Bicycle Fixation Weblog
[Previous entry: "LA's 4th Street Bicycle Boulevard Ride"] [Next entry: "Sox & City Knix Back Soon"]
07/27/2010: "Two Brief Notes"
When I rode to Santa Monica/UCLA hospital to visit my mother, yesterday, I was delighted to see that their handsome new building (yes, a hospital that actually fits in with and enhances the streetscape!) includes a nice portion of well-placed bike parking. Right by a busy entrance, under a portico, hidden from the street but not from the eyes of staff and visitors. And it was full of bikes!-----
Also, I received another note from my friend Bill that I'd like to pass on. It's part of his reaction to the hullaballoo that followed our mayor Villaraigosa's bicycle accident last week:
Since the mayor's bicycle crash last week, while driving and riding around the town, I have been paying attention to both motorists and bicyclists on the mean streets of LA just checking to see who is the real problem: my findings; it's the motorists fault...and the bicyclists fault. Every LA intersection is the bar scene from Star Wars. While bicyclists are running red lights or at best giving it a Chicago stop (in Chicago, they may call it an LA stop), there are three more cars making a left hand turn after the original car turned left on the red light. So, wake up LA, everyone is at fault; everyone should lighten up on the pedal. So, do you get to be the kettle and I get to be the pot; or do I get to be the kettle....I personally have seen four motorists (and at least as many cyclists) blatantly run reds in the last week, sometimes after having stopped first. And a few pedestrians as well! There's little excuse for throwing of first stones on either side....
I also was aware that one of three motorists was talking on his cellphone while driving; and one of three bicyclists had his iPod bug in his ears: everyone is driving/riding distracted. It is the bar scene from Star Wars (in LA, it may be the bar scene from Sodom and Gomorrah...on wheels).
