Streetsblog Los Angeles

Last week, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University published a story declaring that "Most Cyclists Are Working-Class Immigrants, Not Hipsters."

What was I writing about, a woman wanted to know.

In case you need a reason to feel confident about the next generation of livable streets advocates, check out this viral video of 11-year old Matlock Grossman, standing up for a road diet in his Los Angeles neighborhood.

In his insightful article "Struggling student a victim of high fines and misdemeanors," Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez clearly lays out the human cost of so-called "jaywalking" tickets. SBLA includes "jaywalking" in quotes because the term was invented by the auto lobby nearly a century ago to re-frame how people think about how streets should be used.

Yesterday, the city of Los Angeles installed its first ever parking-protected bike lanes. They're on Reseda Boulevard in Northridge, part of the mayor's Great Streets Initiative.

The proposed California-wide bicycle helmet law has stirred up a passionate debate on blogs and bike club lists as well as in the media. Unfortunately, many discussions have degraded quickly into name-calling and personal insults--like the oh-so-droll "hard-headed bicyclists" headline several media outlets thought was so clever. Many people also expressed off-the-point misunderstandings of objections to the proposal, and questionable statistics have been endlessly repeated.

A new report [PDF] offers suggestions for ways that California could better spend the roughly $28 billion it invests in transportation every year, both to be more cost-effective and to better align with the state's environmental goals.

Following the launch of Streetsblog in Texas, Ohio, Saint Louis, and the Southeast, we have more good news to bring. Starting in early April, Streetsblog will launch its newest news site, Streetsblog California.

Governor Jerry Brown released his preliminary budget proposal [PDF] today in Sacramento, missing the opportunity to articulate the connection between spending on roads and meeting the climate change goals he proposed Monday in his inaugural speech.