Waxman

The UCLA Bicycle Academy and the Bicycle Coalition at UCLA invite all interested cyclists, staff and representatives of UCLA Transportation Services, Office of Sustainability, the Campus Architect, UCLA Government and Community Relations, the Transportation Deputy for Councilmember Rosendahl, the Westwood Neighborhood Council, and other stakeholders and interested parties, to attend a meeting with Lisa Pinto, District Director for Congressman Henry Waxman.
The topic of the discussion is the Re-Opening the National Cemetery for Bicycle Traffic

The meeting will take place at 5:15 pm on Wednesday February 17, 2010  in 6282 Bunche Hall, The Graduate History Lounge. If you take the elevator, turn right and you will find the room on your left. Map here

If you are unable to attend the meeting, we would be happy to read out and hand over any statement you may want to put together. Please send to velocipedus at gmail

History: Previous to 9/11 the National Cemetery was a preferred bicycle route between Brentwood and Westwood and helped cyclists to avoid the worst intersection in LA, the bottleneck where Wilshire and I-405 meet. Back then, the support of Senator Cranston ensured bicycle access through the VA cemetery. In the aftermath of 9/11 this route has been closed with reference to National Security. More recently, the Veterans Administration has spoken about the pastoral nature of the grounds. The current ban of cycling is articulated as part of a more general ban of recreational activity, failing to draw a distinction between cycling for recreation and cycling for transportation

Re-opening the cemetery for bicycle traffic would add a significant attraction for current car drivers to use the bike. It will reduce car traffic congestion in this area, which will improve air quality and reduce travel times. It is in accordance with a number of established policies and priorities, both locally and nationally. In short, the decision to close the cemetery has deprived UCLA of a Safe Route to College and lead to increased environmental impacts. Alternative routes (Ohio, Montana) discourage cyclists because of length and terrain. The widening of the I-405 currently underway will further limit the ability for cyclists to use the Wilshire corridor.

The aim of the meeting is to discuss judicial and political avenues to lift this closure.

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.

First UCLA Bicycle Seminar: LA Bike Masterplan

This Friday 23 October the first UCLA Bicycle Seminar: LA Bike Masterplan is taking place at noon, Kerkoff Lawn.  You Have Been Warned. Google "LA Bike Masterplan". Be there to witness how the monster that is cycling lolls, wakes, and transportation may never be the same again. Joseph will speak shortly about the LA City process, your's truly will make some remarks about the unredeemed promises of the UCLA Bicycle Master Plan, and then it is for our cycling public (yes, you) to raise the issues and insults we are exposed to on two wheels.

The paradox is deep and important and needs to be spelled out to be fully enjoyed. Yes, we firmly hold the moral superiority on the road. Yes, more than two thirds of all car drivers have lost their innocence and clearly know they should not do it. They buy hybrids and are still full of shame. If you knock on their window they apologize for driving. Without delay. And still we are somehow unable to translate this perfect storm into action on the ground: Witness the gentlemanly ease with which UCLA claims lack of jurisdiction over the criminal street conditions in Westwood. The lack of access routes. The illegal closure of the National Cemetery where cycling is verboten because it considered recreation. Etc.

What is missing? Why does it not click? Why does our moral superiority not translate into the services we require to stay safe and to become more? I think we are at the brink of something here, and we need every cyclist on Kerkoff Lawn to make it happen. There are cities in this country where you cannot get elected if cyclists do not endorse you. And there are campus administrators who think they have done all they can. And who are about to pat themselves on their shoulder about the big success the Bicycle Master Plan has been. Yes.

Will women on campus accept a male equal opportunity officer? No they don't. Why do campus cyclists accept a transportation service which does not cycle to campus?

There will be comment cards for cyclists who want to make public comments on the LA bike plan right then and there. We'll also announce plans to ride to the Westside "public workshop" (the following Wednesday, Oct. 28 in Santa Monica) which is hosted by LA's Department of Planning and by LADOT to discuss the LA Bicycle Master Plan drafts. We hope to have large copies of the maps from the LA Bicycle Master Plan, but in the absence of those, we'll at least have a couple hard copies of the plan for cyclists to review. And, most importantly, we will have free burritos.

Credit for this seminar is available in Bicycle Heaven. Please give yourself a few hours to look at the documents. Lawyers, Planners, Urban Studies, Architects, Historians of the West LA Veloway are urged to attend. And everybody else.