Figueroa For All!

(Screenshot from Figueroa For All’s website– the Cypress Park Neighborhood Council meeting for Tuesday has been cancelled.)

Readers of this blog are probably familiar with Take Back The Boulevard (TBTB) – Eagle Rock’s community initiative to revitalize Colorado Boulevard through transforming the street to create a more pedestrian friendly environment. However, readers may be unaware there is a similar grassroots movement afoot to do the same for North Figueroa Street– Figueroa For All (or fig4all as it is known on twitter).

Figueroa For All, as its recently launched website states, seeks to make North Figueroa a more livable street– this includes advocating for bike lanes on the street between Colorado Boulevard and San Fernando Road. Figueroa For All’s website will be the go-to place for anyone wishing to keep up with or support the initiative’s efforts.

Are you interested in helping Figueroa For All and bringing bike lanes to North Figueroa? Here are four things you can do:

1) Write an email addressed to bikes@asnc.us and cypressparknc12@gmail.com sharing your support for buffered bike lanes on North Figueroa Street. Your email can be brief, here’s a sample letter:

To Whom It May Concern,

My name is (insert your name), I live in (insert your zip code). I support the implementation of buffered bike lanes on North Figueroa Street as a measure to improve safety for all road users on the street. Figueroa is a dangerous street, especially for pedestrians, and buffered bike lanes will make it easier to cross the street safely.

Thank you for your time,

(Your Name)

(Your Address/Zip Code)

Feel free to cc Council Members Ed Reyes (councilmember.reyes@lacity.org) and Jose Huizar (councilmember.huizar@lacity.org) in your email.

2) Attend public meetings and speak in favor of bike lanes.

The Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council will hold a meeting TONIGHT, May 20th. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. and the meeting location is Ramona Hall, 4580 N Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90065.

(The Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood Council will hold a meeting as well in the near future but a specific meeting date and location has yet to be determined.)

If possible, bring someone with you to the meeting– every voice will have an impact.

3) Sign this online petition which will be delivered to the local neighborhood councils by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition

4) Pass on this information to anyone you know that may support bike lanes on North Figueroa Street.

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Addressing Concerns With Implementing Bike Lanes on Colorado Boulevard

(“Creating bike lanes by reducing the number of lanes available to motorists will hurt businesses,” one of the many arguments presented against bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard. See “Bike Lane Concern #4″ below to find out if bike lanes are really likely to hurt local business)

Bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard, as planned in the Los Angeles Bike Plan, are coming closer to being a reality– a meeting on March 27th hosted by council member Huizar’s office will be held to determine based on community input how to move forward, if at all, with bike lanes on Eagle Rock’s main street.

During on-going opportunities for community input throughout phases of the Bike Plan formation, the Bike Plan’s environmental impact review, and most recently at a public hearing regarding the results of the environmental impact review comments have been mostly positive. However, now concerns about the potential impact bike lanes may are popping up in growing numbers. There is nothing wrong with this, concerns are well warranted for any proposed changes in town and a change to Colorado Boulevard’s public right-of-way will affect daily travel for many.

To gain a clearer perspective of what the current circumstances are and what may possibly change as a result of bike lanes being implemented, it may be beneficial to have the recurring concerns and questions people have regarding bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard actually be addressed. That’s what this blog post will attempt to do– address concerns that have been raised in conversations about bike lanes in the community.

Bike Lane Concern #1: “Shouldn’t we spend money on (insert priority here) instead?

• With city services getting cut left and right many rightfully feel bike lanes should not be a priority for the city. Some say we should spend the money on something more important, like police officers, keeping libraries open, after school programs, paving streets, etc. Important as these services are, the money that would be spent installing bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard would come from a portion of the 2008, voter-approved, Measure R specifically intended for bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements. Also,  re-striping streets to create bike lanes is relatively cheap– even if the money could go elsewhere there are few services that it could substantially fund.

Bike Lane Concern #2: “Reducing the number of lanes available to motorists will cause a traffic nightmare!”

• It seems intuitive– removing the number of lanes available to motorists will cause traffic to back up, especially during peak-hours, so much so that drivers will move at a near crawl. According to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s (LADOT) own estimates, converting one lane in each direction to create bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard will only impact peak-hour travel (morning and evening rush hour)– adding no more than about 3 minutes to the time it takes to travel the three miles from Eagle Rock’s border with the City of Glendale to Eagle Rock’s border with the City of Pasadena. To put things in perspective, this is the equivalent of listening to one extra song on the radio during one’s commute, and this is under the LADOT’s “worst-case scenario” estimate. The reason for the minimal impact bike lanes are projected to have on Colorado Boulevard is likely because the street carries very little traffic relative to it’s engineered capacity. The street is engineered to carry between 30,000 to 50,000 trips per day yet for traffic counts conducted over the past 15 years seldom has the street carried above 35,000 trips per day. Colorado Boulevard’s relatively low levels of traffic become evident when there are unexpected lane closures during rush hour and traffic manages to move just fine.

Bike Lane Concern #3: “The street is just fine the way it is– no need for bike lanes.” and  ”If the street isn’t broken, don’t fix it.”

• This concern with bike lanes is entirely subjective, though because the street carries little traffic relative to it’s engineered capacity and because an average of a crash a week occur on Colorado Boulevard there is reason to believe that the street is not fine and that it is broken, statistically speaking. Year after year the leading causes of crashes along Colorado Boulevard are speeding, failure to yield right-of-way, and running red lights– all these things happen when a street is engineered poorly and encourages dangerous, illegal behavior. Following a horrific crash in 2008 caused by an illegal street race over 600 tickets were issued to people for speeding on Colorado Boulevard. The crash, but especially the 600 speeding tickets issued in the wake of the crash, demonstrate the street is surely broken if so many people are unable to adhere to the current 35mph speed limit.

Bike Lane Concern #4: “Bike lanes will be bad for local business”

• Nobody wants to hurt local businesses– they make Colorado Boulevard the attractive, interesting street that it is. Without local businesses, Colorado Boulevard would be indistinguishable from any other business corridor lined with big box retailers and chain restaurants. Why bike lanes would hurt local businesses any more than maintaining the status quo of daily unsafe speeding and weekly crashes is unclear, though the logic seems to go something like this: “Bike lanes will slow down traffic on Colorado Boulevard so much so that people will stop patronizing local businesses because it will take too long to make a quick visit to their favorite restaurant or boutique.” There could be merit to this argument though there is not hard evidence to suggest that reducing the number of lanes available to motorists will be bad for business. A case study of the business corridor along York Boulevard in Highland Park, just south of Colorado Boulevard, by UCLA student researcher Cullen McCormick demonstrated that reducing the number of lanes available to motorists to create bike lanes on York Boulevard did not hurt business. Meanwhile, a growing number of studies in other cities show bike lanes are actually proving to be beneficial to local businesses. Perhaps worst for local business is relying on people to drive to there in the face of escalating gas prices and limited amount of convenient parking. Why not make cycling a pleasant, viable option so people don’t have to spend money in gas and parking to patronize their favorite local business?

Bike Lane Concern #5: “Reducing the number of lanes available to motorists to create bike lanes will hurt emergency response times!” and “We need to maintain the number of lanes available to motorists so that we don’t delay emergence responders!”

• Naturally nobody wants to delay emergence responders and potentially risk losing lives because people can’t get medical attention quickly enough. It is very understandable and commendable to have safety be a prime consideration. However, perhaps this concern is a little overstated, let’s explore why.Firstly, the local Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Station on York Boulevard has not raised concerns to the LADOT about being able to respond to emergencies. In Downtown LA, at the request of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), the LADOT will remove a bike lane on 1st street. If there were a significant impact on the ability for emergency responders to reach their destinations because of bike lanes on York Boulevard, the LADOT would remove the bike lanes immediately.
• Also, as noted by Tom Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive The Way We Do and What It Says About Us, generally speaking any time saved by emergency responders by not implementing a traffic calming measure is negligible. In fact, Vanderbilt notes the status quo is likely more dangerous– as he succinctly puts it “speeding cars have surely claimed more lives than speeding responders have saved.” If we turn to York Boulevard again, we see what bike lanes may mean for Colorado Boulevard. The number of crashes on York Boulevard went down following the implementation of a “road diet” that reduced the number of travel lanes available to motorists. Part of York Boulevard went on a “road diet” in 2006 and utilizing traffic collision data available through UC Berkeley’s Traffic Injury Mapping System one will note that from 2002 to 2005, there were 92 crashes on the section of York Boulevard that would eventually go on a “road diet.” From 2006 to 2009 that same stretch of York Boulevard saw only 61 crashes. Comparing pre- and post- “road diet” data on York Boulevard show additional safety benefits.  The number of misdemeanor and felony hit-and-runs are on a decline and as are the collective number of visible, severe, and fatal injuries. Collision data from York Boulevard suggests there is reason to believe that reducing the number of lanes available to motorists will make Colorado Boulevard safer and reduce the need for emergency responders to go to the scene of preventable crashes.

Bike Lane Concern #6: “Are there enough people cycling to warrant reducing the number of lanes available to motorists?” or, “do bicyclists really deserve bike lanes until they constitute a significant proportion of daily travel on Colorado Boulevard?”

• There are a number of ways to approach this though the LADOT’s simple response to this concern is that the bike lanes are intended to increase the number of people the choose to cycle for local trips. People sometimes respond to this by saying “Eagle Rock Boulevard has bike lanes but hardly anyone uses them.” This is true, and this is most likely because the bike lane does not provide sufficient subjective safety for the average person to feel comfortable cycling in it. Many people who oppose bike lanes say “I wouldn’t feel safe riding in a mere painted bike lane, drivers can still veer into it.” This is why the proposed bike lane design on Colorado Boulevard is a more substantial, a design called a “buffered bike lane,” that has has demonstrated to have vastly increased the number of journeys made by bicycle on Spring Street in Downtown LA. The Eagle Rock Boulevard bike lane is a good example of what a low quality, minimal bike facility produces– low levels of cycling.  Additionally, the LADOT has frequently stated at public meetings that the more complete a network of bicycle facilities there is, the more people will cycle. Part of the reason why few people use the bike lanes on Eagle Rock Boulevard is that in addition to providing low levels of subjective safety, the Eagle Rock Boulevard bike lanes only connect to the one other bike facility– the bike lanes on York Boulevard (which did not extend beyond Avenue 54 until recently).
• Though perhaps a better way to address this concern is to compare it with curb cuts on sidewalks. Relatively few people actually benefit from curb cuts, intended to allow people with disabilities to cross the street. More often on Colorado Boulevard one will see a person pushing a stroller than someone in a wheelchair utilizing a curb cut to cross the street.  This concern asking if there are enough bicyclists to warrant bike lanes is ultimately an ethical question, something which is entirely subjective– some say “yes” while others say “no.”  However, because we live in a democracy, and the bike lanes would be installed in public space, it seems that the percent of traffic bicycling constitutes should not be a prime consideration of whether or not to implement bike lanes. While few people currently cycle in Eagle Rock they are just as entitled to safe, pleasant travel as motorists and pedestrians are– aren’t they?

(An older man doing some utilitarian bicycling approaches Colorado Boulevard from Townsend Avenue)

Bike Lane Concern #7: “Removing lanes available to motorists to create bike lanes only benefits a small minority”

• Related to Bike Lane Concern #6, this concern is that reducing the number of lanes available to motorists to create bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard will only benefit a small margin of the local population and therefore is unfair or unacceptable. While this concern is again largely subjective, there is some reason to suggest that more than a “small minority” would benefit from bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard. First, the proposed buffered bike lanes are likely to improve safety for all people on Colorado Boulevard– whether they travel by car, foot, or bicycle. As has happened on York Boulevard, safety improvements benefit everyone – not just cyclists – who travels, lives, and patronizes businesses along the street . Fewer emergency responders are sent out to clean up crashes when safety improves. Fewer people get into crashes when a street becomes safer. People are less likely to be delayed by crashes if a street becomes safer. And so on… Also, because buffered bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard are likely to increase the number of people cycling to destinations along the street, people who continue to drive will benefit from reduced competition for scarce parking spaces. Because buffered bike lanes will likely reduce the number of people cycling on the sidewalk, pedestrians will benefit from a not having to negotiate limited sidewalk space with bicyclists. Because bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard will likely slow down motorized traffic to be in better compliance with speed limits, pedestrians will benefit from being able to cross the street easier. Because gas prices continue to rise year after year, anyone unable or unwilling to keep up with the price of gas will benefit from having bicycling become a more viable, safe, and pleasant option for local trips. The reality is that maintaing the status quo on Colorado Boulevard is worse than any perceived negative impacts implementing bike lanes will have. Nobody benefits from the dangerous speeding the current situation encourages. Nobody benefits from feeling compelled to drive a mile to the grocery store because bicycling is seen as unsafe and unpleasant. Nobody benefits from parents chauffeuring their children to school by car during rush hour. Perhaps a better question is– what are the benefits of maintaining the status quo?

Closing Remarks

Proposed bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard seem to be of high contention but there is little reason for this to be so. Let’s recall that the LADOT projects no more than an additional three minutes to travel time if traveling the three mile entirety of Colorado Boulevard during peak-hours. In other words, bike lanes will only have a minimal impact on a small number of trips being made during the rush hour and most of the time bike lanes will have have virtually no negative impact on travel times of motorists. Because there are a lot of potential impacts – both positive and negative – how about we still move forward with buffered bike lanes but do so provisionally for a year to evaluate the impacts of the bike lanes? What is being proposed on Colorado Boulevard is not radical– it’s a simple re-striping of the street, it can easily be reversed or adjusted (with funds from Measure R) if necessary. Long Beach recently installed a pair of physically separated bike lanes (which reduced the number of lanes available to motorists) on a year trial to study the impacts and the findings have been quite positive. See the video below to learn what kind of an impact separated bike lanes had in Long Beach, skeptics may be pleasantly surprised and perhaps be willing to give bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard a chance.

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Subtle Signs of Take Back The Boulevard’s Efforts

(In my last post I asked if there was anything specifically I should write about in 2013, one reader requested I keep followers updated with the status of Take Back The Boulevard. So to kick off the year, here’s an update on the initiative.)

It’s been almost two years since Walk Eagle Rock first covered Take Back the Boulevard (TBTB)– the community driven initiative to make Colorado Boulevard a safer, friendlier street for  all.  While there were initially some public meetings following the launch of Take Back the Boulevard, the past few months have been relatively quiet. So what’s new? Why hasn’t the boulevard been taken back already?

According to Bob Gotham – chair of the Take Back the Boulevard’s steering committee – the initiative isn’t intended to transform Colorado Boulevard over night or even over a couple of years. To fulfill it’s goals, the initiative is realistically envisioned as an on-going process that will consist of short-term and long-term solutions to improve the boulevard. This is in part because any substantial, visible changes to the boulevard will only be able to move forward as funds are made available and if the City’s departments are willing to act. A safer, more pleasant Colorado Boulevard that functions for all users is at least a few more years off, but Take Back The Boulevard has taken steps towawrds bringing change to Eagle Rock’s main street. Let’s take a look…

• April 2011–  LADOT Bike Blog noted that bike lanes along Colorado Boulevard had been prioritized in the City’s Bike Plan due to the momentum of Take Back The Boulevard. Originally scheduled to be implemented sometime after 2015, the City will likely be moving forward with bike lanes along Colorado Boulevard in 2013.

Once bike lanes are installed, the street will likely have the same configuration as this bike lane on Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco. Photo credit: San Francisco Bicycle Coalition

• March 2012 – Take Back The Boulevard announced: ” In earlier public meetings, the challenge of crossing Colorado Boulevard and the shorter time limits of the parking meters on the north side of the street (one hour) were the most frequently cited reasons for the lower usage of those meters… based on recent efforts by the Council Office, the time limits on the meters on the north side of Colorado Boulevard have now been changed to two hours.”

• March 2012 – In the same March 2012 announcement, it was also reported: “The public parking lot at the intersection of Merton and Caspar Avenues significantly mitigates the parking issues in that area. Many have claimed they did not know this parking lot exists. New signage has been installed, making the availability of this lot, which is located within three blocks of a large number of commercial establishments, more apparent.”

One of the new sign on Colorado Boulevard pointing towards the public parking lot at Caspar Avenue and Merton Avenue

• January 2013 – The most recent development since TBTB formed occurred just a few days ago. Yield markings known as “shark teeth” were added to the crosswalk at Hermosa Avenue and Colorado Boulevard at the request of the TBTB steering committee. The markings remind traffic where to yield for crossing pedestrians.

New shark teeth yield markings indicating where motorists must yield to crossing pedestrians

Look at those shark teeth!
Where the yield markings were applied for eastbound travel

There has also been a subtle change to the two curbside parking space in front of Cacao Mexicatessen and Eufloria. In mid-2012 the parking space were converted from 30-minute parking space to one hour parking spaces. This may not be the direct result of  Take Back The Boulevard, but it would not be surprising if it were as the Department of Transportation has been reevaluating conditions along Colorado Boulevard following requests from TBTB’s steering committee. Hopefully the additional half hour granted to the parking spaces now makes them more attractive and useful for patrons of Cacao.

Note the curb in front of Eufloria and Cacao is no longer green, which indicated parking there was only allowed for 30 minutes– not enough time if one parking there wishes to comfortably enjoy a meal at Cacao

The above changes aren’t the most visible or high-profile – nor are they the only accomplishments from the initiative – but they are meaningful changes that we can point to and thank Take Back The Boulevard for. Hopefully 2013 will continue to bring more visible accomplishments from Take Back The Boulevard’s hard work.

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Pedestrian Friendly Elements in Berkeley

The summer is over which means that Walk Eagle Rock is migrating north to Berkeley for an other semester of university. While there’s no place like home, there are occasions on which I feel Eagle Rock can learn from Berkeley, particularly about street design and especially now with Take Back The Boulevard afoot.

Downtown Berkeley’s main street is Shattuck Avenue and  it may not resemble Colorado Boulevard much but there are elements from the street that seem they could be happily embraced along Colorado Boulevard. Let’s take a look…

• Seating implemented around street trees. Similar structures can be found in Highland Park around a handful of ficus trees that line North Figueroa Street. Having public seating available is vital if a street is to be friendly for people on foot, and these small wooden benches seem they could be attractive and easily implemented along Colorado. If someone is shopping or couples are walking, such seating can be a nice place to rest and take in the street life before carrying on.

• Hanging flower baskets from street lights. This treatment is a rather common one on main streets throughout the U.S. but it is also quite effective: it literally makes the street more colorful, gives people something to look at, and makes the street more aesthetically pleasing. In the case of Eagle Rock, if these were implemented along Colorado Boulevard perhaps adjacent store owners could agree to regularly water the plants. Like installing benches around street trees, this measure capitalizes on an existing element of the street ( the lighting) and enhances it to make the street more pleasant, attractive, and ultimately more of a destination.

• Identifier. Berkeley, like many other cities, has installed a street clock on its main street; such clocks help identify and define the commercial core of a neighborhood. Now, some might say that street clocks are overdone or cliché– and to some extent Eagle Rock already has a neighborhood clock above the awning at The Coffee Table. A street clock may not be appropriate or desired along Colorado because of this but perhaps Eagle Rock can have a unique identifier or piece of public art along Colorado Boulevard. Identifiers can be iconic, public attractions– the kind of thing that helps make Colorado a street where people might parks their car, dine somewhere, then enjoy a nice stroll along the boulevard to see the other various shops, street life and relax.

These are just simple three ways in which Eagle Rock could perhaps improve the experience of shopping, walking, and dining along Colorado Boulevard and help change the identity of the street from speedway to commercial district.

 

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Embrace Bikes, Embrace Business

In discussing Take Back The Boulevard (TBTB), the initiative seeking to improve various elements along Colorado Boulevard to make the street more safe and pleasant, it is not unusual for residents to be divided. Do we make more intersections signalized or add bike lanes to reduce speeding? Do we reduce number of travel lanes or increase amount of parking to make the street more pleasant? The community organizations that have spearheaded TBTB (Collaborative Eagle Rock Beautiful, the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce, the Eagle Rock Community Preservation and Revitalization Corporation, the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, the Eagle Rock Valley Historical Society, Occidental College, The Eagle Rock Association, and the Twentieth Century Women’s’ Club of Eagle Rock) have tried very hard to please all parties and incorporate all needs in pursuing a better Colorado Boulevard that functions for everyone. 

However, while the general idea of improving safety through reducing speeding seems to have near unanimous support, there’s one notable conflict that emerges in almost all discussions of TBTB. All to often it seems neighbors break out into a “bike lanes vs car parking” debate, as though these are two ideas that can only work against each other. It appears to some as an either/or proposition: either we provide bike lanes, or we provide more car parking through converting parallel parking to angled parking, by reallocating superfluous travel lanes on Colorado and achieve the goal of reducing speeds.

The two methods of reducing speeds along Colorado, bike lanes or additional parking, are thought of as incompatible to some, perhaps due to an expected tight budget. It seems unlikely that the community will be able to scramble together funds to acquire land to provide a public parking lot along Colorado Boulevard, so Eagle Rock can really only try reconfiguring the public right-of-way on Colorado through low-cost measures to improve safety and hopefully encourage commerce. Also, while building a public parking lot sounds like a worthwhile effort, it seems to fall outside of the main purpose of TBTB and a long-standing community desire to improve safety on Colorado Boulevard. So what do we do?

Re-envisioning Colorado Boulevard to be safe and pleasant for all, the community will need to collectively address the many concerns stakeholders, like: how can we improve safety? how can we improve parking? how can we make our street friendlier? how can we reduce speeding? These are just some concerns that have been raised in conversations, and of course tacked on to all the community’s concerns is “how can we get the money to make any of these changes?”

To residents and businesses alike looking to improve commerce while improving safety I would humbly suggest this– embrace bicycles! Bike lanes are not necessarily an opposition to more parking or better business. Let’s examine why…

On Colorado Boulevard we could convert one travel lane in each direction to bike lanes– and what would this likely accomplish? Well much of what community members have voiced a desire to improve:

• Improve safety: It is well-documented that road diets and car lane removal improve safety for all users. By converting one travel lane in each direction, we would put Colorado Boulevard on a “road diet” and likely see fewer crashes and less risky behavior by motorists.
• Reduce speeding: Road diets have also been shown to reduce speeding without adversely affecting normal traffic flow during peak hours.
• Reduce noise pollution: By reducing speeding and further separating motorized traffic from sidewalks by adding a bike lane between the two, the street would be quieter and more conducive for relaxed strolling, outdoor dining, socializing… Also, since bike lanes are likely to reduce unnecessary speeding, the street will be quieter simply because cars will not be going as fast.
• Improve business visibility: The faster cars go, the less visible things in periphery become to drivers. By reducing speeds and calming traffic through a road diet, motorists will be able to  more easily, and safely, glance at the buildings lining Colorado Boulevard. Moving slower means not only will businesses be more visible, but motorists will also not be as pressured to speed through Eagle Rock’s increasingly thriving business corridor. This means motorists can more easily stop and visit a business if they feel so inclined. Also, businesses can look more appealing– people passing by may observe more people dining outdoors since eating outside will likely be more pleasant option from expected reduced noise pollution.
• Improve parking: Having a bike lane, Colorado Boulevard is likely to encourage more people to cycle to local destinations. Bike lanes increase the subjective and physical safety while simultaneously reducing the stress of bicycling. More people biking of course means fewer people driving, and fewer people driving means there are more parking spaces available for those who still choose to drive. Not to mention most destinations along Colorado Boulevard already offer free, convenient bike racks to accommodate customers that arrive by bicycle. Customers that arrive by bicycle need not worry about feeding any parking meters or wondering if they’re blocking a resident’s driveway.
• Choices, opportunities, potential: By providing a bike lane on Colorado Boulevard, residents of Eagle Rock will have bicycling be an increasingly safe and viable option. No longer will residents feel forced to drive to a destination less than 2 miles away when there is an attractive bike facility. Parents may be more willing to let their children cycle to destinations.
• Improve traffic flow: Speeds along Colorado Boulevard can vary greatly– by reducing the number of lanes, a more consistent pace can be established  for motorists and actually improve through-put.

Even if a small portion of people switch to bicycle for a handful of trips throughout the week it will benefit local businesses, perhaps more than they realize.

First off, it’s worth repeating that more people bicycling to a local businesses means fewer people driving to that businesses which means there will be more car parking spaces available for those that still choose to drive.

Secondly, it turns out, according to studies and experience, cyclists are better customers than motorists, who knew?

So are you convinced yet? Even today, without any bicycle infrastructure along Colorado Boulevard, people are still bicycling, and businesses are benefiting from having bike parking

A bicycle parked to a bike rack at Four Cafe

Three bikes parked to the single bike rack in front of Four Cafe

Two bicycles parked at a bike rack in front of The Coffee Table

Two bicycles parked using two bike racks at Pete’s Blue Chip Burger

A bike parked at Pilates

Even businesses without bike parking benefit from bicycling customers

Two bicycles parked to a pole between The Best Flowers and Swork

A bicycle leaning against the exterior of One’s Liquor

A bike parked to hand-railing in this Colorado Boulevard strip mall

It may not be obvious as bicycles are small and subtle, but if one looks closely, one will notice that people do indeed already cycle to local businesses. Maybe residents and businesses who desire additional parking along Colorado Boulevard could benefit from embracing bicycling– people who arrive at businesses by bicycle do not use any curbside car parking. But when curbside space is allocated to bicycles, as it is at the intersection of York Boulevard and Avenue 50, more customers can be accommodated than if the space is used to park a single car as demonstrated below and in this post on Flying Pigeon LA

Five bicycles parked using the same amount of space used to accommodate one car

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A Look at Eagle Rock’s Relationship with Parking

A recurring complaint about Colorado Boulevard is that the street does not provide enough parking. This may be a valid concern, but when we gain parking we usually have to lose something in exchange. Walkability, attractive store fronts, lively sidewalks…

Perhaps the three most known examples of where parking has been gained in Eagle Rock, the story has not been pretty.

First lets recall the event considered to have sparked the formation of The Eagle Rock Association, April 1st 1986:

“In response to the threatened destruction of the historic business buildings at the corner of Townsend and Colorado. Kathleen Aberman stands on the building’s roof in an attempt to ward off the surprise demolition by the owner.” – Eagle Rock Historic Society

In the middle right is the building Aberman tried to rescue. Photo credit: Metro Library and Archive

Another two views of the building

The building in the center of the picture is the one that was destroyed. Image credit: Eagle Rock by Eric Warren

A close up of the building. Image credit: Eagle Rock by Eric Warren

Aberman was unsuccessful in protecting the historic building at the intersection of Townsend Avenue and Colorado Boulevard. The building was demolished and replaced by a strip mall, which has close to 30 parking spaces.

Today the location looks like this

Photo credit: Google Maps

Was it worth it? Sure there’s enough parking now, but we lost a beautiful structure. On any given day the parking lot sits half empty and has made the corner rather unambitious and undesirable. When visitors rave about destinations in our neighborhood, never have I heard anyone cite this structure as particularly attractive or wonderful. Locals never brag about the aesthetics or social value of this structure.

More often, visitors and locals alike appreciate and enjoy locations with historic buildings that predate parking demand. Like the building now famous for housing Swork

Photo credit: UrbanPhotoAdventures

or the charming building that prominently features The Coffee Table

Another bitter, well-known tale in which the community gained parking takes place at the intersection of Eagle Rock Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard. The story is perhaps best described by Eagle Rock resident Rebecca Niederlander:

“More than 20,000 signatures were collected to help the city understand the value Eagle Rock places on its history and culture. Many people went to city hall meetings and spoke to the possibilities of compromises that could be worked to meet everyone’s goals. That streamline moderne building, was the flagship store for the Shopping Bag Grocery chain. And had a place in La’s history. But the LA Conservancy will tell you now, as they told us back when they offered, pro bono, all the help they could to try to get the building saved, that Los Angeles governmental agencies do not often work for the citizens and smaller communities of our city.

And so we as a community lost the possibility of having the Walgreens rehab and beautify our history, and the 14,000 sq. ft. building (pretty much the exact size of the one they built) was destroyed.” – Rebecca Niederlander

Niederlander describes the loss of a building located in the commercial center of Eagle Rock. We lost this

The Shopping Bag Building. Image Credit: Eagle Rock by Eric Warren

And Eagle Rock gained this

Photo credit: Google Maps

Over 50 parking spaces and structures that have little aesthetic value, originality and historic merit– soulless faux mission inspired architecture.

Lastly, one of the most iconic buildings of Eagle Rock’s past was again lost in the name of parking in the heart of Eagle Rock.

Security Bank Building. Image credit: Eagle Rock by Eric Warren

More pictures of the beautiful building

Picture credit: Metro Library and Archive

Picture credit: Metro Library and Archive

The building has since been replaced with this

Same corner that once featured the Security Bank Building. Picture credit: Google Maps

The corner has since been slightly cleaned up, now housing a Chase Bank, but the building is nowhere near as beautiful or socially valuable to the community. The lot has over 20 parking spaces.

At what point will Eagle Rock have enough parking? How many more historic buildings need to be destroyed before those that demand more parking are appeased?

Proponents for parking argue that it will benefit the local businesses from the added parking. This may be partially true but when I think of successful Eagle Rock businesses, there seems to be little correlation with amount of parking. Consider businesses like Casa Bianca, The Coffee Table, Brownstone Pizzeria– why are they successful? None of them provide any special parking lots for their customers, simply relying on curbside parking. Businesses like Oinkster provide many parking spaces (the property has about 20 parking spaces) though I don’t think parking has been the sole or primary reason for its success. One would think that if parking were a marker of success, the pitiful strip mall at Townsend Avenue and Colorado Boulevard would be Eagle Rock’s most prized possession– but it isn’t.

In a community like Eagle Rock, which is very walkable, and proud, with locally supported businesses it seems that a businesses’ success is measured by how valuable it is to the community, not by how many parking spaces it provides. If something is desirable, people will flock to it by any means necessary.

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A Decade of Crashes Along Colorado Boulevard

Take Back The Boulevard – the initiative that has sparked my interest in studying the conditions along Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock – is an opportunity for us to improve conditions along our main street regardless of findings in neighboring cities.

However, if one really wants a quick comparison one can look to a map that shows every road fatality between 2001 and 2009 in the entire United States. This map includes road fatalities along Colorado as the street runs through Glendale, Eagle Rock and Pasadena. Not the most solid of data to draw conclusions but it indicates what many suspect– Eagle Rock’s portion of Colorado Boulevard has been deadlier than it is in our neighboring cities where the street is only two lanes in each direction according to nearly a decade of records. Eagle Rock’s bit of Colorado Boulevard saw more deaths than Pasadena’s portion despite spanning a short distance and at about the same distance as Glendale’s portion of the street yet with more deaths. While one cannot speculate too much, it would not seem far fetched if  the increased number of deaths in Eagle Rock are partially the result of conditions which allow for greater speeds (higher speeds, not surprisingly, are more likely to result in death in the event of a crash).

But I hesitate to draw a comparison between Eagle Rock and its neighbors if for no other reason than the fact that we shouldn’t have to justify Take Back The Boulevard due to circumstances in Glendale or Pasadena. If we, as a community, want to change our portion of the street because we are dissatisfied with the dangers and unpleasant nature Colorado presents, that should be enough reason to call for a safer, friendly street.

And one element of Take Back The Boulevard that attempts to make Colorado safer and more pleasant is reducing the number of through traffic lanes, a ‘road diet’ as they are frequently called. Road diets have been proven to increase safety for all users (read about it from the U.S Department of Transportation here or from the LA Department of Transportation Bicycle Blog here) so it is unlikely that a reduction in lanes on Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock would be any different. In fact, the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration considers road diets a Proven Safety Countermeasure.

(Source: U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration)

In addition to the increased safety, often these lane reductions result in a more pleasant atmosphere. A local road diet Eagle Rock residents may be familiar with is one that was implemented along York Boulevard between Eagle Rock Boulevard and Avenue 54. This portion of street was reduced from two lanes in each direction to one lane in each direction with a center turning lane. Since this portion of York Boulevard was transformed the street seems to have become a lot more inviting, and less stressful, to the local neighbors and visitors alike.

As for Colorado Boulevard, it seems Eagle Rock has little to lose should our main street undergo a road diet, especially given the evidence that shows road diets provide many benefits. Regardless of what Take Back The Boulevard’s efforts may yield, it can be beneficial to reflect on the real, current conditions along Colorado. Here is a look at a decade of crashes from the year 2000 to 2010.

The Year 2000

Each blue marker represents a collision.

42 crashes

56 injuries

Primary Causes of Crashes:Failure to Yield Right-of-Way( 11 times); Unsafe Speed (10 times); Running Stop Sign or Red Signal (6 times)

Top Crash Intersections: Eagledale Avenue (5 crashes); Ellenwood Drive (5 crashes); Lockhaven Avenue (3 crashes)

The Year 2001

Each blue marker represents a collision.

52 crashes

52 injuries

Primary Causes of Crashes: Failure to Yield Right-of-Way (15 times); Unsafe Speed (12 times); Running Stop Sign or Red Signal (8 times)

Top Crash Intersections: Sierra Villa Dr ( 7 crashes); Dahlia Dr (4 crashes); Vincent Ave/ Mt. Royal/ Glen Iris Ave/ College View Ave (3 crashes)

The Year 2002*

Each green marker represents a collision.

*For this year I looked at raw data which made locating Primary Causes and Injuries difficult, I may update the post later with that information.

57 crashes

Top Crash Intersections:Ellenwood Drive (6 crashes); Eagledale Avenue (6 crashes); Townsend Avenue (5 crashes)

The Year 2003

Each yellow marker represents a collision.

50 crashes

48 injuries

Primary Cause of Crashes: Unsafe Speed (11 times); Failure to Yield Right-of-Way (10 times); “Other Improper Driver” (7 times)

Top Crash intersection: Townsend Avenue (7 crashes); Sierra Villa Drive (6 crashes); Lockhaven Avenue (5 crashes)

The Year 2004

Each pink marker represents a collision.

56 crashes

53 injuries

Primary Cause of Crashes: Unsafe Speed (14 times); Failure to Yield Right-of-Way (10 times); Running Stop Sign or Red Signal and “Not Driver” (6 times)

Top Crash Intersections: Ellenwood Drive (9 crashes); Eagle Rock Boulevard (5 crashes); Broadway and Eagledale Avenue (4 crashes each)

The Year 2005

Each red marker represents a collision.

49 crashes

47 injuries

Primary Causes of Crashes: Failure to Yield Right-of-Way (14 times); Unsafe Speed (12 times); Running Stop Sign or Red Signal (6 times)

Top Crash Intersections: Sierra Villa Drive (5 crashes); Eagledale Avenue, Argus Drive and Townsend Avenue (4 crashes each); Caspar Avenue, Eagle Rock Boulevard, and Lockhaven Avenue (3 crashes each)

The Year 2006

Each green marker represents a collision.

52 crashes

56 injuries

2 deaths

Primary Causes of Crashes: Unsafe Speed (16 times);  Failure to Yield Right-of-Way (14 times); Running Stop Sign or Red Signal and Improper Turn (each 4 times)

Top Crash Intersections: North Figueroa Street (6 crashes); Lockhaven Avenue, Eagle Rock Boulevard (5 crashes each); Sierra Villa Drive (4 crashes)

The Year 2007

Each red marker represents a collision.

53 crashes

60 injuries

Primary Causes of Crashes: Unsafe Speed (15 times); Failure to Yield Right-of-Way (14 times); Running Stop Sign or Red Signal (6 times)

Top Crash Intersections: North Figueroa Street (4 crashes); Eagledale Avenue, Lockhaven Avenue, Sierra Villa Drive, College View Avenue, Ellenwood Drive, Highland View Avenue, and Eagle Vista Drive (all with 3 crashes each); Live Oak View, El Rio Avenue, Eagle Rock Boulevard, Vincent Avenue, Townsend Avenue, Mount Helena Avenue, and Los Robles Street (all with 2 crashes each)

The Year 2008

Each purple marker represents a collision.

55 crashes

55 injuries

5 deaths

Primary Causes of Crashes: Failure to Yield Right-of-Way (16 times); Unsafe Speed (14 times); Lane Change and Running Stop Sign or Red Signal (each 4 times)

Top Crash Intersections: Eagle Rock Boulevard and Sierra Villa Drive (4 crashes each); Eagledale Avenue, Broadway, Highland View Avenue, Townsend Avenue, and North Figueroa Street (3 crashes each); Linda Rosa Avenue, Loleta Avenue, Floristan Avenue, Dahlia Drive, Vincent Avenue, Argus Drive, Caspar Avenue, Ellenwood Drive, and Lockhaven Avenue (all 2 crashes each).

The Year 2009

Each red marker represents a collision.

57 crashes

63 injuries

Primary Causes of Crashes: Unsafe Speed (15 times); Failure to Yield Right-of-Way (14 times); Running Stop Sign or Red Signal and Improper Turn (each 5 times)

Top Crash Intersections: Eagle Rock Boulevard (9 crashes); Townsend Avenue (6 crashes); Sierra Villa Drive and Eagledale Avenue (4 crashes each)

The Year 2010

Each red marker represents a collision.

41 crashes

 46 injuries

Primary Causes of Crashes: Failure to Yield Right-of-Way and Unsafe Speed (each 11 times); Running Stop Sign or Red Signal (5 times); Lane Change and Following Too Close (each 4 times)

Top Crash Intersections: Eagle Rock Boulevard, College View Avenue and Sierra Villa Drive (4 crashes each); Hermosa Avenue (3 crashes); Eagledale Avenue, Lockhaven Avenue, Ellenwood Drive, El Rio Avenue, Highland View Avenue, Mount Royal Avenue, Townsend Avenue, Loleta Avenue, North Figueroa Street (all 2 crashes each)

As one can see, it is not one isolated year that was dangerous along Colorado Boulevard. While there were intersections that had more crashes than others, hardly any part of Colorado Boulevard was ever collision free.

*This post has been ‘in the making’ for a couple weeks now. After seeing Biking In LA and Eastsider publish similar style posts I decided to push myself and finally get this finished

** This post does not include collisions that went unreported or where Colorado Boulevard was the secondary street of collisions (for example: if a crash occurred on Ellenwood Drive and Colorado Boulevard but the primary street was Ellenwood, that crash is not included in this data)

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Preliminary Findings of Crashes Along Colorado Boulevard

(Note: the full, complete findings can be found in this post– A Decade of Crashes Along Colorado Boulevard )

The initiative Take Back The Boulevard, which seeks to calm traffic and produce a safe, pleasant atmosphere along Colorado Boulevard has received a bit of backlash in the local newspaper Boulevard Sentinel. While it would seem efforts to make a street safer and more pleasant is hardly something to oppose, there are concerns that the initiative may result in a ‘traffic nightmare’, be bad for local businesses, or even make the street less safe.

Much of this opposition relies on anecdotal observations and speculation about how traffic operates with few facts and little evidence. As a supporter of the efforts to calm traffic on Colorado Boulevard I want to make the case to support the initiative with real facts, evidence, and bringing to light the perspective of vulnerable street users (pedestrians, and cyclists).

One of the first places I’ve gone to for information is the Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) where one can request crash information. The idea to calm traffic along Colorado Boulevard did not come out of nowhere, there are compelling reasons to do so and part of it is that Colorado is simply unsafe.

I recently received records from SWITRS and in the year 2000 alone there were 42 crashes along Eagle Rock’s bit of Colorado Boulevard, with 84 people (drivers, passengers, bicyclists, pedestrians) involved and resulting in 56 injuries. 11 of these crashes occurred directly adjacent to freeway entrance/exit ramps (10 crashes by the 2 freeway and 1 crash by the 134 freeway). Five crashes occurred at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Ellenwood Drive, this was the most number of crashes along any single intersection. Seven crashes occurred on Colorado Boulevard between Eagle Rock Boulevard and Townsend Avenue, the part of Colorado which is frequently identified as ‘downtown Eagle Rock’.

Here’s a map showing all the crash sites along Colorado Boulevard for the year 2000….

Each blue marker represents a crash, some are not visible in the picture as the markers overlap. Crashes mostly occurred west of Eagle Rock Boulevard but no portion of Colorado was exempt from crashes as one can see they dot the entire 3 miles the street runs through the community.

As for the cause of these crashes, failure to yield right-of-way contributed to 11 of the crashes and unsafe speeding was the primary cause in 10 cases. Together these factors caused half of the recorded crashes in the year 2000.

These issues can be minimized through engineering and Take Back The Boulevard seeks to, among other things, re-engineer the street so that it is safer. As one can notice, the poor engineering along Colorado means that unfortunately the year 2000 was not the only dangerous year for Colorado. As neighboring blog Bipediality has shared, between 2005 and 2009 crashes occurred at the equivalent of once a week for those five years. People may like to speed and behave as though Colorado Boulevard is a mini freeway, but this behavior is exactly what is making our major main street so dangerous.

I look forward to sharing more facts about Colorado Boulevard, particularly more data from SWITRS, but hopefully these preliminary findings are partially convincing enough to support this unique opportunity to make Colorado Boulevard a safe and inviting street that properly reflects our otherwise friendly, connected community.

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Take Back The Boulevard Makes Progress And Other Notes

Anyone excited to see a calmer, safer Colorado Boulevard there’s some good news for you. As Los Angeles is in the process of implementing its Bike Plan, the city holds quarterly meetings to discuss: bicycle facilities, which streets to prioritize for bicycle facilities, bicycle traffic education, outreach and more. These meetings are called the ‘Bike Plan Implementation Team’ or BPIT and they are open to the public. The most recent meeting was held on October 4th and Colorado Boulevard was discussed, here is an excerpt from the  LADOT Bike Blog‘s recap of the meeting:

Paul Habib with CD 14, announced that the Eagle Rock community is openly seeking a road diet for Colorado Blvd. Through their “Take Back the Boulevard Initiative,” residents hope to:

…make this central corridor through Eagle Rock a safe, sustainable, and vibrant street in order to stimulate economic growth, increase public safety, and enhance economic growth, increase public safety, and enhance community pride and wellness.

Unfortunately, removal of a travel lane for this corridor will very likely have a significant impact on auto traffic, triggering the need to conduct environmental review and roadway reclassification, prior to implementation. However, thanks to the BPIT process, these three miles of Colorado Blvd between Lincoln Ave. and the Glendale City limit have now been added to the Priority 1 environmental package. This means that Eagle Rock residents will be able to lobby their elected City leaders for a safer, more sustainable Colorado Blvd. sooner, rather than later. If successful, this project could set a precedent for the region as an example of vehicle travel lane removal to allow for increased safety and mobility for bicycles and pedestrians.

What does this mean exactly? Well bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard weren’t slated to be implemented until 2015, according to the LA Bike Plan’s “5-Year Plan”. However, thanks to Take Back The Boulevard’s momentum, a receptive council member representing us, and public support at meetings, Colorado Boulevard has been moved to Priority 1 environmental package. This means that the street will be studied for potential environmental impacts and likely see bike lanes sooner than originally planned.

And speaking of Take Back The Boulevard, the initiative is asking us what we like, what we don’t like, and what we would like to see come to Colorado Boulevard in a survey linked to on the initiative’s website. Click here to access the survey. The survey represents an opportunity to give input on this community project and I encourage you to spend a thoughtful 5 minutes to fill it out.

And if you would like to make Glendale, our neighboring city, a safer place to cycle the city is currently updating its Bike Plan and is accepting public comments. If you have the time, check out what the city has planned and make a few suggestions about how bicycling can be made more pleasant. Click here to access Glendale’s Bike Plan and make comments.

Also in more safe streets Eagle Rock related news, the excellent Eagle Rock based blog Zone 23 makes a sound case to ‘Take Back Yosemite Drive, Too’. In the ‘early’ days of Walk Eagle Rock I addressed Yosemite Drive in two separate post– if interested here are the posts I made, part 1 and part 2.

One more note about Glendale bicycling– the other day I cam across a rather interesting video that taught children how to ‘drive’ their bikes in the 1950′s. The video was filmed in Glendale, take a look below

Lastly, this is now old news but this LA Times article, ‘A Walk on the Risky Side‘ is a stark reminder of who pays the price of negligent driving and dangerous road design on our streets. It is my belief that a civilized society is one where a child should be able to walk to school safely without worry of getting hit by a car. Let’s reclaim the streets, make them safe  and liveable for everyone, especially children going to school– this is about more than ‘bikes vs cars’, it’s about providing safe mobility for all ages and all modes of travel.

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‘Take Back The Boulevard’ Goes Online!

Hopefully readers are by now familiar with the relatively new efforts in Eagle Rock to tame Colorado Boulevard, ‘Take Back The Boulevard’. I have previously written about ‘Taking Back The Boulevard’ here. The project comes as a culmination of Eagle Rock community groups and residents unhappy with the current dangerous, car-centric street conditions along Colorado Boulevard and seeking to make the street more of a destination than the mini-freeway it resembles today. The initiative is being spearheaded by The Eagle Rock Association. In doing a bit of research I noticed Take Back The Boulevard now has its own website with a clearly defined mission for the project and the website will likely be updated to keep residents informed of meetings and progress being made.

Take a look at the site yourself, http://www.takebacktheblvd.org/

In reading the ambitious goals stated on the site I can’t help but to think of my recent visit to Sweden. While the cities I saw were not perfect, there were cases where cities created comfortable situations for all users– pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists.

A safe street for all in Hassleholm, Sweden

Many streets in the downtowns I visited in Sweden had ‘pedestrian priority’. As the blue sign depicts in the picture above the street should be safe enough for children to play soccer. While this kind of treatment is unlikely to surface on Colorado Boulevard it perhaps serves to remind that streets do not need to prioritize cars nor do they need to be used to flush people through neighborhoods. Streets, as the Take Back The Boulevard initiative understands, can serve multiple purposes and contribute to how people act in those spaces. If we slow down cars, provide space for cyclists, add crosswalks, plant trees, provide benches, and create public spaces Colorado may become more of a community living room and destination for all than a speedway for motorists. If Take Back The Boulevard is put to its full potential we can see people stroll, and linger on a safe, pleasant Colorado Boulevard. It can absolutely be attainable, we already have a lot of attractions along Colorado, neighbors that enthusiastically engage with one another, and growing momentum for these kind of ideas.

According to the Take Back The Boulevard site, the first community meeting  September 21st from 7-9pm at the 20th Century Women’s Club at 5105 Hermosa Ave. Mark your calender, get involved!

 

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