ERNC Seeks Volunteers For Colorado Boulevard Bike Racks Survey

Now that bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard are almost a certainty—click here if you missed the news—the hunt is on for volunteers to help conduct a survey by going door-to-door on weekends along the businesses that line Eagle Rock’s main street and asking business owners a simple question: Would they like the City of Los Angeles to install bike racks facing their storefronts?

Call it the Colorado Boulevard Bike Rack Survey. It was one of the items on Tuesday night’s Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council meeting, and anyone who lives or works in Eagle Rock—or is passionate about the issue of bike lanes—may volunteer to help.

The typical bureaucratic process of getting the city to install bike racks in front of a business is a lengthy one, ERNC Communications Director Baker Montgomery said at Tuesday’s meeting, explaining that business owners who wish to have bike racks near their stores are required to apply online to the Los Angeles Department of Transportation Bike Program.

A more targeted appeal to the city, however, produces much faster results, Montgomery said, explaining how that would work: The ERNC would convey the results of its Colorado Boulevard bike racks survey to the Council District 14 office, which, in turn, would liaise with the LADOT to get things done.

"There is no cost to the business, the racks do not remove any street parking and with the projected increase in cyclists, the ERNC feels the additional infrastructure will be beneficial to all of Eagle Rock," Montgomery told Eagle Rock Patch, adding that CD 14 Field Deputy Nate Hayward has worked tirelessly to help push the local bike lanes issue, which is part of the city's 2010 Bicycle Master Plan.

In an effort to expedite the process of getting bike racks installed, the ERNC has created an online form for bike cracks on its official website. Click here to access the form.

“The [city] process is that you have to wait forever,” Montgomery told Eagle Rock Patch. “Now we have a golden window to expedite it so that it happens sometime this summer, as opposed to next year,” he said, referring to the LADOT’s plans to being installing bike lanes on Colorado by August.

Anyone interested in volunteering to help conduct the survey should e-mail info@eaglerockcouncil.org