I hope y’all have recovered from your Bike Day hangovers, and come down from the high of a free transit day.
Something the corgi and I tried to take advantage of, but had to wait more than half an hour for the damn 2 bus to come. So if you ever wonder why people refuse to get out of their cars and use transit, put that kind of unreliability near the top of the list.
Speaking of getting people out of their cars, though, Metro is suing Burbank over its refusal to grant construction permits for the NoHo to Pasadena rapid bus route.
Maybe they should build it on Sunset Blvd, instead.
As usual, I’ll be taking Memorial Day off to remember those who gave their lives to give the freedom we seem so willing to give away these days.
And stay safe out there. I want to see you back here on Tuesday.
………
More evidence of the glacial pace and basic incompetence of LA City Hall.
According to LAist, the city says it needs six more years to complete safety projects in underserved communities, already as much as four years after Los Angeles received $100 million in grants from the state to do the work.
Which, by my count, makes that a ten year timeline, just to get started.
Los Angeles won more than $100 million from California in 2022 and 2023 to improve crosswalks, bike infrastructure and general mobility in historically underinvested communities. But it just doesn’t have enough people to implement the three projects in time, city officials have said.
To retain the entirety of the grant funding, the city has requested a six-year time extension on state-mandated deadlines to complete the pre-construction phases of the projects in Boyle Heights, Skid Row and Wilmington. The city is hoping the California Transportation Commission will evaluate its request in June.
Unless the California Transportation Commission, which administers the grant program, grants the city an extension, they’ll have to give all the money back.
One. Hundred. Million. Dollars.
In a city already experiencing a traffic violence emergency, where Vision Zero has failed, and traffic deaths significantly outpace murders. And for communities that bear the brunt of that violence, on both counts.
Los Angeles has always been inefficient, with city departments needlessly siloed when they should naturally work together.
Those same departments — LADOT, Engineering, City Planning and Street Services — have been historically understaffed, leaving LADOT basically begging for someone to work on bike projects.
That problem is compounded by the city’s financial problems, due largely to its penchant for paying outsized legal settlements, usually because of our cops. The same cops who got a big unfunded raise three years ago, along with a smaller increase for other city workers, also unfunded.
Leaving the city with a whopping $1 billion budget shortfall; planned layoffs were averted only by moving people around and making cuts in other areas.
Like repaving streets and fixing potholes. Never mind the six month wait to repair streetlights stripped of their copper wiring.
All of which resulted in virtual skeleton staffs unable to complete basic tasks, such a completing pre-construction work to fulfill state grants.
And resulting in shameful ten year-plus timelines just to get them shovel ready, despite all the talk we’ve heard about preparing city streets for the World Cup and the ’28 Olympics.
Maybe they’re just planning to hide communities like Boyle Heights, Skid Row and Wilmington.
You know, out of sight, out of mind.
And not a damn thing on the streets but trash and homeless camps.
………
Traffic violence clearly isn’t just a problem in Los Angeles.
Family members are mourning a Long Beach boy who was killed by a driver when the eight-year-old chased his ball out into the street, on a street where the posted speed limit is 40 mph.
Which means, at that speed, he only had about a 20% chance of survival — if the driver wasn’t speeding.
Never mind that most LA area drivers consider an extra five to ten mph over the posted limit their God-given right.
………
Culver City-based Walk ‘n Rollers is hiring an Administrative Assistant / Assistant Outreach Coordinator.
But you may have to guess how to contact them, because I can’t get the link to work. Maybe you’ll have better luck.
………
The war on cars may be a myth, but the war on bikes just keeps on going.
Medford, Oregon is ripping out a downtown protected bike lane to make room for 40 angled parking spaces. Because who cares about the safety of bike riders when the convenience of drivers is at stake?
Life is cheap in Georgia, where a road-raging driver was released on a lousy $12,500 bond after he threatened to shoot two men for riding their bicycles on the road, then backed into one of the victim’s bicycles — and even though it was the driver’s third arrest in three years. Although something tells me he’d still be behind bars if he wasn’t white.
………
Local
No surprise here, as the subway rider won Streetsblog’s race from Beverly Hills to DTLA on the D Line; the only surprise was that the driver beat the bike rider by a few minutes.
State
San Diego had over 100 pit stops for the city’s Bike Anywhere Day yesterday, while the Naval Base San Diego took part, too. Which compares favorably with the one pit stop that we know about in the LA Area, at Pasadena City Hall.
The Bay Area saw a dramatic increase in participation in the area’s Bike Anywhere Day, with actual swag bags given to passing riders at numerous “energizer stations.” Which compares favorably to Los Angeles, where no one knows how many bike riders participated, or even knew about it, and most who did got nothing but a good ride on a nice day.
Sad news from Grass Valley, north of Sacramento, where a 7th grade schoolboy died nine days after he was struck by a driver while riding his bike.
A Chico man got his bike back when police spotted it outside a homeless camp, after it was one of several bikes stolen from a local bike shop
National
Reuters puts licensing rights up for sale on a photo of the ghost bike for two bike riders killed in the Goodyear, Arizona crash, in 2023, which injured 19 other people. Feels kind of like grave robbing to me, with the company attempting to profit off the grief of others.
A Vermont man is still refurbishing bicycles at 81 years old, selling the finished bikes for $25 to $50, or just giving them away if the mood strikes.
That’s more like it. A 68-year old Philadelphia man will spend a minimum of six-and-a-half years behind bars, and possibly as much as 21 years, for the hit-and-run death of a lawyer riding in a bike lane, while the driver was allegedly under the influence and doing 65 mph; he also struck another bike rider, who survived the crash.
The 26-year old grandson of basketball legend Mike Krzyzewski has been charged with felony death by motor vehicle and involuntary manslaughter for killing a 15-year old North Carolina kid riding an ebike.
If you want to keep your bike safe from thieves, Florida researchers have determined that you should leave it on top of a hill. Because thieves evidently don’t like climbing hills, even if they can ride a hot bike down.
A Vero Beach, Florida bank president is postponing his planned 70 mile fundraising ride to mark his 70th birthday for about six months, after he broke his leg in four places when he lost air from his tire on a training ride.
International
Three men rode their bikes from Argentina to the United States, crossing more than more than 10,000 miles and 17 countries to follow the Argentine national team at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Sounds kind of Messi to me.
Canadian mounties are looking for a hit-and-run dirt bike rider who knocked a 63-year old woman off her bicycle and into a Vancouver Island ditch, leaving her with broken ribs.
No bias here. Readers of a newspaper in Leeds, England, debate the expansion of the city’s bike lanes, which have grown 113 miles over the past ten years — or an average of just 11.3 miles a year.
I want to be like her when I grow up. A 78-year old British woman is setting off on a nearly 400-mile solo bike ride across Europe, her 32nd fundraising ride in the past 32 years.
A writer for Cycling News goes down an AliExpress rabbit hole in search of low cost deals on bike gear on the Chinese website, and discovers a Wild West of fake parts, misspelt brands, dubious deals, and no safety guarantees.
Competitive Cycling
Cycling News says Italy’s Filippo Ganna just wants to win a race that isn’t a time trial, after taking the Tuscan time trial stage of the Giro d’Italia — his eighth Giro stage win, seven of which have been TTs.
Speaking of the Giro, Belgian Alec Segaert claimed a solo victory in Thursday’s stage 12 with a perfectly timed breakaway less than two miles from the finish, as teammate Afonso Eulálio held onto the pink leader’s jersey.
Finally…
This is what too many bike lanes look like.
No, seriously. That’s all we’ve got today.
………
Be safe, and stay healthy. And get vaccinated, already.
Oh, and fuck Putin.
