A 7 1/2-mile stretch of Los Angeles pavement was closed to cars and other motor vehicles on Sunday in an inaugural ciclovia event that exceeded everyone's expectations.
An estimated 100,000 people walked or rode their bikes, skateboards, or rollerblades on the closed thoroughfares from East Hollywood, through downtown, and out to Boyle Heights on Sunday. The LA Times dutifully noted that police and fire departments reported no incidents.
Called CicLAvia, it was the latest in a series of events based on the Bogota, Colombia, ciclovia that are taking root north of the border.
Colombian event
Bogota's ciclovia has been happening for some 30 years on most Sundays and holiday and features 70 miles of closed streets to help build a feeling of community. Among cities in the US and Canada that hold similar events — although less frequent and on a smaller scale — are Miami, Seattle, Spokane, Portland, Kansas City and Ottawa. Some North American ciclovias.
The idea is to get people out of their cars and use the streets like they would a park. Here's what one participant told the Los Angeles Times:
“We're alone in our cars. We pass above whole neighborhoods on freeways and never actually see them. Today, I've seen buildings I never took the time to lay eyes on before. Today gave people a chance to just slow down and it connected the neighborhoods of the city in a new way. That's important.”
As you can see from the many YouTube videos that were filmed (search CicLAvia), a huge proportion of the participants took to the street on bicycles. There were many ad hoc local gatherings, such as the people drawn by this reggae group.
More in future
Organizers of the event included representatives from the LA Bicycle Coalition, Green LA Institute, and a handful of other groups listed here.
With the huge success of Sunday's CicLAvia, organizers are planning on four or five in 2011 and then maybe monthly events in 2012. Eventually, they're aiming to hold the events on a weekly basis, just like in Bogota.
Maybe these will spread to more cities in North America.
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