Two Nobel Prizes for Bicycles at UCLA

Please Sign the Petition for better bicycle access to campus today (UCLA Staff, Faculty, Alumni).

This is the story. Come with me. Here is the door to the future. The year is 2020. Hardly a car to be seen. Parking structures have been long been converted to better uses. Everybody is asking: Why did it take so long for UCLA to support its cycling staff and faculty?  It made all the difference. Westwood feels so different now. Why did they loose three precious years before they began implementing the difficult parts of the Bicycle Master Plan ? How could they afford not to have a well-staffed Bicycle Bureau.  Did nobody watch ? Did nobody care ?
Read all about it in the Open Letter to the Chancellor.  Please Sign the Petition today (UCLA Staff, Faculty, Alumni) and share it with your colleagues on campus: (The UCLA Bicycle Coalition student group will probably set up their own petition)


We have quite a list of initial signatories, just in case you thought cycling was a sign of low achievement. Among our signatories are two (2, deux, dos, twee, zwei, due) Nobel Prize recipients from UCLA, one also the recipient of the UCLA Medal.  That's why our Press Release is called: Two Nobel Prizes for Bicycles at UCLA

Initial Signatories:

Louis Ignarro, Professor for Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, UCLA School of Medicine, 1998 Nobel Prize in Medicine or Physiology

Paul Boyer, Emeritus Professor for Chemistry and Biochemistry, 1997 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, 1998 UCLA Medal

Olga Yokoyama, Professor and Chair, Department of Applied Linguistics

Annelie Rugg, Director/Humanities CIO, UCLA Center for Digital Humanities,
1992 Olympic Cycling Team Alternate

Richard Kim, IT Manager, UCLA Libraries, CA Cycling Sprint Champion 2009

Gregory Kendrick, Director, Freshman Cluster Program, Professor of History

Professor William McCarthy, UCLA School of Public Health

Mihai Peteu, Print Lab Supervisor, Design Media Arts Department

Sharon Ignarro MD, Attending Staff Anesthesiologist, Department of Anesthesiology, UCLA School of Medicine

Richard Abel, Michael Connell Professor of Law, Emeritus, UCLA School of Law


Now you Sign the Petition (Disregard donation requests on that site)

Westwood Neighborhood Council

Westwood Neighborhood Council  is being formed, and will open new ways of community input in how the area of UCLA is being planned, designed and improved. Neighborhood Councils have been successful in many parts of the city of LA. Anyone who works or lives or owns property in the neighborhood can become a member, and I can think of may reasons why the commuting cyclists from UCLA should be involved with such an organization. There is a membership form which needs filling out to achieve certification through the city here. Have a good look at the map on this form: One of the obstacles for cyclists commuting to campus, the LA Country Club, is officially part of our 'hood, and that may just increase our ability to start a friendly conversation with the club,  perhaps a steady trickle of happy and well educated cyclists could become a new feature in their landscapes gardens.

UCLA Bicycle Coalition (Student Group)

A new student group, the UCLA Bicycle Coalition, has been created, they have set up a facebook group and are now busy transforming into a proper student club. Here is the Google Group. They have put together their own petition regarding the Los Angeles Bicycle Master Plan. Not to be confused with the open letter to the Chancellor which refers to the Campus Bicycle Master Plan. So much master planning, and still so much remains to be done. Still, things are moving forward. And fast.