Streetsblog Los Angeles

A South LA Filmmaker Captures the Stories of African-American Cyclists on Film

WHAT STAYED WITH HER were the stories, said Yolanda Davis-Overstreet, South LA native and director of “Ride: In Living Color,” a documentary currently being filmed on African-American cyclists.

The stories started flowing from the moment she walked into City of Bicycles in Inglewood in 1996, and they didn’t stop coming over the hours spent on 50-80 mile group training rides around Los Angeles. The riders’ mutual enthusiasm for cycling made it easier for people from different walks of life to get to know each other as individuals and share their histories more openly, she said.

It would be almost 15 years before Davis-Overstreet started to gather those stories more formally. Beginning with the 2011 Tour de Palm Springs, she documented the voices of participating riders of color. She then moved on to interview cyclists from Los Angeles and around the US, including Olympians Giddeon Massie and Nelson Vails, and local professional racer and mentor to inner-city cyclists, Rahsaan Bahati. Read more…

Yesterday, Streetsblog published the first of a two part interview with L.A. City Planning Department’s Claire Bowin.  Bowin has had her finger in a lot of pots in her tenure with Planning, working on the Bike Plan, the Mobility Element, the Housing Plan, the Cornfield Arroyo-Seco Plan, and Bike Plan Implementation.

As you’ll see below, she also has some strong feelings on car parking minimums.

Read the first part of the interview by clicking here, and the second part by reading on.

A lot of planning and development decisions hinge on parking regulations, set by the Planning Department. Critics, including UCLA’s Donald Shoup, have shown these parking minimums to be inconsistent, unhelpful, and biased toward suburban auto-centric development. What’s in store for the future of parking in Los Angeles?

Ah, parking, one of my favorite topics. If you build it they will come- this has certainly been true with parking and cars. Communities, fearful of density and an influx of people and cars, are often the first to demand more parking- not realizing, of course, the self- fulfilling prophecy they’ve put in motion. But, now that we’ve got all these cars and parking lots how can we wean people off of them? Read more…

Last year, Streetsblog’s “reader interview” series was a shashing success.  The series led to some fantastic interactions between Streetsblog readers and some of L.A.’s most important decision makers and top advocates.  The first volunteer for our 2012 series is Claire Bowin, a senior planner with Los Angeles’ Planning Department.

You know how this works by now.  You leave your questions in the comments below, leave them at our Facebook Page or tweet them to @lastreetsblog by next Monday morning and we will compile the questions and send them to Bowin.  When she answers them, we will publish them in their entirety.

For those of you not familar with Bowin, last year at this time she was a hero to the bicycling advocacy community.  Her influence in the last rounds of negotiations on the Bike Plan were so criticial that none other than Bikeside President Alex Thompson took time to praise her work bringing all sides together  during the press event celebrating the plan’s signing.  Bowin is also involved in the less-popular environmental studies for bike plan projects as well as bike plan implementation, the Cornfield Arroyo Seco Specific Plan, River Improvement Overlay and even the SCAG’s Regional Transportation Plan (RTP).

This year she’ll be working on a pair of new projects: an update to the City’s Housing Element and the development of a new Health and Wellness Chapter for the Framework Element.

If you’ve got questions for Bowin, fire away!

Howard Krepack is a pretty good lawyer.  In over three decades of legal work, he’s racked up quite a record inside and outside of the courtroom as a personal injury lawyer regularly winning recognition as one of the Top Lawyers in America and a Super Lawyer.  In short, he’s someone you would want on your side if you find yourself wounded in a crash.  You can read all about his legal record on the website for his law firm, Gordon, Edelstein, Krepack, Grant, Felton and Goldstein.

But that’s not why we’re interviewing him.  In addition to his legal work, he’s also an avid cyclist who has invested time and money to improve conditions for cyclists.  His firm’s website has an entire section on bicycle advocacy, he’s sponsored programs with the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, and has put together handouts and DVD’s on bicycle safety.

Take a second or two to explore their bicycle advocacy website to read their advice for cyclists involved in crashes, a list of relevant laws for cyclists and even a legal take on getting doored.

1) You’ve been cycling on the streets of Los Angeles for quite some time now.  What kind of changes, if any, have you seen for cyclists over the years?

More bike lanes, sharrows (eg. 4^th St and Fountain);  ‘Share the Road’ signs.  Bicycle Route signs.   More cyclists riding their bikes for commuting, recreation and errands. Better recognition by motorists of bicyclists presence on urban roads (but still a long way to go).

2) What inspired you to make bicycle advocacy such a large part of your firm’s image?  There’s a link to bike advocacy right on the front of your website and you’re known as supporters of the Bike Coalition and their City of Lights Program.  Is there something about City of Lights that attracted you to that particular program?

I have been an avid rider here in LA for many years.  As the years passed and the streets became more and more crowded with motor vehicles, smog persisted and global warming became a reality, my firm joined me in believing that alternative means of transportation was critical to the future of Los Angeles and it’s citizens.  Bicycling is one of those alternative means of transportation.  But in order to make it a reasonable and safer means of transportation in LA we need the necessary infrastructure and community education to make bicycling a viable alternative. Read more…

I can’t remember the first time I met Aktive, but it seems that every time I’m in the Northeast L.A. “Bike District” I run into him.  Going to an event at the Bike Oven?  There’s Aktive.  Getting the baby bike together at Flying Pigeon?  There’s Aktive.  June fundraiser?  Aktive.

In a lot of ways, the story of Jesse Ramon is emblematic of what’s been going on with the bicycle community these last several years.  Ramon went from non-rider to M.O.M. Rider, to ride leader in a short span.  Now, the constantly optimistic rider is part of the group that’s been trying to work with the LAPD to make Critical Mass and other group rides as safe as they should be.

That being said, I still find it hard to imagine a rider wearing a vest with a giant marijuana leaf patch sewed into the back having the respect of the LAPD team policing Critical Mass.  But if you’re at the front of the ride, and Aktive isn’t sidelined with a bug as he was last month, you’ll see that the bike cops respect him almost as much as his fellow riders do.

Over the last couple weeks I had a chance to chat with Ramon/Aktive over email.  Our conversation is below.

Name: My name is Jesse Ramon
Online Name: I am known as Aktive not only online, but everywhere.
Where Do You Live?: I live in Northeast Los Angeles, Cypress Park

Advocacy history: I dont know what kind of history you were referring to, but I am not sure I ever wanted to become a ride leader. I recently reached my one year mark of bicycle riding,.  I think of myself as a newbie, but others beg to differ.  I’m known to be a natural born leader with a gift of communication. I can get my point across in large crowds or one on one, which probably lead to me just jumping into some sort of leadership role as you call it.  Over the last year, people have come up to me to help organize rides and before you knew it I was leading rides, from MOM RIDAZ to some FMLY rides to even LACM rides.  So I guess it just honestly happened without planning! I guess it was natural occurrence. ..something that had to happen… Read more…

Bicycle Advisory Committee Member.  Bike Working Group volunteer.  Midnight Rida.  Co-Founder of the Valley Bikery.  When it comes to advocacy Ayla Stern does it all.  Recently, she’s been one of the leaders of the battle to preserve the Wilbur Avenue Road Diet and Bike Lane re-striping that has won praise from cyclists and residents but scorn from the motoring public and the local City Councilman.

Recently, Streetsblog conducted an online interview with Stern to talk about biking and advocacy in The Valley.  Since we haven’t covered many issues in that part of the city, outside of Wilbur Avenue, I learned a lot.  Read on, and you might soon.

Name: Ayla Stern

Where Do You Live: Sherman Oaks

Describe Your History of Advocacy: I started becoming a bicycle advocate as a result of the obstacles and dangers that I encountered daily while riding a bike around LA.  The lack of infrastructure and the aggressive drivers can be very frustrating, and I’ve found that the most effective way of dealing with that frustration is to work to get more infrastructure implemented.

I’ve also found that being a cyclist and/or being an advocate is nearly impossible without support from other cyclists and community organizations.  Change takes a long time, but organizations like the Bike Collectives, CICLE, LACBC, midnightridazz, BWG, streetsblog, etc. make cycling safer and more fun right now, while also creating a much stronger movement for change in the future.  Currently I am working as a member of the Valley Bikery, the UCLA Bicycle Coalition, and the BAC for Paul Krekorian’s office to try to make the valley and LA more bike friendly.

You mentioned the Bikery.  They’re somewhat new to the scene…what’s it like working with a group that is creating a co-op without the benefit of a storefront? Read more…

Michael Wolfgang Bauch is a Long Beach based filmmaker, videographer, kayaker, and avid cyclist. He recently talked with Streetsblog over the phone about his latest full-length documentary, Riding Bikes With The Dutch. The film premieres this Sunday, May 9 at the Art Theatre in Long Beach at 5 PM, as part of the Long Beach Bike Festival.

Streetsblog: Tell me about your background, in bikes and film.

Michael Bauch: My interest in cycling basically began when I moved to Long Beach from Covina 12 years ago. I originally moved so I could kayak more often, but living near the ocean, I found that I could take the beach bike path to do most of my shopping and errands. After a while, I realized I wasn't using my car much at all. As for filmmaking, I've been shooting movies since I was 12 and using a low budget super 8 camera. My friends and I would shoot short action and adventures, sometimes using our bikes for chase scenes. When I got to college, I got a job with the campus TV station, and I've made my living as a videographer ever since.

SB: So how did you end up in Amsterdam?

MB: Well, I have family in western Germany, near the Netherlands, who I've been visiting often since I was a kid. In 2003, I was flying through Amsterdam to meet them. We were originally scheduled for a one night layover, but we ended up enjoying it so much that we spent four more nights there. I was amazed by cycling there. The infrastructure was better suited for bicycling, but what really impressed me was how widely accepted bicycling was in the culture. Nearly everyone rode a bike. I had my camera with me and shot footage of the cyclists, which I turned into a short film called Bike Capital of Europe. The film was actually quite successful, I screened it at the Walk-Bike Conference in Oakland and ended up getting requests to use the footage from people around the world. It's funny, despite the movie's success, I don't think the US was quite ready for that kind of bike friendly message at that time. I enjoyed Amsterdam so much that in 2007, my family and I decided to do a house exchange with a Dutch family. We lived there for a month, and eventually we began to feel like locals. My wife was working long distance and also helping to gain contacts in Amsterdam and arrange interviews.  We were also jugglig a 7 month old baby and I still got some amazing footage for my new film, Riding Bikes With The Dutch."

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(editor's note: This interview was recorded last Friday afternoon, hours before anyone was shot.  If we had talked afterward, you can bet that would have come up in our conversation.)

It's Friday, and that means throughout Los Angeles, cyclists are gearing up in some way or another for the weekend. Since February of 2004, when the Midnight Ridazz rode for the first time, a part of those weekends has included some sort of large, open group bicycle ride somewhere in the city. Or, as has become the case these days, several large group bicycle rides.

Recently, I had the chance to sit down with three "Originalzz." Since we decided to refer to them by their Ridazz handles, meet Ma Bell, Kelly Green and MuffMaster Flash. For the record, I'm only typing out the word "MuffMaster" one more time, so enjoy it.

I've wanted to do this interview since I got out here, because whether the Ridazz themselves realize it or not, Midnight Ridazz is a phenomenon. Back when I was sitting at a desk in New York writing testimonies about widening the New Jersey Turnpike, I knew about the Midnight Ridazz. It's a legend that's constantly growing.

Cruising through the pictures section of the current Midnight Ridazz website, a couple of things occurred to me. The shot of the first ride is a great example about how the actions of a few people can snowball and change the world. Of course, it also occurred to me that I had sat down with the only three Ridazz in the world who are somewhat camera shy.

For the first time, I had to cut some of the interview off. Our threesome talked for an hour and a half, setting a record for an interview, and they constantly mentioned the contributions of others to help the Ridazz roll off into the night and repeatedly gave me names of other people I should be talking to. Particularly, Kim Jensen, aka Skull, was a name that came up as often as the three names of Roadblock combined. As soon as we have Skype set up, we'll do something with her too.

In the meantime, you can read the abridged interview after the jump.

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When entering Metro CEO Art Leahy's office, you can't help but notice that he's a sports fan and a native Angeleno. His wall is decorated with USC football paraphernalia and his bookshelf has a couple of Los Angeles Dodgers bobbleheads and other memorabilia from Dodgertown. When staff that happened to graduate from UCLA are in the room, they get ribbed. I also took some flack that my choice in favored baseball teams was also lightly mocked.

And Leahy appreciates what it means to be an Angeleno. "In Los Angeles people have vision and a belief in exceptionalism. When I say that Los Angeles is the best city in the world and I want it to have the best transit agency people don't bat an eye."

And what does the best transit system in America look like? Leahy professed no favorite project when I asked him if he had a favorite Measure R project, but did get excited and animated when we talked about bus routing. In Leahy's view, Metro's biggest challenge include making the buses run on time, and that buses that arrive and leave early are a bigger problem than those that run late.

"Our schedules are a contract with our customers. And if a bus leaves at 8:41 when it's supposed to leave at 8:42 that's breaking that contract. A bus that leaves a minute early is worse than one that leaves a minute late because someone is going to be waiting much longer than a minute for the next one and it can throw off the entire system. "

Leahy went on to explain that early leaving buses are going to be getting less and less people every time it stops while the other buses trailing are going to get more and more people. The increased boardings and alightings will leave the second bus running farther and farther behind schedule. All because one bus was early, the entire line can be thrown off for hours.

"Think about it this way. If a bus is one minute early on a five minute headway, and the bus behind is late for some reason, that second bus could have 40% more passengers than the one before it. Those passengers are going to think we need more buses, more service; but better service that runs on time would accomplish the same thing."

As a driver, Leahy himself wasn't immune to running ahead of schedule, but he tried not to. He even has a copy of a citation he received for running early framed behind his desk. According to Leahy, 15% of Metro buses actually run ahead of schedule, a number he and his staff are working on lowering. While the passage of Measure R brings new opportunities to Metro, it also requires that staff work harder to, in Leahy's words, "to be worthy of the public trust."

"We need to constantly be working. Constantly be thinking. The public trusted us, and we have to be constantly doing everything we can to be worthy of that."

The other major obstacle facing Metro, and every other transit agency, is funding.

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Eleven years ago, a small group of bike riders that included Streetsblog contributors Joe Linton and Ron Milam, founded the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, the county's largest bicycle advocacy organization. The LACBC always has a bunch of plates spinning in the air, so I caught up with LACBC staff Aurisha Smolarski and Dorothy Le to find out everything that's going on with the LACBC. For more information about the LACBC, visit their website at http://la-bike.org.

Streetsblog: Let's start with the obvious question. Where are we on the city's Bike Plan? What's the LACBC's strategy?

Dorothy: We haven't seen the full Bike Plan yet, just some of the maps. We're expecting the policy document soon, maybe in the next couple of weeks. And then once that's out there, there will be public meetings.

Aurisha: We're putting out the maps to as many people as we can to encourage people to submit comments.

We're also writing a letter asking that the "infeasible" category be changed to something else. To us infeasible means "no" and that's not cool. We have put out other ideas such as "possibility streets" or "potential streets." We want to work with them to change that language.

We're also putting together a list of streets that are currently in the "infeasible" category, that we feel should actually be "proposed bike lanes". These would have a lower amount of street reconfiguration needed to install lanes.

Dorothy: Third, there are the streets that we want to add that aren't even on the current Bike Maps.

Aurisha: One of our main concerns is the current maps look like a step back from the 1996 plan. Many of the proposed bike lanes from the 1996 plan are now in the 'infeasible' category. So the current plan draft is actually proposing fewer bike lane mileage than it had in 1996.

That's a step backwards in our eyes.

Streetsblog: Do you have any insight on what that policy document is going to look like or what it says?

Dorothy: We haven't heard a lot on it…

Aurisha: …but we have heard that it's a lot better than the maps, but not much else about the document. I'm hoping that it's pretty good. Some of the people that I know who have been involved with the plan have said that they wish the policy document had been released with the maps and there would have been fewer backlashes from the bicycling community.

That says to me it could be better than the maps.

Streetsblog: So let's talk about Sharrows. What the heck is taking so long? It keeps looking like we're ready to roll and then….delay…

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