Welcome Bike Program Coordinator Nathan Baird

The LADOT Bike Blog would like to welcome the newest member of the LADOT Bike Program: Nathan Baird.  Well known to the advocacy community, Nate brings a whole new set of skills, knowledge, and point of view to the LADOT Bike Program.  We’re incredibly excited to bring Nate on board and to see what he can do for bicycling in Los Angeles.

New Coordinator Nate Baird

New Coordinator, New Position

The road to getting a full-time coordinator (the position Nate is stepping into) was not an easy one.  Long a dream held by Senior Coordinator Michelle Mowery, the Bike Program was able to gain the funding and approvals to create the position only after a campaign of many years.

Assistant coordinator extraordinaire (and LADOT Bike Blog mentor) Carlos Morales proved the need for a full-time coordinator with his dedicated work for the LADOT Bike Program from 2007-2010.  This summer, Carlos enjoyed the fruits of his labor when he took a position as the first-ever bike/ped coordinator for the City of Omaha, Nebraska.  We wish Carlos the best of luck in Omaha and we hear that he’s already making some significant inroads.

While the loss of Carlos certainly stung at the time, we’re more than confident that someone as qualified and as dedicated as Nate will having little problem making his presence felt.

Metro Experience

Nate is a graduate of Occidental College (where he majored in Sociology) and began his career in Education. He graduated from Cal Poly Pomona’s Urban and Regional Planning graduate program this past summer, and recently finished an internship with Metro’s Bike Program.

While working at Metro, Nate managed a variety of bicycle parking projects (from inventories to new installations), was the driving force behind both the Bike Metro Facebook page and the Bike Metro Twitter feed, and did the heavy lifting involved in updating the newest version of Metro’s LA County bicycle map (and getting the data online). He also assisted with inter-department and inter-agency projects and programs, represented Metro at events and meetings, and worked on a variety of research and analysis projects.

Next Steps

We asked Nate about his plans for his new position at LADOT and he had this to say:

I’m excited to jump right into the implementation of the city’s new bike plan. It’ll be quite a task to juggle and track all the new improvements that LADOT will spearhead and I’m definitely thrilled to be a part of the efforts to make the city a safer place to ride.  I really appreciate the experience Metro gave me, and can’t thank Lynne Goldsmith, Metro’s Bicycle Program Manager, enough for the opportunities and guidance I received there.

The LADOT Bike Program looks forward to utilizing Nate’s skills in implementing the new LA Bike Plan and working with him to improve bicycling for all Angelinos.

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