Chandler Bike Path Controversy
Thread started by
canadienne at 01.6.09 - 9:12 am
read the article here
This really annoys me. Basically, a bunch of people in Burbank are all butt hurt that cyclists choose to ride fast on the bike path. They say that if we're going to ride fast, to use the street (but have you ever rode your bike in the street in Burbank? The motorists are less than welcoming.) They want to change the name from "Bikeway" to "Multi-access Path" because calling it a bikeway gives cyclists a sense of ownership to it... They say if fast cyclists continue to use the bikeway, they're going to put a speed limit on it.
So basically they want to take away the one small accommodation that Bubank has ever given to cyclists. Awesome guys. Awesome.
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Nothing wrong with riding fast on the bike-path, but this grievance could be the result of some "bad-apple" that pushed the wrong button.
My bell is quite effective when I hauling ass and the ped's usually take heed and step out of the way without incident.
This brings me to the case of the douche, English teacher that makes himself the de-facto leader of the road crew up here.
Anytime he encounters a slower rider on any street, he tailgates, then pulls off and shouts an obscenity.
And he wonders why I chucked the milkshake at his ass!!!
But, I digress, hopefully they'll forget about this shit and put it on the back-burner.
Give it enough time for the "bad-apples" to clean up their act and make a truce with those who felt they were wronged.
bentstrider01.6.09 - 9:22 am
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So what's next - a cop with a radar gun giving tickets? And will they be giving tickets to the pedestrians that walk in the designated bike lane?
Great use of civic resources!
mr rollers01.6.09 - 9:23 am
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Another, nifty excuse for a revenue-generator.
Might as well start installing swear-jars while they're at it.
bentstrider01.6.09 - 9:26 am
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Burbank has sidewalks for pedestrians, which are deemed illegal for bicycles to ride on. The problem with the Chandler Bike path is pedestrians use it instead of the sidewalks. If pedestrians want a walkway then build a separate pedestrian path with a dividing barrier from the bike path.
skd01.6.09 - 9:30 am
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^Agreed, they should put a physical divider on the orange line bike path too.
Vince01.6.09 - 9:44 am
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This is, obviously, ridiculous. It is pedestrians not staying in their lane and parents not teaching young cyclists to stay right and roller bladers swerving all over the place that creates the problem, not cyclists going fast. If those three groups would follow common sense, cyclists of any speed would be able to safely interact with them. Instead, they want the rules changed to allow for their own recklessness. Typical.
theroyalacademy01.6.09 - 9:49 am
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I hate this bike path, it's always got people stopped, chatting in the middle of it with their kids on strollers! It's just like the beach bike paths...why is it that all the "scenic" bike paths get taken over by pedestrians?
nancine01.6.09 - 9:55 am
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It's true. ARGH. I ride fast on the bikepath... BUT, I've never had a collision with anything or anyone else on the path, because when there are people letting their dogs and children run around all over it, I slow down for them. The inconvenience is mine, not theirs... so WTF?!
canadienne01.6.09 - 9:55 am
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theres a 15mph speed limit on the bike path in ojai too, but its never enforced.
there was a guy on burbank public access talking about this at a city council meeting and liz and i were laughing so hard at his silly complaints.
remember, you cant always yell ON YOUR LEFT because everyone has little white earbuds crammed in their ears. they arent gonna hear you.
ruinedbyidiots01.6.09 - 10:07 am
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On second thought, I think that person is right. We should get off
their path and ride on the road. Except, instead of calling it a road, we should call it a multi-use thoroughfare. And any cars that want to go fast should have to use the highway.
Problem solved!
theroyalacademy01.6.09 - 10:08 am
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Yeah that guy HATED cyclists. (I think that's the same dude mentioned in the article)... He's got problems. Maybe a cyclist killed his father.
canadienne01.6.09 - 10:10 am
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Go to the L.A.B.A.C . meeting tonight in downtown and vent.
Ask the rep in that area to give this some attention.
Fuck the pedestrians, Run there ass over, Stupid Mother Fuckers !
Dedicated81801.6.09 - 10:18 am
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This is shit.
Peds think it's a walking path... the WHOLE thing. They let their dogs roam free across the whole path and children stop right in the middle of lanes...
Almost every time I ride that path with my wife, someone chooses to say something like "slow down" "there's children here" "watch out" and a few times I have actually stopped and talked to some of the people that say stuff. I point out the lines on the ground. The space to the right is for YOU to WALK in and the space on the left of that is for ME to RIDE in. Not your fucking dog. Don't get all your fat girlfriends together with yer little watter bottles to go "walk the path" and take up the whole strip as if you were a search party or some shit!
And if you're gonna walk it at night, that cute little black number that you think you look so good in, you know the one that makes you look like you're carrying around a sack o' kitties, DON'T wear it! Wear some thing bright, reflective, radioactive, whatever!
Sorry, this is a touchy subject for me, when soccer moms and dads have nothing better to do than complain about something that's entirely their fault.
I think what would help the most would be more lights on the path in the burbank area... and a little common sense.
Who wants to make "official" bike path user guides? I'll write the copy,
BICYKILLER01.6.09 - 10:18 am
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i got into a yelling match with a group of women for taking up the entire bike path and not getting out of my way once. i was coming towards them and they werent moving. i stopped and blocked the path with my bike and asked them why they were going against traffic. they didnt understand what i was trying to get at. people move just the same way traffic does. you dont drive your car on the left side of the street (this isnt england), so why would you walk on the left side of the path? after maybe ten minutes they finally got out of the way. a week later i found out the woman i was yelling at went to church with my mom and i got the third degree from her when she found out. oops.
ruinedbyidiots01.6.09 - 10:27 am
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ahaha.. that's hilarious. But yeah the difference between the Ojai bike path and Chandler is that there's actually a designated SIDEWALK part that runs along the whole thing, so there's really no reason for people to wander all over the bike lanes... and yet they STILL walk on the right side AND the left side, like your pudgy Ojai ladies.
canadienne01.6.09 - 10:32 am
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If we are considered vehicles by the CVC we shouldn't have a bike path. Why do we need a 'special little lane', if we are not treated like other vehicles we can never complain about being a vehicle.
personally, I believe that all bikes should use roads, not the bike paths and not the sidewalks.
aksendz01.6.09 - 10:35 am
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i wouldnt want a little kid with training wheels riding on the street and neither do you. come on man, use your brain.
ruinedbyidiots01.6.09 - 10:39 am
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There is no good reason for a cyclist to ever use a sidewalk. They're dangerous as hell.
Bikepaths, however, are awesome because they're safer than roads. I agree that bicycles should be treated as vehicles, but the truth is, until motorists are aware that they HAVE to share the road... people are going to keep yelling "get off the road asshole!" to me and scare the shit out of me by honking all the time.
The Chandler bikepath is a guaranteed safe ride home from North Hollywood, at night especially. I love that path, and I deal with the fat-ass obstacles that get in my way in order to use that safe way home. They don't want me on their roads, and they don't want me on our path... so...
canadienne01.6.09 - 10:46 am
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Sadly I think it will be changed to a multi use path, and the Burbank city council will remove all the signs and lines and then the walkers can do what they want.
For all its worth, its like 2 miles.
Is there a burbank critical mass ?
(not that we need any more critical masses)
thegodofthor01.6.09 - 10:49 am
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burbank cm would last all of two blocks before being broken up by the police.
ruinedbyidiots01.6.09 - 10:52 am
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the end of this article is fucking enraging:
If the pathway is not made safe — and soon — then, at some time, there will be an accident in which a speeding bicyclist kills a toddler or a dog, or turns a plain ordinary person into a quadriplegic. Then, after the bicyclist (certainly not the slower mover) and the city are successively sued and pay out massive damages, voila, a solution will be found.
SO FUCKING SMUG. Yeah... how many instances has a speeding cyclist plowed right into some idiot's untamed dog or kid? And how many times has a cyclist been hit by a car in the streets? Obviously this person doesn't give two shits about the options available to commuting cyclists in this city.
canadienne01.6.09 - 11:04 am
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oh c'mon RBI, we both know what I meant :D
good point canadiene. it will be next to impossible for DMV to acknowledge cyclist on examinations or instruction but how about making those sexy, glossy, poster that we can hang in there offices. 0.o
aksendz01.6.09 - 11:16 am
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I fucking hate when people make arguments with shocking scenarios! Why can't they wait til someone actually does kill a baby like everywhere else in the world? And I swear regular sidewalks aren't enough?!
Has anyone made a reply? I can't be bothered to sign up for whatever they want.
neverclever01.6.09 - 11:16 am
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This path way is less than two miles long. I've been on it at night, but never during the busy times. It's got to be dangerous as hell. My question is, why don't the bicyclists ride the street parallel to the path? You can go fast. So you're riding on the streets an extra two miles, big deal. Not to mention it's alot safer. Sure this was a token to the cyclist, but really, does a two mile bike path really do that much for you?
Leave it to the peds and the kids starting out riding. It's really not worth getting worked up over.
Surprisingly there's a website devoted to this pathway, http://www.chandlerparkburbank.org
User101.6.09 - 11:22 am
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When I've used this bike path during the day, I often get fed up with the pedestrians three-abreast in the middle of the bike lane and end up switching to the street. You know what happens? Drivers yell at you to get on the path while doing that "I'm passing you way too close to show you that I OWN THE ROAD" thing. Great. Thanks.
theroyalacademy01.6.09 - 11:26 am
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This is all RBI and Yetiman's fault. I have seen them doing 50mph+ just warming up for the noho sprints!!
speedybrian200001.6.09 - 11:28 am
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Transportation infrastructure makes certain accommodations for different types of use. The sidewalk is theoretically optimized for pedestrian use - it doesn't work well for bicycles and most people seem to accept that it is not a good place to drive a car. At the other end of the spectrum, interstate highways are designed to move cars and trucks long distances at high rates of speed and most sane folks would find the idea of traveling them on foot or by bicycle inadvisable.
Why is the idea of having a dedicated bike pathway seemingly unacceptable to some people?
mr rollers01.6.09 - 11:30 am
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The real problem is that the pedestrian part of the path probably isn't wide enough for how people actually use it. Then again, there are ample sidewalks in the area that are illegal for cyclists, so why don't the pedestrians just use those?
I don't ride up there every day or anything, but my experience with the Valley is that it is great to ride at night, but really sucky during the day. A couple miles of bike path DOES help.
theroyalacademy01.6.09 - 11:30 am
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@rollers "Why is the idea of having a dedicated bike pathway seemingly unacceptable to some people?"
Exactly.
theroyalacademy01.6.09 - 11:31 am
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Maybe its just burbank but I never have problems on the orange line path like I do on the burbank part. The people there are idiots. Its common sense to walk where you are supposed to walk and ride where you should be riding.
I don't think animals should be on the path, its extremely dangerous. Keep them on the grass next to the path. Its safer and easier.
Graham01.6.09 - 11:34 am
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I say we petition that walkers STOP WALKING SO FUCKING SLOWLY.
turrican01.6.09 - 11:35 am
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Again, this is such a short path, less than two miles, that serves very few ridazz. It serves peds far more than ridazz. Let them having it. It's great to see people out of their house. Give them a reason for getting out. It would serve far more people in the area if this was more of a walkway.
It kind of reminds me in a VERY small way of this walkway, La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Rambla,_Barcelona
User101.6.09 - 12:14 pm
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@royalacademy
I though passing without going on to the other lane, was the proper thing to do, showing mutual use of the road.
should I reevaluate how I drive?
aksendz01.6.09 - 12:27 pm
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you don't need to switch lanes to pass (although if you can, it's always a nice thing to do)... but I think he's talking about when people practically brush up against you like grade A douchebags.
canadienne01.6.09 - 12:34 pm
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I agree that it is good to see people out of their houses and using public space, but I find it unfortunate that a conflict is created when they impinge on what little dedicated bicycle infrastructure there is (and I'm not only referring to the Chandler Path here) in the Los Angeles area.
The larger issue is the overall lack of public space and lack of amenities for both cyclists and pedestrians. What planning has taken place in Los Angeles County over the last hundred or so years has given priority to moving large numbers of cars at the expense of quality of life for humans.
A visit to certain European cities (or Davis, California) shows that a well planned infrastructure doesn't have to make cyclists and pedestrians enemies.
mr rollers01.6.09 - 12:34 pm
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whenever i raise a voice in burbank
i usually find myself in cuffs soon thereafter.
_iJunes01.6.09 - 12:53 pm
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Burbank sucks, that's why this is happening.
imachynna01.6.09 - 3:48 pm
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at the last noho sprints, larditio said that they are getting rid of the path altogether and putting the rail system it covered up back in its place.
ruinedbyidiots01.6.09 - 3:54 pm
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So we can stil ride if we take our tires off? Rim on Rail
Dedicated81801.6.09 - 3:59 pm
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I understand that it's called a bikeway and all but our arguments against pedestrians on paths are sounding pretty similiar to drivers' arguments against us on streets.
I'm just saying...
420LaHaRR01.6.09 - 11:54 pm
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We all need some imaginary power to trip on.
Food chain Truck eats Car. Car eats Bike. Bike eats Peds
Peds eat shit on bike path
Don't we have a right to be on public roadways ?
DMV manual says driving is a privelge not a right
Dedicated81801.7.09 - 9:54 am
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"whenever i raise a voice in burbank
i usually find myself in cuffs soon thereafter."
I must be lucky, two times now I've told Burbank cops that they were "fucking low life pieces of shit" for giving me petty parking tickets instead of writing traffic tickets for the people that almost run me over every day trying to cross the street to get to work. Excuse me that I parked in the red for two minutes, NOT OBSTRUCTING ANY TRAFFIC OR VIEW OF TRAFFIC, to drop off some computer equipment at work.
What's a traffic cop doing writing parking tickets, anyway? Yeah, I know, revenue, but if the lazy fuckers just looked at traffic around Burbank they could make plenty of money doing what they should be doing: writing tickets for lameass motorists who almost run me over while I'm walking or riding around Burbank.
Rant for the day.
toweliesbong01.7.09 - 10:51 am
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The point is there are hundreds of miles of sidewalks for peds. There is like only 3 miles of dedicated bike path in Burbank. Why the fuck are pedestrians so obsessed with the Chandler bike path?
toweliesbong01.7.09 - 10:54 am
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i think there are only two legit bike lanes on the streets in burbank, too.
ruinedbyidiots01.7.09 - 10:57 am
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digablesoul took us over to the funky path next to the 5 on a tren way ride a couple of months ago. I think that's the only one other than chandler.
toweliesbong01.7.09 - 10:58 am
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I'm one of the assholes that rides that shit fast. but I do have a semi heart... I will slow down for all the idiot mom's that insist on walking in the lane with their toddlers. I give em a heads up so they arent too scared when I fly through.
I fault the city for this. They made the path seem all fun and frolicky as it twists and winds towards NH. if it were a more of straight shot it wouldnt feel so much like a recreational path.
Roadblock01.7.09 - 11:08 am
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Don't forget, Toy Ride 2007 east of Hollywood Way some drunk old fuck clotheslined a girl off her bike, proceeded to whine that she hit him, then when confronted by 15 or so of us threatened that he had a gun. jeronimo was in his face at the time and just laughed at him when he started reaching in his coat. we checked the girl, she was ok, so to defuse things we rolled on and caught up with everyone at toys 'r' us.
toweliesbong01.7.09 - 11:13 am
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whoa.
yeah the only bike lanes in Burbank I can think of is Riverside, the small bit of Main St that stretches to Riverside.... and one of the North-South streets in the downtown area... maybe 3rd St?
Streets that desperately need a bike lanes are Alameda, Olive, Magnolia, Buena Vista, Victory, and Hollywood Way.
canadienne01.7.09 - 11:18 am
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after plowing into a girl when the pace line i was in swerved around her last minute, I have thought that bicycle paths are just too dangerous to go fast on. No matter what you do there will always be fat asses on there with their baby strollers, I really just stay away from the bike paths now
robin swabin01.7.09 - 12:30 pm
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this reminds me of another trail where some one started collecting his poop and putting it all over the walk way! so people could get slimed!
pporras01.7.09 - 3:54 pm
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Going back in time for a second bicycle speed limits were created before cars existed because there really was an issue of too many speeding bikes and bike on ped and bike on bike collisions. Blatant law breaking cyclists who rode above the speed limit were called scorchers. Now in our world with Goliath SUV's barreling down the highway at 80 mph and people going 45-50 on surface streets when there isn't traffic to keep them down, things like bike speed limits seem pretty antique.
The unfortunate reality is paths segregated from cars will attract all kinds of activities that don't always mix well and so their useful to cyclists, the speedier group in the hierarchy of non motorized users, diminishes with popularity of the path. The problem with this is these paths come out of funding for cycling as a transit option but our lack of park space especially for mixed use recreation attracts everyone else looking to get away from the cars too. The Santa Monica beach path has segregated side section just for pedestrians, but there will always be a segment of population who thinks every space is their space or are just plain clueless.
I don't know what the best solution is for this really, and I seriously doubt the police who can barely even find a bike path on a map will be interested in patrolling for proper path etiquette. But the flip side of this is the same enforcement that ignores pedestrians blocking the bike path will similarly ignore speeding cyclists, so I don't foresee many violations being given even if the walkers get their way.
GarySe7en01.7.09 - 4:19 pm
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what's the point of a bike path if you can't use it to speed past traffic!
Gav01.7.09 - 4:53 pm
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Can I get by on the streets? Of course, but why should I have to? The space was set up for multiple purposes, including bicycling. There is no, or rather there should be no reason to go meekly onto the streets because the other users are misusing the space. Although my "proof" is anecdotal, from what I've observed, most reckless use of the path has been by walkers and rollerbladers, not bicyclists. Do bicyclists go fast on the path? Yes, me included - it's too fun, what with all the curves. But the primary reason I need to slow down is because some pedestrian has wandered into the bike lane. Accidental? No big whoop. Purposely taking up the whole path with your six friends? Well, TS for me I guess, but I'll live. Doing all that shit, then having the nerve to complain about a bicyclist who came close to hitting you because of your own negligence? Fuck you.
The funny thing CDN? Hollywood Way is considered a bike path. They have the stupid sign near the Hwd Way/Victory intersection.
pretzels01.7.09 - 9:02 pm
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