The School of Public Affairs Thinks about Traffic, and Forgets the Bicycle

UCLA Public Affairs are putting on a big conference on how to solve L.A.'s Traffic Problems, - but when you look at the program, you would not know that the bicycle was invented a while back.

How did this happen? Another big names event (Villaraigosa etc) about traffic in LA without a bicycle on the program? Could that be a waste of time? and money?

Franklin Gilliam, Are you perhaps missing something?
Brian Taylor, Why do respectable UCLA faculty agree to participate in a traffic related event and fail to protest that the bicycle has, again, not received a slot on the program?
Randall Crane, What is so bold about silencing the bicycle option?
Donald Shoup, If we cannot claim a slot for the bicycle on the program of the Rosenfield forum, why bother to go there at all?
Michael Dukakis, are you not taken for a ride by an program agenda that is blind to the obvious?

Bright minds who still think about traffic and congestion without considering the bicycle alternative are a true liability. How much longer will you consent that your name and your research decorate a program which pretends to be about traffic, and fails to include the obvious remedy on the title page? It should not be so difficult to find someone to speak about bicycles to this audience? Academic negligence anybody?

Sad, poor, disappointing, and worse: The organizers of this program missed a chance to include Janette "Bold Ideas" Sadik-Khan, New York City Transportation Commissioner, who is in Los Angeles the night before, giving a lecture on a LA campus.  That was not bold, not good, and not a good beginning. Start Over. The assignment is: "Responsibility and Guilt: How the UCLA School of Public Affairs Research and Teaching Agenda contributes to Traffic Gridlock in LA"

Table 2. Spending on pedestrian and bicycle improvements by metropolitan area, 1992 – 2006 source

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA  $0.20 (per capita)
Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA  $2.30
Nashville-Davidson--Murfreesboro, TN  $1.92

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)