Results tagged “bicycle”

Face it, throughout much of the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana region, walking is not always a pleasant experience. And although we already know this, it's also not that safe either, finds a new report, released by two transportation groups with the help of other organizations like AARP. Here are a few statistics:

In its hey-day, RIDE-Arc's monthly rides would take cyclists around the city, exploring architecture, environmental efforts and Hollywood history. Compared to other group bicycle rides like Midnight Ridazz and CRANK Mob, RIDE-Arc is the smart, mature and law-abiding sibling. Over the past couple years, its leadership has gone on hiatus, only offering a ride here and there. Good news, however, came today as they announced via e-mail a Santa Monica-focused ride for Friday evening:

Remember last year when Dr. Christopher Thompson slammed on his breaks on Mandeville Canyon Road so bicyclists he apparently was annoyed with would crash into him? He was found guilty by a jury on all seven counts this afternoon. "Thompson was accused of assault with a deadly weapon, reckless driving causing specified bodily injury, battery with serious bodily injury and mayhem," among other charges relating to two incidents, one of them being the July 4th, 2008 incident, according to VeloNews. Last week, the LA Times looked into the case, saying "bike riders see the case as a test of the system's support for their rights." Looks like the system was on their side this time. Congrats!

As city staff gears up for a series of public meetings seeking input on the draft master bicycle plan for Los Angeles, cyclists are coming together, advocating for the process to be extended into 2010. "The plan is 6 months late, and we only have six weeks to submit comments?" noted Dr. Alex Thompson on his bicycle blog the day it was released.

Under current written law, Santa Monica police are able to throw any cyclists, whether a city resident or not, into jail for not having a bicycle license. Fines can range up to $1,000. The 1995-created law directly contradicts a 1996-written California Vehicle Code section, which states the law shall apply to residents of a city issuing bicycle licenses.

The 10th Annual Los Angeles Triathlon is this Sunday, which means there will be street closures as participants bike from Venice to downtown and then run back and forth (literally) along Grand Avenue. The following streets will be closed and opened in waves as competitors race:

The long-awaited final draft bicycle plan, all 212 pages, was released by the Department of Transportation today. This comes after last May when bikeway maps from the plan were released, causing an array of emotions from cyclists across the city. Now that the complete plan is available, we're sure that more criticisms and praises will be heard.

It's that time of year again and one that we love. Tomorrow is Park[ing] Day, where citizens, groups, architecture firms and others take a city parking space and turn it into a park. Make sure to visit one of your local parks as it only lasts one day. There's also a bicycle ride touring many of the parks for those with the day off.

After a controversy over bicycle lanes that were going to be striped, then not, then were, the Bureau of Street Services has confirmed the new lanes will be striped in October, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition reports in a newsletter today.

For years, the city of Santa Clarita (my former employer) has made great strides in furthering non-motorized transit throughout the suburban valley chock full of six-lane roads with 45 or sometimes higher speed limits. The high speed limits combined with hills plus soccer moms or pedal-to-the-medal teens are not exactly attractive for street biking without some kind of safety net. A lot of the city is connected by 60-plus miles of off street trails, paseos (well-maintained HOA paths open to the public) and street bike lanes with more to come, pending funding.

Just in case you were wondering where your local bicycle patrol officer was... Some LAPD bicycle units were sent down to Mexico City to train local officers in bicycle crowd control and patrolling techniques, according to the Associated Press. It's part of a four-day course with the California Department of Justice. Let's hope they are leaving out this technique seen in the video below (scroll to 35 seconds):

As the summer winds down, it’s important to remember that there’s still a lot of good reasons -and even better causes - to get outside. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be able to kick back and just enjoy a beer either, does it? Well, if you’d like to give back, get out, and grab a drink while you’re at it, then consider Tuesday’s Bike MS at the Library Ale House on Main Street in Santa Monica.

The LA County Bicycle Coalition announced today in an e-mail blast that they will be "conducting the first ever bicycle count for Los Angeles" in September. "Bicycle counts are used to track the number of cyclists at key intersections. This is used to understand year-to-year changes in cycling as policy and infrastructure changes. Bicycle counts are basic city planning tools that help change policy to encourage cycling. Most major US and European cities have them. This will be LA's first, and we plan to do it right while having a good time. As we are counting bicycles, we will also be counting pedestrians." If you have any suggestions for which intersections they should monitor, let them know via this survey.

As the city of Pasadena explores options to help fix the mess that is the popular three-mile loop around the Rose Bowl used by walkers, joggers and cyclists, three options have from planners with two exceptionally progressive. "What a difference two years make," said LA Streetsblog writer Damien Newton noting that an older proposal sought to eliminate bicycles from loop altogether. The three proposals include leaving the path as it is (unpopular), marking a yellow pedestrian lane with two lanes of car/bicycle traffic in opposite direction (improved) and what's seen in the image posted here: a pedestrian path, a bicycle lane and a one-way car lane (the most popular for many).

For a few years now, there has been a movement to turn the 3.6-mile 4th Street from Koreatown to near MacArthur Park into a Bicycle Boulevard. Next week, the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition will hold a meeting about the idea.

Culver City has been working on a Bicycle and Pedestrian Initiative that's currently in draft mode. The city's location between the Cheviot and Baldwin Hills as well as the Ballona Creek and eight major roads and freeways "has led to the development of an irregular (broken-grid) roadway network which presents unique challenges for non-motorized transportation."

This year, it seems like there has been more reported pedestrian and bicycle incident than usual. Back in the Spring, three pedestrians were killed in incidents involving a Metro bus or train. Two bicyclists were shot this past weekend and one was killed by a drunk driver. The list could go on. In today's LA County Bicycle Coalition e-mail blast, it announced the beginnings of a campaign to bring California a law to help protect the people who use the modes of transportation:

Newport Beach held a demonstration this weekend for their future bicycle sharing program, something that many desire here in Los Angeles after seeing similar programs in Europe and Canada. The Brandenburger Foundation is bringing the program to the city and has chosen the Bixi Bike System, which can be seen on the streets of Montreal. Here's how it will works, as explained by the Orange County Reigistrar's green blog:

There's been a lot of bicycle talk on LAist today and here's one more: the idea of bicycle sharing in Los Angeles has been mulled over about quite a bit and next week, a city panel will examine (.pdf) using a site near Olvera Street and Union Station for a variation that theme--bicycle rentals. From a motion introduced last month:

At yesterday’s Metro meeting, officials said they may do with the current rush-hour bike-on-rail ban to accommodate the system’s growing cyclist ridership, but they’re also considering implementing a two-bike-per-car rule. During their 6 p.m. meeting, which was considerably quieter than their earlier one at noon, officials said they also want to improve signage that directs cyclists and clearly state the rules (no blocking doors or walkways).

Although the ban of bicycles on a handful of rush hour Metro trains is not strictly enforced, the rule is still on the books. After threatening to enforce the rule, officials changed their tune and most recently, the transit agency "piloted a program of taking out seats to make more space for bikes on trains," reported Damien Newton at Streetsblog. "The first step in the public process to end the ban will be a pair of meetings this Thursday in Metro Headquarters at noon and 6 P.M. The meetings will be held at the Board Overflow Room on the Third Floor across from the cafeteria." For more details on the public meetings, head over to this flyer (.pdf).

Some resourcefulness and a little money has gone a long way this past week with the city's Bikeways Department. With parking meters being replaced by the new Park & Pay system kiosks, those meters, which often doubled as handy bicycle parking, were threatened to be taken off the street. Not so fast. In key areas around the city, crews spent four nights last week reconfiguring the meters into the new bicycle meter hitches.

     

Last week Long Beach did something that, by all appearances, no other city has ever done: they painted sharrows--a common practice to educate motorists that bicyclists get to legally share the road--with a five-foot green lane--a new and inventive way to grab everyone's attention and help cyclists stay out of the door zone.

After being no-shows at last week’s Transportation Committee meeting, LAPD appeared before councilmembers and cyclists yesterday, only to be met by harsh criticism for their “distinct bias towards bicyclists” and their response to a hit-and-run accident in late April in which a Hummer sideswiped a rider in downtown L.A. At the meeting, cyclists were “deeply disappointed” and scoffed at the conflicting details police gave regarding the incident.

Out with the old meters, in with hand-me-down bicycle racks called meter hitches. When the city last year began replacing parking meters with the new pay station ones, that either left headless meters or no meters at all along stress, which meant less options for bicycle parking. Then last night, as part of a pilot project between the Department of Transportation and Council President Eric Garcetti's office, came 52 new bicycle meter hitches on Hollywood Boulevard between La Brea and Vine.

For the fourth time in recent months, the City Council's Transportation Committee tomorrow will take on a handful of bicycle issues continued on from last week's meeting. Consultants from Alta Planning are slated to speak about the bicycle plan, which has recently become an unpopular subject with many cyclists. The LAPD will also be present to talk about their relationship with the bicycling community. Also on the dock is the continuing look at reviving a version of the defunct bicycle licensing program, which many believe should be left to the private sector.

Bicyclists quickly shot down the city’s idea of possibly making it illegal to ride on sidewalks. During the Transportation Committee meeting last Wednesday, advocates said changing the vehicular code won’t ensure that all cyclists will be aware of the law. Instead, the city should develop safety education programs to inform casual or less experienced riders of the dangers posed by cycling on sidewalks.

The Department of Street Services doesn’t have the authority to remove abandoned bikes on the 3,000 city-owned bike racks in L.A., officials say. Many business owners complain about the eyesore of bicycle skeletons left on racks in front of their stores, but current laws don’t allow the city to touch them. During this week’s Transportation Committee meeting, cyclists suggested creating a system for bikes similar to car parking meters and time limit enforcements, and doing away with the ban on parking bikes on meters.

"We've got a room full of people, all claiming to have been left out of the Bicycle Plan Update process. You can't call that the result of effective outreach!" That was Councilmember Wendy Greuel last Wednesday at the big bicycle transportation meeting chastising representatives from the Planning and Transportation Departments on not performing sufficient outreach for the now controversial bicycle plan. It looks like she has taken a cue from Laura Chick--that is, opining harshly, but telling it how it is--and is ready to become City Controller in July (let's keep that fire lit in her). .

Although City Council repealed the bicycle license law earlier this month, the issue continued to be a point of discussion between officials and bike advocates. At the Transportation Committee meeting earlier this week, some cyclists said they don’t completely oppose a licensing program, but they would like to see a more efficient and easier process that would be “voluntary.”