Chris Kidd - LA APA Student Leader of the Year!
It’s pretty fitting that my first post here on the LADOT Bike Program Blog should be a congratulatory one in honor of Chris. News of his having received an LA-APA award reached my inbox just moments after he wrapped up yet another informative blog post. I’ve been wanting to write a few posts here for awhile now, but Chris is so adept at it, that its been much easier to continue to rely on his talents and skills. This time, however, it didn’t seem fair to ask Chris to share this exciting news himself.
A very hearty congratulations to Chris for receiving the Student Leader of the Year Award from the 2011 Los Angeles Section APA Awards Committee! (APA stands for American Planning Association.) Alexis Lantz, of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC), which is the organization that officially nominated Chris for the award, had this to say about it, “CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Woohoo Chris!!!!” I couldn’t agree more.
Chris has been such a tireless force behind this blog. He really cares about bicyclists and truly believes that the public has a right to know what the City is doing to make Los Angeles a more bicycle friendly place. This blog, I think, has been the embodiment of that belief. His work has helped make our Bike Program efforts more accountable, and more successful all around.
I forced a quick quote out of him before he left the office for the day. He had this to say, “I’m very honored and humbled to receive this award. I primarily have to thank Alexis Lantz and Carol Feucht [of the LACBC] for nominating me for this award. I’d also like to thank the Los Angeles bike community. If it weren’t for their tireless advocacy and dedication to making Los Angeles a better place, I may have never had the opportunity to work with LADOT.“
We think he’s an All-Star and we’re very grateful for all that he does. Good luck on your final comp exam, Chris!
LADOT BIKE BLOG 
[…] AIA-LA Gives Awards to Chris “LADOT Bike Blog” Kidd and City Planning for Bike Plan (LADOT Bike Blog) […]
Congratulations, Chris! You’ve raised the bar for all of us bloggers here in LA.
[…] to LADOT’s Chris Kidd, named Student of the Year by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Planning Association. The award couldn’t have gone to […]
Thank you for creating a whole new DOT, Chris! Your genuineness and desire to help improve both cycling conditions and conditions for cycling advocates has meaningfully and quietly made the City of LA a much easier place to get bike stuff done in.
Chris you’ve made it so much easier to follow and understand what is going on with both LADOT bikeways and many of the meetings pertaining to bicycling. Great job in trying to get people informed and involved!
And now for a hopefully entertaining and educational video comparing a standard American bikeway intersection design with how the Dutch would do it utilizing the same amount of space.
Another one comparing some intersection designs in Denmark, Germany and London with the Dutch approach.
I’ve got a suggestion for LADOT bikeways. One up the Long Beach protected bike lane by applying for Federal pilot funds that will enable L.A. to try the Dutch intersection design for bikeways. As for the right turn on red problem, that can be solved as it was for the Orange Line busway. Let’s try to change bikeways design standards for the U.S. by demonstrating how it can work much more safely by following what the Dutch are using.
Thanks Dennis. The first place a pilot project is likely to happen in LA is on Figueroa as part of the MyFig project. The street will be subject to a major reconfiguration, so there’s a great opportunity to think big. That’d be the best place to apply the combined attentions of LADOT and the bicycle community.
congrats Chris! Thanks for all of your hard work!