Comments on: Council Celebrates Bike Week by Reforming Advisory Committee

By: ubrayj02

ubrayj02 — Tue, 20 May 2008 00:55:34 +0000

“Michelle takes everything into account and is far more aware of what it takes to implement actions by the board or the public sector.”

Larry,

I’ve got to disagree with you there. I think she knows how to write plans and fill out grants applications. Other than that, I don’t think Michelle Mowery it the right person to look to for real change in the way policy makers wield their power.

She doesn’t have too much to show for her expertise over the past decade (politically) – and I chalk that up to her being an employee of the City (and thus sort of unable to lobby for change the way someone ought to).

There is no need to shoot the messenger, but the messenger had better be able to deliver the frickin’ message! If she knows what is L.A.’s bike riders need, then why not WORK WITH ACTUAL BIKE RIDERS to see those needs get met?

Instead, she treats members of the public like interns. It feels like all she wants out of us is to show up and listen to her lose multiple political battles in City Hall.

She has the cures to what ails this city’s cyclists but she does not have a political route to address those maladies.

By: Larry

Larry — Fri, 16 May 2008 23:59:14 +0000

Michelle takes everything into account and is far more aware of what it takes to implement actions by the board or the public sector.
It takes lots of work cooridinating ideas to the finished project than most people can understand.
I understand the publics concerns on the speed of City Government, but it does not seem necessary to shoot the messenger

By: Alex Thompson

Alex Thompson — Wed, 14 May 2008 21:12:39 +0000

DN,

I wasn’t disagreeing. I was just noting that this the same speech we’ve all seen Mowery give on a number of occasions. The fact that she queued (hard word to spell!) and played it back to politicians is !!!!WEIRD/!!!!

By: Damien Newton

Damien Newton — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:11:13 +0000

AT, I see your point, that it feels like shifting the blame when a DOT director blames the city for our bike conditions, but the difference is in the audience. It’s one thing when she tells me or you that it’s the pols’ fault. It’s another thing when she tells the same thing to the pols.

By: ubrayj02

ubrayj02 — Wed, 14 May 2008 18:06:07 +0000

I kind of feel bad trashing Michelle Mowry all the time. She has been through a lot of battles in L.A., and I imagine she goes home at night feeling like crap that when bikes are finally starting to come into their own that she is seen as a sort of villain by bicycle advocates.

I guess that is how things happen. She kind of got in the way of a bunch of angry bike riders instead of channeling and exploiting their energy.

By: Alex Thompson

Alex Thompson — Wed, 14 May 2008 17:54:57 +0000

Standard Mowery speech. I have it on tape and I just splay it back right before I do my hill repeats.

3 + 8 is the 4th prime.

By: Damien Newton

Damien Newton — Wed, 14 May 2008 15:21:30 +0000

That’s funny. Telling a City Council committee that she’d like to do more, if only the politicians would let her.

Gutsy.

By: ubrayj02

ubrayj02 — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:43:25 +0000

I should clairfy that Mowry quote – the gist of what she said was: She would like to take away car lanes for bikes, and provide access on arterial roads (where we all know bicyclists ride when bicycling for transportation). Politics, she says, has prevented those changes from taking place.

By: ubrayj02

ubrayj02 — Wed, 14 May 2008 06:39:40 +0000

Hey! It made it out of PLUM for a little while and will soon go before Transportation (then back to PLUM)!

I had a chance to address the committee today and nobody seemed to care much about the issue, except of course Councilman Reyes. That, to me, bodes well – as this is a small matter that will not get killed by the concerns of an employee union or something like that.

One of my favorite parts of the day was hearing the LADOT’s Michelle Mowry dodge some direct questioning and then drop a bomb that she, “… would be the first one in favor of removing a travel lanes for bikes …”

Mowry went on to explain that that is heresy to her colleagues, and that as a result of a lack of political will, she was keeping the L.A. Bike Master Plan focused on side streets and inexpensive projects.

Reyes’ staff were really friendly to me, and I hope his (and Councilwoman Gruel’s) work to reform the LABAC gets them some well deserved recognition.