Thread started by marino at 03.18.09 - 8:16 am

Here is an e-mail from Tim Bick about the Arroyo Bikeway and the related meeting at the LA River Center tonite.
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Here's some background on the County's Arroyo Seco Bikeway, which will be the subject of a 6 pm meeting on Wednesday night at the LA River Center.

In 2005 Los Angeles County proposed extending the existing bike trail that is in the Arroyo Seco riverbed from Avenue 43 in Los Angeles, where it now ends, all the way to Avenue 19, where it would join the LA River Bike Trail. As a result of community and bike rider concerns about safety and the environmental appropriateness of continuing the bike path in the bottom of the Arroyo Seco riverbed, the County promised to draft a new plan and to keep everyone informed. They then stumbled along, changed bike coordinators several times and tried to draft a new plan, but eventually lost their funding. They never reported back to the community on their efforts, until now.

The controversy is summarized on the Arroyo Seco website beginning here: http://www.arroyoseco.org/bikepath.htm . As you will see if you click though on the links at the bottom of the page, the Arroyo Seco Foundation offered an alternative plan that was far superior. There is also more information on this site: http://www.californiacycleway.com

It's strange that the County is finally announcing their "cancellation" of the project almost four years after the last set of meetings. Clearly there needs to be an Arroyo Seco bike trail, just as there is an LA River bike trail, although we have always viewed the Arroyo Seco bike trail as more of a transportation program than a recreational one. It is also clear though that the County is not the right agency to lead the project. I hope that the meeting on Wednesday night will lead to renewed interest in the Arroyo Seco Cycleway and to developing the right agency and community participation and sponsorship.

Let me know if you need any further background.

Tim Brick