Re “WeHo commission steers speed limit plan forward,” Dec. 12 issue

West Hollywood Mayor John Erickson was quoted as saying “… sadly, some members of the Public Safety commission actively campaigned about [not] making any of our streets safer.” This is a lie. I spoke out against plans he supports to put protected bike lanes on Fountain Avenue because it will cost residents their parking spaces, cause gridlock, increase emissions from idling vehicles and send drivers through neighborhoods to Santa Monica or Sunset Boulevards, increasing congestion there, and more importantly, negatively impact the response times of our first responders. Yet Mayor Erickson and his supporters claim these bike lanes are the key to making our streets safe.

On Oct. 10, a woman was killed in a terrible car accident at Spaulding and Fountain. Erickson and his supporters seized on her death to blame me, and others who question their bike lane plans. They even held a rally holding up pictures of car accidents, exploiting these tragedies.

The driver of the vehicle which crashed into the one in which the victim was a passenger has been charged with murder and reckless driving on a highway causing bodily injury (which requires multiple moving violations). At the same Public Safety Commission meeting covered in this article, it was revealed that he was also possibly under the influence of an as yet unspecified substance. And yet Mayor Erickson’s argument is that a man under the influence, driving recklessly on Spaulding, would have somehow magically been stopped by bike lanes on Fountain.

The reality is that there are a number of things which should and can be done to make Fountain Avenue safer for everyone. Additional stoplights, crosswalks, making the sidewalks ADA compliant and very importantly, the enforcement of existing laws. These are things for which I have advocated as a neighborhood watch co-captain for years. Some of the changes have already been made.

As I have said since the beginning, the Los Angeles County Fire Department must be consulted and have input on these plans for Fountain. Those of us who have dealt with Mayor Erickson for years know that when he says, “So, I think the council is going to need to step in and actually make big, strategic moves to make sure our streets are actually safe,” he means his bike lanes. After the election, Streets For All, one of the outside special interest groups who spent heavily to get him reelected, sent out a jubilant email proclaiming that since their endorsed candidates (Erickson and Hang) won we can expect council to “… get the protected bike lane on Fountain done.”

This is not about making our streets safer. This is flawed ideology dictating policy and it is dangerous.

George Nickle

West Hollywood