Pedaling Revolution and Eagle Rock

I recently read Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists Are Changing American Cities. A great book covering political history of cycling in America, why Portland and Davis have succeeded in high rates of cycling, insights from various perspectives throughout and more. The book is short, easy to read, informative, engaging and anyone interested in bicycling as transportation should try to read it sometime. Bicycles aside, it was still an enjoyable book, you’ll likely only skip a few pages if you aren’t into bicycling but just want something good to read.

Now, other than recommending this book and gushing about how much I enjoyed it, I have an ‘Eagle Rock angle’ to add. This was a pleasure read so I didn’t want to take notes or think more than I had to, but there were times when I couldn’t help but to think of Eagle Rock and our local street designs and I would like to share some of those moments here.

“You know, if safety was our societal goal, we’d definitely get rid of automobiles” [Peter Jacobsen, Sacramento Public Health Consultant]

In Eagle Rock, safety, in relation to automobiles in the neighborhood, seems a constant issue. I remember when a driver struck a student heading to ERHS on Yosemite a few years back, there was talk of adding a traffic signal at a crossing which remains only marked with some paint. It seems every so often that a student is unfortunately struck while heading to or from ERHS.  I am fortunate that my worst experience involved a car nearly hitting me and my two friends when the driver refused to grant us our right-of-way when walking home. But not even experiences like that should ever occur directly adjacent to schools (or anywhere else).

Things get worse when residents think of Colorado Boulevard. The notorious crash of 2008 and the over 600 traffic citations that ensued after the collision. The cars that crashed into Swork. Daily speeding. Daily failure to yield to pedestrians.

And York Boulevard, even at one lane in each direction managed to foster a crash just over a month ago. I think if safety was the number one goal for Eagle Rock, we could do a lot by reducing space dedicated to cars and turning it over to the community.

“This not-very-rich city had the density to support a more lively street life. Many people are close enough to walk downtown, although few do. And then suddenly… you know whose fault it is? It’s the cars, it’s the manufacturers fault. People will drive as fast as they feel safe. And with all of the sound proofing and hose power and improvements, they feel they can go faster. These roads were designed for 1960′s autos. What we’re left with is old road technology and new auto technology. Now they don’t think they’re driving fast, they don’t think they’re speeding.” [From a city's public works director]

Vincent Avenue adjacent to ERHS. Walking distance from downtown Eagle Rock.

Again Colorado Boulevard springs to mind, when trolley lines where removed. New found space was turned over to cars, a mistake many of us are still trying to reverse. My anecdotal experience consists of traveling with drivers who exceed the 35mph limit (it is a limit not a minimum), as I briefly expressed in this LA Streetsblog article. These are not necessarily bad people, but they just don’t know how fast they are going with all the modern technology in cars. We should engineer the streets so that speeding is not an issue.

“More parents are driving their kids to school and…. high school now has a parking lot crowded with the cars of affluent students who could easily bike or walk but prefer the status of driving.”

Student parking lot at ERHS

Eagle Rock High School, somehow whenever a class year reaches driving age, teens who were previously chauffeured or walked or took the bus now drive themselves. Anyone living in Eagle Rock or Northeast LA really doesn’t have an excuse for driving to school– there’s Metro, DASH, walking, bicycle, skateboard, etc. I hesitate to make this reference, as I risk making others think “we’re not Europe!”, but in the Netherlands I have heard of students cycling up to 15km (about 9 miles) to get to school daily in more harsh weather than we are used to. I guess the only excuse one can make is that it is too cheap, too easy, and too glorified to drive to school, you would be a fool not to do so if you have the ability.

“… the old commercial center, a still pleasant traditional Main Street collection of businesses– although it has been it has been eclipsed in the minds of most residents by the shopping centers on the outskirts.”

Eagle Rock still has many historic buildings along its main boulevards with fun, unique, pleasant places though funnily (or not) enough, our center is also eclipsed newer developments along our ‘outskits’. By the CVS/Mc Donalds/ Vons corner of Colorado Boulevard and Figueroa Street; the Starbucks/CVS development on corner of York Boulevard and Eagle Rock Boulevard; the Walgreens/Starbucks development on Eagle Rock and Colorado; and on the Eagle Rock Plaza on the Glendale/Eagle Rock border.

“they lived in the… old streetcar neighborhood… which has good bus connections and a large number of businesses within walking distance.”

Not the best picture, but that's the 780, eastbound, on Colorado and ER Boulevard

Eagle Rock is serviced by many buses (780, 180, 181, 84, 83, 81, ER/HLP Dash…) and of course Eagle Rock has many businesses within walking distance as it was once a city, and then a streetcar town, accommodating denser design while our town was being built.

“Most of the time it just feels so good to be outside. Some days I’ll find myself riding… and the sun is setting… and you just go ‘My God, we live in such a gorgeous part of the world”

Perhaps not 'beautiful', but scenery that can be appreciated when one steps out of the car and REALLY observes their surroundings

We may not have an ocean view outdoors, but anyone in Eagle Rock can always look to the mountains, the sky, the few remains of nature close to us; go to high points in Eagle Rock and gaze at the urban landscape fused with nature; watch the sun rise or set or watch clouds travel; almost any way you slice it, we live in a gorgeous part of the world, we just need to look with our own eyes. The only problem is, we don’t notice or appreciate our surroundings traveling at 20mph+ in a metal machine that protects users almost completely from nearly any elements of their surroundings. Bicycling, more so than driving, reminds us we are humans and that we live. We get to slow down, and be part of our surroundings rather than obliviously rushing from place to place by car, breathing recirculated air, setting our own temperature, unable to look anywhere than ahead of our bullet-like travel.

And so, I recommend Pedaling Revolution, and I recommend that if you haven’t walked around town lately, or bicycled to get somewhere, do so.

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Video: York Blvd Bike Lane

This video is a few days old, so some of you may have seen it already, but here it is on the blog just in case… My ride on part of the new York Boulevard bike lane with some commentary. The bike lane is greatly appreciated but I wish we would further improve them. A smooth, colored bike lane would do wonders to increase physical and subjective safety of cyclists on York.

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Eagle Rock’s Piece of LA’s Bike Plan

As some readers may know, LA is in the process of approving an updated bike plan, which seeks to increase bicycle ridership in Los Angeles through improving conditions for cyclists. The current bike plan from 1995 has mostly gathered dust as hardly any of it has been actually built. So why should this update be any different?

We live in the 21st century. Now we have greater connectivity between residents of Los Angeles, neighborhoods, and the city. Tracking progress of the bike plan, pressing our leaders to implement, outreach, attending meetings, and communicating with fellow bike activists is much easier today than it was pre-smart phones, widely accessible internet, era.

Yes this is the LA Bike Plan, which means Eagle Rock is included in the plan. Commenting period for the plan has ended and the plan will soon be filtered through the mayor and city council for final approval. So what will we be getting from the plan?

Let me first begin with saying Eagle Rock’s portion of the bike plan has changed since the earliest draft of the plan I remember seeing. The oldest map regarding Eagle Rock in the plan I have is this one:

Hill Drive, Townsend, and various streets close to Occidental to be converted to ‘bicycle friendly streets’. Yosemite to become an ‘enhanced bike route’. Colorado, Eagle Rock, York and Figueroa to receive bike lanes. Bicycle friendly streets and enhanced bike routes are loosely defined but at their best these streets will receive traffic calming treatment to discourage major car travel along these streets and make cyclists feel safer riding. (I think an earlier version of the plan did not include the cluster of streets close to Occidental but I can’t confirm that)

This draft of the bike plan was revised and resulted in the following changes as far as Eagle Rock is concerned:

Pink/ Purple on Colorado, Figueroa, York, Eagle Rock, and Broadway denotes ‘citywide network’. These streets would receive bike lanes. Yellow denotes ‘neighborhood network’ and these streets (same as previous draft) were still slated to receive the same kinds of treatment as in the previous draft.

The most recent draft of the bike plan for Eagle Rock, the one currently circulating before final approval looks like this:

Pink/Purple streets did not change, though that color now represents streets part of LA’s ‘backbone bike network’, as opposed to ‘citywide network’. More can be learned about the backbone and what it represents here and here.

The more noticeable changes for Eagle Rock in this draft are shown in the yellow marked streets. Yellow still represents a neighborhood network. If successful, the neighborhood network will provide low traffic streets for new, or intimidated cyclists to use as alternatives to major streets such as Colorado Boulevard. The neighborhood network can also provide convenient connections to cyclists not available on major streets. The neighborhood network now includes Ellenwood, Yosemite, part of York, Townsend, the same small stretches by Occidental, Las Flores, Eagle Vista, and a small portion of Hill Drive.

The changes to the plan and the streets chosen are in part due to input from the public. Residents had opportunities to voice opinions about the plan at public meetings, online via the bike plan’s website, and webinars. I found myself only able to comment on the plan online and listen to further clarification and questions during one of the webinars.

One of the streets I am glad to see in the most recent draft is for the neighborhood network is Las Flores. In previous drafts, Hill Drive was to be in the neighborhood network, likely to serve as an alternative to Colorado Boulevard. My concern with this is was that Hill Drive, as the name of the street implies, is filled with hills! I certainly don’t ever see beginner cyclists being comfortable on Hill Drive or the street being used as a viable alternative to Colorado. Las Flores, while it is disjointed by a gap between Eagle Rock Boulevard and Maywood and not running parallel to Colorado as long as Hill Drive does, still is much more flat than Hill, and can be used as a viable alternative to Colorado for reaching major destinations from Target to Trader Joes and everything in between. Converting Las Flores into a portion of a neighborhood bicycle network can also potentially calm traffic on some of the streets it intersects with if traffic circles are installed in those intersections.

Also warmly welcomed to the neighborhood network for Eagle Rock is Ellenwood Drive and York Boulevard combination. Ellenwood and York, when combined, serve as a great alternative for Eagle Rock Boulevard for those uncomfortable with high volumes of traffic. While there is a big hill on Ellenwood between Ave 45 and York, by the time a cyclist reaches this part, the hill can be avoided by briefly going on the Eagle Rock Boulevard bike lane (or sidewalk of ER Blvd as sidewalk riding is legal in Los Angeles).

Personally, I also appreciate the inclusion of Eagle Vista. Simply looking at the map, Eagle Vista can be seen as a means of getting to the Eagle Rock Park, and perhaps a more pleasant choice than Figueroa, which is used by cars speeding to get on the freeway.

Once analyzing the current map for Eagle Rock, it is quickly noticed that cycling can be a much more simple, normal, viable and pleasant experience when going to places around Eagle Rock. If Eagle Rock does indeed receive everything listed, you’ll be hard pressed to find a route to a local destination that can’t be almost entirely done on a bicycle facilities– that is an impressive feature!

Eagle Rock is also rather lucky in that streets that aren’t included to receive bicycle facilities still have traffic calming devices. Oak Grove Drive, for example has speed humps on part of it. As do parts of Norwalk Avenue and Chickasaw Avenue. When adding up already traffic calmed streets in addition to the streets that will become more pleasant for cyclists, and bonus benefits like Ellenwood and Las Flores perhaps resulting in calmer traffic on adjacent streets, bicycling can really be a safe, ‘no-brainer’ option for many.

Here’s to hoping that bicycling can be come a normal activity in Eagle Rock again as it once was many years ago…

 

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Walk Eagle Rock Joins Flickr

Yes, Walk Eagle Rock now has a flickr.com account. Photos from my various wanderings will end up there, have almost 30 photos up already so check them out at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/walkeaglerock

Now, Walk Eagle Rock can be found on the following sites

http://www.facebook.com/walkeaglerock

http://www.twitter.com/walkeaglerock

http://www.flickr.com/walkeaglerock

and of course this wordpress blog….

New post will be up later today.

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