http://servelikesampras.blogspot.com/2009/06/los-angeles-bike-lanes.html

Someone asked her about this and we got a shoulder shrug and some line about how hard it is to get other agencies to work with the LADOT. If your job description is a "BICYCLE PROGRAM COORDINATOR" and you don't coordinate between agencies and committees ... umm ... are you really earning that paycheck? Do we really need the bike program coordinator to be housed in the LADOT?

This whole process stinks, and i think we need a do-over with some legitimate answers from Mowery's higher ups about what the hell is going on with the $500,000+ that has disappeared into this orgy of spending and disregard for the public. We need a plan that at least takes a bold tack and lays out the Class 1 and 2 bike facilities that a politician can choose to fund or ignore.

http://tinyurl.com/mhqvzq

This whole waste of time has all been an exercise in keeping a couple of bureaucrats employed. Let's just be honest about it and admit that a bike plan has nothing to do with us getting results downtown. Sitting on our hands and waiting for some loser in a suit to tell us what is good for us isn't a winning strategy in any political system I'm aware of.

Screw this bike plan, and let the people who put it together rot in the obscurity they rightfully deserve. There is more that we can gain by working more overtly for policy changes and political changes in the city.

Frustration and Anger have their place and value.

So do Collaboration and Communication.

Vision and Dreaming have a vital place in the process as well.

People who work behind the scenes to shift the policy are just as necessary as the people out protesting in the streets.

When we learn to respect and value each other and the roles we play on a team together all working for the same goals....

then and only then will we have a chance.

LIVE THE DREAM.

1. Connectivity between major destinations
2. Real bicycle boulevards.
3. Transportation over recreation.
4. A new LADOT bikeways department unfamiliar with the word "unfeasible".

What is wrong with trying to get people fired? I think we should do that when a city bureaucrat has made it their business to shut us down and keep bike riders from taking car lanes. If it is a political and paper shuffling "war" that LADOT wants to wage, then let's have at it. What laws do they have to back them up? The state has tons of stuff on the books that we should be able to sue the city over.

Here is an example: (1) The state has found that bicycle riding reduces our dependence on foreign oil and improves air quality (2) The City collects Prop C money expressly for the purpose of improving air quality and reducing our dependence on foreign oil (it's in the language of Prop C) (3) That money is spent on pro-car projects (WTF?!) that increase Vehicle Mile Traveled and induce more car driving (transportation-based air pollution is the biggest source of greenhouse gases and the biggest consumer of foreign oil).

We should sue to revise the LADOT's policies (if they actually have any written down, the cowards) to allow car travel lanes to be removed for Class 1 bike facilities using Prop C money. End of story.

Sue, sue, sue, and sue some more. Further, if our leaders don't have the cojones to do what is right, we'll elect some others and tear apart the ones that don't believe in what we want. It's what every interest group wants to do but rarely executes. We've got more than enough people to do this sort of thing, we've got a lot of expertise.

The bike advocacy movement in L.A. needs a funded center to slam away at city government - I nominate Stephen Box. Nobody is better at kicking ass in the bike scene and getting good press. There are a couple of people out their like me able to put in the work on efforts lead by someone else.

Let's kick some ass already.

So why wait? I just sent an email to Jordann Turner asking if the Bike Plan data can be provided in a Google Maps compatible format.

We need a way to get Villaraigosa's office turned onto this issue. Bike friendly streets are a big part of our shared future - and that is being reflected in cities across the US. LA' mayor needs to turn around on his baloney "congestion relief" campaign promise and come to the light side of the force.

Anyone going to look to the practical?

The West Side and the East Side have been left out of this plan. Why? Why has the Bike Community not been involved? Why has the LABAC not been notified? Why has the Caltrans 7 Bicycle Advisory Committee not been notified?

I'm pissed off that I never received a notification about the process, to get me involved via email or mail. I was at 3 of the planning meetings, the LADOT and the Planning Department has my address as well as my email address and they never notified me, never involved me and never asked for my input.

LADOT sucks big time and so does the LACBC! LACBC sends me a bunch of emails about their fundraiser, but they don't get on top of the Bike Plan. They don't involve the community, they don't push the LADOT to make LA bike friendly. LABAC only pushes people to send them money so they can pay a staff member to send emails about their fundraiser.

Some of the comments about dreaming and thinking positive is also bull! The civil rights movement didn't happen because people were dreaming and patting each other on the back. It happened because people demanded their rights. It happened because people demanded respect! It happened because people demanded and fought for equality and justice!

At this point, perhaps a more tempered approach is in order. One in which anger and optimism interact directly with intelligence and creative solutions. Certainly the former could inspire the latter.

The Department of DIY also has an educational department with an in-house Library. It is a comfortable place in which to dream of those practical solutions that Joe Linton was talking about.

where is the Los Angeles Bike Advisory Committee meeting tomorrow night? Parker Center?