A good time to die! (in)

December 7, 2016 § 19 Comments

Because the Palos Verdes Estates City Council thinks that policing the Lunada Bay Boys on Mom’s Couch to the tune of $65,000 a year is more important than sticking up five lousy BMUFL signs, and because the Palos Verdes Estates City Council thinks that the best way to handle cycling deaths is to ignore them, there is going to be a special die-in on December 13 to ring in the holidays just the way that the council apparently wants: With lots of dead bodies.

Die-in location: Malaga Cove Plaza in Palos Verdes Estates, CA.
Die-in time: 4:00 PM to 4:45 PM.

Dead riders will show up with their bikes and create a “die-in” protest on the lawn in front of Malaga Cove from 4:00pm – 4:45 pm. Following this demonstration, corpses and protesters will meet inside Malaga Ranch Market  for dinner and to brief everyone on the city council agenda items. The city council meeting starts at 7:30 PM. At the council meeting attendees will submit speaker cards and discuss agenda items so that the city council can see that we’re vitally interested in the workings of city government. Since the council has adopted a policy of putting “open public comment” at the end of the meeting, in conclusion attendees will also submit speaker cards to talk about the importance of bike safety and the immediate installation of BMUFL signage. The goal is to make the city council as interested in cyclists’ desire to stay alive as cyclists are interested in the council’s discussions of tree trimming and PVE being contaminated with yucky Torrance dirt (true item of past council discussion).

Informational banners, signs and flyers instructing on the three deaths in PV, the effectiveness of BMUFL signage, the effects of Lunada Bay /PVE localism in politics, and locations where collisions have occurred will all be part of the protest, along with graphic visual demonstrations and reenactments of cyclist/car collisions using live volunteers.
Everyone who shows up will get extra bloody tee-shirts to die in.
The city council meeting begins at 7:30 PM and will run for as long as people show up to speak. Hopefully the city council will continue to see that their policy of outwaiting, outlasting, and outsitting cyclists isn’t going to work. Cyclists want those five BMUFL signs and want them now.

If you’re curious about die-ins and how they work, here are some links to die-ins used in other places to bring attention to the casual killing of people on bicycles.

1.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2013/dec/01/stop-killing-cyclists-die-in-tfl-protest. This parallels similar barriers to action that have been experienced in Palos Verdes Estates.
2.http://stopkillingcyclists.org/. This  explains the  process behind cycling advocacy, and the measures needed to make tangible changes in traffic engineering. It includes links to many other sites, including one of their own called “stop the killing.”
3.http://activehistory.ca/2015/06/the-die-in/. History of the die-in.
4.https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/cities/2015/jun/17/people-power-montreal-north-america-cycle-city?client=safari. Le Monde Bicyclette and their campaign in Montreal.
5.http://thesource.com/2016/10/05/syracuse-university-students-stage-powerful-die-in-protest/. Non cycling die-in.
6. https://www.google.com/amp/www.citylab.com/amp/article/383439/?client=safari. Another history of the die in.
There will be free pizza at the city council meeting, although the council has now kicked hungry cycliss out of the city offices and required them to eat outside. If you’ve been promising yourself that you will show up and get involved, this is a great time to do it. The more corpses, the better.

END

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