Politics & Government

Businesses on Colorado Address Letters to Government Officials in Support of Bike Lanes

42 businesses, a Montessori school, a PTA and the Center for the Arts cite safety, improved parking and increased foot traffic as reasons for their support, effectively disagreeing with the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce on the issue.

Update:

Eagle Rock Montessori School is the latest of the Colorado Boulevard-based institutions and businesses to to write to government officials in support of the Department of Transportation's plan to install bike lanes on the boulevard. The letter was written, signed and e-mailed Monday morning to Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council Vice President David Greene by Ute deLara, director of the Eagle Rock Montessori School.

Also on Monday, Collaborative Eagle Rock Beautiful, a nonprofit group devoted to Eagle Rock's upkeep and beautification, wrote a letter of support for bike lanes.

Find out what's happening in Eagle Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Previously:

As the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce prepares to inform its members about a recent 17-0 vote by the organization’s executive board to oppose bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard, as many as 42 businesses on the boulevard have come forward in support of the plan.

Find out what's happening in Eagle Rockwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The businesses, along with the PTA of Dahlia Heights Elementary and the , have signed letters testifying their approval of the Department of Transportation’s plan to install bike lanes on both sides of Colorado Boulevard, reducing the number of auto traffic lanes on each side from three to two.

As such, the letters appear to represent an alternative to the April 23 decision by the executive board of the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce to oppose the installation of bike lanes on Colorado at the expense of traffic lanes. The chamber is expected to inform its members about the unanimous vote sometime this week before communicating the decision to the DOT, according to chamber President Michael Nogueira.

Many of the letters outline four reasons for supporting bike lanes: Safety; increased business awareness; improved parking; increased foot traffic.

“Backing into a parking space from a bike lane is easier and safer than doing so from a travel lane,” the letters point out. “And by making it easier to cross Colorado, the underutilized parking on the north side of the street can finally serve patrons of businesses on the south side of the street. This will make [a] huge difference to businesses on parking-challenged blocks.” (See attached PDF for further details of the letters’ contents.)

The letters were collected by two members of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council in their personal capacity as well as by members of TERA and Take Back the Boulevard, the local initiative to make Colorado more accessible to bicyclists and pedestrians.

The letters were e-mailed Sunday night to Councilman José Huizar and several members of his staff as well as to Nathan Baird, a bicycle outreach and planning coordinator for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, and Tim Fremaux, a DOT bikeways engineer.

David Greene, vice president of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council, told Eagle Rock Patch that he e-mailed the letters to the CD 14 office and to the DOT from his personal e-mail address, indicating that the letters are not part of any official communication by the ERNC.

Greene, accompanied by ERNC Sub-District 1 Director Baker Montgomery, has been going around Colorado Boulevard lately and asking businesses whether or not they support the installation of bike lanes on the street.

Here is the text of the letter that Greene has e-mailed to Huizar and copied to DOT officials:

Dear Councilmember Huizar,

Attached to this email please find 44 signed letters of support for buffered bike lanes, from Eagle Rock businesses located on the planned Colorado Boulevard bike lane route.

Also included is a letter from the advocacy committee of the Dahlia Heights PTA, the only LAUSD public school on Colorado Boulevard.

In the past, the ERNC has received verbal expressions of support from Colorado Boulevard businesses including Trader Joe's, Le Petit Beaujolais, Peekaboo Playland, Eagle Rock Community Acupuncture, The Oinkster, and Swork. That makes over 50 Colorado Boulevard businesses who support buffered bike lanes.

We expect more letters to be signed this week, and will forward them to you as soon as we receive them. These letters were collected by individual members of the ERNC, TERA, and Take Back the Boulevard, but were not part of an official campaign by any organization.

A list of the businesses who have signed letters is below. One asterisk * means that the business is an Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce member; two asterisks ** means they are a Chamber Board Member (as per the current list on the Chamber website).

Allstate CedAni Agency*

Bloom School of Music and Dance

BMPP@5Line Pizzeria

Brownstone Pizza

Budget Pro Bicycles

Cacao Mexicatessen

Cafe Beaujolais

Camilos Restaurant

Cardio Barre

Century 21 First Real Estate

Center for the Arts Eagle Rock*

Colorado Wine Company

Core Club LA

Curveline Space Gallery

Dahlia Heights Elementary PTA

Daves Chillin and Grillin

The Dynamic Advantage

Dynazty Cuts

Eagle Rock Montessori School

Games and Cards.com

Julie's Dog Grooming

Kumquat Children's Clothing

Loft Hair Lounge

Masa Casa Restaurant

Media Noche

Meea's Hot Dogs

New Stone Age Mosaic Studio

One's Liquor

Organix Grocery

Owl Talk

Padgett Business Center / Tae Macias CPA*

Permanent Records

Pilates Eagle Rock*

Planet Tobacco

Puppy Love Pet Spa

Purple Twig

Rock Dog and Cat

Spitz*

Splatter Monkeyz Paintball

Sunday Morning Hair Salon

Super Copy & Printing*

The Xchange Clothing*

Tracy King Realtor*

XTC-Extreme Training Center **

Yum-Me Baguette

“These letters shouldn't be seen as a repudiation of the Chamber of Commerce, which does wonderful things for Eagle Rock, from hosting summertime Concerts in the Park to the winter tree lighting ceremony,” Greene told Eagle Rock Patch. “But these letters do represent the future of business in Eagle Rock—businesses that my family and friends patronize all the time.”

There are a string of businesses along Colorado that help draw people from all over Southern California to Eagle Rock, Greene said, referring specifically to Colorado Wine Company, Cacao Mexicatessen, Spitz, Cafe Beaujolais, Cardio Barre and Dave's Chillin-n-Grillin.

“These businesses are Eagle Rock, and it's really exciting to see them all get behind something as forward-looking as bike lanes,” Greene said. “I think it bodes well for more cooperation among local merchants, both on and off the boulevard, to make Eagle Rock an even better place.”


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