Streetsblog Los Angeles

I had to look up the date, but I’ll never forget the time I ran into City Council Member Bill Rosendahl on the evening of June 14. I ran into my Councilman in our usual place, the produce section of the Whole Foods on the corner of National and Barrington. The usually ebullient Rosendahl was actually a little sour faced. Earlier in the day, he had lost a vote on whether or not to give a tax break to a new downtown hotel. He voted no, everyone else voted yes.

Damien Newton paid $5 for this hug. We're told it went to charity. The "Hug a Councilman" booth was at the Mar Vista Farmer's Market in April, 2011. Photo:Will Kirk Photography

After I stopped him to say hi, and tell him I appreciated the stand he took in defeat (as a father I’ll always support someone standing up for education and the Councilman noted that the tax break given the hotel would temporarily eliminate LAUSD’s deficit if redirected). He smiled, and cursed out one of his fellow elected officials whom he counted on for support “(s)he caved to the unions.” Then he smiled and thanked me. He said the chat had made his day. Then his face relaxed into the grin that we’ve all become used to and he resumed his trip.

I’ve always had a somewhat complicated relationship with Bill Rosendahl. On one hand, I’m a journalist and activist. Given his role as Chair of the City Council Transportation Committee, he’s someone who I both regularly cover and lobby. That alone is a complicated relationship.

But ever since I moved to the 11th Councilmanic District in 2010, things got more complicated. He became the guy I run into at the grocery store and Neighborhood Council meetings. His staff made sure the potholes in the alley behind our house got filled. He cut through an army of politicians and television cameras to pose with me and my son at the Bike Plan signing. The picture was his idea.

In short, he’s not just the Chair of the City Council Committee I cover. He’s not just my Councilman. I also really like the guy. There’s exactly one other politician I can say that about, and he was my friend before he was elected to office. Read more…

Tom LaBonge checks out info graphics on the Ideas LA/2B outreach plan for the 2014 Mobility Plan

This Saturday marks the first two of four of the introductory public meetings for the City of Los Angeles Mobility plan, set to be completed in 2014.  Maybe they learned something from the disastrous early outreach meetings for the Bike Plan in 2008, because this time enthusiasm is higher for the plan.

Much of that enthusiasm can be traced to the Ideas LA/2B website designed to solicit real two-way communication between residents and the people working on the plan.  The new mobility plan is a joint effort of City Planning and LADOT.  The Ideas LA/2B website is filled with dozens of conversations taking place between users, most of which are debating the value of progressive transportation changes such as embracing cutting edge bicycle planning or a standard street design that is more “complete streets” than “surface highway.”

But before city staff could take their message off the Internet and in front of the public, they had to stop by the City Council Transportation Committee.  While the Plan’s goal is to create a series of standards and projects to improve urban mobility, it was local concerns that dominated the discussion.

Jane Choi, one of the urban planners with City Planning, led the discussion.  ”Just as an outdated land use plan reflects outdated values, a new mobility plan needs to have a new vision for the city,” Choi said at the start of her presentation.  She repeatedly returned to the idea that this plan would create a “complete streets network” for Los Angeles by creating a series of street standards and streetscape manuals that would guide slow retrofit of the city.

Most excitingly, Choi said the plan would be based on new performance measures for L.A.’s streets, standards that decide whether a street is working based on the number of people, not cars, that are moved.

This weekend’s meetings are meant to balance the initial public outreach.  The Ideas LA/2B website has brought in a younger crowd than is usual in a typical mobility update.  Over half of all respondents are under 40.  Now, the four outreach meetings are designed to bring comments from a “traditional” crowd.

However, the outreach efforts weren’t enough for some City Councilmen.  After Councilman Bill Rosendahl asked for help promoting the LA/2B website through his social media outlet, Councilman Paul Koretz wondered whether or not there had been enough outreach to City Council staff.  Koretz, for example, was unaware that the outreach was going on and used the plan as an example of poor public outreach. Read more…

(Video by Rob Adams. The whole project was made possible thanks to a generous grant from the David Bohnett Foundation.)

I have to admit, when City Council Transportation Committee Chair Bill Rosendahl’s office first approached us about the Councilman taking a bike safety class, my first thought was “this will be hilarious.”  Despite being a strong supporter of cyclists rights at the City Council, Rosendahl would often declare that he hadn’t ridden a bike in over 30 years.  I pictured wobbling, and a lot of it

Well guess what?  His muscle memory is pretty strong.  The sixty-six year old Councilman hopped on my spare bike (yes, that’s my beach cruiser with the squeaky frog) and after about 30 seconds completely found his balance.  After an hour and a half of safe cycling instruction from Don Ward and Meghan Kavanagh, we took a ride from a Westside Church to the Councilman’s house on a mix of local roads, Barrington Avenue and Venice Boulevard.

As you can see, the Councilman even got to experience getting buzzed and shouted at by an irate van driver.  Welcome to the streets!  However, Rosendahl had a great time, shouting out to constituents as he pedaled through the Westside that “I’m learning to ride a bike!”  As we rounded the last corner on our route, I even heard two of my neighbors talking on the porch and one of them saying, “I didn’t know he could ride a bike…”

The good vibes from the Councilman’s ride must be spreading.  One week later, fellow Transportation Committee member Councilman Paul Koretz went on a ride for the first time in fifteen years during Carmageddon.

For the record, the cameo by Los Angeles’ Mayor Villaraigosa, who was injured in a bike crash nearly one year ago, wasn’t planned by either his office or us.  The Mayor was visiting a mutual friend who’s staying with the Councilman.

When Streetsblog first began publishing in Los Angeles, there would be Transportation Committee hearings where I was literally the only-person in the room that wasn’t either city staff or a lobbyist.  The scene at City Hall couldn’t be more different these days as advocates for cyclists rights and infrastructure are a common site in the halls (and steps) of City Hall.  Yesterday’s victory for cyclists, the final passage of Councilman Bill Rosendahl’s “Bicyclist Anti-Harassment Ordinance” would have been similarly unthinkable.

With his anti-harassment ordinance passed, Bill Rosendahl rides into the sunset. Photo: Tony Arranage

The City of Los Angeles actually taking the lead by passing laws before any other government body, protecting cyclists rights?  Unthinkable in 2008.  Unanimously passed in 2011.  ”If L.A can do it, every city in the country can do it,” Council President Eric Garcetti commented.

Fresh off completing a League of American Cyclists bike safety class, Rosendahl kicked off debate by explaining the need for the ordinance.  ”It creates a private course of action for cyclists who are harassed to pursue a civil course of action,” he explained, “This ordinance certainly is not a cure, but it is a crucial step in returning our streets to all users, and not just automobiles.”

The path to create the ordinance was a long one.  While the bill was introduced late in 2009, Rosendahl remembered that one of his first actions as Transportation Committee Chair was to hold a town hall meeting between cyclists and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck where cyclists complained about their near-universal bad treatment from the LAPD.  While the LAPD has made its own efforts in recent years, Rosendahl’s office worked on creating a 3-Foot Passing Law (now being considered at the state level) and now an anti-harassment ordinance.

Speaking in favor of the motion were representatives of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, the City’s Bike Advisory Committee and just regular cyclists who told their sometimes harrowing stories.

“Over twenty years cycling in this city, I can think of countless times I’ve been harassed,” began the LACBC’s JJ Hoffman, “I once had a superior at work who would everyday see me ride my bike.  She thought it was real funny to come up behind me in her Mercedes and honk on her horn really loudly and scare me.  She just thought it was funny.”

“I don’t have a steel metal box around me to protect me if something is thrown my way,” continued Ross Hirsch, the cycling attorney who worked with Rosendahl’s staff on this ordinance, “A pothole is all it takes.  A little bit of gravel is all it takes.  When I have a water bottle thrown at me to go down.  God forbid, if I fall in traffic, there it goes.  I need to get home safely for these guys.”  Hirsch gestured at his two sons, who flanked him at the podium.

Read more…

(Note: The Bicyclist Anti-Harassment Ordinance will be heard, and hopefully voted on, by the Los Angeles City Council tomorrow.  I will be on an airplane, but follow the LACBC’s Twitter Feed for news.  We’ll have coverage of some sort on Thursday. If you don’t know what we’re talking about, click here.)

First, the LADOT Bike Blog created a Facebook page for cyclists to tell their stories of being harassed on city streets.  Now, Councilman Bill Rosendahl, the Councilman who authored and pushed for an anti-harassment ordinance for the City of Los Angeles, is using YouTube to encourage cyclists to tell their story.

The idea is simple.  Assuming that Los Angeles passes the anti-harassment legislation tomorrow, other cities and states might choose to follow suit.  Los Angeles would be the first government body in the country to create a course of action in civil courts for cyclists harassed or endangered by scofflaw, dangerous, or just unruly drivers.  To help make the case to government bodies around the country, Rosendahl has started posting YouTube videos of cyclists talking about their experience on the road.  He’s encouraging cyclists to upload their own videos telling their own stories.  To get the ball rolling, Rosendahl’s office is hosting a video featuring the LACBC’s Carol Feucht with more on the way, including another by Biking In L.A.’s Ted Rogers.

Think the “It Gets Better” campaign, but for bikes.

Read more…

Photo: See El Photo/Flickr/

With the Mayor’s proposal to lease out the maintenance, revenue collection, and profits of the city garages killed by the City Council earlier this year, the city has begun to move forward with other plans to maximize the revenue and efficiency of the city’s publicly owned parking spaces and lots.

On Monday, the City Council held a joint hearing of its Transportation and Budget & Finance Committee to discuss how to move forward with a parking plan that will help the city close its budget deficit and manage and maintain its parking facilities.  The Mayor’s office confirmed to Streetsblog that at this time there are no plans to move forward with any more leasing or privatization plans, although the city is looking to renew its contract with the current operators for its public parking structures.

Councilman Tom LaBonge made the case that parking and congestion are the most important issues that the Council deals with:

“How many people have been effected by crime in the last year?  I see two hands.  How many have been impacted by traffic and parking in the last 24 hours?  Everyone is raising their hands.”

The LADOT released its plans for future improvements to the city’s parking infrastructure in a annually updated five-year plan at the committee.   The press focused on a plan to continue to double the number of  “smart meters” which accept credit cards and can handle higher parking fees from 10,000 to 20,000 in the next year.  The city estimates that it will yield an additional $9 million in revenue in addition to the $50 million brought in last year.

All revenue generated by the city’s parking program is put into maintenance and expansion of facilities and then what’s left is transferred to the general fund.  One of the basic tenants of UCLA economics professor (and parking rock star) Donald Shoup is that funds generated by parking meters and garages should be reinvested in the communities where the parking is located.  While the city hasn’t seriously discussed following this model, at least one Councilman expressed some interest.  The Daily News quotes Westside Councilman Bill Rosendahl:

“My question is how can we get more revenue out of these parking meters,” Councilman Bill Rosendahl said. “And, if we do, we should make sure the areas where it is generated also benefits from parking.”

The city also wishes to expand its ExpressPark program, a pilot program in congestion parking for the Downtown which uses variable meter technology to set parking meter prices based on demand.  In a very Shoupian dynamic, the meter rates are supposed to insure that there will almost always be an open space for people looking to park at the street level and maximize revenue at the same time.  The cost to implement this program was $18.5 million, with $15 million coming from the federal government. Read more…

A new ordinance that gives cyclists broader legal options after being harassed, assaulted or just run-down, heads to the City Council Transportation Committee for review before heading to the Full City Council tomorrow afternoon.  Bill Rosendahl has been championing such an ordinance since at least 2009, and now it seems close to becoming a reality.  If passed, this ordinance would be the first of its kind in the nation.

Photo:Bike Ridr

So what does the ordinance do?  Under current law, the only way a cyclist can recoup health-care and other costs after a crash with an automobile is to win a case in criminal court, which is nigh impossible unless either the LAPD or a group of independents witness the crash.  This ordinance lowers the burden of proof by allowing cyclists to sue in civil court which only requires that the cyclist prove the driver caused the crash.  To earn a criminal conviction, the only option under current law, the City Attorney or District Attorney has to prove not only the cause of the crash but also either intent, negligence or impairment on the part of the driver.

When the outline for this ordinance was released, Councilman Greig Smith grumped that it was “unenforceable.” However, the whole point of the law change is to make laws that exist actionable by providing a less stringent level of proof to win a case.  Cycling attorneys agree.  Howard Krepack noted that the law would be especially useful if it allowed for recovering of legal fees (it does.)  In other words, cyclists wouldn’t be on the hook for legal fees if they can make their case in court, which will attract more attorneys to bicycle law.

The new ordinance would also outlaw harassment of cyclists by vehicle drivers or causing a crash without actually touching the cyclist.  Remember that driver that wouldn’t yield and forced you in to the gutter where your tire got caught and you were forced off your bike?  That driver broke an existing law, but good luck having that case even get to court.  Under this ordinance, that driver’s actions would be actionable in civil court, and you can bring the case yourself.

However, the ordinance could use a boost in the public relations front because the media, and thus the general public, don’t understand it.  Generally, when this ordinance is discussed in the blogosphere it attracts a list of supporters.  When it moves in to more mainstream coverage, the comments read like a miniature version of the “war on cars” rhetoric heard in East Coast newspapers that happen to be owned by Rupert Murdoch.  When discussing this law with the press or car-loving friends, cyclists should remember these points: Read more…

Bathed in light, Bill Rosendahl addresses Bikeside Speaks! last May at the Bikerowave. Photo:Sara Bond/Bikeside

Today, we approved a Bike Plan which provides more opportunities for people in Los Angeles.

More opportunities for people to discover the benefits of combining public transportation with a bike to finish that last mile.

More opportunities for parents and kids to ride safely on streets.

More opportunities for people to switch from gas to pedal power, burning fat instead of fossil fuels.

More opportunities for visitors to experience our wonderful weather on two wheels instead of four.

More opportunities to decide between a car and a bike for short trips.

And more opportunities to turn fear into confidence for those who are just plain scared to share the road with cars, like me. Read more…

(Note: I’ve been trading emails with Ray Klein, who I parody in the second part of this story. He claims my claims that he’s misquoting Hu are false and he has a transcript. My claim is based on Hu’s argument at the end of the Transportation Committee hearing that he was being taken out of context. We’ll get to the bottom of this next week. – DN)

Note 2: The clarification is now available, here.

A 11-2 vote for studying a BOL that is Westside Free.

After a two-hour debate, the Los Angeles City Council voted to accept a much-amended motion asking Metro to complete more studies of the Wilshire Bus Only Lanes Proposal before making recommendations to the Metro Board later this spring.

Following the Yaroslavsky Exemption of the Condo Canyon area from the Wilshire BOL proposal last year, Council Member Bill Rosendahl began pushing the idea that the entire Westside be removed from the proposal.  In January, he single-handidly moved a motion out of committee that the entire area be studied and that the city affirms its support for the 5.4 mile project that would exist east of La Cienega Boulevard.  That motion was heard, amended, and passed today.

The key change to Rosendahl’s original motion was removing the first provision affirming support for the 5.4 mile stretch.  Council Member Huizar suggested removing that sentence as it implied the Council wasn’t in favor of the complete route, which most members were.  It seems the intent of that language wasn’t to say the Council wasn’t opposed to the complete BOL project, as both Rosendahl and his staff argued repeatedly that the Council wasn’t taking a position, but was just asking Metro for more studies.

Other amendments included one from Tom LaBonge, who opposed Rosendahl’s motion until the Huizar Amendment, asking that San Vicente, Santa Monica Boulevard, and Venice Boulevard also be studied for “transit corridor” improvements.  Another motion came from Paul Krekorian, who was backing Rosendahl from the start, asking for more outreach to Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Condo Canyon and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky to get them on board for a complete expansion of the project.

Because the proposal to the FTA never included Beverly Hills or Santa Monica, the study of the full project will not be completed until after the final route for this phase of the project is completed.  Speaking for Metro, Brad McAllister explained that Metro is already talking to Beverly Hills, but that the discussion is not in time to include them at this time.  Discussions with Santa Monica are not seriously underway.

The motion passed 11-2 with Council Members Richard Alarcon and Tony Cardenas voting in opposition. Read more…

Will the Westside portion of the Bus Only Lanes survive?

(Update 4:04 P.M.: I just got the following message from Council Man Rosendahl’s Office.  We’re cheered to know he’s doing well, and wish him a speedy return.

FYI Bill is doing fine but still recovering from surgery.  He will not be in for the remainder of the week so we have continued the Wilshire BRT meeting to next Wednesday, February 2nd.)

This Friday, the Los Angeles City Council will debate whether or not to push Metro to remove the entire Westside from the Wilshire Bus Only Lanes Proposal, not just the Condo Canyon area the Metro Board has already removed.  The full agenda for the meeting can be found here.  The Bus Only debate is item #23.

Because this motion was moved to the Full Council without a vote at Committee, the Council will take public comment on the measure and the Green L.A. Transportation Working Group and Bus Riders Union will rally the troops to try to convince the City Counil not to listen to their own Transportation Committee Chair.

Transportation Committee Chair Bill Rosendahl is backing a plea from his constituents in Brentwood to remove the section of the Bus Only project running through “their” community.  After the jump are some facts about the project, and the debate about the project, to keep in mind as the debate moves forward. Read more…