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I wish it was that simple, but LA is not Copenhagen by any stretch of the imagination. I would love to see this here, but I am not going to hold my breath in anticipation. I think LA is moving in the right direction, but you will need to get on a plane if you want to experience CPH type of infrastructure.
Foldie responding to a comment by Girl Power
06.24.10 - 12:20 pm
Getting a degree in city planning and combing that with a bike advocacy agenda would be a great way to get into the system and change things. There are a lot of city planners, but not a lot of cycling city planners.
If a cyclists city planner got a job with the city they could offer concrete solutions and designing for planning and retro planning i.e. retro fitting our current system for bike commuting.
Otherwise you have city planners relying on laymen rather than themselves for critical information, and they need to submit plans and ask for millions to implement plans and that is a bit scary when you're only sources are laypeople who don't hold degrees in city planning and architecture.
Are there any city planners who commute by bike? Or any cyclists who hold city planner degrees?
Is there a college programm for bike specific commuting infrastructure research and development offered in city planning courses? If not then a degree holding city planner needs to submit the course and teach it.
My mom works in the planning department for Beverly Hills and most of the things that cyclists need have to be drawn up by someone with a degree and submitted to the state for funds. Generally the state will only issue money for infrastructure to city planners.
"Most of LA is covered in concrete. All we need is some leaders to designate a section of the concrete to bicycles. They give too much to cars."
That is infrastructure, the designation of sections of concrete needs to be layed out by city planners. They need to study traffic flow, design and situate signs, submitt laws for review, it all goes under review by the city council and judges. If a planner goes under review there is more confidence in their plans, they have plans, professional blueprints, that they submit that are up to city code.
That is not the same a a layperson who cycles coming in to the review committee and saying." Hey, can you paint some lines here for us?"
So, if a bunch of cyclists got degrees in city planning and architectural review and got jobs working for the city and in the department of transportation then that would have a huge impact.
I honestly feel that the reason that LA does not yet have the infrastructure is because there are not enough people out riding the streets.
Copenhagen has 37% of its people on bikes. I don't know the numbers for LA but i believe it has to be less than 2%.
So my point is that I think that we are never going to become close to what Copenhagen has as far as its infrastructure until we have the representation already out there to coax it to happen.
Well, I disagree, cities are built on the simple concept that people are sheep. If you build it they will come.
Most drivers I talk to say they are terrified at the thought of riding bikes in the street, but if the infrastructure was their and they felt safe and like they would get justice if they got injured by a car then they would ride.
Yes, we need representation, and on a fundamental level that means having some people working for the DOT and in city planning also be cycle commuters becasue a non-cycle commuter will not have the experience required to draw up blueprints to legal code, conversely, a layperson cyclist will not have the expertise required to make legal blueprints up to city codes.
Voting is great, and we should vote accordingly for support, but to put the pedal to the metal we need an actual cyclist/city planner to draw the blueprints for the city workers to implement.
"So, if a bunch of cyclists got degrees in city planning and architectural review and got jobs working for the city and in the department of transportation then that would have a huge impact."
A city planner will learn all the city codes for traffic and architecture.
They will study economic impact of how cities are laid out. This is interesting because LACM Twitter just submitted two real estate companies that are relying on bikes to show off new homes becasue they sale better when shopped for by bike. There is an all-bike new home development in another state, you park your car in a lot and walk/ride a bike into the 'neighborhood' and the homes are sold out before they even got built.
There are studies that show that businesses in congested areas would get more business if people could avoid car gridlock and cycle in, and have a place like a corral to secure their bikes. It's this type of information that a student city planner would submit as his thesis as well as with her blueprints to the review committee.
All cities all over the world need good city planners with an eye towards sustainability and conservation, a person could literally spend a hundred lifetimes retrofitting all the cities of the world for bike commuting.
I already told her. She knows that is a big problem in Beverly Hills. Fortunately, BH is very small compared to LA county so there is a lot more that could be done in LA than BH.
I think that infrastructure comes first under normal circumstances.
However, a spike in the price of gas, gas supply shortages or economic hardship will force people to turn to bikes for transportation, with or without infrastructure. I think there's a very real possibility of a game-changing event like that happening within ten years.
angle responding to a comment by Joe Borfo
06.24.10 - 7:04 pm
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