Which one is which? Images: labikeplan.org and labikeplan.comThe other day, I noticed that some of the stories reviewing the Draft Bike Plan on Streetsblog were receiving incoming links from what I thought was the city's Bike Plan Website. Given the strong critiques of the plan and the city, I was surprised that the City Planning would link to the pieces written by Stephen Box and Joe Linton.
In short, they weren't.
The Bike Working Group, the folks working on the alternate Bike Plan, holding their own workshops and having their own public outreach built their own website that is so similar in layout and design to the city's official site that I thought I was looking at the real deal for a couple minutes. Apparently I wasn't alone, I've gotten emails from Neighborhood Councils and even the Los Angeles County Bike Coalition that have linked to the Bike Working Group's site at labikeplan.com and not the city's site at labikeplan.org.
At the unofficial site, each tab takes you to a different link that goes to a different story criticizing the plan. If that isn't enough to tip you off that you're at the "unofficial" site, the images at the top include a picture of Ron Peterson in the hospital after the Mandeville Canyon crash and a cyclist being led away in handcuffs by the LAPD.
The other difference is the Bike Working Group lists both their meetings and the city's meetings; while the official website, at labikeplan.org only lists the upcoming public meetings sponsored by the city. Incidentally, the next unofficial meeting is this weekend. For more information visit, you guessed it, labikeplan.com. For information on the city's outreach meetings, feel free to visit whichever site you prefer.
