Building Communities: Glendale

Glendale's Place in the Biking Galaxy

   Restlessness in the legs. It's a tingle that grows and scratches at the muscles. That bike back at the house suddenly seems less of a chore and more like an opportunity. The streets, the openness, the air, everything that isn't sitting at work begins to sip away at focus. A few years ago, Glendale resident Erik Yesayan felt that itch, sitting behind his desk at the Glendale Planning Commission and watching bike plan after bike plan past through his office.

"Biking stuff was always coming through, it was always coming before the commission while I sat there," said Yasayan, who now moonlights as an organizer for Walk Bike Glendale, the Verdugo Mountains arm of the Los Angeles County Biking Coalition (LACBC).

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
Bike Walk Glendale Members at the Montrose Farmers Market

"I saw all these guys who were really passionate about biking and something just happened, it just clicked that I wanted to be part of this. I didn't want to just be sitting on a commission, waiting for things to come to me," he said.

"I wanted to be part of a group that's advocating, actively, for positive change in the community."

His community, Glendale, has always been working against inclines, some as long and menacing as the neighboring Verdugo Mountains. In the late 90s, Glendale had painted bike lines up and down Verdugo Road. Midway through the project, hillside residents began to complain.

"The problem is a lot of those people don't really bike and I understand why. They live up there and have to drive everywhere...they don't understand sharing the road with bicycles so there's a challenge." said Yesayan.

The city then cancelled the effort, erasing the lanes. Since then, Glendale has routinely been looked over as bike-friendly town. It's a car town with plenty of parking for the Galleria and entrenched residents who are skeptical of a silly thing like biking. But that's selling the city short, said Yesayan.

"It's hard to compare other places in the county that are nice for riding," said Yesayan. "But there's a lot of diversity in Glendale. There's the nicest part of the L.A river, it goes right next to Glendale."

A year ago, the Glendale City Council passed the Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, a pilot pedestrian/biking initiative partnering the city with the LACBC.

LACBC then sent some recon, Colin Bogart, to access the qualities of Glendale and to start building a face for the plan.

"A month after the passage, a group of people who were involved with pushing forward with that plan got together and decided we should create some of group here, a voice for people who want to implement the plan," said Yasayan. That group would adopt the Walk Bike Glendale tag and immediately get to work.

Using the plan as a blueprint, Walk Bike Glendale began the process of prying open their city, one small initiative at a time.

"What we're doing is trying to implement what was passed last August and we're working with the community to work with us," said Yesayan.

On those projects is the Honolulu Avenue "Road Diet", a redesign of a four-lane stretch between La Crescent Avenue and Orangedale Avenue. The plan would merge two lines into a shared turning lane, and knit two bike lines on the sides, reformatting four lanes into three, flexible lanes.

The plan is approaching the second of two outreach meetings, with the latest slated for April 26.
Community Outreach Meeting : April 26 at 7:00 pm.
Sparr Heights Community Center Glencoe Way

Bike Walk Glendale is also in the middle of urging the city to pass a Bike Master Plan, something that can further unify efforts in avoid setbacks like the one on Verdugo Road.

In the interim, Glendale is looking to install bike racks, either on Brand Ave or in Montrose, and are installing bike signals at every intersection under renovation.

"The drivers hate driving here, too," said Yesayan. "We're trying one small change at time so we change this horrible perception of what it is right now."

LACMA and L.A. County Bicycle Coalition Join Up

Museum Offers Free Admission to Bikers and Bus Riders for Earth Day Celebration 

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia

Bikers at LACMA

  With the heat dialed down on Sunday, riders from West Hollywood headed to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for a celebration of Earth Day and a chance for free admission. 

The ride was hosted by the West Hollywood Biking Coalition (WeHo), a regional arm of the Los Angeles County Biking Colation (LACBC), and invited families to test the back roads of the west side before coming to stop at LACMA. 

Once there, cyclists from the morning ride dismounted to join hundreds of fellow Angelenos who were treated to a complimentary admission--provided they arrived by bike or public transportation. 

The partnership between LACMA and LACBC--an umbrella bike advocacy group started by Joe Linton and Ron Milam in 1998, showcased the kind of wide-breath cooperation that biking has been stirring in the last few years, not dis-including the 100,000-person ride known as CicLAvia.  

"You can cover more distance, you see more, and you’re more open to your environment than if you were in a car," said Francois Bar, Associate Professor at USC on riding through the city. 

Well maybe not actual distance, biking does provide for the distinct leap in the quality of the journey up and through Los Angeles. For LACMA, that was part of the appeal of the partnership. 

Photos by Rodrigo Mejia
LACBC and LACMA stations

Their slug for the Earth Day celebration read: "Because EARTH without ART is just 'EH'" 

In looking to hook Angelenos and drag them into the museum, biking seemed the perfect lure and the theme of riding in the city repeated itself throughout the courtyard of LACMA, under the watch of the 340 ton hunk of granite hauled over from Riverside County for Michael Heizer's installation, "Levitated Mass"--the over 200-foot-tall boulder was draped in a green tarp.

Stations started from the 6th Street entrance, where a bicycle valet, headed by green-vested members of LACBC, tethered every shape of bike to a coral. Some of the activities included making spoke cards and various paint workshops, all of which drew a steady orbit of children while their parents took a breather after their ride. 

LACMA also hosted a few tours and looped a showing of Michael Wolfgang Bauch's movie, "Riding Bikes with the Dutch." 

The movie, debuted in 2010 at the Bicycle Film Festival in Long Beach, compares the overwhelming bike culture in Amsterdam to the car-centered culture of Southern California. Bauch, who grew up in Long Beach, was nearly trampled by the obscene amount of riders in Amsterdam, something which propelled him to shoot his film.

"The first time I stepped off the train in Amsterdam I was literally speechless. As soon as I set foot on the ground I was almost run over by a mob of bikes," said Bauch in an interview with Dutch in America.com. 

"I turned up and, to my amazement, there was a three-level structure dedicated to just parking bicycles. Everyone from three years to 93 seemed to be tooling around the city on two wheels. This was too much to take in with just my own eyes. I needed to share this with everyone I could and this is why I made my film."

After the event, visitors gathered their bikes and headed onto Wilshire Boulevard, complete with missing chunks of asphalt and cars squeezing cyclists off the road. 

Building Communities: Northeast L.A.

Mayor announces bike share program for Los Angeles

$16 million program funded entirely by Bike Nation

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
The amount of riders filling the streets could see
a rise when the bike-share program launches
later this year

   Mayor Antonio Villiraigosa announced at CicLAvia that the city would adopt a plan forwarded by Bike Nation to install 400 bike stations to house some 4,000 newly-minted bicycles throughout Los Angeles.

The goal, according to the press release from the Mayor's office, is to "[make] it that much easier for Angelenos to get around this town while promoting business and job growth in the City."

The $16 million dollar investment from Bike Nation, will not include any funds from the city and aims to be up and running by late 2012.

The announcement is a welcome development for a city inching closer towards a bike-ready model and one that looks to further make use of its public transportation arm.

"If you take the bus, or take the train, or you're walking out of your house and you need to get somewhere, how do you accomplish that short trip in between? Bike share is definitely the way to do it," said CicLAvia organizer Aaron Paley in an interview with the L.A. Times.

And just in time. The MTA is looking to save some $23 million by shaving routes of 11 bus lines while eliminating 9 others. The aim is to entice residents to ride the Expo Line, something the MTA hopes will allow the cutbacks to go unnoticed.

With Bike Nation's bike share program, residents riding from South L.A. to the West side now have another option to mitigate the harm of future MTA cuts, and at minimal price.

The rates for the bike share program are as follows:

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
Commuters looking to make due with MTA cutbacks, could
possibly use the bike-share program to extend
the reach of public transporation

• $1.50 for an hour
• $4.50 for 90 minutes
• $6 for an all-day pass
• $75 for an all-year pass
• Free for trips less than 30 minutes

The bikes will have embedded GPS devices to minimize the probability of theft and will feature flat-resistant tires driven by a chain-less system to reduce maintenance.

It's still unclear whether or not the venture will prove profitable for Bike Nation, though it defiantly has first dibs on the bike sharing market in Los Angeles.

The Chicago Tribune found that Chicago's own bike-share program, maintained by Capital Bikeshare, has seen a loss of $7 million since opening in September of 2010. The article notes that the losses were covered by federal funds, a helping hand that isn't yet part of the deal for Bike Nation in Los Angeles.

Bike Nation is also looking to implement a similar program in Anaheim, one that will launch in June.

A Bike-Share Expansion Pack

Mayor announces bike share program for Los Angeles

$16 million program funded entirely by Bike Nation

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
The amount of riders filling the streets could see
a rise when the bike-share program launches
later this year

Mayor Antonio Villiraigosa announced at CicLAvia that the city would adopt a plan forwarded by Bike Nation to install 400 bike stations to house some 4,000 newly-minted bicycles throughout Los Angeles. 

The goal, according to the press release from the Mayor's office, is to "[make] it that much easier for Angelenos to get around this town while promoting business and job growth in the City." 

The $16 million dollar investment from Bike Nation, will not include any funds from the city and aims to be up and running by late 2012. 

The announcement is a welcome development for a city inching closer towards a bike-ready model and one that looks to further make use of its public transportation arm. 

"If you take the bus, or take the train, or you're walking out of your house and you need to get somewhere, how do you accomplish that short trip in between? Bike share is definitely the way to do it," said CicLAvia organizer Aaron Paley in an interview with the L.A. Times. 

And just in time. The MTA is looking to save some $23 million by shaving routes of 11  bus lines while eliminating 9 others. The aim is to entice residents to ride the Expo Line, something the MTA hopes will allow the cutbacks to go unnoticed. 

With Bike Nation's bike share program, residents riding from South L.A. to the West side now have another option to mitigate the harm of future MTA cuts, and at minimal price. 

The rates for the bike share program are as follows: 

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
Commuters looking to make due with MTA cutbacks, could
possibly use the bike-share program to extend
the reach of public transporation

• $1.50 for an hour
• $4.50 for 90 minutes
• $6 for an all-day pass
• $75 for an all-year pass
• Free for trips less than 30 minutes

The bikes will have embedded GPS devices to minimize the probability of theft and will feature flat-resistant tires driven by a chain-less system to reduce maintenance. 

It's still unclear whether or not the venture will prove profitable for Bike Nation, though it defiantly has first dibs on the bike sharing market in Los Angeles. 

The Chicago Tribune found that Chicago's own bike-share program, maintained by Capital Bikeshare, has seen a loss of $7 million since opening in September of 2010. The article notes that the losses were covered by federal funds, a helping hand that isn't yet part of the deal for Bike Nation in Los Angeles. 

Bike Nation is also looking to implement a similar program in Anaheim, one that will launch in June. 

The Pathfinders: Faces in CicLAvia

Tafarai Bayne :  Because Community Engagement Has To Be Exciting

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
Taffarai Bayne of CicLAvia & T.R.U.S.T. South L.A.

   Los Angeles has always been a tough town to bike around. Not because of the imposing geography, but because of the crush of a car culture that squeezes everything else off the streets. 

Still, people have been riding for years and a young Tafarai Bayne was no different. "I grew up biking, riding around as a kid to a local park or around my neighborhood," said Bayne, who grew up in South Los Angeles. 

"But my bikes always got stolen. We had a small house so we didn't have super-secure storage. I had a bike for awhile, then had to get another one, never a new one," he said. 

Bayne is a board member at CicLAvia and Community Affairs Manager at T.R.U.S.T. South L.A., a non-profit focused on community development. In growing up in South Los Angeles, an area marked by long-stretches without grocers and one that is dominated by motorists, Bayne developed a sense of his neighborhood's deficits and looked to do something. 

"Grocery stores, livable neighborhoods, communities where you can do everything you need in, has always really appealed to me," he said. "Growing up in South L.A., it was always something I never had." 

As he worked towards engaging the community, Bayne found that biking could bridge the dull gap of exciting residents about change, something often lost in long meetings about tenant's rights or new bus lines. 

"Community work, it can be kind of sterile, not fun, not cool. Community engagement is, in my mind, exciting people, a fundamental part of community change and civil engagement." When Bayne picked up riding again, he began to see the merits of biking as a way to draw curiosity from Angelenos. 

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
Tafarai Bayne speaking to cyclists in South L.A.

"I'm very much about encouragement now, about biking in Los Angeles. It's really part of sustainable community development, making whole-healthy communities with things like bike lanes and bike access, which are part of the puzzle," he said. 

"I've always felt that it was one of those L.A. failings. We're so car-centric and  I always attributed that to a lack of a sense of community in our city. In community work or development, you're so much more exposed to your space when on a bike or walking around."

In working for CicLAvia and T.R.U.S.T. South L.A., Bayne was able to capitalize on the success of CicLAvia and critical mass, events which drew hordes of cyclists onto the streets, charging Angelenos to reinterpret how they address their city. And it wasn't something new, either. Biking culture had always existed in L.A., it was just beneath the slow rumble of traffic.

"Biking has always been a part of South L.A. culture and L.A. culture in general. Before biking wasn't cool, but now it's becoming more of a cool thing, and once I saw how excited people were at events like CicLAvia--how they were smiling, enjoying each other, how they were being educated about their space--I started to see hints of what to do," he said.

Bayne made it a mission to help map South Los Angeles, help tie it to Los Angeles narrative. At the April 15 CicLAvia event, Bayne was there to help handout a bike-map of South L.A., the culmination of a year working with ParTour and riding through the neighborhood, nodding to residents that there community was exciting, that it mattered. 

It was more efficient way to work for Bayne, who is working on a CicLAvia extension down either Central Ave or Figueroa Street into South L.A, motions spurred on by thousands of cyclists who are changing the way people see the city.  

"You can't buy that kind of community engagement," he said.

  

A Guide to South L.A.

Bike Map of South Los Angeles Unveiled at CicLAvia

Courtesy of Ride South L,A,
The Bike Map of South L.A.

  There's been a slow push to bring CicLAvia to South L.A. 

Taffarai Bayne of T.R.U.S.T. South L.A. has been negotiating with the MTA and the CicLAvia board on a route to be adopted for future events, but that hasn't stalled bike bike advocacy groups from building their own route of the neighborhood.

ParTour has been at work with T.R.U.S.T. South L.A. and USC since January to design a bike-ready map of the community and our poised to hand out the map outside the African American Museum at Sunday's CicLAvia ride.

"Our final map builds on the dozens of geo-coded photos cyclists sent during their ride, and their comments about what makes the neighborhood special," said USC Professor Francois Bar, a member of Partour.

At the end of January, a ride was hosted by Partour to Watts Towers, inviting new riders and locals alike to comment on locations they found interesting, all which were funneled into a database that would make the pool that the South L.A. map would later draw from.

The goal, according to Bar, was to create something bred from the community for South L.A., opting for a more diplomatic approach to the the process.

"Bicycle diplomacy is emerging as a way for communities to connect," said John Jones, co-director of the East Side Riders, a South L.A. bike crew who ferried the ride in January and who have had continuous input on the map.

Along with the map has been the launch of the Ride South L.A. website, which details the process of gathering information and explores the fine grain of South L.A.'s standing landmarks.

Outside the African American Firefighter Museum,--the latest addition to the CicLAvia route--the map will be handed out to riders, hopefully enticing them to pedal outside the CicLAvia route into South L.A.-- a move piggy-backing on the exploratory energy generated by the event.

"We are also seeking photography of people with our map--including discovering the map at CicLAvia," said Benjamin Stokes of USC.

"[We want photos] of people trying to put the map around their handlebars, discussing it with friends, etc.--it's just one idea that we might publish on our site and beyond," he said.

The Pathfinders: Faces in CicLAvia

Joe Linton:  The Green Man in the Middle 

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia

Joe Linton is a consultant for CicLAvia

There's a million families in CicLAvia. After the first run in October of 2010, the L.A. City Council and the Department of Transportation hailed the efforts of these groups for selling them on such an odd concept: sideline motorists in favor of cyclists.

"It's about public space and bringing Angelenos together," said Eco Village resident Joe Linton, standing before an surprisingly excited City Council days after the first CicLAvia ride.  

"[It's about] experiencing our city, seeing each other, seeing our space and just having that civic pride in our city," he said. 

As long as there has been talks of developing CicLAvia, there has been Linton, an affable and tireless crusader at the center, drawing bodies into focus with looping narratives on L.A.'s messy history with public land and why there needs to be a change. 

"I've been telling people just grab a chair just and check out, like, Los Angeles going by," said Linton.

One his earliest and enduring missions has been to map Los Angeles' bodies of water, including the river and winding tributaries--elements that seem obscure in the grey jumble of freeways and wide avenues that make up the city. 

Five years before the city adopted CicLAvia's plan, Linton wrote "Down by the Los Angeles River: Friends of Los Angeles Rivers Official Guide," a body of work that is cited by the city as resource for visitors to explore the often overlooked L.A. River, it's walkways, bike paths, and notable concentrations of local wildlife.  

He keeps tabs of his explorations at L.A. Creek Freak, a blog started by Linton and Jessica Hall as a hub for river advocacy and efforts to re-enliven the river as point of pride for residents--something that came in handy when the call for CicLAvia arose. 

At his home in Eco Village, an experiment in sustainable living in Korea Town --replete with six grey water systems, a swarming jungle of vegetation and a rooftop covered with beehives-- Linton told Steetsblog that he didn't have the time to mount a bicycle at the first CicLAvia, instead spending his time guiding other riders and repairing tires at one of the many aid stations. 

But, he said, you needn't have to bike to enjoy the fruits of that certain kind of ecstasy that comes with seeing thousands of Angelenos moving freely in a city marked by congestion and little public space. 

"I've been telling people just grab a chair just and check out, like, Los Angeles going by," said Linton. 

Linton has been busy gathering feedback for Partour on their South L.A. Bike Map, riding along on exploratory rides through Watts. The map will be unveiled the Friday before the April 15th CicLAvia ride. 

The Pathfinders: Faces in CicLAvia

Everything in bicycling is done with the legs, including the lifting. A look at the people who pull the cause for a more bike-able city

Photo by Rodrigo Mejia
Jessica Kendall-Bar with bikers in South L.A.

Santa Monica, even on the clearest of days, seems a distant cry from South L.A. To bridge the gap, residents have to contend with the dreadful 10 Freeway, the longest parking lot in California.

But there are those who don't see a stream of motionless motorists as a roadblock. Every few months, an expedition ride into South L.A. and Watts invites locals and outsiders to connect the narratives of their neighborhood; to bring their bike-driven knowledge into foreign lands to explore and dig.

And when that time comes, Jessica Kendall-Bar fits her blue helmet over her head, and bikes eastward from her home in Santa Monica to the wide and flattened streets of South L.A, her dad in tow.

"My father, François Bar, has been working with communities in South LA and surrounding areas to try to create an interactive map of their neighborhoods," she said.

"Every time he does these events, I come along. We bike from our house in Santa Monica to Exposition Park to meet other riders and end up at the Watts Towers."

Francois Bar, an Associate Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, has been developing a mapping project with Partour, a USC-funded program that links to various South L.A.-based non-profits, all in hopes of drawing out the cultural landmarks of the neighborhood.

And while the heads of the group provide the face for the cycling-based movement, Jessica Kendall-Bar is there alongside other riders, answering questions and stirring conversation with casual cyclists drawn to the spectacle.

And neither her or Partour are alone. The EastSide Riders, a local charter for bike enthusiasts are there to meet them. Atop their gleaming, curving frames, the EastSide Riders ferry the group across the necessary crossroads in South L.A.

"While riding with them, receiving friendly greetings from people in their front yards who were looking at the parade of bike riders in red shirts, I fully believe in their abilities...to create a neighborhood in which people can fee safe while on the streets," she said.

There's a good number of people like Kendall-Bar who see the benefits of experiencing the whole of their cycling-ensnared world and who want nothing more than to open up every city to an accessible and welcoming nexus of cycling thoroughfares.

And when she's done with her father, taking photos and logging feedback from their ride, they look to the ocean and ride back home, waiting to do it again.

Biking Map of South L.A. Underway

Iconic Topography of Los Angeles' Southern Neighborhood to be included in open "Bike-Map"

Illustration by Rodrigo Mejia

 Maps are usually crusted, wrinkled rolls of desperate aid for the lost travelers. Developing one, charting points through mountain passes or around swollen earth, used to be in the able hands of the intrepid explorer--with bits of gravel staining his or her fingertips.

But that was then. In the digital age, researches fromUSC and bike-advocate groups aim to use iPADs and smart phones to map the unique topography of South Los Angeles--namely the best avenues for outsiders and residents to travel via bicycle. And they're nearly done.

“The idea is to create a map that tells a story about the neighborhood,” said Francois Bar, Associate Professor of Communications at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Bar is a member of ParTour, the umbrella group responsible for the entire mapping project that includes T.R.U.S.T. South L.A. and The Mobile Urban Mapping Project.The goal, said Bar, is to seize the energy driven by Los Angeles' city-wide biking event, CicLavia and expose the long corridors of South Angeles to the rest of the city.

He said that biking makes sense for the project. When driving down Central Ave, missed are the sounds, smells and textures that give better definition to the culture of the area. It's pivotal then, in his eyes, to design a map that covers facets of South L.A.

“Because people don’t really know that part of the city, the idea that you can ride through it with a group of people who know it is kind of appealing because it’s unique way to discover it.”

“And there’s something about the joint experience of riding with bikes. It’s refreshing.”

Their main method of excavation has been a series of rides into South L.A. Led by local riders, members of CicLAvia and T.R.U.S.T. South L.A. After each ride, the group assembles feedback from those who tagged along--including photos--and funnel that information into developing a "crowd-sourced" map of the community.

Charged with designing the map is ColleenCorcoran, who has worked to develop signage for events like CicLAvia and the Eagle Rock Music Festival. For the transplant from Austin, Texas, it’s keen to include a language that expresses the cultural heritage explored in the map.

“Being there, you definitely feel welcome and really there’s a sense of the diversity of the culture there,” said Corcoran. “I’m trying to reference those things, things that are iconic of South L.A. like the Watts Towers or even things like hand-painted signage.”

She’s been meeting with the members of ParTour to assemble all the pieces contributed by residents and riders alike to address the two tenants of the project. Secondary to the map, the group is also hoping to pierce through the negative image that, she feels, is wrongfully owned by South Los Angeles.

“We had a discussion over what are the kind of the stigmas and stereotypes about South L.A. and what might be and reasons for those. People who are not familiar with it associate it with traumatic things from the past, like the riots,” she said.

“One of our goals is to get rid of some of those stereotypes and show that there are really some positive things happening there.”

She stated that the map is in the final stages of development.

“It’s non-threatening, it creates conversation, and I think it’s got great potential. We’re just playing with it as a way to engage the neighborhood,” said Francois Bar.

The next CicLAvia event, slated for April 15, will include the latest addition to the route--the South L.A. annex at the African-American Firefighter Museum--but will not include the findings of the mapping project.

Tafarai Bayne of T.R.U.S.T. South L.A. has been taking the case to the city and the M.T.A. to green-light an extended route along Central Ave, but has had problems wrestling with the Blue Line tracks across Washington Blvd.