Los Angeles

Shining a Light on the Bicycling Community

From Bicycling.com

By Riley Missel

As the summer evening sky turns from orange to purple to navy, traffic in the Los Angeles bike lanes dwindles until just a few riders remain toodling by, their path unaffected by the surrounding darkness thanks to a single bulb mounted to their forks—a Dynamo light.

This bicycle-mounted beacon is powered by its passenger’s energy to illuminate the road ahead—for the rider and everyone following them. Bike mechanic Jimmy Lizama custom-fits these lights for cyclists out of his Koreatown shop called Relámpago Wheelery, where he builds wheels by hand as well. But according to him, those services just help pay the rent for what he’s really doing there.

“Ultimately, Relámpago is social engagement within the bicycle community,” he said. A Dynamo light of a shop, if you will. Fueled by Lizama’s passion and his surrounding community’s enthusiastic response, Relámpago is illuminating the future of energy use, mobility, and human connection in downtown Los Angeles.

One such way the shop fosters human connection is by hosting mobile karaoke nights. Oh yes, mobile—they hook up a bike trailer to two tandems to serve as the stage, complete with speakers and a microphone. As they tow their singer through the streets of Los Angeles, the audience pedals along behind on their own bikes laughing and singing along. Usually, Relámpago teams up to host these events with other community programs raising awareness for a cause like women’s rights, immigration rights, or water rights. People meet each other, make friends, and find ways they can help each other live better in their community.

Lizama’s goal is to energize his community in the most accessible, sustainable way possible—after a bike. “It amplifies its human’s energy,” he said. His favorite way he sees this concept in motion is on a cargo bike: With simply the power of your legs, you can transport yourself as well as another person, or a bikeload of things.

Photo by Wayne Bishop on Unsplash

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Healthy Streets LA is at city council now!

What is the Healthy Streets LA ballot measure?

The ballot measure will require the City of Los Angeles to implement its Mobility Plan 2035 whenever the City repaves or otherwise works on a street. Doing so will save money, reduce traffic, make the streets safer, and give people more options to get around town, helping to clean our air. You can read the full text of the measure here. Here is a Google Slides Overview.

Why is the measure needed?

Since the passage of the Mobility Plan in 2015, Los Angeles has only implemented 95 miles out of 3,137 miles planned (about 3% in 7 years). Our city is ignoring its own plan, and even worse, sometimes working against it. A legal mandate is needed to get the city to do what they have already said they want to do, and to give us, its residents, cleaner air, safer streets, less traffic, and options on how we get around town.

If it passed, what changes would I see in the city?

The change would be dramatic. You would see a city that is inviting to walk in, safer to bike in, faster to take the bus in, and easier to get around, all while saving lives, reducing traffic, and improving air quality.

What needs to happen to get the measure on the ballot?

We need to collect approximately 93,000 signatures from registered voters in the City of Los Angeles in 100 days, starting around mid February. While that may sound like a lot, it’s doable! Our goal is to have 250 volunteers collecting signatures for about four hours per week.

 

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7 L.A. cyclists share how to go car-free, ride safely and have fun

From LATimes.com

By Jonah Valdez

At its best, biking in L.A. is a cost-effective, climate-friendly means of transportation, leisure and exercise. Yet at its worst, biking in L.A. remains a dangerous errand of twisting through an incomplete network of fading white paint, miles of unprotected bike lanes that vanish into thoroughfares where cyclists compete with cars moving at high speeds.

“The concern is very simple,” bike activist Michael Schneider said. “People feel like they’re gonna die if they bike in L.A.”

Over the past five years, 96 cyclists have been killed on Los Angeles roads, an average of 18 a year, according to LAPD data. So far this year, six have died, including Andrew Jelmert, a 77-year-old real estate agent struck by a driver in Griffith Park in April, and days later, Leonidas Accip Serech who was killed in a hit-and-run crash in Koreatown. That same week, a third cyclist, John Hermoso, was killed while riding near Santa Clarita, outside Los Angeles city limits.

And yet a hardy 3% of L.A. residents, about 120,000 people, through wit, will, joy or necessity, carve out their daily commutes and other trips on two wheels.

Michael Runnels, an assistant professor of business law at Cal State L.A., speeds down Griffith Park hills, catching glimpses of the sun rising over the city. Lena Williams, a community organizer, slows down to take in the murals of South L.A. that reflect their experience as a Black queer person. Through thin rubber tires, cyclists feel the city’s inequality, gliding between neighborhoods with smooth pavement and those whose roads are riddled with potholes.

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

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