They got the message, anyway.
The LA Weekly covers Thursday night’s meeting of the Griffith Park Advisory Board, which discussed the controversy over the ill-advised test project to turn Mount Hollywood Drive, which had previously been closed off to cars, into parking for tourists visiting the Hollywood Sign.
The predictable outcome was a promise to look into the matter, though it’s clear board members got the message from hikers, equestrians and bike riders that another solution has to be found. What, if anything, they’ll do about it after the project’s planned April 12th closing remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, an online petition asks the city to keep cars and trams off the road, but KTLA-5 says pity the poor tourists who just want to get a close-up view of the sign.
And CiclaValley offers video evidence of what all the fuss is about.
………
Bike SD offers a report on Wednesday’s meeting to discuss planned bike lanes in the city’s Hillcrest neighborhood, where the Urban Planners group voted unanimously to protect parking spaces instead of human lives; the OB Rag says passionate pleas for safer streets fell on deaf ears.
Even though a new study shows complete streets not only result in improved safety for everyone, but also lead to increased sales, higher employment rates and greater property values.
But sure, keep fighting for those parking spaces while you chase potential new customers away.
………
If, like me, you had to miss Thursday’s discussion between former NYDOT Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan and our own LADOT transportation maven Seleta Reynolds, you can watch it again for the first time. Thanks to Dennis Hindman for the link.
………
Clearly, not all cyclists oppose the proposed law that would require all California cyclists to wear bike helmets, as well as reflective gear after dark. Even if Bike Snob calls anyone who supports a helmet law a traitor and a heretic.
A new temporary clear spray paint from Volvo could solve the reflective problem. Maybe if you just spray your head it will look like you have a helmet on, at least after dark.
……..
The Bike League is calling on you to contact your Senator to help preserve federal funding for biking and walking.
Meanwhile, over 120 organizations joined together to call for increased funding for active transportation in California.
………
A Seattle driver tells a bike rider she literally doesn’t give a fuck about anything he has to say after she parks in a supposedly parking-protected bike lane. And right next to a sign saying she can’t do it, no less.
Although, I think she meant figuratively, not literally, unless she was actually declining a free sexual encounter.
A writer for c|net asks if the rider, while right, might have been a tad sanctimonious.
See what you think.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqR9WEivbyI
………
More transportation clickbait, as Thrillist ranks the 10 best cities to get around without a car.
LA checks in at a surprising number nine, despite ranking lowest among the top 10 for bikeability, and second from the bottom for walkability.
………
Local
A Los Angeles woman makes chandeliers out of used bike parts; her work can be seen at Sunset Plaza, as well as Neil Patrick Harris’ New York home, if he lets you in.
Big improvements are coming to North Broadway in DTLA.
A new Glendale greenway will connect three parks in the city via bike lanes and sharrows.
Join Metro, From Lot to Spot and CICLE on Saturday for the Hot SPOTS bike tour of formerly blighted lots that have been converted to urban green spaces.
State
A La Mesa cyclist was critically injured in a horrific wreck when he was hit by an armored car, which proceeded to run over him with both sets of tires.
A trio of Palm Springs thieves are arrested after apparently trading a possibly stolen bike for the SUV they’re accused of taking.
San Bernardino students get bikes for perfect attendance. If they’d done that when I was a kid, I might not have faked a fever so often.
A 32-year old bike rider becomes the year’s first, and hopefully last, traffic fatality in Salinas.
A Silicon Valley bicycling movement is powered by wine, women and chocolate. None of which my wife will let me have these days.
San Francisco police are once again accused of conducting a crappy investigation and unfairly blaming the victim of a bicycling fatality.
National
A new documentary examines the conflict between bikes and cars — or more precisely, the overdependence on the latter — including LA voices like Wolfpack Hustle’s Don Ward and Don Koeppel, founder of the Big Parade.
Smart move. To reduce costs and build better relations with the community, Albuquerque police plan to take officers off their inexpensive bikes and put them in expensive patrol cars, where they will be isolated from the public.
The Dallas Observer says a new bill to ban texting while driving will only give cops an excuse to pull drivers over; evidently, they expect people to stop texting behind the wheel on the honor system, which has clearly worked well so far.
A former Mad City mayor calls for a Wisconsin bike highway system.
A Pittsburgh bridge gets a road diet and bike lanes, even if a local carpenter calls them useless.
Showing a rare skill for making a bad situation worse, a Tampa Bay man faces a burglary charge for attempting to get his impounded bike back.
International
Welsh police needs at least four cops and a helicopter to arrest a wine drinking bike rider.
A new 700 space bike parking structure gives a whole new meaning to Stockholm syndrome; thanks to joninsocal for the heads-up.
A new documentary looks at Italian Jews who survived WWII and the goys gentiles who helped them, focusing on legendary cyclist Gino Bartali, who should be on a fast track to sainthood already.
A West Australia driver gets five years for killing a cyclist in a wreck he was too drunk to remember.
Thailand will build bike lanes leading to two international airports, while a 14 mile bike path circling another airport will get toilets, lights and security cameras provided by a local bank. We have a lot of banks in LA, right?
The mayor of Kuala Lumpur promises to build more bikeways if enough buildings turn their lights out for Earth Hour. So if they don’t, bike riders get screwed?
Finally…
A new women’s jersey is designed to carry your choice of concealed weapon while you ride. If you’re carrying three kilos of coke and heroin in the trunk of your car, don’t obscure the license plate with your bike rack.
And an Illinois town asks bike riders to please stop pooping on the bike path.
