All right, blog. Time for words.
Since my last “bicycle incident” I have had several encouraging conversations and just as many jaw-dropping tales of insanity from friends and fellow riders.
It turns out that LADOT, bless their twiddling little thumbs, has pioneered a program with the LAPD that is focused on training officers to be better aware the rights of cyclists. That program however was run a few years back. Perhaps it is time to both revamp and revisit that old model of education, recognizing that there must be an on-going commitment to protecting cyclists not just a seminar here and there. We need LABID (the LA Bicycle Incident Dept) to become a reality.
Given the relative success of last weeks second (yes, second) all-bike themed City Council Meeting vis a vis advancing the Cyclists Bill of Rights, I think we can safely say that the political posturing is firmly in place. Whether or not actual, tangible and concrete victories will come of this remains to be seen. Sharrows, those delicious low hanging fruits of LA Bike infrastructure seem tantalizing close to being painted on the ground, and yet somehow the simple trick of actually painting them looms just out of our grasp.
Here is a link to provide feedback to Councilwoman Wendy Greuel’s office about LA’s Long Range Transportation Plan -
http://www.lacity.org/council/cd2/cd2_sp.htm
Here is the motion to support the Cyclists Bill of Rights
Perhaps we could produce a small video about bike issues for LA City View 35 —
http://ita.lacity.org/lacityview35/
The question comes down to a simple matter of MONEY. Can the City Council actually find a funding source to use for bike infrastructure? I’ve got some ideas….
I can’t help but wonder about that question I asked of Mayor Tony “Cookies” Villaraigosa at that MTA Board meeting I attended a few months ago -
“How much of the local returns from Measure R will be dedicated to bike projects?”
My dear bike friendly City Council Members, do kindly make this connection in your minds. You, yes, YOU can pressure MTA to give us our slice of delicious warm Measure R pie. Measure R, whose website, might I add, brazenly used words like “bicycle” and “pedestrian” in their glossy pitch to voters, was passed by the citizens of Los Angeles. Given that bicycles are a valid form of transportation and also present excellent photo-ops for press hungry pols, this seems like a no-brainer!!
Of course, I do have an over-active brain.
Tags: bike, city council, measure r, transportation
