Pasadena Likes Bikes! LAPD? Not So Much.

First the good news. The City of Pasadena likes bikes. In fact, they like them so much that they actually closed the inner loop around the Rose Bowl to traffic last Thursday so that cyclists and pedestrians could use the road in peace. I was there, and it sort of rocked. One of the people taking advantage of this cool pilot program is seen above. And to the City of Pasadena, I have two words: More, please.

Meanwhile the City of Los Angeles continued it's war on common sense as it continues to enforce an obscure law requiring that bicycles are registered. In response, a group of Midnight Ridazz went down to the Central District to sign their bikes up. Sadly, they didn't trust Josef's cake which had a rough trip.

So, here's the problems with the law:

1. Most cyclists don't know it exists.
2. LAPD is enforcing a $50 fine, even though state law caps the fins at $10.
3. Only two police stations hand out licenses, and one of them only two days a week.
4. Not every station is enforcing the law, leading to charges that the LAPD is targetting poorer riders and Midnight Ridazz.

In short, this seems like one of those nuisance laws that police come up with because they can't do what they really want to. Let's hope someone from up above takes care of this one.

I'm listening the Metro Board meeting on my phone

And I can't help but fantasize that they can hear me on the other end. Like the voice of God is eating cereal and coughing into a microphone. Weird, I know.

Obama=McCain=Schwarzenegger

Just a quick thought on what's going on with this ridiculous debate about debates that's going on in Washington, D.C.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5haebZAhk0htf8DGXVp1pXbAMS0wg

"And you know, obviously if it turns out that we need to be in Washington, we've both got big planes. We've painted our slogans on the sides of them. They can get us from Washington DC to Mississippi fairly quickly."

--Dude, if you're both going from D.C. to MS then back to D.C. Maybe, just maybe, you could jet pool.

Ports, trucks, and pollution

Until recently I hadn't spent a lot of time on port-related issues at Streetsblog, but I'm glad I've spent some time there the last couple of weeks. What goes on at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach have a big impact on our air quality.

Recently, my old friends the American Trucking Association sued to keep the Ports of LA and Long Beach from enacting their clean ports policies. The good news? The ATA lost.

In other news, legislation requiring a "clean air" fee to be placed on containers going through the ports is sitting on the desk of Governor Schwarzenegger. We'll have to wait until the budget mess is cleared before we see if he is willing to sign it. In the meantime, get some odd news that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin is lobbying Schwarzenegger to veto the legislation.