Bicycling

It's been two weeks since the LAPD closed their investigation into the April 6th bicycle crash that left Susanna Schick hospitalized with broken ribs, concussions and other  injuries.  Schick claims that the driver of a white Lexus ran her down from behind in the late night crash.  The LAPD claims she fell off her bicycle.  The police basically refused to investigate the crash, despite press reports promising a thorough investigation, and because Schick claims a hit and run, there will likely never be true resolution to the crash.

(Not sure what the My Figueroa project is?  Check out this story from last year?)

On Earth Day this past Sunday, the Expo Line Phase II Bicycle Advisory Committee, of which I am a member, was given a tour of the Expo corridor and bikeway proposals with a few of the private consultants and public planners involved in the project. Looking at diagrams is never a sufficient replacement for some on the ground perspective, so I was glad we had this opportunity to scope everything out. It was also exciting to see a few testing trains in operation in preparation for tomorrow's opening.  I had not had a chance to get out and see the trains in action previously.

The city of Santa Monica is hosting a grand opening opening of what is being called the Santa Monica Bike Campus this Sunday as part of April 22nd Earth Day activities. This bike campus facility is on a linear strip of what was no longer actively used roadway connecting to parking lots just east of the beach bike path at Ocean Park Boulevard. The pavement is now painted with various markings for teaching bike education classes. There are simulated lanes, sharrows, crosswalks and bike lanes for teaching lane positioning, as well as some designs for bike handling tests that are part of the League of American Bicycling’s “Smart Cycling” course material.

Dream It.  Design It. Do It.

(Friends of Susana's have set up a ChipIn account to collect funds to help with medical bills.  You can donate, here.)

Earlier today, AEG announced the completion of the first draft of environmental documents for Farmers Field, the proposed football stadium for Downtown Los Angeles.  The document, available on City Planning's website, is a mammoth 10,000 pages and the ceremonial handing over of the documents to the city at today's event involved 13 overflowing three ring binders.

Although a few state parks will close on July 1, Shuntain Thomas, the Real Rydaz, and We Are Responsible People (WARP) want you to know that the streets of South Los Angeles will be open for riding.