The Expo Authority has run into huge cost overruns and apparently feels that by not building proposed bicycle facilities at the Expo Station at Venice & Robertson they can somehow balance their books. They have recently made it clear, bike facilities will not be coming to the Expo Station at Venice & Robertson.
This is unacceptable! The bike facilities are part of the original plan. L.A. wants them, Culver City wants them, METRO wants them. And along with the Expo Bike Lane the region NEEDS them!
They have built a bikeway 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 while Culver City has created a downtown connector along this route and has planned improvements on Jefferson at the Scenic Overlook. According to CCBC, civic leaders are recognizing that people want to use their bicycles instead of their cars to get TO and FROM the Expo Line. Creating end-of-line facilities is a great way to encourage use of the new trains. So why not create a safe, secure and convenient place to lock a bike?
A bike center  similar to ours in Santa Monica would be spectacular, however a smaller one similar to Burbank’s would also serve the station well. Read LA.Streetsblog article on both here.  We are calling out to the community to put pressure on Expo to rethink their priorities and force them to include – at the very minimum secured bike parking, but preferably a full bike station.
Included below is a template letter and the list of recipients. Please write expressing your concerns and demand that the Expo Authority makes good on their promise and their commitment to their own mission by including a bike facilities at the Venice & Robertson station. Please personalize, add to or change as you like.
Also if anyone can attend, the Culver City Bike Coalition has this invitation:
Please join us in downtown Los Angeles as we attend the next Expo Line board meeting (12/1) and urge Expo to rethink their priorities and force them to include secured bike parking at the least and a full bike station at most. With enough pressure, maybe we can get them to change course and find other means to balance their budget. Maybe, METRO or CalTrans will pay for it with discretionary funding. In any case, if we don’t ask, we definitely will not get.
December 1st, 2:30pm
Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration
500 West Temple Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Board of Supervisors’, Hearing Room 381B
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Recipient list formatted for easy copy and paste plus template letter:
“Mayor Villaraigosa:” <mayor@lacity.org>
“Metro Board:” <boardsecretary@metro.net>
“Culver City Mayor O’Leary:” <micheal.oleary@culvercity.org>
“Supervisor Ridley Thomas:” <seconddistrict@bos.lacounty.gov>
“Assemblymember Holly Mitchel’s Office:” <sydney.kamlager@asm.ca.gov>
Dear Mayor Villaraigosa, Mayor O’Leary, Metro Board, Supervisor Thomas, and Assemblymember Mitchell:
As a cyclist and a potential user of public transit, I am extremely disappointed in your decision not to go forward with the proposed bike facilities at the Culver City Expo Station at Venice and Robertson.
Forward thinking urban planners understand that end-of-line facilities are crucial to the success of mass transit projects. Therefore, in today’s world where “active transportation” is an increasingly larger part of  “alternative transportation” how can you justify spending $900 million on a mass transportation project and NOT include a state of the art bicycle facility?
The facility has been in the plan from the beginning and myself and the community as a whole are looking forward to a future when we can bike to our nearest station, ride the train to Culver City, and securely park at a bike station there. Without this facility, there will be less incentive to use the train to get to and from Culver City. Congestion is an increasing problem in our region; we must give people the ability to get to their destination without the use of automobiles. Riding a bike to the Expo is a sustainable, cost effective alternative to driving a car. With new Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plans in place in Culver City, Santa Monica and the South Bay and other new bike/ped facilities in the works for Culver City and the surrounding region, we believe Culver City has been trying to create a more livable community by encouraging people to bike and walk to their destinations. Mismanagement and budget over runs of the Expo project should not come at the expense of this region’s connectivity options and widespread desire to create more sustainable cities.
By not incorporating this important facility into the Expo Station you are not only doing a disservice to Culver City, but hurting the County as a whole. This station should be considered and integral part of getting people out of their cars and using mass transit and active transportation. We expect support in building sustainable communities where we can travel using multi-modal trips that include the train, biking and walking to destinations; destinations like Culver City, to enjoy its restaurants, shops, theaters, and galleries. It is essential we have the appropriate infrastructure to do so.
I demand you rethink your priorities and stay committed to your own mission of providing an efficient and effective transportation system by returning the bike station to the Venice/Robertson station at the terminus of Phase 1 of the Expo project, and fast track it so it can take its place as a key part of our new transportation network.
[name/signature]
Member of the [LACBC affiliate]
