As I type this my wife has entered her twenty-first hour of something called "pre-labor." Assuming this is the real deal; it's time for me to sign-off for a little bit and be with her so that we can welcome the newest Livable Streets Activist into the world in style.  Given the quality of my writing today, it's probably for the best.  Earlier today I got the "Silver Streak" mixed up with the "Silver Line."  Somewhere, a So.CA.TA.  member is laughing at me.

My plan for today had been to do a major write-up of everything that happened on Park(ing) Day, and write a voter guide for tomorrow's Second District Election. 

I know the people "in charge" of Park(ing) Day are collecting links to the news stories that have come in from blogs and traditional outlets, so visit the Park(ing) Day L.A. website and I'm sure they'll have news.   Nationally, Streetfilms has films up for with both San Francisco's and New York's Park(ing) Day highlights.  That's nice and all, but did any of those Streetsbloggers bike fifty miles to get their story?  (I figure I can get away with trash talking my bosses in my "paternity leave" post.  Better enjoy it while I can.)

As for the Second District Special Election, you can find links to seven of the ten candidate's responses to our questionnaire by clicking here or by searching stories tagged "CD2 Special Election"

While updates might not be coming as frequently as usual over the next couple of weeks; we are planning to have some guest writers on board and I'll be checking in from time to time before I return full-time.  Give us a couple of days to get organized (the baby is coming a couple of weeks early) and L.A. Streetsblog will be back and publishing before you know it.  On the off-chance that this isn't the last leg of the pregnancy, I'll be back tomorrow.

On a quick personal note, thanks to everyone that has wished my family well in the last couple of weeks and months.  Anyone that thinks of Los Angeles as the stereotypes portrayed on television and the movies has never met the dedicated, wonderful, loving people that I've been blessed to know in the last two years.

Sincerely,

Damien

For those of you that don't religiously scour the Streetsblog comment section, a copy of the changes to the LRTP are available here.

Just a reminder I'll be live tweeting today's events.  You can follow my tweets at twitter.com/lastreetsblog.  The meeting is scheduledto start at 1 P.M.

(Update, 1:22 P.M.: On behalf of the Mayor, who isn't here yet, Richard Katz just announced that the vote on the LRTP will be put off until the July Board Meeting.  Apparently there's no vote necesary for that sort of thing, but it's still good news.)

These races will be decided on May 19, roughly two months and two weeks from today.  In that time, Streetsblog will put together surveys for each of the four remaining candidates for the two offices and report back their answers in un-edited responses as we receive them.  However, this being a blog, a medium for two way communication, I'm asking for your help.  What questions do you want to see the candidates answer concerning transportation, development and Livable Streets before the May 19th runoff?

It might not seem obvious at first what value a survey of City Attorney candidates by transportation reform advocates could have.  However, "enforcement" is the third of the three "e's" of transportation planning joining "engineering" and "education;" so people may want to get the future city attorney on record right now concerning their visions for lawful and safe streets in Los Angeles.

In the case of Vahedi and Koretz, we already know a good deal about their transportation plans.  The Los Angeles Times ran a series on all the Fifth District Cadidates' views on both the Expo Line and development in more general terms.  Of course, the blog "BikingInLA" invited all candidates to write a statement on cycling issues in Los Angeles.  Vahedi responded.  Koretz has not.  In addition to what's already out there, what do you want to know from the candidates?

I'll post the surveys before I send them out on March 18.  Streetsblog will do the same for the candidates to replace Wendy Greuel in the Second District once the details of the election and the candidates are known.

Last month, the LA County Board of Supervisors issued an edict that all taco trucks would now have to move every hour taking a firm stand against the free market and for increased vehicle miles traveled.  Hilariously, the first taco truck that was ticketed was actually owned by the same people that owned the adjacent restaurant and used the truck as a takeout window. 

Recently James Rojas, whose model of downtown appeared earlier this week in Streetsblog, wrote a piece for the Planning Report proposes a solution to the taco truck problem which would allow local government to collect some money and legitimate taco trucks to stay in business. Rojas' piece is reprinted in its entirety here with the permission of the author.

Latino Urban Forum's James Rojas Supports Permitting L.A.'s Street Vendors

A recent move by the L.A. County Supervisors has sparked a debate about the benefits that mobile food vendors bring the community.

The county of Los Angeles recently passed a law prohibiting street vendors (i.e., taco trucks) from lingering too long in one location, engendering controversy between the public and the brick and mortar businesses who claim to be threatened by these street vendors. In the following TPR exclusive, James Rojas, of the Latino Urban Forum, makes the case that the county's new restrictions on street vendors may be overlooking the solutions to problems of walkability and pedestrian-friendly streets that these "mobile" businesses offer the region.

Many major cities in the United States have developed street vending policies, often managing a variety of urban needs in the process. For example, the city of Portland believes that vendors provide valuable street amenities for pedestrians, but requires street vendors to meet design standards in order to maintain the city's pedestrian-friendly aesthetic. New York City allows street vendors to sell fresh fruits and vegetables in city neighborhoods that have high obesity rates among its residents, providing a creative, portable solution to a problem often caused by a failure of planning and neighborhood development.

In addition to providing numerous entrepreneurial and job opportunities, street vendors offer other valuable services for urban problems specific to Los Angeles. Street vending could help strengthen the neighborhoods of Los Angeles by making the city more walkable and pedestrian-friendly and by helping to provide another level of safety through the presence of vendors and patrons on the streets.

For the most part, Los Angeles' existing street and sidewalk infrastructure discourages people from walking their neighborhoods and the areas they visit, work, or shop. Wide streets, poorly marked crossings, lack of directional signage and lighting, and the absence of quality pedestrian amenities all deter people from walking, which is an activity all residents of this diverse city have in common. It doesn't help that the city's history of auto-focused transportation planning necessitates that the vast majority of Angelenos drive for all of their day-to-day transportation need.

Street vendors could transform L.A.'s staid, auto-oriented streets into hubs of lively pedestrian activity through their do-it-yourself urban design interventions.

Street vendors move across L.A.'s commercial, residential, and industrial zones, looking for economic opportunity and helping to blur the line between these areas through their activities. They push carts down residential streets, bringing goods to residents who would otherwise have to drive or walk to the store. During lunch hours, they move into industrial zones. On weekends, they transform L.A.'s sidewalks into linear markets by displaying merchandise on chain-link fences, which also helps promote walking at these locations.

Street vendors sell everything from fresh fruit to elote (corn) at bus stops and rail stations, and they offer transit riders quick purchases that they can easily carry as they move around the city. In fact, street vendors make up for a striking lack in conventional retail activity at the region's transit stops.

Also, at no cost to the city, street vendors and their clientele provide security and safety improvements to city streets by providing additional "eyes and ears on the street," which helps deter crime and makes city streets feel safer.

Street vendors informally and inexpensively add a human scale and bring healthy activity to otherwise car-friendly and empty L.A. streets. The activity of seeking out and patronizing street vendors brings Angelenos outside and helps to create bonds with otherwise insignificant spaces in the city, such as surface parking lots, vacant lots, and sidewalks. Street vendors instantly transform these boring, under-used places into lively public spaces.

Allowing street vendors the opportunity to profit from the use of public rights-of-way could be a new way to make L.A.'s increasingly unsustainable, auto-oriented infrastructure more compatible for pedestrian uses. Street vendors have ingeniously tapped into the pedestrian energy in this city by wisely identifying streets where people tend to congregate, temporarily transforming vacant lots, sidewalks, and curbs into pedestrian-oriented patios and mercados.

The city and county of Los Angeles should support, while regulating, street vendors to operate in selected transit areas. This could include both heavy and light rail stations, where sufficient space and appropriate facilities are in place for such operations. Bus transit centers, including areas along the Orange Line, could also be made available for street vendor business operations. Among the requirements could be a series of reasonably-priced annual vendor permits, requirements for maintaining at minimum a "B" rating from the Health Department for food service operations, and other appropriate requirements. This could help add much needed revenue to local government coffers, and at the same time provide assurance to the transit-using public of the legitimacy of the presence of vendors at selected transit stations.

Streets with high pedestrian activity can serve as additional areas for the creation of street vending zones. This will enhance the pedestrian experience in ways similar to that of shopping malls such as the The Grove.

As L.A. becomes denser and people are encouraged to walk, bike, and use public transportation, street vendors meet the needs of these newfound priorities. The car-oriented mini-malls of the '80s are giving way to the street vendors in the new century. As Los Angeles seeks new ways to deal with congestion and to get Angelenos out of their cars, the city should think about using street vendors as an innovative way to help solve our congestion problems.

Photo: BeastandBean/Flickr

At the most recent BAC meeting, the committee passed a set of recommendations to the city's Bike Master Plan which is in the process of being updated.  Via friend of the blog Kent Strumpell:

1.  IDENTIFY WHY MANY POLICIES AND RECOMMENDATIONS IN PREVIOUS BICYCLE MASTER PLAN HAVE NOT BEEN IMPLEMENTED.

Develop strategies and performance indicators to make implementation more effective.

2. ROUTINE ACCOMMODATION/COMPLETE STREETS POLICY

The bicycle master plan should include policy language, with authority over all necessary departments, that will result in the inclusion of bicycle accommodations in all roadway projects to the greatest extent possible.  This will require integrating bikeway planning at the earliest concept, funding and design stages of projects.  This policy should be fully integrated into the day-to-day procedures of project planning, design review and standards, in much the same way that sidewalks are included in road projects, in order to prevent situations where bicycle facilities are omitted as an unfortunate oversight.  Inclusion of bicycle accommodations should be institutionalized and codified into project implementation procedures, plan check steps, etc. and not left to the discretion of individual employees who may or may not have the required expertise.

3. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF REPAVING AND RESTRIPING OPPORTUNITIES; PAVEMENT MAINTENANCE.

a.  Each time arterial and collector streets are resurfaced they should be re-striped to add width to the curb lane without compromising safety; consider designating these streets with wide curb lanes as future Class III routes. In addition, designated Class II lanes should be added where there is enough width.

b.  When any road repairs are done by the City or other agencies such as utilities, the road shall be restored to at least its original quality, with particular attention to surface smoothness and re-striping suitable for bicycling.

c.  Pavement cuts for utilities often create depressions and raised edges that are a hazard for cyclists.  These can develop over time as a poorly compacted patched areas settles.  Any pavement work, including that done by city departments. contractors or utilities, should abide by strict pavement surface standards.  These standards should stipulate that the disturbed area is adequately compacted so it will remain even and free of depressions for years.  A plan for maintaining non-city pavement work to the above standard, designating who is responsible, should accompany B permits.

4.  ALLOCATE MORE FUNDING FOR BICYCLE PLANNING AND PROGRAMS.

In order to fully implement Bicycle Master Plan provisions, adequate funding and staff are needed.  Compared to other modes, bicycle facilities are severely under-developed and under-funded in comparison.

5.  INCLUDE BICYCLE FACILITY IMPROVEMENTS IN TRAFFIC MITGATION PLANS FOR LARGE DEVELOPMENTS

In order to offset the impacts of new trips generated by large developments, the city requires developers to build or pay for all manner of roadway improvements, sometimes for miles around.  In the past, few if any of the mitigation plans required of large developers have resulted in improvements for bicycle facilities.  Indeed, many of the mitigations recommended have ignored or compromised bicycle access to and from the projects in question (Playa Vista for example).  At a time when city planning documents recognize the need for transportation alternatives and encourage their implementation, it is unacceptable for traffic mitigation plans to not include bicycle transportation facilities.  Traffic mitigation planning for large developments (such as the NBC/Universal project now in the planning stages) should routinely integrate bicycle facilities and bicycle access planning.  Integration of bicycle facilities into mitigation plans needs to be located in all relevant departments that will be involved in project planning.

6.  FACILITATE CYCLIST ACCESS TO DESTINATIONS ON MAJOR ROADS THAT DO NOT HAVE DESIGNATED BIKEWAYS YET

Cyclists must be able to reach the same destinations that motor vehicles do, even if they are on roads that do not have bikeways.  Especially for roads with major destinations (such as public facilities, shopping centers, etc) or a concentration of destinations (shopping districts, etc), the city needs a set of tools to facilitate cyclists in accessing these.  It is not sufficient to designate a bikeway on a road that may be blocks away from destinations and abandon the destination road to motor vehicles as if cyclists will never go there.  In lieu of bike lanes, the following strategies should be considered for providing access for cyclists to major roads:

a.  Designate the road, in planning documents, as needing bicycle access and exploit opportunities to include bicycle facilities as they may arise in re-striping, reconstruction, new dedication of additional roadway width, etc.

b.  Seek out parallel, alternate routes for bikeways as close as possible.

c.  Provide signage guidance to assist cyclists in locating addresses and major destinations from parallel routes (see recommendations in point 17, below).

d.  Utilize shared lane markings and other measures to alert motorists to the presence of cyclists.

e.  Provide secure bicycle parking near destinations.

f.  A combination of bike lanes and wide curb lanes should be allowed on major streets even if it requires some discontinuous segments.  It is desirable to have short segments of bikeways in areas that are dense with destinations to assist cyclists as they locate them.

7.  ENHANCE CLASS III BIKE ROUTE POLICIES

a.  Assign CL III roads high priority for pavement surface maintenance and street cleaning.

b.  Preserve, and expand when possible, road space for cyclists (outside lane width).

c.  Use Shared Lane Markings where warranted.

d.  Reduce speed limits.

e.  Utilize bicycle-specific signage (see below).

f.  Where possible, use edge lines to narrow apparent travel lane width or encourage parked cars to hug the curb (as used in Pasadena's "Enhanced Bike Routes").

g. Signal sensors should detect bicycles or push buttons should be located convenient to cyclists in the roadway.

i.  Intersections with major roads should have signals or 4-way stops.

j.  Develop a Class III rating system that designates traffic volume information on bike maps, thereby providing guidance to cyclists who wish to avoid routes with heavy traffic.

8.  BIKE ROUTE REPLACEMENT

Whenever designated bikeways are removed, or planned future bikeways are removed from plans, they should be replaced on nearby parallel routes.

9.  SET GOALS FOR MODE SPLIT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW BIKEWAYS

City of Los Angeles has added very little new bike lane or bike route milage in recent years when compared to some other large cities.  For example, Chicago has added 260 miles of bike lanes in the past 10 years.  Seattle’s BMP calls for 118 miles of new bike lanes in 10 years; New York City’s DOT has committed to building 200 more miles of bike lanes in three years!  In order to assure the timely build-out of our city's bikeways, goals for increasing bikeway mileage should be set and evaluated annually, with corrective actions taken if progress does not keep pace with goals.

10.  MEASURE PROGRESS

a.  In order to better measure progress, bicycle counts should be included in traffic counts.

b.  Count utilization of bicycle parking facilities at major destinations such as train stations, shopping centers and public facilities.

c.  A system of measuring bicycle level of service should be devised and used to measure the quality of bicycle accommodations provided.

11.  IMPROVE CYCLIST SAFETY

a.  Study bicycle/auto crash records and develop a focused enforcement effort with the goal of reducing crashes by an ambitious percentage in 5 years.

b.  Identify funding sources and secure grants for sponsoring bicycle education programs.

c.  Work with the DMV and private driving schools to insure better motorist education about cycling and how to behave around cyclists

12.  IMPROVE IMPLEMENTATION OF BICYCLE PARKING IN NEW DEVELOPMENT
The city has ordinances that require new buildings and businesses above a certain size to provide secure bike parking, lockers and showers in new construction.  However, few new buildings actually incorporate these features.  Why?  The BMP needs to evaluate the effectiveness of the current policy and correct it as necessary.

13.  ACCELERATE FUNDING AND PLACEMENT OF PUBLIC SHORT-TERM BIKE PARKING RACKS.

a.  Cyclists should be able to locate several bike racks within a reasonable distance of any commercial or public location.  Racks should always be conveniently located, visible and easy to find.

b. Include guidelines for siting bicycle parking in secure locations.  Specifically, when automobile parking will include attendants, bicycle parking should be located nearby and within their normal view plane.

14.  ACCELERATE IMPLEMENTATION OF SHARROW PROGRAM
The city should take advantage of this important, much-needed technique for improving cyclist safety and begin implementing Sharrows as soon as possible.

15.  IMPROVE LAW ENFORCEMENT UNDERSTANDING OF BICYCLE RELATED LAWS
Improve education of police officers in regards to the rights of cyclists and the California Vehicle Code as it relates to cyclists. Review the utilization of educational materials for police officer training.  Evaluate how effective the use of the police training video on cycling laws has been and identify how to improve its utilization as necessary.

16.  BICYCLE BOULEVARDS

a.  Bicycle Boulevards should be integrated into the Bicycle Master Plan.

b.  The full range of bicycle traffic calming features should be available for use on Bicycle Boulevards.

c.  Traffic diverters should be used wherever possible, as these are the most effective technique for reducing traffic volume and improving the cycling environment.

17.  DEVELOP A SIGNAGE SYSTEM FOR BIKEWAYS
A well-designed signage system will designate important bike routes, giving them relevant names that provide information and breed familiarity with how to get around by bicycle.  Signage should:

a.  Provide route guidance and direct cyclists at turn points (wayfinding).

b.  For bikeways that parallel major streets with destinations that cyclists will want to access, provide block address numbers for that major street to help cyclists locate destinations there.

c.  Give distances to key destinations (mileage indications).

d.  Familiarize cyclists with how to find their way around the city (use intuitive names for routes to assist cyclists in developing “mental mapping” for cycling routes).

18.  BIKE RENTAL PROGRAM PILOT PROJECT
Emulate the successful Velib-type programs.  Identify a location (such as Downtown) for a pilot project.  Consider funding this with an advertising opportunity for a suitable operator.

19.  LANDSCAPING
When designing landscaping along roads with bikeways, ensure that compatible plants or trees are used that do not impair the visibility of cyclists.  Plantings that will obstruct motorists’ view of cyclists should be avoided or diligent maintenance provided for as a condition of their use.

20.  SPEED LIMITS
Speed limits should be reduced on streets with bikeways or where there is a high level of bicycle traffic.

Today is the last day to register online for Los Angeles' most popular bike event, the 8th Annual Los Angeles River Ride.  You can register at the event, but due to the popularity of the River Ride and limited space it's probably best to register online today if you're interested but not already signed up.

There are rides for cyclists of all skill and endurance levels ranging from a kids ride to a century run.  The River Ride is this Sunday, June 8, and all races begin and end in Griffith Park.  The ride and registration times are as follows:

50-Mile: Register at 7:30 am, Ride at 8:00 am
70 Mile: Register at 7:00 am, Ride at 7:45 am
100-Mile: Register at 6:30 am, Ride at 7:00 am
10-Mile: Register at 10:00 am, Ride at 11:00 am
Kids Ride and Fun Fair: Registration and festivities at 10:00 am

For more information about the ride or the LACBC check out the River Ride F.A.Q.

Image: Melanie Smith via LACBC

First off, Hymon deserves a lot of credit for the effort he’s putting into the blog.  He’s been the lead content provider for the blog for a little under 30 hours and there are already 13 different stories posted. 

I feared that the blog might become a lobbying tool for greater road investment, but a breakdown of those first 14 stories shows that even for the Road Sage LA transportation isn’t just about cars anymore.  Instead of just highway stories, there were stories about why the city doesn’t do a good job promoting transit, the struggle over the Expo Line and even stories about traffic calming.  Of course the Times’ hasn’t turned over an entirely new leaf on transportation, it looks like there’s going to be a daily update on gas prices as part of the writing.

Hymon ends his first post with a call for help, stories ideas and entries for pothole of the week.  Let’s see if we can help him out by giving him lots of story ideas about buses, trains, bike and sneakers.

One simple request: I need your help. Shoot me an e-mail with your thoughts, ideas, questions, rants, photos. I want this blog to be informative. I am also determined to make it fun, whether the topic is driving, taking mass transit, cycling or -- gasp -- walking.

I’m presently looking for nominees for “Pothole of the Week," which I'd like to make a regular feature. If you want to nominate your favorite crater, send me a photo (in the JPEG format) and brief, poetic description with the exact location. The e-mail is steve.hymon@latimes.com.

DN: There’s a chapter in the book on transportation.

EK: Indeed.  There is a chapter in the book on transportation.  I’m biased...I’m very biased.  Here’s a little ax grinding.

Transportation for me is riding a bike...maybe about riding a bus...but really about riding a bike.  Because, well, just because it’s riding a bike.

DN: Uh-huh

EK: It’s a challenge.  I love a challenge and that’s what it’s all about.  I just like being in traffic riding a bike, and it just happens to have these nice side effects. 

DN: What would you say to someone who’s maybe thinking about getting back on his bike but doesn’t think it’s the best thing to do in Los Angeles.  I did very little urban cycling before I got to Los Angeles, and my first trip in LA was going from Hel-Mel to home after the Bike Kitchen helped me put my new bike-in-a-box together.  By the time I got home, I think I had aged three years from when I started.  Did I mention I did the trip at night?

EK: (laughs) Yeah.

My advice first of all is route choice.  Plan ahead of time how you get from point A to point B.  Don’t plan on going the same way you would drive.  More than likely you’re going to want different routes.  Look for quiet streets with names you’ve never heard of that just happen to get you to the right place.  This advice can be found in a book called The Art of Cycling by Robert Hurst.  Do you know that book?

DN: I’ve been working on it over the last several months.  You recommended it to me when I first met you last October.

EK: Good, good.  That’s his first piece of advice.  Route choice.  Route choice.  Route choice.  That’s really important.

So choose a route, that's number 1.  Number 2 is read Hursts' book.  Hurst's book lays out nicely what you have to do to ride a bike in traffic.  It's an art.  He's really right about that.  Your position on the street should be different at different times of the day, different times of the year.  Even different moods of the traffic.  Going down a street you can start to feel other people's mood.  Are people mellow, are they angry?  You need to sense that and roll with it.

That takes some practice.

So, in addition to route choice don't try to ride all the way across town without taking some smaller steps first.  Go to the post office or grocery store and get used to doing that.  Then you can extend your trip further and further afield until you're used to riding in traffic.

LACBC does bicycle safety training--we have an excellent League of American Cyclists certified instructor named Chris Ziegler. I took his class and it helped immensely.

When Erik or Kelly Go Shopping, They Take the Family SUV

DN: Yeah, I wrote about a You Tube video the League did a couple of months ago.  They made it in Long Beach.

EK: Probably Chris Quint and Dan Gutierrez.

Urban biking can be like climbing a mountain, you just have to work at it until you get it.  But once you got it, it's so much fun to go out there and have that experience. 

DN: But isn’t the culture changing a little?  Last night I met my brother and Mom at a four-star restaurant.  I pulled up on my bike, asked the valet where to park it and nobody looked at me funny.

EK: Well, odds are good the valet is riding the bike himself.  Surely the kitchen staff does.

DN: We’re certainly seeing more people biking and busing and scootering.  Sorry, I’ve been reading articles about scooters flying off the shelf now it’s stuck in my head.  What do you think, is the city doing enough to get where it needs to be?  Some say it’s getting better, but is better good enough?

EK: No, LA isn’t doing near enough.  We need leadership from the top.  We need a mayor that’s going to get a commitment to doing it.  Instead we have a mayor that can’t pronounce the worked ‘bicycle.’  I think he’s afraid of it. 

DN: Literally?

EK: Quite literally.  Stephen Box likes to say that he thinks that the mayor has the word "bicycle" and "bisexual" mixed up.  I think he's right.

Mayor Daley in Chicago said, ‘we’re going to build bike infrastructure’ and we’re seeing a lot more people riding bikes there.  Mayor Bloomberg, you know more about this than I do, he’s made a commitment to promoting moving around without cars.

DN: He was always a big transit rider, but it wasn’t really reflected in policy until just over a year ago they threw everyone out at DOT and brought in all the reformers.  My old boss at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign is the Senior Policy Advisor to NYDOT.  The new commissioner sat on our board.  It would be like replacing Rita Robinson and John Fisher with you and Jennifer Klausner.

EK: Well, the culture of DOT needs to change.  We’re starting to see that at an elected level.  Eric Garcetti is pretty progressive.  Tom LaBonge thinks of himself as the biking councilman.  Certainly Councilman Reyes has been great about pushing bike stuff through.

But we need to get the Mayor on board.  Certainly right now the tail wags the dog.  That needs to change.

DN: Yeah.  Nobody from the Mayor’s office returned my call when I asked for his route on bike to work day.  Nobody from the vice mayor’s office either.

EK: Is de la Vega still riding his hummer?

DN: I don’t know.  Ya know, I even offered to provide the bikes. 

EK: The hummer thing was pretty scandalous

DN: Don’t worry, LAist brings it up at least once a month somehow.

EK: Yeah, our mayor’s not interested in this stuff.  That needs to change.  But there are positive things.  LACBC has a new beginning going on.  We have a new executive director.  We have a new board.  There’s a lot of exciting things on the horizon.

EK:  Ya know, it's funny.  On that question of are more people biking, I'm not so sure they are.  Pessimistically thinking.  There are more people on motor scooters, but that isn't necessarily a good thing.  There are a lot of people on scooters and motorcycles that just don't belong on them.  They don't know what they're doing.  If you look at the sales statistics, sales are flat or decreasing for bicycles and the population is increasing.  Maybe that's starting to turn around a little with $4 gasoline...but I think gasoline is going to need to be a lot more expensive before that's a motivating factor.

People are hopping on motorcycles, they are hopping on scooters.  I saw someone the other day driving a three-wheeled Pushman Cart--in the bike lane, by the way.  I don't get it.  There's this hundred year old proven technology called a bicycle that also gives you exercise, but people are willing to use these strange vehicles that are actually more dangerous.  Riding a scooter or motorcycling is 30 times as dangerous as riding a bike because of the speed involved.

When cycling does come up, people seem most interested in riding an electric bike.  Have you noticed that?  In the mainstream media, it's all about scooters, Segways and electric bikes.

DN: Clarence from Streetfilms wrote in his Speed Racer review that you can tell when someone’s making a movie about the future because the first thing they get rid of is people walking. 

EK: (laughs).  Yeah.  The walking is gone and replaced by gimmicks.

DN: Ok, if you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about LA, what would you do?

EK: I’d make the streets canals. So it’d be like Venice.

DN: (laughing) Aren’t we in a desert?

EK: That's a good point.  I guess that puts the kibosh on that idea.

Anyway, if I could wave a magic wand...I'd have a mayor that cares about equality.  That cares about making our streets equal for everyone.  That means poor people, old people and children.  So that you can walk, you can ride a bicycle, you can take public transportation.  And yes, you can drive, I'm not a complete zealot (though my wife disagrees).  All of these modes of transport need to be promoted equally.

Maybe you’ve noticed that Councilmember Tom LaBonge’s face and bike showed up at Metro's Bike Week Kickoff on Monday and the Blessing of the Bikes on Tuesday.  Well, if you assume that LaBonge is just hopping on his bike a couple of blocks from the event before pedaling up to the cameras, you’d be wrong.  Metblogs’ Mack Reed relates a conversation he had with LaBonge at a traffic light after the Councilmember biked up to him.  There is no indication that LaBonge had any idea that Reed writes for Metblogs.

“G’morning,” he says. “You just come up over the hill?”

“No, I’m coming down from the Observatory.”

“Hunh. We’ve been trying to get that back road down the other side reopened. The road’s still damaged.” …

“That’d be great - but honestly, it’s nice just to have the roads on this side reopened. It was a drag when they were closed for so long after the fire.”

“Where do you live?”

“Silver Lake.”

“What street?”

I tell him.

“You’re Tom LaBonge, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Mack Reed, we’ve met.”

“Oh, yeah, hi, how are ya. So, you think we need bigger bike racks around the neighborhood? Maybe in front of Gelson’s?”

“I’m sure there are a lot of riders who’d appreciate it, definitely. Me, I’m happy just locking mine to a post.”

“What else do you need, you need anything else?”

To see the rest of the conversation, click here.

Image: CD-13/Flickr

So if you are very good with a camera, know transportation issues and are familiar with the current momentum of livable streets, send us your deets! The process to apply is here; as you can read please do not call or e-mail Streetfilms filmmakers directly. We will be compiling all resumes/work experience thru May 23rd and then on an as-needed basis start contacting potential freelancers for assignments. Thanks and good luck!

Job Posting - Freelancers, Streetfilms

With a 6-0 won-loss record and a 0.81 earned run average, Cleveland Indians southpaw Cliff Lee is, for the moment, the hottest pitcher in Major League Baseball. HIs delivery is so smooth, so perfect looking, it's hard not to think Sandy Koufax.

Last Wednesday, Streetsblog tech director Nick Grossman and I journeyed up to the Bronx to watch Lee pick apart the Yankees over-priced line up (yes, I'm an Indians fan), handing Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang his first loss of the season. Unfortunately, I took the D train to get to the stadium. Had I left a couple of hours earlier on the 4 train, I might have been as lucky as baseball blogger Rich Lederer:

We caught the 4 Train from Grand Central to Yankee Stadium. After getting a bite to eat in the food concourse, we hopped onto the subway at about 3:45 pm. Our car was crowded so we found ourselves standing in the middle, holding onto the rails for safety. After we got situated, Joe whispers to me, "I'm 95% certain that's Cliff Lee standing next to you" (notice the arm of my brown jacket in the foreground). I look up and, sure enough, it looks just like the Cleveland lefthander.

In any event, while making eye contact with Lee, I make a pitching motion with my left hand as if I were throwing a breaking ball. He gives me a quizzical look so I mouth "Cliff?" He nods his head. Conscientious that I'm wearing a NY hat for the first time in my life, I point to it and tell him that I'm from Long Beach, California and not really a Yankees fan. Lee smiled and shook his head. I explained that Joe and I were on a father-son baseball trip and had already been to Fenway Park the previous weekend and were going to our first Yankees game that night, and to Shea Stadium on Friday night.

There wasn't a single person other than Joe or me who had any inclination that Cliff Lee was standing on the subway, holding onto the rail tightly with his left arm.

NYC Blog directs our attention to the map above, which depicts every street in the continental U.S. Map creator Ben Fry (no relation) posts a larger version on his site, and explains it like so:

All of the streets in the lower 48 United States: an image of 26 million individual road segments. No other features (such as outlines or geographic features) have been added to this image, however they emerge as roads avoid mountains, and sparse areas convey low population. The pace of progress is seen in the midwest where suburban areas are punctuated by square blocks of area that are still farm land.

When he's not biking down freeways, or writing for Westside BikeSIDE and Emerald City, Alex Thompson has been hard at work creating Ibikeu, a wikipedia for all things bicycle related. To check out the bike wiki, click on over to www.ibikeu.com/wiki/

Thompson describes the ibikeu Wiki at Westside BikeSIDE:

The ibikeu Wiki is intended to document everything bike, from social rides like Santa Monica Critical Mass, to broad topics like the history of bicycles or bicycle infrastructure terminology.

For the time being the wiki is open for public viewing but not editing/contributing by the public. If you would like to contribute, as an editor or otherwise, please email me at alexcthompson at gmail dot com.

The site is still pretty new, so there are some areas where it is a little light on content. For example, the entry on Kent Strumpell doesn't have any text and the page for LADOT only has a link to LADOT's transit homepage.

But of course, that's where we come in. The site has around 250 unique pages and has been edited nearly 3,000 times, but there's a lot more work to do to get this Wiki up to par. Anyone interested in helping should contact Alex at the address above.

Disclaimer: It's not legal to ride your bike on the 405 or the 10. So kids, don't try this at home.

Via WestSideBikeSide, last week 10 cyclists took to the highways arguing that riding on a highway at rush hour is no less safe than riding on the PCH.

Other blogs have picked up the video. Metblog called it "equal parts stupid and awesome," and Joke Is Up calls it a "great little bit of anarchy here in Los Angeles." Viewers at You Tube seem similarly at odds. One poster says he "fell asleep b4 I got to the part where the idiots got crushed by a Hummer," but another commenter asks what I think is the million dollar question, "LA is made for cars. Why are bicycles getting places faster?"

The community update meetings on the progress of Phase II of the controversial Expo Light Rail line are completed.  For anyone who like me was unable to make any of the three meetings, a copy of the presentation is available at the Expo Construction Authority's website. 

Even though there was no pushing and shoving this time, it's clear that both those that wish to kill the project if an at-grade crossing isn't in place at Dorsey High School and those that want the line built either way were not satisfied with the presentation from Expo Construction Authority Staff.  After the jump you can read letters from the Cheviot Hills Homeowner's Association and Light Rail for Cheviot after the jump.

First is the letter from Light Rail for Cheviot, dated March 28, the day after the first outreach meeting.

All,

The workshop last night at Daniel Webster Middle School was disappointing in one major respect:  the decisions about at-grade or grade-separation at Overland and Westwood along the ROW or existing Right of Way, alternative 1 for phase 2, are not yet made.  These crossings are getting "further analysis," as are the crossings at Barrington and Centinela.

The good news is that from the charts showing land acquisition needs and numbers of grade-separations proposed along the two routes, the ROW looks by far the more likely choice.  At-grade crossings on this route are being proposed at 26th St., Stewart, Sepulveda, Military, and Bagley, while the crossings at Cloverfield, Bundy, Pico/Gateway, Sawtelle, and Venice would be grade-separated (and there are already grade-separated crossings in place at Motor and National/Palms). It seems additional car counts are being conducted, and other factors like traffic lights, angles of crossing, etc. are being considered and reconsidered.

Another surprise was the proposed parking lot at Overland and Northvale, on the northwestern side across from Overland School.  This lot would accommodate 130-200 cars and it would be reached from Overland.  While this would certainly increase the car count on Overland, it would decrease green landscaping, and it would eliminate the Green Corridor
concept we have proposed.  Further strikes against the Green Corridor are said to be much of the ROW's status as a "floodplain" from Overland to Westwood, which would necessitate a pumping station and lots of money.  However, this status does argue for grade-separation at Westwood and perhaps Overland as well.

In other words, we still have no idea what will be proposed for these important crossings.  We do expect the criteria developed and used for phase 1 will be fairly applied and implemented for phase 2, and we await these decisions, which the Construction Authority people say will be out in "another few weeks."  They intend to address Neighborhood Councils and
Homeowners Associations when they make these decisions, and Light Rail for Cheviot expects to be addressed as well.

Please attend one of the next two meetings (April 1 and 3, 6:30 pm at Crossroads School in Santa Monica and Vista Del Mar Child and Community Services on Motor Avenue respectively) and check out the proposals.

Pay attention also to the lack of a bike path from Palms/National to Overland, to the parking lot at Sepulveda, perhaps smaller than it could be at 260-400 cars, and to the still "tba" parking lot at National/Palms.

Patience....but scrutiny, please.  This is going to be our light rail line and we want it to be the best it can be.

Karen Leonard for Light Rail for Cheviot

Next is a letter from the Cheviot Hills Homeowners Association.  This letter was dated April 3rd, after the second meeting but before the third one.

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

The Expo Authority has held two meetings to announce their progress on Phase 2 of the Expo Light Rail project. There is one remaining.

The last of the Expo Community Workshops is this evening, Thursday, April 3, from 6:30 to 8:30 at Vista Del Mar Child and Family Services, 3200 Motor Avenue. Please come and register your concerns on this project.

Expo has revealed the following preliminary crossing decisions:

Overland Avenue: at-grade crossing across Overland Avenue at Overland Elementary School with a 200 hundred car parking lot directly across from the school. Please consider the impacts to pedestrian safety of this design, the impacts to the learning environment of the noise and vibration of trains every 2 minutes, and increased air pollution of blocked traffic on Overland.

Expo expressed problems with the expense of going under the storm drain at Overland, and with privacy and noise issues of elevating the trains. Please consider that there are 2 one-mile long train tunnels, 60 feet deep being built on the Eastside light Rail Extension in Boyle Heights. Why not here?

A station is planned on the right-of-way between Overland and Westwood Boulevard with another 400 car lot at the Westwood end.

Westwood, Military, Sepulveda and Barrington will run at grade. Please consider the impact of north/south traffic, cut through traffic, noise and vibration, loss of privacy to homes in the corridor.

Sawtelle, Pico/Gateway and Bundy will be elevated. The elevation at Sawtelle will require a 75 foot height to clear the 405 Fwy. The run up ramp to that height will be a massive structure inclining and declining as far as 1/4 mile to elevate that high without losing train speed. Santa Monica rejected a similar elevated design intended to go the 1/2 mile from the I-10 to the 4th Street terminus. They chose instead an at-grade route along Colorado Boulevard to the terminus. Please consider how two light rail tracks can be run down Colorado Boulevard when Expo rejected light rail on Venice to the Beach because Venice Boulevard was too narrow!

Please don't miss tonight's important meeting even if you can only come for a few minutes. Overland parents especially need to get involved. Expo planned this meeting in our neighborhood knowing that it coincided with Overland's Open House. Don't let them stop you from getting the facts and examining the impacts of this project on our school.

Stop by the Neighbors For Smart Rail table tonight to say hello and get more information on how you can impact this train project in our community.

Thank you.

Cheviot Hills Homeowners Association
Neighbors for Smart Rail

Image: Coyote 2012/Flickr