Bike To Work Day
Thread started by
illuminateLA at 04.12.07 - 12:12 pm
May 14-18, 2007 is celebrated around the country as Bike to Work Week and on Thursday, May 17, 2007, local cyclists will converge on Hollywood and Western in a demonstration of cycling solidarity.
The Hollywood and Western Pit Stop is hosted by illuminateLA and will offer refreshments, swag and encouragement to cyclists from 7 am to 10 am.
There will also be entertainment and Hollywood Pro Bike Shop will be offering bicycle tune-ups, all of which will serve to prep the crowd for a ride downtown to "Bang the Drum" at City Hall.
Invited guests include Mayor Villaraigosa, Deputy Mayor Jaime de la Vega, City Council President Eric Garcetti, City Council President Pro Tempore Wendy Greuel, Councilmember Tom LaBonge, Department of Planning General Manager Gail Goldberg as well as members of the Police Department and Fire Department Bicycle Details.
"I believe that our streets are the new 'public space' and our ability to share that space is one of our greatest opportunities for revitalizing and redefining our communities" says Pit Stop Host Stephen Box.
Bike to Work Day is intended to encourage the cycling community to keep on riding, to educate motorists about cyclists rights to the road and to urge our leaders to support the cycling community with appropriate enforcement.
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That's just a few blocks from where I work, so I'll be there. I'll try to get out of the house early, then maybe plan on getting to work a little late so that I can hang out with ya'll for a while.
mr rollers04.12.07 - 12:45 pm
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Sorry, I've got to work...
dave04.12.07 - 12:51 pm
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Sounds great! Everyone please note that a letter-writing campaign is also forthcoming to encourage Villaraigosa to ride a bike on May 17th. Look for it here, the LACBC site and on Cicle soon.
Troisvelos04.12.07 - 1:05 pm
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you gotta skip work to be at the Bike to Work Day event
spiraldemon04.12.07 - 1:23 pm
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it's totally on my way to work!!! i'll try to be there early at 7:00 and hang til 8:30 or something... only problem is that i have an early hockey game that day at 7:00pm... hrm... that means you too dak... maybe i'll just leave work at 5:00pm and i think i can be home by 6:00pm... okay!
though it will be weird to be on my bike without a beer.
neverclever04.12.07 - 1:32 pm
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i don't know what is weirder, bike without a beer or bike in the day?
eeeks. i might blow up.
the reverend dak04.12.07 - 1:38 pm
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put it in your back pack. what?
Whats a job?
Joe Borfo04.12.07 - 1:44 pm
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What happened to the idea of getting (L.A. Deputy Mayor for Transportation) Jaime de la Vega to get out of his Hummer and ride a bike to work on Bike To Work Day?
PC04.12.07 - 3:45 pm
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I still think 40 of us should tow him in his Hummer on bikes to his work.
Joe Borfo04.12.07 - 3:47 pm
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Electric Otis and SoapBoxLA have both reached out to Jaime de la Vega to invite him to ride with us on May 17, 2007.
Borja Leon, his deputy, has been receptive. We will keep you posted.
If the traditional approach doesn't work we can turn up the heat with a phone/email campaign.
SoapBoxLA04.12.07 - 5:21 pm
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i've sent formal invitations to de la Vega and to the mayor. just waiting to hear something back. my new thought... let's get Schwarzenegger out here. we'll see what happens. if i don't get a positive response from either de la Vega or Villaraigosa, i'll let everyone know so that we can pressure the hell out of them. there will be details of everything soon on
www.biketoworkla.com
it's in progress.
electric otis04.12.07 - 6:22 pm
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this year i'm going to be there and use half a "personal day" just so I can walk through the office looking like a total bike geek on bike to work day. :)
villa-ray-goosa can kiss my sweaty, spandex clad ass
j3r3my04.12.07 - 11:47 pm
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Thanks for everyone who signed the petition at the hit-and-run awareness ride (Safety Ride II)!
We'll have the petition at the Mission San Fernando Rey de España Ride on Wednesday and the IAAL-MAF ride on Thursday.
We'll need your support. The Mayor and the City Council need to hear from you!
illuminateLA04.17.07 - 12:39 am
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This is what they are saying:
"Taking off from the Hollywood/Western Red Line station at 9 a.m., hundreds of cyclists will ride to city hall in demonstration of cycling solidarity. It's an 8-mile ride that will be escorted by the LAPD with arrival at city hall. At 10:30 a.m., there will be another rally or "bang the drum" at the south lawn of the city hall.
The 9 a.m. Hollywood/Western rally is with Councilman Eric Garcetti who will announce a $50,000 reward for tips leading to the capture of the hit-and-run driver who hit cyclist Jen Diamond last fall at Sunset and Alvarado.
More info at their MySpace page. The event is put on by IlluminateLA, a site dedicated to arts and cycling in Los Angeles."
SoapBoxLA05.16.07 - 5:10 pm
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Zach from http://laist.com . He'll be riding with us tomorrow.
Looking forward to seeing you there!
illuminateLA05.16.07 - 6:24 pm
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I take a helicopter to work. Biking to work won't work.
Dick Neptune05.16.07 - 7:07 pm
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If I don't make it...I'm wearing a BLINKIE on the back of my pants when i walk to work....... ( ;
bigsexxy05.16.07 - 10:20 pm
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"Hundreds" ? Really? Well, I'll be one of them . . .
mr rollers05.16.07 - 10:34 pm
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I'll be there bright and early. Come on people, we need to support. Get your butts out of bed and show up.
brassknuckle05.16.07 - 10:49 pm
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i'm getting my ass up at 3 am to get there in time, that's about 3 hrs before i usually go to sleep, if I who is as nocturnal as a vampire can, you all can too.
FuzzBeast05.17.07 - 12:51 am
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God, I hope there's coffee.
I am not a morning person.
angle05.17.07 - 2:23 am
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I want to go. Hmm...it's currently 2:30 am. Sleep now, then go? Or stay up, and then take a nap after before work? Decisions decisions
monovsstereo05.17.07 - 2:33 am
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This is going to be the true Zombie Ride.
PC05.17.07 - 3:26 am
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So THIS is what morning looks like! Grrr!
SoapBoxLA05.17.07 - 4:05 am
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convince me to come, I'm feeling lazy. And I've been awake since 3:30 pm yesterday
monovsstereo05.17.07 - 5:02 am
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Hope you guys have a blast! I'm there in spirit!!!
richtotheie05.17.07 - 5:10 am
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you all stay up TOOO LATE!! My advice is go get a 6 pack of monsters and go out to the ride all wired haha.
BicyclingAllMyCities05.17.07 - 6:01 am
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I'm still home. I haven't yet decided if I'm going. I like how the dude Natasha Ghoneim is interviewing said "..., one of the guys from wolfpack got hit..." like the people watching the morning news have any idea what wolfpack is.
monovsstereo05.17.07 - 6:20 am
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For those who couldn't make the ride, this is what "work" looks like.
SoapBoxLA05.17.07 - 3:41 pm
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Eric of the Blogdowntown writes:
http://blogdowntown.com/blog/2643
Zach of the LAist Blog writes:
http://www.laist.com/2007/05/17/bike_to_work_da.php#more
SoapBoxLA05.17.07 - 3:49 pm
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wow! look at all you early morning ridazz!! ^^^^^
is there a roll out of bedhead ride for schlubbs like myself to participate in? hee hee
Roadblock05.17.07 - 5:02 pm
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I noticed alott of people with cameras..someone should make a gallery for this ride..it was fun..minus bike cops..hah
BicyclingAllMyCities05.18.07 - 12:00 pm
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A huge thank you to all the cyclists who showed up and banged the drum at City Hall. Stephen has been busting his ass to make this day happen, but without you all showing up it would have been a lonely ride to City Hall.
illuminateLA05.18.07 - 12:18 pm
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Amazing Event.
Although, it was feeling like bike NOT work day there after the 4th lap around city hall. Then I actually had to go into my job at a leisurly 11 am while all you deadbeats went for an early lunch (and beer no doubt) at Philips.
I couldn't help but apreciate the symbolisim as that wonk from the city or the dot or whatever was bragging how LA is such a great city for bicycles, while behind him the gounds keepers were litterally shoveling 2 tons of bull shit.
Hey, All-Cities,
Don;t be so tough on el Po Po
I know some people's nose crinkle's at the first smell of bacon
They seemed very nice at that outing. (unless I missed something)
Fom talking to officer Helper, he seems much more concerned with Car on Bike terrorisim then citing cyclists who take liberties with red lights etc. Those dudes on the bikes actually understand some of the bullshit we put up with on the daily.
All in all, I think el popo has been pretty nice to the Ridazz. Often looking the other way, or stopping traffic and giving us escort.
trickmilla05.18.07 - 12:25 pm
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Yeah, I'll second all that! Great ride & event; it was definitely "Goof-off from Work Day" for some of us . . . all day long. I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's company.
The cops were very cool, even when I was racing ahead to get pics (lots to go through, coming soon). They even took the trouble to thank US at the end. I got the feeling that they are dedicated cyclists.
mr rollers05.18.07 - 12:47 pm
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great ride, great bicycle visibility!
and the energy and brainstorming at phillipe's afterwards was a welcome reminder that there is hope for change for the streets of los angeles.
let there be peace in the valley!
thank you all for the work you do.
this is a pretty cool podcast from bike to work week on Warren Olney's "Which Way LA" - (5/17)
Which way LA -in the car capitol of the world - it's bike to work day
monica howe and michelle mowery discuss bike issues and bike to work week...
ingipet05.18.07 - 2:58 pm
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It was strange and saddening to hear the LADOT's bicycle-person talk about trying to maintain streets that work for cars and car parking.
The "Complete Streets" bill she brought up several times is largely a symbolic measure.
Warren Olney got right to it with his questions, an none of the people he interviewed seemed to have a good answer for him. Bicycles deserve to be treated as transportation! Right now they are not funded or planned for with the weight or budget of autmobile planning.
We need to use reliable indicators of a successful urban area (e.g., liviability indexes drawn from surveys, air quality measurements, etc.) to measure the success of our transportation projects. The Level Of Service calculation our roads are designed around have ruined vast portions of our city.
My whining aside, it was cool to hear bicycling get some media attention - thank you Monica Howe, Mowry, and Bikesbelong dude!
ubrayj0205.18.07 - 4:34 pm
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I think measuring livability index stuff is a great idea! any metrics we can quantify help the bureaucrats to understand our needs.
consider-
*the ease of 5 mile trips
*financial incentives for cyclists
(how about - if you ride your bike, the metro is ALWAYS FREE!!!!)
*bicycle boulevards!!! --integrated bicycle priority streets--
even though complete streets is largely symbolic, it needn't be. Berkeley, Portland, hell, even COPENHAGEN, that bicycle paradise in the sky, made very small improvements, gradually over time.
i for one would like to see the LACBC become a bit more aggressive/assertive/creative with their vision and strategies....
ingipet05.19.07 - 11:16 am
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I ride in to work every day, but work nights and pedaling to LA from Orange at 7AM would have made it a "Bike Home From Work Day". Maybe I could have found someone with a couch for me to crash on afterwards. Hindsight is 20/20 after all.
Trickmilla:
"Hey, All-Cities,
Don;t be so tough on el Po Po
I know some people's nose crinkle's at the first smell of bacon
They seemed very nice at that outing. (unless I missed something) "
Well put, especially about the ones on bikes. After all, they are just more people on bikes and just because they are wearing a uniform it doesn't make them inhuman. I've found that most people who unabashedly rag on cops without any forethought are usually punks who figuratively crap in their own bed and don't like sleeping in crap.
Jeronimo05.20.07 - 1:55 pm
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Hmm, I kinda agree with you guys about that podcast. WHile it seemed Monica had some stuff to say, she never really came out and said much, just glancing off certain topics, I mean, when asked how long critical mass has been around she kinda just fumbled.
As for the rest of it, well, it really seemed to be the same talking points we always hear about bicycles the "well, we're planning this and talking about that, and hey look we did this one thing a while back" and as much as I hear these same points all the time, all over, not just in LA, I really don't see anything being done though.
What I do see is the bike lane on major streets being narrowed and moved CLOSER to the door zone. I still see way too many cyclists going the wrong way up the sidewalk and too many drivers who think that's where bikes belong and no form of public program to educate people that that isn't what people should be doing. I see billboards for telling people to try get their kids to eat healthier, why can't we get a couple to tell people a law they should already know? I also hear talk of trying to expand freeways to move more cars around rather than trying to get people out of their cars, especially for short trips.
As to the comment in the show about it being difficult to implement crap because LA is an "old city", that's just fucking bullshit (not to mention the part about it being older than the US blatantly wrong, L.A. was founded in 1781). Copenhagen has been around for thousands of years, and has narrow ass streets, fuck, Boston (377 years) streets are maybe half the width of many LA streets, and they managed to find a way to put bike lanes on some of em, and the city's half reclaimed from the ocean and they still ran subways, and just recently (and currently) ran a brand new freeway tunnel directly under most of the downtown of the city. The age of a city has nothing to do with how difficult it is to do infrastructure changes. It has to do with the willingness (or lack thereof) of people to give ok to projects.
Also, what's with talking about bikestations as if there's so many of them, I can think of maybe 2 in massive space of the LA metro area.
FuzzBeast05.21.07 - 5:07 am
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Jeronimo
yeah people who rag on cops are dumb!
and the people who defend them are the ones who can justify shit like the macarthur park beatings.....
but yeah lets be serious,,ALL cops arent like that but they all wear the same uniform..hmmm
BicyclingAllMyCities05.23.07 - 10:51 pm
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Guilt by association...In those clips I don't see too many riot police trying to calm their coworkers down. And where are the arrests? None, but suspension and reassignment, that'll show them not to fire on a crowd. What they did was clearly ASSAULT but somehow if you're wearing blue and carrying a badge its just another day at the office?
Bullshit
420LaHaRR05.24.07 - 12:26 am
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All-cities,
I never said you were "dumb" or that anybody else is, i just said that a few individual officers on that day seemed to treat us very decently.
And in particular, having spoken to officer Helper, I believe that he is highly invested in dealing with the reckless drivers that put our lives in danger everyday.
To suggest that I am some how an apologist for Police who rioted at MacAurther Park, that
is just plain stupid.
Yes they all wear the same uniform, so do many cholos, hipsters, athelets, ridazz etc. I also try to treat all as individuals.
There was video of much what happened at MacAurther Park and the indvidual cops who broke the law and abused people should be held to account. Period.
Being a jerk to every cop you meet, may help reinforce your view that the pigs are all assholes, but it isn't going to do shit to bring to justice the individuals who can't handle the power and stress of being a cop and misuse that power to abuse their fellow citizens.
trickmilla05.24.07 - 10:04 am
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LA is an old city? hahaa
NY is nearly 400 years old and they have no problem implementing public transit projects and bike lanes.
It's just an issue of LA car culture, and the misconception that we NEED cars to get around.
kyber05.24.07 - 12:12 pm
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True, true...
Unfortunately, most "modern" cities have issues with bikes but NYC's public transport blows the wheels off of anything we have here in LA.
420LaHaRR05.24.07 - 1:38 pm
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Well put again, Trickmilla.
I'm nobody's apologist either. I told cops where to go over the radio for 15 years and know there are some out there who have no business being a cop because of how assholy they were/are. On the other hand, there were many more who I was happy were out there serving the communities I was also serving. The finger-pointing in this thread is akin to the idiots who point their finger at all illegal aliens in an accusatory manner just because a small percentage of them are criminals. Hypocrites are the ones who need to have the proverbial finger pointed at them.
Jeronimo05.24.07 - 2:20 pm
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True, there may be issues with the bike lanes in NYC. However, at least they are more widespread. That's more than I can say about here. I never said it was perfect, or even great for that matter, but at least they are THERE. That's the first step.
Although, I was more speaking of public transit system, since the subway had to be built underneath an already existing city. Which means there are gas mains, water mains, sewers, and all type of fun things to deal with.
Point being? Anything is possible, the age of a city is a poor ass excuse. Bike lanes are cake to deploy compared to the other marvels of engineering in modern times.
kyber05.24.07 - 2:28 pm
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J, You're correct. Blaming all of a group for the shortcomings of some members is pretty ignorant. I can only speak of my personal experiences with the lapd. Luckily the representative sample I've dealt with is small (somewhere between 20-30). Unfortunately they have been consistently acted like assholes.
Ride On!
420LaHaRR05.24.07 - 3:33 pm
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Hey AllCities et al.
I tihink et al., my last comment was a little harsh and mis-directed.
That came to me in the shower ... I souldn't have skipped my morning coffee. I agree with LAHARR - RIDE ON.
trickmilla05.24.07 - 4:27 pm
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I think this Bike To Work thread has become a" LAPD -GOOD OR EVIL? " thread..so someone should make one.
BicyclingAllMyCities05.24.07 - 10:14 pm
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Here here, BicyclingAllMyCities! Let's talk about the cool events that took place.
tern05.24.07 - 10:20 pm
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I agree wholeheartedly. I can be a pill when it comes to the cops, long day, sore back, yadda yadda yadda...
Didn't mean to hijack a thread that started out on such a positive note.
420LaHaRR05.24.07 - 10:41 pm
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I got to ride my bike and I got to ditch work! Yay. Oh, and bicycle cops escorted me while we did laps around city hall while we were all making way too much noise. That was my favorite.
Joe Borfo05.24.07 - 10:42 pm
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Yeah, I was especially having fun donating part of the rubber from my tires to the temple st side of city hall... what' up blocks long downhill skid right past bicycle cops and around a corner... that was some fun shit. And phillipes afterwards was awesome... we totally took over the upstairs, what with the indoor bike parking and all...
FuzzBeast05.25.07 - 12:34 am
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Looks like everyone had fun! What I don't get is why the pictures are all so clear and focused.
And what's that big orange thing in the sky behind some of you? Curious....
420LaHaRR05.25.07 - 9:47 am
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-->
Ridazz Roulette!
I'll be there :-)