Bicycling

The City Council met today and discussed two cycling related issues.  The first was the ongoing discussion of whether or not the city should have a bike sharing program.  Second, the Council debated how to create an ordinance that would better protect cyclists from harassment.

I've written in the past three weeks My Case Against Bike Paths, my discontent about Bike Lanes and about  Bike Routes.

Livable Streets advocates could have a full day in City Hall this Wednesday.

Two weeks ago a group of cyclists got together with the LAPD and created the Cyclists/LAPD Task Force. The Task Force addressed issues concerning law, safety, education, enforcement, policy, road rage, the Cyclists' Bill of Rights, the Bike Plan, theft, data, and crime scenes.

Late last year I participated in the Crenshaw Crush ride which had riders of ages, from 4 to 64, participating. The route took us from major arterials like Crenshaw Boulevard to little neighborhood side streets, and through the Olympic Village.

At City Watch and his personal blog Soap Box, Stephen Box punched an SUV sized hole in the Mayor and Police Chief Charlie Beck's claim that the City of Los Angeles has become the "second safest big city in America, after New York."  Box's contention is that because the city assumes that most traffic crashes are "accidents" even when there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, that the city can keep its official statistics low and avoid having to spend resources to keep the city safe.

The above ABC News story on this Monday's meeting of the Los Angeles City Council Public Safety Committee's hearing on the anti-harassment ordinance for cyclist has a couple of jaw dropping moments.  One bike messenger describes being the victim of a hit and run crash four times and Ted "Biking in L.A." Rogers recounts the hate mail he's received in the wake of the conviction and sentencing of Dr. Christopher Thompson.  Scary stuff.  But perhaps the scariest thing is the comment by City Councilman, former LAPD Officer and former member of the Bike Advisory Committee Dennis Zine who clearly states that this is a car town and it's going to stay that way.

Another Southern California newspaper has made the mistake of asking a member of the California Highway Patrol about a law regarding cycling.  And as we've seen in the past, that means that misinformation has been published, unchallenged, in a local newspaper.

The County of Los Angeles is working on a Bike Plan and, under the guidance of Alta Planning, has embarked on the journey by convening a  Bicycle Advisory Committee, complete with instructions that the public is not invited. In light of the fact that the majority of the BAC members are appointed by elected officials, in this case County Supervisors Zev Yaroslavsky, Gloria Molina, Mark Ridley-Thomas, Don Knabe, Michael D. Antonovich, it would seem that an open and transparent process would be the minimum and that a robust public process would be the goal. Such is not the case.