Ramon Martinez, Jose Guzman, Hector Tobar and other Volunteers at City of Lights' downtown bike repair space. Photo: City of LightsThis morning, while preparing "Today's Headlines" I came across a story in the Times about cyclist Jose Guzman, our friend Ramon Martinez and a day in the life of a day laborer on a bike. I thought the story was a good narrative, and was probably a more relevant story about what happens every day in L.A. than the story about bus riders earlier in the week; but it was missing one thing.
"Where's the reference to City of Lights?" I asked myself? To someone who knows the program; they're aware that much of the story was taking place in the downtown bike repair space, that City of Lights announced earlier this year. But, I would bet that we're lucky of 1% of the people reading the Times story could make the connection to the Bike Coalition's Streetsie award winning program.
So, first thing's first. Let's give credit to writer Hector Tobar for taking the time to paint a picture of the bike-riding day laborer, a subset of bike culture that accounts for a large percent of the people who ride bikes; but a small percent of those who show up to meetings to "be counted" when it's lobbying time.
But let's also take a second to remember that the unsung heros of this story are the folks at City of Lights, a mostly volunteer wing of the LACBC who are on the front lines of making this city a better and more inclusive place for all cyclists. Drawing on some of the energy created by this story, they hoped to do a little fundraising for the bike repair space mentioned in the story. You can read about what they need and how to help them out at their website.
