Pianist and car-free advocate John Osnes left his favorite bar in Hollywood one night in mid-November.  He waived to the bartender and promised he would be back the next day.  However, instead he was savagely beaten and quite probably intentionally run over by a wanna-be Swedish rapper named David Moses Jassy, who is probably still smarting because his career highlight is being a backup singer for a track written for a High School Musical star's solo album.  The Times has the details of this brutal attack.

According to authorities, Osnes, who did not own a car and was a stickler for pedestrian rights, was crossing a street near his residence when Jassy's rented SUV drifted into the crosswalk. After Osnes struck the front of the vehicle with his hands, Jassy allegedly got out, punched Osnes, kicked him in the head when he stooped to recover his glasses and then ran over him with the vehicle. Bystanders, including an off-duty Anaheim police officer, witnessed the assault and tried unsuccessfully to detain Jassy, according to authorities.

Osnes was pronounced dead at a hospital, and Jassy was arrested Monday after investigators traced the license of his rented vehicle.

He faces charges of assault, battery and leaving the scene of an accident, but the district attorney's office is mulling additional counts depending on autopsy results and further investigation.

While the city appears to be taking this case seriously, bail was set at $1 million, I can't understand why Jassey is not being charged with murder or manslaughter.  Leaving the scene of an accident?  If the witnesses accounts are correct, there was nothing accidental about what befelled Osnes.

Ironically, friends report that Osnes' pet peeve was rude drivers.  These same friends have setup a webpage to pay tribute to their car free friend. 

Photo: John T. Osnes.com

Two and a half years after a judge issued an injunction preventing the city from adding any new bicycle infrastructure to its streets, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the San Francisco Planning Department have released a 1353-page Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) on the San Francisco Bicycle Plan. 

At a cost of more than $1 million, the city has attempted to demonstrate in excruciating detail what would seem to be the obvious: better bicycle amenities contribute to increased cycling and an improved environment.

Despite the significant time and money required to produce the tome, Mayor Gavin Newsom struck an optimistic note, citing the proposed addition of 34 miles of bicycle lanes to San Francisco streets—a 75 percent increase over the existing 45 miles of lanes. 

“We’ve accomplished a great deal together, but much work remains to be done to improve the safety and convenience of bicycling,” said Newsom. “I will continue to push for a better bicycling environment as part of my deep commitment to improving the health of our environment, our residents and our city.”

A public hearing on the DEIR has been scheduled for January 8th. The deadline for comments is January 13th. 

While Rob Anderson, the plaintiff in the lawsuit that sparked the injunction, will surely continue his befuddlingly successful crusade (a couple choice jeremiads from his blog: cyclists as a special interest wielding inordinate political power or a frivolous mode of transportation akin to skateboarding), the city assumes the DEIR will be sufficient to lift the injunction. 

“The Planning Department is confident that the DEIR fully satisfies the issues cited in the superior court's injunction and will enable timely implementation of bicycle improvements that will enhance transportation alternatives in San Francisco,” said Planning Director John Rahaim.

What this means practically is a different matter. According to Andy Thornley, program director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC), even if the DEIR is certified by spring and the Bicycle Plan goes before the MTA board shortly thereafter, the 60 projects outlined for immediate implementation likely won't begin until the summer of 2009. 

“The Draft EIR is a very expensive bow-tie that we’re going to attach to the Bike Plan itself.  While it is a big deal, it shouldn't be the only focus. The city needs to build out the Bike Plan as soon as possible."

The injunction held that the previous version of the Bicycle Plan had not received sufficient review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The Bicycle Plan DEIR identifies some potentially significant impacts as defined by CEQA affecting traffic congestion, transit operating delays, and loading activities for some project options, particularly along portions of Second Street, Fifth Street, Cesar Chavez Street, Portola Avenue and Masonic Avenue.

Though the city took considerable heat over the summer for revealing at a Board of Supervisors hearing that it had fallen behind its own schedule for releasing the DEIR, the Planning Department delivered on its promise to release it by Thanksgiving. Both advocates and critics of the Bicycle Plan will have plenty to sift through over the long weekend (and likely through the New Year).

Given the timeline of up to five years for completion of the 60 near-term projects in the Bicycle Plan, it is unclear whether Newsom, a likely candidate for governor in 2010, will realize significant bicycle improvements during his last term as mayor.

Photo: San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency

Sometimes it's too easy to just wallow in negativity when writing a blog such as this one.  As we approach Thanksgiving, I thought it would be nice to focus on some things that I am thankful for that have and will make a real difference out here.

Most obviously, we should be thankful that Measure R passed.  No matter what you might think of the Measure in particular, looking at what my friends in New York are dealing with now I am ecstatic that we've bought ourselves some time and have a plan to make things better in the future.

So, what are you thankful for?  I'll post my personal thoughts in the comments section a little later.

Via Transport Politic, some encouraging transit news from Iraq, where the mayor of Baghdad recently announced plans to move ahead with the city's first subway lines. The Guardian reports:

One of the new proposed subway lines would run 11 miles from Shia-dominated Sadr City in the east to Adhamiya in north Baghdad. The other would traverse 13 miles and link mixed central Baghdad to the primarily Sunni western suburbs.

Both lines would have 20 stations each and run through a patchwork quilt of sectarian neighbourhoods, which largely remain divided, despite the security improvements. Bombs still rattle Baghdad daily, but on a much smaller scale than the violence that ravaged the capital throughout 2006-07.

Naturally, huge question marks remain about a project that's been tabled repeatedly over the years due to disruptive violence. But is there a better metaphor for a unified Baghdad?

"If anyone suggested a train back then, they would have been sent to one of Saddam's old mental homes and never heard from again," said an incredulous Umm Fatimah, 41, from the suburb of Karada. "Even now it does seem a bit crazy, but not as crazy as then."

Another Karada resident, Nazem al-Qasemi, said something had to be done to sort out Baghdad's chronically clogged arterial roads. "Look at it," he said, waving a hand at a gridlocked roundabout. "Even if this is just talking, at least it's giving us hope."

Cartoonist Mark Fiore has more fun with Detroit this week. Click through for what to do when your car company breaks down.

We've noticed that, in the midst of all the Big Three bashing, some are wondering how white-collar institutions like Citigroup can secure so much money from the feds while the blue-collar-employing automakers are made to beg. Here's Leo W. Gerard of the Huffington Post expounding an increasingly popular meme:

The message here could not be more clear: Washington will bailout out those who shower before work but not those who shower afterwards.

Detroit is a place where workers are unionized; Wall Street is not. And right-wing Republicans and conservative pundits have made it clear they want the union workers to suffer. They want federal aid denied to the Big Three so that the firms go bankrupt. Then the companies can renege on pensions they guaranteed to retirees and can break salary and benefit promises to workers in current contracts.

Are union sympathies driving the backlash against the backlash? Or could it be some sort of Jedi mind trick perpetrated by seemingly hapless Detroit?

Agenda (pdf)

Item 13:

Recommendation as submitted by Supervisor Antonovich: Direct the Chief  Executive Officer to review the operating agreement with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to determine if additional funding is necessary to  operate the facility in light of the $900,000 provided by the Museum to the "Yes on Measure R" campaign.  (08-3359) 

Watch this vid touting a contraption called the "SpeedFit," then get your punchlines ready. We like this one from the YouTube peanut gallery:

they already have that. its called walking.

Hat tip to Burbia by way of Andrew Sullivan.

"Atip's" Friends and Family Gather Around His Ghost Bike Last July

Last July, the San Diego bicycle community suffered a serious blow when one of it's better known and well liked leaders was killed in a collision with a motorist.  Friends and family erected a memorial at the site of the crash, a white painted "ghost bike" surrounded by flowers and signs marked the site for five months until it was removed by San Diego's city services last Friday, a day earlier than was promised.

The raw emotion of the last post on the blog chronicling the efforts to save the ghost bike, stands in stark contrast to the rest of the blog.  While most of the blog shows a mix of hopefulness and sadness, the bike's removal one day before a final memorial seems callous at worst and hopelessly clueless at best.

Of course, ghost bikes are about more than just creating a memorial for a fallen friend, they're also a form of activism.  A way of crying out for greater road equity and safer streets for everyone.  Save Atip's Memorial isn't just a blog about saying goodbye, it's about calling for change.

The blog's author tries to give greater meaning to his friend's death by trying to get the city to re-engineer the dangerous intersection of Park Boulevard and University Avenie, where Atip was struck while making a left-turn.  The exact details of the crash, i.e. whether Atip had the right of way are not 100% clear.

After discussing the crash with city officials, a local activist wrote a proposal for a Public Improvement Project, worked with the local bike coalition to dot the i's and cross the t's and submitted it to the city.  After a couple of days they called him back and told him that his plan was rejected.

Days later, the representative at Engineering I had been in contact with, ran it by his Senior Planners, and told me that they wouldn’t approve of the proposed Public Improvement Project. They’re logic was that the Memorial Bike would cause people to slow down below normal automobile traffic speed and that if people slowed down then “accidents” would happen.

Ugh, sound familiar?

Never the less, the community's efforts to improve that intersection move forward, and for those of you interested in reading the rest of the story, it can all be found at Save Atip's Memorial.

Photo: Save Atip's Memorial

International Livable Streets Superstar Jan Gehl was originally going to speak in Los Angeles earlier this year as part of the Imagine Green L.A. series put on by the now-defunct Livable Places.  While Jan isn't coming to Los Angeles anytime soon, his firm is working closely with NYCDOT and the results are a pretty impressive plan to increase pedestrian amenities in the Big Apple.  A lot of what Gehl and Streetsblog EIC Aaron Naperstek discuss is New-York-Centric but the truths and theories are universal and can be applied to Los Angeles or any American city.

If one Gehl film isn't enough, this isn't the first time he's been featured in a Streetfilm.

Tucked away at the end of last week's City Council meeting was an update on the Dodger Shuttle, the city-provided bus service to Dodger Stadium that ran for the second half of the baseball season and the playoffs.  In brief, the program was an overwhelming success.  Transporting over 700 riders each way, the program averaged 1,406 total boardings per game.

However, as often happens with transit programs, success breeds funding problems.  In this case, the need for more shuttles, and the Dodgers playoff run, ballooned the cost to the city, which provided the shuttles for free with no financial support from the Dodgers, from $70,000 to $150,000.  The cost of providing the shuttles for next season, even taking into account the new proposed fare of $3 for a round trip ticket is over $380,000.

For at least one City Councilman, that cost may be too high.  City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who was very critical of the Dodgers for not ponying up some funds for the pilot project this season, pressed the LADOT on Friday on whether the Dodgers were going to be any more giving next season, the answer?  Not likely.

With Downtown Businesses taking a lead by funding more the extended hours for DASH and Metro trains on weekends, the likelihood that the shuttle will continue during a budget crisis is somewhat dimmed.  With all of the public relations surrounding the launch of the shuttle, it's unlikely that the city would just let it fall to the wayside completely, but to have the transit service that the city needs it will probably involve some investment from the Trolley Dodgers, an investment beyond writing press releases and designing a trolley logo.

Photo: Los Angeles Streetsblog "Elected Leaders" Photostream

Detroit's customer incentives have had an air of desperation for a while. With Big Three bankruptcy looking more likely every day, some dealers -- like this one in Pembroke Pines, Florida -- are venturing into liquidation sale territory (and then some).

Aurisha Smolarski of the LACBC Wonders What's So Hard About Sharrows?

For a veteran of Transportation Committee Hearings, today was a strange day.  Maybe it was that instead of thirty people wearing suits, the committee room was full of over 100 bike activists wearing just about everything from suits to spandex.  Or maybe it was Councilman Rosendahl basically yelling at the LAPD.  Or maybe it was Chairwoman Greuel actually stopping the meeting to applaud those in attendance.  Whatever it was, I liked it.

Not to say the meeting didn't have it's low points, provided at times by LAPD and LADOT; but the overall tone of the meeting was productive, even festive at times, and it ended with cyclists streaming in the hallways to celebrate and laugh.

We should also note, that while he didn't do anything to stand out as did the other three committee members that were present, Councilman Parks did stay for the entire meeting.  Rosendahl, Greuel and Tom LaBonge were all called out at one point or another to help deal with the budget crisis meetings that were going on at the same time.

The meeting began with a discussion of the Bike Master Plan which will be available for public comment this January.  Before the LADOT presentation, the cyclists had our chance to testify.  Appropriately, the first person to testify was Ron Milam, Los Angeles County Bike Coalition Co-Founder and its first executive director, who has had as much to do with moving the city to this point as anyone.  Other commenters either cited examples of why a bike plan is important or wondered why so many projects from previous bike plans haven't actually been constructed.

There was no new information given, except a short announcement by LADOT Assistant General Manager John Fisher that the city will construct 18 miles of new bike lanes and 20 miles of new bike paths in the next couple of years.  LADOT Bike Coordinator Michelle Mowery promised that the new plan would look at filling in gaps on the bike network by focusing on collector streets.

Our first low point for the afternoon came after Fisher mysteriously vanished from the podium, never to return after seeing that the Council was asking questions, leaving Mowery to answer Councilman LaBonge, who had taken over chairing the meeting temporarily.  His first question asked how the city knows what is working and what isn't.  How do we measure success by showing where new riders are using amenities and how do we track accidents?

Mowery had no choice but to admit that the city doesn't really count bicyclists or track bike crashes.  Instead, she pointed out that the state has an accident database and maybe we could work to make that database work better.

LaBonge's next question was basically, "name me three bike projects that have worked."

Mowery commented that there are many success stories, but as LaBonge pinned her down on it she only listed two, the L.A. River Path and the Orange Line Path.  Oddly, she also mentioned that they were planning on building a path similar to the Orange Line, one for the Expo project, which of course we really can't call a success...since it hasn't been built yet.  If you were at the meeting and paying close attention to LaBonge, you would have seen that he counted with his fingers, "1," "2," "2," "2," and "2."  He never got to "3."

Let me state quickly for the record that I know that Michelle's point was that there are more than three successful bike projects; but someone that doesn't know her as well would probably have found it odd that she only listed two projects that are on the ground and then a future one.

Up next was the discussion on bike licenses, and the bike community was ready to vent about what has been shown to be selective and illegal enforcement of a nuisance law.

But that wasn't what the LAPD wanted to talk about.  Officer Earl Paisinger, Assistant Commissioner of the LAPD, told a nice story about a plan to use bike licensing as an outreach effort to youth and how proper licensing would lead to kidnapped children being tracked easier.  I'm not sure if the LAPD was hoping that by talking about kids the Council would be cowed to inaction or if Officer Paisinger was completely unaware of what is actually going on at the street level.

The first person to testify was Midnight Rida Roadblock, who helped kick off the controversy when he got a $160 dollar ticket for not having a license.  What followed was just a laundry list of why the city's bike licensing program as it currently is being enforced is basically a Civil Rights violation on wheels: the LAPD announced they would enforce the law via a flyer on the back of a computer at one of their stations, and licenses are only available at two police stations and only on special days, and both stations routinely run out of licenses for weeks at a time, and legally the LAPD can only issue $10 fines for an unlicensed bike but are issuing much higher ones, and the only stations that are enforcing the law just happen to be in minority neighborhoods, and (almost there) the law only allows the police to ticket city residents for riding unlicensed bikes yet they target everyone and, most damningly, the majority of LAPD officers are completely unaware the program exists.

Following this testimony, LaBonge tried to steer the discussion in a positive direction, but when Assistant Commissioner Paisinger only offered that he was unwilling to discuss suspending ticketing until the program could be fixed, everything else was lost in the din.  When the crowd hissed, LaBonge reminded everyone that Officer Paisinger had a right to his opinion.  But don't worry, Paisinger assured the Council that the LAPD would be able to discuss the program "intelligently" in a couple of months.  The crowd was not reassured.  If nothing else, the LAPD will report back in 60 days.

Neither was Councilman Rosendahl, who returned from a meeting with the Mayor just in time to take an even more aggressive stance than LaBonge.  After calling the program "disfunctional," Rosendahl basically told the LAPD to announce they were suspending ticketing by the next Full Council Meeting or he would fix it for them legislatively.  Given that Rosendahl is not expected to be at the last meeting before Thanksgiving, it will be interesting to see if the LAPD takes his threat seriously.  Nevertheless, the animated and angry Rosendahl sounded more activist than legislator, and I mean that in the best way possible.

Chairwoman Wendy Greuel brought us back from the brink, and we moved onto a discussion of the city's efforts to create in a bike share plan.  This is sort of a favorite issue for Greuel who fell in love with bike sharing when she visited Denver during the Democratic National Convention and Bikes Belong flooded the streets with 1,000 rental bikes.  After a brief discussion of whether or not the proposal allowed for enough flexibility for people to submit proposals for either special events or in just certain areas, the LADOT was given the o.k. to move ahead.

Next, the discussion moved to the city's efforts to bring Sharrows to city streets.  While Sharrows are a top priority for the LACBC, the LADOT isn't in a rush.  As a matter of fact, the city hasn't done much since they moved forward with the plan in July.  The City is waiting to hear back from a consultant who they hope will help them design a plan to help them decide what streets they can consider putting Sharrows on.

After Greuel wondered whether the LADOT could "sense frustration from us (the Council) and the public."  An LADOT official, who was not Greuel or Fisher, commented that he had concerns about placing Sharrows on streets that are already at car capacity because more bikes on the streets would slow down traffic and create air pollution.  This somewhat shocking statement barely caused a ripple from other LADOT officials but solicited a shocked murmer from the cyclists.  Fortunately, this was the last low point on the agenda.

(editor's note: Joe Linton has an entirely different take on what LADOT said and meant in the Sharrow's discussion about traffic that you can read in the comments section.  I know from talking to others in attendance at the meeting that there were other people that heard it as I did; but that doesn't mean that was the DOT representative's intention.  Since Joe seems to know him better than I, his full comment is worth a look.  If I mis-represented his comment, I apologize.)

The last bike item on the agenda was the endorsement of the Cyclists Bill of Rights.  Despite some fears that the document would be amended and shortened; Rosendahl, who originally introduced the motion endorsing the statement of rights and responsibilities, promised it wouldn't be changed in a back room deal and would only be changed if the City Attorney brings up a legal issue. 

However, the bad taste left by the LADOT comment in the last agenda item lingered in the comments of several members.  Patrick Miller commented that the DOT's mantra seemed to be "No We Can't," and Bill of Right's co-author Stephen Box began his testimony by noting that he was "not an obstacle, not in your way, I'm a cyclist."

The City Attorney will review the Bill of Rights before it goes to the full Council.  Before the issue was closed, Rosendahl noted that five Council Members have already endorsed the proposal including Greuel, Parks, and Council President Eric Garcetti.

Reading this post, you might wonder why the mood was so celebratory when so many uninspiring things happened during the meeting.  The answer is simple.  For a constituency used to second class treatment, seeing an engaged and animated City Council taking their sides was a watershed moment.  Hopefully, it's just one in a series until we live in a different Los Angeles.

For more images from today, visit Streetsblog's Flickr page.

(Editor's Note: This is the second in a five part series examining the five bike-related items on this Friday's City Council Transportation Committee Agenda.  The first piece looked at the city's bike sharing program, the second discussed the Bike Rider's Bill of Rights, and Wednesday's looked at bike licensing. Thursday we saw that the Bike Master Plan may not be ready for it's big unveiling quite yet.)

Well, today's the big day.  We've finally arrived at the City Council's Transportation Comittee's Big Bike Meeting...and this time there's no agenda item that has to do with limiting access to a bike trail.

Since there's been no action on our fifth bike-related agenda item, a motion asking LADOT, Caltrans and Metro to provide their own plans to improve biking in the city, since the last big bike meeting; let this post be a last rallying call to any concerned cyclist to head down to City Hall this afternoon.  The Bike Writer's Collective has issued their call to action at City Watch and Illuminate LA.  The Midnight Ridazz are planning a meet for a ride downtown and the LACBC has issued their own call to action via their email list.

For those of you looking to ride downtown, the ride starts at Vermont and Santa Monica at noon.  For those looking to attend the meeting who are already downtown, the meeting starts at 1 P.M.  If you can't make it and want to listen in you dial up the City Council at these numbers, pending your location:

Downtown (213) 621-CITY
San Pedro (310) 547-CITY
West Los Angeles (310) 471-CITY
Van Nuys (818) 904-9450

Have a good weekend everyone, don't have too much fun on the Red Line tonight.

Photo: nicomachus/Flickr

While the Big Three continue to insist that the proposed $25 billion bailout should be thought of as a "bridge loan," the Daily Breeze paints a much different picture.  Americans' unwillingness or inability to buy new cars is effecting more than just domestic car makers.

The nation's deepening economic crisis is causing a backlog of imported cars in the nation's largest seaport, providing a vivid glimpse of the economic malaise plaguing America.

Scrambling for open space to store vehicles Americans haven't been buying, carmakers Nissan, Toyota and Mercedes have signed deals to lease open space at the Port of Long Beach, where trade volumes this year are experiencing their deepest decline in two decades.

Image: Daily Breeze

Tonight is the night that late night train service on the Red Line begins in Downtown Los Angeles.  Rising to the occasion, LADOT has also extended the hours for DASH service so buses will be in place to support the transit lines.  All of this is great news, LA is finally realizing that late night trains are a relatively inexpensive way to bolster business AND make our roads a more safe way to travel.

And Los Angeles is ready to celebrate this event with a party.  I received more than one invitation to take part in a "Red Line Barhop" in my inbox, and social planning website Thrillist even put together a list to help us all out.  As Thrillist notes:

LA barhopping sucks: take your car, and risk DUI, or take the subway, and discover both that we have a subway, and that it stops running before last call. Or at least it did: starting tomorrow, the Red Line from North Hollywood to Downtown's running every 20 minutes, 'til 3am on weekends through the end of the year. Here're some suggestions for each stop -- with the exception of Vermont/Beverly and MacArthur Park/Westlake, where getting off the train risks certain death and, worse, probable thirst.

I'll probably be skipping the festivities.  Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe I already have a way to celebrate non-motorized transportation by drinking; but you transit riding kids have a good time.  And don't be afraid to stay out as late as you want to.

Photo: Jon Shoemaker/Flickr