The Los Angeles bike community’s contentious relationship with the LAPD has found a positive stride – but there’s still a long way to go.
Representatives of several bike advocacy groups have begun monthly meetings with LAPD leaders including Commander David Doan and Sergeant David Krumer, part of a revolving LAPD/Cyclist Working Group intended to bring different interests to a common table.
The stronger relationship appears to be the result of new Chief of Police Charlie Beck’s promise to reach out to the cycling community. In fact, Beck appeared at a special session of the City Council Transportation Committee on Wednesday to discuss hit and run accidents, among other topics. [SLIDESHOW]
After the group’s initial meeting, activist Enci Box wrote that LAPD representatives ”were open to our concerns, they did their homework and they were very knowledgeable. They are aware of the issues on the streets and they seem to want to support our rights on the streets of LA.”
This is a major change for a diverse group that has often felt caught between angry motorists and unsympathetic law enforcement. Stephen Box, husband of Enci and co-founder of the Bike Writers Collective, said the public’s comments on news sites demonstrate the true colors of the situation.
“When you hear this rage, that’s good. We need people to hear and see. This is what we hear every day, but nobody’s around to witness it. So when they put it on [LATimes.com] in the comments section, ‘Thank you very much,’” Box said. “Because I didn’t have to hear it on the street and wonder if anybody else was a witness.”
Officer Shannon Enox, who has been working on the LAPD’s bicycle community outreach program for the past six months, confirmed Box’s concerns.
“It’s not made up,” Enox said. “People are yelling at [cyclists], honking their horns.”
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Clashes like the one instigated by Dr. Christopher Thompson in 2008 have become touchstones in the debate over the balance of cyclists’ and motorists’ rights. Thompson quickly slammed on his brakes in front of two cyclists on a Brentwood road in July 2008, injuring both riders. During Thompson’s trial, a police officer testified that the doctor admitted he slammed on his brakes in order to “teach them a lesson.”
Krumer was careful to draw the line between motorists’ words and deeds, explaining that most incidents involving bikers and drivers are accidents rather than crimes.
“There is a misunderstanding about what police can actually do,” Krumer said. “It becomes difficult to police words.”
Krumer, working with Doan, released data analysis earlier this month indicating that 23 percent of bike-related collisions are hit-and-runs. The bike community welcomed his gesture, in particular because hit-and-runs are one of the touchiest issues for cyclists.
However, Krumer said, hit-and-runs account for 38 percent of all vehicle-to-vehicle collisions, indicating that drivers are more likely to stop if they make contact with a bicyclist.
“Hit-and-runs are tough,” Krumer said. “To actually prevent a hit-and run, I don’t know if that’s going to be within our reach. We’re not clairvoyant.”
Other concerns raised by bike advocates at the LAPD meeting included access to major thoroughfares, perceived harassment by officers, and an array of safety concerns. The aggregate of the conversation will affect policy but will not directly shape the city’s Bike Plan, which the Los Angeles Department of Transportation and the City Planning Commission have been developing for nearly two years.
“Our role is not to establish what the Plan is, but how it’s going to affect the community,” Enox said.
Stephen Box, working with Thompson, his wife, and others, has put together an alternative proposal, the Backbone Bikeway Network. The Backbone is a holistic concept he sees as a more viable and more affordable alternative to the city’s draft Bike Plan.
“If law enforcement money is being spent, the focus should be on the Backbone,” Box said.
Box’s plan focuses on improving navigability and maintenance standards for the city’s major thoroughfares, so that serious riders can traverse the city safely and efficiently. Box said that committing to the concept “costs nothing” and implementation would cost a fraction of the city’s proposed Bike Plan. 
“I’ll be cooperating with the motorists and the bus operators because I won’t be so busy dodging potholes,” Box said.
Enci Box said one of her criticisms of the city’s Bike Plan, unveiled last year to activist outcry, is an emphasis on bike paths removed from major roads.
“We need to think about people in a larger issue within the city using our streets,” Box said. “Not recreational, segregating paths which I’m absolutely against. As a woman and if I were to have children they would never get on a bike path because they’re segregated.
Another issue that the LAPD group will address is an anti-harassment ordinance aimed at motorists who disturb cyclists, set in motion last year by City Councilman Bill Rosendahl. A motion to study the creation of such an ordinance was approved by the city council Jan. 27.
Krumer said he opposes the idea, which he sees as largely unenforceable and important only “symbolically.” He said he agrees with several of the ideas on the table, including better education for officers, drivers, and cyclists.
“Our officers are not trained as well as they should be about bicycle-specific citations,” he said.
With many different interests at the table, patience will be the virtue over the following months.
“As time drags out, it will be clear that a lot of these changes are going to be time consuming,” Krumer said. “It’s like trying to turn around a freight train.”
A personal recap, at least. Coming off more than three years building and marketing data-driven news technology at Inform.com, it was a great pleasure to delve into reporting at Annenberg in Fall 2009.
imes it’s more profitable in the long run to give something away than it is to charge for it.
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