Bicycle Advocates Led Astray

An ill-advised, last-minute attempt to add dedicated bicycle lanes to the Upper Pier Avenue project resulted in disappointment, tension and frustration that was expressed emotionally at times by three of the five Hermosa Beach City Council members at the panel's meeting Tuesday night.

 Councilman Jeff Duclos had spearheaded a push to reevaluate the bike lane project, and I was one of the local environmental leaders he contacted about that last week.  Duclos told me via telephone that the door was open to take a second look at the concrete center median slated for the new Upper Pier, because the project was over budget and behind schedule. 

He said that eliminating the center median would not only get the project back on track and save big money, but it would also open space for dedicated bike lanes.  He further confided that the Hermosa Beach police and fire departments were now expressing safety concerns about the median.

I told Duclos that a Hermosa Beach Patch article had reported the Upper Pier project was actually ahead of schedule, according to Rick Morgan, the city's director of public works. I asked Duclos for some evidence in writing that the report was wrong. Duclos disputed the Patch article, assured me the opposite was true and repeated that this situation provided the opportunity to ask the council to reevaluate the median's viability.

In retrospect, I should have insisted on written proof. 

Instead, I e-mailed my fellow board members of the South Bay Bicycle Coalition (SBBC), outlining Duclos' request to advocate for bike lanes at the next City Council meeting. After a conference call, we agreed to call and e-mail  the City Council members, and to attend the council meeting to support a reevaluation of the center median and the addition of bicycle lanes on Pier Avenue.

We sent dozens of e-mails and eight people spoke at the meeting on behalf of adding dedicated bicycle lanes, but because there was no evidence that the Upper Pier project was over budget and behind schedule, no door had been opened to reevaluate the median.  Without that opening, Duclos' quest was null.

No councilman would second Duclos' motion to reexamine the median. One-by-one each expressed how bad an idea he thought it was and how unhappy he was that it was being presented at this late stage in the construction schedule.

Councilmen Peter Tucker and Patrick "Kit" Bobko, who are both active on the Upper Pier Avenue Committee, were clearly disturbed by suggestions that the median be eliminated at this point in the project. Both made forceful cases for building the median and not adding bike lanes. Tucker suggested that bicyclists use the new wider sidewalks that are being constructed if they want to ride along Pier Avenue.

Mayor Michael DiVirgilio was equally adamant in his comments about the years of planning that led to the project's final design. He challenged the bicycle lane supporters to be more consistent with Hermosa Beach's bicycle master plan, which does not call for bicycle lanes on Pier Avenue. 

DiVirgilio called for the SBBC to produce the bicycle master plan for which it received grant funding, and to build a community consensus for transforming two of Pier Avenue's traffic lanes into bicycle lanes if that was among the group's priorities.

The discussion on this issue drove Tuesday's City Council meeting well past midnight. In the end I couldn't help but feel that a lot of hard-working, well-meaning citizens wasted their time riding down the right path, but at the wrong time and with the wrong guide. 

There are many good reasons why dedicated bicycle lanes on Pier Avenue are a smart idea, and plenty more good reasons not to have a concrete median down Upper Pier Avenue. It was obvious at the council meeting that this ship has already sailed, however, and there was no reason to ever believe the crew would reverse course.