That's why this letter we received from two British tourists is so refreshing. It's both a stark admonishment of how much we've given up for the car, sometimes barely noticing it, and a heartening reminder that what often seems normal to us need not be: 

We are visitors to the States from England. Our main reason for coming was to visit friends, however upon researching into transport options we were horrified to discover that the only viable option to get from NY to LA via many small towns was by car. Many of our friends have tried to justify this saying that 'America is simply too big to have public transport'. To us, this is purely INSANE. Surely a huge country should offer the best public transport in the world! Bullet trains could cover the driving distances in no time.

We are feeling quite ashamed of ourselves as we write this but inevitably we did end up driving across America. We have found the American people to be welcoming and friendly and the landscape beautiful but we have not yet seen a single 'town' in the US that we, as Europeans would class as a town. I would class them more as motorway service stations. Buildings designed for cars. People waiting in line for a drive through. People competing for car parking spaces at gyms! These are not communities as we would recognise - market squares, parks, rivers, cafes, stations, public art, gardens etc. 'Towns' are simply not towns! We feel saddened that many Americans are not afforded the community lifestyle that we enjoy in Europe.

Our purpose of writing is not to attack your country and we do apologise if we have offended. I am writing to urge you, beg with you, plead with you to keep up the fantastic work that you are doing. Despite the wonderful time that we have had in the US I simply cannot wait to get home in order to walk from my flat and pick up a newspaper and a pint of milk, on my journey I shall say hello to everyone I meet, take note of the weather and breathe some fresh air.

5 Years on Hel-Mel Anniversary Bike Ride for the Bicycle Kitchen

We've written about this already in the Streetsblog calendar section and Monday's Week in Livable Streets post so I'll spare you all a long repeat.  Let's just say that the party starts at 1:00 P.M. at the Bicycle Kitchen and you can get the rest of the information, here.

Bike Working Group FiVVVVVe

At two in the afternoon, the Bike Working Group is meeting at Hollywood Adventist Church, 1711 N. Van Ness Ave, to finalize the Backbone Bikeway Network. In the words of the Facebook invitation, "bring your suggestions and bring your enthusiasm for the Backbone!"

For anyone who missed the excitement last month, the Bike Working Group released the Backbone, which is a series of major streets that cyclists can use to move through the city.  In the words of the Working Group:

Fundamentally it's an idea - these streets should be safe, convenient and welcoming to cyclists. To achieve that, we suggest not just infrastructure changes, but changes in other policies. Law enforcement, signage, inclusion on maps, prioritizing street resurfacing - these are other factors that can make these streets better for us!

You can read about the Backbone here and comments on the plan from some of L.A.'s activists who aren't affiliated with the Working Group here.

CICLE's NELA Campaign: 4 Corners Recon

Recently, our friends at Cyclists Inciting Change thru Live Exchange launched a campaign aimed at bringing the bicycling infrastructure to Northeast Los Angeles...an area so neglected by LADOT Bikeways that advocates have begun painting their own Sharrows on the streets.  This Saturday at 4:00 P.M., cyclists will depart from Cafe de Leche, 5000 York Boulevard, measure section York Blvd, Figueroa St, Colorado Blvd, and Eagle Rock Blvd to show the LADOT and the world that these streets have the space for bike lanes.  If the weather looks bad, the group might be meeting on Sunday instead.  Stay tuned to their Facebook page for updates.

Last year, the ArtCycle event was one of the best examples of Angelenos embracing bike culture, the local art scene and their community.  Last year ArtCycle featured a series of group rides visiting local art studios, a block party in Hel-Mel, and several different film makers shooting videos including Streetfilms' Clarence Eckerson who shot the "Los Angeles Streetfilm of the Year" for 2009 which can be viewed above.  This year's event will be even bigger with ArtCycle also being used to build momentum for the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council's vision of more park space for their community.

East Hollywood is one of the densest communities in LA and also one of the park poorest neighborhoods. To make a statement, this past September, Community Activists and East Hollywood Neighborhood Council board members Jennifer Moran and David Bell, created an art park on Santa Monica Blvd. right across from the Cahuenga Library, for one day in celebration of Park[ing] Day LA.

Six months later, on March 13th, ArtCycle organizers Moran and Enci Box, will open Santa Monica Blvd. between Vermont and Virgil from 2:00 P.M. to 10:00 P.M. for pedestrians and bikes, for the 2nd annual ArtCycle, an event designed to showcase the emerging art and bicycling cultures in the heart of East Hollywood and on Historical Route 66.

ArtCycle was born from an idea that Moran had many years ago, after she visited Burning Man and was inspired by all the artists and the art.  She wanted to bring "Burning Man" to the city and in 2009 her dream came alive when the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council approved funding for the event. ArtCycle was held on Heliotrope and Melrose, which was so successful that Box and Moran decided to make it a much larger happening this year.

Given that the first press conference, held by advocacy groups, begins at 8:30 A.M. and the event doesn't end until the late afternoon; I'm not certain how often LA Streetsblog will be updated, if at all.  There will be live tweeting of the conference as the day wears on, and, if nothing else, you can follow us at http://twitter.com/lastreetsblog.

Los Angeles Streetsblog will be taking Monday off to celebrate President's Day.  If you can't help yourself and need a fix of transportation headlines, some of the other Streetsblogs will be doing a "Today's Headlines" post.  I wish you all a safe and happy Valentine's Day and President's Day.  If nothing else, I hope you can avoid the former police chief from Riverside while you're on the road.

Another quick programming note, next Friday, assuming I can sang an invite, Streetsblog will also be dark next Friday as I head to the Town Hall meeting being put on by Senator Boxer and Secretary LaHood.  Of course, I'll be twittering away as well as getting some stories together for both Los Angeles and Capitol Hill Streetsblog.

Photo: New York Times via 4 LA Kids

UC Berkeley professor Michael Jerrett strongly suggests in a new study that reducing the traffic near people's homes could have a dramatic impact on the health of the children living near public streets.

The bad news?  Obesity rates for children in Los Angeles is high.  For example, a recent study by the California Food Policy Advocates showed that just over thirty-five percent of seventh graders in Los Angeles have an "unhealthy weight" and forty-two percent have an unhealthy aerobic capacity.  As you might expect, unhealthy kids are an indicator of unhealthy adults.  The CAFPA study shows that over fifty percent of L.A. County adults fall into the "unhealthy weight" and "unhealthy aerobic capacity" categories.  All of these statistics are well above the national average.

Both NYC Streetsblog and SF Streetsblog have taken a look at the report, and broken it down.

In NYC, Noah Kazis reports on the study, which links traffic volumes to youth obesity:

Jerrett shows that not only does the built environment matter, but traffic volumes matter too. His team's long-term study tracked children from across Southern California, starting from ages 9-10 and continuing through high school. Controlling for a wide variety of factors, they compared the children's body mass indexes (BMI) to the density of traffic near their homes.

Children living within 150 meters of high-traffic areas were found to have, on average, BMIs five percent higher than those living near low-traffic areas. Only the immediate surroundings seem to matter: Traffic levels within 300 or 500 meters didn't affect BMI.

Michael Rhodes, in San Francisco, continues, 

The researchers put forward two reasons for why traffic volumes contribute to obesity. High asthma rates could be part of the equation, making kids less likely to engage in physical activity. Kids - and their parents - also seem to be especially sensitive to the real or perceived danger from cars, much more so than adults.

So what can be done?  Jerret sees the ultimate solution to be less cars in sensitive areas, i.e. places where people should be open to walking or biking for transportation and places where children live.  He uses the example of London's congestion charging, which reduced traffic by 18% in the central city. 

Unfortunately for Angelenos, he takes a somewhat dim view that mixed use neighborhoods are a complete solution if traffic persists.

Moreover, solutions posited in existing literature on built environments suggest that connected, mixed land use neighborhoods with good “walkability” to destinations in proximity to the home may provide some protection against obesity and physical inactivity. If traffic is an independent risk factor, however, improving the physical structure of the city may be ineffective if high levels of traffic persist in residential neighborhoods.

That means that we can do all the planning and encouraging of cleaner lifestyles that we want, but if we're unsuccessful in reducing the number of cars on our streets, than we're going to be fighting a losing battle against obesity.  That's just one thing to consider the next time a traffic engineer proposes widening a street for "safety and efficiency" reasons.  They may be encouraging more cars to drive on the street, but any perceived safety benefits should be weighed against the damage being done to the health and fitness of our children.

However, just because the pilot-program has been an overwhelming success, there are no plans to increase the program beyond vague commitments to come up with new ways to expand the program.

Amir Sedadi, a senior staff member at LADOT explained to the City Council Transportation Committee one reason for the lack of energy. "I think the biggest challenge is the reality of the fiscal crisis that we have," explained Sedado.  The staff report to the committee details a 22% staff shortage in the parking permit program keeping the city from working on expanding the program.  Sedadi noted that there is an increase in demand for temporary permit parking, which floods the division and keeping them from working to expand the program.  Sedadi also noted that there is a lack of local staff from Zipcar, so there is no opportunity to lean on the company to help fill in enforcement or other gaps.

Because of these challenges, non-zip cars often park in spaces designated for car-sharing which leads to customers not being able to find the cars and the Zip Cars being ticketed and towed.

There were three ways to expand the program that were discussed at the hearing.  One obvious suggestion would be a partnership with Metro to create a car sharing program at transit stations with spots dedicated in the parking lots.  This suggestion, first floated by Sedadi, was championed by Hilary Norton of Fixing Angelenos Stuck in Traffic (F.A.ST.)  The good news is that The Community Redevelopment Association and LADOT are both in dicussion with Metro on how they can make that happen.  The bad news?  There was no timetable or outline presented on when this suggestion could become a reality.

Sedadi also mentioned the possibility of using ZipCars as pool vehicles for the city.  LA Streetsblog has covered how other cities, such as Philadelphia and Seattle, have saved tens of millions of dollars every year by replacing their "take home vehicle fleet" with a car sharing program.  Such a plan might be politically difficult, after all you're asking the Council Members to give up some of the cars dedicated to their staff.  However, as we noted back in September of 2008,

For example, in Philadelphia the city replaced 330 vehicles in its fleet with a car sharing program that saves the city millions of dollars each year and provides for vehicular mobility for city workers when needed.  With the finnancial stability of the city helping to stabilize their budget, the non-profit Philly car-share was able to expand its membership to over 30,000 residents.

A last suggestion for expanding car sharing in Los Angeles came from Stephen Box, who has chronicled the efforts of Hollywood businessman Bechir Blagui to bring public electric charging stations to Hollywood transit stations that would be shared between an electric car-share program and privately owned electric cars.  His City Watch Column from last November raises the question of whether or not the city has an exclusive contract with ZipCar (it doesn't) and if not why it isn't more supporting of local entrepeneurs trying to create car-share programs in their community.  The run-around Blagui is given by the city is truly a frustrating read, but if you don't have time, here's the brief version:

Bechir's quest for a Hollywood car-share program, offering electric community cars, supported by a charging station on Hollywood Boulevard, open to the public and accessible 24 hours a day, has led him to the LADOT, the DWP, Councilman LaBonge's office, City Council President Eric Garcetti's office, Assemblyman Mike Feuer's office, the City Council, the streets of Santa Monica, the neighborhoods surrounding USC and UCLA and all he has to show for his travails is a request from Garcetti's Transportation Deputy to do more research for a meeting next month.

In 2008, both ZipCar and its national rival FlexCar had spaces throughout the city.  However, when the two groups combined, it resulted in a huge net loss in spaces for car sharing in Los Angeles.  In fact, the cars were only available on college campuses.  Since then, the city has looked for small ways to bring car sharing back.  Their first effort was to dedicate street spaces to ZipCars last year.

ZipCar and the LADOT will be back in front of the Council for another update in 120 days.

Tuesday: The Transit Coalition features Expo Construction Authority CEO Richard Thorpe at its monthly meeting.  With certification of the FEIR for Phase II on next week's Authority Board Agenda, this discussion promises to be "spirited."  All are invited, and the meeting begins at 6:50 P.M. at Phillipe the Original.

Wednesday: Vroom!  The City Council Transportation Committee will debate a new series of speed limit increaes.  Burn Rubber to City Hall to be there at 2:00 P.M.

Thursday: One of the highlights of the month for transportation activists and wonks is the organized chaos monthly meeting of the  Metro Board of Directors at the Board Room in their towering offices downtown.  The meeting begins whenever enough Board Members can be bothered to show up at 9:30 A.M.  At the time of posting the agenda hasn't been posted yet, but Streetsblog will summarize the agenda when it is.

Friday: Ironically, the day after the "organized chaos" of the Metro Board is the "organized Chaos" of Critical Mass.  The riders should meet at 6:30 P.M. at the Wilshire/Western Subway stop.

Saturday: Culver City is holding a public meeting to receive comments on their new draft bike plan.  The plan, prepared by Alta Planning, has received high marks from the bike groups that have contacted me about.  The meeting begins at 10:00 A.M. at the Garden Room, in the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, 4117 Overland Ave.

A lot of you know I'm not one to toot my own horn; but you also know that when a blog wins an award such as L.A. Weekly's "Top Local Activist Website" that it's not just a reflection on me as the editor.  It's a reflection on the work everyone does that writes a story, fills in for a day, writes a comment, or sends a story idea along.  So thanks everyone, we're making a difference!

Also, Monday is traditionally an off-day for Streetsblog.  I'm going to spend the down time trying to get the calendar into shape for the rest of the year.  If there's an event you want to make sure makes the calendar section, please drop me a line by filling out the form here: http://la.streetsblog.org/suggest-event/

In March 2009, the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College produced the L.A. Bike Summit. The event was a smashing success with over twenty workshops and participants from around the world, bringing together hundreds of bicyclists to celebrate, debate, and advance the growing Los Angeles bike movement. Thanks to all the great folks who lead workshops last year!

For 2010, we're opening our arms even wider to encompass the larger streets movement developing here in L.A. We're pleased to announce that the L.A. Bike Summit has evolved into the 2010 LA StreetSummit: Biking, Walking, and Beyond. What this means is that this year's Summit will include all the wonderful bike stuff, but also have a broader focus on walkability, parking, environmental justice, public health, the built environment, transit, and more!

Mark your calendars now: the main 2010 LA StreetSummit event will be Saturday March 20th at Los Angeles Trade Tech College. Also, the Thursday before, on March 18th, Janette Sadik-Khan, NYC  Transportation Commissioner and streets advocate super star, will be giving a pre-summit keynote talk at Occidental College in Eagle Rock. Both events are free and open to the public.

Saturday guest speakers include:

• Carl Anthony - founder of Urban Habitat, long-time urban equity and environmental justice advocate
• Charlie Gandy - city of Long Beach's mobility coordinator
• and - maybe you? if you've got something to say about livable bikeable walkable streets, please submit an application with your proposed workshop - due January 20th. We're looking for all types of workshops, especially hands on, innovative, and community based proposals.

Our wiki-style website is up and running; check it out and you'll find this year's info about the Summit. You can update the site to make suggestions, post ideas, discussions... let us know what you'd like to see and learn.

Best Community Plan

Panel's Pick: East Hollywood Declares Itself Ped. Friendly District
My Pick: Pasadena Considers Removing Traffic Lane for Bike/Ped

What do all of these plans have in common?  They all reduce car dependency to increase capacity for other users.  I'm in love with the idea of increasing space for cyclists and pedestrians around the Rose Bowl because of the magical "Car-Free Rose Bowl" event in 2008.

Honorable Mention: Arroyo-Seco Plan, New Bike/Ped. Friendly Design for Downtown, The D.I.Y. Sharrows Plan in N.E.L.A.


Best One-Day Event

Panel's Pick: Park(ing) Day
My Pick: Eco-Village Street Closure, Street Party, Street Painting

I know what you're thinking.  How in the world could I pick an unauthorized street closure sponsored by a small group of people over an event that featured hundreds of people setting up pocket parks around the city, two different group rides to all the spaces, and even an after party watching films outdoors?

I ended up going with the Eco-Village event for a couple of reasons.  First, it was an event that was unique to 2009 and unique to Los Angeles.  Second, it involved a lot of people from the surrounding community in an event that was both educational and fun.

Honorable Mention: Bike Summit, Transit People Transit Race, and River Ride

Panel's Pick: Art Cycle
My Pick: Art Cycle

ArtCycle was one of the best rides I've ever been on, as tour guide Elson Trinidad lead a group of cyclists through the streets of East Hollywood.  Advocacy was mixed with education, and Streetfilms' top camera, Clarence Eckerson, grabbed it all.  Afterward, at the block party, Eric Garcetti fired up the troops and then there was dancing.

Honorable Mention: Clean Living at the Eco-Village, L.A. Watches Traffic Through ATSAC, Orange Line Combines BRT with Bike Path

New Group of the Year:

Panel's Pick: LACBC's City of Lights
My Pick: LACBC's City of Lights

The City of Lights program is all about bike safety education and creating new advocates with a community that has a lot of bike riders, but not a lot of political clout of visibility with decision-makers, Los Angeles' immigrant community.  Since arriving in Los Angeles, I've complaiend that the city does a poor job recognizing how many people travel without using personal automobile, but City of Lights is an attempt to really do something about it.

Honorable Mention: I Will Ride, The Source, CicLAvia, Greensters

Best Guest Story of the Year

Panel's Pick: Freedom to Be Inclusive
My Pick: A Woman's Comfort on Our Streets

When I first went through the guest stories and picked the nominees, I thought for sure I would be picking between Browne's Freedom to Be Inclusive and Enci's A Woman's Comfort on Our Streets.  Both deal with issues essential (yet under discussed) to the Livable Streets agenda, both are extremely well-written, and both brought an impassioned response from the community.  The panel made my choice easy for me...they picked one, so I picked the other.  If you haven't read either you should take a second to do so.

Honorable Mention:Bike Plan Enters "Civic Enragement" Stage, Bike Plan Justifies DIY Project on Fletcher Bridge, Long Beach's Leap Towards Livability, Good News for L.A., More Congestion and Higher Parking Fees

Bike Story of the Year:

Panel's Pick: Everybody Hates the Bike Plan, The Trial and Conviction of the Road Rage Doctor
My Pick: Hummer Slams Into Cyclist, LAPD Blames Cyclist, Cyclists Swarm City Council and Police Commission

I'm not even sure I need to go in to an explanation for any of these stories.  The panel was evenly split on whether Dr. Thompson's trial and conviction or the ongoing drama and disappointment surrounding the Bike Plan was the news of the year.  Meanwhile, I thought the reaction of the community to the Bike v Hummer crash downtown and the LAPD's botched reporting of the crash.

However, while there's three very different stories that have dominated our hearts and minds there's a common thread that unites them.  In each case, cyclists responded to either disappointing or downright insulting news with an organized and mature yet in-your-face advocacy that was powerful and effective. 

In the case of the Bike Plan, LADOT and City Planning are on their heels while cyclists work on their own Plan without a $450,000 budget.  In the case of Dr. Thompson's trial and conviction, cyclists were on pins and needles awaiting the results of the trial awaiting what turned out to be good news.  In the meantime, Thompson became the face of dangerous driving in City Hall.  And in the case of the Bike v Hummer Crash cyclists turned Tena's horrible crash and the harassment of cyclists by the driver and the reporting officer into a rallying cry.  Through a series of rides to City Council and Police Commission meetings cyclists made the case that the LAPD has no idea how to effectively support and police cyclists...especially if they're riding in a group.

Of course, none of these stories is completely played out.  Thompson's sentencing won't be for another couple of weeks; and the relationship between the LAPD and the cycling community isn't likely to reach full detente anytime soon.  As for the Bike Plan, LADOT Senior Bike Coordinator Michelle Mowery said they expect the Plan to be finalized and voted on by the Council by the end of June.  Of course, they were nearly eighteen months late getting us the Draft Plan, so who knows when we'll actually see it.

Honorable Mention: Where the Hell Are My Goddam Sharrows?!?

Transit Story of the Year:

Panel's Pick: Courts Rule (over and over) That State Robbery of Transit Fund to Balance Budget is Illegal
My Pick: Courts Rule (over and over) That State Robbery of Transit Fund to Balance Budget is Illegal

For years the State Legislature and Governor have worked together, hand-in-hand, to effectively over-rule a voter created fund that subsidizes transit operations to close the state's budget gap.  Of course, that gap hasn't stopped the Governor from enthusiastically jetting to every highway widening groundbreaking you can.  Ahhh, the perils of pretending to care about the environment.

Meanwhile, the State Transit Association sued the State, noting that they were overriding a voted mandate because they have no ability to control the state budget.  A judge agreed.  Then another one.  Then another one.  And how has the state responded?  The Source reports that the legislature is working on a way to rob the gas tax to help close next year's budget tax.

Honorable Mention: Metro Board Bends Over Backwards to Extend Exclusive Rail Car Contract to Ansaldo Breda for Nine Months...Then Negotiations Between Agency, Breda Breakdown after Board Sticks Its Neck Out; Gold Line Eastside Extension Opens, But Is It Safe?, City Ready to Roll with Wilshire BRT Even if EIR Required

Livable Streets Person of the Year:

Stephen gives instructions and advice between cyclists visit to the Police Commission and Inspector General's last May.  Note all the familiar faces in the scene.  Photo: Me/Flickr

Your Pick: Stephen Box
My Pick: Stephen Box

I'm not sure there's a lot more to say than what I already said in the nominations post from last Monday except to say that the work done by Stephen and Joe this year and every year since I've been here is always top notch, creative, and above and beyond.  Outside of my great personal effection for each of them, I can't imagine where we'd be without them.  However, this year Box had his stamp all over the all three of the major bike stories we mentioned above and for that reason he edges Joe.  I have a feeling I'm going to be writing similar paragraphs as the one I just wrote every year for as long as I'm writing the Streetsies with an occasional switching of the two names.

Also, a quick note on Denny Zane.  I kind of blew it by not nominating him, and he's done great work both in 2008 with the Measure R campaign and this year getting Metro to focus on accelerating the transit projects.  I'm sure we'll here more from him this year.

(I didn't say it yesterday, so let's say it today.  Thanks to Dorothy, Mark, Marybeth and Matthew for being on the panel.)

Worst News of the Year

Panel's Pick: Despite State Budget Crisis, State Won't Raise Gas Tax But Will Cut Transit
My Pick: Despite State Budget Crisis, State Won't Raise Gas Tax But Will Cut Transit

This story qualifies for a number of reasons.  First, of course, there's a budget crisis and that stinks, especially for state workers who are losing their jobs or getting furloughed.  But of course the real reason for its inclusion here is because the massive cuts to transit agencies around the state, including OCTA, and Metrolink as well as future cuts coming to DASH and Metro.

Of course, there's also the sad state of affairs for our legislature.  They talk tough on the environment but still cut transit while expanding highways across the state.

Honorable Mention: City Does Nothing to Stop Speed Limit Increases, Metro Installs Turnstiles for No Apparent Reason


Worst Law Enforcement Story That Doesn't Involve Andres Tena

Panel's Pick - LAPD Tackle Cyclist at Critical Mass
My Pick - LAPD Teaches USC Security How to Enforce Non-Existant Crosswalk Ban on Cyclists

There's nothing worse than the police poorly enforcing laws...unless it's the LAPD enforcing non-existent laws and teaching private security to do the same.

Honorable Mention - LAPD in Mid-Wilshire - Ticket Bikes and Peds in the Crosswalk, Ignore Red Light Runners, LAPD Doesn't Know Crosswalk Laws, Sherrif's Start Checking Bags at Train Stations, Metro Station's No-Man's Land at Night



Worst Commercial

Panel's Pick: Jack in the Box Parodies a Pedestrian Getting Creamed by a Bus
My Pick: Audi Makes Fun of Alternative Transportation

As much as I'd like to believe the panel was just having my back against the noxious Jack in the Box Spammers, I have to confess that I forgot about this Audi ad or I'm sure they would pick that.  It's perhaps the most obnoxious car ad I've ever seen.

Honorable Mention: Mercedes: Wreckless Driving is Awesome, Toyota's Ransom Note to America

Most Disheartening Statement by LADOT at a City Council Hearing

Panel's Pick: City's Racial Diversity a Reason for Lesser Outreach on Bike Master Plan
My Pick: LADOT Is "Out of the Loop" on BMP Release Date/Strategy

By now, news of LADOT Senior Bike Coordinator Michelle Mowery's gaffe has reached Portland, New York and beyond.  Yes, she really did say that the reason our bike planning is so far beyond Portland is because we're not white enough.  I still can't believe that's what she actually meant, but she said it so there it is.

I'm going with the LADOT complaining on being "out of the loop" on the Bike Plan release last summer because it's something they clearly meant.  If it's just an example of the LADOT blowing gas, it's disheartening they're trying to wash their hands of the plan before it was even fully released.  If true, it shows a shocking lack of coordination on a document that could end up being more important to cyclists in Los Angeles over the next decade than any other.

Honorable Mention: Concerns Over Slipperiness of Paint a Reason for Not Painting Sharrows, City doesn't have the bike facilities to make bike share worthwhile

Worst Press Coverage

Panel's Pick: Times' Rutten Hands Out Misinformation on Congestion Pricing
My Pick: Media Refuses to Ask Questions on Road Widening of 405

Wow, re-reading that Rutten piece it's hard to believe he got paid to write that.  And they can't afford Steve Hymon?  Jeesh.

That being said, the media's inability to be more than stenographers when it comes to writing a story about a highway expansion project and how awesome it's going to be is a more disturbing trend.  It seems that if a state official, elected or otherwise, says that a widening is going to be good for the environment and congestion, well, that's good enough for the press.

Honorable Mention: LA Now Complains about Traffic "Snarls" in Calmed Santa Monica, WaPo Features HSR Hack Job, Everyone Has a Laugh at Shemar Moore's Bike Crash, ABC 7 Asks Drivers if They're Scared of Cyclists, Industry Rag Is Shocked That CAA Wants Nobodies to Pay for Parking


Story That Never Seems to End

Panel's Pick: Metro Spends Entire Year Debating AnsaldoBreda and Long Range Transportation Plan, Orange County Cutting Transit, Expanding Highways, The Pico-Olympic Plan Stumbles Forward
My Pick: Metro Spends Entire Year Debating AnsaldoBreda and Long Range Transportation Plan

What we really can learn from this category is that bad ideas never die in government, they're just waiting to pop back up and bite us again.  That being said, for me the story that sucked up more oxygen was the Metro Board's inability to make the hard choices on AnsaldoBreda or passing the Long Range Transportation Plan after Measure R pretty much made all the long term planning decisions for them.

The AnsaldoBreda saga was just too pathetic for words.  Month after month the Board was faced down by an army of hard hats despite overwhelming evidence that AnsaldoBreda was the wrong company to make the Measure R rail cars.  The promise of building a factory locally was too much for the Board to ignore, even though legally they couldn't consider it if they want to keep receiving federal funds.  Mercifully, after nine months of political spinlessness, AnsaldoBreda decided they could get a better deal by going through an open bidding process than bullying a bunch of politicians.  Hopefully, I'm not going to have to type the words AnsaldoBreda too many more times, but we'll see what the bids to construct Metro's rail cars look like when they come in.

Honorable Mention: City to Spend 10% of It's Measure R Local Return on Bike/Ped., Villaraigosa Thinks About Privatizing Parking, Everybody Hates the Bike Plan


Bad News from Sacramento

Panel's Pick: Governor/Legislator Screw Everyone and the Environment in the Name of Building Football Stadium
My Pick: Governor/Legislator Screw Everyone and the Environment in the Name of Building Football Stadium

Yeah, they actually exempted a 100,000 seat NFL football stadium from having to undergo a full environmental review.  Honestly, how anyone involved in this debacle can ever claim to give a damn about the environment and air quality without getting laughed at ever again is beyond me.  Because the only review for the stadium was approved only by a political body who's members will benefit financially from the stadium's construction; we'll never see an honest assessment of what damage will be done by the traffic and construction of this football megalopolis.  It's too bad Ed Roski doesn't care as much about people dieing on the streets because of speeding drivers as much as he does conning the legislature into giving him a sweetheart environmental deal.

The only good news out of this is that my Assemblyman didn't vote for the exemption.  I'm going to pretend it's because I called their office everyday and complained about it.  It makes me feel better.

Honorable Mention: Safe Streets Legislation Bottled in Committee, CALPIRG/Smart Growth America Slam State's Stimulus Priorities, Governor Rejects Legislation Requiring 710 Expansion to Run Underground

Biggest "Duh" of the Year

Panel's Pick: Bike Counts Hint at Chronic Under-counting of City's Cyclists
My Pick: City "Opens Crosswalk to Pedestrians"

I get that it's not a surprise that the city has no idea how many people are biking; but c'mon...it was a crosswalk with a no pedestrians sign!

Honorable Mention: Widening Highways Lead to Faster Speeds

Dumbest Quote

Panel's Pick: Attorney for Man Who Ran Over Pedestrian with Hummer Before Beating Him, "random interactions of diverse people in a city as frenetic as Los Angeles can lead to disastrous consequences."
My Pick: Villaraigosa Cites Congestion as a Reason to Subsidize Cars

The best thing about these two quotes?  They weren't off the cuff or parts of extemporaneous comments, they were out of the press release in the Mayor's case and court filings in the attorney's case.

Honorable Mention: Frank McCourt Derides City's $300,000 investment in transit for Dodgers as "not real transit" and "a few buses", Boxer Floats "Honor System" As Best Way to Have VMT Tax, Opponent of Highway Memorials Doesn't Want Highways "Cluttered" with Memorials, Rita Robinson Rips City Council to Distract Communities from LADOT's Lame Outreach

Best Example of Screwing the Community

Panel's Pick: Traffic Calming Ripped Out in Westwood
My Pick: Traffic Calming Ripped Out in Westwood

I know there's two sides to every story, but in this case the city actually took out traffic calming because people on adjacent streets were complaining the traffic calming was working.  Sounds like an open and shut case that the rest of the community needs calmed streets to divert traffic on to the arterials.  The city didn't see it that way.

Honorable Mention: Locals Hate Locally Preferred Alternative for Route 2 Terminus, Fans of the Transit Hating Dodgers Pack Local Streets to Avoid Paying for Parking, Burbank Removes Street Parking to Increase Car Capacity

I thought we would start with the good times of the year.  Tomorrow we'll look at "the worst of times" and award our stories and advocate of the year awards.  Happy reading!

Best Mainstream News Article

The Panel's Choice: Bicycling Magazine Looks at L.A.'s "D.I.Y. Bike Culture"
My Choice: Times' Editorializes for Congestion Pricing

Following the media firestorm surrounding Metro's announcement of its Congestion Pricing plans in 2008, you would have thought it would have remained a powerful story into 2009.  However, once Metro announced its watered down plan in August of that year, a lot of the anger died off.  When Metro began pushing the plan again this year, the media misinformation articles began appearing again.  Congestion Pricing is just a way to rob the poor, it's making us pay for highways we already paid for...the beat went on and on.

However, the feeding frenzy came to an end when the Times editorialized about all of the good things about congestion pricing.  This blog has hardly been the Times' cheerleading section this year, but this time they nailed it.

Honorable Mention: Bob Gottlieb Argues that L.A. needs to be a bike city in the Times' editorial page

Good News from Sacramento

The Panel's Choice: California changing LOS Requirments?
My Choice: California changing LOS Requirments?

For a long time, transportation policy in California has been dominated by state rules that require that street designs move as many cars as possible through our streets.  Proposed changes in state law would change that law and could be a game changed that ripples all throughout the transportation community.  The final rules will be done early this year, but so far the news looks good.

Honorable Mention: Backlash to Passage of the Sprawl Bill, S.B. 375, Gov. Reduces State Car Fleet, State Allows Families of Crash Victims to Erect Official Memorials, State to Offer Pay-As-You-Go Insurance

Livable Streets Win of the Year

The Panel's Choice: Long Beach Wants to Be the Next Portland
My Choice: City Discontinues Bike License Program

The Long Beach story is huge and ongoing.  That the city is doing groundbreaking work on bike planning in its Downtown has been inspiring since the city brought Charles Gandy on board to do its sustainable transportation planning.  Congratulations and good luck.

However, I thought the city's discontinuation of the city's controversial bicycle licensing and ticketing program was a great moment for city cyclists and our first victory of the year.  For the first time in years, the City Council heard conflicting reports from the LAPD and the cycling community and sided with the cyclists.  From this foundation, the experience

Honorable Mention: City Ends Free Parking for Hyrbids, Bike Lane Added to Reseda Boulevard after LADOT Plans to Remove Already Painted Lane


Best Advocacy During an Election

Panel's Choice: Biking In L.A. Gets the 5th District Candidates on the Record
My Choice: Stephen Box Manages to Get Every 2nd District Candidate to Talk "Cyclists Bill of Rights"

There were two competitive City Council elections in the City of Los Angeles, and both times our activist cyclists inserted themselves by pinning the candidates down on bicycling and Livable Streets.  Ted Rogers got all of the major candidates for the CD5 election to replace Jack Weiss to write essays for Biking In L.A.  It was great work.

Box on the other hand didn't get people to write comments, but rather was so in their face with staff and the candidates that by the time they got Streetsblog questionaires every one of them, every single one, either mentioned their relationship with Stephen or the Bike Writers Collective's Cyclist Bill of Rights in their answer.  Every.  Single.  One.

As a result, we've gotten both of our new Councilmen, Paul Koretz and Paul Krekorian are on the record talking up the importance of bicycling.

Best Interview

Panel's Choice: Andres Tena
My Choice: Retired Ridazz

When I was considering moving out here, all I heard from people was that Los Angeles was a graveyard for bike culture and transit culture.  Livable Streets were so far off in the horizon that I shouldn't even bother.

While the vision offered by our city and state government has been less than inspiring, the state of advocacy and culture are strong in Los Angeles.  We may not have a transportation reform super group such as the several thousand member strong San Francisco Bike Coalition or Transportation Alternatives; I would put the power and passion of our advocates up against anyone.  In recent years, the Midnight Ridazz have become a source of that advocacy.  Taking a look at their history with a couple of Originalzz was as informative as it was fun.

Honorable Mention: Michael Woo, Art Leahy, Bill Rosendahl

The Nominees (in alphabetical order):

Stephen Box - While he holds no formal titles, outside of the ones he gives himself or the expletives used to describe him by some hapless member of the city bureaucracy, Box has plenty of accomplishments to put him at the top of any list of local activists.  He placed himself at the center of the controversy over raised speed limits in the Valley and after helping pressure local Assemblyman Paul Krekorian into introducing and pushing legislation to change the law, traveled to Sacramento to lobby for and testify on behalf of the legislation.  When a Hummer crashed into Andres Tena and the LAPD wrote a slanted report, Box was one of the ring leaders in organizing the cyclists "May Day" ride to Van Nuys City Hall and the ride to the police commission to get the story on the map.  All of this is on top of his writing at his blog, City Watch, and here at Streetsblog, co-founding the Greensters, producing "At What Price" for Rebel without a Car Productions, organizing the Festival of Rights and organizing the "Bike Working Group" meetings to produce a "better bike plan" than the one the city is producing.  True, Box has a team that supports his vision and more than helps carry the load, but he was a dominant figure in too many debates to not be on this list.

Barbara Boxer - California's Junior Senator is in the middle of a lot of transportation debates as Chair of the Senate Transportation Committee in Washington, D.C.  Boxer was probably the most featured Senator on D.C. Streetsblog this year, as her positions on moving a new Federal Transportation Bill, Cash for Clunkers, and position on the transit/highway split in the stimulus earned her low marks from the transportation reformers in D.C.  Conversely, she earned praise for keeping transportation as a major issue in the Climate Change Bill and for protecting environmental regulations for projects funded by the stimulus.

Josef Bray-Ali - In addition to typing more words in the Streetsblog comments section than I type in articles, Bray-Ali also provided an example of what an activist business looks like.  The Flying Pigeon bike shop, which he owns with his brother Adam, sponsors rides, offers discounts to transit riders, and hosts special events and lectures, such as a visit from "Pedaling Revolution" author Jeffery Mapes.  Of course, the Bike Oven founder isn't just limited to activism through ownership, he also helped push the city to hold Bike Plan meetings in N.E.L.A. after the city had pretty much ignored the area in its outreach processes.

Damien Goodmon - Goodmon maintains his position as the most high-profile transit advocate in South L.A., which positioned him at the center of two major stories this year.  First, Goodmon's Fix Expo Coalition won a partial victory from the California Public Utilities Commission when it ruled that at least one of the school crossings at the center of the Expo storm were too dangerous.  Later in the year, Goodmon claimed victory again when the Metro Board ordered a study of the Crenshaw Corridor rail plan that included a large stretch below grade.

Art Leahy - The new Metro CEO earned praise from advocates when he spoke out against renewing the contract of AnsaldoBreda, the Italian rail car manufacturer with a scorched earth lobbying plan but a dubious reputation when it comes to building quality rail cars.  Leahy also expressed doubt that the turnstiles being installed throughout his system are actually going to accomplish much of anything other than be a nuisance.  However, the Metro CEO will ultimately be judged not on his "executive director's reports" at Metro Board meetings but how he performs on his promise to get the buses running on time and advancing the Mayor's "30 in 10" plan.

Joe Linton - The Bike Coalition co-founder and Green L.A. Transportation Committee co-chair managed to keep himself more than busy this year.  Whether it be upgrading C.I.C.L.E.'s advocacy profile through a series of articles here and on the C.I.C.L.E. blog about the bike plan, overseeing the "Bike Summit" and planning for next year's "Bike-Ped Summit" with Occidental College or even organizing events for the Eco-Village such as the "closed street" block party and street painting or a visit from Jeffery Mapes; Linton left his stamp all over 2009.

Michelle Mowery - The LADOT's Senior Bike Coordinator has a penchant for causing cyclists to slam the palm of their hands onto their foreheads in exasperation.  Before the "Portland is whiter than L.A." comment there was "Sharrow paint is slipper" and "D.I.Y. efforts are causing cyclists to lose goodwill."  She's been nominated as the Grinch of the Year in Metblogs and has been slammed in bike blogs from L.A. to Portland to New York City.  However, to a lot of people she still represents the best hope to bring better bike facilities to Los Angeles and has staunchly pushed the Draft Bike Plan as a big step forward for local cyclists.

Bill Rosendahl - The Westside City Councilman has been a central figure in the debate over cyclists rights even before he ascended to the Chairmanship of the City Council Transportation Committee.  Rosendahl has earned high marks for trying to pressure the LADOT to move forward on bike projects, questioning the wisdom of ripping up traffic calming in Holmby-Westwood, and holding the LAPD's feet to the fire on its treatment of cyclists.  He was also the lead figure in the Council on a couple of Livable Streets victories this year such as the city's revoking of free parking rights for hybrid vehicles and the cancellation of the LAPD's bicycle licensing program.

Andres Tena - If the LAPD were looking for the wrong person to make the posterboy for bad cycling behavior, they picked the wrong person in Andes Tena.  After Tena was clipped by a sideswiping Hummer Driver on an early April morning, the reporting officer wrote a report basically blaming Tena and his friends for the crash despite physical evidence and common-sense suggesting an alternate story.  When LAPD spokespeople tried calling Tena and his friends vandals and trouble makers, the good-natured Tena put lie to their accusations just by being himself.  All one has to do is watch the reactions of the City Council Members who listened to both Tena and the LAPD to see who was more believable.  How often would one believe that a Midnight Rida would get more respect from the Council than the LAPD?  Even though the last chapters in Tena's story have yet to be told, that's exactly what happened.

Christopher Thompson - Did any single event captivate readers as much as the trial of Dr. Road Rage?  After intentionally causing a crash with cyclists on July 4, 2008; the Good Doctor actually showed enough disdain for human life to get the LAPD and District Attorney to prosecute him for his malicious behavior.  Earlier this year the Doctor was found guilty on seven counts and early in 2010 will get sentenced.  Even if he gets a slap on the wrist, he'll have spent three months in jail; which is more than too many of the maniacs who threaten cyclists and pedestrians on our streets receive.

While they didn't get nominated, a big Streetsblog tip of the hat to Enci Box, Darrell Clark, Alex Thompson, Alfredo Hernandez, and our friends with the Bus Riders Union, C.I.C.L.E., the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, the Southern California Transit Advocates, the Transit Coaltion, Transit People and everyone that spends their time fighting for cleaner, safer, better and more Livable Streets.

Friends,

Well, another calendar year is coming to a close and it's time for Streetsblog to go dark for a couple of days.  This year has been an amazing one for me personally as well as professionally.  Most of you remember that this year saw the birth of my son who reminds me on a daily basis why it is we do what we do for this city and for our streets.

Professionally, Streetsblog Los Angeles has continued to grow.  Our daily readership has nearly doubled from last year at this time and it seems that everytime I go out with my Charlie Brown T-shirt or Gunpowder, it seems as though I run into someone new who reads Streetsblog and takes part in what we're trying to do here.  We have some exciting expansion plans for next year, pending my ability to fundraise.  Keep your fingers crossed!

In addition to my family, I'd like to single out a couple of people that have really helped me.  Joe Linton, Dana Gabbard, and Stephen Box have been with me seemingly every step of the way providing ideas, backgrounds, and, when necessary, corrections.  Also a thanks to the group of writers that covered my back during paternity leave and Browne Molyneux for suggesting the Eastside Safety Ride, which was probably my favorite story to "research" this year.

And we're not going completely dark...come back next week for the Streetsie Awards!  There will be a new post everyday starting with the nominees for "Livable Streets Person of the Year."  Check back Monday for the nominees, and vote often!

Happy Holidays,

Damien

Robert Gottlieb via UEPI

The thrust of Gottlieb's piece is that for Los Angeles to truly be a world leader in environmental issues the city needs to embrace cycling.  In a city with many psychological barriers to getting on a bike, the city needs to reach out to under-represented communities when it comes to riding a bike such as seniors and women.  The op/ed comes days after the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition released the results of their bike count showing only 12% of cyclists counted were women.  Further, Gottlieb argues that we need more leadership from the city after singleing out Mayor Villaraigosa for talking the talk on the environment.

We need visionaries and "practical idealists" (as Villaraigosa likes to say) to push these kinds of changes forward. Janette Sadik-Khan, New York's transportation commissioner -- who is coming to L.A. in March to receive an honorary degree from Occidental College -- has been an inspiration to bike advocates and climate change activists alike. Wander around Times Square or down Ninth Avenue and you immediately see how the streetscape has been changed to accommodate bike riders and walkers.

I'm already reading some mild criticism of Gottlieb's piece in email from activists.  Some of the complaints have to do with a lack of specifics after Gottlieb states an idea or his apparent unawareness that there is a strong movement to bring ciclovia style events to Los Angeles already underway.  However, after having opinion pieces I've written in the past get cut to pieces before publishing, I've learned that it's best to focus on what is in an op/ed not what's not in it, because oftentimes the editing is completely out of the author's control.  Besides, Gottlieb sure didn't seem like a lightweight when he sat down for an interview with Streetsblog almost a year ago.

Los Angele's award winning high school debate team from the Santee Learning Center is looking to spread some holiday cheer to other local schools tomorrow. The debaters will lead a fourteen and a half mile bike ride from the Learning Center to Venice High School and they'll be stopping along the way to deliver Christmas trees to area high schools at 11:00 A.M. The Learning Center is located at 1921 Maple Avenue in Los Angeles. For more information, call Santee Debate Coaches Amber Young at (310) 256-6267 or Nick Richert at (310) 428-4222.

Apparently, there was a lockdown of the North County Correctional Facility, where Thompson is being held, denying the Doctor a chance to meet with his defense.   According to court papers, the lockdown occurred because of a potential outbreak of the H1N1 virus.

I guess it's a good thing a doctor was in the house.