Streetsblog Los Angeles

Photo: Carlos Morales

Two weeks ago, while researching a story on LAPD “bike lane stings” for Streetsblog, Carlos Morales came upon a television film crew blocking a bike lane.  When Streetsblog posted pictures and commentary, some readers were angry at the crew for “Ringer” and others were annoyed that Streetsblog was wasteing time writing about something that “real Angelenos” have learned to accept.

But as more details came out, the story got worse.  In the comments section, LAPD Sgt. David Krumer noted that the film crew did not have a permit and that the LAPD talked to Film L.A. about the need to get proper permits.  The crew told Morales that LADOT told them they don’t give out permits to close bike lanes which is a) untrue and b) an admission of guilt.  Last I checked, if I fail to get a permit to do what I want to do, that doesn’t give me permission to do whatever it is I wanted the permit for.  Quite the opposite in fact.

How hard is it to get a permit to shut down a travel lane, bike or car?  LADOT makes it sound pretty easy.  Spokesman Bruce Gillman writes, “When filming occurs, as with any special event or construction project, and a lane closure (bike or automobile) needs to occur to accommodate the special event, construction project, maintenance, or filming activity; DOT staff will work with the company on a proper lane closure procedure to be sure bicyclists and motorists are aware that the bicycle and/or travel lane is temporarily closed properly with signage, etc.  This is not really anything new.  The City has been closing lanes (bike and car) for years to accommodate special needs on the roadways. This should only occur when the closure is necessary at the immediate location to facilitate the immediate film activity, not to close the bike lane just to provide parking for the cast and crew.”

In fact, the LADOT even has a manual posted to their website detailing what needs to be done for a lane closure to occur.  As long as you’re not planning to close a travel lane in rush hour, it doesn’t seem to be that hard.  If a crew requires a one-way one lane closure as pictured above and it’s not scheduled for rush hour, a simple request to the Bureau of Public Works will get them what they need.  If the permit is more complicated, than the LADOT will need to be involved. Read more…

Ladot Re-Organization Memo (2012!02!17) With Org Chart-1 (1)

In February, LADOT General Manager Jaime De La Vega announced a small shakeup in the Department, streamlining the organizational flowchart and altering the jobs of some of it’s top brass.  Perhaps the biggest news was the announced retirement of longtime Assistant General Manager John Fisher, who many viewed as a top candidate for the general manager position the last couple of times the position opened up.

More on Fisher’s retirement at the end of this story.

Part of the department’s reorganization saw the reasigning of the office of Transportation Operations headed by Fisher.  The closest parallel is the newly created Department of Project Delivery that will be headed by Zaki Mustafa.  Project Delivery is responsible for developing and overseeing projects through planning, environmental, and design phases.  Project Deliver will also support work done in the city by other agencies, such as Metro, undertaking a public works project on the street.  The divisions of this project include Design, Development, Highway, Pedestrian and Transit and Bicycle Divisions. Read more…

To see a full sized copy of this graphic, click on it and visit the GOOD website.

Wilshire Boulevard.

The iconic Boulevard that connects Downtown Los Angeles to the Santa Monica beaches by way of Mid-Town, Korea Town, Larchmont, Miracle Mile, Fairfax, Beverly Hills, Westwood, Brentwood, West L.A. and Santa Monica itself, doesn’t capture the world’s attention.   Heck, it doesn’t even get a mention in “I Love L.A.“

But Angelenos know how important the street is.  The above graphic was created by local artist and designer Brian Micheal Gossett as part of the outreach for the LA/2B program.  The Los Angeles Departments of City Planning and Transportation (LADOT) partnered with GOOD Corps, to create an interesting and interactive experience for people to participate in the process of creating a new mobility plan for the city, and this infographic shows how streets do more than just transport us from A to B.

There will be more of these inforgraphics released as the project moves forward, and Streetsblog will do it’s best to bring those to you as they become public.  It’s hardly news to Streetsblog readers that streets are for more than moving cars, but it’s always nice to see that simple concept displayed in a way that is new and interesting.

These new metal benches began appearing late last year. In some cases they are replacing the old plastic benches, and in other cases are coming to stops that have had no benches at all. Photo: L.A. Urban Soul/Flickr

As Damien has noted previously new bus benches are popping up around Los Angeles as new bench provider Martin Outdoor gets up to speed following the city council awarding the contract in August 2011.

To find our the status of the program I contacted Lance Oishi, Contract Administrator for Streetscape Development and Coordinated Street Furniture Programs at the city of Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services, who kindly responded to a set of questions I emailed him.

Gabbard: what is the status of the program?

Oishi: The contract with Martin Outdoor Media (Martin) was signed on October 4, 2011, so they’ve been moving forward with the City’s bus bench program for a little more than 4 months now. Martin started fabricating their new benches for Los Angeles as soon as the contract was signed and installed their first 25 replacement benches on October 25 & 26, 2011. Since then, they’ve been primarily focused on continuing the replacement of the existing bus benches left behind by our previous bus bench contractor. The City’s Holiday Street Closure moratorium and a glitch with their bench fabricator slowed Martin’s installation efforts in November and December; they’re moving forward as expected at this time without any further impediments. Martin will continue to maintain both their new benches and the older existing benches until such time, the older benches are replaced. To date, Martin has replaced/installed over 800 new benches.

Gabbard: Has working with Outdoor Martin been productive and positive?

Oishi: From our perspective, working with Martin has been both productive and positive. They have been very responsive to requests or concerns raised by the City.

Gabbard: It appears so far Outdoor Martin is replacing existing benches with the new steel ones. When will the next step (benches at stops that lack benches now) start? Read more…

New bike lanes on Cahuenga Boulevard in Hollywood - among the 12 new miles of bike lanes implemented in late 2011.

The good news: the city of Los Angeles is implementing more bike lanes than ever before. From July 2011 through December 2011, the city of Los Angeles has implemented 12.5 miles of new bike lanes. This is by far the highest total for any six-month period since at least 1996, and probably the most ever. For the past decade or so, the city has averaged roughly two-to-three miles of new bike lanes every six months.

The bad news: according to Streetsblog’s accounting, despite the stepped-up efforts, the city is not quite on track to fulfill Mayor Villaraigosa’s directive “to build 40 miles of bikeways a year” beginning with Fiscal Year 2011-2012.

After the jump, this article will enumerate just what new bikeway mileage has been done, and how the city may be able to get the 40 new bikeways pledged.

First some background. Read more…

From this...

...to this. And then back again. Photos via Flying Pigeon L.A.

Over the break, Josef Bray-Ali, of Bike Oven and Flying Pigeon Bike Shop fame, was bicycling on Venice Boulevard when he noticed something odd.  The bike lanes vanished on the north side of the road well before the usual terminus at Crenshaw Boulevard.  Furious, Bray-Ali took to the Internet to excorciate the city and Mid-Town Crossing mega development for sacrificing the lanes for the wishes of a developer.

After contacting LADOT about the vanishing lanes, a process apparently mirrored by other writers and members of the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, they initially expressed confusion.  Days later, LADOT reported that the issue was that Mid-Town Crossing was working off diagrams from when it was originally cleared back in 2005.   The developers will pay for the bike lanes to be repainted on the repaved portion of Venice Boulevard.

Anyone interested in learning more about the saga of Mid-Town Crossing should check out this archive on Curbed.

So all’s well that ends well as far as Venice Boulevard is concerned, but the issue raises questions, none of which are good for the city. Read more…

Photo: Patrick Pascal

The poor Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane.  The first “outside the box” bike project in Los Angeles has come under fire from just about everyone for the peeling paint and tire tracks that dominate a portion of the lane.  Even Midnight Ridazz hosts a thread entitled, “Green Lanes Are a Joke,” although opinions ont eh lane are mixed.  In order to bring some balance to the story, Streetsblog went out and found some actual riders of the lane to see what they had to say.

The reaction was mixed.  While just about everyone loved that the lane was there, just about everyone wanted to say something about the application.  Here are some of the comments we received, all without any editing from me other than some “bolding” for emphasis.

First up is Valerie Watson, an architect and Chair of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Complete Streets Committee rides the lane regularly:

As a Spring Street resident, I ride and walk down Spring several times a week.  It’s really remarkable how different it is.  Hard to describe, but it just feels like all traffic is flowing in a more calm, orderly way now.  The bike lane plus full time parking are a noticeable sidewalk buffer for the west side of Spring, and just walking down the street you can see how different that feels compared to the east side with cars zooming along the curb during rush hour where the parking is still under peak-hour restrictions.

Also, the 4′ bike lane buffer really makes a big difference for cyclist comfort – everyone is making a big deal about the green paint, but the 4′ buffer goes hand in hand with the 6′ of green to make this feel really different compared to a traditional 5′ bike lane.  Even though it’s still not the ideal – a separated cycletrack – it’s a step in the right direction. We should not forget that this is a 10′ bike lane - the width of a full vehicular travel lane – re-purposed roadway that is obviously benefiting all modes.

P was the first person to complain to Streetsblog about the paint condition.  Asked to follow-up on his experience, he writes:

I did re-ride the bike lane at the end of last week and much of the paint that was in the worst condition was reapplied.  I had intended to return again this weekend to give it a more thorough appraisal.

The quality of the repaint did not make me confident for the lane’s long term durability.  In addition, many of the potholes did remain (I will send you a picture of one such pothole between Temple & 1st which I took with my phone), particularly in the areas where new paint was not applied.  Most of the potholes were of a size that might fit an apple; some were the size of grapefruit.  Some of the surfaces surrounding bus stops were also unsafe.

None of these deficiencies are out of normal for most of Los Angeles’ streets, but I see these bike lanes as exactly the sort of infrastructure where bicyclists might expect better.  If you encourage bicycles to use a particular spaces, you take added responsibility for the outcomes that result.

Meanwhile, Allison Corona thinks the lanes would be better for the community if there were part of a network: Read more…

Earlier this week I shared the latest on the Wilshire BRT and Gateway Plaza busway station projects.

Several of the commenters posed questions about the length of time the city says is needed for completing the Wilshire lanes. For example, Allison M asked “I’m trying to understand why it will take 2 years to do the upgrades and testing after the engineering is complete? Is this normal for BRT? It seems unnecessarily long.” I passed these queries along to the L.A. Dept. of Transportation, which is taking the lead on the project. Bruce L. Gillman, LADOT’s Director of Public Information, was kind enough to confer with the city staffers working on the project and passed along this response:

The schedule for the Wilshire bus lane project involves multiple City departments that work on the design, construction of the street widening, pavement reconstruction, engineering surveys, analysis and traffic management plan. None of which can be completed in a short period of time. That said, LADOT is working with our partners to expedite this project and will continue to push ahead to make Wilshire bus lanes a reality as soon as possible.

My thanks to Mr. Gillman for the prompt response.

“Bus Only Lanes”

“Bike Lanes in Major Streets”

“Closing Streets for Events”

“More showers and bike rental/parking stations”

Click on the image to visit the LA/2B homepage.

Is this a Livable Streets wishlist for the City of Los Angeles?  Yes.  But it’s also the topics highlighted by LA/2B, the interactive online discussion program employed by the LADOT and City Planning to solicit feedback on the city’s effort to update its mobility plan.  In an email to media and those using the website, LA/2B routinely lists the hottest topics on its message boards.  All comments left at LA/2B will be part of the public record when determining what will, and won’t, be included in the city’s long-term plans.

Whenever I visit the LA/2B site, the hot topics are always related to livable streets, and that the comments are overwhelmingly positive.  For example, the “hottest topic” at the moment is “Prioritize Pedestrians Over Autos” and has received twenty
“seconds” and 16 comments.    By my count the comments run 2:1 in favor of the concept.

While support has been strong for pedestrian, bicycle and open streets proposals, the numbers on the website aren’t enough to persuade legislators addled with a car culture mentality so if you want to join the discussion, there’s no time like the present.

To learn more about the nuts and bolts of how the BPIT prioritization website works, visit the LADOT Bike Blog by clicking on the above image

Meanwhile, LADOT Bikeways is fulfilling a promise made to its Bicycle Plan Implementation Team (BPIT) and has launched an online survey for cyclists and interested parties to prioritize what projects in the Bike Plan should be implemented first.  LADOT has come under some fire for placing Sharrows on a seemingly random set of streets so that in can reach the Mayor’s stated goal of 40 miles of bike projects every year.  As we’ve noted before, the massive Sharrows implementation weekend from earlier this year was not included in the 2010 Bike Plan. Read more…