Bicycling

Always wish you could participate in Critical Mass, Midnight Ridazz, or Crank Mob, but are more of a morning person?  Then today's Downtown LA bike ride was for you.  At 8:30 this morning, roughly 100 bicyclists, Metro Staff, and yours truly took an scenic tour on the streets of Downtown. 

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Undeterred by this morning's torrential drizzle, bicyclists joined together with family, friends, hospital staff, and an assortment of Los Angeles city officials for Good Samaritan Hospital's 7th Annual Blessing of the Bicycles ceremony.  Goodsam CEO and avid bicyclist Andy Beeka presided over the event.  Those who attended were treated to a free breakfast and t-shirt from the hospital, an LA Metro booth with its ubiquitous Cliff Bars and bike maps, and a quick bike check from Incycle (who's technicians kindly informed me that I needed a tune-up badly).

Gunpowder doesn’t have to fear getting ticketed on his way to Metro Board meetings. Photo: LAStreetsblog/Flickr Announced this morning at LA Bike Week’s kickoff event in front of LAPD headquarters, Metro will be lifting restrictions on when and where you can bring your bike onto Metro Rail (the Purple, Red, Blue, Green, and Gold Lines).  Current … Continued

When we last checked in with the Glendale Police Department, we were entertained by the sight of an officer in a giant bunny costume being used in a traffic sting to catch motorists that ignored pedestrian crossing.  The story wasn't just encouraging, officers thinking outside the box to make their streets safer, but also funny.  I mean, there was a giant bunny suit involved.

After months of planning by Ted Rogers, Michael Cahn, Josef Bray-Ali and Patrick Pascal, the League of Bicycling Voters Los Angeles (LBVLA) held its official kickoff meeting this past Saturday (with excitement about LA Bike Week undoubtedly in the air).

Next week is Bike to Work Week throughout Los Angeles County.  In addition to the events in Downtown Los Angeles sponsored by LADOT and LAPD; there are events in Culver City, Glendale, Pasadena and Long Beach.  And that's not even including the dozens of "pit stops" that will be set up during commuting hours next Thursday on Bike to Work Day.

This Saturday at 10:30 am in Room 1347 on the ground floor of the UCLA Law School on the Westwood campus., the League of Cycling Voters will hold its first meeting, with basically a month to go before its first electoral test, to organize itself in the short and long-term.  The idea behind the League is that it would be a place for cyclists to evaluate and endorese candidates for political office based on their views of bicycling.  After years of advocacy being limited to personal or non-political advocacy; the League is one of two groups formed in the last year that will take positions on political candidates.

(editor's note: NBC Universal is holding a community meeting next Tuesday, May 18 at 4:00 P.M. at the Universal Studio's lot. You have to RSVP by this Friday, May 14 to get past security. Call 818-700-3583 to reserve a spot.  If you have trouble reserving a spot, please leave me a note in the comments section, as we're not certain if they're going to let in everyone interested in the project or just "supporters.")