We’re fortunate that we live in a small, flat city. Getting around is relatively painless, especially when compared to, say, Los Angeles. Culver City is all of five miles long and three miles wide, bordered by the Ballona Creek Bike Path on the south and the Venice bike lane on the north. We should be the model of a cycling community. Sadly we are not.
I ask myself why and it usually comes down to two things. The city does not feel safe enough to ride in and even if it did, there aren’t enough places to park a bike.
Recently, our seven-year-old daughter made a rather astute observation. She mentioned that the government has it all backwards – they should be creating more bike lanes and adding more bike parking, not building new streets and parking lots. And she’s right. We continue to build new streets and repair old ones at extraordinary expense, all the while encouraging people to be healthy and get more exercise by walking or riding, yet we don’t give them a safe means to do so. It’s a civic contradiction. If a second-grader can understand this, why can’t our civic leaders?
Currently, Culver City has approximately 4.22 miles of bikeways and a minimal amount of bike racks, mostly centered in and around downtown. Although the municipal code calls for bicycle parking to be equal to 5% to 10% of the motor vehicle parking, it is not enforced. One only has to try to find a bike rack near Toys ‘R Us or Target to see this.
Fortunately, help is on the way. With a Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan in place, as our streets are improved and new structures built, safer routes for cyclists and pedestrians are supposed to be considered and implemented. Ultimately, the plan calls for more than 30 miles of bikeways to be added.
To help with the parking issue, organizations such as the Culver City Bicycle Coalition (CCBC) are hosting bike valets. What is a bike valet? Very simply, a safe place to park your bike at community events – no lock required. Bike valets work basically like a hat-check counter: Ride up, hand over the bike, receive a ticket and pick up the bike when ready to go. The bike is held in a protected area and watched by an attendant.
For example, take the June 4 Culver City Artwalk, where the CCBC will host a bike valet near Sims Welding Supply, 6060 Washington Blvd. Don’t drive across the city only to go in circles, looking for parking with a few thousand other folks. Instead, take a peaceful, family-friendly, traffic-free ride to Washington Boulevard via the Ballona Bike Path, leave your bike with an attendant and then enjoy the event, ending the day with a pleasant ride home. A little exercise and a lot of art is a great way to enjoy a day in our soon-to-be cycling Mecca.
Look for future bike valets at upcoming local events like Fiesta la Ballona. Eventually, bike valets will be a regular part of the local scene, but to make that happen we’ll need a little help. Please consider supporting the local cycling community by offering to be a bike valet attendant. No experience necessary.
Bike Safe, Bike Smart! is a weekly column to promote responsible cycling by providing information, education and advice about riding. It’s written by members of the Culver City Bicycle Coalition (CCBC), a local chapter of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition. Join them for their family bike ride, the last Sunday of every month. For more information and to submit questions, write ccbicyclecoalition@gmail.com, and visit their blog: culvercitybc.wordpress.com/.
