Do we really think that more money or a less ‘diverse’ community is going to change the way she treats the dialog between her office of ’senior coordinator’ and the cyclists she serves? All the money in the world is not going to change the way Michelle perceives cyclists in LA. Even when she’s presented with a case of road rage against a cyclist she warns that cyclists should be more careful.

If we are going to get anything done in this city we need an optimist — not a negative, ‘wear your helmet’ ninny troll parasite living off the lost future of the bike plan.

to that point of having more outreach: various groups across the city have been putting their own free time and effort into improving the bike plan and reaching out to the public. if Michelle loves her job so much why doesn’t she put some free time into it too. why hasn’t she attended any of these open and public meetings arranged by these outside groups? If you noticed the whole DOT, Planning and ALTA crew ended the meetings promptly and drove away in their cars as soon as they could. In it for just the paycheck?

It’s obvious Michelle must hate her job — why doesn’t she just quit and find a better one? Or retire and polish the lugs on her Colnago?

if we consider all streets a street cyclists will ride it doesn’t matter the color or language of the cyclist.

White people are annoying. Give ‘em an inch, & we’ll ask for a mile. In the meantime, we’ll take every sliver of that inch & complain about it.

Other ethnic groups are less demanding. Some are disillusioned by a system that was established without them in mind (kinda like … you know, bikers). Some are here on tenuous legal grounds & therefore feel like speaking up (about anything, not just bike issues) would be a hazard to their residency here. MOST LIKELY, Ms. Mowery was galloping past these points owing to lack of time, or being flustered, or inarticulateness. Either that, or she’s a flaming white supremacist & needs to go.

To a previous commenter RE Portland & its diversity: It is, indeed, a fairly diverse city. This isn’t really known, because it is the scruffy, opinionated white people that have transformed the city in the past thirty years. Scruffy white art collectives. Scruffy white record stores. Scruffy white local, organic, sustainable restaurants (a dime a dozen, & I miss them). But there is a HUGE Hispanic community, one of the larger Asian communities on the West Coast, & yes, a long-established, strong, & vibrant African-American community, too. But much like Los Angeles, it’s the white folk that make all the fuss. Squeaky wheel, grease, &c.

In short: Mowery is not necessarily wrong about diversity being an issue in getting the Bike Plan to make sense. But she is wrong about Portland. She is also wrong in thinking we will accept this as an excuse. If she’s been in her position for fourteen years, she bloody well better know the demographics of Los Angeles very damned well. Or she should. And she should have accommodated for it.

In the meantime: Are there some streets that other, more silent ethnic groups need bike laned or sharrowed that aren’t addressed by LA’s Best Bike Plan? Is it too late for outreach?

AT

Cycling is a means of transportation that all ethnic groups participate in, yet I think it is fair to say that there are cultural reasons why cycling is not as embraced in certain immigrant groups as it is within the white population. In this circumstance, Portland’s ethnic populations may be behaving in a way similar to Amsterdam’s where status and economic success are expressed with auto ownership. Many ethnic groups may equate cycling as a sign of poverty, as they may have rememberance of the necessity of bike riding in their former home countries.

Further, Portland’s inner city neighborhoods where cycling is most prominent are fairly white, while the outer neighborhoods and suburbs are where the majority of the ethnic and immigrant populations live.

The outer neighborhoods and suburbs are more auto oriented in urban form. The inner city is more urban, based on a finer grained block and street structure.

In Portland, it also rains a lot (in the winter) and it is very hilly. These two factors would lead one to conclude that cycling would be less attractive than in a flater, more climate friendly environment like LA.

However, cyclists ride all year, all over the region.

LA is far denser than Portland, and therefore would seem to support cycling naturally by virture of its density, and resultant mixed use character.

With the advantages of weather, topography, density, mixed use urban fabric and diverse population, one would think LA would be a great place to ride a bike.

in 1995, they came up with a program called “cityplan” that has successfully connected business and neighborhood leaders together with urban planners to create a world-class transportation network.

http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/cityplan/Visions/

if they could do it, why can’t we?

How do bikes work there? They made their bikeway network connect like two-wheeler freeways. They put directional signs for cyclists. They put some thought and effort into it. They made it work.

What they didn’t do – was make excuses.

i am a white guy and i live with my black girlfriend in a latino neighborhood.

none of us have quality bike infrastructure anywhere near our house. case closed.

Of course, Los Angeles also has a “very diverse” population of motorists, correct? And they don’t seem to have a problem getting their way.

I know I’m including some fairly inaccurate racial/bicyclist divisions & stereotypes here. But you see my point?

Dot Com

That would have been a good response … oh wait, they had half a million dollars! They could have done a couple dozen meetings and rides across LA, and gone back for more money. It would have kept them employed and it would have grown the bike movement as well, so that they’d have the educated masses supporting them as opposed to trying to tear them down.

The whole process has been “We have a plan, you may now comment, we don’t give a shit about what you say” until very recently when Box et al started bringing the crowds to city hall.

I doubt Mowery is racist, considering that she’s part Chippewa and studying the language; but it does seem like she’s making excuses.

The issue is not that LA is too diverse, but that LA is too cheap to promote bicycling issues and benefits to our very diverse population.

LADOT, as always, is all effort for cars and little or nothing for anything else.

Since Metro seems to have no problem engaging in live and published outreach to our diverse communities, and since it already has a bikeways program of sorts, and since it covers the entire county, maybe we should try to get bikeway planning given over to MTA? What do you all think?