Streetsblog Los Angeles

Ahh! All that green is reflecting up at me! Photo of the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane Opening via Jan Perry.

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Times weighed in on the debate over whether or not the city should, or shouldn’t,repaint the fading Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane. The editorial calls for the lane to be repainted, but only after the city tries to find a shade of green that works for the filming industry per their representatives at Film L.A.

It’s always nice to call for a compromise, but one thing the Times is missing is that the current state of play is a compromise. The city, with the full support of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, originally planned to paint the Spring Street Lane going south green AS WELL AS the Main Street lane that runs on a parallel street green going north. Film L.A. managed to squash this second part of the proposal. If every time the Spring Street Lane is up for painting the city “compromises” then advocates for safer streets will see the the lane getting less useful every time it’s up for painting.

Maybe it’s time for advocates to call for painting the Main Street lane green as well, so we’re not starting from the current state of play with any “compromise” reducing the value of existing infrastructure. I will add that when discussing the editorial with some of the city’s bike advocates, off the record because this was an off-the-cuff conversation and not a policy of their organizations, it was repeatedly suggested that a good compromise should involve the city using the kind of paint that won’t fade in just one year.

Even with all of the press on the terrible impact that the green paint has on filming in L.A.’s historic core in Downtown Los Angeles, we still don’t have a great idea of data backing the argument that the lane with its current paint is bad for filming. We know that they claim that the paint and its reflective surfacing makes it harder to edit. After we showed the world that taking the lane out really isn’t that hard in post-production, the story changed a little. Now its the reflection, not the paint itself, that’s really super hard to edit out.

So here’s our challenge, we’ll show you our data and ask that you do the same. We can show the benefits of both green bike lanes and the Spring Street lane in particular, with data. If you tell us the extra cost of this editing and what percentage of a budget it would be, people can decide what is worth more. Also, could you please tell us cost be of temporarily covering the lane and editing the covering in post production? Without this data from you, we really can’t gauge the seriousness of your argument.

There's a wealth of data on the value of the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane. There's a dearth of value on the cost to Film L.A. of the magic green paint.

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A couple of weeks ago, Streetsblog asked our readers to submit pictures for the Spring Street Photo Contest. We will accept votes on Streetsblog through Saturday at noon. Then the top two vote getters will be voted on in a “money counts” contest at Saturday’s fundraiser. When people contribute, they will put their donation into a jar in front of one of the two finalists. Finalist that raises the most cash wins.

The six images are available below. Pick your favorite and we’ll let you know Monday morning who took each of the pictures and who wins the Streetsblog prize bag.

Just a reminder, the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane is in danger. Film L.A., which succesfully lobbied against the Main Street Bike Lane receiving the green paint treatment, received assurances from the L.A. Mayor’s Office that the green paint on Spring Street would be allowed to fade. The Mayor’s Office, under pressure from Hollywood’s representatives to the City Council Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge, has stopped LADOT from repainting the lane despite support for the lane from bike advocates  the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council and Downtown L.A.’s City Councilman, Jose Huizar.

Despite video proof that Film L.A.’s major concerns are, to be polite, a complete fabrication, the lane remains unpainted. Read more…

Last Friday, Downtown and Eastside City Councilman Jose Huizar upped the ante in the debate over by introducing a motion demanding that LADOT repaint the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane. The motion, introduced by Bill Rosendahl and Ed Reyes on his behalf because of Huizar’s physical absence on Friday,

The lane was painted in November of 2011, but objections from Film L.A. have clouded the lane’s future. Despite the support of the local Neighborhood Council, local City Council Member and studies showing the paint has attracted riders and made the street more safe, Film L.A. seems to be able to keep the lane from being repainted by basically lieing about how hard it is to remove green paint in post production. (see video above)

But Huizar’s concern is getting the lane painted, and if there is a way to mollify the film industry, than LADOT and the City should do that as well.

“I support the green bike lanes in Downtown Los Angeles,” Huizar told Streetsblog. “They help keep bicyclists and motorists safe, promote multi-modal transportation Downtown and are widely used. I understand the film industry’s concerns and am open to discuss ways to improve the lanes, but I do not support removing them entirely. They serve a distinct purpose and we should continue to make them available to a growing Downtown community.”

We haven’t found the motion on the city’s website, but Huizar’s office provided Streetsblog with a copy. It can be found after the jump.

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One of the unchallenged truths of the debate over the fate of the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane is a claim from Film L.A. that it is really, really, super-duper, hard to edit out the green paint in post-production. For that reason, the green paint had to go.We decided to challenge that claim, and asked a reader familiar with film editing how hard it really would be.

The answer is in the above video. It took the editor all of about twenty seconds to remove the green.

Surely Film L.A. doesn’t have so much clout that it can hold up the simple repainting of an already fading and chipped green buffered bike lane on Spring Street over the wishes of the Mayor’s Office, LADOT, local City Council Member Jose Huizar and the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council. So what’s the delay?

City hall staff are blaming Council Members LaBonge and Garcetti for the delay (or cancellation) of the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane. Is the claim fair, or are they spreading the blame? Image: CD13

Opposing the repainting, the film, television and commercial industry advocacy group, Film L.A., has stated that the lanes create problems for filming because the green paint is very difficult to get rid of in post production. Also, they argue that other major cities don’t have green bike lanes, a claim that is demonstrably false.

Behind the scenes, the two City Council Members that represent the geographic area of Hollywood have both pushed to delay, or cancel the repainting. Council Member Eric Garcetti’s office confirmed their interest in delaying the project, but later conceded that it should be the decision of the Mayor’s Office and  Huizar. Council Member Tom LaBonge was more aggressive in defending his position that the green in the bike lane should be allowed to fade away.

Meanwhile, the Mayor’s Office is looking for some cover. A former transportation deputy promised to let the lane fade away to Film L.A., and the industry is loudly making noise that Antonio Villaraigosa’s team is publicly breaking a promise. While representatives of the bike community and Downtown Neighborhood Council are loudly supporting the lane, the opposition from Garcetti and LaBonge are making the Mayor’s life harder, especially since much of the current staff might be looking for a job with Garcetti in the next couple of months.

“What we have to do is be consistent,” Labonge stated in a phone interview with Streetsblog. “There’s an important evolution of bike lanes, and we need to have consistent markings. I don’t know who’s idea it was to paint it green, but that’s not going to be duplicated (elsewhere in the city).”

LaBonge seemed unfamiliar with the growing trend of green painted bike lanes in other major cities around the world, but to his credit did propose an alternative. While he didn’t use the specific term, LaBonge advanced the idea of a regular buffered bike lane on Spring Street with colored bike boxes at the intersection.

“I think we can achieve the (safety) goal by doing what they do in other cities. At each intersection there’s a “poster size” green to show where the bike lane is,” he continued. ” It must be uniform, recognizable and respected…Whether you’re in the San Fernando Valley, or Downtown or Boyle Heights. People have to know what it’s (the street markings) for.”

Meanwhile, when asked whether or not current front-runner to replace Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa wanted to let the bike lane fade, a spokesperson for Garcetti’s city council office gave a somewhat terse response.

“That’s inaccurate,” responded spokesperson Diego De La Garza. “We asked the Mayor’s office to convene a meeting with constituents on both sides prior to taking action.” Read more…

Following the surprisingly strong response to yesterday’s sarcastic short on the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane, Streetsblog is proud to announce a new photo contest to our endangered bike lane project. For those that missed it, at the insistence of L.A. Film and other film industry groups the city seems poised to let the green paint on the Spring Street Buffered Bike Lane fade away. In response, Streetsblog published this helpful map to help confused film crews find places to film that don’t have green lanes.

Sadly, sarcasm isn’t enough to turn the tide of the debate. So today we’re proud to announce our own photo contest for the best pictures, captions included, of the green lane in action. The first two submissions are already in. Can you do better? Send a link to damien@streetsblog.org or just post a link in the comments section. We’re not going to reveal who took which pictures until after voting is completed. The winner gets a Streetsblog prize back, including t-shirts and other schwag.

The Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane stopping film crews from working in Los Angeles....errrrr....

I live on Spring and took this photo two weekends ago. As the green paint wears off, so does the respect for the bike lane itself--all it takes is one or two people to start driving on it in a traffic jam, and suddenly no more bike lane.

(This is part 1 of a 3 part series on the battle over the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane. More to come tomorrow and Friday. – DN)

Last night, city staff confirmed to me what has long been rumored. The Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane, is indeed an endangered species. Rather than admit to cyclists that they’re caving to the mildly incoherent demands of the film, television and comercial industry, which just can’t seem to find anyplace in the world  that has green bike lanes or any other place in Downtown Los Angeles to shoot film, the city is just going to not repaint the lane.

My heroes. Just a quick note to the city’s political leadership, be they about to leave or enter office: putting in new infrastructure to a chorus of cheers is just half the fight. Keeping the infrastructure, especially after it has been wildly successful, is the other half. Now you know. And knowing is half the battle.

While the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is encouraging the city to keep the lane and blasting the rigidness of the industry (you can join them, here). Streetsblog believes the best of The Industry and that this is just a little misunderstanding. After all, filming in Los Angeles is actually way up this year, even as that bike lane remains green. So to help out anyone who really wants to shoot in Downtown Los Angeles but can’t figure out what to do with Spring Street, we prepared this map.

Dear location scout, the above Google Map is a rough screenshot of Downtown Los Angeles, using the 110 on the west and the L.A. River  (and just off the image) on the east as boundaries. The blue area marks where there is a green buffered bike lane. Literally any other street does not. If you are on a street with a green lane and you cannot find one without it, literally go to any other street in the Downtown. If you still need help, call someone, literally anyone in the world, and ask them how to walk one block to the east or west. Read more…

The future of South Figueroa at 11th Street? Doesn't seem far fetched now. Click on the image for a high-res copy.

The MyFigueroa team will be presenting all their images and renderings at the Andrew Norman Hall Orthopaedic Hospital at 5:30 pm on April 9th. Get the event details at the MyFigueroa website. Of course, we’ll be Live Streaming at Streetsblog TV. Bookmark our event page now.

It seems like just yesterday a team of Los Angeles’ most progressive planners and international planning rock stars from Gehl Architects unveiled some planning images showing how the rather bleak South Figueroa Corridor could be transformed into a complete street. While the public was “mostly positive,” it seemed a stretch that such a project would ever take place in Los Angeles.

In truth, it wasn’t yesterday. It was over two years ago. But despite some major hurdles, such as the minor issue of the dissolution of the Community Redevelopment Agency responsible for the project, the $20 million project should be completed on-time before the end of 2014.

The newly released images don’t look quite as dramatic as the ones shown a in 2011, but still promise bus only lanes, new transit waiting areas, fixed sidewalks, zebra crosswalks and the minor issue of separated bike lanes, proudly marked as “cycletracks” in MyFigueroa’s promotional materials.

“While our design still includes cycletracks on Fig, as we have always shown, we have more to share about the design of the entire corridor, and the multimodal components serving pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders,” writes Melani Smith, the president and principal of Melendrez Design Partners, the firm who has teh lead on the project. “We think there’s something in our design for all kinds of people using the streets.  Ultimately, we’re planning a corridor that is a safer, more comfortable place for people to be.”

The project isn’t just about improving Figueroa Street between 7th Street (in Downtown Los Angeles) and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard  (in South Los Angeles) by offering a full buffet of safe and comfortable transportation options. It also includes new streetscapes on 11th Street between Figueroa Street and Broadway and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Figueroa Street and Vermont Avenue.

“I am thrilled that the pedestrians, cyclists and transit riders in Downtown and South Los Angeles are benefactors of the 2006 State of California bond measure that provides funding for the implementation of new infrastructure,” writes Deborah Murphy of Deborah Murphy Urban Design + Planning, another project partner. “The MyFigueroa! project supports the development of new housing, particularly affordable housing, in dense transit-oriented urban neighborhoods.” Read more…

During the Dorner drama, the bike lane and sidewalk in front of LAPD headquarters was media parking. Image via UCLA Public Affairs/Twitter

This weekend, the Bureau of Street Services will be repaving parts of 1st Street in Downtown Los Angeles. After the repaving, the street will be repainted. Part of the repainting will include removing the buffer from the 1st Street Buffered Bike Lane in front of LAPD headquarters between Spring and Main Streets.

The good news is that the buffer will remain for the rest of 1st Street and the bike lane itself will be undisturbed. The bad news is that the LAPD officially asked that the buffer be removed and LADOT agreed. The parking lot for LAPD headquarters requires nearly 100 yards of extra walking as compared to the headquarters. Downtown cyclists complained about LAPD cruisers parking in the lane since it was painted, and the result of those complaints seems to be removing the buffer so the police can resume curb parking in front of the headquarters.

Of course, the LAPD and LADOT are not saying that this is about curb parking. They continue to assert this issue is about emergency access to police headquarters. But, given that the LAPD was completely unable or unwilling to enforce “no parking in the buffered bike lane,” it seems wildly unlikely that they’ll enforce “no parking in the stopping but no parking lane.”

By removing the buffering in front of LAPD headquarters, the LAPD is sending a message that it was more interested in non-emergency parking (a police car can park in any lane in an emergency, so this was never about access) than road safety. Cyclists proposed several alternate solutions that were never considered very seriously including making the lane L.A.’s first cycle track or protected bike lane or using plastic bollards to keep the lane clear of all but emergency vehicles and cyclists.

Downtown cyclist Roger Rudick makes the case for keeping the lane in a previous story on Streetsblog. Read more…

There were lots of cameras, but only one outlet broadcasted the parklet opening live.

It felt like a political rally.

“Don’t Stop Thinking about Tomorrow” was blaring from the speakers. One speaker at the microphone, LADOT Pedestrian Coordinator Valerie Watson, proclaimed, “It’s the dawn of a new day!” from the podium. Roughly 100 people gathered in a circle, hooting and hollering at the applause lines (“Let’s hear it for UCLA!”) .

But, despite the presence of Jose Huizar, one of the Council Members that represents Downtown Los Angeles, it wasn’t a political rally. It’s was the opening ceremony for the second and third parklets in the City of Los Angeles. Parklets are extensions of the sidewalk, usually into what was a car parking area, that provide seating and recreational public space to encourage increased pedestrian use and community interaction.

This morning in front of LA Cafe, at 639 Spring Street in Downtown Los Angeles, the Spring Street Parklets were officially open for business. These parklets join the Highland Park parklet as the only ones of their kind in city limits. On February 16th, the third Parklet will open in El Sereno. All four parklets are inside Huizar’s Council District 14.

While L.A. is not the first city to turn parking space into open space, the city has tried to do something different and unique with their parklets. In Highland Park, the parklet is not attached to an eatery, but is more of a communal open space that just happens to be located in what used to be a parking spot. On Spring Street, the theme is exercise. In addition to chairs, benches, and tables, both parklets have a pair of exercise bicycles. The one in front of LA Cafe also has a foosball table, although nobody pointed to that as an example of exercise equipment.

“More and more, Downtown Los Angeles is becoming an increasingly vibrant and dynamic place to live, work, shop and entertain,” said Councilmember José Huizar. “The Spring Street parklets will add to Downtown’s unique urban atmosphere, encouraging and supporting a pedestrian-friendly, local experience…we are creating a model that can be used throughout the city.”

In fact, the story of all four of L.A.’s parklets started at the community level. When Living Streets L.A. and Huizar’s office teamed to create community created projects in El Sereno and Highland Park, both communities selected parklets. At the same time, the Downtown Neighborhood Council, pushed by Watson and President Patti Berman were pushing a separate program to bring parklets to the Downtown.

“It all kind of worked out,” Huizar said of the timing of the two programs.

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