Let’s say you wanted to produce a modern Western movie with all the traditional elements: shoot-outs in the street, mobs of angry townfolk, and a “This town ain’t big enough for both of us” showdown.
It wouldn’t be about cowboys versus Indians. It wouldn’t be about ranchers versus homesteaders. It wouldn’t be about gold miners versus general store operators.
It would be about drivers versus bicyclists.
“Mister, this road ain’t big enough for both of us” could replace “Eureka” as the official motto of California.
On one side are people who drive cars, trucks, delivery vans, ambulances and other motor vehicles relied upon for timely transportation. On the other side are bicyclists, joined by transit enthusiasts, a group that apparently is not in a hurry to get anywhere.
The group that is not in a hurry has made it a mission to slow down vehicle traffic.
The group that has to be somewhere quickly does not appreciate this.
And there you have a conflict for the ages that is reaching a climax on the streets of Los Angeles. Of course, the film would be shot in Bulgaria, but that’s a subject for another day.
The latest plot development is a lawsuit filed against the city of Los Angeles by Streetsblog L.A. editor Joe Linton. He is demanding that the city implement the designs for Vermont Avenue that were part of the Mobility Plan adopted by the City Council in 2015, enforceable under the terms of Measure HLA, the “Healthy Streets Los Angeles” initiative that voters approved in 2024.
In a flashback scene, we can see the 2015 City Council debating whether or not to adopt “Mobility Plan 2035,” a 20-year plan that called for removing traffic lanes on busy streets to make room for 800 miles of protected bike lanes. Then-Councilman Mike Bonin argued, “Only 5 percent of those hit by a car going 20 miles per hour die. Over 80 percent of those who are hit by a car going 40 miles per hour die.”
There was resistance from some council members to adopting a plan that aimed to slow city traffic on major arteries. But advocates said it was simply “a vision statement” and “an aspirational document.” Bonin said it would “help us get active transportation funds from the state.” Council President Herb Wesson reassuringly told reluctant colleagues, “This is a concept. If you choose to vote on this today, it will not be put in place tomorrow.”
The City Council adopted Mobility Plan 2035, and around the same time, then-Mayor Eric Garcetti created the Vision Zero initiative for Los Angeles. Garcetti said Vision Zero’s goal was to eliminate traffic deaths.
How did Vision Zero work out? Over the last ten years, traffic fatalities in Los Angeles have increased. Advocates for the plan complain that politicians lost their will after “road diets,” the removal of lanes in order to slow traffic, triggered volcanic opposition from drivers.
How did Mobility 2035 work out? It was so widely ignored that by 2024, fuming-mad bicyclists put an initiative on the Los Angeles ballot to force the city to make the changes to the streets described in the plan any time one-eighth of a mile of a street undergoes repaving.
The initiative that became Measure HLA also allows any resident to sue the city for failing to install the protected bike lanes, restricted bus lanes and miscellaneous traffic-slowing changes, even though these were described as “aspirational” when approved.
“In or about August 2024, the City repaved over 800 feet of Vermont Avenue,” Linton’s lawsuit states, “However, despite that section of Vermont being a City-owned Mobility Plan Street, the Mobility Plan street enhancements described in the Enhanced Complete Street System – protected bike lanes and pedestrian enhancements – were not installed along that segment as part of the improvements undertaken by the City.”
The city disputes that it is obligated to make these changes, but meanwhile, Metro, a countywide agency, is removing a traffic lane on Vermont Avenue to build a dedicated bus lane, enraging the bike-lane people and causing the movie to have an exciting but complicated subplot.
In the final scene, everyone realizes there’s no money for any of it, and the drivers win.
Write Susan@SusanShelley.com and follow her on X @Susan_Shelley