Simone WilsonThe biannual bicycling event that saved Los Angeles will take some radical new steps toward geographical justice this October:
After longtime negotiations with TRUST South L.A., the East Side Riders and other cycling-rights organizations (which, yes, exist — and proudly), CicLAvia has significantly extended the “arms” of its route into lower-income neighborhoods of South L.A. and East L.A.
The upcoming October 7 event will direct tens of thousands of riders dangerously below the 10 along Figueroa, all the way to (gasp) USC:
Credit: CicLAvia
Find a more nuanced version here.
And compare that to the spring 2012 ride (almost identical to the October 2011 ride before it), whose meandering northwestern arm was much longer and whose southeastern arm didn't dare trickle further than the African American Firefighter Museum.
Credit: CicLAvia
TRUST South L.A. dreams on its website that the CicLAvia route will one day make its way down to “the heart of South Los Angeles.”
It's still worlds away from the “Watts Ride” that went down in mid-June — part of a USC crowd-sourced mapping experiment — but it's at least a baby step toward turning our southern half into the two-wheeled tourism mecca that activists envision.
UP NEXT: Our favorite photos from more downtown-centric CicLAvias past.
Here are some LA Weekly highlights from the most epic bike-army block party this side of South America.
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