LADOT

Yesterday, Judge Robert O'Brien of the Los Angeles Superior Court issued a tentative ruling that traffic calming measures in the Holmby-Westood community that were removed by the LADOT and City Council in the summer of 2009 be returned.  The traffic calming was first put in as part of a Neighborhood Protection Plan (NPP) when the Palazzo development was constructed on the west side of the community.  The measures were "only temporary" pending a vote of the neighborhood six months after installation.  However, when LADOT surveyed the community, they surveyed a different and larger area than the one agreed to in the plan.  The vote to keep the traffic calming was approved by "only" 60% of residents who responded to the survey, which was short of the two-thirds needed to keep the calming in place.

Via the LADOT Bike Blog comes the news cyclists and community activists have been waiting for: The Department of City Planning and LADOT will finally be releasing the final draft of the Bike Plan, a mere half a year behind schedule.  Sources at LADOT have told me to expect the new plan to appear at labikeplan.org later today.  The Bike Blog offers a preview of some of the differences we can expect between the much-panned draft released last summer and the new version:

Sometimes I enjoy having dinner at the Wilshire/Western Denny's for the opportunity it affords to watch the amazing dynamic transit action occurring at that intersection. This includes frequent and very busy bus lines (local and Rapid) along both streets plus hoards of people entering and exiting the rail station. It reminds me how tremendously heavy transit use in the Wilshire corridor is. And partially explains why a Wilshire Bus Rapid Transit Project has been in gestation and has now reached the draft Environmental Impact Report/Environmental Assessment stage.

Playing the part of Gallant is the LAPD. At Soap Box, Stephen Box outlines several important policy changes announced last week by the LAPD/Cyclist Task Force. The LAPD committed to filing reports when Metro buses are involved in crashes and enforcing parking policy when cars or trucks are clogging bike lanes. They debuted training materials that lay down the rights of cyclists so that there is no confusion. And, they clarified once and for all that crosswalks are an extension of a sidewalk.

Over 500 slogans have been submitted to the Bike Safety Slogan Contest being organized by the un-likely (some would say un-holy) coalition of the LAPD, the LACBC, MidnightRidazz.com, and the LADOT. These groups have been working with the City of Los Angeles to procure ad spaces in bus shelters and Public Amenity Kiosks (PAK.) The goal being to raise awareness among road users about issues such as rights, rules, safety, and road courtesy in relation to bicycles. The final slogan will be designed and illustrated by the world renowned artist Geoff McFetridge.

Last December, I was taking my Flying Pigeon bucket bike back to its nest for some baby-preparedness upgrades by taking it down Beverly Boulevard on its way to the Downtown. I'd probably ridden on Beverly going east once or twice, preferring the "4th Street Bike Boulevard" so I wasn't expecting the poor state of the road to literally cause a bungee chord on the bike to snap and end up getting wrapped in my bike chain. The wounded pigeon ended up returning to my house for repairs before we could get it fixed.

After a lengthy debate over what would be the best way to insure that an appropriate amount of Measure R Local Return funds are spent on bicycle and pedestrian projects; the City Council ultimately voted, by an 11-3 vote, to support a 10% set-aside for "people powered transportation" from the city's Measure R funds for the 2011 fiscal year.  After that, they'll evaluate whether the city was able to spend those funds on good projects.  I can't say enough about all the people that worked hard to secure these funds, so let's hope that future Council's don't tread over the work that's been done the nearly two years since LA Walks and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition petitioned the Metro Board for a set-aside in Measure R.

Way back on April 14, LADOT General Manager Rita Robinson spoke in front of the City Council Transportation Committee on how the department is going to deal with the city's budget crunch. Robinson delivered her usual passionate defense of the "LADOT Family" in the midst of the cuts and also brought a basket fool of amazing analogies. She compared planning in the budget crisis to working with a bad comb over, ("you think you're covered but you're totally exposed") and compared her experiences with furloughs and layoffs to a parent having to decide which of her children to feed. Oddly, her comments about the City Council having "Reality Deficit Disorder" seemed to be left at home.

Over the weekend, the L.A. Eco-Village blog wrote about new bike lanes appearing over a 1.6 mile stretch of Hoover Street in South L.A. between 98th and 120th street.  A day later, the LADOT's Bike Blog picked up its own story about the lanes, noting that Hoover doesn't just have bike lanes, but underwent a road diet, narrowing the car travel lanes from four to two.