CicLAvia! CicLAvia!

October 4, 2010 at 7:25 am in Biking in LA, Events, Social issues, Transportation

Considering it took about five bureaucratastic years for sharrows to go from concept to reality, when I first heard about hopes at the 2009 Bike Summit for bringing a Bogota, Colombia-style ciclovia to the streets of Los Angeles I was pretty sure it would take at least the same amount of time for that idea to become an actuality.

Oh me of little faith. Thanks to the dedicated and tireless efforts of that core group of enthusiastic believers who ultimately enlisted support from key organizations, city councilmembers and Mayor Villaraigosa, the city’s historic inaugural CicLAvia is free and open to the public and happening next ~~Saturday~~ Sunday (10/10/10) between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., when a 7.5-mile route (click image for a larger map) between East Hollywood and Boyle Heights will be closed entirely to vehicles and opened wide to cyclists, joggers, and walkers.

As someone who participated in all 15 L.A. Marathon Bike Tours (1995-2009, rest in peace) and even the famed 2003 Arroyofest which saw the Pasadena Freeway go bikes/peds-only for a few glorious hours of a foggy June morning, guess where I’ll be. Hope you’ll be there, too.

Find out more at the CicLAvia website.

11 Comments »

Chapulin

The Eastside Bike Club will be leading a leisurely paced ride from Walgreens in Alhambra (corner of Main Streets and Fremont Ave – very nearby South Pasadena / El Sereno) and will be joined by the San Gabriel Valley Bike Coalition)

We will meet up at 8:30am and ride at 9am to Hollenbeck Park. The EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB will be pulling our “GHOST BIKE / Dia De Los Muertos Mobile Altar” to raise awareness to all that we must SHARE THE ROAD.

Last year the debut of our GHOST RIDER brought lots of attention and this will be the first of many rides where the GHOST RIDER will be joining cyclist from all over the city.

We will ride to celebrate life on a bike. Come join us for this fun and exciting experience. The EASTSIDE BIKE CLUB’s slogan is “LIVE TO RIDE AND RIDE TO LIVE”

Join us on facebook. Eastsdie Bike Club Los Angeles. For more inforamtion you can contact us at : bikesinla@yahoo.com 323/221.7400
http://blogging.la/members/willcampbell/ Will Campbell

Chapulin, I can bet that rolling Ghost Rider is a moving sight, literally and figuratively.
Liquidpremium

I wonder what it will take to have a Ciclovia like Bogota’s every single week on 70 miles of LA streets? Could it be that the Colombians are so much more advanced than we are?
http://www.ciclavia.org Villavaso

Thanks for writing this!

CicLAvia is next SUNDAY though, not saturday! :)

10-10-10!!!!
http://blogging.la/members/willcampbell/ Will Campbell

ACK! Sunday!!!! Corrected!!!
http://blogging.la/members/willcampbell/ Will Campbell

Liquidpremium: Since I was so wrong in my time estimation for CicLAvia to be brought to life, I won’t hazard a pessimistic guess in answer to your first question and instead just wistfully dream of such a great day. But in answer to your second question I think their ciclovia proves Colombians are far more enlightened and adaptable than angelenos.
http://bikinginla.wordpress.com/2010/10/05/riding-in-the-gray-area-of-the-law/ Riding in the gray area of the law « BikingInLA

[...] ciclovía, Travelin’ Local takes a look at Sunday’s upcoming CicLAvia; sounds like Will is looking forward to it. Streetsblog uncovers a film about the original in Bogotá and the organizers behind it invite you [...]
liquidpremium

@Will Campbell I think it really goes to show how powerful the human element is. I’m sure even in these tough times, LA has a lot more money than Bogota, but if people don’t take action, nothing happens. Let’s start mobilizing to make this a regular & bigger event. I like what one of the guys on the Youtube clip of the Bogotal Ciclovia said, “the infrastructure is already here!” I never even thought about it that way before.
http://blogging.la/2010/10/06/neighborgoods-helps-you-join-ciclavia/ NeighborGoods Helps You Join CicLAvia | Blogging.la

[...] Tuesday Blogging.LA’s own Will Campbell wrote about this weekend’s CicLAvia, an event happening Sunday which will close 7.5 miles of L.A. streets [...]
jasonburns

I hope this becomes an annual event. I would love to see the route extended to Hollywood. We close Hollywood Boulevard for premieres all the time – why not do it for this? Could you imagine the scene?
http://blogging.la/2010/10/08/gtd-this-weekend-butch-it-bbq-it-bike-it/ GTD This Weekend: Butch It, BBQ It, Bike It | Blogging.la

[...] how much of our landscape has been lost to wayward urban planning. Will Campbell wrote about it here, and Burns! gave us a nifty idea on how to borrow a bike if you don’t have one [...]

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