Westlake day laborer center gets bicycle racks, but the city needs more

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Lately, there has been a push for fewer cars and more bicycles in Los Angeles. Angelenos are starting to catch on. Just last Sunday, the city hosted its first ever CicLAvia. But for the city to truly be bicycle friendly, a lot of work needs to be done, including the addition of bicycle lanes and bicycle racks.

New bicycle racks may not seem like the most exciting thing. But the workers at the CARECEN day laborer center look on with anticipation as a city worker hammers the racks in. The center, located in the Home Depot parking lot near MacArthur Park, has been working with the Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition to get these racks installed.

It was especially important for this community because for some, bicycling is the only way to get around town. Construction has been slow in the recession, and some day laborers cannot afford bus fares, so they ride their bikes. Some were getting stolen, and that meant they could not go to work. The city sent just one man to install the new racks. Jeronimo Salguero was a little underwhelmed with the whole thing.

“We were laughing with some friends right there because we have been working on this for more than one year, and they did it in like 20 minutes," Salguero said.

The city took more than a year to install just four bicycle racks. The center and the bicycle coalition even offered to install them. But the city would not budge. Councilmember Ed Reyes explains why it took so long.

“My understanding is that my department had the money since January," Reyes said. "In defense of the Department of Transportation, there’s only three or four individuals in a city of almost four million dealing with bicycle issues.”

And that is the problem. The city uses 75 percent of its budget toward fire and policing. That does not leave much money to pay other city workers to install things like bicycle racks.

"The harsh reality is 4,000 employees have been moved out of our payroll," Reyes said. "I mean, the priority based on the city’s elected body and those that vote are on police and fire. And that’s what we’re struggling with."

The work is then left up to bicycle groups. Allison Mannos, a coordinator from The Los Angeles Bicycle Union, said, at one point, it did not seem like the project was going to happen.

"Just to be able to show something tangible to the day laborers, that we have worked to make their community more bike friendly, it’s kind of unreal," Mannos said.

The Los Angeles Bicycle Coalition hopes bicycle groups in other cities will follow their lead. They printed out a “how to” manual and posted it on their website. Currently, the coalition is working to install more bicycle racks near MacArthur Park. They just hope it will not take as long.