You want to make a difference in your community? You think you are a good person who helps make the world a better place? Put down that solar panel, drop those recyclables, take a break from buying local, and come join us petitioning our community for support for bike lanes!
We will be walking North Figueroa Street from Avenue 26 to Avenue 52 on Saturday, May 3, 2014 to gain support from businesses and residents along the North Figueroa Street corridor.
Meet at 10 a.m. on Saturday, May 3, 2014 at the Flying Pigeon bike shop (3404 N. Figueroa St. Los Angeles, CA 90065).
We’ll form up into teams and march towards livable streets nirvana – one petition signature and letter of support at a time.
Why are we doing this? Councilman Gil Cedillo has stalled the North Figueroa Street bike lanes for over a year since getting elected and wants to see what the neighborhood thinks about the LADOT’s plans to remove a car lane and install buffered bike lanes on North Figueroa. He’s holding the first of two community hearings on the matter on May 8, 2013 at 6 p.m. at Nightingale Middle School – we want to deliver our petitions at this meeting and bring out community members in support of a road diet, bike lanes, and safer walking facilities.
Meet up: Saturday, May 3, 2014 at 10 a.m. at 3404 N. Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90065
There is a Facebook Event for this
Any questions? info@flyingpigeon-la.com
12 Comments
Will this be the same group of bikers who had a fit till the bike lanes were installed on Colorado and now never use them? The ones who were nowhere in sight when last weeks’s traffic jam clogged up Colorado for 4 hours because “road diets”?
Traffic was clogged because of a series of car crashes – and with or without the road diet the surface streets alongside the 210 would be utter misery.
And are these the same bicyclists that petitioned for the bike lanes installed on York Blvd., which I drive daily, and have seen a total of three bicyclists using since they went in – well over a year ago?
I ride the entire length of York Boulevard every Tuesday in the afternoon, and from Eagle Rock to Avenue 50 heading home at 7:30 p.m. and for the last two months I always see other people riding bikes in the bike lanes. Every time I pass Cafe de Leche (every single time) the bike corral is in use. I see bike riders every morning on Avenue 50 and Marmion Way commuting from Eagle Rock between 7:30 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. Most of the morning commuters I know now from repeated sightings, but that’s about 10 or so commuters and a random mix of other folks.
Still – the assumption underlying your personal story about “never seeing” bike riders is that, until you see the streets flooded with bike riders, you will not support the installation of bike lanes. This is a stupid assumption to operate under. Imagine CalTrans saying, “We didn’t see any cars driving the length of the Arroyo Seco, so we aren’t going to build a parkway from Pasadena to Downtown Los Angeles”. Imagine the Public Works Department saying, “We didn’t see cars trying to drive across the river at 6th street so we decided not to build a bridge.”
The bike lanes, when done properly, do bring out bike riders and the cost is incredibly small relative to something like, for example, a single traffic signal (~$150,000 to $250,000 in Los Angeles).The cost in motorist delay is often nonexistent or can be measured in the difference between averaging 13 mph on your morning commute (typical on LA surface streets) vs. 12 mph once bike lanes are installed.
So quit your griping and think about the happier, healthier, safer, neighborhood we live in together.
No Road diet!! No removal of car lanes! Our streets are already congested! No removal of car lanes! Don’t make traffic worse.
If you were riding everyday on York Blvd. and from Ave. 50 to Eagle Rock Blvd., then you were riding those routes before the bike lanes were painted on the pavement. Bicyclists then and now may ride on the pavement, following the same traffic laws that cars must observe. What is particularly disingenuous about bike lane installation is that when the pavement narrows, such as at the bridge on York, the bike lanes disappear. Just when it gets dangerous! If Los Angeles wants bicycle lanes, it needs to find a way to separate the cyclists from auto traffic, such as the ones in North Hollywood along the former train route, or the ones in San Diego, which are not on city streets.
Another problem with the new system is that cyclists exhibit a bravado that makes everyone unsafe. For example, when a group of cyclists are travelling together, they frequently ride several abreast, and go into a car lane.
I would argue that the motorists who resent bike lanes and are inconvenienced by them present a health hazard, both physically and mentally. I would further argue that the bike lanes make traffic LESS safe rather than MORE safe. Also, the cost in motorist delay is considerably more than bicyclists want to acknowledge.
Andrea,
The dangerous stretch of Pasadena Avenue/York Boulevard you are referring to is in the City of South Pasadena and represents an epic level of failure:
https://flyingpigeon-la.com/2014/04/south-pasadena-commissioners-worth-suing-steven-ray-garcia-alexander-main-mathew-m-pendo/
As regards actual, observed and measured, safety on York Boulevard you can refer to reported crashes on the road – which have dropped by between 20% to 30% after the road diet depending on which law enforcement agency numbers you use.
It’s incredibly sad to hear people complaining of road diets and slower traffic when these things increase business and improve neighborhoods! Slower traffic means the road is not only safer for biking but pedestrians as well. Imagine if you could actually feel SAFE WALKING down Figueroa and not have to worry about getting run over by a speeding car. York is proven to be safer following the bike lane/road diet and I’m sure a similar poll would show that business has increased. Is 5 minutes more in your commute (through a neighborhood) really going to ruin your day? Is 5 minutes extra not worth the safety of other people who could use the street with you? And yes I am a bike rider. I commute to work in downtown from highland park and ride my young daughter on a bike seat to shop and play at parks all over NELA and downtown. I’m looking forward to the day with I can safely ride with her down Figueroa!
The plan is to remove a *traffic* lane.
I’ll try to make it out there on Saturday! I’ll also bring some family to the meeting on Thurs.
“I oppose slowing cars down because I care about safety!”
“Drivers hate bicyclists, but biking in bike lane is less safe than biking directly in front of an angry car driver!”
So excited about Gil Cedillo joining us.
No removal of car lanes! Bike lanes, yes. Removal of car lanes, NO!