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L.A. Is Now A Bicycle Friendly Community!
Photo by howard-f via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr
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Congratulations, Los Angeles: We are now designated as a Bicycle Friendly City for the first time thanks to the League of American Bicyclists. But before we let this get to our heads, we aren't exactly tops of the bicycle heap in the nation. The League awards come at five levels, and, alas, L.A.'s honor is at the last level.
"Thanks to significant progress over the past five years, the nation's second largest city -- Los Angeles -- has now attained Bronze BFC status," explains the League.
It's our strong--and growing--bicycle culture that got us on the list, and that growth can be in part attributed to "countless individual cyclists and advocacy organizations like the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, the Bicycle Kitchen, and Multicultural Communities for Mobility." The award comes with a nod to L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa for being a supporter of the bicycling community and bike progress in L.A. (And he's been known to hop on two wheels himself...and take a spill.)
Events like CicLAvia, which recently took over the streets of the city again, are also likely a part of what it making our bicycling culture more robust, as are soaring gas prices, which have many Angelenos exploring transit alternatives.
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Said Villaraigosa of the Bronze-level honor:
"Los Angeles is honored to be recognized by the League of American Bicyclists for our work making LA a more bike-friendly city. From building 1,600 miles of bikeways over the next 30 years to increasing the number of bike racks in the city by 80 percent, we're making it simpler and safer for Angelenos to get around on two wheels."
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