Bike Talk

On 4/20, the Beverly Hills City Council unanimously voted to adopt complete streets after years of advocacy by Mark Elliot and his allies. Mark talks about this win. https://betterbike.org/ Then- Deborah Murphy, Urban Design + Planning Principal Active Transportation Planner/Designer and Grant Coordinator, Los Angeles Walks Founder and Hilary Norton, chair of the California Transportation Commission and Executive Director of FASTLinkDTLA, a Transportation Management Organization (TMO) for Downtown Los Angeles- consult with Mark on his recent experience in Beverly Hills. Hilary, Deborah, and veteran rida Don Ward go on to talk about Deborah's amazing success with facilitating the award of over $278 million in grant funds for active transportation, new parks/open space and sustainable cities projects in the past 13 years. It's why Deborah is affectionately known as the Oprah of the safe streets movement. Deborah and Hilary focus in particular on the record breaking $31 million ATP grant for “Connecting

An interview by Andrea Learned, climate action leadership strategist, with David Miller, former Mayor of Toronto, Director of International Diplomacy for C40 Cities, and author of Solved: How the World’s Great Cities Are Fixing the Climate Crisis.

Don Ward kindles wanderlust for Fresno in this discussion with Fresno County Bicycle Coalition Chair Tony Molina, past Chair Ed Smith, Vice Chair Juan Flores, and past board members T and Sara Gonzalez on the FCBC screening of Motherload, Virtual Bicycle Safety workshops, New Bikeways coming to Fresno, Bike Match, Bike Polo, and Fun Rides in Fresno. 47:20 Brendt Barbur, Founder, Director of the Bicycle Film Festival, reminisces with Don in the BFF's 20th year. 1:10:57 Lindsay Sturman interviews housing activist Brent Gaisford, Board Chair of Abundant Housing LA and co founder of Tree House, one of the first co-living buildings in Los Angeles.

Sophie Maerowitz on the Loisaida Open Streets Community Coalition she co-founded and the resistance to a protected bike lane on Ave. C in NYC 5:30 Felicia Garcia and Joe Linton on the Beautiful Boulevard Eagle Rock Forward is trying to get Metro to adopt as it puts a Bus Rapid Transit line in Eagle Rock, facing NIMBY (not in my backyard) opposition. 15:50 cartoonist and Why We Drive author Andy Singer on the NYC, LA, and Twin Cities "block by block battles" of bike and safe streets advocates, and why they're symptoms of the problem of road funding in the US. 1:03:38 Joe comes back for more debate with Don about whether to work with NIMBYs. 1:06:36 Lindsay Sturman interviews John Stout, author of the new report, "Transform Transportation," which identifies the harmful health and environmental impacts of California’s car-centric transportation system and gives recommendations for a healthier, more sustainable sector.

LA Metro held its last community meeting to get the necessary public input on project environmental studies for its 18-mile-long North Hollywood to Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit project through four cities: Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, and Los Angeles. Eagle Rock Forward introduced a bikeable, walkable, livable option- the "Beautiful Boulevard." https://www.eaglerockforward.org/ In response, Metro proposed a new “Refined F1 option” which "adopts some of the basic lane configuration aspects of part of Beautiful Boulevard, but misses most of the proposal’s features that would truly create effective rapid transit in a walkable and bikeable setting." https://la.streetsblog.org/2021/03/30/advocates-urging-support-for-a-better-bus-rapid-transit-for-eagle-rock-at-hearing-this-thursday/?fbclid=IwAR2jF_7sD6Ox2t9pXFAdUmMomHQTBTHjRM8eI-3put_AkdgTiJi9Ghq8iSk Here are the last 3.5 hours of the meeting, all of it public comment. Occasional plumbing noises are due to makeshift recording conditions.

Bike Talk correspondent Lindsay Sturman interviews Chicago, IL 'biking and transit visionary' Courtney Cobbs, Co-Editor for Streetsblog Chicago. https://twitter.com/FullLaneFemme

The Monterey Park city council wanted to vote on spending $100 million of Measure R money on new parking structures and expanding lanes for driving. Jennifer Love Tang, an english teacher and organizer, wrote about the vote in Streetsblog LA. Jennifer consults with Charles Mahron, the Founder and President of Strong Towns and the author of Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Rebuild American Prosperity, and Don Kostelec, a transportation consultant and advocate in Boise, Idaho. With Nick Richert. https://la.streetsblog.org/2021/03/15/editorial-metro-gives-monterey-park-100-million-to-improve-transportation-and-the-city-wants-to-build-parking-lots-with-it/ https://www.strongtowns.org/ https://twitter.com/KostelecPlan https://twitter.com/clmarohn

BikeTalk interviews Ryan F. Allard, PhD, an entrepreneur, researcher and speaker, who lead the transport research that fed the New York Times Bestseller: "Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming." Allard, now a founding climate tech fellow with On Deck, used his climate change storytelling expertise well in this lively conversation with Lindsay Sturman and Andrea Learned (https://soundcloud.com/biketalk/bike-talk-andrea-learned). One fun fact: the Project Drawdown team did not initially intend to include eBikes as a solution, but then… (listen to learn what convinced them to). Allard also digs in a bit on the math of carbon emissions, and discusses the need to see a balance of modes - and include eBikes as legitimate tools to reach our climate action goals. https://www.drawdown.org/ https://www.beondeck.com/ Ryan’s LinkedIn profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanfallard/ Ryan’s Twitter profile: https://twitter.com/RyanFAllard

Eagle Rock resident and Silverlake Chamber of Commerce President Natalie Friedberg tells Don Ward how her group, Eagle Rock Forward, has added a livable street option to the ones Metro gave them for its imminent Bus Rapid Transit line. Eagle Rock Forward calls its option the "Beautiful Boulevard." They've got lots of business and community support. https://www.eaglerockforward.org/

Lindsay Sturman and Terrence Heuston talk to David Zipper about the Ebike Act, which passed congress and would give $1500 rebates on ebikes. Other topics include transportation as an economic development tool and changing the sidewalk paradigm. Inspired by David's tweet: https://twitter.com/DavidZipper/status/1371573014689673217?s=20

The Safety Stop Bill (AB 122), sponsored by the California Bicycle Coalition, would allow California cyclists to treat stop signs like 'Yield' signs. It's the Idaho Stop Law, and research shows it improves safety. See: https://www.calbike.org/category/the_latest/?fbclid=IwAR0nikaUW6DC0kLOJrce3DjEFLkVGXTM_7HXYqR-Y3BG-o6AqJo5nAqUN6U Dave Snyder, Executive Director of California Bicycle Coalition, with California Streetsblog Editor Melanie Curry, Grace Peng, Gabby Gee, and surprise guest 43rd District California Assemblymember and new Transportation Committee Chair Laura Friedman. Hosted by Don Ward and Nick Richert

Claire Wemp on her popular Facebook group, "Bicycle Commuter:" https://www.facebook.com/groups/13999512559

Lindsay Sturman interviews data scientist Dr. Offer Grembek about the research on complete streets. Offer is a researcher and lecturer at the University of California Berkeley. He serves as the Co‐Director at the university’s Safe Transportation Research and Education Center (SafeTREC), a research center affiliated with the UC Berkeley School of Public Health and the UC Berkeley Institute of Transportation Studies. Dr. Grembek is a member of the California Strategic Highway Safety Plan Steering Committee and the Transportation Research Board Committee on Transportation Safety Management Systems (ACS10). https://safetrec.berkeley.edu/ at 23:10, Damian Kevitt, creator of Finish The Ride and ED of Streets Are For Everyone, talks to Offer about NIMBY arguments that have killed bike lanes in Los Angeles. https://www.streetsareforeveryone.org/

Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council President Adriane Hoff on trying to turn a half mile of 6th St. into a community plaza, closed to car traffic. The Powerpoint: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1aJt_QcaUniO6kh_1iaKDf0tXpsz9SVd5dWLQL720UsA/edit#slide=id.gd91e1f37e_1_106 The Streetsblog Article: https://la.streetsblog.org/2021/02/02/koreatown-neighborhood-council-proposes-pedestrianizing-sixth-street/

Ayesha McGowan on We The People: Black Lives Roll'en, created and moderated by Yolanda T. Davis-Overstreet, with invited co-host Lena Williams. Ayesha, 33, is a professional cyclist for Liv Racing and an advocate for representation of people of color in the bike industry. This is WE THE PEOPLE: Black Lives Roll'en final Black History Month Conversation, but not the end of their roll'en conversations! Find out more about Ayesha on her website: https://www.aquickbrownfox.com/

Melanie Curry, Streetsblog California Editor, and Dave Snyder, CalBike Executive director, discuss the state and federal programs to subsidize e-bike purchases with Nick Richert and Don Ward. Essential Question: should I wait for a subsidy to by an ebike? Answer: Only if you want to wait two years at least. California's AB 117, authored by Tasha Boerner Horvath, which would create e-bike stimulus payments, originated with a CalBike initiative. CalBike organized stakeholders in support of the bill. We also talk briefly about SB 400, which CalBike got passed in 2019 and is just now beginning to roll out incentives for low income and disadvantaged communities in the Bay Area, with other areas to come. SB400 will give qualifying individuals $7500 to turn in an older polluting car and replace it with an ebike (or two) under the Clean Cars for All program, which is funded by cap-and-trade. Also: in 2017, Congress eliminated a tax credit for bike commuters that had allowed employers to reimburse workers as much

Yolanda Davis-Overstreet (Moderator) and Lena Williams (guest co-host) have a conversation with Dr. Christopher West, a recognized historian on the “Green Book.” The brainchild of postman Victor Green and first published in 1936, it was called alternately The Negro Motorist Green Book, The Negro Travelers’ Green Book, and The Travelers’ Green Book over its 30-year existence. This publication offered information for Black families traveling in racially segregated Jim Crow. This conversation taps into the history of this historical social justice approach that played a vital role in creating safe travels and movement in outdoor spaces for Black Lives, as well as makes the connection on how the need for mobility justice and safety still exist at this time. A conversation that dives into the intersection of Black Lives driving, bicycling, walking, standing, sitting, and breathing - while outdoors in movement. Recommended documentary to watch: https://www.pbs.org/.../driving-while-black-race-space.../ with Don Wa

Konstantine Anthony, Burbank's Sunrise movement-endorsed City Councilmember and former Burbank transportation committee chair, on transportation and climate change. https://www.instagram.com/konstantineinca/ https://twitter.com/KonstantineinCA https://www.facebook.com/empkon With Don Ward, Lindsay Sturman, and Nick Richert

Yolanda T. Davis-Overstreet and Lena Williams discuss mobility justice, black history, and bikes.

Bike Talk gives its Best Bike Advocate of 2020 Award to...Michael Schneider, founder of Streets For All. Last year, Michael and Streets for all spearheaded the designation of 'slow streets' across Los Angeles. Now, slow streets are becoming permanent. Michael was also able to get LA's slow streets listed on google maps, so cars can be away and bikes directed towards them. Schneider and Streets For All tirelessly advocate for safe streets measures and projects, while working to 'flip' Neighborhood Councils by supporting progressive council members. https://streetsforall.org/