The Expo Authority has run into huge cost overruns and apparently they feel that by not building proposed bicycle facilities at the Expo Station, they can somehow balance their books. They have recently made it clear, bike facilities will not be coming to the Expo Station at Robertson.This is outrageous. The bike facilities are part of the original plan. L.A. wants them, Culver City wants them, METRO wants them. They have built a bike way along Jefferson connecting La Cienega to the Ballona Creek Bike Path terminus at Sid Kronenthal Park. They are completing the bikeway from Jefferson and National that will connect to Washington. Culver City has created a Downtown connector along this route and has planned improvements coming on Jefferson at the Scenic Overlook. Apparently, civic leaders are recognizing that people want to use their bicycles instead of their cars to get TO and FROM the Expo Line. So why not create a convenient place to securely lock a bike?A bike station like the new one in Santa Monica would have been spectacular, but even one similar to Burbanks would suffice. We - as a community - must put pressure on Expo to rethink their priorities and force them to include secured bike parking at the least and a full bike station at most.Please write to the following expressing your concerns and demand that Expo Authority makes good on their promise of adding bike facilities at the Robertson station.Mayor Villaraigosa: mayor@lacity.orgMetro Board: boardsecretary@metro.netCulver City Mayor O'Leary: micheal.oleary@culvercity.orgSupervisor Ridley Thomas: seconddistrict@bos.lacounty.govAssemblymember Holly Mitchel's Office: sydney.kamlager@asm.ca.govFollowing is a letter sent on the behalf of the CCBC. Feel free to use this as a template.
As a Culver City resident and member of the Culver City Bicycle Coalition I am extremely disappointed in your decision not to go forward with plans to build the proposed bike facilities at the Culver City Expo Station at Venice and Robertson.
Everyone in urban planning seems to understand that end-of-line facilities are crucial to the success of mass transit projects. Therefore, in today's world where "alternative transportation" has been replaced with "active transportation" how can you justify spending $900 million on a mass transportation project and NOT include a state of the art bike facility?
The facility had been in the plan since the beginning and I - along with numerous other residents and commuters - were looking forward to biking to the station, securely parking our bikes and riding the train to downtown L.A. Without this facility, there will be less incentive to bike to the station and therefore less incentive to use the train. With a new Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan in place and new bike/ped facilities in the works, Culver City has been trying their best to create a more livable community by - among other things - encouraging more people to bike and walk to their destinations. Your inability to reign in costs and lax oversight should not come at the expense of Culver City's desire to continue to create a more sustainable city.
By not incorporating this important facility into the Expo Station you are not only doing a disservice to our community, but hurting the County as a whole. How many more people would take the train in and bike to work at nearby downtown, the Hayden Track and the Helms Building complex (where I work and see an overcrowded parking lot every day), if there were adequate bike facilities waiting for them? How many more families would take the train to Culver City and bike to the beach down Ballona Creek?
On behalf of the Culver City Bicycle Coalition, I demand you rethink your priorities and put the bike station back into the project and fast track it so it can be online ASAP.
