For more information on our program, check out this presentation.

1. A Program of Los Angeles
County Bicycle Coalition
(LACBC)

2. CARECEN Day Laborer Center, Pico
Union

3. Why Create a Program That Only Focuses on
Latino Day Laborer Cyclists?
Los Angeles is home to one of the largest groups of
cyclists, Latino day laborers, who ride to work each day.
For most of these cyclists, their bikes are their only
means of transportation.
Finally, since many Latino cyclists are not connected to
the bicycle community and are low-income, there has
been a dearth of resources for them, including a lack of
access to information about bicycling laws, how to ride
safely in traffic, and access to safety gear.

4. City of Lights Aims to Bridge That Gap

5. What is City of Lights?
We provide bicycle lights
and safety information to
Latino immigrant cyclists.
We are a group of LACBC
staff and volunteers that
regularly service the
CARECEN day laborer
center in Pico-Union every
week.
We have hosted bike safety
and repair workshops in
June and July, with a
culturally themed bike ride
planned for September.

6. What is City of Lights?
The long term goals of the program are to connect
Latino social justice movements and communities
with the alternative transportation movement and
support advocates amongst the day laborer population.
It is important for these underrepresented immigrant cyclists
to become a part of the political process
and our vision is for them to transform the built
environment (i.e., bike lanes, bike parking, and
traffic circles) in their neighborhoods to become
more bike and pedestrian friendly.

7. We hope to empower the
cyclists and build community in
a fun and relevant way.
We do this through
culturally themed bike
rides and interactive
workshops.

8. City of Lights’
Research Component
In the fall, we will begin qualitative
and quantitative research surveys
and interviews in partnership with
UCLA and UCI.
This will serve to develop new
research and data on these largely
unaddressed issues of transportation
equity and public health.
We hope this research will inform
academia and city planners more
about Latino cyclists to create more
equitable neighborhoods.

9. Volunteer Lys Mendez Gives a Presentation on Bike Lights
One cyclist installs a bike light

10. LACBC City of Lights & CARECEN staff

11. City of Lights’ Future Plans
•We want to expand to offer not
only bicycle lights, but also more
expensive yet vital bicycle
accessories such as helmets and
bicycle locks.
• We would also like to expand the
model of workshops, lights, and
advocacy to other day laborer
centers in Central Los Angeles.
•Lastly, we will continue to apply
for grants and community support.

12. City of Lights Safety Workshop, June 2009.

13. City of Lights table at CARECEN April 2009
LACBC Planning Director Dorothy
Le assists a cyclist with installing a
light

15. City of Lights in the Media
• We have created a blog for City of Lights, which will
also be translated into Spanish and has our Youtube
video (https://sites.google.com/site/cityoflightsprogram/ and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udhqY2mfKxo)
• Planet Bike’s blog featured City of Lights
(http://www.planetbike.com/blog/128)
• The Alliance for Biking and Walking mentions City of
Lights
(http://www.peoplepoweredmovement.org/site/index.php/site/media/la
cbc_lights_up_la/)
• UCLA’s Daily Bruin Newspaper February interview
(http://www.dailybruin.ucla.edu/stories/2009/feb/2/cyclists/)

16. Contact:
Allison Mannos
Urban Programs Coordinator,
Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition
634 S. Spring St. Ste #821
Los Angeles, CA 90014
213-629-2142
Allison@la-bike.org
http://www.la-bike.org/
and
https://sites.google.com/site/cityoflightsprogram/