jeremygrant.com

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?