LACBC
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Newsletter

December 15, 2011 

In this issue
Give the Gift of LACBC Membership this Holiday Season
MONday Funday Rides to the Rose Parade on January 2nd
LACBC's Mid-Winter Merriment Returns to the Library Alehouse
ACTION ITEM: We Need More Funding for Biking & Walking in Southern California
Bike Lanes Appear on the Westside, Coming Soon to the Valley
Prioritize Your Streets: Take the BPIT Survey
Whose Streets? Your Streets! Share Your Transportation Ideas with LA/2B
LA County Bike Plan Gets a Boost from Supervisor Yaroslavsky & the Board
We're Looking for County Bike Plan Workshop Locations in Central and South LA
Video: What Is the Single Best Thing We Can Do for Our Health?
Events, Meetings, & Volunteer Opportunities
Give the Gift of LACBC Membership this Holiday Season 

 

Snow People on BikesStill looking for a gift for your cycling companion? Or do you need something for yourself to you with your New Year's Resolution to bike more in 2012 (It's cheaper than a gym membership and paying for gas at the pump!)?

 

This holiday season, give your friends, family, and yourself something unique that will keep on giving throughout the year: Give them an LACBC Gift Membership! It's a gift that provides your loved ones with useful information, bike shop discounts, invitations to members-only events, and a safer ride. Their membership packet also includes the LACBC Bicycle Resource Guide, an LA County Bikeways map, and a membership card for discounts.

 

Not only does an LACBC membership make a great gift, but it supports LACBC's work to create a better, bike-able LA County!

 

If you want your gift membership to arrive at a local address by Christmas day, please make your purchase by this Sunday, December 18th!

 

Purchase a gift membership this holiday season!

MondayFunday
MONday Funday Rides to the Rose Parade on January 2nd
 

Sunday Funday

For the past year, we've held 11 Sunday Funday rides for all types of riders in varying locations throughout the County, and now we're going to do something slightly different to open up 2012: We're having a Monday Funday Ride! (Don't worry though; the Sunday Funday Rides will resume being on the 1st Sunday of the month in February.) We really wanted to ride the Rose Parade this year, and it turns out that it's on January 2nd (a Monday) this year.

 

So join us for this family ride that will travel roughly 7 miles across Pasadena to the historic Pasadena Playhouse, where we'll climb the rooftop and watch the 123rd Rose Parade from up above!

 

Because we will be climbing very tall ladders on a rooftop with no parapet, riders must be comfortable with tall heights and agile enough to make the climb. This ride, combined with the climbing, is NOT suitable for children under 9.

 

When: Monday, January 2, 2012; Meet at 7:00 AM, Ride at 7:30 AM

Where: Hahamongna Watershed Park - Oak Grove Drive and Foothill Boulevard, La Ca�ada Flintridge (The parking lot is located in the park. Enter at the intersection of Oak Grove Drive & Foothill Blvd. The road will immediately turn to the right. At the first intersection, turn left and follow the road down to the parking lot. We will meet there.)

 

RSVP: RSVPS are REQUIRED for this ride, as this ride is limited to only 24 people! Priority will be given to current LACBC members and those who RSVP early. Please RSVP with your name, the amount of people you'll be bringing (plus the ages of any children attending), and your phone number to Carol Feucht at [email protected].

 

About Sunday Fundays: Sunday Funday Rides are free and open to LACBC members plus one guest. Interested in becoming a member? Sign up for membership online or become a member at the ride at a discounted price.

 

More info on the ride.

AlehouseLACBC's Mid-Winter Merriment Returns to the Library Alehouse
Mid-Winter Merriment
When: Tuesday, December 27; 11:30 AM - 11:00 PM
Where: Library Alehouse - 2911 Main Street, Santa Monica, 90405

We're back at the Library Alehouse to close out 2011! Stop by, grab some grub, bring your friends, and hang out. Ten percent of all sales on the 27th benefit LACBC at this fundraiser, so you'll be supporting bicycle advocacy just by eating and drinking! You'll also have the chance to to enter our raffle and win a new Tern folding bike.

Bike valet will provided by Santa Monica Spoke in the evening. If you're interested in volunteering for bike valet, please email [email protected]. Bike Valet hours are 5-10 PM in 2-3 hour shifts, and there's a special raffle for volunteers!

More info.
ACTION ITEM: We Need More Funding for Biking & Walking in Southern California

LACBC is working with partner organizations in LA, Ventura, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Imperial Counties to advocate for more regional transportation funding allocated to active transportation. In our region made up of six counties, 21% of all trips are made by bicycling and walking. Our regional planning agency - the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is currently planning on allocating only 1.3% of the regional transportation budget to walking & bicycling. Yet not only do we make up almost a quarter of all trips, but people walking & bicycling make up 25% of all traffic injuries & fatalities in Southern California.

We need more funds dedicated to improving the safety of our roadways for people who walk and bike and also to encourage more people to walk and bike for transportation and to connect to our ever expanding public transportation network. Our regional transportation budget is over $450 billion for 25 years - 1.3% is not enough for active transportation. The LA County Department of Public Health estimates that we need roughly $40 Billion or 8.8% in order to build out a connected regional bicycle and pedestrian network that improves our safety and mobility.

Fund biking and walking in Southern California
Fund biking and walking in Southern California

Our partners at VCCool in Ventura County have put together a petition and video to draw attention to this inequity in funding priorities and the many reasons why we need more funding dedicated to biking & walking.

Please sign the petition today and help us demand more funding for biking & walking!
Bike Lanes Appear on the Westside, Coming Soon to the Valley 
 Washington Place Bike Lanes
This past weekend, 0.77 miles of bike lanes were striped along Washington Place from Grand View Blvd. to Albright Ave. in the Mar Vista. Read more about it on the Eco-Village blog and LA Streetsblog.
 
Coming soon: bike lanes on Chandler in the San Fernando Valley. Read more at the LADOT Bike Blog.
Prioritize Your Streets: Take the BPIT Survey
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At last October's City of LA Bicycle Plan Implementation Team (BPIT) meeting, it was announced that an online survey would be available to allow cyclists like you to prioritize the list of bikeways planned for implementation over the course of the next 5 years.

 

You can now take that survey here (also available in Spanish). Please use it to submit your preferred bikeways street segments by January 3, 2012. Results will be presented at the next BPIT meeting on January 10, 2012, and will be incorporated into next year's implementation plans. 

 

Learn more about the survey on the LADOT Bike Blog.

Whose Streets? Your Streets! Share Your Transportation Ideas with LA/2B
LA/2B
The City of LA wants your input on our streets and the policies that influence our mobility. LA City Planning Department is updating the 
Mobility Element of the General Plan and they've created a virtual "town hall" to get your ideas on mobility and transportation. The Bicycle Master Plan is considered a chapter of the Mobility Element, but many of the existing policies that dictate our 'street standards' actually work against bicycle, pedestrian, and transit projects. This is an opportunity to help guide the policies that influence the design of our roadways.

We want to see real change and a path for livable streets included with this update.The LA County Department of Public Health recently released the Model Design Manual for Living Streets and in 2009 New York City created a visionary  street design manual for their city, these manuals are the type of guides we need to see encorporated and developed for the City of Los Angeles with the Mobility Element update. 

LA County Bike Plan Gets a Boost from Supervisor Yaroslavsky & the Board

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A few weeks ago, the LA County Board of Supervisors gave direction to the LA County Department of Public Works (DPW) to include more innovative treatment options in the the LA County Bike Plan, which covers the unincorporated communities in LA County. We've been working hard over the last weeks and months to see the County Plan strengthened and the motion  that passed on Tuesday definitely helps move the plan forward. We thank Supervisor Yaroslavsky for stepping up before the plan and the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) are approved by the County Planning Commission to strengthen the plan. His motion ensures the bike plan includes more innovative treatments and stronger provisions for the implementation of pilot treatments like cycle tracks, that will make cycling safer and more appealing to people of ages and abilities. 

 

Additionally we are pleased to see DPW staff directed to work the LA County Department of Regional Planning to integrate street standards and street cross sections included in the Model Design Manual for Living Streets, funded by the LA County Department of Public Health, into the LA County General Plan Mobility Element update that is just getting started. This will be included as a policy in the plan and be part of the staff work plan once the bike plan is adopted. This move will ensure bikeways are easier to implement and our unincorporated roadways are safer for all modes of transportation. 

 

We still want to hear from you about the County Bike Plan! Please get your feedback on the Plan before December 21st to [email protected], [email protected], and of course, us at [email protected].
 
DPW staff will be bringing the Plan and the EIR to the Planning Commission on January 11th and a staff report along with updated plan that reflects direction given by the board will be released on December 29th.
We're Looking for LA Bike Plan Workshop Locations in Central and South LA
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We have begun holding L.A. Bike Master Plan workshops in both English and Spanish throughout Central and South Los Angeles in an effort to engage low-income residents in identifying streets that have been planned under the five-year implementation strategy and to have participants voice their support and/or concerns of the bicycle infrastructure in the proposed area. We will hold community meetings throughout the 2011-2012 calendar year!   

 

Know of an organization in Central or South Los Angeles that may benefit from this community meeting? We are looking for interested organizations to take part of this engaging process! We are currently booking dates and times from Monday through Sunday. 

 

You can contact Andy Rodriguez, Bilingual Bicycle Safety Coordinator, via e-mail at: [email protected] or 213-629-2142.
Video: What Is the Single Best Thing We Can Do for Our Health? 
23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?
23 and 1/2 hours: What is the single best thing we can do for our health?
What is the single best thing we can do for our health? It's not a mystery. Walk or ride your bike!

And if this video does not make enough of a case for biking to you or your friends, check out this infographic on the benefits of biking. Highlights of the benefits of biking include:
  • The average person will lose 13 lbs in their first year of riding to work.
  • Twenty bikes can be parked in the same space as 1 car.
  • An MIT study in Lyon, France found that bikes travel 50% faster than cars during rush hour.
  • Adding 30 minutes of daily cycling saves each of us $544 in medical coast annually.
Events, Meetings, & Volunteer Opportunities

  

C.I.C.L.E.'s Toys & Mittens Ride
When: Saturday, December 17; Meet at 10 AM
Where: Burbank City Hall - 275 East Olive Ave., Burbank, 91502 
C.I.C.L.E.'s Toys and Mittens Ride will gather toys and warm articles of clothing for Burbank families in need through Burbank's Salvation Army. The relaxed-paced, 7.5-mile ride will stop at various sites in Burbank including the new BikeStop and Buena Vista Park. More info.

  

GOOD Attacks: LA's Traffic
When: Saturday, December 17; 12 PM - 3 PM
Where: West 4th Street and South Figueroa Street, Downtown LA
Currently, 81 percent of Angelenos drive to work. On average, they spend 72 hours of that drive stuck in traffic every year. Join GOOD Magazine in downtown LA to create giant human infographic to attacks L.A.'s traffic problem. More info (Facebook link). 

  

West San Gabriel Valley Bicycle Coalition Holiday Lights Bike Ride
When: Sunday, December 18; Meet at 5:00 PM
Where: Metro Gold Line - Mission St. Station, Pasadena
Join the West San Gabriel Valley Bicycle Coalition for the Holiday Lights Bike Ride around South Pasadena and San Marino this Sunday evening. Bring a toy to donate to a local charity if you can. More info (Facebook link). 

  

Walk Bike Glendale Holiday Ride
When: Sunday, December 18; Meet at 5:30 PM
Where: Nibley Park - 1103 E Mountain St.Glendale91207

Walk Bike Glendale leads a 5-mile family friendly ride through the Rossmoyne and Glendale Hills neighborhoods with a pit stop at Cafe Leon for some hot cocoa. More info (Facebook link). 

  

LACBC's Mid-Winter Merriment at the Library Alehouse
When: Tuesday, December 27; 11:30 AM - 11:00 PM
More info in newsletter.

  

Monday Funday Ride to the Rose Parade
When: Monday, January 2; Meet at 7 AM, Ride at 7:30 AM
More info in newsletter.
  
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 & Communications Manager
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

[email protected]

Connect with LACBC: www.la-bike.org Find us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Visit our blog View our photos on flickr View our videos on YouTube