Sherman Oaks Bicycle Committee

I'm tempted to start this up, but I am way over-involved. But for this to happen would be incredible.

With three bicycle shops in Sherman Oaks and other community support, a bicycle committee can really do some good for the neighborhood:

• Work on sidewalk bicycle parking in business districts not currently served (Van Nuys Blvd., Woodman Blvd, Sepulveda).
• Work with big box and grocery stores on off-sidewalk bicycle parking.
• Support and report on status of long-term bicycle projects such as the Fulton Ave. Class II Bike Lane and the LA River Class I Bike Path
• Education Projects in the community with Sharrows and Signage (as seen in the picture)
• Identifying Class III routes in the community.
• Work with Land Use Committee and developers of new apartments and condos to build and design in bicycle parking for tenants and guests.
• Identify and work with property owners who have trees and bushes that "shed" thorns into sidewalks and streets causing bicycle tires to easily pop.

So who wants to do this?

Westfield Expansion

Debate is going strong on the Westfield Mall expansion. It is inevitable as time changes that upgrades will be needed. If Westfield does not change their ways, the future could hold an abandoned space that will call for change anyway.

What I see missing from all the newspaper articles and what I have read so far about from the critics are mitigations for non-motorized transit. The LA River Plan calls for a Fashion Square Park and a bicycle/recreational trails.

Westfield and the residents should also consider LA River mitigations in addition to roadway/traffic ones.

Bicycle Sidewalk Parking Count: 33

How many sidewalk bicycle racks are there in Sherman Oaks? 33*. These are the LADOT Inverted U bike racks (see picture) that you see on the street that are part of the LADOT Sidewalk Parking Program. The 33 does not include racks at the Library, parks or off the sidewalk at businesses.

Bike Rack Count by Council District:

• CD2: 3 Racks along Woodman at Moorpark, Riverside & Burbank (that is 6.5% of all bike racks [total, 46] in Wendy Greuel's district)
  
• CD5: 30 racks, all along Ventura (that is 17.5% of all bike racks (total, 130) in Jack Weiss' district)
  

So where are the deficiencies? Are there any? Why are there only 3 racks in CD2 for Sherman Oaks? There must be a need for racks along Van Nuys Blvd and Sepulveda Blvd. And why are there no racks in CD5's "flag" (where CD5 juts out north of Ventura between Fulton and Coldwater)?

These are just initial questions -- a starting of a conversation to make Sherman Oaks more bike friendly.

*Data comes from LADOT Sidewalk Bicycle Parking program.

Sherman Oaks in the LA River Master Plan

So I got a peek at the LA River Master plan today at the Friends of the LA River tour (something I highly recommend) that took a group of about 30 people to 5 locations in LA on the river (Sepulveda Dam being one of them). You can download it from the website, but I'm not a big fan of PDFs that are 100s of pages long.

Above is the Sherman Oaks/Studio City portion of the draft plan (click to enlarge and se it up close). Here are the ideas:

• The south side of the river (downstream) is a "Proposed River Greenway - Bike Path."
• The north side of the river (upstream) is a "Proposed River Greenway - Recreation Trail."
• The dashed turquoise lines mark "Riverside Streets" such as Valleyheart St. between Hazeltine and Woodman
• The yellow overlay signifies the "Green Corridor" and not City Council Boundries (which are marked by pink lines)
• The "U" in a pink box means Underpass, but the same marking with a bolded border means "Underpass difficulties." An example would be grading the ground for the path to go under the bridge could prove to be a very difficult project. Maybe a crossing with a light is the solution. The "O" stands for Overcrossing.
  
• The diamonds with numbers in them tell us where "Potential Projects" may go. The ones with black numbers on a white background signify "Proposed Projects extending into the community that may require the acquisition of private property." Sounds scary to owners, but here is a list of all land grab those projects:
  
  
  1. Number 63 is Castle Park, which the city already owns, so I am not sure what this is all about.
  2. Number 73 says "Acquisition of Property near Hazeltine and the River. I don't know if this means around the Sunkist Building (not going to happen) or the tow yard (could happen).
  3. Number 75 is very interesting - "Fashion Square River Park." Sounds like a nudge nudge wink wink corporate funding request for a park named after the mall.
     
     
• One of the other potential projects caught my eye: Hazeltine River Edge Park which would be between Van Nuys Blvd and Hazeltine between the river and the homes south of Riverside.