Yesterday, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy hosted me at their office here in Mexico City to make a presentation about the state of bicycling in Los Angeles.  Thirteen bicycle advocates from local organizations such as BiciTekkas and Mujeres Bicicletas attended.

I talked about the growing bicycle culture in Los Angeles and showed numerous pictures of LA from the last few years.  I shared some of the organizations and people that make up the growing bike movement in Los Angeles.  Organizations such as the LA County Bicycle Coalition, CICLE, Bike Kitchen, Bike Oven, Bicrowave.  I talked about various rides such as Midnight Ridazz, Ride-Arc and Critical Mass.  I also mentioned events like the LA Street Summit, Art Cycle, the Bike Film Festival and Ciclavia, in addtion to blogs like LA Streetsblog.  I mentioned current campaigns such as Sharrows, Bike Boulevards, work to implement a new Bike Plan and the broader 30/10 plan to implement $40 billion dollars of Measure R funds.  I also talked about the incorporation of art and showed some of Cache’s murals and those "Caution Please Pass with Care" signs that appeared recently.  There's plenty of other people and organizations also working for a more bike friendly LA and I'm grateful for their efforts.  Together, this movement has dramatically increased the number of people bicycling in Los Angeles over the last 14 years, which is when a small group of us decided to launch the LA County Bicycle Coalition. 

I answered numerous questions about how groups in LA raised money to hire staff, how campaigns were organized and how a diverse group of people that care about bicycling work together in LA.  We had a very good discussion and I also learned more about their local advocacy efforts and such as developing a new bike plan for the city, passing a policy that incorporates bicycle planning into street designs and their regular Sunday Ciclovias. 

After the ride, folks from the Bicitekkas invited me on one of their weekly night rides, which starts at the city’s iconic Angel on Reforma Blvd.  About 100 of us toured the city (in the pouring rain), which included a stop near the Zocolo that will be the future location of their first Bicycle Kitchen-like space.  Very exciting! On the ride, I met Beto, the cousin of a friend of mine in LA – Ozzie, who owns one of my favorite bike shops, Echo Park Cycles.  (with Orange 20 being my other favorite shop). Small world indeed!

Folks expressed appreciation for my presentation and asked how Jimmy Lizama was doing (for the last two years Jimmy has come down to their annual Bike Congress event).  I told them Jimmy is now a proud father.  We talked about how there is so much for Mexico City to learn from Los Angeles, but in turn, there’s so much that LA can learn from Mexico (which is one of the main reasons I have spent the last two weeks here, looking at subways, street food, public spaces, Ciclovias and more).   I look forward to the exchange between Mexico City and Los Angeles increasing, and watching both of these sister cities move closer towards sustainability.