A Year Passes After Five Perish In Plane Crash At LB Airport, And...

(Mar. 16, 2012) -- It's been one year since the March 11, 2011 private plane crash at LB Airport that took the lives of the plane's owner, investor/property owner Tom Dean and passengers Jeff Berger, Mark Bixby, Bruce Krall and pilot Kenneth Earl Cruz. Passenger Mike Jensen survived.

An NTSB report on the crash isn't completed. The agency says its investigation is continuing.

On February 6, 2012, Assemblywoman Bonnie Lowenthal introduced an Assembly Concurrent Resolution "to designate the bicycle pedestrian path on the replacement Gerald Desmond Bridge on State Highway Route 710, in the County of Los Angeles, as the Mark Bixby Memorial Bicycle Pedestrian Path. This measure would also request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering those costs, to erect those signs."

BILL NUMBER: ACR 100	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Bonnie Lowenthal and Jeffries
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Blumenfield, Bonilla, Buchanan, Eng,
Furutani, Galgiani, Miller, and Solorio)

                       FEBRUARY 6, 2012

   Relative to the Mark Bixby Memorial Bicycle Pedestrian Path.

	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

   ACR 100, as introduced, Bonnie Lowenthal. Mark Bixby Memorial
Bicycle Pedestrian Path.
   This measure would designate the bicycle pedestrian path on the
replacement Gerald Desmond Bridge on State Highway Route 710, in the
County of Los Angeles, as the Mark Bixby Memorial Bicycle Pedestrian
Path. This measure would also request the Department of
Transportation to determine the cost of appropriate signs showing
this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources covering those costs, to erect those signs.
   Fiscal committee: yes.

   WHEREAS, Mark Llewellyn Bixby was a member of one of the founding
families of the City of Long Beach; and
   WHEREAS, Mark Bixby was a past president of the Long Beach Rotary
Club, which was instrumental in raising money to build Rotary
Centennial Park, located on Pacific Coast Highway (State Highway
Route 1) and Junipero Avenue in the City of Long Beach; and
   WHEREAS, Mark Bixby was the director of the BikeFest Tour of Long
Beach and was a vocal proponent of adding bicycle lanes to the
replacement Gerald Desmond Bridge; and
   WHEREAS, Mark Bixby tragically lost his life in a plane crash in
2011 at 44 years of age; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the
bicycle pedestrian path on the replacement Gerald Desmond Bridge on
State Highway Route 710, in the County of Los Angeles, as the Mark
Bixby Memorial Bicycle Pedestrian Path; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Department of Transportation is requested to
determine the cost of appropriate signs consistent with the signing
requirements for the state highway system showing this special
designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources
sufficient to cover the cost, to erect those signs; and be it further

   Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the Department of Transportation and to the author
for appropriate distribution.

Assemblywoman Lowenthal's resolution followed an April 19, 2011 Council vote (8-0, Schipske absent) to support naming a bicycle and pedestrian path on the new Gerald Desmond Bridge after Mark Bixby and askedd city management to communicate the Council’s support to LB's state legislative delegation, Caltrans District 7 and our State Legislation Committee and include it in the city's Bicycle Master Plan.

On September 28, 2010, the LB City Council held a specially scheduled hearing on an appeal filed by an environmental group [not by bicycle advocates] regarding the bridge EIR that had been certified by LB's non-elected Board of Harbor Commissioners. The billion dollar Desmond bridge rebuild will replace the current bridge built by taxpayers less than fifty years ago with a higher, wider one, to accommodate larger megasize container ships.

During the Council proceedings, a Port of LB representative offered to include what he called an "alternative" to an on-bridge bike lane: inclusion in the RFP for the design-build contractor an item listing the cost of an on-bridge bike path for future Harbor Commission consideraton...but without funding commitment. The Port rep described an on-ground bike path starting at Anaheim St linking to LA River, south shore hotels, the Queen Mary and downtown attractions. He noted that an on-bridge bike path would end at Terminal Island...which has no present connectivity elsewhere.

Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal and Councilman Robert Garcia explicitly thanked the Port for its alternative bicycle plan while also speaking in favor of including a bike lane on the bridge and supported seeking future funds to do so. Councilman Garcia also thanked the Port for including plans to provide nicer-looking bridge lighting...and the day after the Council vote sent a mass emailing supporting the Port's alternative as bicycle friendly that didn't mention that position of bicycle advocates seeking on-bridge access).

At the Council hearing, appellant Jesse Marquez of the Coalition for Safe Environment testified regarding health, traffic and mitigation issues and urged the Council not to certify the EIR as presented.

Supporting the EIR as presented were the offices of Senators Rod Wright and Alan Lowenthal, Assemblymembers Bonnie Lowenthal and Warren Furutani). So did advocacy groups including the Pacific Merchant Shipping Ass'n, the LB Area Chamber of Commerce, the L.A. Chamber of Commerce and "Future Ports." No LB neighborhood group testified.

The bridge EIR explicitly declined to evaluate the enlarged Bridge's impacts (cumulative or otherwise) on the 710 freeway north of 9th St. Today, plans are advancing for 710 freeway project alternatives that include a 14 lane project that includes elevated trucklanes ("freightways") through the southern 710 section through part of the Wrigley and WLB section of the bridge south of the 405 freeways. [Metro consultants continue to say that a final decision hasn't been made on which alternatives to evaluate in their forthcoming EIR.]

Mr. Bixby was among members of the public speaking on the Desmond Bridge EIR item at the September 28, 2010 Council meeting. He urged inclusion of a dedicated bicycle lane on the bridge. Following his testimony, and that of other public speakers, there were no further Council comments in response. The Council voted 8-0 to support a motion by Councilman O'Donnell and Councilman DeLong to certify the Desmond bridge EIR as submitted. "This is a great project," Mayor Foster said following the vote.

Mr. Bixby and bicycle advocates escalated their efforts...and a website appeared ("AstheWheelTurns.wordpress.com") which (from its online comments) appeared to be mainly the work of Mr. Bixby.

"Both the Federal Government and the State of California have clear policies stating their responsibility to provide multi-modal transport options on all new public infrastructure projects (meaning bikes and pedestrian access)," the website said...and it included "Top 10 Reasons NOT to Build Bicycle/Pedestrian Facilities on the Gerald Desmond Bridge (and the Refutation of Each)." LBReport.com took note of the detailed, fact-based way in which Mr. Bixby conducted his advocacy, considered it newsworthy...and reported on it in January, 2011 (click here).

On January 12, 2011, bicycle advocates, including Mr. Bixby (right), escalated their advocacy to the CA Coastal Commission. At its Jan. 12 meeting, they used the period for public comment on non-agendized items to speak on the issue. Mr. Bixby told the Commission that he and other likeminded residents don't oppose granting a coastal permit to construct the new bridge but do want the permit to include a condition requiring a class 1 separated bicycle/pedestrian pathway on the bridge. Mr. Bixby said the "City Council and city staff are on our side" but "we have yet to get the Harbor Commissioners over the hump..."

At the meeting, PoLB's Director Environmental Planning, Robert Kanter, also spoke. he reiterated that the Port was working on bike improvement projects to bring people to the Port and to view the coastline...but didn't mention a bicycle or pedestrian path on the Gerald Desmond Bridge replacement project."

Coastal Commission members and staff responded by publicly urging the Port to include a bike/pedestrian bridge lane. LBReport.com also reported on that in detail, click here.

On March 10, 2011, Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal wrote PoLB Exec. Dir Steinke a letter reciting that the Sept. 28, 2010 Council vote [which approved the PoLB bridge EIR without Port funding commitment for an on-bridge bike lane] "made what I thought was a rather clear request to include separate bicycle and pedestrian paths on the new bridge." [There is no record of this in the clerk's minutes; notwithstanding verbal support for including a bike lane on the bridge from Vice Mayor Lowenthal and Councilman Garcia, there was no voted Council action on this aspect of the bridge on September 28, 2010.] (To view the Vice Mayor's letter, click here.)

By letter dated March 14, 2011, Coastal Commission Deputy Director John Ainsworth wrote to Harbor Commission President Nick Sramek and PoLB Exec. Dir. Richard Steinke requesting "the Port of Long Beach Board of Harbor Commissioners take whatever action is necessary to make the Gerald Desmond Bridge accessible to cyclists and pedestrians by requiring that separated lanes be a mandatory component of bridge construction."

And on March 14, representatives of BIKEable Communities made a presentation to the Harbor Commission on a Desmond Bridge discussion item advanced by Commission President Nick Sramek. The "AstheWheelTurns" website says: "Six bicycle advocates spoke and presented a "Prezi" slideshow to request mandatory inclusion of separated bicycle and pedestrian paths. A 30 minute long discussion between Commissioners and Port staff ensued. The Port staff committed to inclusion of a separated bicycle and pedestrian path in the request for quote and stated that the facilities would not be separately costed."

The website's dispatch was dated March 15, 2011. The next morning, Mr. Bixby boarded the ill-fated private plane at LB Airport.

We candidly continue to be bewildered at why anyone would want to ride a bicycle through the pollution filled air in or around the Port, but we are greatly outnumbered on this by many people wish to do exactly that. We don't like the Council-imposed downtown separated bike lanes that congest traffic and consume taxpayer paid vehicle lanes.

However, we very much admire the fact-based advocacy -- particularly online -- that Mr. Bixby demonstrated on the bridge issue. We think his online advocacy should be part of his legacy. It was exemplary..and we credit it here.