Culver City

Apparently, the number is higher than eleven.

Yesterday, while plotting out my Bike to Work Day route that would allow me to see the most booths as possible, I got a phone call from my Mom.  She was biking to work, and wanted to know if I wanted to join her.  Longtime Streetsblog readers will note that Mom and I have had several bike adventures together in L.A. at Tour de Ballona's, the 2009 River Ride, and a pair of CicLAvia.  Now we're rounding out our experience with a Bike to Work Day Ride.

Last year Culver CityBus briefly stopped running its buses onto the campus of West Los Angeles College as Culver City Vice Mayor Micheál O‘Leary noted at the August 2, 2010 City Council meeting "with the understanding that the College would be providing service from the street into the College. ... since the College failed to keep that commitment the City saw the need to resume the service again and to also resume discussions with the College regarding the issue." Ari Noonan in his recent article "Almost with a Smile, West Accepts Bus Sked Compromise. Residents Don’t" delves into the actions of former West L.A. College President Mark Rocha that resulted in the brief removal of service.

As rail watchers are well aware, Phase I of the Expo Line is scheduled to open later this year.  The exact date isn't known yet, and whether the entire line will open or just to one of the more eastern stations has yet to be determined.  However, Ted "Biking In L.A." Rogers noticed that the Expo tracks have been placed all the way to the Phase I terminus.  While station construction hasn't been completed along the line, he notes, "I got a nice surprise yesterday when I was riding through Culver City, and noticed the Expo Line now has tracks all the way to the Phase 1 terminus...it's still pretty exciting to see it this close to completion."

(If you live in Culver City, get your comments in on how you'd like your city to improve things for "people powered transportation" by June 18! - DN)

I became passionate about biking when I lived in Paris. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe had implemented a bold transportation plan making biking safe, practical, accessible and fun. When I moved back here, I decided not to get caught up in the L.A. car culture: riding rather than driving whenever possible, and teaching my two kids to do the same. I have high hopes for my hometown Culver City, which has the perfect size and demographics to become truly bicycle and pedestrian friendly.

Yesterday, Curbed picked up a recent story in the Los Angeles Business Journal about planned "Transit Oriented Development" near the Venice and Robertson stop for the Expo Line that is expected to open in 2012.  They're still in the planning phases for the developments that will occur in three of the corners around the station, so it's too early for a "T.A.D. OR T.O.D." article, but the early information sounds good.  The developers are planning on a strong pedestrian component, mixed use, higher than normal density for the residential development and even a grocery store.  You can't underestimate the importance of having a grocery store near a T.O.D. project to really encourage people to ditch the car.  All that being said, there is one paragraph in the L.A.B.J. article that concerns:

For many cyclists that don't live in Culver City, a discussion of bikes centers around two bike trails: the Ballona Creek Bike Path and the planned, funded but not approved Expo Bike Path.  However, Culver City is working and planning to become the kind of bike-town that could rival Santa Monica for top spot on the Westside.