Streetsblog Los Angeles

This week’s been a big one for bike parking in L.A. County with the opening of Bike Stop in Burbank and Bike Center later this morning in Santa Monica.  Meanwhile, the Culver City Bike Coalition is looking at plans for the Expo Line stop in Culver City and wondering “what about us?”  Streetsblog presents a quick tale of three public cycling centers:

Santa Monica, Bike Center:

The outside of Bike Center. Photo via The Source

We start with today’s opening of what might be the largest bike parking facility in all of the United States of America.  The mammoth $2 million full-service “Santa Monica Bike Center,” is a joint product of the People’s Republic and Metro.  Bike Center is actually two locations (Parking Structure 7 at 320 Broadway and Parking Structure 8 at 215 Colorado) in the center of downtown with a combined 5,300 square-feet of space and nearly 360 secure bicycle parking spaces.  To the best of my research, the next largest bike parking facility, Chicago’s McDonald’s Cycle Center, has “only” 300 spaces.

The Center will provide secure bike parking, retail, bike repair, bike rental, attended bike parking, and could serve as a center for other bicycle related activity in the same way Long Beach’s Bike Station hosts classes and is the starting point for bike stores. For more information, check out the Bike Center web site.

Anticipating the light rail that is on it’s way, Bike Center is also built close to the future terminus of Phase II of the Expo Line.  Metro staff talks about riders being able to bike to their closest Expo stop, take the bike with them on the train, and then having a safe and convenient place to park if their plans don’t include taking their bike with them when the line is completed.

A grand opening event is scheduled for later today and will be followed by an all-weekend open house featuring free bicycle parking, free bicycle rides and tours of the facility.  For more information on the events, click here.

Burbank, Bike Stop: Read more…

If someone were visiting L.A. Streetsblog today for the first time, they would think that we are in the midst of a bicycling renaissance.  Our Mayor is pushing our famously progressive Governor to sign a three foot passing law for cyclists.  CicLAvia, the largest car-free block party North of Bogota, is coming up this weekend.  Sharrows are popping up all over the city.  And on Friday, the City Council moved one step closer to finalizing a progressive new bike parking ordinance.

Ed Reyes' PLUM Committee gave the first green light to an ordinance that changes bike parking requirements for new buildings, and the full Council jumped on board last week. Photo: LADOT Bike Blog

“When you get on that bicycle, you want to feel the same comfort that someone in a car feels,” explained Bill Rosendahl, the Chair of the Transportation Committee and a freshly re-trained bicyclist himself.  ”You want to know that when you park your bike is safe, and isn’t going to get vandalized.”

The City Council passed a “negative declaration” meaning that the final ordinance will not undergo a CEQA or environmental review and that city staff should draft the ordinance based on the principles outlined by Planning Department Intern Rye Baerg.

The ordinance, once signed by the Mayor, also includes a swap of car parking for bicycle parking at commercial and residential developments.  Up to 30% of auto parking can swapped for bicycle parking within a commercial nonresidential  project and 15% of auto parking can be swapped within a residential project that is near a major bus or transit station.  This could be particularly crucial for the transit oriented developments that pop up as a result of the new train lines that are coming online as a result of Measure R.

The ordinance also provides a mechanism to add more bike corrals to city streets.   These on-street public bicycle parking spaces offer an opportunity to provide ample bicycle parking without taking up pedestrian space on sidewalks. Bike corrals have been proven to increase bicycle usage in areas where they are installed, as they encourage residents to travel by bicycle around their neighborhoods to do their shopping and errands.  The corral at Cafe De Leche in Northeast L.A. was part of a pilot program that was succesful enough that the LADOT and City Planning are comfortable enough to let them flourish city-wide.

In related news, the city will receive funds from Metro’s Call for Projects to help fund more bike corrals as well as parking at Expo transit stations.  In a city where too-often the best place to park a bike is on a car parking meter, the tide might finally be turning towards more safe parking spaces available at more desirable places.

Yesterday, the City Council Planning and Land Use Committee  directed city staff to draft a final ordinance to ammend the city’s parking ordinance to require more bicycle parking and provide incentives to increase bike parking beyond the minimums.   The Bike Parking ordinance was item #5 on yesterday’s agenda.

I see how this could be annoying to look at, but it's not illegal and the Bicycle Parking Ordinance is about reducing scenes such as this one. Photo:ehow

The current bicycle parking ordinance only applies to developments over 10,000 sq ft.  By eliminating this qualification new parking facilities will begin to sprout up throughout the city whenever new multi-family residential, commercial, and industrial developments are proposed.  Cycling advocates hope that more bicycle facilities will create a more visible and viable transportation alternative.

Alexis Lantz, programming director for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, made the case for change simply, “The ordinance that currently exists has failed to provide adequate bicycle parking.”

The proposed ordinance also includes a swap of car parking for bicycle parking for both commercial and residential uses.  Up to 30% of auto parking can swapped for bicycle parking within a commercial nonresidential  project and 15% of auto parking can be swapped within a residential project that is near a major bus or transit station.  This could be particularly crucial for the transit oriented developments that pop up as a result of the new train lines that are coming online as a result of Measure R.

The ordinance also provides a mechanism to add more bike corrals to city streets.   These on-street public bicycle parking spaces offer an opportunity to provide ample bicycle parking without taking up pedestrian space on sidewalks. Bike corrals have been proven to increase bicycle usage in areas where they are installed, as they encourage residents to travel by bicycle around their neighborhoods to do their shopping and errands.  The corral at Cafe De Leche in Northeast L.A. was part of a pilot program that was succesful enough that the LADOT and City Planning are comfortable enough to let them flourish city-wide.

The change in the parking requirements is part of the planning changes required by the Bike Plan which was signed into law earlier this year.  While the Bike Plan was approved by the City Council and Mayor’s Office, but individual policy changes need to be voted on individually.  This is the first policy change included in the plan to get serious consideration from the Council.  Glenn Bailey, the Vice-Chair of the City’s Bicycle Advisory Committee reported that the ordinance enjoyed the unanimous support of the city’s official Bicycle Advisory Committee.

None of these changes sparked much debate, in fact the only concern about the bike parking ordinance came from Studio City Neighborhood Council Member Barry Johnson who complained that bikes on the lawn of multi-family dwellings create clutter that is an eye sore for neighbors in single-family houses across the street who lived there for years. “Bike parking should not be allowed in the yards of the multi-family units…Adding clutter to the front yard is something we shouldn’t be doing.” Read more…

(This is the last part of our Bike Week 2011 Series on people’s biking experiences in different corners of L.A. County.  Our last entrant is from our “Pasadena Correspondent” Brigham Yen, who is a little different than our other writers this week in that he doesn’t represent a formal biking organization but still brings a wealth of information to his writings. – DN)

I rode my bike over to US Bank, located at Colorado and Oak Knoll, the other day and found myself scrambling to find a place to lock my bike as there were no bike racks on the block. I wasn’t alone. There were numerous other bikes haphazardly locked against anything resembling something solid, such as tree trunks and lamp posts. I assume most of these bikes belonged to people who were patronizing Sabor² Cafe adjacent to US Bank.

Because there are few places to lock one's bike on Colorado Blvd in Pasadena, this person locked his/her bike to a tree. Photo: Brigham Yen

I eventually found a bike rack inconveniently around the corner in the back on Oak Knoll (by the entrance to a parking garage) and had to walk back to the bank, which made me wonder why there weren’t bike racks in front of the building to begin with (where the businesses were located). Read more…

L.A.'s first bike corral opens at Cafe de Leche. Photo via Orange 20 Bikes. Incidently, I agree that Pure Luck in Hel-Mel would be a great place for the next corral.

The City of Los Angeles is pushing ahead with a pair of hearings on the progressive “draft parking ordinance” that would change the landscape when it comes to providing ways for people to safely and quickly store their bikes.  Streetsblog reported on an earlier draft of the ordinance back in early February, but as the city moves forward, it seems likely that were going to see more bike parking at businesses, residential buildings and just on the street in the near future.  Details on the meetings can be found at the end of this article.

There are several ways the proposed ordinance is an improvement over the city’s current bicycle parking requirements.  Currently, there is no requirement to provide bike parking when creating a residential development less than 10,000 square feet and the bike parking for commercial developments is basically one space per 25,000 square feet.  The ordinance only applies to new developments.

The proposed ordinance is an improvement in several ways.  Most obviously, it will increase the level of bicycle parking required for new developments to bring the number of spaces per development in line with those of New York and Portland.  It also expands bicycle parking requirements to multifamily residential buildings.  Residents of apartment buildings need long term storage for their bicycles that is easily accessible and provides a secure place to store their bicycles.  Residents should not be expected to store their bicycles in their apartments or leave them locked in places where they can be vandalized.

Alexis Lantz, the Planning and Policy Director for the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, points out that while the proposed changes are good, this is not a “bikes v cars” debate.  “it’s important for folks to understand that this ordinance is about increasing bike parking not decreasing car parking. This does incentive developers to swap out car parking for bike parking but if we want to have a parking maximum instead of parking minimum this isn’t the ordinance for that.” Read more…

This morning, a crowd of over a hundred people assembled to celebrate the opening of the city of Los Angeles’ first bike corral. The event took place at the corner of York Boulevard and Avenue 50, in Highland Park – in front of Cafe de Leche and directly across from Bicycle Doctor.

This is it! Photo: BevarUs/Flickr

The city-installed corral was championed by City Councilmember Jose Huizar, who, at today’s grand opening, proclaimed his support for Los Angeles overtaking Long Beach’s leadership in becoming a truly bike-friendly city. Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s Acting General Manager Amir Sedadi echoed the Councilmember’s commitment to making the city bike-friendly. Sedadi announced that the city is applying for Metro Call for Projects funding to build at least 30 additional corrals throughout the city. Representatives from local businesses, and from bicycle advocacy groups C.I.C.L.E., LACBC, and CicLAvia also welcomed the new bike facility.

At this week’s meeting of the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee, the Planning Department’s Rye Baerg outlined some proposed changes to the city’s bike parking ordinance for new developments that should go public this Spring.

Photo:Fernie 805

Currently, the City only requires bicycle parking for commercial and industrial buildings over 10,000 square foot at a rate.  For most commercial uses this results in one space being provided per 25,000 square feet.  For many cyclists, this requirement leads to chaining a bicycle to the closest parking meter while out and locking it on the balcony or backyard at home.

The City Planning Department is drafting an ordinance  which, if approved by the Planning Commission, City Council and Mayor’s Office, would change how developments create parking for bicycles.  Their proposal would raise the minimum parking requirement, require both short and long-term parking, and create standards for design, signage, lighting and access.  In addition, the requirement would also apply to residential developments, not just commercial and industrial. Read more…

If Downtowners want to see a Regional Connector Station at 5th and Flower, they're going to have to find the money themselves. Photo:Clovis Bouhier/PBase

Here’s a quick rundown of the major votes by today’s Metro Board. Each of these five motions were discussed at Streetsblog over the last couple of weeks, and links to those stories can be found at the end of each summary.  Streetsblog will have links to all news reports on today’s meeting tomorrow.

Westside Subway Locally Preferred Alternative/Environmental Studies
As expected, the Metro Board of Directors unanimously voted to approve the Westside Subway “Locally Preferred Alternative” as the 9 1/2-mile route to the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Brentwood from the current end of the Purple Line at Wilshire/Western in Koreatown.  Despite over an hour of public comment from the Beverly Hills’ NUMBY’s, there was no decision made on whether the subway should have a stop on Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City or Constellation Avenue.

Yaroslavsky’s motion, which seemed to place the concerns of Beverly Hills regarding the Constellation Avenue/Santa Monica Boulevard debate ahead of those of other communities, was amended by the author to urge the staff to provide a detailed account of the impacts of both alternatives through the Westside.  This would have happened regardless under the Final Environmental Impact Statement that the Board approved funding for today.  For background on this motion, read yesterday’s Streetsblog story or an update on today’s vote from LA_Now.

Regional Connector Locally Preferred Alternative/Environmental Studies
The Metro Board also approved the “Locally Preferred Alternative” and funding for the environmental studies needed for the Regional Connector.  The debate was dominated by Little Tokyo business groups concerned that “cut and cover” subway construction would disrupt the community and cost them business. Downtown interests and LA City Councilwoman Jan Perry also expressed concerns about the exclusion of the 5th and Flower stop from the LPA.  The Board narrowly voted to exclude the 5th and Flower for now, but left the door open to include it in the environmental studies, if local businesses raise the roughly $2 million needed for that part of the study.  For more background, read this story at Streetsblog or an update on today’s vote from Blog Downtown.

“BikeWood” Hub at Hollywood and Vine Read more…

Allison Mannos from the LACBC’s City of Lights Program and Allison Mannos and
Councilman Ed Reyes Install Bike Parking at the CARECEN Day Laborers Center

How long does it take to install a bicycle rack?  Once you have a place selected, all the tools, and funding to install it, installing a bicycle rack takes about 5 minutes.  Of course, getting all of those things can take well over a year.

Earlier toady, the LACBC’S Award Winning City of Lights program, the office of Councilman Ed Reyes and the LADOT celebrated the installation of four bicycle racks at the CARECEN Day Laborer Center in the Pico-Union District of Los Angeles.  City of Lights began working to empower immigrant communities to advocate for bicycling infrastructure and help them learn how to ride safely just over a year and a half ago.  One of their projects was to bring better bicycling infrastructure to the community and today’s installation of safe bike parking at CARECEN was the first victory in the quest for better infrastructure for the day laborer community.

Before the location for these racks was selected, City of Lights worked with the immigrant community in Pico-Union to walk the streets and select the places most in need of bicycle parking.  They presented their findings to the LADOT who checked the recommended areas to make sure they met city criteria.  LADOT Assistant Bicycle Coordinator Chris Kidd estimated that dozens of more racks would be going in the area surrounding CARECEN.  LADOT is  ratcheting up its bike parking program and has the goal of installing 100 new racks around the city every month.

Reyes addressed the importance of bike parking to the day laborer community during the press event.  You can watch Reyes deliver his bi-lingual statement by clicking here. Read more…