.

 

State

Ouch. Jalopnik blames “now-deceased cycling-obsessed weirdo” John Forester for making bike riding worse for everyone else by instructing people to be “the kind of stereotypical, aggressive rider that so many people love to hate,” arguing that you now usually just find “obsessive weirdos” like the San Diego-based Forester in enthusiast forums. I may disagree with many Forester followers, but I’d describe the ones I know as passionate bicyclists, not “obsessive” or “weirdos.”

Sad news from Berkeley, where a man in his 60s was killed by a pickup driver while riding a bicycle on iconic Telegraph Ave near UC Berkeley.

More sad news, this time from Rancho Cordova, where a man was killed when he crashed his bicycle into a pole; police concluded it was a solo bike crash, and there was no foul play involved.

 

National

Life is cheap in Oregon, where a driver walked without charges for killing a 21-year old college student as she rode her bike in a crosswalk, after the driver in the right lane stopped for her, but the driver in the next lane blew right through the crosswalk as if it wasn’t there and the other driver had just stopped at random; cops said they couldn’t prove there was a “gross deviation from the standard of care a reasonable person would observe” in a similar situation. Other than, you know, stopping for someone in a crosswalk and not killing someone. 

National Geographic says Seattle is a city best explored by bicycle.

A transit user and advocate pulled off a surprising upset to win the race for mayor of Seattle.

Geek Wire considers the rise and fall of the once-mighty Seattle-based Rad Power Bikes, which is now on the brink of shutting down.

Sad news from Moab, Utah, where 56-year old Moab trail builder, mountain bike racer, pizza maker and campground host Fred Wilkinson died of natural causes while camping earlier this month.

Further adventures in bad headlines. Judging by the headline, a Salt Lake City TV station says a driver was charged with manslaughter for killing an ebike, because it doesn’t mention the person on the bike at all.

Advocacy groups are trying to raise the final $5 million needed to close a 3.6-mile gap in the Teton Pass trail system in Teton National Park, part of the 180-mile Greater Yellowstone Trail; engineers call it the “most technically ambitious pathway ever proposed in the Tetons.”

A group of bicyclists calling themselves Cyclingxsolidarity once again took to the streets of Chicago on Sunday to buy out food vendors so they could go home and stay safe from ICE agents.

When demand for Minnesota’s ebike voucher program was so great it crashed the website, it spurred a university study and forced the state to fix the technology. When the same thing happened in California, they just cancelled the whole damn program after a single round. 

A writer for Cycling Weekly calls Bentonville, Arkansas one of the weirdest places he’s ever been, but also one of the best American cities for bicycling.

A kindhearted New Jersey cop gave his own bicycle to a former D.A.R.E. and police youth academy student after the kid’s was stolen.

Around 800 people took part in the 26th edition of a 500-mile bike ride from the mountains of North Carolina to the coast.

 

International

Momentum recommends 12 “amazing” cities to explore by bicycle in the coming year. None of which are Los Angeles.

A cycling psychologist explains how to avoid bicycle burnout.

The London borough of Camden responded to resident surveys by releasing plans to redesign several streets that advocates termed “mind-glowingly good.” Which shows what can be done when cities actually care enough to listen to their residents.

That’s more like it. The British government is now dropping the previously recommended 12-foot lane width, and advising that traffic lanes should now be limited to 10 foot 8 inches to keep drivers from passing bicyclists without changing lanes.

While American cities continue to restrict ebikes, Dutch and Belgian seniors are using them to avoid slowing down as they age.

An Indian news site argues that “the bicycle, hailed worldwide as the greenest, cheapest way to get around,” remains the forgotten road user in Guwahati, “ridiculed by drivers, overlooked by planners, and left to dodge death daily.”

Cambodia’s ancient Angkor Archaeological Park now draws an average of over 100 bicyclists each day with a roughly 14-mile route through forests and rice fields, as bike tourism continues to grow post-COVID.

In a story we’ve heard far too often, a New Zealand man is giving up on bicycling after he and his wife were nearly struck by a driver after swerving their tandem to avoid a dooring.

 

Competitive Cycling

French cyclist Hugo Toumire announced his retirement from the pro tour at just 24, after the Cofidis team lost its WorldTour license, and he was diagnosed with endofibrosis.

Spain’s Aleix Espargaró decided that life as a pro cyclist isn’t compatible with life as a pro motorcyclist after all, and gave up his brief one season experiment with both.

Tragic news from Australia, where multi-time world paracycling champ Paige Greco died at her home Sunday after “experiencing a sudden medical episode;” she was just 28.

UCI is trying to turn the clock back half a decade, reducing key measurements on WorldTour bikes to cut their aerodynamics and slow them down a little in an effort to improve safety.

Cyclist rates how every women’s WorldTour team did this year.

Nothing like testing your new race bikes in a tunnel full of helium bubbles and laser beams.

Dutch cycling officials are trying to set up Mathieu van der Poel and Puck Pieterse to complete in both road cycling and mountain biking in the ’28 LA Olympics.

 

Finally…

That feeling when you learn to ride a bike, but still don’t know the difference between Lance and Neal Armstrong. Or when bicycling is less passion and more lifestyle.

And before you jump into a lake to avoid a traffic stop for a bicycling violation, make sure you can swim first.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

LA Public Works pulls fast one on HLA, private group examines CA ebike safety, and bike events on a rainy weekend

November 14, 2025 / / No comments
Day 318 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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This has been a very long and rough day, leaving me dead on my ass, because I don’t have the strength to get on my feet.

And Friday doesn’t promise to start any better. 

So we’re going to depart from our usual format to cover some breaking news and time-sensitive announcements today, and catch up on the rest of the news on Monday. 

Scout’s honor. 

Meanwhile, the forecast calls for some pretty heavy rain this weekend, especially on Saturday.

So if you can, stay home. But if you do have to ride your bike, make yourself as visible as possible, because drivers will have limited vision, and won’t expect anyone to be out on a bike in the rain. 

Also, be careful riding through flooded intersections. It can be hard to judge how deep they really are, and they can hide hidden objects like potholes and bodies.

Okay, maybe not bodies. Hopefully. 

Avoid bike paths along river channels. And be alert near burn scars from the January fires, which can be prone to flooding and mudflows. 

I want to see you back here Monday in one piece. 

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Is the Los Angeles Board of Public Works trying to pull a fast one?

And I mean that literally.

Because the city’s ordinance implementing Measure HLA says they have to give ten days advance notice before hearing an appeal from someone accusing the city of violating the measure.

Yet they only sent out notification yesterday that seven appeals filed by Joe Linton in his personal capacity will be heard on Monday.

Which by my calculations works out to just four days. Then again, I was an English major, so math isn’t exactly my strong point.

Still, it’s a clear violation of the law, any way you count it.

But assuming they don’t care about that — and why would they, since they don’t seem to care about anything else having to do with HLA — the appeals are scheduled for Monday’s 10 am virtual meeting.

You can download the agenda here; just click on the Download button on the right of each agenda item for full details of each appeal.

They have already denied six of the seven complaints. On the seventh, they agreed there was a violation, but only promised to fix broken sidewalks, rather than adding the bike and pedestrian improvement required under HLA.

So it’s worth signing up for the meeting and commenting to demand they follow the requirements of HLA, which is now the law after passing with overwhelming support.

Because right now, it looks like the city is just daring us to sue them.

Again.

And not just for pulling a fast one.

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This could be worth keeping an eye on.

A new statewide coalition funded by a grant from Honda will study “what makes ebikes dangerous and how to make them safer,” without simultaneously discouraging their use.

The California Independent Electric Mobility Council says they will meet six times before releasing recommendations for state and local governments.

Although it seems a little odd to have a set schedule for deciding what the problem with ebikes is, and what solutions there might be — unless maybe they’ve already decided and are just going through the motions.

And that’s assuming that ebikes really are dangerous. We still haven’t seen a study looking at rising ebike rates in the context of increasing ebike usage. Because it’s entirely possible that ebikes are no more dangerous than regular bicycles.

Because to my knowledge, no one has even looked at it, rather than just starting from the assumption that rising injury rates mean ebikes are bad.

There’s also the question of whether they will bother to distinguish between ped-assist ebikes, electric motorbikes and non-street legal dirt bikes, rather than lumping them all together.

You know, like everyone else does.

As a privately funded organization, they won’t be subject to California’s Brown Act, which guarantees the public’s right to attend and participate in government meetings.

So we don’t know yet if any or all of those meetings will be public, and if we’ll even have a chance to offer any input.

I’m not saying this private coalition is a bad thing. It could yield some very positive results.

But there are still a lot of questions we need answered.

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BikeLA, nee Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, says their annual Bike Fest will take place tomorrow rain or shine. And right now, that looks like rain.

 

Rain or shine — BikeFest 2025 is on!

Good news: Rain or shine, BikeFest is happening this Saturday, November 15, from 12–3 p.m. Thanks to Highland Park Brewery, we’ll be shifting the party indoors as the weather turns, so the celebration is fully covered!

We’ll still be hosting free bike valet for anyone who rides, so bring your bike and pedal on over. And don’t forget to dress for a little rain–jackets and rain-ready gear encouraged!

Join us for a Pedal-Powered Party featuring:

  • Free bike valet
  • One beer or non-alcoholic drink
  • A commemorative BikeLA bandana

️ Our largest-ever bike-themed silent auction, with gear from Spurcycle, Patagonia, Yakima, Tern, Road Runner Bags, ABUS, Kryptonite, and more.

The auction is live now, so you can start bidding today!

Come celebrate with us and support BikeLA’s mission to make L.A. a safer, more connected place to ride.

Meanwhile, Bike Long Beach is hosting a feeder ride to Bike Fest in the morning.

Bike LA Bike Fest annual fundraiser

It’s that time again! Bike LA’s Bike Fest happy hour annual fundraiser is this Saturday and once again we’re riding from Long Beach. Come join us as we head to DTLA for an unforgettable day where bike-minded people come together, celebrate, and keep the movement moving. This time we’re riding all the way there via the LA river trail, about 22 miles. For the ride back we can do the same route in reverse, or you can hop on Metro and ride the A line back to Long Beach.

Everyone is welcome on any bike, but keep in mind that due to the distance it’s not a beginners ride. Make sure you’re okay with a ride of this length.

Start: Wardlow station, Wardlow Ave and Pacific Pl.
Meet time: 9:00 a.m., roll at 9:30 a.m.
End: Highland Park Brewery, 1220 N Spring St, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Distance: 22 miles, via the LA river trail.

If you want to attend Bike Fest but rather not ride all the way there, you can take Metro! The venue is very close to the Chinatown station.

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Streets For All is hosting a discussion Monday night on the future of cities, and how to free ourselves from car culture.

Please.

Freeing ourselves from car culture — live in LA

We’re just a few days away from welcoming The War on Cars hosts for a lively and humorous discussion about their national bestseller, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile.

Join us Monday, November 17th at Dynasty Typewriter for an evening on the future of cities, featuring:

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez
️ Alissa Walker (Torched.la)
Bill Wolkoff (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds)

️ Get your tickets now — they’re going fast!
Dynasty Typewriter, 2511 Wilshire Blvd
7:30pm (VIP reception at 6pm for Members Club)

Cleverhood giveaway -> Attend for a chance to win branded merch! A winner will be drawn at random. Choose either a Streets For All Rover 2.0 Cape or Streets for All Anorak.
(Benefit from a 15% discount on gear anytime online)

Don’t miss it!

See you there,
Streets For All

BUY TICKETS!
Category: Morning Links / Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tell LADOT to build the Ohio Ave protected bike lanes HLA demands, and keep traffic violence from ruining your Halloween

October 28, 2025 / / No comments
Day 301 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

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Damn straight.

Streets For All is urging you to demand that LADOT follow the legal mandate in Measure HLA, and put protected bike lanes on Ohio Ave between Westwood Blvd and Westgate Ave in West LA.

As someone who used to ride that stretch of Ohio several times a week, I can attest it would be a huge improvement over the current situation, which varies from wholly inadequate painted bike lanes to nothing.

Unless they’ve added sharrows to Ohio in the years since I stopped riding there, which studies show are literally worse than nothing.

Tell LADOT to add protected bike lanes on Ohio Ave!

LADOT’s Ohio Ave Safety and Mobility Project looks to reimagine Ohio Ave between Westwood and Westgate, as well as surrounding streets, to provide better connectivity between UCLA and areas West of the 405.

The Mobility Plan 2035 – now required under Measure HLA – mandates protected bike lanes between Federal and Westwood. Unfortunately, due to lack of political will, there are no planned bike facilities on Westgate, Rochester, Saltair, or Texas.

Take their survey and ask for protected bike lanes for the entire stretch

TAKE THE SURVEY

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Streetsblog is recommending four ways you can help keep traffic violence from ruining your Halloween, which is the deadliest day of the year for children.

Which is something to remember before you get behind the wheel this Friday. Or better yet, a damn good reason not to.

Walk or ride a bike if you can, take transit if you can’t. Or at least try to get home before all the little rugrats hit the pavement just before or after dark.

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The open streets event Active Streets: Corazón del Valle rolls this Sunday, transforming five miles of El Monte and South El Monte streets into a vibrant community space, just in time for Dia de los Muertos.

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Christian singer Forrest Frank encountered a man singing one of his songs from an ebike on the Santa Monica bike path, and stopped to join in.

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Thanks to Megan for forwarding this story of a family’s fight to keep their rail bike business going, which she says is a way to preserve rail corridors for future transit use.

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

A Saint Paul, Minnesota group calling themselves Save Our Streets is suing to halt a bike trail project. Which, oddly, is exactly what the project is intended to do. 

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

He gets it. A Scottish writer says new laws intended to crack down on reckless bike riders are “pointless,” because only nine people were killed by bike riders in the six years leading up to 2022, while 30,000 people are killed or seriously injured by drivers in the UK every year — regardless of how the tabloids try to frame it.

………

Local 

Pasadena was set to adopt a Vision Zero plan in all but name at yesterday’s city council meeting, pledging to eliminate traffic deaths and significantly reduce serious injuries by 2035. Let’s just hope they take it more seriously than a certain nearby megalopolis we could name, which only managed to make things worse in a decade of neglect. 

The high desert community of Lancaster has transformed its downtown area with a nine-block, walkable and bikeable boulevard, as the initial $11.5 million investment has been repaid many times in the 15 years since it opened.

 

State

No, that wasn’t Britney Spears seen driving erratically in a viral video after leaving a Thousand Oaks restaurant in a white Mercedes that looks just like hers. Unless maybe it was.

Sad news from Bakersfield, where a man riding a bicycle was killed Saturday afternoon when he was run down from behind by a 32-year old woman, who tried to take evasive action after she “suddenly noticed” him while traveling up to 50 mph. Even though a grown man riding a bicycle in broad daylight should have been pretty easy to spot.

Horrible news from San Luis Obispo, where the Executive Director of Bike SLO County has been charged with a single count of a lewd act upon a child, with the victim reportedly under the age of ten; he’s pled not guilty. Let’s hope it’s just a misunderstanding, because there’s not a pit in hell deep enough if he actually did it.  

Redwood City cops weren’t able to find the schmuck who stole an 11-year old kid’s bicycle, but at least they found the boy’s bike secreted behind a nearby business.

Sorry, Bay Area bike commuters. The erstwhile bike lane on the Richmond-San Rafael bridge is now a breakdown lane for motor vehicles on most weekdays.

 

National

People For Bikes says this has been a record-setting year for expanding access for e-mountain bikes. Although whether that’s actually a good thing is still being debated. 

Hats off to Bike Portland’s Jonathan Maus, who got a shoutout from Northwestern University’s school of journalism, recognizing how he’s grown the site from a leading bike blog to a vital local news site.

A DA in Oregon’s Rogue Valley is reopening an investigation into an alleged reckless motorcyclist who killed a 17-year old boy riding an ebike after discovering new information, including that the boy’s bike did, in fact, have lights on it, and the motorcyclist had admitted to drinking “a little,” but was never tested for drug or alcohol use.

A Seattle bicyclist has launched what he calls a AAA service for ebikes, promising to come to your rescue if you get stranded on your ebike; however, it currently only serves the Seattle area. Although it sounds like reinventing the wheel, since the Better World Club and some regional AAA clubs have done that for years with conventional bikes, and probably now with ebikes, as well. 

Close, but no cigar. A Colorado Springs, Colorado TV station repeatedly gets it wrong, saying that bikes aren’t allowed on most streets with a few exceptions, then saying they are — but apparently meant to say it’s only legal to ride on the sidewalk on a handful of streets. I’d say the story was written by AI, but most AI systems would have done a much better job. 

Denver opens their final round of ebike rebates for this year, offering qualified residents vouchers up to $950, which can be combined with a state tax rebate of $450. That compares favorably to California’s one successful round of ebike rebates, period. 

Evidently, Los Angeles isn’t the only place that will have a Stranger Things bike ride with the upcoming Melrose CicLAvia, as cities around the US will host similar rides on November 23rd, including Houston.

He gets it. A Minnesota writer says it’s easy to complain about bike lanes and make fun of people in spandex, but it’s just a fig leaf for serious traffic safety concerns.

 

International

Your next bike saddle could be custom-made for your very own butt cheeks.

A new study shows how bike lanes can reveal the hidden inequities of our streets, with painted bike lanes too often “symbols of tokenism rather than transformation, a thin sliver of space separating cyclists from fast-moving traffic rather than a true reclamation of streets for human-scale movement.”

Unsurprisingly, the London man who was repeatedly struck with an axe by motorbike-riding bike thieves says he’s no longer comfortable bicycling by himself. Gee, ya think?

A man who was severely disfigured by a drunk driver while riding his bike became the first person in the UK to receive a custom-fitted, 3D-printed face. Yes, an entire face, which is pretty damned amazing. 

 

Finally…

If you left your muddy mountain bike in the New York woods, I think someone found it. That feeling when you bust into a bike shop disguised as a Beavis and Butt-Head character, and leave like J. Wellington Wimpy of Popeye fame (look it up, kids).

And nothing like being a 14-year old weight weenie.

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Accused PCH hit-and-run killer faces just 5 years, LA rejects HLA appeals without hearing, and LA not carfree best or worst

October 24, 2025 / / One comment
Day 297 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

We’ve learned a lot more about the man killed by a hit-and-run driver on PCH in Huntington Beach Monday morning.

The Daily Pilot reports a ghost bike has already been installed at the crash site for 45-year old Eric John Williams, a pastor and youth counselor who founded a Garden Grove church with his wife in 2011.

I’ve updated my story to reflect all the new details, so you can read about it here.

But in brief, the alleged driver, Amber Calderon, was arraigned on Wednesday, and we learned more about the condition of the other victims.

So if you’ll excuse me, I’ll quote myself this one time.

Calderon was charged with one felony count of hit and run causing permanent injury or death, and two felony counts of hit and run with injury.

Thanks to California’s lax hit-and-run laws, she faces a maximum sentence of 5 years and four months, according to the DA’s office. She did not enter a plea, and the hearing was rescheduled for Nov. 13 in the West Justice Center in Westminster…

The DA’s office says the other two victims, who should not be overlooked in the anger and grief over Williams death, suffered serious injuries “including spinal fractures, broken ribs, a broken ankle, as well as cuts and bruises.”

Calderon’s charges could be changed based on her toxicology report, which is still pending.

But 64 months hardly seems like justice for killing one person and severely injuring two others, then just driving away.

Compare that to a Florida hit-and-run driver who faces up to 30 years behind bars after accepting a plea for fleeing the scene of a fatal crash that took the life of someone on a bicycle.

Maybe something in between would be nice.

Photo by Kindel Media from Pexels.

………

Longtime LA bike advocate Joe Linton writes that Los Angeles is dealing with appeals over projects that should be governed by Measure HLA exactly the way we expected.

By rejecting them.

Now the city is responding to #MeasureHLA appeals – with rejection letters (three so far that I am aware of). Here's my rejection letter for bike lanes on Ohio Ave: labikas.wordpress.com/wp-content/u…

— Joe Linton (@lintonjoe.bsky.social) 2025-10-21T03:19:19.259Z

Linton writes that LADOT has begun sending out rejection letters, despite the lack of a hearing before the Board of Public Works, as required by the city’s HLA ordinance.

Evidently, our president isn’t the only one who doesn’t feel constrained by the rules.

Or maybe the city is just bored of Public Works.

Linton writes that the city’s rejection an appeal over a missing crosswalk at Western & Marathon is emblematic of their actions so far.

GM Rubio-Cornejo appears to have missed the point raised in the appeal: that the resurfacing – though mostly on Marathon Street – also overlapped with part of Western Avenue. See the overlap outlined in yellow in the above photo. The area where the crosswalk goes – along Western – was repaved.

The rejection of Western/Marathon is one of at least a half-dozen similar rejections. I haven’t had time to post them all here, but most are similar to Western/Marathon. An appellant requested the city add missing crosswalks on a PED street, and LADOT GM Rubio-Cornejo rejected the request, without it even going to a hearing of the Board of Public Works, which is where the city HLA ordinance states that appeals will be decided.

There are dozens of HLA appeals already filed – more than a dozen from me. Most of them are still waiting for any kind of city response. If you’re interested in filing a Measure HLA appeal, see my instructions.

The city’s attitude seems to be, “So sue us.”

Linton already has, filing suit over Metro’s rejection of bike lanes on the Vermont Ave corridor during their work to install bus lanes, even though they’re contained in the city’s Mobility Plan.

Metro’s argument is that as a city ordinance, HLA doesn’t apply to them as a county agency. Even though the work is being done on a city street, in junction with the city.

Something tells me Linton’s won’t be the last HLA lawsuit.

Especially at this rate.

………

More clickbait city ratings, this time from a storage website, which ranks the best and worst car-optional cities in the US.

Surprisingly, Los Angeles doesn’t make either one, but Santa Clarita and Lancaster both check in at the Bad Place, at #7 and #20.

Not surprisingly, no Southern California city appears in the Good Place. In fact, San Francisco is the only California city to make the list of the most car-optional cities, at #12.

And if a site pimping storage facilities and equipment doesn’t know all there is to know about living without a car, who does?

………

Cal State Northridge will host their third annual Bike Fest a week from Sunday.

………

Nice to know there are no serious crimes that need the attention of Glendale cops, or anything.

Not to mention that sidewalk riding would be legal in all of California if not for Governor Newsom’s almighty veto pen.

https://bsky.app/profile/eddiethelazor.bsky.social/post/3m3s5paesks2w

………

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

An Arizona man known locally as Bicycle Barry after he gave up driving for health reasons is now battling an ankle infection that could cost him his leg, ten months after he was nearly killed by a road-raging driver. Never mind that driving is so normalized that merely giving up your car is enough to earn you a bicycle sobriquet.

No bias here. A London train station draws complaints from commuters when a newly unveiled bike hub is only accessible by carrying your bike up and down a flight of stairs.

No bias here, either. An Irish city counselor says nobody wants bike lanes and no one uses the ones they’ve already got, anyway; local bike riders beg to disagree.

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

A Chicago man is blaming the cops for a $3,000 ambulance bill after he was struck by a young woman riding an ebike as he was getting out of his car, complaining that they let her go without a citation. Although the fact that they didn’t cite her just might suggest she wasn’t at fault.

Police are on the lookout for a 53-year old inmate who escaped from the Henderson County, Kentucky jail by simply riding off on a bicycle he had been repairing with two other inmates.

A Singaporean website examines the online debate after a video goes viral of a teenage bicyclist who failed to apologize after crashing into an elderly woman walking on a bike path.

An Australian mom is calling for stricter regulation of ebikes, a year after her toddler daughter was run down by someone riding one.

………

Local 

Streets For All wants you to take LADOT’s survey about the Westwood Safety and Mobility Project, and urge them to install protected bike lanes all the way down to National Blvd, rather than stopping at the Expo station. Although it’s kind of pathetic that we’re still fighting this same battle after more than a dozen years. 

LA’s new bike-trailer street sweeper custom built for the Hollywood Blvd bike lanes was powered by Olympic hopeful cyclist Kayla Hankins. At least for the official unveiling, anyway. 

Lime is introducing pedal-free throttle-controlled LimeGlider bikes to the streets of LA. Because honestly, what could go wrong?

A carfree Angeleno examines the promise of a carfree LA Olympics, even if Mayor Karen Bass walked it back just days later. Speaking of Bass, word is she bet the mayor of Toronto she’d ride a bike wearing a Blue Jays jersey if the Dodgers lose the World Series. Which I’m pretty sure is the first time she’s mentioned riding one since she was elected. 

Culver City officially cut the ribbon to open the Robertson Boulevard Complete Street project, complete with the bike lanes that make it that way.

Malibu marked two full years since the tragic deaths of four Pepperdine sorority sisters on PCH, victims of SoCal’s killer highway, as well as a speeding driver; a crowdfunding campaign is raising money to install a permanent memorial.

 

State

Everyone seems impressed with the first bike from Irvine-based Rivian’s new ebike spinoff, with Robb Report praising its whopping 100-mile range, while a writer for Outside calls it the most impressive bike he’s ridden all year, Velo says it’s absolutely wild — in a good way, and Singletracks writes it’s a full-suspension ebike “unlike any other you’ve seen.”

While everyone else was focused on Rivian’s new ebike, Gear Patrol asks if their new spinoff just invented the perfect bike helmet.

Seriously, it takes a major schmuck to take off after hitting a 12-year old kid riding a bicycle in El Cajon.

Mountain Bike Action looks back on the early days of downhill BMX racing in Corona, all the way back in 1975.

Volunteers with the Kern River Bike Patrol ride the popular bike path to aid bicyclists in need.

Despite a recent report showing Stockton’s bike fatality rate was six-times the national average as of 2023, recent safety improvements have brought that down to zero this year. More proof that bike deaths can be eliminated, if cities are willing to spend the money and do the work. Looking at you, Los Angeles.

 

National

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard from Peter Flax, who writes for Bicycling about nine “badass” women who’ve raised millions for cancer research, calling them “the fiercest sisterhood in cycling.” Unfortunately, though, the story is hidden behind their paywall for members only. 

No surprise here, as the US bicycle industry is waking up to Trump’s “crushing” 50% tariffs on aluminum, with one bike shop owner comparing it to “screaming into the void.”

If you have a Favoto bike helmet, the Consumer Products Safety Commission says stop wearing it, cut the straps and toss it in the trash, because the helmets “violate the positional stability, certification and labeling requirements of the mandatory safety standard for bicycle helmets.”

Portland, Oregon bike riders demanded the city council either “approve or improve” a settlement negotiated with the city to resolve a lawsuit that alleged that the Portland Bureau of Transportation has violated a state law requiring the construction of bicycling facilities on major projects.

A Lubbock, Texas bike rider was lucky to escape without injuries, along with her dog, when she was struck by a sheriff’s deputy in an unmarked car; naturally, the person on the bike got the blame, and a citation. Because cops are never at fault, right?

Tulsa, Oklahoma firefighters honored a local teenager for helping to save the life of a friend after a mountain biking crash.

The mayor of Kansas City is proposing a ban on right turns on red in a school zone during school hours — a week too late for a nine-year old girl killed by a driver while riding her bike to school.

The same goes for an Illinois mayor’s call for safe streets and protected crossings, but only after a 13-year old boy was killed by a semi driver while riding his bicycle.

Good idea. A Cambridge, Massachusetts bike safety group works year-round to help bike-friendly politicians win local elections.

Florida now has its first glowing bike path, with the 4.4-mile, 12-foot wide bike path on Okaloosa Island giving off a blue glow at night, thanks to paving with bioluminescent rock.

 

International

An adventure site takes a deep dive into how adventure bicycling could benefit your mental health.

Sixty-six-year old Jean Louis, the only bicyclist named Sportsman of the Year for the Caribbean isle of Saint Lucia, was killed by a driver while riding in Ontario, Canada.

They get it. Momentum says Ontario, Canada’s plan to ban bike lanes is proof that “stupid is as stupid does.”

Yet another study, this time from an English university, shows that physical barriers separating bicyclists from drivers and pedestrians is key to safer streets.

A 20-something man in Oxford, England was stabbed in an unprovoked attack while riding on a bike path, after two men approached him and started an altercation, leaving on e-motorbikes afterwards.

Britain’s Liberal Democrats political party is urging the country’s National Crime Agency to set up a bait bike unit to catch bike thieves. No American political party has even mentioned bike theft since cars took over the roads. 

The 25-year old Ukrainian Bike Project is still building bicycles for “residents, service workers, educators, ministry leaders and the military,” despite the three-year old Russian invasion.

In a surprising move, a Russian court released French ultracyclist Sofiane Sehili, who was busted for an illegal border crossing while trying to set a new record for the fastest endurance ride from Lisbon to Vladivostok; he was released after being fined 50,000 rubles — the equivalent of $612.

 

Competitive Cycling

A New Zealand researcher says pro-cycling crashes may be dangerous, but slower bicycles aren’t the solution.

 

Finally…

Your next saddle could support each butt cheek separately, and rock with every peddle stroke. Who needs a naked bike ride when you’ve got a two-wheeled second line?

And if you’re riding your bike with outstanding warrants, try not to get hit by a driver while crossing the street.

Or better yet, just don’t cross against the light.

……… 

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Celebrating 10 years of SAFE & why I do what I do, Metro joins HLA lawsuit, and MAAP LaB LA lands on Abbot Kinney

September 15, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 258 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

I got a little dose of inspiration yesterday.

My wife, the corgi and I attended the first part of SAFE’s 10th anniversary celebration yesterday evening, before we had to leave for a family commitment.

The nonprofit group known as Streets Are For Everyone was born from Damian Kevitt’s first Finish the Ride, after more than 600 people turned out to ride with him to finish what started out as a pleasant bike ride with his wife, before it was interrupted by a heartless hit-and-run driver.

I covered that horrific 2013 crash from the very beginning as best I could, based on the cryptic reports available at the time.

But in time, it became clear that Kevitt had been struck by the driver of a van while riding on Zoo Drive, and dragged hundreds of feet onto the northbound 5 Freeway by the fleeing driver.

He freed himself from under the van by sheer force of will. And likely survived only because the trailing drivers saw what was happening and stopped to protect him, and because some of those cars has people with medical training, who began treating him at the scene before paramedics arrived.

The odds that he would survive his multiple life-threatening injuries were somewhere between slim and none. But his mother refused to give up and fought for him at every turn. And Damian’s sheer will to live was evident when he told her and his wife that he would one day finish that ride, whatever it took.

In those ten years, Damian has gone from a victim to founder of a successful organization that has spawned other traffic safety groups and shepherded a number of important bills through the state legislature, as well as memorializing victims and calling attention to our most dangerous streets.

He has become someone I truly admire and consider a good friend. And along with Streets For All founder Michael Schneider and Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, he’s one of the first people I reach out to with any bike or pedestrian safety problem that demands a solution.

We are lucky to have people and groups like that fighting for us every day.

Listening to the inspiring stories from other victims of traffic violence, along with SAFE staffers and volunteers, it coalesced in my own mind just why I do what I do, and what keeps me fighting when our mean streets and uncaring officials continue to drag me down and break my heart.

For the first time in a long time, or maybe ever, I can now sum it up in two simple sentences.

I want everyone who wants to ride a bicycle to be able to ride one, regardless of who they are or where they live.

And I want everyone who leaves home today on a bicycle to get home safely.

That’s it.

I’ll keep fighting for that as long as I have any fight in me. Sometimes I think that day was yesterday. And sometimes I think I’m just getting started.

One other note before we move on.

One of the speakers yesterday described how he was struck by a driver and badly injured just five months after moving to Los Angeles. And yesterday’s CicLAvia was the first time he had ridden a bike in this city since.

It was a reminder just how important CicLAvia and other open streets events like Beach Streets in Long Beach, and Active Streets in the San Gabriel Valley, are to all of us.

Because without them, many people in the this car-choked megalopolis wouldn’t ride bikes again.

Or at all.

Top photo: Damian Kevitt speaking at SAFE 10th Anniversary event.

………

Speaking of Joe Linton, his HLA lawsuit over the city’s failure to include bike lanes in the Vermont Ave bus lane project was in court on Friday, as Metro fought to be included in the case.

And it’s important to note that Linton’s lawsuit is a personal matter, unrelated to his work for Streetsblog.

In a very narrow ruling, the judge concluded that Metro could join the suit, but could only focus on the Vermont case, and not any other possible cases.

As Linton describes it on his personal website B.I.K.A.S, which stands for Bicycle Infrastructure Knowledge Activism and Safety,

In the discussion in court, the judge engaged Metro’s lawyers regarding how expansive this case would be. Metro’s earlier filing noted that my lawsuit “attacked” Metro’s authority to build “the Vermont Project and other Metro projects.” The judge asked Metro’s lawyer if it was ok to strike references to other projects, and just focus on Vermont. Metro’s lawyer agreed. Towards the end of the discussion, the judge summarized that this trial would focus on one project on Vermont, and that another day could focus on another project on, for example, Western or Alameda

That’s it for now.

Going forward, Metro will undoubtedly argue that HLA is a city ordinance that does not apply to them as a county agency, while Linton’s attorneys will argue that Metro is working for the city on a city project, on a city street included in the city mobility plan.

It will be interesting to see how this develops from here.

………

Conservative media was up in arms over a former member of the USA Cycling National team, after the transgender BMX rider appeared to celebrate the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

Although I’m not sure if they were more appalled because of the Instagram posts or the gender identity of the person behind them.

I haven’t commented about the shooting here because it falls outside of the scope of this site.

But as someone who lived through the killings of both Kennedys and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., as well as the attempted assassinations of Presidents Ford and Reagan, and the near-fatal shooting of Alabama Governor George Wallace, I can attest that no good ever comes from political violence.

And you can’t kill an idea, good or bad, with a bullet.

………

Aussie bikewear brand MAAP has opened their first North American store right here in Los Angeles.

Known for high-performance gear and a culture-first approach, the company’s MAAP LaB Los Angeles landed on iconic Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice, their eighth location outside of Australia.

According to StupidDope, it’s designed to be a creative hub for bicyclists and creatives.

At its heart lies a social coffee bar, an anchor point meant to bring riders together before and after their rides. It’s more than a retail space; it’s a venue where cyclists and Venice locals alike can gather, share stories, and connect over a shared passion for performance and design. This approach reflects MAAP’s “Life Around Bikes” philosophy — a reminder that cycling culture is about more than the ride itself.

They’re not the first to try that approach.

And Abbot Kinney is littered with the gravesites of other high-end bike brands who thought they had a “can’t miss” concept in the ideal location.

But let’s hope it succeeds this time.

………

Don’t forget the two important meetings today

First the Encino Neighborhood Council’s Traffic and Transportation Committee considers the threatened Amestoy Ave pedestrian bridge over the 101 Freeway in a virtual meeting starting at 4:45 pm.

Then starting at 6 pm, the West Hollywood City Council takes up the Fountain Ave safe streets makeover. WeHo residents can watch on Spectrum Cable channel 10 and YouTube; I’m hoping the latter works for those of us in LA, too. And comments can submitted online prior to the meeting.

………

Local 

Well, no shit. LAist says Los Angeles is lagging behind on installing the speed cams approved over a year ago by the state legislature. If “lagging behind” means not installing any yet, that is. 

A Long Beach man was hospitalized with non-life-threatening upper and lower body injuries, after allegedly swerving his bicycle in front of a driver while on PCH in Long Beach. Although we often find that drivers swear a bike rider swerved in front of them or came out of nowhere, when in actuality they just weren’t paying attention. 

 

State

Costa Mesa will offer free ebike safety lessons for school kids on September 27th.

Carlsbad is looking for input on whether to ban ebike use for kids under 12. I’m down with that, but maybe make 14, instead.

A kindhearted Santa Clara County sheriff’s deputy arranged the donation of a new bike to a nine-year old kid after his was stolen.

The CEO of The San Francisco Standard news site describes what it’s like to get sideswiped by a pickup driver while nearing the end of a 100-mile training ride. But be careful if you don’t want to see it, because security cam video at the top offers a disturbing view of the crash.

A Streetsblog op-ed from a San Francisco environmentalist and transportation rider says the city can’t afford to build safe streets so slowly, as peer cities like Austin, Texas show it can be done swiftly and cheaply. Maybe Los Angeles could take notes, too. 

 

National

Bike riders in Santa Fe, New Mexico are calling for safety changes and greater accountability after a man was killed riding his bike in June, and the driver who killed him walked with a deferred sentence.

The mayor of Cheyenne, Wyoming is about to become a former bike shop owner, after he announced the store will be closing after 35 years — leaving just one other bike shop in the state’s largest city.

A 21-year old autistic man from Billings, Montana got his stolen adaptive tricycle back after community outrage encouraged someone to drop it off at city hall.

Bike riders in Houston bared all for the World Naked Bike Ride, while accusing the city of backsliding on safety; some people did the same in Los Angeles, too.

A five-day bike ride is traveling 700 miles across Wisconsin to support military families and first responders, while focusing on children of fallen service members and disabled veterans.

The US Department of Transportation pulled a $675,000 grant to finish an Illinois bike trail, although grants for similar projects in red states Wyoming and Idaho appear to be moving forward.

Bicycling collisions reached an eight-year high in Michigan last year, with a 42% jump over 2021.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 78-year old New Hampshire man is circumnavigating the state on his bike; he expects to finish in nine days, riding 70 miles a day. Must be a small state.

A DC food delivery worker traded her moped for an ebike in an attempt to appear less obtrusive to ICE agents.

This is the cost of traffic violence. A North Carolina police officer was killed in a traffic collision while ride a bike with his wife, less than a year after joining the force.

That’s more like it. A 30-year old Florida man with a long history of reckless driving and hit-and-runs was sentenced to 30 years behind bars for the high-speed hit-and-run crash that killed a 15-year old boy riding a bicycle; the car’s onboard computer shows he hit the kid at 75 mph without braking.

 

International

Road.cc takes a look at the very first Brompton foldie, on the company’s 50th anniversary.

London bicycle crashes spiked 44% last week as more than 2 million people took their bikes as a result of a strike by subway workers — although that jump amounted to just eight more crashes than usual.

After a British man restored a 1936 French bicycle, he’s riding it back to the home of the original owner to surprise them, while raising money to fight pancreatic cancer.

There’s a special place in hell for any driver who would leave someone in their 80s to die alone in the street, like this bike-riding 80-something Irishman killed by a hit-and-run driver.

A new survey shows 83% of Netherlanders support requiring bike helmets for young ebike riders, though it doesn’t say how young.

Officials in Seoul, South Korea are cracking down on brakeless fixies after the recent death of a teenage bike rider, well over a decade after the brakeless fixie panic in the US.

 

Competitive Cycling

As expected, Jonas Vingegaard won the Vuelta on Sunday, his first Vuelta win after two Tour de France titles; Portugal’s Joao Almeida was second, with Britain’s Tom Pidcock third; Pidcock called his first podium the biggest performance of his career.

However, the final Vuelta stage never completed, as organizers abandoned the stage with nearly 40 miles to go when up to 100,000 pro-Palestinian protesters flooded the streets — and that was after the stage was already shortened by 3.1 miles before the race in anticipation of the protests.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez praised the protesters, calling it a just cause.

The Pro-Palestinian protests extended to Canada’s Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, where 200 protesters gathered to protest the Israel-Premier Tech team, but didn’t interfere with the race itself.

Americans took three of the first four spots in the Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal, with Brandon McNulty edging teammate Tadej Pogačar as they crossed the finish line together; Quinn Simmons was third and Neilson Powless fourth.

South African Alan Hatherly won the men’s world mountain bike championship on Sunday, despite a switch to road cycling for most of the year, and Sweden’s Jenny Rissveds won the women’s championship, in a return to the sport after she fell into severe depression and an eating disorder following her gold in the Rio Olympics.

 

Finally…

If you can’t find a sexy tandem, just learn to build your own. Who needs a little metallic trill when you could have your very own digital bike bell with eight distinct sounds?

And nope, nothing will ever get people to ride bikes.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

WeHo Council to hear Fountain Ave Monday (oops), HLA lawsuit in court today, and Amestoy Ave bridge zoom Monday

September 12, 2025 / / Comments Off on WeHo Council to hear Fountain Ave Monday (oops), HLA lawsuit in court today, and Amestoy Ave bridge zoom Monday
Day 255 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

Today is the anniversary of 2007’s Infamous Beachfront Bee Encounter.

That was when a massive swarm of bees on the beachfront Marvin Braude Bike Trail tried to kill me, sending me to intensive care and four months of medical home confinement. 

And set me on a path to 18 years of bike advocacy, and whatever the hell it is I do now. 

All without a single sting. Go figure. 

It’s worth a read if you don’t know my own origin story. 

Photo of Fountain Ave opponents protesting proposed safety changes by Joe Linton/Streetsblog.

………

Okay, I fucked up.

I wrote yesterday that the West Hollywood City Council would consider the makeover of deadly Fountain Ave at their meeting on Tuesday.

Except the meeting is actually on Monday.

I don’t know where I got the wrong date. But I take full responsibility for the massive fuckup, and for not checking the city’s website to verify the date.

So the good news is you have Tuesday night free, but you’ll have to clear your schedule for Monday. Because opponents of the makeover will undoubtedly come out in force, and we need all the support we can get.

But be prepared for a long night, because Fountain Ave is way down on the agenda at item E.1.

If you can’t attend the meeting in person, you can watch live on WeHoTV via Spectrum Channel 10 if you live in West Hollywood, or on YouTube

Public comments can submitted online through September 15th.

………

The Measure HLA lawsuit over the city’s failure to include the promised bike lanes in the bus lane makeover of the Vermont Ave corridor will be in court today, as Metro tries to shoehorn in.

The lawsuit, by longtime LA bike advocate Joe Linton, was filed against the city for failing to build the bike lanes as required by HLA, since they’re included in the mobility plan already approved by the city.

Although it’s important to note that Linton is acting on his own behalf, and not as a representative of Streetsblog, where he serves, admirably, as Los Angeles editor.

Metro is arguing that they should be included in the lawsuit, since they are funding the project, even though the work is being done on a city street. Their hope is that they can get the case thrown out if they’re named a party to the lawsuit, since Metro is a county agency, and HLA is a city ordinance.

Let’s hope the judge rules against them. But either way, there could still be a settlement that includes more bike and pedestrian elements as part of the makeover.

You can read the actual lawsuit file here.

………

Monday will be a busy day.

In addition to the WeHo Council meeting, the Encino Neighborhood Council’s Traffic and Transportation Committee will host a virtual meeting to consider the fate of the threatened Amestoy Ave pedestrian bridge over the 101 Freeway in Encino.

Caltrans already removed another pedestrian bridge at Encino Ave in 2022, forcing bike riders and pedestrians onto busy thoroughfares and highway underpasses to get from one side of the freeway to the other, which slices across the Valley like an ugly scar.

Removing the Amestoy Ave bridge would make a difficult crossing that much worse for everyone.

………

Speaking of Linton, as we were above, he’s compiling an archive of Measure HLA appeals that have been filed with the Los Angeles Board of Public Works on his personal website, B.I.K.A.S., which stands for Bicycle Infrastructure Knowledge Activism and Safety.

According to Linton, there have been 22 separate HLA appeals that he is aware of, which he has posted here, here and here. Most involve relatively minor issues like missing crosswalks and curb ramps that should have been completed when the streets were resurfaced.

However, Linton himself has filed a four-page appeal over elements that were left out when Los Angeles reconfigured a section of Victory Blvd in the east San Fernando Valley.

The city removed an existing peak-hour travel lane to restore car parking during rush hour. But they skipped the bike lanes included in the mobility plan, even though there’s enough space to add basic painted lanes.

And credit Joe with being enough of a bike-riding man about town that he’s familiar with projects like this in far-flung quadrants all over the city.

If you’re interested in filing your own HLA appeal, Linton also offers complete step-by-step instructions on his website.

……….

The Los Angeles Times The Wild newsletter recommends a pair of bike events this weekend, from Saturday’s World Naked Bike Ride to Sunday’s Historic South Central meets Watts CicLAvia.

Which should pretty much fill your weekend dance card.

1. Bike through Historic South–Central and Watts
Nonprofit CicLAvia will host a free open streets festival from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday where participants can traverse a 6.25-mile route through Historic South-Central and Watts. Visitors can walk and bike the route or choose any other people-powered means of transport. The route will include music, local food vendors and more. Learn more at ciclavia.org.

2. Bare it all on bikes in L.A.
L.A.’s World Naked Bike Ride will start at 10 a.m. Saturday downtown. Riders can choose from a more challenging ride at 10 a.m. or an easier 9-mile ride at 2 p.m. Participants can skate, scoot, jog or bike in their birthday suits along the ride. Body paint optional! Learn more at the group’s Instagram page.

………

I’m told there are still a few tickets left for Streets Are For Everyone’s 10th Anniversary celebration at The Morrison in Los Feliz, with CD4 Councilmember Nytha Raman as the closing keynote speaker.

However, the deadline to purchase tickets is midnight tonight, so get a move on. Although you’re welcome, along with everyone else, to drop in for the free pre-reception hour from 3 pm to 4 pm, no tickets necessary.

And yes, you’ll see me there along with my wife. Just look for the couple with the corgi (she’s a service dog, so she gets a pass — the corgi, that is, not my wife).

Meanwhile, you just have four days left to get early bird pricing for next month’s Santa Clarita Finish the Ride and Finish the Run, put on by the fundraising arm of SAFE.

The events commemorate founder Damian Kevitt’s inspiring return to finish the ride he had started before a hit-and-run driver nearly took his life.

And no, that driver was never caught.

………

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

No bias here. In a story that reads like it was written by AI, Newsweek says an Idaho altercation began when a bicyclist yelled “Fuck Charlie Kirk,” at a vigil for the murdered conservative activist. Except the person in question was on a scooter, rather than a bicycle, and the video starts with people surrounding and punching him, and doesn’t show the alleged shout.

A London paper lists the city’s worst intersections for bike riders jumping red lights, with the busy Oxford Circus shopping district reaching 50%. Although they don’t bother to offer any reason why, which could have at least something to do with people not feeling safe stopping at the dangerous intersection. 

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

A bike thief was busted by Huntington Beach cops when he was spotted two miles away, after police were alerted by quick-acting witness.

 

National

Bicycling examines the surprising causes of hand numbness among bike riders, and what you can do to avoid it. But evidently, they want you to keep those numb fumble fingers, because the story is only available to subscribers. Although what worked for me was moving my hands to different positions on the handlebars, holding the bars less tightly, and putting less weight from my shoulders on them. 

Trek launched new “pro-tested” 3D-printed saddles, promising to eliminate saddle sores, as well as sit bone and soft tissue pain. In other words, no more numb nuts.

A 67-year old Philadelphia man described as a “cyclist’s kind of cyclist,” who built his own bikes, rode safely and carefully, and advocated for safer streets was killed while riding his bike Tuesday when he was struck by one of two drivers traveling at high speeds, on what should have been a quiet street.

A Pennsylvania man was sentenced to 15 to 40 years behind bars after pleading guilty but mentally ill to the random shooting of a man riding a bicycle, who he had never met; he reportedly was turned away by both the police and a local hospital when he tried to get help for paranoia caused by issues with mental health and drug addiction, before killing the victim.

Bicyclists in Charlotte, NC are calling for a shift in mindset to make drivers more aware of bike riders on the roads. You know, kinda like people who ride bikes everywhere else.

 

International

A hit-and-run driver in Canada’s Yukon Territory was sentenced to six-and-a-half years behind bars for killing a man riding a bicycle, along with a ten-year driving ban; with credit for time served, he still has five years left on his sentence.

An 80-year old Calgary, Alberta man suffered life-threatening injuries when he tried to stop a man trying to steal his bicycle; the alleged thief pushed him backwards and he fell, striking his head. Seriously, hide a tracking device in your bike, and just let the cops deal with it. Because no bike is worth your life.

A 36-year old soccer player for Mansfield Town in the third-tier English Football League One was named to the roster for the coming year — but only after striker Lucas Atkins is released from prison for killing a 33-year old man riding a bicycle with his $271,000 Mercedes.

British surgeons say ebike injuries are placing a massive burden on the country’s health system. Although once again, they don’t seem to differentiate between ped-assist ebikes and electric motorbikes.

Bike Rumor visits the Zefal plant on the banks of France’s famous Loire River to tour one of the oldest and most affordable accessory manufacturers in the bicycling industry. Speaking of oldest, I remember when nearly everyone had a Zefal pump attached to their steel frame.

Czech carmaker Škoda’s We Love Cycling website asks why can’t bicyclists do vacation photos like normal people, and stop doing things like leaning your bike up against a landmark, lifting it in the air in front of some tourist attraction, or recording yourself unboxing it at the airport.

 

Competitive Cycling

Once again, a race moto sent multiple cyclists to the hospital when a cop on a motorcycle cut from one side of the road to the other with no warning, knocking riders off their bikes as they sprinted to the finish in stage 3 of the Vuelta a Venezuela, while sending at least one competitor flying over the retaining wall.

Cycling Weekly considers what data-driven road cycling can learn from rough-around-the-edges downhill mountain biking, which they call “cycling’s coolest discipline.”

Velo says a new bike racing format called Stadiobike maybe the answer to the cycling’s perennial problems, by staging bike races in front of fans in grandstands on automotive tracks.

 

Finally…

Your next handmade bespoke steel bike could come from Namibia — with “only” a 15% tariff for now. Nothing like buying your own bike back for just 700 bucks, 25 years after building it for a legendary Olympian.

And who needs a helmet when you’ve got a bird house on your head?

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

WeHo petition supports convenience over safety, Pasadena’s invisible bicyclists, and is anyone in LA listening to voters?

August 22, 2025 / / 2 comments
Day 234 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

No surprise here.

A petition to oppose the redesign of deadly Fountain Ave in West Hollywood has over 2,300 signatures, proving once again that some people will always value their own convenience more than human lives.

Although that represents less than seven percent of the city’s population. And many of those signers are likely pass-through drivers from other cities, who are used to using the neighborhood street to bypass busier Santa Monica and Sunset Blvds.

Never mind that it has taken nearly a full year to draw those relatively few signatures.

But according to the somewhat less than unbiased WeHo Times,

Petition organizers argue Fountain is too narrow for the project and accuse city leaders of failing to adequately consult with residents, including those in adjacent Los Angeles neighborhoods. They point to other cities, including Culver City, Beverly Hills and South Pasadena, that have scaled back or removed bike lanes in response to public opposition.

Concerns listed in the petition include the diversion of an estimated 900 cars per hour to nearby Santa Monica and Sunset boulevards, the inability for cars to pull over for emergency vehicles or passenger drop-offs, and increased pollution from idling traffic. The project’s estimated cost is $35–40 million.

Not mentioned, however, are any benefits of the redesign, from slowing speeding drivers and improving safety for all road users to reducing noise pollution and revitalizing the residential corridor.

Nor is there any mention of the recent death of Blake Ackerman, who was killed by a hit-and-run driver while riding his bike home from work on Fountain just last month. Or any of the other people who have been killed or seriously injured just walking, biking or driving on the corridor.

There’s also no mention that both the sheriff’s department and the county fire department said the redesign would not affect their ability to respond to emergencies along the corridor.

A petition in support of the street makeover has gathered 612 signatures since it was posted in October. And yes, that includes mine.

There’s no mention of that, either.

Photo of protestors opposed to Fountain safety project by Joe Linton for Streetsblog.

………

No bias here.

After Pasadena’s mayor said he can’t see anyone riding bicycles on Union Street, a volunteer with the Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition planted tongue firmly in cheek, and conducted his own highly scientific study.

According to Jonah Kanner’s highly entertaining piece, bicyclists may be using advanced technology, such as an alien cloaking device, to remain hidden from view.

Mayor Victor Gordo, in January, 2024, noted that he is unable to see the cyclists, saying “… we’ve gotta be careful about that, now that we’ve seen what’s happening on Union Street. We were told there would be hundreds and thousands of bicyclists going back and forth—that’s— that’s not what we’ve seen.” Also tricked by the advanced technology, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Little told the Planning Commission in July, 2025, “As we see with Union Street, the installation of millions of dollars in signals, curbs and re-striping has not significantly increased bicycle usage there.”

A recent study used sophisticated measurement techniques to reveal the invisible cyclists: the author stood on the corner of Lake and Union Street for about 20 minutes holding his phone. In that time, he was able to photograph more than 30 people riding bikes, both on the Union Street bike path and on Lake Avenue. Statistical analysis suggests that over the course of a whole day, a lot of people are riding bikes on Union Street.

Let’s not forget that the city is home to Caltech and a stone’s throw from the Jet Propulsion Lab. So advanced tech is not entirely out of the question.

Although based on the reaction from drivers, I seem to have been using some form of it since I bought my bike back when Reagan was president.

………

California Streetsblog editor Damien Newton says Angelenos are crying out for safe streets.

But he asks if anyone is listening, noting that eight appeals have already been filed against the city for failing to observe the requirements of Measure HLA, which mandates that the city mobility plan must be built out when streets are resurfaced or significantly re-striped.

The appeals, nearly all for missing crosswalks, come on the heels of the saga of the Stoner Park crosswalks where advocates painted crosswalks around the park, two of which were on a “Slow Street,” the city removed the crosswalks, and after bad press and intervention from the local City Councilmember re-installed the crosswalks. While it’s encouraging that in the end the crosswalks were installed, it shouldn’t be this hard.

In March of 2024, voters passed Measure HLA which required the city to implement its own mobility plan when completing repaving projects of a certain size. The popular measure received a majority of votes in all fifteen council districts while cruising to an easy victory. Since then the city dragged its feet, and nearly a year and a half after the measure was passed the city’s implementation ordinance went into effect on Monday. So did the ability of residents to appeal out-of-court if they believe the city is failing to implement the law.

It’s a good question, even though Los Angeles voters passed HLA with a two-thirds margin.

You would think that after that meany LA voters voiced a strong preference for safer and more livable streets, city leaders would be quick to respond.

But evidently, you’d be wrong.

………

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

Here’s a new one. Welsh residents opposed plans for a newly approved bike path because it would a) disturb a territorial dog, leading to excessive barking, and b) force the removal of a van that’s been parked in the area since 1990.

………

Local 

No news is good news, right?

 

State

The US head of Upway says California’s clean energy push is leaving low-income residents behind, even though ebikes and e-scooters are among the cleanest and least expensive transportation modes.

Yorba Linda is just the latest Orange County city to crackdown on ebike riders.

San Diego bike riders will have their annual opportunity to ride around the bay and across the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge when Bike the Bay returns this Sunday.

Sad news from Kern County, where an 81-year old man was killed by a driver while riding his bike on Tehachapi’s Highline Road yesterday morning.

San Francisco’s experiment with a carfree Market Street will come to an end next week, when the city will allow Waymo, Uber and Lyft to pick up and drop off passengers, in a move strongly opposed by local advocates.

 

National

Streetsblog’s Talking Headways Podcast speaks with NACTO Executive Director Ryan Russo about how to design and deliver bike networks.

The semi-legendary Tour de Fat returns to my bike-friendly Colorado hometown this weekend for the annual celebration of bikes and beer.

A Denver TV station listens to the concerns of regular bike riders and advocates, after reporting on the dangers faced by vulnerable road users in the Mile High City. So when was the last time a Los Angeles TV station did anything like that? Bueller? Bueller?

Perhaps taking a cue from LA’s successful Streets For All PAC, Chicago’s new Bike PAC political action committee launched to elect pro-bike candidates to the city council.

A 14-year old Miami e-dirt bike rider will face charges for riding without a license after killing a 54-year old man riding a bicycle last Friday.

 

International

Momentum takes another look at some of the world’s worst bike lanes.

A Toronto petition is calling for local venues to allow bike riders to bring their helmets into concerts and sporting events, without charging bag check fees up to $20.

Life is cheap in the UK, where a garbage truck driver walked without a day behind bars for killing an 11-year old boy riding his bike to school, after admitting to using his phone several times while driving prior to the crash.

Twenty-five percent of bike theft victims in England and Wales gave up bicycling completely after their bikes were stolen.

Turns out that the “incremental gains” theory developed by British cycling coach David Brailsford can help ranchers squeeze out a few more bucks in profit.

Police in the Netherlands are looking for a possible bike-riding suspect in the brutal murder of a 17-year old girl as she rode her bike home from a night out.

Another one bites the dust, as the Polish parent company of gravel bike brands Rondo, Creme Cycles, NS Bikes and Octane One has filed for bankruptcy after two to three “really tough years.”

The LCR Honda racing team will be down one rider at this weekend’s Hungarian Grand Prix, after Spanish motorcycle racer Aleix Espargaro injured his back in a bicycle crash.

The Indian city of Chandigarh discovered the hard way that using paving stones on cycle tracks isn’t compatible with heavy rain storms.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist looks at the six Americans and two Canadians who will take part in the Vuelta, starting tomorrow.

Despite retiring last year while under investigation, French cyclist Franck Bonnamour was banned for four years, after the 30-year old former most most combative rider at the Tour de France showed signs of doping on his biological passport.

The co-founder of Formula Fixed wants to bring bike racing into the TikTok era, with stops including the District of Columbia, San Francisco and, yes, Los Angeles.

Mountain biker Ryan Standish makes a second attempt at setting the fastest known time from Fruita, Colorado to Moab, Utah along the Kokopelli and White Rim Trails after failing last year, traveling 310 miles with 26,000 feet of climbing through stunning desert landscapes.

 

Finally…

A new Ti bike could be yours for the low, low price of just 24 grand. Now you, too, can turn your expensive racing bike into a cargo bike.

And anyone can ride a century facing forward — so try doing it backwards.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Fountain Ave design meeting tonight, LA opens HLA appeals process, and recaps from Sunday’s successful CicLAvia

August 19, 2025 / / One comment
Day 231 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

A quick reminder before we start about this week’s anticipated heat wave, with temperatures in Woodland Hills, LA County valleys and the Inland Empire expected to top well over 100°. 

So try to ride early or late if at all possible, stick to shady, tree-lined routes when you can, and drink plenty of non-alcoholic fluids. 

And keep your phone handy to get help if you get overheated. 

Seriously, stay safe out there. I need every reader I’ve got these days. 

………

West Hollywood with host a meeting tonight to discuss plans for the long-delayed Fountain Avenue Streetscape Project tonight in Rooms 5 & 6 of the Plummer Park Community Center on Santa Monica Blvd.

The presentation starts at 6 pm with an open house and refreshments, followed by a presentation and Q&A session.

You can review a pdf of the draft plan here.

Unfortunately, I’m not comfortable leaving my wife alone so soon after her heart attack, so I’m disappointed I won’t be there this time.

And yes, I feel guilty as hell asking you to go in my stead, but supporters need to turn out in force if you can make it.

Because opponents of the plan are certain to be there to fight for their precious free curbside parking spaces and a not-so-secret alternative to busier Sunset and Santa Monica Blvds, valuing convenience over protecting human lives.

Photo by Joe Linton/Streetsblog depicts protesters opposed to Fountain Ave bike lanes.

………

Los Angeles officially opened the appeals process for street projects that bypass Measure HLA’s strict requirement to build out the city mobility plan whenever streets get significantly resurfaced or re-striped.

Acting on his own behalf, Joe Linton wasted no time filing an appeal for work not done on Ohio Avenue.

Today I submitted a city-level appeal for protected bike lanes that the city did not install during resurfacing on Ohio Avenue – along the Bundy Triangle Park in Sawtelle. Read my appeal letter.

He is also aware of a number of other appeals that should be filed soon.

I have discussed possible appeals with several people, and I understand that other folks are planning to file city-level appeals today. Below are additional appeals that I am aware of today. (I am adding to this list as I learn of additional appeals.)

  • Appeal of Corinth Avenue in Sawtelle Japantown – pdf
  • Appeal of Kingsley Dr. in Koreatown – one page image
  • Appeal of Kingswell Ave. and Rodney Dr. in Los Feliz – pdf or page 1, 2
  • Appeal of Mesa and Eagle Dale Avenues in northeast L.A. – pdf
  • Appeal of Middlebury St. in East Hollywood – pdf

This is the first step required by the city before a lawsuit can be filed to enforce the requirements of Measure HLA — even though that was not part of the proposition passed overwhelming by LA voters.

………

Streetsblog offers an open thread on Sunday’s Culver City meets Venice CicLAvia, along with Joe Linton’s typically great photos.

David also forward several photos, along with these brief comments.

This was an extraordinary one. Maybe the largest group of cyclists ever for a Ciclavia.  It was an impressive turnout of cycles.

Councilwoman Tracy Park set up a Tent in Mar Vista and the Venice end and unlike any other elected politician ever she stayed there from morning till it was done handing out bike flashing to everyone and chatting with anyone about anything that stopped on their bike. I saw her in the morning at Mar Vista and later at almost 4 pm in Venice.

Usually the electeds stay for the 1 hour morning photo-op to start the event and leave their staffers at the table the rest of the day.

Attached is a photo of me with Tracy Park and some Misc photos from the Venice end.  I did not take a lot of photos at this one just wanted to enjoy the experience.

Photos by David Drexler

Finish the Ride was there, too.

 

………

Today’s common thread is just how cheap life your life is held if you ride a bicycle.

Like in Nebraska, where an Arkansas man was sentenced to a lousy 31 months behind bars for the attempted hit-and-run death of an 82-year-old man riding a bicycle.

Or in Louisiana, where a former state trooper walked without a day behind bars for the drunken hit-and-run death of a man biking with his two sons, after a judge sentenced him to a three-year suspended sentence and three years probation.

Or Singapore, where a garbage truck driver was sentenced to just six months behind bars for killing a 60-year old man riding a bicycle, insisting he only realized he’d hit someone when he felt a bump under his wheels, although an eight-year driving ban will keep him from working again until he’s 72.

On the other hand, a 28-year old Texas man got 15 years for the hit-and-run that killed a Fort Worth father of five as he was riding his bicycle last year; the driver’s mother told police he wasn’t sure if he hit a deer or a homeless man, neither of which would justify just driving away — or covering his car with a tarp to hide it from the cops.

………

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

No bias here. Indianapolis, Indiana scrapped several segments of a planned bike lane after gradually paring it down so drivers could keep their precious curbside parking, choosing their convenience over everyone’s safety.

A bike rider in Cheshire, England says people riding on the county’s roads are “fair game for crazy drivers,” after police reject video evidence of dangerous driving due to a lack of witnesses. Although it seems like the cops themselves would be witnesses if they just watched the videos.

Bicyclists in West Yorkshire, England criticized the cops following yet another mass casualty event when a driver cut back into a group of bicyclists while attempting to pass on a blind curve, resulting in serious injuries to two riders, with several others hurt; the “abysmal” police report failed to criticize the driver, or even mention that the car had one.

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

A 20-year old British man was sentenced to eight years and three months in a young offenders’ institution for the hit-and-run death of an 86-year old man just walking to a fish and chips shop, moments after popping a wheelie and swerving all over the road on his ebike. Although it sounds more like he was riding an e-motorbike than a ped-assist ebike, but still. 

………

Local 

KCBS-2 looks at Metro’s adopt-a-bike program to assist families affected by January’s devastating Eaton and Palisades firestorms

Secret Los Angeles looks forward to Santa Clarita’s forthcoming $7.4 million Haskell Canyon Bike Park. Even though that scheduled opening is only a secret if you haven’t been paying attention.

ICE agents are accused of snatching a man off his bicycle in a Santa Clarita raid, and heartlessly leaving the man’s bicycle lying in the roadway.

 

State

A Davis columnist recommends an ebike for a friend’s son, saying it’s the perfect solution to allow the 6’10” 16-year old to attend a school in another neighborhood with a better basketball couch.

 

National

Bicycling recommends eight jersey’s built for this month’s extreme heat, with no paywall this time because they hope to make a little on the backend.

Cycling Electric recommends the year’s best e-gravel bikes. Or gravel ebikes. Or something.

A member of the Washington State Traffic Safety Commission busts the myth of wrong-way riding being safer for bicyclists. I still hear from people on a regular basis who insist salmon bicycling is safer than riding with traffic, all evidence to the contrary.

Residents of Houston, Texas demanded better police protection after a 77-year old man was fatally stabbed by a transient as he was riding his bicycle to work on an East Houston bike trail.

An Iowa college professor is employing lessons in the classroom she learned on a 56-day bike ride from Kentucky to San Francisco with her husband along the Trans American Bicycle Trail and Western Express Bike Route.

I want to be like him when I grow up. A 90-year old Milwaukee man is still riding his e-recumbent around 150 miles a week when weather allows.

A Boston company now allows you to rent a cargo bike in eight neighborhoods throughout the city.

The rich get richer, as New York releases a masterplan of 100 projects to expand the city’s 506-mile bicycle greenway network, designed to “connect underserved communities, spur economic development and provide environmental benefits.”

Great idea. Alexandria, Virginia is recruiting bike-riding volunteers to deliver food from local farmer’s markets to residents in need as part of their Bike for Good program.

 

International

A new McGill University study shows Montreal doesn’t have enough bicycle infrastructure to meet demand, taking up just two percent of street space despite a measurable need for more in some areas.

An Icelandic man is working to raise funds and awareness for multiple myeloma, after a new treatment helped ease his pain and get him back on his bike.

Cycling UK opens a new multi-day bikepacking route through “Majestic rolling hillsides, historic regal villages and bluebell-lined woodland trails,” just a stones-throw from London.

A bicycling professor offers advice on how newcomers can safely bike through Amsterdam. Which would seem to be a lot safer than biking in LA, newcomer or otherwise.

 

Competitive Cycling

Canadian Tour de France stage winner and world championship medalist Michael Woods calls it a career, arguing that it’s a “ludicrously dangerous sport,” but Velo says he has big plans going forward.

Former South African champion Ryan Gibbons calls it quits after nine years in cycling’s highest tier, the last two as Mads Petersen’s key lead-out man.

Belgian “domestique extraordinaire” Tim Declercq also calls it a career after 14 years, torching the peloton on his way out for having too many riders who don’t care if they crash and take ten other riders out with them.

A writer for Cycling Weekly argues for making bike racers take a skills test, just like motorsports drivers, with tongue placed firmly in cheek.

 

Finally…

That feeling when “Lime Bike leg” only seems to afflict London bike riders.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Vermont Ave bike commuters deserve safe multimodal route, and someone finally takes an anti-bike booby trap seriously

July 7, 2025 / / One comment
Day 188 of LA’s Vision Zero failure to end traffic deaths by 2025. 

………

He gets it.

A Substack writer considers the bike commuters who ride LA’s Vermont Avenue, as Jonathan Hale argues they “deserve a multimodal transit artery done right.”

Taisha was riding on the sidewalk. There are no bike lanes along Vermont north of Gage Avenue. I asked her why she liked riding a bicycle around Los Angeles.

“You know, it’s quicker, it’s easy to get around,” she said. “It gives me peace of mind.”

“You ever been hit by a car?” I asked, keeping an eye on the evening mayhem in my periphery.

“Absolutely!” she exclaimed, laughing. “Yeah, everybody gets hit by cars. It’s always a victim of someone looking left and turning right. Always.”

Hale continues by pointing out that Metro is building bus rapid transit lanes on the corridor, without considering the need of people like her and others he spoke with.

And LA doesn’t seem to care.

The city of Los Angeles, meanwhile, has looked the other way, refusing to collaborate with Metro to build a truly multimodal transit corridor – even though the city is legally required to fund the project under Measure HLA. That’s why local activist Joe Linton has sued the city, alleging that Los Angeles has shirked its legal responsibility to make roadway improvements in accordance with its Mobility Plan 2035.

It’s more than worth a few minutes of your day to read the whole thing.

Meanwhile, Dr. Grace Peng points out that it’s personal for her, too.

The Vermont protected bike lane through South LA to Del Amo is personal. It connects the J line Harbor Gateway Transit Center to 99 Ranch on Artesia. What places could you go on a Vermont Ave protected bike lane? @bikinginla.bsky.social

— Dr Grace Peng (@gspeng.bsky.social) 2025-07-03T19:16:03.192Z

………

That’s more like it.

A 23-year old man from Osaka, Japan have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and obstructing traffic for stringing a rope across a city street, causing a bike rider to fall and strike his head.

About damn time someone, anywhere, took a booby trap like that seriously, treating it the dangerous, potentially deadly assault it is, instead of just a harmless prank.

Thanks to Megan for the heads-up.

………

Gravel Bike California celebrates its 6th anniversary by delving even deeper into the darkest dens of the Angeles Forest.

………

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

No bias here. The Encinitas city council approved contracts for bicycle education programs from grade school to high school — but ordered city staffers to ensure they weren’t teaching “political” pro-bike propaganda.

A North Vancouver, British Columbia city councilor is calling for mandatory bells on every bike, even though drivers can’t hear them, and pedestrians don’t know what to do if they do.

Clearly suffering from a severe case of windshield bias, a member of the Irish parliament demanded that the country’s Transportation Ministry consider making hi-viz jackets compulsory for all pedestrians, bicyclists and school bus passengers.

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

Police in New York initially arrested a 30-year old woman for hit-and-run, accusing her of leaving the scene after crashing her bicycle into the rider of an electric unicycle — but prosecutors dropped the charges after discovering she had waited 45 minutes for the cops to show up, while speaking with witnesses and waiting for paramedics before going home.

A Washington Post reader takes the paper to task for showing a shirtless, helmet-less bike rider with a corgi in a backpack in high heat while checking his phone with no hands on his handlebars.

A London barrister posts video of his confrontation with a traffic cop after he got a ticket for riding with no hands during rush hour traffic, even though there’s no law against that in the UK.

………

Local 

An op-ed from the chair of Bike Long Beach argues the city is falling behind on life-saving speed cams. Just like its much bigger neighbor next door. 

 

State

A portable pump track is making it’s way around Orange County, popping up in Buena Park before moving on to Santa Ana, after appearing already in Mission Viejo, Garden Grove, Tustin, Irvine and Huntington Beach.

Sad news from San Raphael, where a 54-year old man who was one of the mountain biking coaches at a local high school was killed by a driver in a left cross collision while he was riding his bike, at an intersection where four bike riders were struck by drivers in similar crashes over a five-year period, yet the city did nothing to fix it.

The people running Apple clearly don’t get it, donating $4 million to close a funding gap to build a Cupertino freeway interchange with funds originally planed for a bikeway project, helping fuel induced demand and climate change.

 

National

Bicycling considers why so many girls are giving up biking, and what parents can do to help keep them on two wheels. You can read the story on MSN if the magazine blocks you. 

An architect’s newsletter says it’s time to come up with an infrastructure design solution to safely integrate ebikes.

Car and Driver recommends the best electric cargo bikes. Because who knows more about replacing your car with an ebike than a driving magazine?

Singletracks wants to know whether you think mountain bike trail difficulty ratings are accurate.

Velo explains how to find an actual, factual real deal on bicycling gear on Amazon Prime Day.

A Black father and son describe how they began biking together after the 65-year old dad underwent three heart surgeries, including the multi-day ride from St. Louis to Chicago recounted in their PBS documentary Bike Vessel. 

Um, okay. Hundreds of Portland bike riders were expected to turn out for the “We’re Better Than You” bike ride to raise awareness for “their superior lifestyle choices,” riding at exactly 6 mph to send a message that “Cars are murder machines, walking is inefficient, and public transit is for people who haven’t maxed out their REI credit cards yet.”

Denver bike riders spent their 4th of July riding in silence to honor the victims of traffic violence, following a 78% jump in bicycle and pedestrian deaths in the past ten years.

An Ohio driver faces multiple charges for the alleged DUI hit-and-run that seriously injured two of three kids riding a “three-wheeled bicycle.” Which sounds a lot like a tricycle, although they don’t mention the age of the victims. 

A New York news site says the Parks Department is trying to have it both ways by allowing ebikes and e-scooters in parks and pathways, while restricting cars in parks to protect people on bicycles, arguing that reckless ebike riders pose as much risk to pedestrians as drivers do.

Once again, a motor vehicle was a weapon of mass destruction, when a North Carolina dump truck driver crossed the center line and hit three bike riders head-on, killing two men and injuring the other; an Asheville bike shop planned a memorial to remember the victims, one of whom had worked there for four years.

 

International

Momentum tries to explain People For Bikes’ seemingly inexplicable ratings for the world’s most bicycle-friendly cities.

Thirty-one-year old British cyclist Molly Weaver set a new record by circumnavigating the country in 21 days, 10 hours and 48 minutes, shattering the previous record by 17 hours.

Students from the vocational school founded by the two Václav’s who founded Czech carmaker Škoda as bikemaker 130 years ago transformed one of the company’s cars into a bike race support vehicle as their graduate project.

An 18-year old man with dual French and German citizenship disappeared while riding his bike through Iran on a 400-day bicycling trip across Europe and Asia; he went missing on the third day of the recent Israeli bombardment, and could be one of the estimated 20 foreigners being held by Iran on suspicion of spying. 

The best places to ride your bike in Tokyo for your next trip to Japan.

Bicyclists and traffic safety advocates staged a protest in Manila over the weekend, demanding the Philippine capital cancel plans to remove a protected bike lane to make room for motorcycle lanes.

China is experiencing a boom in ebike sales thanks to a generous nationwide “cash for clunkers” style trade-in program.

This is the cost of traffic violence. An Australian race car driver described as a “extraordinary figure” in Australian motorsports, and who recently competed in the 24 Hours of La Mans, as well as backing the careers of several young racers, was killed by a bus driver while he was riding a bike with his wife near the local zoo.

 

Competitive Cycling

Mathieu Van der Poel ended the first weekend of the Tour de France in yellow after outsprinting Tadej Pogacar in a photo finish to win the second stage, with Jonas Vingegaard third; Cycling News offers a moment-by-moment recap of how the stage unfolded.

The Cofidis cycling team was hit by thieves before the second stage, breaking into one of the team trucks to steal 11 Look bikes worth an estimated $170,000, as well as the team mechanics’ tool sets.

Trine Marie Vingegaard Hansen, the wife of Jonas Vingegaard, stirred up a hornet’s nest by publicly criticizing the training methods of her husband’s Visma-Lease a Bike cycling team, as well as the time away from family demanded by the team, though the team insisted it was blown out of proportion.

Former world time trial cham Filippo Ganna’s Tour de France experience didn’t even make it through the first stage, becoming the first rider to abandon the race after suffering a concussion in a crash.

Cyclist profiles the seven North American cyclists taking part in this year’s Tour — two of whom came up through the same Boise, Idaho youth cycling program.

Road.cc offers a definitive guide to what all the pros are riding at the Tour, while your favorite cyclist could now risk getting a yellow card for bad behavior, just like soccer players.

The Tour de France is overshadowing the Giro d’Italia Donne, aka the women’s Giro, where Swiss individual time trial champ Marlen Reusser won the Giro’s first stage ITT to take the pink leader’s jersey.

The final day of the German Track Cycling Championships was cancelled when two cyclists crashed over the track barriers on final bend of the men’s keirin semi-finals, injuring seven spectators, two seriously enough to be airlifted to local hospitals; the two racers escaped with minor injuries.

A 19-year old British pro apologized for causing a massive crash after hitting a pothole in the country’s national road championships, while reporting that he fractured a vertebrae in his neck, and suffered a “fair amount” of road rash.

 

Finally…

Achieving world peace by sharing an off-road tandem. Your next e-recumbent could look like a velomobile, with a removable roof and a trunk in the back, or maybe it could be powered by a hydrogen fuel cell — but is it really a bicycle if it doesn’t have pedals?

And that’s one hell of a polka dot tan line, dude.

………

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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