Long Beach

And now for a quick photographic update from the one bicycle project you've all been waiting to hear about: Long Beach's new bike boulevard on Vista Street. There have been a few hangups along the way; additional money needed to be allocated to remove unwanted concrete from under the street, and apparently the painters had difficulty spelling "yield". Nonetheless, the project appears to be progressing nicely, with construction of a new stop light at Redondo scheduled for next month - providing there aren't any more typos.

On Monday, the Passenger Rail Symposium kicked off with an impressive display of train technology, most of it being used in Europe. But the problem of how to effectively implement train stations, European or otherwise, remains. Fortunately, Tuesday's speakers had plenty to say on the matter, both describing successful stations elsewhere or the prospects for better ones here.

Michael Wolfgang Bauch is a Long Beach based filmmaker, videographer, kayaker, and avid cyclist. He recently talked with Streetsblog over the phone about his latest full-length documentary, Riding Bikes With The Dutch. The film premieres this Sunday, May 9 at the Art Theatre in Long Beach at 5 PM, as part of the Long Beach Bike Festival.

The League of American Bicyclists is something of an oddity in Washington DC. While most other organizations advocate for strip mining, carcinogens, and other unpleasantries, the LAB argues for something which will actually improve people's lives. And while they have sadly spent most of their 130 year history in the shadow of auto, highway, and petroleum lobbies, they seem to be making something of a comeback lately, winning allies in congress as well as the support of Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood.

Last month, when Clarence Eckerson was in town for the Street Summit, he asked me what Streetfilm he ought to shoot besides his coverage of Janette Sadik-Khan's speech and the Summit itself.  For me, the answer was simple.  Long Beach.

We've got another election coming up this Tuesday, and while most cities in LA county residents won't be doing any voting, there is one important election in America's Most Bike Friendly City. Yes, Long Beach is having a mayor's race, though so far it doesn't appear to be terribly exciting. The incumbent Mayor Bob Foster has so far raised $250,000 for his reelection, vastly outpacing his lone challenger, Stevie Danielle Merino. Nonetheless, the election provides an opportunity to reflect on the role of the mayor in improving the state of bicycling and transportation so far, and what the outcome of the election will mean for Long Beach residents. Even for people who live outside of LA County's second largest city, Long Beach provides a useful (and local) case study in how civic bureaucracy can be penetrated to achieve a worthy cause. Without further ado, let's meet the candidates.

A month ago, I had a few ideas about how Long Beach could go about improving its budding network of numbered bikeways. As it turned out, a few of the suggestions I made are slowly beginning to appear on the street lights and signposts of Long Beach. Is this a happy coincidence, or has the City of Long Beach drawn some inspiration from the pages of Streetsblog?

The Port of Long Beach is green. Very green. And no, we're not talking about the unsightly tint the port used to give the Alamitos Bay. Port administrators are making a concerted effort to make the giant shipping facility as environmentally friendly as it can be.

Long Beach's ambitious campaign to become the Most Bicycle Friendly City in America is well underway. The Second St. sharrows debuted to much fanfare last summer, followed by bike boxes nearby on Second st. and Marina ave. Recently, the city has selected contractors for its Vista Bike Boulevard and Broadway/Third St. bike lane projects, with completion to come in four to five months. In the meantime, a new numbered bikeway project has been quietly debuting across the city.