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Bike activists have long complained about the city’s official Bike Advisory Committee (LABAC).  In fact, I’ve never heard anyone that wasn’t on the committee say something nice about the committee.  Today, those complaints will be heard and amplified when the City Council’s Planning and Land Use Committee hear a motion to reform the LABAC.

The most common complaint is that the committee has neither the teeth nor the will power to enact major changes.  Streetsblog reader Ubrayj2 actually referred to the committee as an “April Fool’s Joke” in a post at his blog last month.  Other complaints deal with members who don’t show up for meetings and that by forcing people to sign-in, the meetings are in violation of the Brown Act.

The motion, put forward by bike activist’s go-to Councilmember, Ed Reyes, and Transportation Committee Chair Wendy Greuel, recognizes that “there are certain structural and operational changes which must be made at this time in order to allow the Bicycle Advisory Committee to reach its full potential” and makes the following changes. 

Will be jointly staffed by the Department of Transportation and the City Planning Department;

A liaison from the Department of Recreation and Parks will be assigned to assist the committee as needed;

Appoint an administrative staff person to be responsible to post meeting minutes, agendas, and other support services;

Establish that any member of the Bicycle Advisory Committee may make a motion for the election of a new Chair; and that upon
a majority vote of the members, an election for the Chair will be immediately held for a minimum term of one year; and

Require each member to have an assigned alternate member.

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With an enormous number of livable streets stories and activities on the horizon in, Streetfilms will be looking for help. Yes, Los Angeles, this job posting isn't just for New Yorkers, it's for us as well. If you liked the two Streetfilms we've already completed in Los Angeles, and would like to give it a try yourself, this is job for you.

So if you are very good with a camera, know transportation issues and are familiar with the current momentum of livable streets, send us your deets! The process to apply is here; as you can read please do not call or e-mail Streetfilms filmmakers directly. We will be compiling all resumes/work experience thru May 23rd and then on an as-needed basis start contacting potential freelancers for assignments. Thanks and good luck!

Job Posting - Freelancers, Streetfilms

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Three Democratic Congress Members, Grace Napolitano of Santa Fe Springs, Hilda Solis of El Monte and Diane Watson of Los Angeles, have joined a pair of suburban Republicans in sponsoring federal legislation that would effectively end Metro’s efforts to put HOT Lanes on the 10, 110 and 210 highways.

Bi-partisan or not, the Members of Congress are showing a lack of understanding of both congestion pricing and the process going forward.

The Whittier Daily News quotes Solis as saying:

This plan could transfer traffic from the freeways to our residential neighborhoods, posing significant and unnecessary safety and public health risks.

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• Long Beach Press Telegram: Give Congestion Pricing a Chance 
• Second "Criminal Mass" on 405 (Daily News, LAist and LAist) 
• OC Wants More Transit Options (Times)
• Bike-Share Coming to Convention Host Cities (USA Today)
  
• Big Rig Rolls Over on Route 60 (Times) 
• Vehicular Cycling Advocate Blames Lanes for Fatalities (BikePortland)
  

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I'm still not sure about how having an undead three thousand year old monster bumping into people's bikes and snarling at them is the best way to promote cycling, but the event itself was a lighter promotional event designed to be a media friendly reminder that cycling is the right choice for traveling when possible. I think it worked...four television cameras and the Daily News Streetsblog in covering the event.

Tomorrow Metro sponsors the "Blessing of the Bikes" while it's Ladies Night in Pasadena.

More images from today are available after the jump.

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Cliff Lee's $4 million arm hangs from a subway strap.

With a 6-0 won-loss record and a 0.81 earned run average, Cleveland Indians southpaw Cliff Lee is, for the moment, the hottest pitcher in Major League Baseball. HIs delivery is so smooth, so perfect looking, it's hard not to think Sandy Koufax.

Last Wednesday, Streetsblog tech director Nick Grossman and I journeyed up to the Bronx to watch Lee pick apart the Yankees over-priced line up (yes, I'm an Indians fan), handing Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang his first loss of the season. Unfortunately, I took the D train to get to the stadium. Had I left a couple of hours earlier on the 4 train, I might have been as lucky as baseball blogger Rich Lederer:

We caught the 4 Train from Grand Central to Yankee Stadium. After getting a bite to eat in the food concourse, we hopped onto the subway at about 3:45 pm. Our car was crowded so we found ourselves standing in the middle, holding onto the rails for safety. After we got situated, Joe whispers to me, "I'm 95% certain that's Cliff Lee standing next to you" (notice the arm of my brown jacket in the foreground). I look up and, sure enough, it looks just like the Cleveland lefthander.

In any event, while making eye contact with Lee, I make a pitching motion with my left hand as if I were throwing a breaking ball. He gives me a quizzical look so I mouth "Cliff?" He nods his head. Conscientious that I'm wearing a NY hat for the first time in my life, I point to it and tell him that I'm from Long Beach, California and not really a Yankees fan. Lee smiled and shook his head. I explained that Joe and I were on a father-son baseball trip and had already been to Fenway Park the previous weekend and were going to our first Yankees game that night, and to Shea Stadium on Friday night.

There wasn't a single person other than Joe or me who had any inclination that Cliff Lee was standing on the subway, holding onto the rail tightly with his left arm.

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A pair of Southern California Republican Congressmen have authored legislation seeking to halt Metro's plan to add congestion pricing in the form of HOT Lanes to two Los Angeles County Highways. Representatives Gary Miller (pictured) and David Dreier have introduced "the Free Way Act" which, according to a statement on Miller's website would, "prohibit states and localities from charging carpoolers to access now free carpool lanes built with federal taxpayer money."

Metro recently received an over $213 million grant to implement HOT Lanes on two area highways, and purchase new buses for and build new park-and-ride facilities adjacent to the new HOT Lanes.

On top of repeating the arguments that freeways have already been paid for and that congestion pricing will actually make congestion worse, two ideas that have been thoroughly discussed here before, Miller offers a new argument.

According to the Pasadena Star News, Miller, has discovered a shocking truth about Metro's HOT Lanes plan: 

Miller said the money Metro would get wouldn't even go to improve roads. Instead, it would go for buses, rail lines and park-and-ride improvements.

Oh, My God! Buses, rail lines and park and ride improvements? What in the heck does any of those things have to do with commuting?

The good news is, this legislation seems to be going nowhere.  Even if it were passed by both houses of congress, it is unlikely that President Bush would sign a law that reversed a decision by one of his agencies.  While Bush will be replaced in the next nine months, Congress and the new president would have to act quickly...Metro is planning on opening the HOT Lanes just over a year after the new president takes office.

Photo: New York Times

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Suburbanites in northern Virginia are finding their streets more clogged with traffic than ever, and, as the Washington Post reported earlier this week, they aren't about to get bailed out by road-widening projects. Here's the crux of the problem, told from the Post reporter's decidedly windshield perspective:

Thoroughfares like Rolling Road are the blood vessels that connect suburbia, the secondary roads that carry commuters to interstates, residents to supermarkets and children to school. They include Braddock Road in Fairfax County, Colesville Road in Montgomery, and even such larger highways as routes 7 and 50. They are the roads that Washington area residents traverse every day, sometimes several times a day.

Just months ago, Northern Virginia residents and elected officials were expecting hundreds of millions of dollars in improvements to such roads. Now, because of budget cuts and state lawmakers' failure to reach a deal on regional transportation funding, drivers can expect only more misery.

The Virginia Department of Transportation recently announced a 51 percent cut in the region's road-building program. Dozens of projects have been eliminated or postponed indefinitely. And rising maintenance costs are eating away at what little remains.

The Post assumes that expanding road capacity is the only answer, and casts the problem as purely a budgetary shortfall. It neglects to mention the role of land use in bringing about this state of affairs. The pattern described in the article is similar to what regions all over the country are facing, as past decisions to separate housing from other land uses come back to haunt them in the form of ever-mounting traffic.

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• RAND Proposes Congestion Pricing on All Freeways (CityWatch)
• SCAG Passes Long Range Plan (Daily News, Press Telegram, Press Enterprise)
  
• Riding a Bike, a Sign of Adulthood (Times) 
• Gas Prices Are Starting to Thin Traffic... (Times)
• ...and Metrolink Ridership is Up (OC Register) 
• De-car-ing in the Valley (Emerald City)
• Man Shot at for Evading Fares (LAist, CBS2)
• Metrolink Ridership Up (Register) 
• New Lanes for the 118 in Ventura County (The Star)

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