It would be great if a few valley bicyclists could show up and support the Reseda Boulevard bike lanes. Be polite and be careful not to spread any rumors this time!!

I’ve posted the agenda here: http://glatwg.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/nenc_agenda_8-19-091.pdf

http://lacbc.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/reseda-blvd-bike-lane-letter/

Oddly, at least to my perspective, the local population prefers having no sidewalks i.e being able to park at the local mom & pop store by pulling directly off the highway.

-Mayor Villaraigosa, giving insight into his true priorities for LADOT, speaking about his well-researched appointment of Gloria Jeff.

But then I really think LADOT should just revert to their original name, the “Bureau of Street Traffic Engineering” and get on with using all that still available Red Car and LARy. medians which they claimed they needed for cars all those years ago.

The bottom line is that at least three miles of additional bicycle lanes in Northridge on Reseda Boulevard between Nordhoff and Rinaldi street ought to have been installed and in use by now. But thanks to dictatorial bureaucrats like Ken Firoozmand they aren’t and won’t be IF they are allowed to have their way any longer.

The sad fact is that this scenario has occurred numerous times during the past several years under Mr. Firoozmand’s watch: peak hour lanes installed throughout the West Valley in wanton disregard for the City Council adopted Bicycle Plan’s designation of bicycle lanes.

How many times? Which streets? And what’s going on in the rest of the City? When we have compiled the list I hope Streetsblog will post it.

Glenn Bailey

It’s a little telling that the word “current” was missing from their earlier statements… so apparently the plan that Ken Firoozmand recently related to Glenn Bailey and Paul Meshkin is no longer current.

At least the LADOT was caught in their lie this time… and the not-current plan was made not-current… and the story isn’t over. It’s time for cyclists to organize and win those lanes on Reseda Boulevard and elsewhere.

I want lawsuits thrown in their faces. How about getting a lawsuit against the LADOT for institutional bias against non automotive fforms of transportation? How about a class action lawsuit for safety of pedestrians an cyclists? How about we sue to change the directive of the ladot from counting vehicles moved rather than people moved?

LACBC will be working on a campiagn to install the 3 miles of Bike Lane on Reseda as approved in the Bike Master Plan. Let’s all work together to make it happen before the end of 2009!!

The DOT also needs to look at reversing the other similar wrong-headed road decisions in LA – these include Tampa and a number of other streets.

Being the forgiving sort, I lean towards ascribing this whole mess to miscommunication within LADOT, rather than outright duplicity. However, the latter would be easier to fix, since all you have to do is fire someone; fixing communication problems usually requires changing the culture of an organization. And as usual, the first step is to admit they have a problem, which isn’t likely.

I think the next step is for cyclists to contact new Transportation Committee chairman Rosendahl and ask that this matter be put on their agenda, so the TranspoComm can go on record as opposing the removal of bike lanes on Reseda and supporting the proposed bike lanes.

“MUST MOVE MORE CARS!”

(Also, why does Los Angeles DOT have their offices in the California DOT building? California DOT-”Caltrans” does not have their offices in the USDOT building.)

Really damning is Glenn Bailey’s statement:
Mr. Firoozmand told me he was “not going to put in (bike) lanes for just one or two bicyclists.”