Local councilman says “no way”
The Los Angeles River Path in Elysian Valley is popular with pedestrians and cyclists alike, but it bikes and walkers aren’t doing the greatest job of sharing the space. After a crash earlier this month with a cyclist and an elderly woman, some neighbors are lobbying to immediately banish bikes from the paved trail, reports LA Weekly.
But the councilman representing the area says that’s not going to happen.
Residents of Elysian Valley have been unhappy with the design of the path for years, says the Weekly. Locals say they have tried to make the path safer through grassroots efforts—organizing safety campaigns on a neighborhood level, even putting up their own homemade signs reminding people to “share the path”—but that their efforts haven’t been supported by city agencies.
On Wednesday, they got a bit of reinforcement from Councilman Mitch O’Farrell, who represents the neighborhood. O’Farrell issued statement saying he was working to prevent “reckless riding” on the pathway that connects Elysian Valley to Griffith Park.
O’Farrell said that enforcement of the rules for bikes by LAPD officers would be stepped up in “problem areas,” but also noted that “both cyclists and pedestrians have a legal right to utilize the path.” that people need to be careful of each other and coexist on this shared neighborhood resource.
O’Farrell also announced new signage aimed at cyclists would be put up “in the coming months.”
Elysian Valley residents seem skeptical this will all work, with one of them telling the Weekly that new efforts proposed by O’Farrell amount to little more than “band-aid measures.”