Westside BikeSIDE!

(This is a guest post by “BikingInLA“, a West LA cyclist.  He blogs regularly, as often as five times a week (wow!), at BikingInLA.wordpress.com - so go check it out.  If you would like to guest blog, email me at alexcthompson@gmail.com)

This past Sunday, I was reading the paper, taking in a column by Steve Lopez in which he describes sticking out his thumb and trying to hitch a ride in L.A. And failing miserably.

He described literally begging for a ride as BMWs, Mercedes and Escalades raced past him by. Why? We’ll let Mr. Lopez explain:

“What is hitchhiking, after all, but a form of carpooling? Why can’t we have neighborhood pickup stations where, once a week, you leave the car at home and catch a ride with a neighbor? Given the flat terrain and great weather, why don’t we have more bike paths like the great cities of the world, and why can’t the long-abandoned Expo right-of-way be developed for cyclists?”

I don’t know if I’d want to hitchhike in a city like this.

But I do know that Los Angeles has the worst cycling infrastructure of any major city I’ve seen. Or most small cities, for that matter.

From bike lanes that start and stop at random, depositing unsuspecting riders in the middle busy high-speed streets with little or no warning, to posted bike routes on narrow, crowded streets that no sane rider would ever attempt, in what could only be an attempt by city planners to thin the herd.

So why doesn’t anyone do something about it? He has an answer for that, too..

“…Because any solution would take a little imagination and political leadership, and we’re more likely to find large gold nuggets in the Los Angeles River than we are to have public officials who work together to solve our transit needs….”

Bingo.

It doesn’t seem to matter what the problem is, or where. Take the Cyclists’ Bill of Rights, which remains in limbo, supposedly being “studied,” despite being endorsed by three neighborhood councils over 6 weeks ago. Then there’s the matter of the proposed 1/2 cent sales tax increase to fund transportation issues, and a Metro Board, including our own globe-trotting mayor,  that can’t be convinced to dedicate a lousy 1% each from the $40 billion total to benefit cyclists and pedestrians — even though they’ll probably waste that much on grande decaf double cappuccinos.

Or take the Santa Monica officials who won’t give Critical Mass riders the time of day, despite repeated attempts to cooperate with the city, and a heavy-handed police force that cracks down by writing illegitimate tickets. Along with Culver City officers who deal with adult cyclists by treating them like “children.” (At least the L.A.P.D. manages to treat large groups of cyclists like adults, not criminals.) And my personal favorite, the City of Beverly Hills, which as near as I have been able to determine, does not contain a single bike path, lane or route anywhere within the city.

And don’t even get me started on a state legislature that considers countless bicycle safety bills every session, but can’t seem to actually pass any of them.

But there’s actually a single, easy solution to all of these problems.

It’s called voting.

Because, believe it or not, all these officious, inefficient and generally self-promoting government officials actually work for you. I know it doesn’t seem that way sometimes, and they certainly don’t act like it most of the time. But it’s true.

In every case, they’re either people you elect, or they work for the people you elect. And it’s about time we reminded them of that fact.

You see, the reason they think it’s okay to ignore cyclists is that they don’t think we matter. Yet, bicycle industry figures show that approximately 14% all Americans ride bikes. Which means that, out of the 10 million people who live in the County of Los Angeles, roughly 1.4 million are cyclists.

1.4 million people whose needs are not being met. And who can’t get the time of day from the people they elect.

Of course, we only have ourselves to blame. If that many people were to speak out and demand change, we could not be ignored.

So get involved. Call your elected officials. Write letters. Demand that they give cyclists the respect we deserve, and provide a safe environment for riding, where we don’t have to risk our life in heavy traffic on roads that weren’t designed for bicycle — or un-patrolled bike paths that provide a haven for criminals that prey on unsuspecting cyclists.

And by all means, vote. And if the politicians still won’t listen, then get out there and campaign for their opponents, until we finally have local governments that actually give a damn about us.

Because we should all be mad as hell.

And we’re not going to take it anymore.

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