Stephen Box

The election is still a year away and already the campaign promises are flying!

This past Tuesday, early in the afternoon, 11-year-old twin sisters Sydney and Alexis left Walter Reed Middle School and began to walk home, a trip that ended at Colfax Avenue and Moorpark Street when they were hit by a car as they attempted to cross the street.

Law enforcement officers are fond of quoting the popular standard "ignorance of the law excuses no one" when dealing with the public but when faced with an accusation of scofflaw behavior, suddenly ignorance is a solid defense.

Bike Lanes are one of the most misunderstood elements of bikeways engineering, responsible for much confusion as they lie nestled peacefully between the noisy travel lane to the left and the quiet but dangerous door zone to the right.

(This is the first in a three-part series from Stephen Box.  In the coming weeks he'll be discussing the bike (and passenger) friendliness of Metro Rail and Amtrak. - DN)

On Monday, at Vine and Selma, a woman attempting to cross Vine on foot was killed after being hit by a delivery truck. The streets were immediately filled with LAPD vehicles and an investigation ensued. Although it was evident that statements were taken and that measurements and photos were taken, missing from the investigation was any evidence that the traffic signals were tested or surveyed. This is unfortunate because the signal at Vine and Selma is malfunctioning.

If Hollywood were to make a movie entitled "Hollywood & Vine - Transit Oriented Development" they'd have to hire professionals to manage the streets, control the traffic, move the trucks and make sure the entire environment was safe. There would be a 1st Assistant Director on set, legally responsible for the safety of all cast and crew, a commitment that would include a safety meeting each day. It's been this way for a long time, ever since the tragic incident on the set of "Twilight Zone" that took the lives of Vic Morrow and two child actors, Myca Dinh Le and Renee Shin-Yi Chen.

(Earlier this week, Gloria Ohland reviewed what happend at last week's T.O.D. Conference hosted by the Urban Land Institute.  Today, Stephen Box takes a different look, and examines what was missing. - DN)

The County of Los Angeles is working on a Bike Plan and, under the guidance of Alta Planning, has embarked on the journey by convening a  Bicycle Advisory Committee, complete with instructions that the public is not invited. In light of the fact that the majority of the BAC members are appointed by elected officials, in this case County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky, Gloria Molina, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Don Knabe, Michael D. Antonovich, it would seem that an open and transparent process would be the minimum and that a robust public process would be the goal. Such is not the case.