Caltrans7 Bicycle Advisory Committee "Open Space"

Bike activists from Bikeside presented the crowd-sourced LA Bike Map, a Hit-and-Run campaign, and the pedal powered LA Greensters, all as part of the inaugural Caltrans District 7 "Open Space" brown bag session to complement the Bicycle Advisory Committee. The Caltrans 7 BAC meets monthly, typically on the 4th Friday and addresses cycling issues from planning and engineering to education and funding.

Dale Benson, Caltrans District 7 Local Assistance Coordinator for LA and Ventura Counties, hosted the Open Space session and intends to make it a monthly lunchtime tradition to help activists, planners, consultants, and representatives from different municipalities and agencies develop stronger relationships and greater regional connectivity.

Dr. Alex Thompson, the founder of Bikeside, LA's only 501(c)4 Bike Lobby, gave a hands-on presentation of LABikeMap, an online tool that allows individuals to log on and enter the data from their experience on the road, from bike theft to road rage incidents to hit-and-run collisions to road conditions. The program is loaded with existing collision data extracted from the LAPD files and from SWTRS but the most interesting data is the "data dust" that typically falls from the system. By creating an opportunity for individuals to participate without having to wait on an overloaded law enforcement system that may not be responsive to non-emergency calls, LABikeMap creates a solution that benefits any of the agencies and departments that have a piece of the road, even those who simply need good data in order to seek funding for neighborhood improvements.



Sara Bond gave a reprise of her BikesideSPEAKS presentation of a Hit-and-Run campaign, an initiative that addresses both the large number of hit-and-run incidents on our streets and the difficulty victims face in seeking justice. Sara demonstrated that the successful prosecution of drunk drivers has actually incentivized hit-and-run behavior because of the inequity in penalties and in prosecution. Drawing on local incidents such as Ed Magos on 2nd Street, Roadblock on Glendale Boulevard, Jesus Castillo on Glendale Boulevard, Jen Diamond on Sunset Boulevard and Louis Bianco on La Cienega, Sara personalized the issue and dramatized the need for a review of the law, of the enforcement policies and of the mandate to prosecute.



Enci Box introduced the LA Greensters, an all-pedal powered transportation team that originally formed to support the transportation needs of Enci's film "At What Price" which was shot sustainably in East Hollywood and is the subject of the "Reel Sustainable" documentary. The LA Greensters have not only demonstrated that human powered transportation is a viable choice for the Entertainment Industry, but has gone on to participate in everything from Park[ing] Day LA to the South Bay 350 to the AltCar Expo to the Santee High School sustainability education project. The LA Greensters demonstrate with their projects that cycling can be more than a simple commuting choice, that it can also satisfy utilitarian needs efficiently and sustainable.



Plans are already underway for June's Caltrans 7 "Open Space" on June 24th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm and again featuring three different presentations, this time from the Planning perspective, Regional, Local, and crowd-sourced.

As for the May Caltrans 7 Bicycle Advisory Committee's regular meeting, the theme was "Cyclists and the Law(enforcement)" and featured LAPD's Sgt. Krumer, the cyclists/LAPD Task Force liaison and a presentation of the new LAPD online training on cyclists and their rights to the streets of Los Angeles. Chief Charlie Beck received the Cyclists' Bill of Rights while still a nominee for Chief along with a request that he address LAPD policies for cyclists. He responded quickly and effectively, forming the Cyclists/LAPD Task Force and placing it in Operations with significant heat.

Sgt. Krumer detailed the progress that has been made over the last six months including some of the policies that address issues such as "non-contact traffic injuries," a clarification of inter-jurisdictional authority (Metro vs. Cyclist) and a clarification of inter-departmental enforcement issues. The LAPD was joined by the CHP's Officer Vince Ramirez and Burbank PD's Motor Officer Justin Meadows for a panel discussion on Cyclists and the Law(enforcement), offering up the different approaches to the same issues, safety for cyclists on the streets.



The Caltrans 7 Bicycle Advisory Committee was formed several years ago by then-District 7 Director Doug Failing and has met regularly to address engineering, educational, planning, funding, and law enforcement issues that impact cyclists on the streets in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Failing enjoyed great success with the BAC and he is now at the Metro, an agency that has experienced a "strained" relationship with the cycling community. He recently initiated a Metro Bicycle Roundtable series in an effort to engage the cycling community and to work on developing Metro policies, planning, and projects that support cycling as an integral element of the Metro's Transportation System. We hope that he enjoys the same success at the Metro that he enjoyed at Caltrans.

Bikeside SPEAKS - Highlight of Bike Week

BikesideSPEAKS drew a trackstanding-room-only crowd to the Westside's BikeRoWave for a lightning round of 7 bike activists, speaking for 7 minutes each, on 7 topics relevant to the cycling community. At 5pm, the announced starting time for BikesideSPEAKS, the BikeRoWave looked suspiciously like a bike co-op, packed with bike stands, bikes, bike parts, tools, and cyclists engaged in bike repairs. Then pizza arrived, the crowd swarmed, and BikeRoWave was transformed into a theatre!

Steve Mattson, GM of BikeRoWave, warmed up the crowd with a bit of BRW history and a commitment to complement the BRW's wrenching schedule with more community events such as BikesideSPEAKS!



Mihai Peteu demonstrated LABikeMap, a crowd sourced community map that provides cyclists with the opportunity to log on and self-report collisions, incidents, road hazards, and hit-and-runs. LABikeMap is already loaded with 10 years of cyclists' collision data and provides a vivid visual of the LA region and incident clusters that deserve more law enforcement focus. Take a look at the map and remember that every small red dot is where a human being on a bike was taken out by a motor vehicle. There is entirely too much red on LA's map.

Ron Durgin, President of Sustainable Streets and a League of American Bicyclists Urban Cycling instructor, gave an overview of a campaign to engage and educate cyclists and non-cyclists on the fine art of lifestyle cycling. Too often, cycling is relegated to the side as a "recreational endeavor" rather that a legitimate transportation solution. Key to positioning cyclists as an effective mode share is good planning and education and Sustainable Streets is targeting planners and political decision makers, committed to getting them on bikes and into the urban traffic mix so they can effectively plan for cyclists and support cycling.

Enci introduced the LA Greensters, LA's only all-pedal-powered transportation team, created as part of her commitment to sustainable film production and taking on a life of its own. Enci's original objective was simply to make a movie. She wrote the script and set out to direct her first film, not knowing that her commitment to shoot sustainably would challenge the basic Hollywood tradition. From banning plastic and styrofoam to challenging Hollywood's car-centric bias, Enci's simple call for help from the cycling community led to the formation of the LA Greensters who not only provided all transpo needs for her film, but went on to demonstrate the effectiveness of cargo bikes and Xtracycles in everyday life.

Sara Bond gave a recap of the topic that has had the cycling community up in arms for quite some time, hit-and-run incidents that leave cyclists lying in the street, broken and bleeding, while the motorists flee the scene to avoid responsibility. Sara introduced Louis "Bird Man" Bianco who was riding home on his bike when a motorist left-crossed him, causing him to go head first through the window of the car. His face was jerked free as the motorist swerved forward and into a gas station before u-turning and fleeing, leaving Louis in the middle of the intersection. Louis gave a moving account of his long journey to recovery and the fact that he still experiences fear but that he is committed to overcoming it.

Alex Thompson, the heart and soul of Bikeside, was joined by Glenn Bailey, the President of LA's Bicycle Advisory Committee, and they got political with their guests Marcy Winograd and Bill Rosendahl. Alex introduced Marcy, the Bikeside endorsed candidate for Congress who met with the Bikeside crew last month and endorsed the Cyclists' Bill of Rights. Glenn introduced Bill, the Chair of the Transportation Committee who long ago responded to the Mandeville Canyon incident by standing with LAPD proclaiming that "Cyclists need a Bill of Rights."



I responded to the call by offering a brief introduction to the Cyclists' Bill of Rights, pointing out that they weren't written or conceived or created, they simply exist and they belong to the cyclists who claim them. Rights aren't given and the cycling community is going to have to step up as a constituent group if they expect to experience the most basic of human rights, the Freedom to Move. Our political leadership exists for one reason and that is to remove any obstacles to our ability to enjoy our freedom.



Jeremy Grant brought it home with an introduction to the Backbone Bikeway Network, laying it down as a Vision for Connectivity that is based on getting cyclists to destinations, real destinations that everybody else enjoys. The Backbone Bikeway Network is consistent with other dreams that great leaders have laid down as commitments and over and over again, visions that started with no plan, no funding, no support, all became a reality because a small group of people believed and took on the challenge of changing the world. That was the challenge that Jeremy gave to the cyclists, planners, wrenchers and politicians at the BikeRoWave. Let's work together to make Los Angeles the City with a Backbone!

BikesideSPEAKS wrapped, some rode off to Crank Mob, some stayed for a screening of Quicksilver, and Bike Week '10 came to an end. How was your week?

p.s. If you'd like to hear more:

On 5/27 - Dr. Alex Thompson will be presenting the LABikeMap this Thursday at the Caltrans7 Bicycle Advisory Committee. Enci will also be presenting the LA Greensters.    http://twtvite.com/Caltrans7BAC

On 6/1 - Jeremy Grant will be presenting the Backbone Bikeway Network at the Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee. The BAC consists of 4 Mayoral appointees, 15 Council appointees.  http://twtvite.com/LABAC6

CityWatchLA - A Significant First Step

CityWatch, Oct 6, 2009
Vol 7 Issue 82

Saturday's NC Action Summit was a tremendous success from my perspective and I learned a great deal. It was an ambitious event, literally 10 pounds of meeting packed into a five pound agenda and as the emcee, I found it to be quite a challenge to keep things on track. Ultimately, I'm proud of the organizers, the participants and of the results. The NC Action Summit set out to create a forum for neighborhood council stakeholders to take on the issues that are relevant to the community, all with "Less Talk, More Action!"

That was a worthy goal but the first thing I learned on Saturday is that the "talk" is an important part of the "action" and the trick is not to limit, but to balance. There is no way to get to action without accommodating the public's need to be heard, to clear the air, to sound off and to deliver the anecdotes, the experiences, the defining moments that stirred the passion and prompted the public to give up their Saturday to get involved. It all starts with talk and it is, for many people, the action. I've learned to respect the important role 'talk" plays in "action."

The Summit had quite an ambitious agenda and we structured a schedule that in hindsight, could have been a tad more flexible.

Some issues went quickly, some went slowly and some were quite intense and were schedule busters.

I've been to meetings where success is based on adherence to the schedule, I've been to meetings where success is based on addressing every item on the agenda and hearing from every person. The real test of the NC Action Summit's success will not be based on our schedule or our open participation, it will be based on our ability to translate the event into results and I'm very optimistic.

We worked the agenda, people participated and I've learned that the event will be judged based on the next 90 days.

The event had something for everybody and for me, I was quite pleased with the outcome for the Cyclists' Bill of Rights. Dr. Alex Thompson, member of the Bike Writers Collective, Co-founder of the BikeRoWave, and Co-author of the CBR gave a presentation and engaged in a robust interaction with the public.

For all of the focus on action, this interaction was as valuable because we were able to hear concerns, misunderstandings, fears, new ideas and great suggestions, all of which we never hear in traditional settings at City Hall, Council Committee or Departmental presentations.

The Cyclists' Bill of Rights received a 50 to 1 vote of endorsement and Thompson gave a call for action, urging the audience to get their respective neighborhood councils to call for an extension on the city's Bike Plan comment period to 90 days, currently scheduled for 42 days and closing on November 6th, effectively leaving the NC's out of the comment loop.

The proposed comment period would end on Jan 4th allowing community members to evaluate the Bike Plan, take it to committee and then the board, offering an opinion on the Bike Plan and the improvements or lack of improvements in each NC.

Jeff Jacobberger offered to assist NC's in evaluating the Bike Plan and in inventorying any proposals or projected improvements in the community and the Bike Writers Collective will send speakers to any NC with the Cyclists' Bill of Rights on their agenda for endorsement.

I'm really encouraged that the Cyclists' Bill of Rights received such a great reception from the community and I'm also encouraged to see the cycling community engaging the neighborhood councils and looking for common ground.

At the end of the day, for all of the issues and all of the discussion and all of the commitment to action, the most significant part of the day for me was the fact that I had participated in the maiden voyage of LA's Government 2.0 and that real change is on the horizon.

Saturday's NC Action Summit was the significant first step.

You can sign up to the Twitter page at http://twitter.com/ncactionsummit and visit their website http://NCActionSummit.com for upcoming news and documents.

(Stephen Box is a transportation and cyclist advocate and writes Box Soap for CityWatch. He can be reached at Stephen@ThirdEyeCreative.net)

Bikes! Bikes! Bikes!

Years ago Enci and I were on a large evening ride that took hundreds of cyclists through the greater LA area. As we rode through one of the neighboring cities, I noticed that the intersection up ahead was "corked" by the local police department. "Why, that's thoughtful of them!" I said to myself, smiling as I basked in the obvious respect that we were drawing from the local authorities.

As we approached the next intersection, the police had blocked the intersection so that we all turned right. "Excellent! This is what it's like to be accepted into the mainstream paradigm of "transportation" and to be treated as a solution, not a problem!" I said to myself. (It was a noisy crowd, I did a lot of talking to myself)

As I rode my high-horse, it dawned on me that the friendly faces that were "corking" intersections for us were actually simply steering us out of town. The route was simply "Anywhere else, very quickly!"

We were run out of town. But for most of the trip, we were convinced that they were working for us, that right then, they really liked us and wanted to help us.

I learned then to look closely to see if the "help" is really helpful or if it's simply a way to get the cyclists out of the way.

This brings us to LA's Bike Plan. What should be a document that positions cycling as a legitimate transportation solution instead dresses up like a "We're here to help!" solution but it's really a "Get out of the way!" ploy to move cyclists to the fringe.

The current Bike Plan is still under wraps but the Bike Plan Maps reveal less Bikeways facilities than the old plan had which means the City of Los Angeles paid its consultants $450,000 to erase the inconvenient elements.

The proposed Bike Maps are unintelligible without the Bike Plan, unless of course you have an LADOT decoder ring. They're also Orwellian and seek to position "infeasible" as an engineering term that purportedly supports cycling as a safe and effective means of moving through Los Angeles, as long as it's done from within the confines of a spin class at the Equinox.

All of this is to say, take a look at the motion Alex Thompson is working through the Mar Vista Neighborhood Council:

"The MVCC finds that, with respect to Mar Vista, the maps for the draft Bicycle Master Plan show that the plan does not offer a significant improvement over existing conditions for cyclists riding in Mar Vista. We therefore recommend that the scope of the work be rewritten to position the Bicycle Plan as an inspiration and aspiration document that will support cycling as a transportation choice."

Take a look at the presentation I gave at Saturday's Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition where I asked the NC's to simply ask the hard questions and to endorse the Cyclists' Bill of Rights.

Most importantly, look closely whenever the City of Los Angeles presents the cycling community with a gift that positions "Safety, Security and Liability" as their motivation for action or, more likely, inaction.

It's Equality that should be the foundation for our mobility and public space policies and anything less is an effort to get somebody out of the way.

"See you on the Streets"

Bike Writers Collective at Antioch University

Erik, Alex and I were invited by Antioch University to present at their all-day "A Future Without Cars" forum, an event that featured urban planners, environmentalists and bike activists challenging the grad students and faculty from Antioch to imagine a better way.

All three of us chose to PowerPointificate on our unique approaches to changing the world, one bike at a time, and on reflection, I note that we represent fully one-quarter of the Bike Writers Collective. (One of the effects of spending time with Dr. Alex, our resident mathematician, is that I see things more statistically than before!)

Erik, one half of the Homegrown Evolution duo, opened strong with his sustainable approach to riding a bike and took us on a journey over the last century, painting a dismal picture of the decline of society and the direction our communities are headed. His call to action literally challenged the audience to get up on their high horse and ride a bike, as a duty, an obligation, an imperative if we are to truly change the world.

I've seen Erik's presentation at Caltrans and at USC and I enjoyed it as much, if not more, than ever. Okay, I enjoyed it more. This time he added a new close, pointing out that LA has a car-free population comparable to San Francisco and Chicago (10%) and that for many this isn't a "change the world, reduce the carbon-footprint, lose some weight, etc." choice, but simple economics. For many the bike isn't a statement but a simple brutal reality of not having the money to operate an automobile. It is at this point that Erik positions riding a bike in LA and our support of riding as a civil rights issue. Strong finish!

Alex took off on a journey that promotes the use of F.U.N. as a tool for encouraging cyclists, a journey I felt compelled to interrupt, pointing out that the best way to encourage cycling was to promote the rights that cyclists possess and to affirm those rights and inform the community.

That was the opening shot of the F.U.N. vs. Rights debate, a mano y mano battle that went to the wire, with Alex giving detail on how bike culture has grown exponentially over the last couple of years because of the success of the many rides that were simply fun. These rides drew people in, gave them skills and confidence and utilized the many popular social networking hubs to create a foundation of communication and community that has resulted in a strong presence on the streets.

I conceded that riding a bike is fun but pointed out that one by one, every single right articulated on the Cyclists' Bill of Rights had tested, challenged and violated on one of the many rides over the past couple of years and that if cyclists didn't know they had rights, they were likely to accept violations, limitations and restrictions without question and that this had a dampening effect on bike culture. On the other hand, cyclists equipped with knowledge of their rights, riding a bike with the Cyclists' Bill of Rights spoke card tucked into their spokes, were a force to be reckoned with and they were on their way to changing the world.

We both conceded that the other had made good points. Alex exclaimed "Hey you got Rights all over my F.U.N.!" and I acknowledged "Hey, you got F.U.N. all over my Rights!" and we agreed that it was a draw, but we both vowed to prevail on the inevitable rematch.

It was good to be challenged, it was good to stand before the choir, it was good to debate and it was good F.U.N.!

"See you on the Streets!"