Long Beach

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.

(editor's note: Welcome our newest guest blogger, live from Long Beach, Drew Reed.  Reed is a writer, film editor, and cycling activist based in Long Beach. He blogs about cycling issues in Long Beach and the greater LA area at LA Loyalist.  We first met Drew when we interviewed him about his experience traveling the country to go to the inauguration of Barack Obama. - DN)

For the second time in three months, a national coalition of bicycling and pedestrian advocates took a look at how federal funds are being spent on projects designed to keep cyclists and pedestrians safe as they move themselves from one place to another.  For the second time in three months, Los Angeles was shown to be well behind the curve when it comes to spending money on "non-motorized transportation" as the state likes to call it, or "people powered movement" as those that transport themselves do.

(There's a lot of great bike and walk improvements happening in Long Beach, so L.A. StreetsBlog has covered it in two parts, for now. Last week's article featured the past and present; today's features exciting plans for the future.)