Trader Joe's Celebrates "Bike to Work" Week

Trader Joe's is coming to Hollywood tomorrow, an event that was heralded with signage promoting the "Public Parking" to be found in the behemoth W Hollywood structure that caps the four acre Hollywood & Vine block. Enci inquired and discovered that the "Public Parking" was of the subterranean motor vehicle variety, not of the safe and effective bike parking variety, prompting Enci to send the Tweet heard 'round the Board Room, aka:

The TWEET that ROARED!

@ActOut Call Trader Joe's HQ 626-599-3700, ask 4 customer service re. Bike Parking at Hollywd/Vine. Then tell them 2 get bike racks 4 grand opening!

Friends from far and wide, on Twitter, on Facebook, and on MySpace, picked up on the alert and began calling Trader Joe’s. In spite of both of our requests for a call back, we never received one. Instead, we all called the corporate headquarters and were typically transferred to Tiffany who took the message, indicating that she would pass the “bike rack requests” on to Christy Hughes, District Manager for the Hollywood store. Her tone grew gruffer as the calls continued.

@DudeonaBike RT @BikeWriters @ActOut: Call Trader Joes HQ 626-599-3700, ask 4 customer svc re Bike Parking at H'wood/Vine. Tell them 2 get bike racks.

Gary Kavanagh From my experience Trader Joe's has never been especially bike friendly. The Santa Monica location only has a cheap wheel bender rack, but not only that, it is one made for 26" wheel size, my 700cc road wheels don't fit in it. I usually attached to the hand railing by the door, but now I pretty much only shop at the Co-Op, the only grocery store in Santa Monica with a proper bike rack.

Ron Durgin Just another example of how this TOD project fails the community and fails to meet minimum standards. TJ's offers a feedback form for local stores on its website, including H & V. I say we hammer them with feedback about their failure to accommodate cyclists, especially with a planned opening during Nat'l Bike Month and Bike to Work Week. Numbskulls.

@josesigala Hi Enci, called Trader Joe's customer relations office to ask for bike racks at Hollywood store. They stated they will set them up soon. txs

Jeremy Grant I did this and the girl (Tiffany?) sounded a little perturbed... She said "yeah, all your friends are calling". So I layed it on extra thick and had her write a bunch of techno mumbo jumbo down after I gave her a ton of reasons and then started quoting the code book. So fun.

Crispin Oochie I thnk it kinda starts at this juncture.....new building, new parking....they wont do it unless we ask, petition...demand! I'm not ready to take on a project, but I will call them and say WTF? No bike parking? Guess I'll shop on sundays at the farmers market!

@DudeonaBike TJ's cust service said they'll have racks at H'wood/Vine, but seemed very disinterested. Call so they know they've got to do it 626-599-3700

Eric Pancer They always come up with some statement like "the bike racks weren't ready yet".

Brian Bell I've always been amazed at the lack of bike parking at TJ's.

@josesigala Please let me know if I can do anything else 2 help. My family shops at the Eagle Rock and Silver Lake almost every week. I retweeted

Ana-Maria Lupan bike parking especially in that busy area will result in bike PARTS still being ripped off ;( ... in-store parking/walking bike in is the only way to do it these days in busy areas.

Hollywoodrac Rentacar just did, Christie Hughes regional manager is supposed to call Stephen or Enci back regarding this issue. keep me posted

@Ride_the_Bone RT @ActOut: Call Trader Joe's today at 626-5993700 to ask them to install bike parking by May 21, grand opening of H'wood/Vine.

Meghan Kavanagh done

Claudia Monroy on it!

Kevin Winston It's Trader Joe's, they better!

Jonathan Weiss Our closest TJs has 1 beat-up rack and it's kind of hidden. Let us know if you make progress. A couple of phone calls to Topa management for the shopping center at Sepulveda & National got us the first rack there. That's my shout out.

I tracked down Christies Hughes, the District Manager of Trader Joe's, and she unleashed a long litany of reasons that bike parking at the Hollywood Trader Joe's was not her responsibility including:

“Any bike parking is up to the City of Los Angeles. We’re just tenants and that is their responsibility.”

“We’re just tenants, any bike parking is the responsibility of the Landlord.”

“Bike parking on the front of the store would conflict with the design aesthetic and would be the responsibility of the architect, not us, we’re just tenants.”

At some point in the conversation I was able to convince her that I was clear on the agency who owned the land (the Metro) the agency who controls the sidewalks (Building & Safety) the landlord (Legacy Partners) the local development partners (CRA and City of LA and CD11) and the people who advocated years ago that the W Hollywood complex come with a 1) Bike Share program 2) a Car Share program 3) a local delivery service. Now that the W Hollywood was open and the promised community benefits have failed to appear, it is us (the cycling community) who are still fighting for transportation innovations that all start with the simple accommodation of cyclists. BIKE RACKS!

At this point, Hughes tried a different tack, letting me know that she didn't know why bike parking was her issue anyway. "I called our construction coordinators to find out why bike parking wasn't a standard operating practice." This was progress because we were moving past the "Corporate Denial of Responsibility" that I heard from the Construction Manager, two Store Managers, and one Customer Service handler.

I urged Hughes to go beyond a simple request for bike parking and to actually hire a professional to survey the property, to specify the appropriate racks, and to supervise the installation. I pointed out that well meaning operators often put in bike racks, selecting the wrong type and then installing them incorrectly and in bad locations. Hughes rejected my request along with my request for a call back to confirm that bike parking would be part of the Hollywood Trader Joe's facility. She went on to explain that it was all unnecessary, after all, "I'm a cyclist myself. I even drive a hybrid!"

Since the West Hollywood Trader Joe's is also one of her stores, I used that as an example of well-meaning folks installing bike parking that simply doesn't work. She said they had long ago fixed the bike racks at West Hollywood so I visited the location and this is what I found:

The "Wave" rack or "Ribbon" rack that was previously installed with finger tight bolts that offered no resistance to bike thieves had indeed been moved, this time to a spot that was equally bad, perpendicular to the curb line and blocking the walkway. Apparently this was why it was empty. It is unprotected space, it creates conflict with both motorists and pedestrians, and it simply fails to entice cyclists to use it. 

Meanwhile, cyclists arriving at the West Hollywood Trader Joe's demonstrate with their behavior that the best location for bike parking is within sight of the front door. Here the cyclists have demonstrated that they would rather lock their bikes where there in no ped conflict, even if it means locking it to a pole or a tree.

I mentioned to the manager that there appeared to be a fair amount of bike traffic in the area and that a Bike Corral might be a great solution, a parking space that is set aside in the parking lot with bike racks, a very efficient solution to the lack of sidewalk space for bike parking. "John" assured me that using any space in the parking lot would be a big problem because they had no control over the parking lot. "We're just tenants!"

This restriction is simply contradicted by reality as is demonstrated by the fact that shopping carts get three "Cart Corrals" while bike gets snubbed.

As for the claim that Christie Hughes made regarding improvements to the bike parking at the West Hollywood Trader Joe's, I think I discovered her solution. It appears to be a Hybrid with a bike strapped to it.

Meanwhile, back in Hollywood:

As of today, Ed and Sandy, the local managers of Trader Joe's assure me that there will be bike parking, 8 racks with space for 16 bikes, inside the parking garage and accessible through the Vine Street breezeway, just outside the P1 entrance.

As of today, Rich Adachi, the construction manager of Trader Joe's said that they would be installing bike racks. We had a long talk last week about bike rack design, bike rack locations, bike rack installation and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. (CPTED)

As of today, Ed Kirk, the  Construction Manager of Legacy Partners, says that they are restricted by the Metro/CRA Development Agreement from putting bike racks outside the building. I pointed out that Metro and the CRA are purportedly proponents of bike parking and that he acknowledged that bike parking made sense, but that he operated under such harsh restrictions that they did what was required and that we would need to go the Metro/CRA for approval. Ultimately, he said that if it's okay with the Metro/CRA he is open to discussing bike racks on the corner of Vine and Selma, all he asks is that they be attractive, that the process for permitting be painless, that somebody wrap up the proposal and take responsibility for funding it.

As for tomorrow, the last day of Bike to Work week, Trader Joe's has promised that bike parking will be a part of the grand opening celebration for the 13,000 square foot store at the corner of Hollywood & Selma. Ride on over and join us in cutting the ribbon on those bike racks!

LAPD HQ - now serving cyclists!

It took six months but the Los Angeles Police Department finally added curbside bike parking and sent a clear message to the cycling community that they are welcome at the $500 million headquarters on 1st Street, just across from City Hall. Critics called foul at the ribbon cutting when they discovered that the LAPD bike parking was behind a tower, hidden by planters and trees, behind a wall, all in violation of the basic Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) standards.

The LAPD's failure prompted cyclists to appeal to the Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee (LABAC) who not only called on the City of LA to investigate the absence of appropriate bike parking at the LAPD monument to crime prevention, but the LABAC passed a motion declaring the Ronald F. Deaton Civic Auditorium off-limits for meetings until the situation had been corrected.

All of this was in stark contrast to the stated intentions of then-new LAPD Chief Charlie Beck who declared that one of his first priorities was to forge a strong working relationship with the cycling community and to work on developing policies to better establish, articulate, and enforce policy that protected the rights of cyclists. Unfortunately, when the rubber hits the road, or the bikes hit the racks, cyclists who attended meetings at the LAPD HQ were offered only inhospitable accommodations, even as the LAPD executed stings to catch bike thieves.

For all of the LAPD's good intentions, the simplest way to prevent bike thefts is to properly secure bikes where they are visible, something that wasn't possible at the LAPD HQ. At the last meeting of the Cyclists/LAPD Task Force, cyclists locked their bikes at the top of the courtyard, demonstrating that when it comes to bike security, location matters.

So it is that only six months after the doors opened on the LAPD HQ, the welcome mat finally goes out for the cyclists!

As for the racks, they are the larger "Bike" bike racks, 6' long and in the shape of a bike. They have the same two-bike capacity as the traditional inverted-U rack but with a clear cut message and a tad of flair. We should be pleased and I am. I'm very pleased and I'm encouraged by the message it sends.

At the same time, I think it's fair to evaluate the racks and to seize the opportunity to pursue excellence.

On that note:

1) Bike Racks traditionally run parallel with the curbline, not perpendicular. Granted, the sidewalk here is wide but there is so much real estate, why not establish a standard?

2) First Street is a "No Stopping" zone from Spring to Main so why squeeze the bikes together so tighly, why not spread out?

3) The City of LA had bike parking standards that specify a minimum distance of 48" between parallel racks and yet these four racks have distances of 48", 47", and 43". Why does the City of Los Angeles aim for the minimum requirement and then settle for falling short?

4) The bike racks are out in the open, that is certain, and pedestrians, cyclists and motorists can all see them clearly. This should discourage thieves. Yet the most important eyeline, from the front door of the buildings, is blocked. From the eastside entrance of Deaton Auditorium, none of the racks are visible. From the westside entrance of Deaton Auditorium, two of the racks are visible. From the front door of the LAPD HQ, the racks are obscured to the point that it's unreasonable to expect anyone in the lobby of HQ to notice anything out of the ordinary on the sidewalk in the distance.

Ultimately, it took some time, they might have been installed better, but the effort of the LAPD to respond to the cycling community speaks volumes and it is greatly appreciated.

LA.Streetsblog - Where’s the Bike Parking at the New LAPD HQ?

LA.Streetsblog by Stephen Box on October 13, 2009

The largest and most expensive police building in the United States is about to be dedicated and as the world watches, the LAPD's ignorance of basic Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) standards will be revealed. The new headquarters are located across the street from LA's City Hall and the 10-story, 500,000-square-foot building has a beautiful open plaza featuring drought resistant plants and a zen garden theme that creates a sense of calm in the middle of the busy and congested city center. It also features a bike parking area that violates basic CPTED standards as well as simple bike parking standards.

CPTED is the simple philosophy that crime can be prevented by designing an environment so that criminal behavior is not supported by hiding places, blocked vision and isolation. The LAPD headquarters have installed bike racks that are as far from the front door as possible, to the left and out of sight, around the corner and blocked by nine large planters and surrounded by a wall that would hide a bike thief who was working on the bikes. Topping off the poor design is the existence of a 8' by 8' setback in the wall, creating an ideal hiding place. As for the racks themselves, they are positioned so tightly that anybody parking a bike there has a ready alibi for handling other bikes because they simply don't fit, falling far short of the basic standards established by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycling Professionals.

The ultimate irony in this is that the LADOT is also across the street and they, along with City Planning, are in the process of developing the Draft Bike Plan for 2009 which would replace the 2002 Bike Plan. Both Bike Plans have bike parking standards and even go so far as to give the LADOT responsibility for communicating these standards to other city departments.

A simple visit to a park, to a library, to a fire station, to a regional City Hall, to Parker Center is enough to demonstrate that there is no citywide standard for something as simple as bike parking, all while the City has a person in charge of Bike Parking.

One might forgive some of the old wheel bender "toast" racks or the useless "wave" racks or the simple inverted U racks that get installed incorrectly, rendering them useless and serving only to remind cyclists that they simply don't belong. But as the City of Los Angeles prepares to hit the spotlight and to dedicate the most enormous and expensive monument to modern crime prevention, it seems sad that they forgot to consider CPTED.

The area just to the west of the plaza is the wrong location for the bike racks. They belong no more than 50' from the main entrance, they must be visible to those in the lobby, to those passing by and to the guests who visit the LAPD headquarters. They must be safe, convenient and secure. It's not just about bikes any more, it's about the LAPD's reputtion.

An Open Letter to Antonio Villaraigosa

It's always an honor to receive an email from the Mayor, especially when it includes an invitation to a party. But I was dismayed to open the most recent invite, only to discover that the Mayor simply can't get away from encouraging bad behavior and ignoring the city's real transportation solutions, those who take mass transit, those who walk and those who ride their bikes.

Attached is San Antonio's invitation and my reply.

**********************************************

Hello Friends,

This month is Latino heritage month, and I just wanted to invite you to take part in the exciting opening ceremonies we have planned for this Friday, September 4th, at City Hall.

The ceremonies will be featuring Brazilian dance and samba music, food, and special honorees Jaime Escalante, Sheila E., and Jimmy Smits.

Latino Heritage Month is an opportunity for all Angelenos to learn and share the creativity and enterprising spirit that have been the hallmark of the City of Angels since its foundation. I hope you’ll join me Friday and celebrate the vibrant culture that has helped make Los Angeles the greatest city in the world.

The event is completely free but please RSVP at SP-RSVP@lacity.org. Parking is also available. Here’s all the information you need:

What: 2009 Latino Heritage Month Celebration: "Embracing Our Roots & Cultures: the Tapestry that Built Los Angeles"

When: Friday, September 4th, 10am -12:15pm

Where: City Hall Council Chambers followed by Program and Reception on the South Lawn

RSVP: SP-RSVP@lacity.org.

Parking: when RSVPing, request parking and include the following information.

Driver's Name
Vehicle Make
License Plate Number

Parking is located at 201 N. Los Angeles Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

I look forward to celebrating Latino Heritage Month with you!

Best,
Antonio Villaraigosa

**********************************************

Dear Mayor Villaraigosa,

It would be great if you could set a sustainable transportation standard for the city by making sure that all invitations to city sponsored events include Mass Transit, Bicycle and Pedestrian instructions.

You've probably never watched as pedestrians approach the "real" front of City Hall for the first time, frustrated when they realize that the public enters through the "service" entrance.

Likewise, you've probably never watched cyclists circling the block for the first time, looking for the bike racks that don't exist.

As for Mass Transit, stand at the Civic Center Red Line stations (2) sometime and watch people come from underground, circling around and looking for City Hall, a big building not readily visible to the disoriented. (Wayfinding opportunity!)

Anyway, the event looks great, it's just too bad that the invitation encourages people to bring their cars downtown!

Stephen

p.s. Seriously, how is that traffic congestion relief plan coming along?


photo (top) by Zach Behrens photo (bottom) by Mr. Rollers

Dispatch from Down Under – Brisbane Bikeways

While on Walkabout Down Under, we were tickled to see that the Brisbane City Council has announced plans for the controversial $1.6 million CityCycle bike hire scheme. Locations have been announced for the first 80 bike parking stations and the project will roll out in the middle of 2010.

CityCycle will allow people to pick up and drop off bikes at stations located across West End, Kangaroo Point, the City Business District (CBD), Fortitude Valley, New Farm and New Stead. The network, designed to reduce inner-city traffic congestion and parking demand, will then be expanded to take in St. Lucia, Toowong, Milton and South Brisbane with a final complement of 2000 bicycles across 150 stations.

Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, LADOT Bikeways staff proudly announced plans to add bike lanes to a small section of Reseda Blvd. that they claim is almost 1.5 miles in length. Transportation Engineers indicate that the bikes lanes would feature a painted line indicating the edge of the bike lane as well as a stencil of a cyclist and the phrase "Bike Lane" placed at regular intervals.

Reseda Blvd. already has 2 miles of bike lanes to the south, approximately 4.5 miles from the beginning of the proposed bike lanes, which will run to the north. This "slight" gap in connectivity in no way impedes a cyclist from enjoying a bike ride on Reseda Blvd. and will, in fact, get a cyclist within 1.5 miles of Cal State Northridge!

Both projects have received criticism, with CityCycle critics claiming that the $300 AU deposit per bicycle for casual rentals and the $150 AU deposit for subscription cyclists was prohibitive and would discourage use. However, Bicycle Queensland Manager Ben Wilson said it was a "fantastic" scheme and rejected criticism. "Anyone who gets their head into first gear can use it very cheaply with the annual subscription," he said.

The LADOT came under criticism for committing to such a small section of Reseda and for projecting that it would take a full year to finish the engineering for the project with the bike lanes finally installed in late 2010. LADOT officials were quick to point out that the painted line on the street needs to be straight when the road is straight and it needs to curve when the road curves.

When pressed to account for the length of time it takes to get bike lanes painted on the streets of Los Angeles, LADOT officials rejected the questions as "trashtalk" and reminded the audience that the bike lanes would be supported with little signs that said "Bike Lane" and that is when the project starts to get very complicated.

Brisbane is a city of 2 million people and cyclists have access to approximately 396 miles of bike trails and bike lanes.

Los Angeles is a city of 4 million people and cyclists have access to approximately 193 miles of bike trails and bike lanes.

Brisbane features the King George Square Cycle Centre, Australia's first major end-of-trip facility for cyclists and pedestrians using active transport to the Brisbane CBD.

The Cycle Centre is available on a membership basis and has a number of features including 420 individual bike racks, male and female change rooms with a total of 35 showers, lockers, ironing/laundry service, excellent security and cycle access direct to the door via Turbot Street or Roma/Herschel Streets from the Bicentennial Bikeway or through Roma Street Parklands from the north.

Los Angeles features curbside bike parking in a quantity sufficient to ensure one rack for every 2 miles of street, which means if you ever see two bike racks together, it will be 4 miles until you see another!

As for the Bike Boxes, Colored Bike Lanes, Lockers, Showers, Bike Stations and other amenities that Brisbane cyclists enjoy, Angelenos will just have to travel more if they'd like to experience them. Sad but true!

If there is ever any doubt that City of Los Angeles lacks vision, one need only take a look at the LADOT Bikeways Department and those doubts will be dispelled.

See you on the streets!

CityWatchLA - Sunset Boulevard: Rack ‘em!

CityWatch, Feb 24, 2009
Vol 7 Issue 16

Six months ago, Jason Michaud went to the City of LA's website and ordered bike racks, intending to offer a free beverage to customers who rode their bikes and locked them in front of Local, his new 40 seat diner on Sunset Boulevard in Silver Lake.

Since then, business is doing well. He now has 10 employees, seven of whom live within walking distance.

What he doesn't have is the bike racks promised by the City of Los Angeles.

Instead, he received a notice from the City of Los Angeles demanding that he add six parking spaces for cars, something that he reckons will set him back $2000 a month and that will have a devastating impact on his small business.

Ironically, Michaud opened Local with grand intentions of operating a sustainable business featuring locally sourced product, using recycled and biodegradable packaging, staffing with those from the neighborhood, advertising in the community newspapers and catering to a local clientele by encouraging them to walk, ride a bicycle or take mass transit.

"I still plan on executing those intentions," Michaud explained. "But it's much more difficult than I had envisioned and I'm not getting much help from the City. I'm a line cook who opened a restaurant and I'm just trying to figure it out."

It would seem that when a business operator works to get people out of their cars and onto their feet, a bike or a bus, the City of Los Angeles would support them rather than simply demanding "What about the parking spaces?"

There are 10,000 restaurants in the City of Los Angeles and yet there are only 3,000 curbside bike racks. Meanwhile, there are seven parking spaces for every vehicle in LA County.

If the leadership of our City is serious about supporting walkable, ridable and transit friendly communities, they'll start putting the same energy into providing the amenities that support pedestrians, cyclists and transit passengers as they put into the creation of more parking spaces.

The City of Los Angeles will be well on its way to becoming the "Greenest, Cleanest Big City "when it gets serious about getting into the business of supporting good behavior, good businesses and good people who simply want to improve the quality of life in their communities. (Stephen Box is a transportation activist and a cyclist advocate. Box writes for CityWatch.)

Bike Rack Contest

Good for Bikes, Good for Artists! Bike Rack Contest!

Great Bike Racks are like Welcome mats for cyclists. They communicate to cyclists that they are a part of the gestalt of the community. Putting bike racks up front where everyone can see them is not just a benefit in terms of safety, but it has a significant impact on the non-cycling community and it normalizes and integrates cycling as a transportation choice.

What's best is when they're part of an overall streetscape improvement campaign that includes other elements such as trees, planters, and street furniture that both improves the overall aesthetic of the street while contributing to a vibrant streetlife.

This long, windy into is all to set up the big announcement:

Ladies and Gentlemen of the cycling world, the creative world, the DIY world, the "I think I can do it better" world, the "I want to win a contest " world and the "I want to design a bike rack on Hollywood Boulevard" world:

BICYCLE RACK DESIGN COMPETITION FOR LOS ANGELES ARTISTS & DESIGNERS

Presented by City of Los Angeles, Council District 13

DEADLINE: 3 PM Friday, March 6, 2009

Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti, in partnership with the Bike Writers Collective and the support of the Hollywood Project Area of the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, is sponsoring a competition for a unique bicycle rack for the East Hollywood community.

This project seeks to add visual appeal and transportation amenity to its vibrant East Hollywood streetscape along Hollywood Boulevard between Western Avenue and Vermont Avenue.

The City of Los Angeles welcomes the creative energy of the greater community to assist in the creation of this important element of street furniture – the bicycle rack.

LA County Tests Bicycle Donor Program

LA County Public Health is so committed to encouraging physical activity that it has constructed an innovative Bike Donor facility on Melrose Avenue.

The program consists of several bike racks, on County property, hidden from those on the street by the wall, and as far from the building entrance as possible so that Security can't interfere with the Bike Donor program.

Unsuspecting County Health clients enter the Disabled entrance (they're not driving a car = handicapped) and lock their bikes to the bike racks. They leave and walk around the building to the entrance and conduct their business.

Those in need of a bike simply crouch behind the wall, take their time liberating the bike from the rack, walk through the gate and ride away, courtesy of the County Health Bike Donor Program.

By the way, LAMC 12.21 requires City Facilities to provide parking for bicycles (2% of required automobile parking and as close as the closest off-street automobile parking) but this is County Property. They have their own rules!

See you on the Streets!

Bike racks accessible from the sidewalk but not from the parking lot.

Wheels are wheels!

A sidewalk with little activity and little interference from passersby.

Again, a sidewalk with little activity and little interference from passersby.

The "people hole" in the side of the imposing Public Health fortress.

Good For Bikes! Good For Business!

Several years ago, the City of Los Angeles embarked on an ambitious campaign to provide bicycle parking throughout the city in order to encourage cycling as a form of transportation. Cyclists were grateful!

In 2004, the LADOT installed over 800 Inverted U Bike Racks bringing the Citywide total to 2500 bike racks in the City of Los Angeles.

In 2005, the LADOT promised to install another 600 Inverted U Bike Racks, all on city-owned property, usually sidewalks of adequate width. Cyclists were pleased!

Somewhere along the way the Bicycle Parking Program became low priority for the Bikeways Department of the LADOT and the bike racks began collecting dust in a warehouse in Van Nuys. Cyclists didn’t say anything.


In 2006, the Bikeways Coordinator for the LADOT Bikeways Department explained that the Bike Parking Program was on hold because of staffing issues. (The Department consists of a Coordinator, a Lead Engineer and 9 other Engineers!) Cyclists still didn’t say anything.

In 2007, the Bicycle Advisory Committee for the City of Los Angeles met for its regular bimonthly meeting in the Board Room of the DWP Building. Cyclists spoke up!

As part of a ride called “Storm the Bastille” the cyclists gathered at the Santa Monica/Vermont Red Line Station and rode to the BAC meeting, this time prepared to focus their Public Comment energy on the subject of Bike Parking in LA. Representing communities from San Pedro to Highland Park to Hollywood to the San Fernando Valley, the cyclists asked the LADOT to revive the dormant Bike Parking Program. Cyclists called on the LADOT to act!

The City of Los Angeles currently has an average of 6 bike racks per square mile. Cyclists complain that in spite off all the talk, the City has failed to offer the most basic support for the cycling community; safe and secure parking facilities. To make it worse, it’s still illegal to lock your bike to a parking meter in the City of LA.

The Inverted U Rack is simple, it doesn’t take up much room, it’s cheap, it’s effective and it works.

If you’d like to see more of these bike racks in Los Angeles send an email to bikeracks@illuminateLA.com with the following info:

Name of business:

Contact name:

Telephone:

Email:

Street address:

Nearest Cross Street:

LA Council District:
(Council District Map)


If you’d like to know more about Bicycle Parking take a look at the recommendations from the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals.

www.bfbc.org/issues/parking/apbp-bikeparking.pdf


See you on the Streets!