Streetsblog Los Angeles

Today’s Los Angeles Times published a mostly glowing review of the crown jewel of New York’s recent efforts to make the Big Apple a more-friendly city to cyclists and pedestrians by Tina Susman.  While the story isn’t a new one for regular readers of all the Streetsblogs, and perhaps an uninteresting one for those who’s advocacy efforts don’t extend outside of Los Angeles; there’s a lot that can be learned from the piece.

First, Susman does give space to the minority of New Yorkers who don’t support closing Times Square to vehicular traffic.  After the NYCDOT announced their plans to close the square, the Car Culture warriors coined the term "Carmagedddon" to describe what would happen to New York’s streets when a sliver of it was given over to people instead of cars.  Today, all they can offer was that the car-free Times Square hasn’t made traffic any better…as though that’s the only reason to make changes in the transportation system.  The only people that say car traffic is worse are cabbies who have to driver longer routes.

Speaking forcefully against the plan is a political rival of Mayor Bloomberg’s who complains that it is " it was unfair to punish drivers" by taking away "their" road space.  It’s a shame that the councilman can’t see of the car-free Times Square for what it is, the opening of public space to everyone to use; including the minority of New Yorkers that own private automobiles.  That explains why New Yorkers overwhelmingly approve of a car-free Times Square.

The other complaint is that taking cars off the road and increasing pedestrian traffic is bad for business.  Foot traffic is up over 50% on both weekends and weekdays in Times Square, and the business-friendly Times Square Alliance forcefully backs the plan.

The question that isn’t addressed is that if car-free Times Square is such a hit in New York, why isn’t a plan like this even on the radar for our Downtown?  The closest the Times comes to an explanation is this:

There are about 6,375 miles of paved streets, including the sidewalks,
in New York City, whose population is 8.9 million, according to the
transportation department. Los Angeles, with a population of 3.8
million and far fewer walkers, has 10,000 miles.

Based on these figures there is somewhere over 8.8 million walkers in New York as opposed to nearly 3.8 million walkers in Los Angeles.  With over 50% more streets serving less than half as many people; it shouldn’t be such a challenge to turn over some of that car-only real estate for everyone to use.

(editor’s note: The idea of opening streets to bicyclists and pedestrians by closing them to vehicular traffic for temporary car-free parties has become such a mainstream idea in places such as New York and San Francisco that even Fox News is joining in on the fun.  Head’s up Mayor Villaraigosa!  Below is NYC Streetsblog’s Brad Aaron’s coverage of the coverage is below.)

How much of a non-event was this year’s Summer Streets in terms of media critique? In this Fox News piece, via Crooks and Liars,
the story isn’t traffic tie-ups or wacky spandex-clad elitists or
howling business owners, but the fact that more everyday New Yorkers
are taking to the streets on two wheels. Summer Streets, it seems, has
become a mainstream event in just its second year. Reported the Downtown Express at the beginning of August:

"I
thought last year it was going to cause havoc in the community," said
John Fratta, chairperson of Community Board 1′s Seaport/Civic Center
Committee. "For the most part I was pretty pleased. It was a nice
event." He said he supports the event this year.

The Fox segment does refer to the questionable Hunter College study on unsafe cyclist behavior (without acknowledging more revealing data on the causes of bike-car collisions),
and there’s a completely unsupported ticker squib that attributes
complaints over spending on bike infrastructure to unnamed "critics."
But these feel like token attempts to "balance" an otherwise positive
story.

Who knows, maybe in a year or two even Steve Cuozzo will have to re-read his old columns to remember what he hated so much about car-free Times Square.

Three weeks ago I asked the world for help in fulfilling Rebel Without A Car Production's commitment to producing a film sustainably. Our goal was to shoot locally and in partnership with the community.

It all seemed so doable when we were brainstorming and imagining a world of "Big Stories told with Little Footprints!" but when the production got going and I realized that all the grip & electric, all the camera and audio, all the food and all of the production supplies would need to be transported on bikes, I began to sweat.

There was a brief moment when I imagined myself riding solo through the streets of Hollywood in the middle of the night, laboring to keep the production moving, all the while cursing Enci's commitment to shooting "At What Price" sustainably.

That's how I found myself posting a video, calling for help, hoping that someone, somewhere would come and join me. In a moment of optimism, we named our substitute Teamsters "The Greensters" and the journey began.

Time was running out and I received a couple of emails, a couple of calls and a few nods and expressions of interest. I was happy for any interest, I was hopeful for help, and I was under pressure!

The day of reckoning came and history was made in East Hollywood!

Greensters showed up from all over, Beverly Hills, Orange County, Highland Park, Silver Lake, K-Town, Pasadena, Hermosa Beach, Marina Del Rey. They arrived on Xtracycles, they pulled wagons and trailers, they came on bikes of all shapes and sizes. DJ Chickenleather, who usually gets up at the crack of noon, even on his day off, arrived with a homemade bamboo trailer that looked suspiciously like a re-purposed Pier One patio display. It was all good!

We were a team. A team of Greensters and we had some history to make. Oh yeah, and a film.

The Greensters proceeded to pickup the rentals for the film shoot, getting in line with the Teamsters and their Studio trucks.  The Greensters moved a lot more quickly and a lot more efficiently. They put the Teamsters to shame. (One guy with a big truck is no match for a swarm of Greensters who divvy up the load and "Ride Loaded!")

Ron "the Sherpa" Durgin served as Transpo Captain and planned the routes, organized the Greensters and led the convoy down Santa Monica Boulevard and to the location in East Hollywood, riding an Xtracycle loaded with gear and a the filmmaker who documented the journey!

Jeremy Grant also rode an Xtracycle as did Erik Knutzen and by the end of the production, they had quite a few converts. I had anticipated more cyclists with trailers and wagons but the Xtracycles proved to be the transpo solution of the future. No matter how we started off, within moments the Xtracycles were at the front of the pack while DJ and I rode caboose, debated philosophy and interviewed each other.

A couple of years ago, the City of Pasadena considered banning bicycles from what they're now calling the "Rose Bowl Recreation Loop" because of the conflict being created between cyclists and car drivers.  At the time the city sided with the drivers citing their "commutes" as more important than the cyclists and pedestrians using the loop as a public space.  Pasadena's plan was hotly debated, but eventually shelved.

What a difference two years make.  After last year's hugely popular "Car Free Rose Bowl" event, attended by just about every planner and member of the Pasadena DOT on payroll, the city decided to take a second look at their plan and the change could barely be more drastic.  Pasadena is now proposing two plans that would increase access for cyclists and pedestrians in two different plans that will be presented at a community meeting tomorrow between 5 and 7:30 p.m. at the Brookside Golf Club and Lot K.  For more information please call 626-744-4610.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Rose Bowl Circle, it's a three-mile loop around the stadium that provides access to the parking lots and a handful of local roads.  The loop is popular with recreational and racing cyclists from around the region and beyond because of the well-maintained roads, flat area and scenic and easy-to-access location.  In addition, the area is also popular with residents who use the walkway for exercise or just to spend some time outside.

Let's take a look at the three options outlined for Pasadena by their consultants at Crain & Associates.

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Public Radio station KPCC, 89.3 on your radio dial, is looking for stories about car-free living and the fiscal impact of owning and riding a bike instead of driving a car. I’ve heard some people worry that Streetsblog and similar websites end up becoming an echo-chamber for like minded people; well here’s a chance to tell your story to a larger group of people.

This car-free outreach is part of what KPCC is calling the Insight Network, where the newsroom looks to the public to inform its coverage of issues. If you want to take a second to fill out their form to tell them why you choose to ride instead of driver, you can fill out their survey here. All information is for their private use unless you state otherwise. To read the announcement of this new initiative by Sharon McNary in the KPCC newsroom, read on after the jump.

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For anyone that’s so interested in the Livable Streets Movement that they missed the results of the NBA Finals, the Lakers beat the Magic on Sunday and yesterday the city celebrated with a mostly privately funded victory parade and rally.  The Times estimated that a quarter of a million people attended the party, but what was far more exciting to me was the precedent such parades have for the city.  You see, yesterday proved that you can open streets to people by shutting them down to cars and the world doesn’t end.

In other parts of the country, it doesn’t take a victory parade for governments to open streets to people.  After Bogota showed the world how it’s done with their weekly Ciclovia’s, city’s such as New York and San Francisco put their best feet forward with car-free parties on Sundays.  Caltrans officials still gripe about car traffic "problems" created by Arroyofest six years ago, when parts of the I-10 were opened to pedestrians and cyclists, but yesterday Figueroa street and the feeder streets feeding into it was shut down for two miles in the middle of the work day and there were no reports of road rage, no reports of violence.  Heck, shutting down streets to car traffic was more orderly and safe than trying to leave a Dodgers game any day of the week.

So here you go, L.A.  We proved we can "survive" some temporary car-free corridors and even have a pretty good time while doing it.  Given that other cities hold their car-free parties on Sundays, our CicLAvia would be even more painless than yesterday.

Anyone that’s read the Streetsblog comments section is familar with Ubrayj02 or Umberto Brayj.  Not everyone has made the connection that Ubrayj is Josef Bray-Ali in real life, and he has an impressive track record of advocacy in his own right including founding the Bike Oven and the Flying Pigeon Bike Shop.

At his own blog, Brayj Against the Machine, Bray-Ali has written a couple of posts about people that drive to Lincoln Park, the largest tract of open space in his community, and park their cars on the grass and in pedestrian trails.  Even worse, entitled drivers plow up and down the bike and pedestrian paths as though they owne them, even though they’re banned.

But, since Bray-Ali is more about solutions than problems, he’s come up with a solution that would allow people to drive to the park and protect the rest of the park goers from entitled, dangerous driving.  To see his solution, head on over to his personal blog, Brayj Against the Machine.

This morning the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition rode their fourth monthly "Car-Free Friday."  The now-familiar trappings were there, a smattering of media showing up to catch an image of dozens of cyclists with the local City Councilmember, this time Ed Reyes.  However, as great as the Car-Free Friday progam is, this morning also marked the beginning of the LACBC's newest program, "City of Lights."

"City of Lights" is one of the largest efforts by the Bike Coalition to reach out to the Latino community in Los Angeles.  Basically, the bike coalition will hand out lights and safety tips at the Carecen Day Laborer Center near MacArthur Park where bike lights, minor bike repair, and safety info is regularly offered by LACBC volunteers.

"City of Lights" is a logical follow-up to "Car-Free Fridays."  First, you show people that it's easy to bike to work.  Second, you give them the means and information to bike safely.

Via press release, Reyes explains the value of the City of Lights:

"Latino bicyclists have been at the forefront of environmentalism long before the green movement became fashionable," said Councilmember Ed P. Reyes, whose district includes MacArthur Park. “Programs such as LACBC’s City of Lights is very important  because it targets Los Angeles' vibrant Latino bicycle community, by encouraging bike safety, as well as promoting the environmental, health and recreational benefits of riding bicycles"

If you want to get involved with this program, and have some free time tomorrow, check out the announcement for their kickoff party tomorrow night at the Eco-Village.

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The word "change" gets thrown around a lot these days, yet a lot of people still have trouble picturing what "change" would look like when it comes to transportation.  Change is about more than increasing the number of buses and painting sharrows; it’s a vision of reclaiming streets for people instead of cars. 

Today, the New York City Department of Transportation shows us what change looks like with its new vision for a car-free Broadway.  For details, read Aaron Naperstek’s post at NYC Streetsblog.  But since a picture is worth a thousand words, you can see what change looks like in a couple of pictures below.