Bicycling

(Updated, January 13, 2010: While the release was handed to Mr. Morales, it turns out it was not cleared by the central media relations staff.  At their request, the names of the victim and suspect have been removed both here and in the previous comments section.)

 Earlier today City Council Transportation Committee Chair Bill Rosendahl's legislation requiring the City Attorney to draft "anti-harassment" ordinance protecting cyclists and pedestrians was heard by the City Council Public Safety Committee. The passage of Rosendahl's motion, which doesn't tie the Council to the final ordinance in any way, would have been an easy way to show the most basic support for a community that has been attacked, neglected and feels unsafe in public streets.

Reporting live from the courthouse, Danny Jimenez, aka DJ Wheels, reports that the defense's motion for probation was denied in the case of the Mandeville Canyon Road Rage Doctor.  Dr. Christopher Thompson will receive five years in jail for intentionally causing a crash on July 4th that hospitalized two cyclists.  Thompson received two years for assault with a deadly weapon for his attack on Ron Peterson with a three year enhancement for causing great bodily injury.

 Cyclist Ross Hirsch reports on a hit and run bike crash in the Downtown.

(Anyone who was at last December's Bike Meeting in City Hall witnessed a mini-shouting match between Enci Box and Councilman Tom LaBonge over whether or not there are "bike facilities" in LaBonge's district.  Enci contends that a bike path is not a real facility, and she elaborates and explains that point here.  - DN)

As budget cuts hit agencies across the city, the Los Angeles Department of Transportation continues to make cuts by retreating from its already lacking commitment to public outreach.  In a letter addressed to Bicycle Advisory Committee Chair Glenn Bailey LADOT General Manager Rita Robinson informs the Committee that the LADOT will no longer be able to provide staff to attend any meeting that takes place after business hours and won't provide any support staff at all.  The LADOT has already backed away from its commitment to have a working Memorandum of Understanding with Neighborhood Councils, and now they're bailing on providing support for its own advisory bodies.  You can read Robinson's letter here.

Some see it as a niche ride for activists.  Some see it as Stephen Box's attempt to get on television and continue his feud with Councilman Tom LaBonge.  Still others as a ride that engenders mire bad will with city agencies than it's worth.  After all, how many hard core cycling activists really want to ride through car choked streets to look at a bunch of holiday lights?

Ever since the opening of S.F. Streetsblog, we spend a lot of time looking North at what our brothers and sisters in Northern California are up to, that we miss stories happening just to our South.  Thanks to Biking In L.A., some were able to keep up with the case of Andrew Woolley, a cyclist wrongly ticketed, tried and convicted of passing car traffic on the left.  Why was he wrongly convicted?  Because, just as the LAPD's obsession for ticketing cyclists for using crosswalks is "extra-legal," there is no law saying that what Woolsey did was illegal.  However, this story has a happy ending as Woolsey successfully gets the city to admit it's own error.