LACBC
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition Newsletter

January 24, 2013 

In this issue
Speak Up and Show Your Support at LA Bike Plan Hearings in February
Ride Westwood on February 9 & Sign the Petition
Ride Figueroa on February 10 & Sign the Petition
Bike the Vote: Candidate Forum for CD 1 Announced, Plus Interviews from CD 11 Forum
ACTION ITEM: Tell Governor Brown to Preserve Statewide Funding for Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs
Pigskins & Pedals: A Sunday Funday Tour of LA's Historic Stadiums
LACBC's Bike Prom on February 23: Early Bird Tickets Now Available
The 13th Annual Los Angeles River Ride Is on June 9th
What's Ringing Our Bike Bells: Pennsylvania Ave. Bike Lanes Co-Star in Presidential Inauguration
Events, Meetings, & Volunteer Opportunities
Speak Up and Show Your Support at LA Bike Plan Hearings in February
BikePlanHearings
Last week, the Los Angeles City Planning Department released the draft Environmental Impact Report for the next 5 years of Bike Lane implementation. This plan covers 39.5 miles of bike lanes.

Due to the passage of A.B. 2245 last year by Governor Brown, the EIR process will not be as lengthy as it has been in the past, but the City will instead be relying on public outreach. 
That's where you come in. Residents who would benefit from these improvements need to speak in favor of these bike lanes at these meetings. The city needs to hear from you. 

City Planning will be holding region-specific public bike lane hearings on the following dates:


Northeast Area

When: Wednesday, February 13; 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Where: Los Angeles River Center and Gardens, California Building - 570 West Avenue 26, Los Angeles, CA 90065

RSVP and spread the word through our Facebook event.


Central Area

When: Thursday, February 14; 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Where: Caltrans District 7 Building, Rm 1.040 A, B, and C - 100 South Main Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

RSVP and spread the word through our Facebook event.

 

West Area

When: Tuesday, February 19; 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Where: LADOT Western Parking Enforcement Office - 11214 West Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90064

RSVP and spread the word through our Facebook event.  

 

Valley Area

When: Thursday, February 21, 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Where: North Hollywood Regional Library - 5211 Tujunga Ave., North Hollywood, CA 91601

RSVP and spread the word through our Facebook event.

 

Additionally, a webinar will be held on Wednesday, February 20 at 2 PM.

 

We'll be contacting you about hearings in your neighborhood over the next few weeks. In order to implement these bike lanes, a travel lane or parking may need to be removed in certain cases, and we need people like you who care about safer streets to come out to voice support for these projects.


You can read more about the draft EIR and the street segments aching for some bike lanes on Los Angeles Streetsblog. Many--Lankershim, Figueroa (and Colorado), Westwood--will be familiar to you through our Neighborhood Bike Ambassador campaigns, but we're sure you'll be excited about other streets. Venice! 7th! Martin Luther King Blvd.! Cesar Chavez! And beyond!

Ride Westwood on February 9 & Sign the Petition   
 RideWestwood
Ride Westwood is an LACBC West 
Neighborhood Bike Ambassador and Bicycle Coalition at UCLA campaign designed to educate and inform folks about proposed bike lanes on Westwood. This proposed project is part of the 2010 Bicycle Master Plan and is meant to connect to a larger network of bicycle paths, lanes, and routes for everyone to use. This particular project may require the removal of a travel lane to accommodate for these enhancements.
 

Here are a few ways you can take action:

 

1. Join LACBC the Bicycle Coalition at UCLA for Ride Westwood! The ride is on Saturday, February 9 and will have two ride start locations:

 

Ride Westwood
Ride meet-up location #1
When: Saturday, February 9; 10:00 AM
Where: UCLA's Ackerman Bus Terminal
Ride meet-up location #2
When: Saturday, February 9; 11:00 AM
Where: Marshall P. Riddick Youth Center - 2634 Overland Ave., Los Angeles, 90064
RSVP and spread the word through this Facebook event. 

 

2. Sign our Ride Westwood Petition on change.org. We already have over 240 signatures. Let's get some more!

 

3. Join our mailing list--please contact Alek Bartrosouf at [email protected] to be placed on our Ride Westwood mailing list. You will be notified of upcoming meetings, events, and other critical info related to the campaign. Thanks for your help!

 

For more information about our Ride Westwood campaign or are interested in volunteering,

feel free to contact Alek Bartrosouf at [email protected] or (213) 629-2142.

Ride Figueroa on February 10 & Sign the Petition
 RideFigueroa
Ride Figueroa is an LACBC East Bike Ambassador campaign designed to educate and inform folks in Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Cypress Park, Mount Washington, and other surrounding areas about a proposed bike lane on Figueroa between Colorado and San Fernando. This proposed project is part of the 2010 Bicycle Master Plan and is meant to connect to a larger network of bicycle paths, lanes, and routes for everyone to use. This particular project may require the removal of a travel lane to accommodate for these enhancements.
 

Here are a few ways you can take action:

 

1. Join us on a ride and invite your friends! Ride Figueroa! We've set a date for this ride, and it is Sunday, February 10 at 10:30 AM. This ride will end at Livable Streets Candidate Forum for CD 1 at Occidental College before 1 PM.

 
Ride Figueroa
When: Sunday, February 10; Meet at 10:30 AM
Where: Greayer's Oak Park (at Marmion Way and Figueroa) - across the street from the Bike Oven in Highland Park.
RSVP and spread the word through our Facebook event.
 

2. Sign our Ride Figueroa petition on change.org. We already have over 500 signatures; help us get even more!

 

3. Join our mailing list--please contact Alek Bartrosouf at [email protected] to be placed on our Ride Figueroa mailing list. You will be notified of upcoming meetings, events, and other critical info related to the campaign. Thanks for your help!

 

For more information about our Ride Figueroa campaign or are interested in volunteering,

feel free to contact Alek Bartrosouf at [email protected] or (213) 629-2142.

Bike the Vote: Candidate Forum for CD 1 Announced, Plus Interviews from CD 11 Forum

Local elections are coming in March, and are you wondering where your candidate stands on bike and pedestrian policy? How about the hit-and-run epidemic? Bike Plan implementation? Road maintenance?

While LACBC is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and cannot endorse candidates, we can get candidates' views on bike planning and policy to better inform voters on where these candidates stand on issues that affect you.
 
Candidate Surveys for Mayoral and Council Candidates
 Earlier last week, we sent out our candidate surveys to all of the mayoral candidates and all of the city council candidates. We'll post up responses on our blog beginning on January 31st for the mayoral candidates and beginning on February 7th for the council candidates. Stay tuned for updates from our candidates.

Additionally, we have partnered with Los Angeles Streetsblog, Occidental College's Urban & Environmental Policy Program, the Bus Riders Union, Los Angeles Walks, and Southern California Transit Advocates, to get the five leading mayoral candidates on film to answer questions posed by our partners and us. All five leading candidates--Eric Garcetti, Wendy Greuel, Kevin James, Jan Perry, and Emanuel Pleitez--have committed.
 
Candidate Forums for CD 11 and CD 1
CD11
On Tuesday, we co-hosted a
Livable Streets Candidate Forum for CD 11 with Los Angeles Streetsblog, Los Angeles Walks, and Bikerowave. All four CD 11 candidates attended, and Los Angeles Streetsblog has one-one-one interviews with each of the candidates: Frederick Sutton, Tina Hess, Odysseus Bostick, and Mike Bonin.

Now, we move onto to a candidate forum for Council District 1! Following our Ride Figueroa event, we will be co-hosting a Livable Streets Candidate Forum for CD 1 with Los Angeles Streetsblog, Los Angeles Walks, and Occidental College's Environmental and Urban Policy Program. Council District 1, which is currently represented by Council Member Ed Reyes, includes the communities of Glassell Park, Cypress Park, Highland Park, Mt. Washington, Elysian Park, Echo Park, Westlake, Angeleno Heights, Chinatown, Lincoln Heights, Montecito Heights, Pico Union, Adams-Normandie, Mid-Cities, and MacArthur Park, among others.
 
So far, we have Jose A. Gardea and Jesse Rosas confirmed.
 
Livable Streets Candidate Forum for CD 1
When: Sunday, February 10; 1 PM
Where: Occidental College's Herrick Memorial Chapel Lower Herrick Room - 1600 Campus Rd, Los Angeles, 90041

Get Involved with LACBC's Civic Engagement Committee

 

Lastly, if you want to be more involved in influencing candidates, join LACBC's Civic Engagement Committee. The next meeting is 6:45 pm on Tuesday, January 29th at the Pitfire Pizza on Second and Main in Downtown LA. Email Ted Rogers at [email protected] to be added to the online discussion list. 
ACTION ITEM: Tell Governor Brown to Preserve Statewide Funding for Bicycle and Pedestrian Programs

For the 2013 budget, California Governor Jerry Brown has proposed to consolidate several bicycle and pedestrians programs into the Active Transportation Program (ATP). The goal is to create one funding source for projects that are currently often funded by a combination of programs like Safe Routes to School, Transportation Alternatives Program, the Recreational Trails program (which funds hiking and mountain bike trails, among other things), Environmental Enhancement and Mitigation Program, and the Bicycle Transportation Account.  While finding efficiencies is important, we need to make sure that the value of the individual programs is not lost in the consolidation and that overall funding levels for bicycle and pedestrian programs remain steady or increase.  

 

Sign this petition crafted by a coalition of organizations that include CalBike, Safe Routes to School and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy to increase funding for active transportation and protect dedicated funding for specific programs.

The deadline to sign is next Monday, January 28th at 5 PM.

Sign the petition today!
Pigskins & Pedals: A Sunday Funday Tour of LA's Historic Stadiums 
SundayFunday 

When: Sunday, February 3; Meet at 9:30 AM, Ride at 10:00 AM

Where: Meet at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum - 3939 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles. Meet near the double peristyle entrance at the East end of the Coliseum.

 

It's Super Bowl Sunday, and what better way to spend it than riding your bike and checking out the Coliseum (host of the first Super Bowl in 1967) and the Rose Bowl (host of 5 Super Bowls)! Will Farmer's Field be built near the LA Convention Center? Will it have bike parking? Which vagabond NFL franchise may end up becoming LA's third NFL team? Who knows? These, and other questions will not be answered on the ride. But we will travel between the two stadiums for a roundtrip total of about 35 miles, and faster riders may have time to toss around the pigskin while waiting for others to catch up before departing to Super Bowl viewing parties. Team jerseys encouraged ...even if your team isn't playing in the big game.

 

RSVP: To RSVP or volunteer as ride support, please contact Carol Feucht, LACBC Membership & Communications Director, at [email protected].

 

About Sunday Fundays: Sunday Funday Rides are free 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.

LACBC's Bike Prom on February 23rd: Early Bird Tickets Now Available
BikeProm

Time to get footloose for a totally gnarly bike prom!

 

Did you skip your actual prom? Are you glad you did or wish you hadn't? Do you long for the Eighties? Or do you wonder what they were like AND what an 80s prom even means?

 

Well, now's your chance to do it up right... on your bicycle!

 

Join LACBC as we get down with the RAD sounds of DJs Kenefunkport and Skramble. There will be: Dancing! A raffle! A photobooth! Bike valet! And the crowning of a Bike Prom King and Queen! 80s prom attire is strongly encouraged. 

 

LACBC Bike Prom

When: Saturday, February 23; 8 PM - 12 AM

Where: American Legion Hall Post 206 - 227 N. Ave. 55, Los Angeles, 90042 (4 blocks west of the Highland Park Gold Line Station) - map

 

Purchase your tickets here.

 

Early bird prices for the month of January are $5 for LACBC members  and $10 for nonmembers. Prices become $10 for members and $15 for nonmembers in February.

 

Interested in volunteering on our Bike Prom Committee? We'll need help with decorations, registration, and bike valet. Please email Martin Lopez-Iu at [email protected] if you're interested in joining the Bike Prom Committee!

Get Ready for the 13th Annual Los Angeles River Ride on June 9th

Mark your calendars! We have a little under 6 months until LACBC's biggest ride returns on Sunday, June 9th. Perhaps your goal for 2013 is to ride a Century or to get your whole family out on bike ride together. Let us help!
RiverRide
13th Annual Los Angeles River Ride
When: Sunday, June 9, 2013
Where: Start at the Autry Center at 4700 Western Heritage Way, Griffith Park

The Los Angeles River Ride is:
  • 7 great rides for all ages and abilities! We have a 100-mile Century, 70-mile ride, 70-mile Reverse Ride (starting in Long Beach and ending there), 50-mile, 36-mile, 15-mile Family Ride, and Kids' Bike Rodeo. All rides are supported with volunteer ride marshals.
  • A great way to explore the Los Angeles River and Los Angeles as a whole. This County is more connected than you think, and LA really does have a river. Learn more about what Los Angeles has to offer on this ride. 
  • LACBC's biggest fundraiser. Your registration fees help us work for a better, more bike-able LA County. Want to do more? Sign up for LACBC membership with your River Ride registration and get $10 off the regular membership price.

Registration is now open! Learn more about the River Ride at la-bike.org/riverride.

What's Ringing Our Bike Bells: Pennsylvania Ave. Bike Lanes Co-Star in Presidential Inauguration

For most folks watching Monday's presidential inauguration, they may have noticed what Michelle Obama was wearing or that Beyonce may or may not have been lip-syncing the national anthem. But for all us bike infrastructure aficionados out there, those median bike lanes on Pennsylvania Ave. that the President and the First Lady walked down were on our minds. You can see a short video from ABC News here.

The bike lanes that lead to the White House were installed in 2010, so this is the first time a presidential inauguration has put them on full display. Perhaps down the bike-laned road, we'll see a future president riding them on inauguration day!

You can read more about the supporting role the bike lanes played on Streefilms.
Events, Meetings, & Volunteer Opportunities
 
 

Downey Bicycle Coalition's Inaugural Monthly Community Bike Ride

When: Saturday, January 26; Meet at 8 AM, Ride at 8:30 AM
Where: Southwest parking lot of Apollo Park - 12544 Rives Avenue, Downey

Join LACBC's newest chapter, the Downey Bicycle Coalition, for its inaugural monthly community bicycle ride! This first ride is family-friendly and will feature a 5-mile loop through the City of Downey. Questions about the ride or the DBC? Feel free to contact Roger Pardo at [email protected].

 
Carson Master Plan of Bikeways Workshop
When: Saturday, January 26; 10:00 - 11:30 AM
Where: Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald Community Center, Multi-Purpose Room #111 - 801 E. Carson Street, Carson
We encourage everyone to attend our 2nd public meeting on the Carson Master Plan of Bikeways. Our first meeting in 2012 wrapped up with important suggestions from the community, consultants, and staff. Now with a draft of the plan, we want to reach out to the community once again and get more feedback on the proposed bikeways.

�Avancemos! Move LA Forward!
When: Friday, February 1; 8 AM
Where: Los Angeles Union Station, Main Concourse
Join Move LA for an exciting day full of presentations and discussions about transit in the region to move Los Angeles forward. LACBC will be providing complimentary bike valet. Email martin@la-bike to volunteer for bike valet, and the first 3 volunteers will receive free admission. Register for Avancemos here
 
Sunday Funday Ride
When: Sunday, February 3; meet at 9:30 AM, ride at 10:00 AM 

More info in newsletter.

 

Ride Westwood

When: Saturday, February 9

More info in newsletter.

 

Ride Figueroa

When: Sunday, February 10

More info in newsletter

 

Candidate Forum for Council District 11

When: Sunday, February 10; 1 PM

More info in newsletter

 

Montebello Bicycle Feasibility Study Public Hearing
When: Monday, February 11; 6:00 PM
Where: Montebello City Hall - 1600 W. Beverly Blvd., Montebello, 90640
The city will be hosting a community meeting regarding the bike feasibility study. This is an opportunity for the community to give their comments and feedback regarding the study. Join local chapter Montebello Bicycle Coalition and see their Facebook event.

 

Northeast Area Bike Lane Hearing

When: Wednesday, February 13; 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

More info in newsletter.

 

Central Area Bike Lane Hearing

When: Thursday, February 14; 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

More info in newsletter

 

West Area Bike Lane Hearing

When: Tuesday, February 19; 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

More info in newsletter.

 

Valley Area Bike Lane Hearing

When: Thursday, February 21, 6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

More info in newsletter.

 

LACBC Bike Prom
When: Saturday, February 23; 8 PM
More info in newsletter.
 
LA Chinatown Firecracker Run and Bike Ride
When: Saturday, February 23 and Sunday, February 24
Where: Chinatown
Bike the 20-mile or 30-mile bike ride, or run the 5K or 10K run. LACBC's bike valet will be available once again after the bike ride on Saturday. Also, if you sign up to participate, make sure to add that LACBC referred you so that part of your registration fee will benefit LACBC. More info at firecracker10k.org.

13th Annual Los Angeles River Ride
When: Sunday, June 9
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 Director
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

[email protected]

 

 

Thanks for reading/scrolling all the way through. You are my favorite person. See you in February?

Let's be friends! 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