Bicycling

For as long as I've been in Los Angeles, there has been a side bar on the Midnight Ridazz official website which reads:

Yesterday morning, the sun rose on the corner of La Brea and Fountain to a new occupant on the street corner.  A Ghost Bike had been erected by a group of bike activists to memorialize two pedestrians, one of whom may have been walking her bike across the street, who "lost their lives to a motorist" on March 31 while walking their bikes across the street.

Welcome to town Chase.  I'm super impressed you have been reading Streetsblog San Francisco and made an ad that reflects some of the knowledge you've acquired here. This is obviously a shout out to the car-free community. Might the admen understand the incredible cost savings of ditching the car for a bike, which can save you more than $9,000 every year in direct vehicle costs, not to mention the health savings from an active lifestyle and the peace of mind of contributing fewer greenhouse gases to a dangerously warming planet?

As part of its share of the federal stimulus package, Caltrans was allocated $28 million for "Transportation Enhancements," a federal funding category that is home to bicycle, pedestrian, beautification and other road projects that aren't widening or fix-it projects.  However, according to the National Safe Routes to Schools Partnership, Caltrans is having trouble spending those funds.  From a letter from the partnership to Caltrans:

Who’s next? Photo: wodaking/Flickr The New York Times’ Freakonomics blog has picked up on proposed legislation from Wayne Krieger, an Oregon representative who wants every bike owner in the state aged 18 and older to pay a $54 registration fee every two years. “[B]ikes have used the roads in this state forever and have never … Continued

In the past several weeks, I've noticed a trend.  Cyclists from some of the cities surrounding Los Angeles have been emailing me asking why I never report on the great things going on in their back yards.  As a result, I'm going to write about what's going on around the county every Friday until I run out of topics.

Dave Burdick yesterday offered up his choices for the Top 5 videos featuring a bicycle on the Huffington Post. While it's nice to see the mainstream blogosphere types showing some love for two-wheelers, c'mon man! Robin Thicke bouncing around NYC on a crappy bike to "Disco Beethoven" is the world's number one bike video?! I think not.

Wisconsin's Jeff Frings is an avid bike rider. He's also a photographer for Milwaukee's Fox 6, which may be why this report is among the most fair and balanced we've seen on cyclists' right to the road.

A new organization calling themselves "West LA for Change" debuted itself to thousands of drivers on the 405 by unrolling a 100 foot sign calling for a speeded up time table for the Subway to the Sea and Phase II of the Expo Line.  The group doesn't seem to limit itself to transportation advocacy, as their website promotes the group as: