Bikeside LA

Cathy Jean Jones, 41, of Malibu, struck 28-year old Britanny Norton on the evening of February 1st in a crosswalk on Main Street in Santa Monica, leaving her with severe head trauma, multiple facial fractures, and broken ribs.  Cathy Jones’ van was allegedly traveling at 40mph at the time (the speed limit on Main St [...]

Transportation consultant Jeff Tumlin introduced the bike planning process in Santa Monica with a heaping spoonful of lowered expectations. The Nelson-Nygaard principal, who led Santa Monica in reworking their transportation plan, rattled off a series of bad frames, highlighting obstacles and limitations in a performance that could have landed him a job with LADOT. Tumlin [...]

There’s a great post by Gary Kavanagh over at GaryRidesBikes on the nature of parking in Santa Monica, and how it stands in the way of cycling and sustainable living.  Within his post Gary includes this great graphic, which shows all the land in Downtown Santa Monica which is used for parking: The only place [...]

My peeps have a saying: STILL GOT IT.  We say it when impressive HULK like action makes it clear that we still got it.  Still got that mojo that makes one an outstanding person. The League of American Bicyclists still don’t get it, and they STILL DON’T GOT IT.  The League’s reputation was completely tarnished [...]

Nate Baird discovered this gem in this long article by the SMDP on struggling businesses in downtown Santa Monica: Two years ago, Owens-Amsden said she tried to have a bike rack installed, but hit another obstacle when City Hall told her that only six bicycle racks are granted per year. There was a waiting list, [...]

There are few things that shock me as a bike activist anymore.  This discovery by Gary Kavanagh floored me – if you ride a bike without a bike license in Santa Monica it’s: punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars per violation, or by imprisonment in the County Jail for a period not [...]

(note that LAB is an abbreviation for League of American Bicyclists, not LA Brakeless, which is AWSUM!  Oh yeah, and BFC means Bike Friendly Community – you can read more about the BFC program here.) Directors of the League of American Bicyclists, The link below connects to a petition regarding the Bronze BFC Award conferred [...]

Two weeks ago I wrote about how the League of American Bicyclists gave an undeserved bronze award to Santa Monica for bike friendliness.  In doing so, they inoculated an already insulated City gov’t against criticism, making the job of local bike crusaders more difficult. I propose a simple solution: withdraw the award.  If you agree, [...]

(Santa Claus is ticketed on Santa Monica Critical Mass by Santa Monica Police Department.  The ticket was later dismissed.  Photo by Gary Se7en.) Last week the League of American Bicyclists, the oldest bicycle advocacy organization in the United States, gave Santa Monica a Bronze award for being a bicycle friendly community.  Despite the fact that [...]

The steel beast that brought the F.U.N. to so many rides is no more.  The pedal-powered 4-seater that brought smiles to so many faces. Gone it is, as of 10pm today, Monday April 27th, from its parking spot in Santa Monica…