WeHo Council Candidates Answer Questions on Bicycle Safety, Sharing, Access

The West Hollywood Bicycle Coalition, a bicycle advocacy organization, asked candidates in the June 2 special election for the West Hollywood City Council to respond to its questions about bicycle sharing and safety and bicycle lanes. The questions and responses are as follows:

LARRY BLOCK

1. Have you been involved in any efforts to promote cycling or improve safety for bicyclists?

I’m not a cyclist, – unfortunately with one eye that has a contact I never feel safe or have balance. My efforts have been focused on pedestrian safety, crosswalks and that includes bicycle safety. Every month I watch the accident reports and count the vehicle/pedestrian, vehicle/bicycle, and bicycle/pedestrian stats. I’d like to have a zero accident goal and will do all I can to reach that goal.

COLE ETTMAN

I am an avid cyclist and have been involved in sponsoring many friends on the AIDS/LIFECYCLE bike ride from LA to San Francisco. As a Public Facilities commissioner I helped to ensure the placement of additional bike racks on our streets and at city buildings. I will fight to make bikers feel safe while commuting in our city.

JOHN HEILMAN

Yes. I was on the City Council when we redesigned Santa Monica Boulevard. I was the Council member who pushed to include bike lanes on the street. More recently, I was part of the Council majority that approved “sharrows” on Fountain and supported the addition of a bike lane on San Vicente. I have also been leading the effort to bring a regional bike share program to West Hollywood.

HEIDI SHINK

As a member of the Planning Commission and an avid bike enthusiast, I regularly attended every Bicycle Task Force meeting. That is why the promotion of bicycling within WeHo is of great personal interest to me; I view the advancement of a bicycling culture within our city to be one of the most important ways in which West Hollywood can stay on the cutting edge both environmentally and culturally. Add to that the positive impact that more bicyclists have on traffic, and I know it is in our city’s best interest to promote biking as much as possible.

2. Do you support bringing a bike share program to West Hollywood? If so, do you think it’s important that bike share include regional connectivity – meaning that a person can make one-way trips to other parts of L.A. County and leave the bike at a station in the other location?

LARRY BLOCK

As a good friend of Owen Ward I’ve heard and supported his programs for a bike share program with regional connectivity. It can be done, it will be done. Thanks for working so hard to get us there.

COLE ETTMAN

Absolutely, and I wholeheartedly support regional bike share as well. We need to look at successful bike share programs across the country and expedite the process here in the greater Los Angeles area.

JOHN HEILMAN

I support bringing a bike share program to West Hollywood and I believe it is important for it to be part of a regional program. As the city’s representative to the Westside Cities Council of Governments (COG), I have been a consistent advocate for a regional bike share program. Cities in the COG have partnered closely with the City of Santa Monica to develop a request for proposals for a bike share program. We also worked closely with Santa Monica in reviewing the submitted proposals. Santa Monica has now chosen a provider, and West Hollywood is looking at all of the requirements for the provider to operate in West Hollywood. We hope to launch a regional bike share program by the end of the year.

HEIDI SHINK

Yes! A bike-sharing program is essential to West Hollywood’s future. If we are serious about increasing the use of alternative means of transportation, then we have to make it easier for our residents to access them. Bike-sharing throughout the county will go a long way towards making the entirety of Los Angeles County more eco-friendly while simultaneously taking riders out of cars. In addition to bike-sharing, I would also favor a city-wide public education program around how cars and bikes interact on the roads. As a person who is dedicated to getting to this issue, I feel that the safety of bicyclists has to be our top priority, and the best way to ensure the safety of bicyclists is to make drivers more cognizant that they share the road with us.

3. In 2011, the City Council unanimously adopted the Bicycle Task Force Report and Recommendations, which include installing bike lanes on Fairfax, La Brea, Santa Monica (between La Brea and Vista/Gardner), Holloway, Sweetzer, Robertson, Vista, and Fountain. Do you support implementing these recommendations? If so, which would be your highest priority?

LARRY BLOCK

Yes, I support regional connectivity, do not have the report to review. I think Fountain and Holloway would be the most important east west streets, and La Brea the most important priority for north south. Because I don’t have on the bike experience of these routes its quite frankly hard to give you an uneducated opinion. I revert to your recommendations and will try to build upon your expertise.

COLE ETTMAN

Yes. I strongly support bike lines on every major thoroughfare and, where safe, through our neighborhoods. The Council recently passed a measure to install on Fairfax, and I want to fast track the entire stretch of Santa Monica Boulevard. I believe that we must make it convenient for bicyclists to get to the nearest rail station so they can leave their cars at home. The city must provide adequate signage to let motorists know that bikers are present and have the same rights as cars on the road.

JOHN HEILMAN

I support the recommendations of the Bicycle Task Force. The easiest recommendations to implement are the ones that involve education, signage and city programming. I support increasing our educational efforts, sponsoring an on-going first-time rider program, expanding our signage to alert motorists to the possible presence of bicyclists. The more difficult recommendations are the ones which involve physical changes to roadways. Some bicycle lanes and “sharrows” can be implemented without physical changes to the roadways, and we should move forward with those as funding is available. Improvements that require physical changes to our roadways should be incorporated into our road maintenance plan. We should also regularly convene a group of stakeholders to update the recommendations of the Bicycle Task Force. The city is continuing to update our Bicycle and Mobility Plan as part of the implementation of our General Plan. I am confident that a series of specific recommendations will come from that work by our city staff.

HEIDI SHINK

Yes, I do support the recommendations, and I would prioritize increased signage to aid the safety of rides, additional sharrows and safety education. While many of the other recommendations made by the Task Force are well worth implementing, the priorities I listed are items that a willing Council could implement quickly and at minimal cost to the city. As someone who fully supports the work of the Task Force, I think it would be in our best interest to show our city just what a difference these small improvements can make in the relationship between motorists and bicyclists.

4. What else would you like to see West Hollywood do to promote cycling and improve safety for cyclists?

LARRY BLOCK

Personally I like the idea of a WeHo loop, Doheny to Sunset, down Crescent heights to Fountain, to La Brea and up and down Santa Monica, a WeHo loop.. and create a time, Sunday mornings between 5-9am, that people could run the loop.. is that crazy?

What I would like to promote is bicycle safety. Improve it to a zero accident threshold. Improve the relationship between the bicyclist and the vehicle. Promote responsibility. Provide clear painted lanes and boundaries. Ensure safe precautions are taken. Light up the streets in most all areas. Invest in our bike share program and build awareness.

COLE ETTMAN

I firmly believe that anyone living, working, playing or visiting our city should be able to do so without a car. As traffic and gridlock worsens the more people we can get out of their cars, the better. I want to encourage this by providing subsidies for bike purchases for West Hollywood residents.

JOHN HEILMAN

Maintaining our roads in good condition is an important part of promoting safety for cyclists. We need to provide education for motorists as well as cyclists. There will always be some drivers and some cyclists who are not mindful of the safety of others on the road. We need to promote the concept of “complete streets” where cyclists, motorists and pedestrians are able to safely navigate but where everyone is conscious of the presence of others.

HEIDI SHINK

Aside from a bike-sharing program, we need to start promoting bicycling (and bike safety) to our West Hollywood youth. I believe that children who grow up biking will maintain the habit into adulthood, making them healthier and more ecologically conscious. And again, I would stress the need for more public education of the interaction between bicyclists and cars. Whatever we can do to make drivers more aware of bicyclists will go a long way towards making our roads safer for everyone.