CYCLISTS
FIND OBSERVATORY FAR FROM STELLAR
by Bob
Pool, Times
Staff Writer- November 8th,
2006
The reopened Griffith Park landmark
is less than accommodating for those
who bike up, some say.
They traveled 8 miles and climbed 842
feet peddling their plan to reach for
the stars.
But a pair of Hollywood newlyweds who
helped convince City Hall to overturn
a ban on bicycles at the remodeled
Griffith
Observatory contend cyclists
still have light-years to go to reach
their destination.
Los Angeles officials have agreed to
allow bicyclists to skip a mandatory
shuttle bus ride designed to prevent
traffic tie-ups at the hillside landmark,
which reopened Friday after a five-year,
$93-million makeover.
Cyclists, however, grumble that authorities
have not provided a safe place for
bikes to be parked and cannot seem
to figure out a way for them to make
advance reservations needed to get
inside.
"It's absolute insanity," said
Stephen
Box, who with wife Enci led
a 1 1/2 -year campaign to allow bicycles
to be ridden to the observatory. "We
can ride up there now, but there's
no proper place to park your bike.
And there's no way to plan a visit
more than two days in advance."
Those spending $8 to ride shuttle buses
to the observatory can make reservations
30 days in advance. But bicyclists
are allowed to make reservations only
within 48 hours.
City recreation
and parks officials
had planned to prohibit hikers and
bicycle riders from entering the observatory
grounds and require everyone to ride
shuttle buses. The ban was dropped
Oct. 5 when a city lawyer warned that
a blanket shuttle bus requirement would
possibly violate provisions of the
Griffith Trust that call for the park
to be open without charge.
Box, a music video producer, said he
and his actress wife bicycled to the
observatory's opening last week but
could not find a place to park and
lock their bikes. Nonetheless, the
pair attempted to organize a bicycle
ride up the mountainside for tonight
for other cycling fans.
When they tried to secure entrance
reservations for the group, however,
they learned that only a small number
of reservations could be made through
the observatory's website. And because
of the 48-hour reservation window,
they were unable to proceed with the
planned bike ride.
"
It's discriminatory," Box said. "This
is obscenely and unnecessarily cumbersome."
A new bike rack apparently installed
over the weekend behind the observatory's
parking lot restroom building can damage
bicycles' alloy wheel rims and leave
bikes susceptible to theft, Box said.
It "falls far short of appropriate
installation standards and appropriate
design standards" used by the
city, Box complained Tuesday to the
office of L.A.
City Councilman Tom
LaBonge, who represents the Hollywood
area.
Jane Galbraith, a spokeswoman for LaBonge,
said the entry reservation system was
a compromise aimed at allowing bicyclists
and hikers to bypass the $8 shuttle
fee. She said 1,500 of the 7,500 entrance
tickets available daily are allocated
to those not using the shuttle.
Bike racks were not part of the original
observatory renovation master plan.
Neither, in fact, were the parking
lot restrooms until LaBonge urged that
they be built, she said.
Parks officials were unavailable for
comment Tuesday. So
for now, Box said, he and other bicyclists
are calling that agency
the "Department of Recreation
and Parking."
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times
Please
read the October 2005 article about access
to the Observatory
|
