Tag Archive for Streetsblog LA

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

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

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The only surprise is they did it.

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

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

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

Every last one.

According to Linton,

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

The seven projects are:

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

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

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

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

Let’s hope someone takes them up on it.

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No surprise here, either.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Which is pretty much what every defense attorney everywhere wants.

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

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

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

But other than that, sure.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Local 

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

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

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

 

State

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

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

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

 

National

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

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

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

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

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

 

International

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

 

Competitive Cycling

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

 

Finally….

Seriously, I’ve got nothing.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

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

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

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

This one, for instance has exactly zero.

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

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

Nothing could be easier.

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

Anyone want to bet they’ll make the deadline?

I didn’t think so.

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

And yes, over bicyclists, too.

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

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

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

Yes, that one.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Local 

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

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

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

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

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

 

State

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

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

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

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

 

National

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

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

 

 

International

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

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

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

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

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

 

Finally….

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

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

The bike, that is. Not the meth.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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

Where to give this Giving Tuesday, elderly bike rider run over by heartless hit-and-run driver, and taking The NY Times to task

December 3, 2024 / / 2 comments
Just 28 short days until Los Angeles fails to meet its Vision Zero pledge to eliminate traffic deaths by 2025. 
But not one LA city leader seems to give a damn about it. Or if they do, they’re not saying anything. 

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It’s Day 5 of the 10th Annual BikinginLA Holiday Fund Drive!

Thanks to Michael B, the M’s, and Miriam H for their generous donations to keep all the best bike news and advocacy coming your way every day. 

Now it’s your turn. Take just a few minutes, and donate now!

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If you’re looking to put your money to good use this Giving Tuesday, consider giving to Streets For All, Streets Are For Everyone, Bike LA, Streetsblog LA, , Calbike, Orange County Bicycle Coalition, San Diego County Bicycle Coalition, Bike SD, or your local bike advocacy group, wherever you live.

And give a little extra Giving Tuesday consideration to Culver City-based Walk n’ Rollers, after the trailer and equipment they use to train kids on bike safety was stolen. Because they can use the help right now.

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A 71-year old man is in critical but stable condition after he was run over by a heartless hit-and-run driver while lying helpless in the roadway, after apparently striking an object with his bicycle.

According to the Ventura Police Department, a motorist called 911 after spotting the man lying in the road near Foothill Road and La Fonda Drive in East Ventura.

But after pulling over, the caller watched as the driver of a white car, possibly a Lexus, drove over the incapacitated victim. The driver, described only as a woman who appeared to be in her 70s, and another woman in her 20s got out and walked over to the victim, but fled the scene before emergency personnel arrived — without assisting the victim or calling for help, as required by law.

We shouldn’t need to remind anyone that major injuries are far more serious and difficult to overcome in older people, compounding the outrageousness of their crime. Although, unfortunately, that’s not something California’s overly lenient hit-and-run laws take into account.

Anyone with information is urged to call the Ventura Police Traffic Division at 805/339-4437.

Let’s hope they find these two and get them both off the road.

Permanently.

Thanks to Joe Linton and Jeffrey Rusk for the heads-up.

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Good for them.

Streetblog takes the New York Times to task for their recent piece that appeared to blame the recent murder of a Parisian bike rider by the driver of an SUV on the mythical “war on cars.”

Here’s how Streetsblog describes the paper’s reaction to the death of 27-year old bike advocate Paul Varry, who was intentionally run down by a 52-year old driver as he rode in a Paris bike lane.

The New York Times, though, suggested that another suspect deserved some of the blame: Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, who, the paper said, has been “ratcheting up tensions” in the City of Light by implementing policies that “limit the movement, speed and parking options of cars.”

In a stunningly misguided article “Death of Cyclist in Paris Lays Bare Divide in Mayor’s War Against Cars,” writers Richard Fausset and Ségolène Le Stradic devoted much of the first 1,000 words of a roughly 1,450-word story to those who would paint Varry’s death as the latest salvo in the battle against Paris motorists’ “liberty to circulate,” to quote just one of the many angered drivers the writers interviewed.

According to the same driver, Hidalgo “is putting a garrote around Paris” by building bike paths and reducing speed limits on many of the city’s most famous roads — an “anti-car stance” that the article seemingly implies is now driving motorists to lethal violence.

It’s worth taking a few minutes to read the whole story. Because the Times certainly didn’t give that to their readers.

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Speaking of Streets For All, the transportation PAC is urging anyone who rides Forest Lawn Drive to turn out tomorrow to voice their support for protected bike lanes on the hazardous, high speed street.

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

An Athens, Ohio paper complains about “the world’s loneliest bike lanes,” which are “woefully bereft of bikers” riding on the city’s busiest commercial corridor, “negating their purpose.” Never mind that bike lanes are more efficient, often making them appear to be used less than they really are. Or that bike lanes are an effective tool to slow speeding drivers and improve safety for everyone, even if no one uses them.

A Florida man faces charges for allegedly shooting a passing bicyclist with a shotgun, as he got out of his car while the victim was riding past on his way to a friend’s house.

Separated bike lanes in Mysuru, India are under attack from roadside vendors, who are deliberately removing plastic bollards to create prime business real estate.

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It’s now 348 days since the California ebike incentive program’s latest failure to launch, which was promised no later than fall 2023. And a full 42 months since it was approved by the legislature and signed into law — and counting.

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Local  

A 61-year old Westlake Village man is in critical condition after he was struck by a minivan driver while riding on PCH near Sycamore Cove in Malibu.

SoCal bikemaker Linus Bike is closing their iconic Venice store on Abbot Kinney Blvd, and shifting to an online-only focus.

Santa Monica is cutting speed limits on over 30 miles of city streets to improve traffic safety; a revision in state law from a few years ago allows cities to drop speed limits by 5 mph under specific conditions.

Speaking of SaMo, the beachfront city is making the city’s dockless e-scooter micromobility program permanent, after years of operating on a trial basis.

 

State

A 100-year old, and still rideable, road bike will find a new home here in California, as a 96-year old Canadian man passed it down to his American son after moving into a retirement home.

San Diego’s newspaper of record uncovers an apparent non-scandal, reporting that La Mesa City Councilmember Colin Parent solicited donations to Circulae San Diego, the transportation advocacy nonprofit he works for; Parent says he was careful to adhere to the rules for behest donations even as he ran in a failed bid for the state Assembly.

A San Bernardino man learns the hard way that when you’re riding your bike with an outstanding felony warrant, while carrying meth, marijuana, a working scale and “additional paraphernalia suggestive of drug transport and sales,” it pays to follow city ordinances and state vehicle codes.

 

National

A Philadelphia injury epidemiologist calls on the city to slow drivers, better protect bike riders, and collect better data to improve safety.

 

International

Seriously? Bicycling examines how international nonprofit Best Buddies uses bikes to make the world a more inclusive place, assisting 200 million families around the world affected by intellectual and developmental disabilities. But even that story is hidden by their paywall, so you’re on your own if they block you. And unfortunately, so is the charity they’re ostensibly trying to help.

About damn time. British cops are going undercover on bicycles to bust dangerous drivers making unsafe passes. We tried, and failed, to talk the LAPD into doing the same thing, for reasons that were never explained to us.

Mint considers India’s best cities for bicycling, from Bengaluru to Mumbai, for your next trip to the subcontinent.

 

Competitive Cycling

Cyclist looks back at French cycling great Jeannie Longo’s victory in the 1985 Coors Classic, which was America’s biggest bike race at the time. I was lucky enough to be standing on or near the finish line for several of her stage wins in the race.

Rare historic and collectors items will be on display at Italy’s Longarone Fiere Dolomiti during next year’s Giro d’Italia, if you happen to be hanging around for the race.

British cycling great Sir Bradley Wiggins says Lance Armstrong isn’t so bad once you get to know him, arguing that the ex-Tour de France champ “has got a heart under there somewhere” after he offered to pay for a week of special therapy in the US for Wiggins, even though Wiggins had termed the Texan a “lying bastard” in the wake of his doping charges. So, maybe a lying bastard with a heart of, well, certainly not gold. 

 

Finally…

If you want to bike through a fast food drive thru, you’re probably out of luck. How to leap from winning KOMs to the WorldTour.

And a bus so nice, he stole it twice — running down a bike rider in the process.

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

Oh, and fuck Putin. 

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