Meetings Update:Bike Sharing, Anti-Harassment Ordinance and Speed Limits

February 1, 2010 at 1:20 pm | Posted in Bike News, Get Involved | 2 Comments
Tags: Anti-Harassment, LADOT, Metro

It has been a very busy week for bike issues at City Hall. Yesterday there were 2 City Council meetings which discussed issues concerning cyclists. The day started with Full Council Meeting where the Bike Sharing Program and the Anti-Harassment Ordinance continued to be discussed. Then Transportation Committee’s Agenda item included an item related to raising speed limits which raised some concerns for cyclists.

Bike Sharing:
Michelle Mowery issued a quick update on the Bike Sharing Program. Metro has been working on a Bike Sharing Program and has already identified an investor. They are considering doing a pilot in the Hollywood Area. LADOT has yet to move forward on initiating a program. When other council members spoke up expressing interest in having a Bike Share Program within their districts and close to college campus areas, Jan Perry stood up and announced that she has already been working on creating a Bike Share Program between USC and Downtown with the use of private funds which would eliminate the need for city funding and long delays. Mowery responded by saying that she would like to work with Perry’s office to make sure that their program can be integrated with DOT’s and Metro’s program.

Reyes made a shout out to LACBC’s City of Lights Program and highlighted the Bike Share Program would also benefit transit dependent folks who depend on biking to get to work. Garcetti made a final argument for why Hollywood would be an ideal place to launch this program.

There will be a report back in 90 days.

For more details go to:
la.streetsblog.org

Anti-Harassment Ordinance:

For background info please go to
LACBC blog post regarding the Anti-Harrassment Ordinance meeting

There was much support from Councilmembers for the implementation of an Anti-Harassment Ordinance. After input from the 10 cyclists in attendance, Koretz spoke out saying that it is not okay to have this kind of harassment to be going on and there needs to be a stop to it. Reyes spoke out for a culture shift and more accountability from LAPD. This ordinance would help to make that happen. Cardenas made the comment that there needs to be more education and awareness. Rosendahl ended the meeting with a pledge: “We will have an ordinance to protect cyclists” and that “we’re going to get the cooperation from LAPD.”

Next Steps:

* Transportation Committee meeting on Feb. 24th- Chief Beck will be present. Attendence and input from cyclists is requested.
* Joint report from LADOT and City Attorney’s office including input from cyclists (see below)
* Transportation Committee and Public Safety Committee will have joint hearing after February 24th to hear a report from LADOT, City Attorneys office and cyclists

What you can do now:
Councilmember Rosendahl has asked us to help gather input from cyclists:

* Tell us what qualifies as harassment? Please include even the most minor types of harassment. We will be collecting all of your input and passing it onto LADOT, Rosendahl, the City Attorneys Office and all other parties involved.
* Email input to: aurisha@la-bike.org by February 12th!

For more details go to: la.streetsblog.org

Speed Limits:
At yesterday’s Transportation Committee Meeting, the topic of raising speed limits for Chandler Blvd. and Riverside Drive, was continued until February 24th. Councilmember Paul Krekorian, whose district contains those streets, wanted to spend more time discussing the issues. LACBC, Donna Cassyd, Stephen Box, and Jay Goldberg did speak on the issue, showing support for lowering the speeds on the streets.
No decisions were made and this topic will continue to be discussed at February 24th’s T-Committee meeting.

About these ads