A Letter from Bill Rosendahl to the Bicycling Community

Today, we approved a Bike Plan which provides more opportunities for people in Los Angeles.

More opportunities for people to discover the benefits of combining public transportation with a bike to finish that last mile.

More opportunities for parents and kids to ride safely on streets.

More opportunities for people to switch from gas to pedal power, burning fat instead of fossil fuels.

More opportunities for visitors to experience our wonderful weather on two wheels instead of four.

More opportunities to decide between a car and a bike for short trips.

And more opportunities to turn fear into confidence for those who are just plain scared to share the road with cars, like me.

Rosendahl has a history of supporting the counting of all transportation modes. Here he's at the kickoff of the LACBC's bike count project last year. Photo:boc/flickr

Sure, these opportunities currently exist for some, but not everyone. The Bike Plan establishes 200 miles of bikeways every five years offering greater mobility by extending the reach of the current network.

With this plan, we created more opportunities, and when I say we I really mean you. The vocal, organized and passionate bike community who demanded a better blueprint for bikeways in LA.

Your commitment and tireless work paid off. After several months of hearings, committees and revisions, our city has a bike plan that some say is as good or even better than most major cities. Because of you, the wheels are in motion for a truly multimodal city.

I want to publicly say thank you to all the people who took part in the civic process:

• Glenn Bailey
• Alexis Lantz
• Joe Linton
• Allison Mannos
• Aurisha Smolarski
• Kent Strumpwell
• Alex Thompson
• Don Ward

And the list goes on...

There are many, many people to thank for their vision and ability to re-think and re-imagine. Because of you, we developed the framework for a multi-modal system, providing for all modes of transportation and not just the automobile.

Regards,