After Kissing Major Cyclist Ass, L.A. Only Gets 'Honorable Mention' for Bike-Friendliness

By Simone Wilson Wed., Sep. 14 2011 at 3:05 PM

L.A. City Hall loves bicyclists -- but is the feeling mutual?

Los Angeles politicians have a history of bending over backward for the city's strong, united group of bike activists.

Over the last year, faced with an unusually large heap of transportation problems amid the budget crisis, even for L.A. -- potholes, bus cuts, parking, freeways are all at their worst -- the City Council jumped to support and approve everything cyclists asked for, with gusto.

Aside from avenging his own bike accident, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's interests were clearly to earn some more kudos for leading the way in smart green gaslessness. Which makes the League of American Bicyclists' new rankings even more of an ouch:

Los Angeles was not included in this year's list of 25 "Bicycle Friendly Communities." It did receive an Honorable Mention, but that wasn't enough to earn itself official "BFC certification."

According to the league's press release, "the application to become a BFC is rigorous and an educational tool in itself." So we know L.A. was trying. In 2011 alone, City Hall passed an anti-bike-harassment law throughout the city. They ardently supported California legislation that would make coming within three feet of a bike illegal. They approved a mind-boggling 1,680 ~~feet~~ miles of new ~~bike lanes~~ bikeways throughout L.A.

Still -- not good enough for BFC.

Perhaps the league caught wind that the lanes won't be rideable until approximately 2046, if they're even built at all. Bike advocate and all-around environmentalist Stephen Box recently told the Weekly: "This is a city of plans, but if we are not going to implement them, then what does it matter?"

[Update: League spokeswoman Meghan Cahill says that L.A. got an honorable mention because "they have a lot of projects that are in the planning phase," but that certification will only be possible if those projects become a reality. "Just because you say you have the whole bicycle network planned out, were not going to necessarily award you for it ... until you have it in place," she adds. Good advice in general, re: City Hall's many promises.]

Pollsters on the BikeSideLA blog heartily agree. Despite the city's desperate efforts to become the next Long Beach, 70 percent of respondents said L.A. is not bike friendly.

The survey also asked how long our car-centric city will take to earn that distinction: The majority said about five to 10 years.

Shucks. Looks like L.A. pols might have to wait until 2021 to get their gold star. Until then, bikers: Expect a lot more special treatment via favorable, if perfectly meaningless, legislation. If it wasn't before, ribbon-cutting mode is now in overdrive.

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]

Tags:

Bicycle Friendly Community, bike lanes, honorable mention, League of American Cyclists, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa

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Josh Steichmann

Man, when you can't even get the lede right (LA hasn't gotten even close to giving bike advocates what they ask for, though it's made a modicum of progress), what hope does the rest of this have to be a coherent article?

Have you ever ridden a bike in LA? Or is this just a reflexive spasm of auto-philia?

David Huntsman

Simone, are you sure you meant ass-kissing? I don't see the point of that reference? Why would there be ass-kissing? What favors is the city government seeking from cyclists?

Joe Linton

It's not accurate to write 1680 miles of bike "lanes" the city plan has about 500 miles of Bike Lanes and about 1000 miles of other stuff: bike paths, bike routes, bike boulevards, and bike routes. (Based on my personal totals it's not actually 1680 either, though that's what the plan states, but the plan contains errors, typos, etc.)

Generally it's more accurate to say something like "1680 miles of bikeways" or "1680 miles of bike facilities"

ShakinBoots

Thank you for pointing this out. It is an important correction. Unfortunately, the LA Weekly doesn't care about actual facts, especially when the facts don't support their rants.

Aahz

THIS is simply because, for all mayor Lawn-Gnomes blather, L.A. is NOT a bike-friendly town!! HOLLYWOOD now has the LAPD issuing tickets to bicyclists who ride on the Star-walk!! DESPITE a State law SPECIFICALLY STATING that bikes CAN be on sidewalks in ANY "Town, City or Municipality " that DOES NOT HAVE LISTED AND LABELLED BIKE LANES!! Bike friendly my hairy sack.

ShakinBoots

Let me guess, Simone must be Pam to Romero's Jim?

LA Weekly can't seem to make up it's hypocritical mind. When bike advocacy was gaining momentum, they tried to jump on the bandwaggon with a couple of pro bike articles. Now that Romero got called out on his anti-bike BS, it seems the Weakly only cares about throwing stones and defending their bad choice to keep the talentless hack on his soapbox.

Admit it, you guys done f*d up by giving the hack a platform.

If you were a credible rag, you would have pulled his personal rants offline and gotten yourselves back on track, but instead you rally behind his nonsense with more crap posts by more crap writers. Go diversity!! You all sound like a bunch of whiney school kids.

Simone Wilson

not pro-bike or anti-bike. more pro-competency and anti-PR BS

ShakinBoots

Well "Pam", I'm going to have to call BS on your comment. How are you going to say your recent posts are NOT anti-bike. What a bunch of liars you guys are.

Simone Wilson

i am completely neutral on biking. do it on the weekends, coexist with bikers on the weekdays. really not sure where you're getting the anti-bike vibe. (http://blogs.laweekly.com/info... and as far as this post, mostly just making fun of city hall...

ohreally?

you sound so bitter and childish. i hope i grow up to be nothing like you.is all of la weekly's staff a bunch of whiney babies that have a little soap box they can crawl on top of?

Bikinginla

My God, this is a vile little article. So much for any pretense of objectivity or professionalism — let alone truth. You make Glenn Beck look like Walter Cronkite.