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November 4, 2009 | 11:22 p.m.
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Imagine Los Angeles without cars. A town where people ride their bikes and walk in the streets and the smells of tacos and veggie burgers drift through the air instead of exhaust.
Sound like a pipe dream? Not if a group called cicLAvia is successful. A volunteer coalition of bicycle advocates, transportation experts, artists and academics, cicLAvia wants to make Sundays in Los Angeles virtually car-free -- transforming the city's streets into giant bike lanes and creating a public space that connects every neighborhood in the city.
"This city is so park poor, and so car dependent," says cicLAvia member and director of the Green L.A. Institute Jonathan Parfrey. "Air pollution is awful and childhood obesity is epidemic. But building new parks for people to get out of their cars and exercise can be prohibitively expensive. We want to create public space using the infrastructure we already have - our roads."
The idea, called a "ciclovia," isn't new. A phenomenon across Latin America, the ciclovia was born in the Colombian city of Bogota 30 years ago. Car-choked and polluted, Bogota's geography and sprawl very much mirrors that of Los Angeles. But every Sunday in Bogota, the city's major avenues are shut down to cars and hundreds of thousands of cyclists take to the streets. CicLAvia wants to replicate that success in Los Angeles - a city not exactly known for being bicycle-friendly.
"It can be scary out there," admits cicLAvia's Adonia Lugo, a PhD anthropology candidate at UC Irvine studying bicycle culture in the Southland. "Los Angeles has a very strong bike culture, but I think the casual rider has the perception that this is a dangerous city for cycling."
"I think the best thing about a ciclovia is that it would give people a chance to try biking, without having to feel like they're risking their lives as soon as they leave the driveway," Lugo adds. "This would give people a safe space to travel around their neighborhoods without using a car."
However, says Parfrey, shutting down miles of city streets to traffic isn't something a small organization of volunteers can accomplish on its own. "This is something that will be impossible to pull off without involvement from the city."
As it happens, members of cicLAvia met with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office on Oct. 7. Both sides came away from the meeting encouraged.
"We're excited by the idea and we're looking for ways to support it," says Romel Pascual, L.A.'s associate director of energy and the environment. "Making events like this happen is always in the details -- what neighborhoods to start with, the routes involved. But it's definitely something we're looking to explore in 2010."
That will cost money, but Parfrey says that an event like this has the potential to make money for the city.
"We're looking at this as a potential economic driver," he explains. "Instead of driving out of town on weekends, people could cycle within the city limits and spend money in their own communities."
There are plenty who agree with Parfrey. The charity group California Foundation, whose mission is to eradicate poverty in underserved communities, has conditionally agreed to provide $20,000 to fund a ciclovia in Boyle Heights - an event that could prove a trial balloon of sorts.
"We don't have to close 80 miles of streets all at one time," says cicLAvia member Aaron Paley, who is president of the group Community Arts Resources. "We can start small and build incrementally."
Paley says the way farmer's markets were rolled out across Los Angeles -- one neighborhood at a time -- could prove the perfect model for ciclovia. The mayor's office agrees with this approach and plans are being negotiated for a test run in the spring of 2010. The exact route is still being determined.
"We want complete community involvement in this process," says Paley. "If you start small in one neighborhood and put on a great event, other neighborhoods are hopefully going to take notice and say, 'We want this too.'"
Imagine L.A. without cars. A town where people ride their bikes and walk in the streets, and the smell of tacos and veggie burgers drifts through the air instead of exhaust.
Sound like a pipe dream? Not if a group called cicLAvia is successful. The volunteer coalition of bicycle advocates, transportation experts, artists and academics wants to make Sundays in L.A. virtually car-free -- transforming the city's streets into giant bike lanes.
"This city is so park-poor and so car-dependent," says Jonathan Parfrey, cicLAvia member and director of the Green LA Institute. "Air pollution is awful, and childhood obesity is epidemic. But building new parks for people to get out of their cars and exercise can be prohibitively expensive. We want to create public space using the infrastructure we already have -- our roads."
The idea, called a "ciclovia," isn't new. A phenomenon across Latin America, the ciclovia was born in the Colombian city of Bogotá 30 years ago. The city is car-choked and polluted, but every Sunday, Bogotá's major avenues are shut down to cars, and hundreds of thousands of cyclists take to the streets. CicLAvia wants to replicate that success.
Los Angeles is currently host to two recurring guerrilla-style activist group rides, one known as Midnight Ridazz and the other Critical Mass, which draw scores of cyclists out to reclaim city streets -- but without closing them. On Friday night, the monthly Critical Mass ride will convene at the Purple Line Metro Station at Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue, and move through central L.A.
Joe Linton, one of the original conveners of Critical Mass in L.A., says these events are different from a ciclovia. "With Critical Mass, you get fearless folks who bike all the time," he said. "A ciclovia is more families, people walking, walking their dogs, people jogging, kids out riding Big Wheels and stuff in the streets."
However, says Parfrey, shutting down city streets to traffic isn't something a small group can accomplish on its own. "This is something that will be impossible to pull off without involvement from the city," Parfrey said.
Members of cicLAvia met with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's office on Oct. 7. Both sides came away encouraged.
"We're excited by the idea, and we're looking for ways to support it," says Romel Pascual, L.A.'s associate director of energy and the environment. "Making events like this happen is always in the details -- what neighborhoods to start with, the routes involved."
The California Foundation, whose mission is to eradicate poverty in underserved communities, has conditionally agreed to provide $20,000 to fund a ciclovia in Boyle Heights -- an event that could prove a trial balloon of sorts.
"We don't have to close 80 miles of streets all at one time," says Aaron Paley, cicLAvia member and president of Community Arts Resources. "We can start small and build incrementally."
The mayor's office agrees with this approach, and plans are being negotiated for a test run in the spring.
The exact route is still being determined.
calendar@latimes.com
Critical Mass bike ride
Where: Purple Line Metro Station, Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue
Sounds like a good idea. I would love if everyone was out of there cars,
and enjoying the freedom cycling gives you.
But ?
Where will the money come to pay for the man power involved ?
Does this mean a new tax on cyclist ?
Will this alienate even more motorist to the cycling culture ?
Is this putting us one step closer to a communist police state as neighborhoods
are shut down ?
What this city really needs is a compleat network of bike paths, that join neighborhoods
and business centers together. That can be used 24/7 365 days a year.
We don't need the police shutting down roads and creating checkpoints.
Agreed. wouldn't it be cheaper to invest into bicycle blvds like up in portland? Installing barriers and doing things to slow down car traffic would be cool. Having 4SBB officially happen would be awesome! Then one going north... That would be sweet!
This is a great article and it looks like this concept is going to be taken seriously by local politicians. Fear not bike people, we need not worry about costs or other questions about such a concept's viability. These concerns all get absorbed when people start to consider just where we are at this moment in place and time, that of Los Angeles 2009
We are in a new paradigm, one that is asking questions about the very viability of our 20th century lifestyle.
The cost of implementing and policing a Sunday bike day in LA will start to pale in politicians' minds when they consider the potential CO2 reductions, healthier population, happier and better neighborhoods that will strenghten if such a plan is to be put in place and countless other benefits that could come with such a plan.
I hope this idea keeps moving forward, then we might have a true Critical Mass on our hands
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Ridazz Roulette!
understood.