jeremygrant.com

Do you know what would have happened if it had been Three Wise Greensters instead of Three Wise Men?

1. Would have not got lost.
2. Would have arrived on time.
3. Helped deliver the baby.
4. Cleaned the stable
5. Would have made pizza and…
6. Brought practical gifts.

It was my honor to help with this event. It was a total success for the women and children of St. Anne’s and their surrounding community. Many thanks go out to all those who helped and participated in the LA Greenster’s El Nino Toy Ride.

United Steps is an independent organization that helps build a mutually respectful relationship between the residentially challenged and people with homes. Los Angeles has one of the largest populations of homeless in the nation and has failed for many years to provide adequate services, thus multiplying the problem.   In their one-on-one relationships United Steps gives time, encouragement, and opportunities to reverse the cycle of homelessness.

“Now I know your name and you know mine, we have met and we are connected, now how can I help you?” – Darryl

Actor Darryl Bell spoke about how mental health is cited as a cause of homelessness by those who have homes; but, could it be the people with homes are crazier? Don’t we all deserve some respect?  Is the disrespect justified just because we are all so caught up in our own lives and homelessness isn’t our personal problem?

The Bikerowave is a non profit co-op where anyone can build, fix or just talk bikes.

United steps (in partnership with the Bikerowave) held “Pedal With Me”, a ride that featured donated and loaner bikes, food and drinks, traffic cops, police escort, a permitted “closed” point to point route of 3 miles, live music and dj, t-shirts, buttons. I heard that there may be some arrangements to get some participants bikes so that opportunities will be broadened.

“Once we started riding, we shared one joy.” – Holly

I was talking with one gentleman and he was telling me how much he walks all day just to make it by.  A bike will make those miles a lot easier for him.  Some already had a bike and were excited to ride with old friends who didn’t have one otherwise. We spoke about traveling around the more beautiful parts of the area to escape the urban grind. We shared in the failures (and success) of the city because we both engaged the city from a close environment perspective — something lost when traveling via car.

So, next time you encounter someone who may not share the same level of comfort (home, job, food, money) remember that they are still a person like you inside. We need to put aside the judgment and apathy and start working on the mutual respect if we hope to eradicate the problems of our society. It just starts with one person. You.

Happy Holidays.

for more pictures visit the event page

LA DOT Senior Bicycle Program Coordinator

Must be living in LA (or be willing to move), use a bicycle as primary transportation, willing to work with state legislation, capable of using Metro bus and train with their bike and should have a strong relationship with the bicycling community in LA. Applicant should be organized, self motivated, focused, responsible, honest and precise.

We are looking for someone who is outgoing with a positive attitude.

The right candidate for this position must believe in equality — racial, economic, religious, etc. prejudice will not be tolerated. This position requires a lot of problem solving and working on improving an environment that is adverse to bikes. This will demand a lot of time and effort networking with the public as well as private and public entities. We ask that candidates be dedicated to standing up for the rights of the cyclist on the street.

Visit the LA DOT page and inquire for this employment opportunity.

* Location: Los Angeles
* Compensation: Salary negotiable based on experience.
* This is a full-time job.
* Principals only. Recruiters, please don’t contact this job poster.
* Please, no phone calls about this job!
* Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Other employment opportunities with the City of Los Angeles:

CORRECTIONAL NURSE
(treats cyclists from critical mass rides)
FIREARMS EXAMINER
(examines bullets from road rage incident)
HELICOPTER MECHANIC
(fixes helicopters overworked by emergency/traffic situations)
POLICE LIEUTENANT
(teaches newbies how to knock people off bikes & write bogus tickets)
VETERINARY TECHNICIAN
(fixes that cat you barrel rolled last summer)

PostingID: 1234567890
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Just kidding! this is not losangeles.jeremyslist.org

In times as bad as these it’s nice to see that many people still have jobs and that really most people’s problems relate to budgeting or the increase in price of gas, Starbucks or the newest Rolls Royce.  Once in a while I come across someone with a job that hates it, does a bad job at it and generally has a bad manner with ‘clientele’.  I ‘get’ that being 19 and stuck at the Jamba Juice for $8 bucks an hour sucks when you could be a the head honcho, big baller, or whatever. Yeah, trash duty is gross and the customers are irritating sometimes… that’s how it is unless you change something. Like this inventive rapper/smoothie artisan:

- from (@rickrockbeats)

When I see someone that has a ‘more professional’ job and they have that bad attitude it just floors me. Working in architecture the project is not always going to be the best type; but, I’m happy for the work and do the best job I can. No matter the project I will put everything into it for it to succeed in the end. From billion dollar urban mega design bling to the toilet paper dispenser in the restroom — all with a smile on my face. Some people just complain and show up for the paycheck…

When I first met Michelle Mowery, Senior Bicycle Program Coordinator for LA DOT, at the Harbor Area Bike Plan public meeting it was like I was at the counter of Jamba Juice all over again. I started to ask questions and give my recommendations for improving the plan I was met with a weird / aggressive / defensive response from Michelle. I stated that “there should be more community control of the plan and process” and “frame cycling as a positive thing for the community, environment and businesses”. Mainly I wanted the language to be stronger and be more promising. Michelle kind of went into a quiet rage; mumbled something like “it will never happen” or “it can’t be done” and she walked off. Dropped her Jamba Juice apron and hat and just walked away.

I must have looked a little stunned because Helene Bibas, from the Department of Planning, basically told Michelle to calm down and that she wanted to hear what I had to say. She let Michelle walk off and then she listened to everything I had to say. I could tell: Helene didn’t like all my ideas but we did discuss a lot and I have to say we both came away with a better sense of how the bike plan should work. I wanted to accomplish the same with the coordinator of the bicycle program. In fact, I have been witness to Michelle’s attitude before (on video / in meetings) and I did my best to approach her objectively and openly hoping to avoid any conflict.

Why is the one person in charge of the bicycle program so negative bicycling in Los Angeles? “It’s too dark or cold to ride in winter.” Give me a break, it’s like paradise here and there is something called “lights”. “I don’t ride to work everyday.” Then move closer and make it easier on yourself. “Bicyclists should ride safer.” What the heck, some road rager nearly kills me and I have to ride safer? “My hands are tied.” Find someone to untie them or call for help! “We can’t do that because it will mess up the cars.” Traffic calming has shown only to improve things for everyone, duh. “Bicyclists should be whiter.” What!? Yeah she says that… I totally missed it, my eyes glaze over and ears deafen at the sound of her voice; but, Dr. Thompson heard it all:

BILL ROSENDAHL: Alta Planning is reportedly one of the finest consulting groups in the world for bike planning. How is it that the City of Los Angeles kicked off the Draft Bike Plan process with Alta but did not incorporate the robust Bike Plan process that Portland used/is using to develop their own Bike Plan? For example in Portland Alta maintained eleven working groups, and they used community bike rides to engage and survey.

MICHELLE MOWERY: With all due respect the City of Portland is 450,000 people. It’s a homogeneous community that is very white, and very progressive with respect to transportation. They have a trolley system that works very well, as well as their transit overall. We are a very diverse, disjointed city of 4 million people. They are 30 years ahead of us in the development of their, well, they’re not quite 30, they’re more like 20 years ahead of us in the development of their bikeway. So we’re a step behind Portland in what we’re trying to do. Granted, several of us would like to see a lot of changes in the city happen very quickly, but again we have a very diverse city with a lot of needs.

- michelle mowery believes la’s racial diversity resists bike friendliness, westsidebikeside

I had asked around at the public ‘meetings’ why there was only presentation and the taking of public comment. Why couldn’t we have more meetings with some actual dialog. The default answer was money. Now Michelle has changed her tune and cited our ‘diversity’ as the problem. In speaking with Michelle at the multiple public presentations on the bike plan she did nothing but deflect my comments with excuses, contort the discussion into issues I should solve, and she even stomped away so she would have to listen to my ideas. Often times after our dialog ended I felt that LA’s bike problems were all my fault.

Do we really think that more money or a less ‘diverse’ community is going to change the way she treats the dialog between her office of ’senior coordinator’ and the cyclists she serves? All the money in the world is not going to change the way Michelle perceives cyclists in LA. Diversity is something that kind of forces us all to find some kind of common bond. In LA that commonality is CARS. Why cant it be bikes?

It can.

Crenshaw Crush – photo by (enci)

If we are going to get anything done in this city we need an optimist — not a negative, ‘wear your helmet’ ninny troll parasite living off the lost future of the bike plan. It’s obvious Michelle must hate her job — why doesn’t she just quit and find a better one? Or retire and polish the lugs on her Colnago?

To that point of having more outreach: various groups across the city have been putting their own free time and effort into improving the bike plan and reaching out to the public. if Michelle loves her job so much why doesn’t she put some free time into it too. why hasn’t she attended any of these open and public meetings arranged by these outside groups? If you noticed the whole DOT, Planning and ALTA crew ended the meetings promptly and drove away in their cars as soon as they could. In it for just the paycheck?

LA Bike Working Group – photo by (enci)

If we consider all streets a street cyclists will ride it doesn’t matter the color or language of the cyclist.

Free the streets!

As thousands of cars idled in gridlock that resulted in miles of parked cars, LA’s Park Rangers focused on the arrival of 50 cyclists, complete with General Services Bike Police escort, and stood prepared to enforce a law they couldn’t identify, following the orders of people they can’t identify, and finally writing me a ticket for “FAILING TO COMPLY WITH TRAFFIC CONTROL OFCR.” – Cyclists claim their Rights, Smokey writes a Ticket- SoapboxLA

The Department of Water and Power “Festival of Lights” is an infinite abomination of conspicuous energy consumption, transportation mode discrimination, and environmental destruction. The argument of the source and the story of the ‘power’ aside, if there are no posted permit signs and proof of permit cannot be provided why are cyclists banned from the festival? Is it just one man (Ranger K) and his opinion of ‘what is safe’ keeping cyclists out?

I think riding with traffic in the southbound lane was safe; and idle auto traffic, cone’d off, stopped & idling in the other two lanes was not a threat since they cant go anywhere and you can clearly see each other (drivers & bicyclists); and the most protected class (pedestrians) are behind a fence. The south lane is used by a shuttle and emergency vehicles and a safe cyclist will easily yield in the case of emergency. In fact I spoke to cyclists that rode the lane safely earlier that same night with no warning or contact with Park Rangers. In dealing with the slow moving ‘tour bus’ bicyclists simply passed within the confines of the law (and the cones).

The south lane was clearly open until a group bicyclists arrived and the Park Rangers used their SUVs to block the road. As patriotic tunes played on the loudspeaker to the backdrop of a light display praising America and it’s freedoms Park Rangers playing security for DWP’s privately sponsored event informed us of our requirement to leave the park because of safety reasons. It was a surreal moment standing there listening to Ranger K define ‘what is safe’.

Hundreds of cars were at a standstill in the park filling it with a dense cloud of pollution. The traffic from the freeway below augmented the toxic cloud inhaled by pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, coyote, skunks, western scrub-jays, raven, red-tailed raptors, hawks and great horned owls alike. At times the rush of hot pollutants rushed up the side of the hill changing the park of the oak-riparian ecosystem and black walnut woodlands environment forever and ending up in a smog cap over the city. Drivers and passengers idled hours to move two miles for free parking and boarded a bus to idle them back though the display.

Air pollution has a serious impact on our the park often obscuring views and threatening health of the land. Scientists have begun to see ill effects on plants, some species are simply vanishing. Visitors to the park often exert themselves by walking, running or cycling, which can exacerbate health problems caused by air pollution. Excessive car trips to the park cause damage to the road surface — in fact stimulus money needed for restoring our parks will actually be used to repair roads and provide facelifts for auto amenities. Wildfires also contribute to air pollution; bringing thousands of vehicles into the park each night increases the odds of a fire, especially when there is an increase in the ambient air temperature from car exhaust and engines.

Is this just another example of how our public facilities, land and rights have been ‘bought out’ by the cheating ‘not for profit’ monopoly of the DWP? Do they really think we will fall for the green washing of the Festival of Lights event when it bans cyclists from participating? Is the ban legal if there is no proof of a special event permit? Should we just stand by when the Department of Recreation and Parks drops the ball on Wildlife Maintenance? Do we really want Park Rangers that place the automobile and utility monopolies above the public’s interest?

• Smokey hates bikes RT @ActOut: Stephen (@SoapBoxLa) got a ticket for failing to obey a Park Ranger. #
• “”"”Don’t know what is going on. Looks like he is writing one but now they are talking and talking…”"” @ActOut #
• finally made it back from the green abyss of the dwp festival of rights – maybe someone got a ticket? Not sure yet. #
• ridiculous that I’m stuck in the park with my bike #
• go ride @ActOut: Festival of Rights 2nite! B there! http://bit.ly/5DIqfm Meet @ Mulholland Fountain at Los Feliz Blvd & Riverside Dr 6:30pm #
• help @jonthelam get rid of his car: my car is for sale! – http://is.gd/5sU5Y. price is negotiable. #
• too much spinach last night? RT @pathlesspedaled: Chain snapped on the mountain. http://fb.me/3FoyP9R #
• bike hating drunk bro douche is saved by his daddy – 1yr per life lost! – #absurd RT @bikecommutenews: http://bit.ly/52O1go #
• ha ha michelle mowery got bsnyc’d for her stupid ‘white’ comment. when is mayor v gonna fire this chick already and get our act together? #
• To maintain a true and balanced sense of the world #whyweride #

• Lots of ridazz ready to roll in the rain http://twitpic.com/t5ztl #
• at the meet point ALL CITY toy ride : Olvera Street : dtla #
• RT @BikeWriters: Come to “Bike Working Group IV” Saturday, December 12 from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm. 1711 Van Ness, EHwd http://bit.ly/5e2VvE #
• at start ALL CITY toy ride : Downey -just a little wet #
• at the start. ALL CITY toy ride : Long Beach City #
• holiday bike fun RT @jonthelam: new blog post on last week’s el nino toy ride – http://bit.ly/5l2kay #
• at Westchester High School dropping off potting soil and seeds with the Santee Debate Team for climate change #
• at Venice High planting trees, vegetables and fruits with the Santee Debate Team for Climate Change #
• RT @tootalljahmal: To LADOT it’s not just a bike plan, it’s an important part of a traffic SOLUTION. More trips by bike = less traffic #duh #
• RT @westsidazz: M. Mowery, LA’s Bike Coordinator, PDX is “very white”, LA “very diverse” as reason for bike gap: http://bit.ly/mowerywhite #
• Greening the environment today! http://twitpic.com/sy8t3 #
• Santee Debate Team will be transporting gardens for Climate Change, Thursday Dec 10 10:30am at Santee High School :: Wash & Maple #
• f.a.l.l.i.n.g..i.n..s.l.o.w..m.o.t.i.o.n LOL #
• Motion passes to put a law on the books to stop harassing cyclists #
• does someone have a crowbar? I’ve got to stuff all my complaints on the bike plan in 60 secs #impossible #
• at the LA transpo comm meeting… how late will the comm be? #
• Santee Debate Team needs help bike transporting some planters for their project. Come ride with us Thursday at 10:30, Santee High School #
• RT @bikeoven: Must’ve taken 30 min and a few $ to paint an entire street with #sharrows while the city still refuses why? http://tr.im/GX2F #
• nice view! RT @LACycleChic: A rainbow! I love LA! http://yfrog.com/35fj8j #
• In the City of Los Angeles we find potholes at the end of our rainbows. http://twitpic.com/sljbp #