Well my comment was going to be ...
"Compared to the millions of dollars DOT spends on special bikeways, how much would it cost to put a sign on every major street in LA reminding drivers and cyclists have an equal right to use the roadway. How much would it cost to put a poster in every DMV in California? How much would is cost to put a question on the DMV test? its much less expensive to educate people and change their mind frame than it is to change the roadway."
trickmilla02.4.10 - 1:43 pm
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It's all good. We at least put our plan on the map. The REAL plan.
We were nervous a bit, and talked too much semantics instead of stating things like "we did more for the bike community in the last 1.5 yrs than you did in 15 yrs..."
No biggie. Alex T-Rex Thompson and the Mi-hulk will go back and train like Rocky, and come back with a kung-fu-movie-like vengeance.
jericho1ne responding to a
comment by mechazawa
02.4.10 - 5:34 pm
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The money to pay for this network can come from sources of money the City of L.A. gets that are non-General Fund. That is, the network can be paid for with money set aside for bicycle, pedestrian, or "clean air" uses the City gets and cannot use to plug general budget holes.
Some sources of these funds and their approximate annual value:
Local Transportation Fund
.025% of Sales Tax goes to planning bicycle and pedestrian facilities
07-08 Total Revenue: $4,687,411
Prop C Anti-Gridlock Transit Improvement Fund
LA gets a cut of Prop C sales tax money for "improve transit service and operations, reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality, efficiently operate and improve the condition of streets and freeways utilized by public transit, and reduce foreign fuel dependence.
The City receives funds from a 20 percent share of the revenues collected based on a per capita allocation. Funds may be used for public transit, paratransit, and repairing and maintaining streets used by public transit."
Total collected 07-08: $83,182,491
Total that went to projects with bike in the name: $780,000
Unallocated Balance: $579,949
Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Trust Fund
$4 per vehicle fee, to go to programs to reduce mobile source air pollution.
Total Revenue 07-08: $5,417,766
These funding sources are going to the City already, and can be pooled and spent in coordination with grant applications the City could apply for (from the County, State and Federal government) to build this $5 million Backbone Bikeway Network. The City of Long Beach has shown how effective a good bicycle grant-writing team can be - they've kick started a bike friendly construction boom. L.A. can do this if we get people like Michelle "Yes We Can't" Mowery out of the way and get the Mayor (and his Chief Administrative Officer) on board.
ubrayj0202.5.10 - 8:55 am
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