Well, the day is nigh. The LA Bike Plan is going to begin another round of stupid kabuki public hearings, this time in the more able and bike-friendly confines of the City Planning Commission (a big commission I assure you).
I just downloaded a few portions of the plan, and I'd like to harp on a couple of the same things I've harped about before on other forums, here on this blog, and in print.
Bike Parking (in Chapter 4)
The current draft Bike Plan has more references to the sections of municipal code that allow for a swap of bike parking for car parking. There are not many specifics in some sections, calling only for an "increase" in bike parking on private parcels. Where the bike parking swap is spelled out in numbers, the amount to be swapped is a measly 5%. Bah humbug.
A developer should be allowed to swap 50%, 75%, or hell 100% of car parking for bike parking. The bike plan should offer up sample code to make this so. What, is this going to trigger an EIR?
Bike Plan Progress and Measurement (in Chapter 4)
The current draft Bike Plan "requires" the city to monitor data that in most cases it already monitors, but has no provisions for the publishing and types of analysis the public should expect. Please, give us a publishing deadline! Quarterly? Bi-annually? As it is now, it looks like the reporting period is 2015!
Bike Lanes and other stuff in North East LA
I live and own a business in North East LA. The last couple of draft of the bike plan completely ignored this section of town (dropping "potential" "maybe" "not really" bike facilities in the area). The plan still uses a bunch of phoney bloney jargon to hide the fact that there are no real plans to get a bike lane on, say, North Figueroa Street. To build a bike lane on North Figueroa Street would require the removal of a traffic lane, as would most bike facilities in LA - a step that would in many cases improve overall automobile traffic as well.
Most "arterials" in this area are underutilized, with traffic only at choke points next to freeway entrances. Removing a lane and bring down the maximum speeds of cars on the road would in some cases improve the flow of traffic. Our arterials also, typically, run parallel to freeways on this side of town. If someone wants to get through the area quickly in a car, they should be on the freeway - not flooring it through our business and residential areas at 35 and 45 mph (as the LADOT has them doing now).
There needs to be an out-in-the-open confirmation as to the feasibility of getting something installed in my community. I am sure that other people feel the same about their neighborhood.
Anyway, this stupid plan has dragged thousands and thousands of man hours away from productive activities. All the free labor that has been thrown at this endeavor could have physically built the city's bike infrastructure already. I hope that, now that the professionals are in charge, they can address these three issues (among the many that exist and have yet to be addressed properly).
p.s. One more thing: REPEAL LAMC 80.27
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