Comments on: Santa Monica is bike friendly? How the League of American Bicyclists undermines local cyclists

By: KL

KL — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 07:19:26 +0000

i personally sent them some hatemail over this. for anyone else interested the League of “American” Cyclists is: bikeleague@bikeleague.org

Feel free to quote me:
Dear supposed “League of American Cicyclists”:

I read on the Los Angeles METblogs that you gave the city of santa monica the “Bike Friendly Award”. I never write letters like this but i was so upset i had to send you something.

I have personally seen HUNDREDS of cyclists get ticketed in santa monica. The police have NOTHING to do there. They harass everyone in the city. If you are part of a group they will follow you around for HOURS. Check out the santa monica critical mass and see the thousands of complaints against santa monica. i have personally ridden through there hundreds of times by myself and had to be very cautious. They require you to come to a complete stop at stop signs and traffic lights and put your foot down before you can take off. Maybe the supposed “League of American Cyclists” has never ridden clipless and doesn’t understand this. The neighboring culver city is 1000x more friendly to cyclists. Anywhere with regular LAPD is VERY NICE. SMPD (Santa Monica PD) is the bane of my existence.

Shame on you and your sham of an organization. I hope i never come across a member of your organization in the street, because i would push him off his bike at how ashamed i am that he is even riding.

Also note this comment that i thought was very fitting over at WestSideBikeSide:
“The ultimate result is a city inoculated against criticism. Next time cyclists complain stridently of the trials of riding bikes in Santa Monica, officials and staff will point to the award and remark that our own people disagree with us. Nevermind that the League’s offices are located 3000 miles away in DC, their award will be used to resist outside pressure for change. Effectively, the League has just drastically increased the difficulty of getting the city to respond to cyclists. In essence, it has undermined the work of locals to force the city to change.”

I suppose you could take back the award, but somehow i doubt you will.

By: Local LA Blogger Cyclists in Uproar Over Award « Mikey Wally

Local LA Blogger Cyclists in Uproar Over Award « Mikey Wally — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:09:27 +0000

[...] takes more than just infrastructure and good intentions to truly be bicycle friendly.” Westside BikeSIDE sez, “Next time cyclists complain stridently of the trials of riding bikes in Santa Monica, [...]

By: Santa Monica Wins Bike Friendly Award. Local Cyclists Call Bullshit. | Los Angeles Metblogs

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 22:54:08 +0000

[...] and knew that the award was bullshit? Unfortunately, that’s what just happened. Alex over at WestSideBikeSide has more details: The ultimate result is a city inoculated against criticism. Next time cyclists complain stridently [...]

By: SustainableCA

SustainableCA — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:29:04 +0000

check out these websites , they are pretty informative.
sustainlane.com search 2008 sustainability rankings
http://www.walkscore.com type in your address
http://www.bicyclefriendlycommunities.org

By: SustainableCA

SustainableCA — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 03:26:15 +0000

I totally disagree , Santa Monica unlike many other certified bike friendly cities is in LA , the nations second biggest city , with a crazy car culture. Change is happening, voters approved measure R, light rails are going up , bike ways are being built (just called in to LA congresswomen on this and it passed at the city council meeting last week) Santa Monica provides free bike maps at the Public Libraries. A bike station is being built near downtown coming soon. The Government is very open to progress, i have been to city hall numerous times and spoken to city planners/transportation. I wrote the Library a letter saying the bike maps should be on public display( they used to be up stairs behind the reference desk way out of site) they responded with positive feedback and next week the maps were out front. I do like love your web site here, i just want to point out my experience in Santa Monica , being that i grew up here , went to Highschool here and have cycled in the City for years. The Cops do need to tone it down big time , i have been ticketed way to many times while cycling , that is a big problem , and needs addressing. The beach path is usually crazy bc of the sheer amount of people living/visiting LA , I would Love to see it Lit up with Solar Lights for night time transportation and safety. Hope is A Verb. I am on totally with you on cycling and promoting the cause bro , i just feel we need to appreciate the effort made and keep pushing for change. We elect our officials , if we have idea’s , voice them. But let’s keep them on our side , let’s work together with them. Keep up the good work brothers and sisters!

By: Mihai

Mihai — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:08:08 +0000

Too often in Santa Monica the bike lane becomes the valet parking lane, the catering for film shoot parking lane, the parking police vehicle parking lane, the limo temp stop lane, the “put-the-orange-cone-here” lane, the construction vehicle lane, the keep-your-Range-Rover-door-open-while-you-search-for-crap-on-the-floor-of-your-car lane.

Also, the issue of bike theft is becoming flagrant. Is SMPD too soft when it comes to bike thieves, are westsiders not educated in properly locking up their bikes, or a bit of both? Either way, if my vehicle is not secure, that affects my productivity as a citizen, and I honestly do not feel comfortable leaving my bike locked outdoors in my own neighborhood. Wtf?

By: HappyLand

HappyLand — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 14:18:21 +0000

First, just some corrections: “And the Land Use and Circulation Element is a PLAN. A plan which is not even through the environmental review process” might be better served with a hyphen “a PLAN – a plan which is….” ‘from the city”, uncritically’ should be ‘from the city,” uncritically.’ And “quote” is a verb, not a noun (quotation), though its widespread misuse has perverted the language (A little tongue in cheek here).

Secondly, the beach bike path is a nightmare. And when you do attempt to educate the pedestrians standing idly in the traffic right on the NO PEDESTRIANS sign, they tell you to “Fuck off.” Cute. Don’t even get me started on the rest of the city’s inane “infrastructure.”

Thirdly, Santa Monica should not be content with their undeserved bronze! Why not strive for gold-plated brass!