‘Are You Really Going to Run us Over?’ Asks Veteran Community Gardener in Bike Lanes Debate

Five more letters backing buffered bike lanes on Colorado Boulevard, raising to 48 the total number of businesses, organizations and educational institutions in Eagle Rock that have stepped up to support the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s plan to make the neighborhood’s main street more friendly to bicyclists and pedestrians.

The letters come close on the heels of a unanimous decision by the executive board of the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce to opppose bike lanes. The correspondence was sent over the past week or so by Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council Vice President David Greene—in his personal capacity and from his personal e-mail address—to Councilman José Huizar and several members of his staff as well as to Nathan Baird, an LADOT bicycle outreach and planning coordinator, and Tim Fremaux, an LADOT bikeways engineer.

Three of the letters are from prominent businesses on the planned Colorado Boulevard bike lane route: Peekaboo Playland, Children’s Dental Funzone, and Colorado Terrace—the latter being one of the most significant (if controversial) commercial real estate developments in Eagle Rock during the past decade.

The fourth letter is from Jonathan Veitch, president of Occidental College, well known for its efforts to promote a greener campus. Veitch wrote May 1 to Bob Gotham, chair of Take Back the Boulevard, the home-grown initiative to make Colorado safer and more accessible to bicyclists and pedestrians.

"I am confident implementation of the Colorado Bike lanes will further encourage Occidental College students to more fully become part of the Eagle Rock community and to enjoy the many opportunities to patronize Eagle Rock merchants," Gotham said.

The fifth letter, also sent to Take Back the Boulevard, was from Mike Woodward, manager of the Eagle Rockdale Community Garden & Art Park and one of its founders.

Noteworthy for both is analysis and its eloquence, Woodward’s letter argues that dangerously high speeds on Colorado have forced longtime Eagle Rock residents to take to Hill Drive as an alternative route.

“That can’t be good for business,” writes Woodward, who himself has lived in Eagle Rock for the past 35 years. “That’s sure not good for our community.”

Woodward paints a frightening picture of what it’s like to be a pedestrian on the six-lane boulevard whose official status is still that of a highway.

“I have had drivers scream at me for using the crosswalk,” he writes, adding that the most frightening incident occurred after the memorial gathering of Scott Wilson, founder of North East Trees, in 2011.

As Woodward was crossing Colorado along with his wife, a local LAUSD teacher, motorists kept encroaching on the sidewalk in an attempt to “herd us along,” writes Woodward.

The aggressive and bizarre behavior only stopped when one of the pedestrians shamed the drivers by shouting, “Are you really going to run me over?”

Woodward concludes that Colorado’s traffic raises a fundamental question for Eagle Rock: “Are you really going to run us over?”

Besides Woodward’s letter, below is an updated list of the 47 Colorado Boulevard businesses and organizations that have signed letters in support of buffered bike lanes. One asterisk * signifies that the business is an Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce member; two asterisks ** means they are an Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce board member (based on 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*

Children’s Dental Funzone

Colorado Terrace*

Colorado Wine Company

Core Club LA

Curveline Space Gallery

Dahlia Heights Elementary PTA Advocacy Committee

Daves Chillin and Grillin

The Dynamic Advantage

Dynazty Cuts

Games and Cards.com

Julie's Dog Grooming

Kumquat Children's Clothing

The Loft Hair Lounge

Masa Casa Restaurant

Media Noche

Meea's Hot Dogs

New Stone Age Mosaic Studio

Occidental College

One's Liquor

Organix Grocery

Owl Talk

Padgett Business Center / Tae Macias CPA*

Peekaboo Playland

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

Editor's Note: A May 6 article to which this one is a follow-up inaccurately stated that the Dahila Heights Elementary School PTA had written a letter of support for bike lanes. The letter was in fact not written by the PTA but by the Dahlia Heights Elementary PTA Advocacy Committee.

Related: Why the Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce Voted Against Bike Lanes