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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Flawed Views on Bicycling, Part 2

(This is part 2 of a response to John Nese’s article “Safety on York Boulevard”. See an introduction and Part 1 here)

Part 2

The article continues:

“I think bicyclists can be good for businesses like mine. In fact, I would love to see how creative cyclists can be with carrying their purchases. I know in some countries, it’s quite a feat to carry large packages, boxes, etc. atop a bike.

But my overall issue with bikes is about safety.”

• Nese asserts he feels bicyclists can actually have a positive impact on local business and this agrees with a growing number of studies that compare spending habits of cyclists and motorists. However Nese’s statement does not agree with his quoted comment in the Boulevard Sentinel’s article “New York Blvd. Lane Striping Annoys Business“. In that article Nese states, “the bike lanes are nice, but they’re not good for business. You’re not gonna see anyone buying cases of soda pop or anything else sizable when they’re on a bicycle”. The statement in the Sentinel is clearly in contradiction to the statement Nese makes on his website– which statement are we to believe?
• Nese then purports that despite his opinion that bicycling is good and that bicyclists can be good for local business, he is still too concerned with safety of York Boulevard’s new configuration. While it is too early to make conclusive and informed comments on the new bike lanes because they are less than a month old as of this writing, as stated earlier– this new lane configuration is a partial “road diet”, which have a positive safety track record.

Nese’s then recommends, what he believes, is a better, safer route for cyclists:

“I know there are safer routes for bikes, residential streets without the traffic we have on York. I wish that officials would have put the bike lane up one street away from York, say on Meridian [Street], a street that connects four schools – Occidental, Aladma, Yorkdale and Luther Burbank. Right now it’s labeled a Bike Route. Why couldn’t that have been a bike lane?”

• It’s true that adjacent residential streets such as Meridian Street can have a higher degree of safety due to relative lower motorized traffic volume and speed. However cyclists, like motorists, sometimes cannot avoid riding on York Boulevard even if they wanted to.
• Even if there were bike lanes on Meridian Street there would remain the need to improve cyclists’ safety on York Boulevard precisely because the street currently experiences dangerous speeding and lacks the subjective safety found on quitter, residential streets. However, Nese can take comfort in the fact that Meridian Street is slated to receive traffic calming treatment to make a safe, bike friendly route on that street as well.

Nese continues his article to shares an anecdote in which he hit a cyclist with his car when exiting the driveway of his business:

“About 6 months ago, I was leaving the store, heading out the exit onto York Boulevard. A mother and her three kids were cycling on the sidewalk and her little boy (all of them without helmets) was riding ahead of her and going very fast. He didn’t stop at the driveway and I didn’t see him until he was under my car and I heard a crunch.

I can’t tell you how frightened and scared I was. We called the police, ambulance and paramedics. The boy was fine, nothing broken, just scraps, but very shook up – as we all were. The police told the mom that he could have given her a ticket for riding on the sidewalk and for not wearing a helmet.

That episode turned out OK, but I worry that something similar is going to happen again with these bike lanes.”

• First off, while children under the age of 18 are required to wear helmets in Los Angeles, it is actually legal to cycle on the sidewalk– so what the police officer said in Nese’s anecdote is only partially true, the only citation the officer could give was for the children not wearing helmets. Secondly, it is likely that the family was cycling on the sidewalk only to compensate for a lack of a sufficiently safe bicycle facility on York Boulevard; perhaps if there were a safe bikeway this collision could have been avoided. Based on Nese’s experience it would seem he would support safety measures that help reduce the number of cyclists riding on the sidewalk, as bike lanes do.
• It should also not be forgotten that while it may be true that the child was at fault, any motorist exiting a driveway is legally required to yield to pedestrians on the sidewalk and other roadway users– did Nese stop before crossing the sidewalk? If he did, how did he not see the cycling family before proceeding? It seems based on Nese’s own description there was a degree of negligence from both parties involved.
• Nese then states he believes the bike lanes can cause collisions similar to his experience where he hit a child cycling on the sidewalk. This belief does not quite match with reality; a bike lane places cyclists in a more visible location than the sidewalk, therefore eye contact can be made more easily and conflicts can be avoided as cyclists can now be expected in the designated bike lane.

Nese elaborates on his opposition to the York Boulevard bike lanes, with more generalizations about bicyclists:

“I worry that cyclists will think that bike lane line means that they are magically safe from two-ton cars that swish by at top speeds. I also can’t tell you the number of times I see cyclists riding without helmets or not adhering to simple laws of the road – like stopping for stop lights, signaling when they want to turn. For every biker with a helmet, I see 7 others without lights, reflectors or helmets.

Then there’s bikers plugged into technology, listening to MP3s or iPods while cycling. How on Earth can this be safe? I see that all too frequently! How do you know what’s going on around you?”

• It is true, mere painted bike lanes do not provide physical separation from careless drivers, however they do tend to improve safety, even when design is not perfect, as studies have shown numerous times.
• Nese then makes several generalizations about the behavior of cyclists based on his personal experience. Nese notes a lack of helmets. As mentioned before, helmets are only required for children under the age of 18 and helmets are not designed to save cyclists from collisions with motor vehicles.
• Nese then shares personal observations of cyclists that don’t adhere to traffic laws. Maybe Nese would be delighted with the new bike lanes if he knew that bike lanes tend to improve cyclist compliance with traffic laws, in part because they make cyclists feel more comfortable and less marginalized.
• Yes, there needs to be greater education to improve traffic laws and safety from the cyclists’ perspective, however cyclists aren’t the only ones to break traffic laws on York Boulevard. Observing any intersection on York one can see motorists failing to yield to pedestrians crossing, failing to adhere to speed limits, running red lights. Drivers are hardly saints on the road either, should we revoke privileges of law abiding motorists because of the behavior of scofflaw motorists?

Nese then says a safer future is possible, as he has seen in other cities:

“Other cities in the country, like Boulder, CO, are wonderful examples of riders knowing the rules of the road. We need to better educate our bicyclists here about safety, consideration and learn to share the road with other vehicles.”

• Nese’s example of a city where cyclists and motorists get along – Boulder, Colorado – is actually one of America’s most bike friendly cities, further confirming that cyclists behave better when they have safe, dedicated infrastructure. Boulder is designated a Platinum-level bike friendly city (alongside bike friendly Portland, Oregon and Davis, California) by the League of American Bicyclists.
• Nese’s subtly places the majority of responsibility on cyclists to behave better and learn to “share the road”. Of course, there is responsibility for motorists too– Los Angeles passed the nation’s first bicycle anti-harrassment law that protects cyclists legally from aggressive drivers because cyclists in Los Angeles have historically been threatened or harmed by drivers purely because of their status as bicyclist. There is work to be done on both ends of the spectrum and Nese should acknowledge this to appear less bias.

Nese closes his article with how he would improve safety, and then shares yet one more anecdote in which a cyclist broke a traffic law:

“Here’s an idea: let the local bike communities organize a free helmet give-away but first recipients must take a bike safety class and learn the right and wrong way to cycle.

The other day, I was driving and saw a rider go through a stoplight intersection without stopping. I beeped my horn at her, not just letting her know that she broke the law, but that also she could have been hit by side traffic. She turned to me and gave me the finger.

Once again, I worry about the safety of York Boulevard because of these bike lanes.”

• Surely Nese is being sincere with his suggestion of helmet distribution and education, though the best thing a city can do to improve safety for cyclists is provide infrastructure, as can be noted in America’s safest cities for cycling– like Portland, Davis, and Boulder.
• Nese’s anecdote of a cyclist running a red light is hardly unique but the described behavior is not isolated among cyclists. Drivers break traffic laws in Los Angeles everyday– causing great injury, damage and death. Furthermore, the poor behavior of cyclists is unlikely to injure anyone but the cyclist. Unfortunately, the same can not be said of car drivers breaking traffic laws. Anyone remember the driver that crashed into Troy’s Burger, on York Boulevard?
• If he were truly concerned with safety on York Boulevard, he would advocate measures that lower speed limits (like road diets). He may even advocate heavily restricting car use or getting rid of cars altogether as road traffic kills about 40,000 people per year in the United States and is the leading cause of death among young people. To quote Peter Jacobsen, a Sacramento Public Health Consultant “…if safety was our societal goal, we’d definitely get rid of automobiles”. John Nese, though surely sincere with his safety concern, is ignoring the bull in the china shop. There is danger on York Boulevard from a traffic perspective, and it largely comes from the people operating cars and traveling at speeds in excess of 30mph.

We at Walk Eagle Rock would like to close our response to John Nese’s article by clarifying a few things. First of all, we don’t doubt John Nese cares about safety. However, based on his article, we feel he is using the argument of safety to justify anti-bike measures and biases he has against cyclists. As our analysis of his article shows, he repeatedly makes generalizations about cyclists based on his personal experience as a means to argue against bicycle infrastructure.

In our response we have countered his anecdotal arguments with facts, references to California and Los Angeles traffic laws, and numerous studies. This 2 part response has also demonstrated that John Nese was simply lying about his reason for rejecting free, city provided bike parking– there would absolutely be no interference or conflict with his driveway. We feel our criticism is fair: we hope it can help enlighten John Nese to make better informed opinions with regard to safety and his views on cycling.

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Flawed Views on Bicycling, Part 1

(Less than a day after Walk Eagle Rock published an article titled “Galco’s and Bike Lanes“, John Nese of Galco’s published – what appears to be a response – on his business’ website, an article titled “Safety on York Boulevard“. We at here at Walk Eagle Rock feel safety is paramount and we would like to address Nese’s article, which actually extends beyond safety and discusses Nese’s opinion on bicycling in Highland Park more broadly. The following is part 1 of 2 a response addressing claims made in Nese’s article)

Part 1

Nese opens his article stating:

“The new bike lanes on York Boulevard scare me. Not just as a business owner, but a resident of the area and a grandfather.

I see cars, as many as 1,200 an hour I’m told, rushing down the street and, with the introduction of these bike lanes, I am fearful that when they meet up with a two-wheeled biker, things won’t be pretty and with the bicyclist getting the short end of the stick.”

• The source of the number of cars John Nese sees per hour is unverified. Tom Topping of the Boulevard Sentinel conducted an informal traffic count over the span of 30 minutes and counted 660 cars for his article “New York Blvd. Lane Striping Annoys Business“– we assume Nese is using Topping’s one-time counted figure and doubling it. This is an unreliable figure to use because many factors determine how many cars pass in an hour. Certainly more drivers are on the road during rush-hour than at 1:00pm, even day of the week can determine how many people are driving. To get a better idea of traffic volumes on York Boulevard, Nese would be better off consulting the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s (LADOT) traffic counts.
• In Nese’s second paragraph, he states he is concerned the new bike lanes may be making the street less safe. Why he feels this way is not clear though his paragraph suggests it has some relation to 1) the volume of motorized traffic, 2) the fact that he observes cars “rushing down the street”, and now 3) throwing bike lanes into the mix seems to just create more potential for conflict. This is in fact, on its face, a reasonable reaction. However it is necessary to look at the new street design more analytically before making assumptions based on anecdotal observations.  What the LADOT has done on York Boulevard is convert one mixed traffic lane into two dedicated bike lanes. The new configuration is a partial implementation of a street design called a “road diet“. The LADOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) both recognize that road diets have a positive record of increasing safety for all users (cyclists, pedestrians, and drivers). The reasons why road diets improve safety are many, but include: improving speed limit compliance, reducing number of lanes with motorized traffic for pedestrians to cross, and creating a designated space for people bicycling.

Nese continues his article:

“Don’t get me wrong! I am not anti-bike! In this day and age of $5 a gallon gas, I think people are better off jumping on a bike than starting up their car. We have always welcomed bikers in the store, letting them bring bikes into the store while they shop.  One bike group from San Gabriel makes a regular monthly trek to the store and we open the back for them to put their bikes in safety since many of them don’t own a bike lock.”

• Nese has now made an aside to explicitly states he is not anti-bike, however this is not reflected in what he writes. He makes many generalizations throughout his article, starting with the assumption in this paragraph that the majority of cyclists part of a bike group that regularly visits his business do not own bike locks. It is not clear exactly what kind of “bike group” it is that visits him, however based on Nese’s description, it sounds like it is a road cycling club riding for athletic recreation. If it is a road cycling club, it is likely that the cyclists merely do not cycle with locks. However, if any large group of cyclists arrive at Galco’s with bike locks, there are not even enough bike racks to lock so many bikes, in part because Nese rejected free city-provided bike parking on the public sidewalk in front of his business.

Nese then explains his position on bike racks:

“That said, bike racks in the area often sit unused. Right now, I look out across the street at a bike rack that is empty, but just steps away, an unlocked bike is casually leaning against the building. It just seems that many riders don’t own locks and chains – I see this every day on the boulevard. Every day.

I didn’t want officials to put bike racks in front of the store – where they were proposing the racks would have been right in front of the driveway into the store. It would have been too congested and I would have worried about cars hitting cyclists again. Most of the time, local bike racks sit unused as I said before.”

• Nese reiterates his assertion that many cyclists don’t own locks based on what he sees from his business at time of writing his article. What Nese describes is likely a person is leaning their bike against the building because they are only briefly going to be inside the adjacent destination. This is common practice among the average cyclist that does not fear their bicycle will be stolen when they’ll be away “for just a minute”.
• Nese explains why he rejected city provided bike parking on the public sidewalk in front of his business, claiming that the bike racks would be right in front of the driveway that accesses the parking lot adjacent to his business. This is false. Why? The LADOT has bike rack installation standards that explicitly prohibit the installation of bike racks at locations where the bike rack would interfere with driveway access. The location of the proposed bike racks at Galco’s are still visible on the sidewalk and the bike racks would have been placed well over 10 feet from the nearest driveway, meaning there would absolutely be no chance of a driver hitting a bicyclist or a bike rack unless the are driving recklessly.
• Nese then makes the surprising claim that bike racks would somehow cause congestion or a sudden increase in motorist/cyclist collisions. In the past year alone the LADOT has installed over 600 bike racks just like the ones proposed at Galco’s throughout the city–  at no location have increased collisions and/or congestion been reported or recorded.
• Nese then throws in a quip to justify his rejection of free city-proved bike rack parking– “Most of the time, local bike racks sit unused”. This may be partially true, however, when a cyclist needs a bike rack, they are thankful to have one at their destination. Not to mention with the new bike lane being extended on York Boulevard, bicycle traffic is likely to increase and therefore the demand for bike parking is likely to increase. Bicycle traffic counts conducted by the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition at the intersection of York Boulevard and Avenue 50 saw a 150% increase in the number of cyclists when comparing pre and post bike lane installation counts.

(Continued in Part 2)

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Galco’s and Bike Lanes

Did you catch the most recent issue of the Boulevard Sentinel? On the front page there’s an article about the new bike lanes on York Boulevard titled, “New York Blvd. Lane Striping Annoys Business“.

The article suggests that the newly extended bike lanes on York Boulevard could have a negative impact on business. In the article John Nese, the owner of Galco’s (located at 5702 York Boulevard, in front of the new bike lane) and the sole person interviewed, states the following:

“The bike lanes are nice, but they’re not good for business. You’re not gonna see anyone buying cases of soda pop or anything else sizable when they’re on a bicycle.”

I was rather surprised to read that quote from John Nese for several reasons.

First off, how can one evaluate the effects of a bike lane within mere days of its installation?

Also, Nese neglects to mention that the public requested bike racks at Galco’s and that he personally rejected the installation of free bike racks by the city. That’s right, someone requested bike racks in front of Galco’s– presumably because they shop there and arrive by bicycle.

Sure, most cyclists may not purchase “cases of soda pop”, but why does one have to buy only in bulk? A person arriving by bike (or foot, or transit) can easily pop in and buy a couple sodas and some candy, I know I have personally done this on a number of occasions. Not to mention, some bikes can indeed carry cases of soda. In fact, local bike shop Flying Pigeon LA – located 3 miles from Galco’s – sells bicycles specifically made for everyday transportation, including cargo bikes that could easily carry several cases of soda pop.

One of Flying Pigeon’s bikes in action. How many cases of soda pop do you think it can carry? Photo credit: ubrayj02

Nese’s statement also seems to be based only on a hunch, and not a well researched opinion. A recent study in Portland showed  the following:

 ”…looking at single visits, car drivers spent more at supermarkets and restaurants than the other transport modes. Yet it turns out that walkers, bikers, and public transport takers visit the locations more frequently, and thus, over the space of a month, spent more.”

It turns out non-driving people can be better, and more regular customers– especially if these modes are better accommodated and integrated into our local transportation system, something this new bike lane helps do.

Further dispelling Nese’s assumption is a recent case study of York Boulevard itself. The study showed the presence of bike lanes did not hurt business in the section of York Boulevard – between Avenue 55 and Eagle Rock Boulevard – that had bike lanes prior to the recent extension (And yes, this study was conducted well after a year of the bike lane’s existence on that stretch of York Boulevard).

It is disappointing as it is strange to see the owner of a business called ” Galco’s: Old World Grocery” be so seemingly anti-bike. One would think that an “old world” grocery would be more supportive of measures that encourage locals to walk, or bike in to buy a few items.

Ultimately, to me, this is an issue of equality. People certainly don’t need soda and candy, but to have a local business owner unfairly (and incorrectly) characterize the shopping patterns of someone because of their mode of transportation isn’t right. Additionally, it should be known that Nese lied to the Boulevard Sentinel, claiming he felt bike lanes could be bad for business because he doesn’t think cyclists buy soda. The truth is Nese actively rejected free, City provided, bicycle parking requested by customers that shop there by bike. He worked against the ability of cyclists to shop at his business, suggesting he simply has an unfair bias against cyclists (and seemingly anyone who doesn’t buy “cases” of soda).

(Not to mention that with gas prices reaching record highs this past week, those who continue to drive to local businesses probably have less money to spend than people who get around by cheaper modes of transportation.)

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Embrace Occidental College

Eagle Rock is very proud to be home to the humble and increasingly well-known Occidental College, or Oxy as it is known among the college’s students and locals. The sign that welcomes people at our town’s eastern end, at the  intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Wiota Street, reads “Eagle Rock, Founded 1911. Home of Occidental College”. Every year when Occidental College starts the Fall semester a banner hangs at the intersection of Colorado Boulevard and Eagle Rock Boulevard that welcomes Oxy students back to Eagle Rock. These are literally signs of the affection and positive relationship fostered between the College and Eagle Rock.

There is no doubt that Occidental College has had a positive impact on our community, and that Eagle Rock has been good to Oxy. Though perhaps Eagle Rock can be more welcoming to Occidental College, particularly to its students, and equally benefit to the community at large through ways that embody the messages we put on our welcome sign and the banner that hangs over our town’s major intersection.

While Eagle Rock has always been home to a handful of Oxy students, about 60% of the school’s students are not from California, which demonstrates quite clearly many students are seeing Eagle Rock for the first time. Eagle Rock being the lovely and cool neighborhood that it is is definitely worth exploring, but is our community accessible and inviting to the many car-free college students who’ve never been here before? Our residential streets are typically relaxing and nice to walk along, but unfortunately the same cannot be said of our car-centric commercial corridors– which is a shame because that’s where our local businesses are! But things can change, for the better.

So what’s the current situation?

We can perhaps assume that most Oxy students are easily willing to walk to local destinations that are within a 10 minute’s reach. In actual distance this means students are likely able to stray about 0.5 miles from campus at a calm, relaxed walking pace. This also means that most of what is captured in this 0.5 mile radius from campus is our nice residential streets with a few businesses at the periphery of this comfortable walking distance zone along Eagle Rock Boulevard and York Boulevard. The below map shows a visualization of the 0.5 mile radius, a blue circle, around the Oxy campus with some local businesses indicated with red markers.

(Click on the map for a better view)

Almost everything within the blue zone is no more than a 10 minute walk from campus. Reaching any of the above destinations requires minimal walking on our car-centric commercial corridors and makes the local businesses indicated as likely candidates as destinations that Oxy students may visit. As one may notice, the map also includes several destinations just outside the comfortable walking zone along York Boulevard between Avenue 50 and Avenue 52. I included these businesses because that stretch of York Boulevard is enough of a hot spot, with enough commercial activity, that it is likely to warrant the little extra walking required to reach the area. York Boulevard is a relatively pedestrian friendly street that makes it attractive enough to walk to. This is especially true during Northeast LA’s monthly art walks, which liven up York Boulevard considerably.

What’s unfortunate about the comfortable 10 minute walk zone, is that it excludes many of Eagle Rock’s most popular businesses along Colorado Boulevard. This is understood clearly from a typical comment made by an Oxy freshman in a recent Eagle Rock Patch article–

I haven’t been able to venture out in Eagle Rock yet, but I’ve heard there are a lot great eating places. I heard there’s a real great Thai place and a Mexican place, although I’m not sure if they’re within walking distance of Occidental.

In reality businesses along Colorado Boulevard are not far from Oxy. The corner of Eagle Rock Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard is only a mile away from campus and businesses such as Organix are less than 2 miles away from campus. Given that it takes about 20 minutes for a typical young, healthy person to walk a mile, reaching businesses along Colorado can seem daunting, especially when one needs to walk on Eagle Rock and Colorado Boulevard– unfriendly, loud streets with zooming car traffic.

What Can Be Done?

So nothing can be done to physically move the Colorado Boulevard business corridor close to Oxy, however, as I suggested earlier, the businesses can be made more accessible. What does this mean? Well currently Eagle Rock Boulevard and Colorado Boulevard are car-centric; if you’re not in a car, you’re not prioritized. This is clear through the street design that gives the majority of space to motorists, encourages speeds in excess of 35mph, the obvious lack of crosswalks, and absence of bike infrastructure. All these conditions make our streets unaccommodating to Oxy students, 40% of which are car-free.

There are bike lanes on part of Eagle Rock Boulevard and York Boulevard, however the Eagle Rock Boulevard bike lane disappears at Westdale Avenue (just at the periphery of the comfortable walking distance zone) and the York Boulevard bike lane only makes the already pedestrian friendly portion of York more accessible, and does little to encourage students to travel north to Eagle Rock’s businesses corridor.

But there is a solution. In fact, there are many solutions but the simplest and most cost effective measure that can be implemented to make Colorado Boulevard businesses more accessible, and make our streets more welcoming is to extend the existing bike lanes on Eagle Rock Boulevard north all the way to Colorado Boulevard and to add bike lanes along Colorado itself. Comfortable bike lanes have a well-documented effect of encouraging cycling – particularly among younger people – and the bicycle allows one to cover a greater distance than walking with the same amount of time. One can easily cover a mile in 10 minutes on a bicycle, and if Eagle Rock’s main boulevards were kinder to all modes of travel there is little doubt that more Oxy students would cycle and patronize local businesses. The map below shows some local businesses that are within a comfortable bicycling distance from Oxy

(The outermost circle represents everything within a 1.5 mile radius from Oxy. The middle circle represents everything within a mile from the campus and the innermost circle is the comfortable 0.5 mile walking zone. Click the map for a larger image.) 

Will It Work?

While college students are typically thought of as being on tight budgets with little free time, this does not mean that college students do not spend money or have zero free time. It’s not unusual to see Oxy kids visiting the businesses that are within the 10 minute walking distance from campus. In fact, some Oxy students already like to eat out at businesses along Colorado Boulevard as well despite not being within the quick, and comfortable walk zone. A student from the same Eagle Rock Patch mentioned above commented the following about Eagle Rock:

I always eat at Classic Thai. The pad thai there is the best—and I can’t go to any other Thai restaurant. I also love the Eagle Rock Music Festival. People are friendly and the nightlife is very calm and chill.

Classic Thai is about 1.5 miles from the Oxy campus and could be same “great Thai place” the other student was quoted as saying it was not within walking distance. Perhaps this particular student reached Classic Thai by some other means but combining the comments made by the Oxy students does suggest that if businesses are easy to reach, the students are just as likely to enjoy local eateries, cafes and shops as much as the rest of the community. As already mentioned, Oxy students are known to visit many of the businesses that are easy to reach, within a comfortable walking distance. It seems plausible that if we extend the distance that students are comfortable traveling independently, and truly make Eagle Rock a welcoming home to Occidental College, that businesses as well as students will can benefit.

Current Eagle Rock Neighborhoood Council President, Michael Larsen, seems to have confidence in such a vision– of streets that are friendly and inviting to college students. In an Eagle Rock Patch article titled “The Future of Eagle Rock” Larsen had this to say–

“I’d love to see more places where the Oxy kids could hang out. We have an amazing, world-renowned college here and Eagle Rock should really have more of the traditional positive features of a college town… I’d like to lure them [students] back by making walking and bike riding more pleasurable and safe. I’m encouraged by Take Back The Boulevard campaign that just started, which will re-envision Colorado Boulevard to make it pedestrian and bike-friendly. Slow it down, plant more trees, give space to bikes, create safe crosswalks.”

There are plenty of bike racks along Colorado Boulevard and Eagle Rock Boulevard. Occidental College is than a mile away from 2 bike shops and the campus even has a bikeshare system, which allows students to borrow bicycles for daily use. Most Eagle Rock businesses are less than 2 miles away from campus. It seems the only thing that’s preventing more Oxy students from taking to two wheels is safe provisions for bicycling.  Existing signs are encouraging, we see on York Boulevard that bike and pedestrian friendly measures have increased the number of people walking and cycling along that street. Can Eagle Rock step up and make an environment that is welcoming to Oxy students? As Occidental College’s own website says of Eagle Rock–

“Oxy isn’t just located here; it’s a vital part of the community.” 

Let’s make our streets reflect our written commitment– let’s welcome students and have Eagle Rock feel like home.

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Highland Park Veteran Memorial Potential

A view of the veteran memorial. Photo credit: Waltarrrrr

At the intersection of York Boulevard and North Figueroa Street in Highland Park sits a triangular parcel of land known as the Highland Park veteran memorial. Unfortunately, because the memorial is relatively small and flanked speeding traffic on all sides it can be an unpleasant place to spend time.

However, it seems things could perhaps change for the better. The veteran memorial recently became property of the Department of Recreation and Parks and there is talk that the veteran memorial public space may be expanded by possibly converting the adjacent right turning pocket or parking lot into an extension of the memorial space.

The intersection of York Boulevard and North Figueroa Street. The triangular veteran memorial space could be expanded by converting the right turn pocket  and/or adjacent parking lot into parks pace. Image credit: Google Maps

Admittedly, converting a small parking lot or a right turn pocket into an extension of the public space may seem like a small gain, or perhaps even insignificant. To put things in perspective I decided to use a Google Map Area Calculator so I could see, in acres, how much the public space could be expanded. I found that the veteran memorial space is currently about 0.2 acres large, so how much bigger could the space get if we expanded it?

If we only converted the adjacent right turning pocket we would double the size of veteran memorial space, adding 0.2 acres of public space to this prominent intersection. If we converted the right turn pocket and half the adjacent parking lot into an extension of the space, we would be adding about 0.7 acres of public space. And if we converted the right turn pocket and almost the entire parking lot we could provide an entire acre to the existing 0.2 acre veteran memorial. Suddenly, it seems there is huge potential to enhancing the existing memorial which often is seen as little more than a traffic island due to its placement with high speed traffic on all sides.

If the veteran memorial were expanded to include the green shape seen in this image, we could have a 1.2 acre large public space where Highland Park’s two most prominent streets cross and have a space that truly honors veterans. Image credit: Google Maps

Expanding the veteran memorial would not only enhance the memorial space but it would also serve to connect that public space with the near by Highland Park Senior Center. In essence, an extension would almost form one large, continuous public pedestrian space well over an acre that is friendly and serves the Highland Park community. Perhaps the city could try the expansion temporarily by blocking off the right turning pocket or reduce the number of parking spaces available in the adjacent parking lot as though it were a construction zone and see how traffic adjusts. Highland Park has a unique opportunity here to beautify and enhance the public sphere, maybe that can prevail over funneling traffic at excess speeds.

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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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