LACBC
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Newsletter

September 1, 2011 

In this issue
7th Street Bike Lane Groundbreaking Press Conference
Santa Clarita Sunday Funday Ride & Meetup
New Bike Lanes Coming to Cahuenga & 1st St.
Green Paint Gets the Green Light
South Bay Update: Manhattan Beach Support, Commission Meetings Next Week
South Pasadena to Consider Bicyclist Harassment, Monterey Rd.
Share Your Bike Story & Photo to Help Build a Better, More Bike-able LA County
Dinner & Bikes Tour with Elly Blue, Joshua Ploeg, & Joe Biel
Volunteer for the LA Bike Count 2011
Help Local Bike Projects Win $2,500 from the GOOD LA Fund
Jim Swarzman Memorial Membership Drive
Event & Volunteer Opportunities

7th St. Bike Lane Groundbreaking Press Conference

 

Bobby Rides the 7th Street Bike Lane

When: Thursday, September 8th; 9 AM to 10 AM

Where: 7th & Alvarado, MacArthur Park

 

You may have seen the lanes starting to be striped along 7thStreet in the past week or two. . . but do you know how they got there?

 

Come learn more and celebrate the first bicycle lane in Central LA from the LA Bicycle Plan with LACBC, Councilman Ed Reyes, LADOT, CARECEN, our community partners, and others at this press conference! two-year campaign of LACBC's City of Lights program, our dream is now being realized! Ride along 7th from Catalina and Figueroa, as the streets of Westlake become safer for families, workers, and commuters.

 

LACBC members and supporters alike are invited to our media event. The more, the merrier. Wear your LACBC shirt if you have one! More info. View Facebook event.

Sunday Funday
Santa Clarita Sunday Funday Ride & Meetup

When: Sunday, September 4 - Meet at 9:15 AM, Ride at 9:45 AM

Where: Meet at the Wolf Creek Brewing Co. Parking Lot - 27746 McBean Parkway (Decoro and McBean Parkway), Santa Clarita,91345

 

LACBC Board President Chet Kostrzewa will lead us on a ride that's for everyone. Bring out your whole family for this ride on the Valencia bike paths for another Sunday Funday Ride!

 

Afterwards, join us for lunch at Wolf Creek Brewing (at around 11:30 AM) to discuss the latest happenings with LACBC and Santa Clarita, as the City starts to prepare for an update of its bike plan. Wolf Creek Brewing Co. has also generously offered to donate 15% of the proceeds from that day to LACBC, so invite your friends to join us!

 

For more information here. To RSVP or volunteer as a ride support, please contact Carol Feucht at [email protected] or RSVP via our Facebook event.

New Bike Lanes Coming Soon to Cahuenga and 1st

The City of Los Angeles has alerted us that Cahuenga Blvd. from Hollywood Blvd to Odin (around where the Hollywood Bowl is) and 1st St. from Boyle to Lorena are will have bike lanes striped on them within the next week or two! Work crews are expected to be out scraping paint and removing tow-away signs this weekend or early next week. Soon you'll be able to bike your picnic supplies to your favorite concerts at the Bowl in a bike lane!

Green Paint Gets the Green Light

The Federal Highway Administration and the State of California have approved the interim use of green-colored pavement treatments within bike lanes, at intersections, and in potential conflict zones where motor vehicles may cross the bike lane. We want to hear from you about where they should be implemented in L.A. County!

Read more about it here.

 

The first municipal body to review the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan was the Parks and Recreation, Planning and Parking and Public Improvement Commissions in Manhattan Beach this past Thursday. With great enthusiasm, all three commissions came together to UNANIMOUSLY vote to recommend that the Manhattan Beach City Council approve the plan.

With such a great victory in Manhattan Beach we have high hopes for the preceding cities. We're counting on all of you to help us see this through!

The Torrance Traffic Commission will all be reviewing the bike plan on Tuesday, September 6th at 7:00pm in the Katy Geissert Library Community Room.

The El Segundo Planning Commission will be reviewing the plan on Thursday, September 8th at 7:00 PM in Council Chambers.

Please demonstrate your support of the plan by joining us and voicing your support or by simply emailing the Commissions. This is especially crucial in Torrance! 

To email the Commissions, cut and paste the following language into an email, send it to the following email addresses, and please CC [email protected]:

Dear Commissioners,

 

I understand that you have an opportunity to review the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan at an upcoming meeting. I am writing to strongly urge you to support the approval of this plan in its entirety.

 

The plan addresses the safety, environmental and connectivity issues our city so greatly needs and reflects the 

community's desires. I also am aware that approval of this plan will open up the City to additional funding, which seems imperative in these trying times.

 

I am excited to see that Manhattan Beach has joined six other cities in this endeavor and am proud to be part of a community that is taking a necessary step forward. I hope that we can be an example to the other six communities by demonstrating enthusiasm and support for this unique and important effort!


Sincerely,

[Your Name]

[Your Address]

South Pasadena to Consider Bicyclist Harassment, Monterey Rd. Infrastructure

After passing an update to its Bike Master Plan on August 17th, the South Pasadena City Council will be discussing several other important bike issues at its upcoming meeting on September 7th, including what the City can do on the local level to address bicyclist harassment (e.g. City of LA anti-harassment ordinance), voting on a letter of support for SB 910, and considering bike infrastructure for Monterey Rd. (i.e. bike lanes, sharrows).

If you live, bike, or spend time in South Pasadena, the West San Gabriel Valley Bicycle Coalition encourages you to let the Council know that you support its efforts to make the community more bike friendly.  

If you cannot attend the meeting, but would like to have your voice heard, the Council can be reached at: [email protected].

South Pasadena City Council Meeting

When: Wednesday, September 7; 7:30 PM

Where: South Pasadena City Hall - 1414 Mission St., South Pasadena


Meeting agenda and staff reports can be viewed here (see agenda items 22-24).

Share Your Bike Story & Photo to Help Build a Better, More Bike-able LA County

 

Have a great bike photo and story? Share it in GOOD Magazine and CLIF Bar's bike photo and story contest, and you could win prizes for yourself PLUS a grant for a bike nonprofit of your choice (such as LACBC or any of the other worthy local bike orgs out there). 

 

To enter, submit the following here

 

1) A picture of your bike  

2) Your best story of a memorable biking experience (250 words or less) 

3) The name and contact info of your favorite bike nonprofit organization that does work in bike advocacy, safety, awareness, and/or support

 

Submissions are due Monday, September 5th.

 

If your photo and story are as chosen as one of the top 15 stories and you've designated LACBC as your bike nonprofit of choice, we'll rally our thousands of members, followers, and supporters to make sure you win your CLIF bars and LACBC wins that grant to make LA County a better, more bike-able place!

 

Learn more about the contest here.

Dinner & Bikes Tour with Elly Blue, Joshua Ploeg, & Joe Biel

Dinner & Bikes Tour

 

LACBC and Santa Monica Spoke are pleased to host the Dinner & Bikes Tour on two different nights in two different locations. Enjoy a talk about the bike economy with Elly Blue (writer for Grist, the Taking the Lane zine, Bike Portland), a vegan dinner by traveling vegan chef Joshua Ploeg, and short bikey films by filmmaker Joe Biel as part of their West Coast Dinner and Bikes Tour!

 

Dinner & Bikes (& Cupcakes) Tour - Santa Monica

When: Saturday, September 10; 7 PM - 9:00 PM

Where: 502 Colorado Ave, Santa Monica

This event is FREE to attend thanks to Lucy Dyke of the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Spoke Steering Committee! To secure your dinner and cupcake, please RSVP with your name to [email protected] and receive a free raffle ticket! SM Spoke will have goodie bags, raffle prizes, and more! Additional Raffle tickets will be available for sale at the event and help support SM Spoke. More info. See Facebook event.

 

Dinner & Bikes Tour - Downtown LA

When: Monday, September 12; 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Where: MALDEF Building, Edison Room (1st Floor) - 634 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014 (This is the same building as LACBC headquarters, but on the 1st floor)

This event is FREE to attend thanks to Flying Pigeon! Please help us estimate how many people are coming and RSVP with you name to [email protected]. More info. See Facebook event.

 

Elly, Joshua, and Joe will be mixing up the events to make it worth coming to both!

LA Bike Count: Every Cyclist Counts

Volunteer for the LA Bike Count 2011

 

We need your help with the 2011 LA Bike Count! Please sign up today and spread the word to your friends. A BIG thanks to everyone who has signed up to help already! Click here to sign up or contact Martin Lopez-Iu at [email protected]. As Josef Bray-Ali of Flying Pigeon says about the Bike Count, "We don't count if you don't."

 

The counts will be held on two days on Tuesday, September 13th (AM and PM counts) and Saturday, September 17th. We'll be counting at over 50 locations throughout the city - so sign up for a location near your home, work, or favorite restaurant! For more information on the count click here

 

Sponsor the LA Bike Count! Donate to the counts today! You'll be supporting our volunteers and helping us fund staff to analyze all of this important data. In return for your support, we'll recognize you on our website and in the final count report. Thank you to Flying Pigeon, who has already generously donated $300 to the Bike Count. If you're interested in learning more about supporting this effort, please contact Alexis Lantz at  [email protected].
Help Local Bike Projects Win $2,500 from the GOOD LA Fund

 

GOOD and EPIP L.A. want to celebrate the awesome efforts that are moving Los Angeles forward! The top-voted project will earn $2,500 to support what they're working on.

 

LA cyclists are full of good ideas, and three local bike projects are trying to garner your vote. They are:

Support your local bike projects and vote for them here. There are just 6 days left to vote!
Double Your Contribution to LACBC During the Jim Swarzman Memorial Membership Drive
Jim Swarzman Memorial Membership Drive

Your membership or contribution to LACBC will be matched during the Jim Swarzman Memorial Membership Drive, thanks to our friends at AdventureCORPS!
 
When Jim Swarzman was killed by a hit-and-run driver in early April while cycling with his fiancee and a friend down in Encinitas, we were all devastated. Jim was a gifted ultra-distance racer, a great friend of LACBC, and a staunch supporter of bicycle advocacy. His killer later turned himself in, was found guilty, and is now awaiting sentencing. Many of you have already sent your condolences to Jim's family, or honored him by contributing in his name to LACBC, and we thank you for that. 

Now, for a short time, AdventureCORPS will generously match all memberships and contributions to LACBC in Jim's honor, up to $10,000. So when you join, renew, or donate, LACBC will receive twice the amount you give. We ask that you please encourage your friends to become members now - whether they are new or long-time cyclists, whether you knew Jim personally or have been touched by hearing about his story. Big thanks to AdventureCORPS for making this possible and honoring Jim's memory in this meaningful way!

Your contribution will have TWICE the impact in helping us create safer streets for all cyclists!

 

Joinrenew, or donate today!

Events & Volunteer Opportunities
 
City of El Monte Community Bike Ride
When: Saturday, September 17; Registration starts at 8 AM, ride at 9 AM
Where: Meet at Pioneer Park - 3535 Santa Anita Blvd., El Monte
This fun family ride, brought to you by the City of El Monte and Rails to Trails, will feature a beginners' ride and a full 14-mile ride along the Emerald Necklace. Ride followed by lunch, a health expo, and a raffle. More info

ThinkBike LA Opening Session

When: Thursday, September 22; 9:00 - 10:30 AM
Where: LADOT Main Conference Room / CalTrans Building -100 S. Main St., Los Angeles, 90012

The Consulate General of the Netherlands, in cooperation with LACBC and City of Los Angeles, will host ThinkBike, a unique, bi-national bicycle promotion and design workshop! Register here for the opening session. More info.

 

ThinkBike LA Closing Session
When: Friday, September 23; 3:30 - 5:30 PM
Where: Los Angeles Police Department, Deaton Hall Auditorium - 100 West 1st Street, Los Angeles, 90012

The Consulate General of the Netherlands, in cooperation with LACBC and City of Los Angeles, will host ThinkBike, a unique, bi-national bicycle promotion and design workshop! Register here for the closing session. More info.

  

Moving Planet South Bay

When: Saturday, September 24; 10 AM

Where: Manhattan Beach, 13th St. Farmers Market/Metlox plaza area.  

We'll demonstrate our support for the South Bay Bicycle Master Plan and Vitality City Livability Plan at a fun, free, uplifting event celebrating more livable neighborhoods, better air quality, and giving our children, grandchildren, parents and grandparents a better way of life. If you would like to volunteer for this event please contact Sona Kalapura (City's Environmental Programs Manager), Joe Galliani (SBBC), or Carolyn Miller (Transition South Bay).

 

Cyclertopia's San Gabriel Valley Tri-City Tour

When: Saturday, October 1

WhereLa Puente Park - 503 N. Glendora Ave., La Puente

Rides, bike workshops, pizza, entertainment! This event is FREE and open to everyone of all ages. Registration required for the 5- and 15- mile rides. Come learn how to make La Puente, City of Industry, Hacienda Heights and surrounding areas more bike-friendly. More info

  

Los Angeles Tour de Fat

When: Saturday, October 8; parade starts at 11 AM

Where: Los Angeles State Historic Park - 1245 N Spring St, Los Angeles

New Belgium's Tour de Fat is back in LA to benefit some of your favorite local bike orgs: LACBC, C.I.C.L.E., and the Bicycle Kitchen. Join us for a celebration of bikes, fun costumes, a parade, performances, beer, and more! LACBC will once again be leading the parade, as well as providing bike valet. We'll need ride marshals, people at our booth, bike valets, and many more volunteers. If you're interested in volunteering with LACBC, contact Martin Lopez-Iu at [email protected]. Volunteers get free beer tokens. More info.

 

CicLAvia

When: Sunday, October 9; 10 AM - 3 PM

Where: East Hollywood, MacArthur Park, Downtown LA, Chinatown, Boyle Heights

It's the most wonderful time of the year, where LA transforms our streets into a playground for all to bike, walk, run, play, etc! Enjoy an expanded route for the 3rd CicLAvia! More info.

 

2nd Annual City of Lights Fundraiser - UPDATED DATE & LOCATION

When: Wednesday, October 26; 6 PM - 11 PM
Where: La Fonda Supper Club - 2501 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles 90057
Save the date! Come support City of Lights at our 2nd Annual Awards Dinner! There will be speakers, dinner, a silent auction, music, mingling, and more! More info. We're also looking for donations for our silent auction, so if have any cool bike supplies, crafts, paintings, bags, handmade goodness, etc. that you'd like donate, please contact Allison Mannos at [email protected]
Other Events Around Town

Join LACBC or Renew

 

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition is a member-supported organization that works for you to build a better, more bike-able L.A. County.

 

Members are the backbone of LACBC! Help keep LACBC strong by becoming an LACBC member (or renewing your membership) and be part of the change!
Contact Information

Carol Feucht
Membership & Online Communications Manager
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

[email protected]

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