The Immortal Class

April 24, 2005 by Eric Richardson

A couple weeks ago Alan told me to check out Travis Hugh Culley's book The Immortal Class. It took me a while to get through, but yesterday during my field trip I ripped through the second half. From one of the editorial descriptions on the Amazon page:

When unpublished playwright and director Culley found it difficult to earn a living in the creative arts, he took a job as a bike messenger. This is the story of his adventures on the streets of Chicago. The author's descriptions are so vivid and apt that it is easy for the reader to imagine himself pedaling at breakneck speeds through crowded intersections and along sidewalks. More than a mere joy ride, this book is a window into the bizarre and cultlike world of the bike courier and, more significantly, a passionate plea for more sensible city planning.

The first 250 pages is Travis' story, and it's a captivating one. But yesterday it was the last fifty pages that really got me. That's where the story shifts to being more about the relationship between cars and the bicycle, and how the two of them relate to the road. The story from chapter ten -- where a cyclist is seriously injured due to road crews not marking a construction zone, but then isn't allowed to sue for medical expenses since bicycles are not an "intended" user of the roadway in Illinois -- isn't directly applicable to California, where bicycles are considered vehicles. Still, though, both it and the last few chapters highlight the tenuous hold cyclists have on their rights. Even if you don't have time (or interest) to read the whole book, I highly recommend these last pages.

Field Trip

April 23, 2005 by Eric Richardson

So I had to take a field trip today for my Geology class. I wasn't excited about it, since it meant a good long while in a bus. We left USC at 8am and returned a little before 4pm. Aside from the long sit, though, it was at least mildly interesting. Some cool scenery and rock formations mainly up around where the 138 hits the 15. We ate lunch in the small mountain town of Wrightwood, CA, which I have to say was utterly unprepared to feed three+ buses full of college kids inside of 45 minutes. I've put my photos together as a set over on Flickr.

Higher Fines, but Still No SUV Enforcement?

April 22, 2005 by Eric Richardson

Interesting to note that next Wednesday LA's City Council will consider a motion to raise the fines for operating a vehicle over 6000 lbs on restricted streets. Actually this motion, which Janice Hahn made last June but has taken some time working its way through the system, isn't to raise the fines per se, but instead to have the City Attorney draft an ordinance that would do so.

For first time offenders, the maximum fine shall be increased from $50 to $250, the second offense to be increased from $100 to $250, and the third and subsequent offenses be increased to a maximum $1,000.

It will be interesting to see if this passes without discussion of the fact that a lot of big SUV's are heavier than the 6000lb limit. This issue (and the non-enforcement of the law) was all the buzz last summer, and it seems it still is: CityBeat published this article just a few weeks ago. I don't really think SUV's should be banned from residential streets (though I do think they should pay extra to attempt to compensate for their additional wear on the roadway), but it just seems that if that's not the intent of the law, the law needs to be rewritten.

The Weather Lied to Me

April 22, 2005 by Eric Richardson

The weather's conspiring against me today. I got up this morning, checked weather.com, and saw a high of 73 degrees. So I put on my board shorts and t-shirt, hopped on my bike, and headed off to work. Around lunch time I started to say "Hey, it's not warm out." Just now I went back to check the weather again and found this time a high of only 66 degrees, and some rain coming this evening. In fact here at JPL the high is only listed at 64. So now I not only have to deal with the chill, I also have to plan to beat whatever showers we're going to get back Downtown.

On the plus side I'm really starting to notice improvements in my biking stamina. I powered up the hill from Pasadena in one gear today, and had enough left to give it a little juice coming up to the top. The worst part of my ride, though, continues to be the hill I have to go up once inside JPL. My building's basically at the top of the lab, which is built into a hillside. Looking out my window from the 5th floor I'm even with floor 11 or so of Building 180, which sits approximately on level with the security gate that sits right at the bottom of the hill.

I also have to mention that I enjoyed the LAist post on biking today. Critical Mass and the Bike Kitchen did need to be mentioned along with this weekend's Bike Show and BikeSummer. I bash them a lot, so I figure I should mention when I do like a story. And no, it's not because they linked to blogdowntown.

LaBonge Wants Smart Meters

April 20, 2005 by Eric Richardson

In my March wrap-up of the DLANC Transportation & Public Works committee meeting over on blogdowntown I mentioned that the CRA's Downtown Parking Study's Best Practices document included talk of smart meters and multi-spot pay station technologies. The City may be soon looking to get serious about that sort of thing, as Councilmember Tom LaBonge has made a motion that

the City Council direct the Deparment of Transportation to report on the feasibility of implementing a pilot project that would involve installing and evaluating smar meters within the City.

I know, any kind of thing like this takes forever to work its way through the system, but Tom LaBonge has been on a roll with cool transportation related motions lately. Eric Garcetti seconded, and this motion now makes its way to the Council's Transportation committee.