May 2, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on More on May’s Bike Month, the Radavist says shred lightly, and suspect flees police on the 5 Freeway — on his bicycle
Just 243 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
We’re up to 1,129 signatures, so keep it going! Urge everyone you know to sign the petition, until she meets with us!
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More on this month’s Bike Month.
Metro is marking Bike Month with discounts on Metro Bike memberships — including free rides on Bike Anywhere Day May 16th — along with community bike rides throughout the month. But once again, there’s no mention of actually doing anything to encourage bike commuting on what was formerly known as Bike to Work Day.
Pasadena cops will conduct yet another bicycle and pedestrian safety enforcement operation on Friday, ticketing any traffic violations that could put either group at risk, regardless of who commits it. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits, so you’re not the one who gets written up.
The City College of San Francisco is going to the mattresses to fight a planned bike lane in hopes of saving a whole 29 parking spaces, along with another nine motorcycle spots. But the city’s transportation agency intends to build it anyway.
CNN lists the best bike accessories, as chosen by “actual cyclists.” Although they don’t clarify what kind of certification process you need to go through to be an actual cyclist, as opposed to someone who just rides a bicycle.
Life is cheap in Las Vegas, where an unlicensed, unregistered and uninsured driver who killed a bike rider last fall could be back out on the streets after just 28 months behind bars, despite the judge saying he “shouldn’t have been on the road” after getting 19 traffic tickets over the past 14 years.
A New Jersey op-ed says proposed legislation requiring even low-speed ebikes to be registered and insured, just like motor vehicles, would unfairly target delivery riders.
Police in Florida arrested an 84-year old hit-and-run driver who fled the scene after killing a 28-year old bike rider. And adding still more evidence to the case against elderly drivers.
International
Momentum says you have to see these “stunning and unique bicycle routes” to believe them, ranging from Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh Trail to Europe’s nearly 1,900-mile Danube Cycle Path; the only one in North America is the The Great Divide Mountain Bike Route through the US and Canada.
March 21, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Metro reneges on pledge to complete LA River path by ’28, and life is cheap for Ethan Boyes in San Francisco’s Presidio
Just 285 days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025.
LA River Waterway & System Bike Path: The missing link on the LA River bike path through Downtown is scheduled for completion in 2025.
LA River Bike Path and Mobility Hub – San Fernando Valley: LA River bike path improvements in the San Fernando Valley are also scheduled for completion in 2025.
That’s 2025. As in next year.
But now Streetsblog’s Joe Linton reports Metro has punted the long-awaited projects off to some undetermined date in the future, likely long after the Olympics have come and gone.
28by28 yanked projects that won't be done by 2028: L.A. River bike path, Sepulveda transit/expresslanes, ESFV rail, lower 710, S.Bay C Line, A/E Wye, SE Gateway Line, Eastside E Line, 10 Freeway expresslanes pic.twitter.com/47nNmOuerN
I’m told the problem stems, at least in part, from a dispute over who would maintain the pathway, especially as it winds through DTLA and Vernon.
Metro is willing to fund the projects, but isn’t willing to assume responsibility for upkeep. Los Angeles will assume responsibility for the San Fernando Valley segment, but wants LA County to manage the other segment. And vice versa.
But apparently unwilling to sacrifice that catchy 28 by 28 branding, the projects will be replaced with a pair of mobility hubs in North Hollywood and the Sepulveda Basin.
So until either the city or the county agrees to hold on to the hot potato, you can count on continuing to take obtuse, circuitous and unsafe surface street bypasses around the missing LA River bike path segments.
Olympics and bike safety be damned.
Just one more in a very long and growing list of promises broken by LA city leaders.
Revised Twenty-Eight by 2028 project list from LA Metro, by way of Streetsblog Twitter/X.
The feds got the case because Boyes was killed while biking on federal property in San Francisco’s Presidio National Park.
But instead of throwing the book at the killer DUI driver, prosecutors offered 81-year-old Arnold Kinman Low an exceptionally generous plea deal, with a maximum penalty of one year behind bars.
One lousy year for pleading guilty to misdemeanor counts of vehicular manslaughter and operating under the influence of alcohol.
Even though killing someone while driving under the influence would have resulted in a minimum of four years in state prison, and a maximum of ten, if he’d been prosecuted in a California court.
But at least Low will have to serve the full sentence, since federal prisoners aren’t eligible for parole for terms of 12 months or less.
Heartbreaking news from Sacramento, where a two-year old girl was killed when a three-year old boy climbed out of his car seat and into the driver’s seat after his father stopped at a gas pump, and left his pickup running to go inside the station. The boy apparently shifted the truck into gear, and smashed into the girl as she stood near a taco stand at the edge of the parking lot.
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Click through the tweet below for a short thread on the lack of accountability for transportation departments for designing and building streets that are so dangerous, the entirely predictable deaths that follow shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
A driver who killed two children in LA was recently convicted of murder on the grounds that a reasonable person would know that speeding in a residential neighborhood is deadly. What if we applied the same standard to DOTs. “Nobody was surprised” when this man’s child was killed. https://t.co/EVUNfxH4bz
West Hollywood approved a Complete Streets makeover for Willoughby Ave, as well as parts of Gardner Street, Vista Street and Kings Road, replacing the existing sharrows with curb extensions, scaled traffic circles, protected bike lanes, wayfinding signs, a mini-park, and enhanced crosswalks near schools.
Santa Monica cops will conduct yet another Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operation on Saturday, ticketing any driver, bicyclist or pedestrian who commits a traffic violation that could endanger anyone on two wheels or two feet. As usual, ride to the letter of the law until you cross the city limits so you’re not the one who gets written up.
A Palo Alto website says a proposal by Caltrans to install green bike lanes on busy El Camino Real is the wrong way to go, because it would encourage bicyclists to ride on a busy street interrupted with frequent entrances and exits, and other “ingress and egress interruptions.” Or is it just that only drivers deserve safe, direct routes to wherever they happen to be going?
Cyclist considers the best titanium road and gravel bikes, as prices for Ti bikes continue to drop, while simultaneously going pretty damn far in the other direction, too.
Then share it — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can. We’re up to 871 signatures, so let’s try to get it up over 1,000 this week!
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We could be looking at major changes on Hollywood Blvd.
Fingers crossed.
Thursday’s public meeting unveiled plans for one of the city’s first major lane reductions in the past several years for the east end of the boulevard, along with new protected bike lanes, providing a major safety improvement in addition to traffic calming.
Let’s just hope this moves beyond just talk and vaporware, for a change.
Click through on the links if the tweets disappear, which seems to be happening a lot lately.
The plan features over 2 miles of parking-protected bike lanes between Gower and Fountain, the first installation of protected bike lanes anywhere in CD13. At least one section accomplishes this by removing a travel lane, an immediate and very welcome traffic-calming measure. pic.twitter.com/TK9nsM8diU
— Los Angeles Dept. of Transformation (@LA_DOTr) February 3, 2024
The plan also includes new speed humps, left turn calming, and upgraded pedestrian crossings, with at least 3 new pedestrian crosswalk signals. Measures like these make neighborhoods calmer, healthier, and more welcoming to customers of local businesses. pic.twitter.com/iKNRzSsEeI
— Los Angeles Dept. of Transformation (@LA_DOTr) February 3, 2024
Big respect and appreciation to @CD13LosAngeles and @cd4losangeles for their leadership on this plan. Show your support for it––it's essential that we let our representatives know how important and valuable these improvements are for our communities! pic.twitter.com/vcSJIUUnQX
— Los Angeles Dept. of Transformation (@LA_DOTr) February 3, 2024
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It’s not just the mayor.
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has gotten a lot of the credit — or blame, depending on your perspective — for the recent changes making the city more climate friendly and livable, from new bike lanes to planning for a 15-minute city.
And not by a small margin. Nearly 55% of voters agree to triple the cost to park an SUV on city streets, raising the cost for a private vehicle weighing over 1.6 tons — 3,200 pounds — to $20 an hour, in an effort to discourage their use in the city.
After all, few people will buy — let alone drive — oversized SUVs if they can’t afford to park them.
Your move, Los Angeles.
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Apparently, Metro’s cancellation of plans to widen the 710 Freeway really wasn’t a cancellation at all.
According to Streetsblog’s Joe Linton, a new proposal from the agency still includes plans to widen the freeway, and may require demolishing homes along the route, which led to the original cancellation.
And the much-promised improvements for transit, walking and biking along the corridor apparently don’t amount to much.
All of which goes to show just how little the agency has changed its stripes.
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GCN examines the all-important question of how much speed can you actually buy, as we’ve all heard — or yes, said — that you can buy speed, but you can’t buy skill.
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
With friends like these, who needs enemies? An op-ed from a Boulder, Colorado bicyclist asserts that bicyclists needs to take responsibility for their behavior, because “Most bicycle accidents are caused by improper, sometimes illegal, cyclist behavior,” and adding “There is almost no excuse for a single-operator (bicycle) crash.” As if drivers and poor road conditions have nothing to do with it.
Colorado will host its Winter Bike to Work Day this Friday, including in my bike-friendly hometown. Which is our annual reminder that Los Angeles still doesn’t have a Winter Bike to Work Day, despite having a much more inviting climate — this week excepted. Then again, we didn’t have much of a summer one last year, either.
Sad news from Bengaluru, India, where the man known as the Century Cyclist or the Cycle Yogi for his unbroken streak of 42 months of daily metric century rides — 62 miles — died of a heart attack just days after finishing the streak; he was just 45.
Estonia’s Madis Mihkels and Belgian pro Gerben Thijssen made a donation to their Intermarché–Wanty cycling team’s junior team, and were asked to make a presentation to the junior team members on the values of cycling after they were yanked from last year’s Chinese Tour of Guangxi for making a common anti-Asian racist gesture.
January 29, 2024 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on New Flax bike book, Metro cuts open streets funding, and nation’s deadliest city for pedestrians rates 8th for walkability
The LA County transportation agency reduced spending on already-approved projects up to 20%, sending organizers scrambling to secure more funding, and putting events like CicLAvia, 626 Golden Streets and Beach Streets in jeopardy.
The agency also refused funding for projects planned for this December for Ventura Blvd, as well as Northridge, Wilmington, Long Beach, Hawthorne, Lincoln Heights and MacArthur Park.
The decision makes no sense at a time when reducing automobile traffic and getting people out of their cars is vital for the health of our transportation network, and our world.
And even though the $5.5 million approved for open streets funding over the next two years amounts to a lousy rounding error on Metro’s massive $9 billion annual budget.
They could have easily fully funded all the proposed events just by trimming one needless and environmentally harmful highway project.
Update: I received the following statement from Metro’s Jennifer Butler, disputing that funding had been cut, but rather, an increase in funding had been spread further, resulting in a reduction in funding for existing events.
On Jan. 25, 2024, the Metro Board approved the Open and Slow Streets Grant Program, which reflected an increase in annual funding from $4 to $5 million and included unspent funds from last year for a total of $5.5 million in fiscal year 2024. Metro has funded $20 million for Open Streets events since the program began, and with the recent Board action, this figure rises to just over $25 million cumulatively through 2025.
The approved increased in annual funding, together with staff’s recommendation to partially fund (at 80%) the longstanding events that had received open streets funding for five or more events prior to this Cycle, allowed Metro to fund 16 Open Streets activities vs 13 previously.
The mature events have access to (Part 3 such as TDA Article 3, bicycle and pedestrian funds) to complete the funding of their events, and new applicants now have the opportunity to hold their first event, giving more people in LA County a chance to experience safe walking, biking and rolling. This fulfills the program’s objective to provide seed funding for open streets events and enables more people to experience active transportation and public transportation for the first time.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
A Florida man was busted for biking under the influence for trying to ride his bike home while both high and drunk, as well as having no idea what time it was. And should be grateful the cop didn’t get him for littering, too.
Sad news from San Jose, where a man riding a bicycle was killed when a driver somehow “made contact with him.” Which makes it sound like just a little bump, instead of a life-threatening crash.
The Tucson, Arizona driver who killed a woman participating in the city’s Bike Party, and caused life-changing injuries to two other people, will spend the next 17 years behind bars — even though the victim worked to reduce prison populations and sentences.
Then share the petition — and keep sharing it — with everyone you know, on every platform you can.
A similar Bike Forum back when Antonio Villaraigosa was mayor of Los Angeles resulted in real change on the streets, as well as in how we were treated by the LAPD. All of which lasted right up until Eric Garcetti became mayor.
So after ten years of being ignored, we need to make the mayor hear us. Because as important as her efforts are to house the homeless, they’re not the only ones in danger on our streets.
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Today’s must-read comes, as it so often does, from Streetsblog’s Joe Linton.
Which means the latter could miss Garcetti’s promise to have it ready for the 2028 LA Olympics.
But he’s in India now, serving as US ambassador, so no one in city government or at Metro really gives a damn what he promised anymore.
In addition, Linton writes about the LA City Council’s failure to follow through on a motion to halt harmful road widening in the city, which passed the council with unanimous support early last year.
Then…nothing. City staff were supposed to write the text of the new law, and bring it back to the council within 60 days.
We’re still waiting.
Or they may not be, since Mike Bonin, the author of the motion, left the City Council to focus on his family in the face of withering abuse.
Maybe they’re hoping they can just sweep it under the rug and forget all about it, which seems to happen all too often these days.
Case in point, the City Council’s version of the Healthy Streets Los Angeles ballot measure, which they promised would be even better than the original created by LA transportation PAC Streets For All.
In August 2023, city staff posted a weakened, problematic draft ordinance (read Streets for All’s critique). The council never scheduled any public hearing which could have received public input and maybe fixed problems, thus strengthening the draft ordinance.
What seemed like the council’s urgent attempt to advance equity and safer streets turned out to be vaporware at best – or deception designed to split advocates at worst.
Now it’s 2024. In just two months, L.A. City voters will decide Measure HLA in the March 5 election. City departments are continuing their push to undermine Measure HLA, the Mobility Plan, and walking, bicycling, and transit in general (see for example Little Tokyo above).
Despite those efforts, Measure HLA continues to gain momentum, picking up endorsements, raising funds, and recruiting volunteers. Get involved via the campaign website.
There seems to be a lot of that kind of chicanery on Linton’s list, as city and Metro staff seem determined to slow walk and undermine desperately needed projects at every turn.
Not to mention a “pernicious double standard.”
The above list points to a pernicious double standard at Metro (one that SBLA has pointed out before). When it comes to freeway expansion, Metro staff and board are quick to insist that “we have to do this because it’s what the voters approved.” When it comes to transit (operations and capital), BRT, bike paths, etc., Metro is fine with delays, years of meetings, and scaling back and canceling projects – whether the voters like it or not.
If only Metro would act with the same urgency on equitable healthy modes – as it does for highway widening – but don’t hold your breath.
If I held my breath waiting for LA and Metro to act, I would have died of asphyxiation years ago.
Bike writer Peter Flax reminds us that as of this past Monday, you can legally ride your bike through an intersection on the leading pedestrian interval — that brief moment when the walk signal appears a few seconds before the light turns green for everyone else.
Although you might want to keep a copy of the law with you, because some cops may miss the memo.
California riders: ICYMI Assembly Bill 1909, which went into effect on Jan 1, amends state law to make it legal to ride your bike across an intersection when a pedestrian signal indicates walking is OK. Text is below if you need to share it with police or drivers who are confused pic.twitter.com/RsdVcVrayR
A new 5 yr Belgian study shows the BIG impact of increasing vehicle weight on road deaths & injuries. When a person on a bike or walking is hit by a pick-up, the risk of serious injury increases by 90% compared to a car. The risk of death goes up by 200%.https://t.co/1q7zo4g9Bipic.twitter.com/6gcC0Snt3h
The CHP and LA County Sheriff’s Department are finally targeting speeding drivers on deadly PCH, where four Pepperdine students were recently killed by a driver doing up to 105 mph on the highway that serves as Malibu’s Main Street.
Santa Monica police will conduct another Bike & Pedestrian Safety Enforcement Operation today, ticketing any violation that could endanger bike riders or pedestrians — even if it’s a bike rider or pedestrian who commits it. The usual protocol applies, ride to the letter of the law today until you pass the city limit sign so you’re not the one who gets ticketed.
July 27, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on I confess to a major screw up, advocates call on Metro to keep its damn promises, and shooting cars while naked
But in doing so, I called on them to help Fullerton bike advocates support a planned lane reduction, which has run into predictable opposition.
In my mind, I was placing Fullerton in the tangle of cities in Southeast Los Angeles County.
It’s not.
It’s in Northern Orange County, of course, on the other side of Buena Park. Something I should have known, having written about it several times. Let alone being there more than once.
So my apologies to BikeLA for any real or implied criticism of any lack of action in Fullerton — which is like criticizing the OC Sheriff’s Department for not patrolling in Norwalk.
Streetsblog’s Joe Linton writes that a group of organizations including BikeLA, Climate Resolve, MoveLA, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Streets For All signed a letter urging Metro to “promptly add several bike/walk facilities left out of Metro Regional Connector construction.”
Linton broke the news last month that Metro had left out several promised and/or required first-and-last-mile projects intended to improve safety and connectivity for people walking and biking near the near Regional Connector stations.
Although they somehow didn’t forget to add lanes for drivers.
According to Streetsblog,
The missing Connector first/last mile facilities fall into two categories: (more on these below)
omitted and scaled-back facilities in a Metro (with LADOT) federal grant – by Little Tokyo Station
facilities omitted that had been approved in the city’s Downtown Street Standards – at all three Connector stations
Streets For All founder Michael Schneider has been sounding an urgent note regarding the grant moneys, declaring that “[Metro and DOT] should implement the omitted elements now to avoid having to give the Feds their money back.”
The letter urges Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins and Metro Board Chair Mayor Karen Bass to “to move expediently to complete these required and promised pedestrian and bicycle improvements in the next three months,” as Linton notes in his subhead.
Speaking of BikeLA, they’ll be at the Bicycle Kitchen — which is celebrating it’s 20th anniversary — on Saturday, preaching bike safety and giving away free digital bike horns
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Safety advocates predicted more bicycling deaths after the New Orleans suburb of Algiers ripped out a two-year old protected bike lane, because some people complained about the aesthetics, lack of parking, and traffic. Someone should tell them that traffic congestion isn’t caused by bike lanes; it’s the result of too few people in too many cars.
In a truly bizarre story, a 19-year old Rhode Island man was arrested when security cam video showed he was the “primary aggressor,” after someone driving a pickup stopped and took his bicycle, and threw it into the back of the truck; he then took his bike back and punched the pickup driver hard enough to possibly break his own hand. Because apparently, you’re not allowed to fight back to keep someone from stealing your bike in Rhode Island, at least not if you’re big and Black.
Santa Monica police will conduct another bicycle and pedestrian safety operation next Thursday and Friday, ticketing any violations that could put either at risk, regardless of who commits them. So follow the usual protocol and ride to the letter of the law until you’re safely back in LA. “Safely” being a relative term.
State
Calbike says California is falling short on Complete Streets policies, with only one California city making Smart Growth America’s list of the nation’s leading cities for forward-thinking active transportation policies. And needless to say, it wasn’t Los Angeles.
For the second day in a row, a San Diego ebike rider was seriously injured in a crash with a pickup — even if this one was unoccupied — when 32-year old man crashed into the left rear bumper of a legally parked truck in the Shelltown neighborhood. Although it’s always possible that he was forced into the truck by a driver passing too close.
Truly awful story from Albuquerque, New Mexico, where a 40-year old woman was found dead in her home after someone apparently drove her there when she was the victim of a hit-and-run while riding her bike miles away. Yet another tragic reminder to always seek medical care if you’re hit by a motorist, because you’re probably hurt more than you think.
An Iowa state senator was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of refusing to abide by a law enforcement officer during this week’s RAGBRAI, insisting he didn’t have to budge when the cop ordered a group of bike riders to clear a roadway.
Jalopnik apparently sees its first advisory lane at a pilot demonstration in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and comes away predicting disaster for bike riders; the roadways feature a single traffic lane shared by drivers with bike lanes on either side, requiring drivers coming from opposite directions to briefly move into the bike lanes to pass one another.
Once again, Florida retains its title as the nation’s deadliest state for people on bicycles. California usually comes in second to Florida in terms of sheer numbers, despite having nearly twice the population.
Bold move from the Northampton International Cyclocross, as the country’s oldest ‘cross race requested that it be removed from the UCI calendar in order to continue to welcome all riders, after bike racing’s governing body recently reversed course to ban trans athletes from competing in women’s events. Thanks to Megan Lynch for the tip.
The restriction would apparently apply to any kind of ebike, whether ped-assist or throttle-controlled, or any combination thereof.
She announced her intention in an email directed to various people in her district, in response to the Encinitas ebike state of emergency aimed at reducing bicycling injuries, electric and otherwise, in the Northern San Diego County city.
In response, Oceanside bike lawyer and BikinginLA sponsor Richard Duquette forwards a quick state law cheat sheet explaining whether an ebike can legally be considered a motor vehicle requiring a license.
Is an E bike a Motor Vehicle? No.
See CVC 24016(a) discusses “an electric bicycle described in CVC 312.5(a) “equipped w operable pedals and an electric motor of less than 750 watts”. i.e., class 1 through 3 types.
See CVC 24016(b) “A person operating an electric bicycle is NOT subject to the provisions of this code relating to financial responsibility, drivers’ licenses, registration and license plate requirements and an electric bicycle is not a Motor vehicle.”
See CVC 415, which says a motor vehicle is a vehicle that is self-propelled (versus propelled by human power).
So, there’s an argument to be made that a strictly throttle-controlled ebike without operable pedals can be considered a motor vehicle, subject to licensing.
Then again, they already are under California law and require a valid driver’s license to use, though the law is inadequately enforced.
Anything else isn’t. Period.
Then again, all that has already been legislated. California was the first state to develop a classification structure for ebikes and e-scooters, which has been copied and implemented by a significant number of US states.
Click to enlarge
So consider Boerner’s proposed legislation a solution in search of a problem.
One that would create far more problems than it solves, especially at a time when we urgently need to reduce the number of motor vehicles on our streets in response to the climate emergency.
Never mind preventing our streets from grinding to a gridlocked halt due to too many, too large, vehicles.
If she wants to solve that problem, we should talk.
We finally have an update on California’s ebike rebate program, which is still is failure to launch mode, despite earlier estimates that it would go live before this month.
San Diego’s Pedal Ahead ebike loan-to-own program, statewide administrator for the California ebike rebate program, posted this announcement yesterday, backdated to the end of last month.
Click to enlarge
So we’re still waiting, though it sounds like we’re getting closer, and still have no idea when or where the soft launches will take place.
Hopefully we’ll all learn more soon.
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Streets For All points the finger at Metro’s wasteful highway spending under Measure M, which imposed a half-cent sales tax in Los Angeles County to fund transportation projects.
As they point out, the $10 billion allotted to the highway projects — only a handful of which would accomplish anything other than inducing creating more gridlock through induced demand — would be much better spent on providing safe and efficient alternatives to driving, considering that even so-called green cars are harmful to the environment.
AARP offers seven tips for touring on an ebike, saying don’t get on a battery-powered bicycle before reading it. Most of which you really don’t need to if you have a modicum of experience or common sense. But at least they wait until the penultimate tip before insisting you wear a helmet.
Good news from Michigan, where a 13-year old boy has made a “miraculous” recovery after a hit-and-run driver left him with a fractured neck and critical traumatic brain injury; the driver charged with hitting him remains in jail on $25,000 bond.
The Belgian Waffle Ride gravel races are changing their entry categories after a transgender woman dominated her competitors last month; classifications will now be limited according to birth sex, with a third Open category open to anyone, regardless of sexual identification.
Cyclist talks with trans cyclist Pippa York, who was the first Brit to win a stage at the Tour de France before she transitioned.
June 14, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on More corruption at LA City Hall, more Metro money for induced demand, and SaMo suffers premature evaluation
Is anyone really surprised to find still more corruption on the Los Angeles city council?
Price, a 10-year veteran of the City Council, is accused of having a financial interest in development projects that he voted on, and receiving tens of thousands of dollars in medical benefits from the city for his now wife while he was still married to another woman, according to a statement issued by the L.A. County district attorney’s office.
He was charged with five counts of grand theft by embezzlement, three counts of perjury and two counts of conflict of interest, according to a criminal complaint made public Tuesday.
Demonstrating that they have learned absolutely nothing from the failed $1 billion project to widen the highway through the Sepulveda Pass, which actually resulted in more congestion and longer rush hour commute times.
They accuse Metro of greenwashing highway expansion by putting “multimodal” in the name of highway projects including a “widening project right in front of a middle school in Whittier, and laying the groundwork for the i-605 Hot Spots program which may destroy homes.”
So was the original voice of Jiminy Cricket. Although playing his uke while riding with no hands might be more impressive if there wasn’t a rack holding the bike in place.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
A Fresno County man faces a murder charge for the drunken hit-and-run that killed a Clovis bike rider last month; he was driving at nearly three times the legal alcohol limit at the time of the crash, and had signed a Watson advisement after a previous DUI conviction, informing him he could be charged with murder if he killed someone while driving drunk again.
You’ve got to be kidding. Business owners in Burlingame are stressing over plans to install a bike lane, fearing the loss of a whole 12 parking spaces — yes, twelve — will somehow negatively affect their business. Never mind that studies show bike lanes usually improve sales at local businesses.
No bias here. An Oregon driver got 19 years behind bars for intentionally running down a bike-riding man after getting into a physical fight with the victim, copping a plea to a reduced charge of manslaughter. Yet the local TV station somehow insists on describing him merely as a hit-and-run driver, as if the violent attack was just an “oopsie’ he drove away from.
This is who we share the road with. A pair of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan cops chasing a suspected bike thief somehow managed to crash their patrol cars together, as well as hitting a parked car, allowing the suspect to slip away.
Two Welsh cops were served with gross misconduct notices for closely following, if not chasing, two boys riding an ebike just before they both were killed falling off the bike — which means the cops are under investigation, but it apparently has the legal impact of a slap with a wet noodle.
The Financial Timestalks with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who is rapidly remaking the city with much less emphasis on motor vehicles. We could have that here in Los Angeles, if our elected leaders actually had the vision and political courage they profess.
The Guardianprofiles endurance cyclist Leah Goldstein, as she sets out to win a second consecutive RAAM — aka Race Across America — after dropping her male competitors like freshman English in last year’s race.
June 9, 2023 /
bikinginla / Comments Off on Metro considers Alameda mobility options, 10th Anniversary of Finish The Ride this weekend, and writers bike the strike
Anyone who has tried to walk or bike Alameda Street south of Union Station in DTLA knows it’s just this side of a traffic choked living hell.
The options range from closing or moving offramps and widening sidewalks, to converting Arcadia Street to a pedestrian walkway and capping the 101 Freeway to create a new park.
Let’s hope our officials have the courage and foresight to make the choice that will most dramatically remake Downtown Los Angeles.
This weekend marks the tenth anniversary of Finish The Ride, which began when Damian Kevitt invited the public to join him in finishing the Griffith Park ride that was interrupted by a hit-and-run driver, who has never been caught.
More than 2,000 “cyclists, runners, walkers, challenged athletes, veterans, first responders, civic and community leaders, and safe streets advocates from across Southern California” are expected to turn out to demand safer streets for everyone.
This year’s event has been divided into two parts, with Finish The Run on Saturday, and Finish The Ride on Sunday.
You’ll also have a chance to meet two highly qualified candidates to replace Adam Schiff in California’s 30th Congressional District, in Laura Friedman and Anthony Portantino.
I’ll let the folks at Finish The Ride take it from here.
Finish The Ride (www.FinishTheRide.org) was founded in the aftermath of a vicious hit-and-run crime in 2013 that saw cyclist Damian Kevitt lose his leg after being dragged under a car from the streets of Griffith Park onto and down Interstate 5 for nearly a quarter mile. A year later, Kevitt was accompanied by hundreds of cyclists, street safety advocates, and community leaders as part of a campaign to raise awareness of an epidemic of hit-and-run crimes in Los Angeles.
Last year participants in Finish The Ride and Finish The Run demanded that Griffith Park be made safer for the tens of thousands who use it weekly for recreation and exercise. As a result, only a couple of months later, a section of Griffith Park Drive was transformed from a road into a closed pedestrian, bicycle, and equestrian path, and 4 million dollars of funding was approved for additional safety renovations across the park.
According to a report by the non-profit Streets Are For Everyone (known as SAFE), the City of Los Angeles saw a record 312 fatalities last year, most of them pedestrians, and tens of thousands more seriously injured. The primary factor in all these collisions was reckless speeding. SAFE has been involved in a massive state-wide campaign to educate about and advocate for the need to reign in reckless speeding to save lives. Part of this campaign has demanded that legislators pass AB 645, a pilot program that would allow the limited use of speed safety cameras in school zones and on the most dangerous roads in 6 cities across the state. Over 1800 have signed a petition to demand that legislators support AB 645. As a result of this campaign, AB 645 just passed the Assembly with overwhelming support (58 to 7).
This year’s Finish The Ride and Finish The Run event brings together people from all walks to continue the call to demand that roads be made safer and reckless speeding be addressed as the public health crisis that it is.
Finish The Ride and Finish The Run is now in its 10th year and will be held over two days – runners and walkers on Saturday and cyclists on Sunday. On Saturday, there will be the usual 5K/10K run/walk and half-marathon run. On Sunday will be the usual 15-mile, 25-mile, 35-mile, and 50 miles rides. New additions to this year’s event are the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council 1K Kids Run and a Puppy Run on Saturday and the Bahati Foundation Metric Century on Sunday.
Saturday, 10 June 2023 – Finish The Run
(1200 runners and walkers expected)
Time: 7:30 AM Griffith Park Half-Marathon starts
8 AM Finish the Run Opening Ceremony with Civic Leaders and other Victims of Traffic Violence speaking (All other events depart following the opening ceremony)
Where: Griffith Park, Crystal Springs Area
4663 Crystal Springs Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Who: Asm Laura Friedman
Councilmember Nithya Raman
Damian Kevitt, Founder of Finish The Ride/Finish The Run and Streets Are For Everyone
Cindi Enamorado, sister of Raymond Olivares, who lost his life in February 2023 at the hands of a driver engaged in street racing.
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Sunday, 11 June 2023 – Finish The Ride
(800 cyclists expected)
Time: 7 AM Olympic Silver Medalist Nelson Nails leads the Bahati Foundation Metric Century and Andrew Jelmert Half Century Ride
8 AM Finish the Ride Opening Ceremony with Civic Leaders and other Victims of Traffic Violence speaking (All other events depart following the opening ceremony)
Where: Griffith Park, Crystal Springs Area
4663 Crystal Springs Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Who: Senator Anthony Portantino
Damian Kevitt, Founder of Finish The Ride and Streets Are For Everyone
Curtis Townsend Sr., who lost his wife, Trina Newman-Townsend, in a hit-and-run on Christmas Eve in 2022.
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Seen on the street: A WGA writer bikes the strike.
David Drexler shares video showing the full length of the new Mark Bixby bike/ped path on the International Gateway Bridge, taken on last month’s opening day.
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Gravel Bike California accepts the challenge of biking the Desert X biennial art installation across the “vast & sandy” Coachella Valley in a single day.
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A UC Davis bike rider is on the hunt for a hit-and-run e-cart driver.
And yes, it’s legally hit-and-run if you just cause someone to fall, even without making contact.
Ocean City, New Jersey tabled plans to ban ebikes from the city’s boardwalk, instead creating a committee to study the issue. If they’re anything like Los Angeles, having a committee study something means no one will ever hear about it again.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Pasadena is launching its own ebike rebate program on July 1st, with rebates up to $1,000 for city residents. Meanwhile, Los Angeles hasn’t even discussed any program to get motor vehicles off the streets, with ebikes or otherwise.
Laguna Beach is requiring students to complete an ebike safety course in exchange for a permit to park their bike on campus. Which is a great way to discourage bike commuting, and force people without permits back into cars.
Colorado officially announced their new program to provide ebike rebates for residents earning less than 80% to 100% of their county’s median income. Just the latest city, state or province to provide ebike rebates before California’s vastly underfunded, fomerly-first-in-the-nation program gets off the ground — which should finally happen soon.
Huh? A Columbus, Ohio TV station says many people are priced out of bicycling by the high cost of bikes, even while mentioning a nonprofit shop that sells refurbished bikes for around a hundred bucks. Seriously, cost should never be a barrier to bicycling, when there are countless options for low cost bikes. Or even free ones like the one above.
Just when I got my doctor to get more aggressive in treating my diabetes, something else came up to knock me on my ass.
Wednesday night I went out to walk the dog, and by the time I got back, I was feeling the full effects of what was apparently a sudden-onset stomach virus, or maybe an adverse reaction to a new med.
We’ll find that part out when I take it again on Tuesday.
I’m not saying I was sick. But I lost a full eight pounds literally overnight, and was completely out of it until late Friday.
So my apologies once again for yet another unexcused absence — something I’ve written so many times that my laptop is now autosuggesting the phrase for me.
Honestly, I do my best to be here for you every morning. But after a lifetime of pushing my body to respond to ever-increasing demands, on and off the bike, it’s now saying “fuck you” on an ever more frequent basis.
Which is about the best way I can describe diabetes and all its multitude of complications.
Seriously, you don’t want this shit.
So if you’re at risk, whether from weight, family history or any other factor, get yourself tested.
No, now.
And do whatever it takes to turn your health around so you don’t get it.
Now I’ll get off my damn soapbox and catch up with the news, because we have a lot to catch up on.
Welcome to Bike Week, the one week of the year when elected officials, government bureaucrats and the news media join in one voice to celebrate all things bikes.
As opposed to the other 51 weeks of the year, when they either ignore us, or actively try to kill us.
May 18 is Bike to Work Day and we’re offering free 30 minute rides all day long. Simply choose 1-Ride in the app, online or at a kiosk and use code 051823. Metro Bus and Rail are also free- no tapping required. Code can be used multiple times throughout the day. Usage fees apply over 30 minutes.
There are two opportunities to join us on your commute. The first 10 Metro Bike Share Passholders at each event will receive a limited-edition mug! May 18 – North Hollywood Station, 8 -11 am and May 19 – Downtown Santa Monica Station, 8-11 am.
May 18 and 19, the 365-Day Pass is just $75. That’s a 50% savings! To purchase, select 365-Day Pass in the app or online and enter code BIKETOWORK23.Offer valid for first time 365-Day Passholders, 5/18/23 – 5/19/23 only. Code valid for Full Fare and Reduced Fare Passes.
May 21– CicLAmini Watts, presented by Metro will be a more pedestrian-oriented event than the typical CicLAvia, but sure to be just as special. Metro Bikes will be available to check out on a first come, first served basis from 9am-2pm. If you wish to check out a bike, get prepared by downloading the app. See you there!
Meanwhile, Glendale is jumping the gun by hosting their Bike to Work Day a day earlier on Wednesday. Go Glendale and Walk Bike Glendale will host a pitstop at 800 N Brand from 8 am to 10 am on Wednesday, with another pit stop hosted by the City of Glendale at the Glendale City Hall from 8 am to 10 am, .
Huerta was allegedly high on weed and driving without a license when he ran down Kristofferson at speeds up to 100 mph; he was arrested after being detained by witnesses in a nearby field as he attempted to run away on foot.
The jury halted their work Friday evening after two days of deliberations without reaching a verdict.
Huerta is charged with second-degree murder, driving under the influence of drugs resulting in great bodily injury, reckless driving and driving on a suspended license.
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Sad news this morning, as groundbreaking populist LA political lead Gloria Molina has passed away at age 74, following a three-year battle with cancer.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Molina was California’s first Latina Assembly member, the first Latina to serve on the LA City Council, and the first Latina on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors.
I honestly can’t tell you what Molina’s record on bikes was.
But she spent her entire career fighting for undeserved communities, particularly on the East Side of Los Angeles.
And that’s good enough for me.
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Streets For All is hosting a volunteer meet-up and bike ride tomorrow at Union Station night.
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This has got to be me from a prior life. Unless maybe it’s you.
But it’s got to be one of us, right?
Australian gold miner pictured after a 1000-mile (1,600-kilometre) round trip to the Mt Rugged Gold Rush, 1895. pic.twitter.com/E33pUhQrQ6
Remarkable — and questionable — story, as a specially abled Indian man claims to have ridden 2,300 miles in just four and a half days, from Kanyakumari to Kashmir.
Questionable because that works out to 511 miles a day, or 21 miles an hour, every hour for 108 hours — without rest stops.
Stopping to rest or sleep would push that hourly figure even higher. Even just six hours of daily rest time would require averaging 28 mph for the other 18 hours straight, which seems unlikely.
But maybe some randonneurs out there can tell us how likely it really is.
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The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on rolling.
Road.ccdeconstructs the so-called war on motorists, concluding it’s nothing more than encouraging people to drive less and consider alternative forms of transportation — despite the ongoing backlash.
But sometimes, it’s the people on two wheels behaving badly.
Demonstrating that some people just don’t get it, a Lycra-clad English bike rider stopped several cops who were targeting speeding drivers, asking if they didn’t have anything better to do. He should have thanked them for trying to save his life, and everyone else on the roadway, instead.
A San Francisco bike shop is shutting down, saying it’s a victim of repeated thefts and break-ins, a slow economy and a seemingly unending series of storms that kept customers away.
Lincoln, Nebraska’s chief deputy swears he only looked down for a moment to switch the radio station when he ran down a nine-year old girl riding her bike, leaving her with multiple skull fractures, a brain bleed, fractured shoulder, injured knee and road rash.Any bets on how long it will take them to blame the victim?
Residents of North Montreal rallied to demand more bikeways after living with just one protected bike lane for the last 40 years, as the city backed out of a promise to build four bike paths in the neighborhood this year, instead committing to just three.
Heartbreaking news from the UK, where a 56-year old English man died of a heart attack while riding his bike, just an hour after snapping a smiling selfie. Although someone should tell the Daily Record that seemingly healthy people sometimes suffer from undetected health problems, which is why everyone who rides a bike should see a doctor on a regular basis. Then again, so should everyone else.
Life is cheap in the UK, where a 43-year old former soccer player got just two years and four months behind bars for the horrifying, drunken hit-and-run that left a bike-riding woman in her 70s with life-changing injuries; he was four times the legal limit when he knocked her off her bike, then slowly drove over her with all four wheels. There’s video of the crash, but consider whether you really want to watch it, because you can’t unsee it if you do.
