Just a quick update today.
I have an early commitment in the morning, and I’m still having trouble seeing after having my eyes dilated yesterday.
On the plus side, though, I haven’t had to get a shot for retinal bleeding for over two years now.
Photo from PeopleForBikes.
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So much for that embargo.
For more than a week, PeopleForBikes has provided me with information on the release of their new 2026 City Ratings, particularly West Hollywood being named one of their Eight Cities to Watch, on the condition that I keep it quiet until after 7 am today.
Then they posted it online themselves yesterday afternoon.
Go figure.
And yes, I would have held it if they did. But they didn’t, so let’s start with the good news.
While WeHo only rated a 37 out of a possible 100, ranking 1022 out of 3019 American cities, they think it’s worth keeping an eye on as the city continues to improve.
West Hollywood has been making big moves for better biking in recent years. In April 2025, the city council unanimously committed to building only protected bike infrastructure on future street projects — the first city in the Los Angeles area to do so — and followed it up by painting all existing bike lanes green on Fairfax Avenue, San Vicente Boulevard, and Santa Monica Boulevard for improved visibility. With the 2028 LA Olympics on the horizon, West Hollywood’s premier location in LA positions it as a key corridor for the broader active transportation push underway across Los Angeles ahead of the Games.
One reason they give is the future extension of the K Line, nee Crenshaw Line, into the city. Another will be the Complete Streets remake of Fountain Ave, although it’s questionable which of those will actually be completed first, given a lack of federal funding and the inevitable lawsuits.
On the other hand, WeHo compared very favorably to LA’s subpar rating of 32 compared to the national average of 36, ranking us 1350th in the US, and barely in the top 200 California cities at 195.
And no, Los Angeles is not a city to watch. Even if we have climbed from the nadir of 2023, when we scored a whopping 19.
Among other cities in LA County,
- El Segundo scored 57, ranking 243 in the US
- Manhattan Beach scored 54, ranking 308 in the US
- Beverly Hills scored 53, ranking 323 in the US
- Monrovia scored 53, ranking 333 in the US
- Santa Monica scored 41, ranking 774 in the US
- San Fernando scored 50, ranking 403 in the US
- Calabasas scored 48, ranking 469 in the US
- Palos Verdes Estates scored 48, ranking 493 in the US
- Malibu scored 45, ranking 582 in the US
- Inglewood scored 42, ranking 738 in the US
- Lawndale scored 41, ranking 742 in the US
- Compton scored 39, ranking 919 in the US
- South Pasadena scored 38, ranking 969 in the US
- Burbank scored 38, ranking 856 in the US
- Pico Rivera scored 37, ranking 996 in the US
- Redondo Beach scored 37, ranking 1035 in the US
- Huntington Park scored 37, ranking 1036 in the US
- Commerce scored 36, ranking 1063 in the US
- Glendale scored 36, ranking 1071 in the US
- Long Beach scored 36, ranking 1104 in the US
- La Cañada Flintridge scored 35, ranking 1197 in the US
- Torrance scored 34, ranking 1218 in the US
- Montebello scored 34, ranking 1240 in the US
- San Marcos scored 32, ranking 1414 in the US
- Alhambra scored 32, ranking 1416 in the US
- East Los Angeles scored 32, ranking 1420 in the US
- Culver City scored 26, ranking 1830 in the US
I guess Culver City shouldn’t have ripped out the MOVE Culver City protected bike lanes, after all.
There’s a lot I could quibble with on that list, but you can check out their methodology in the video below and decide for yourself.
And if your city isn’t on that list, you can click here for more California cities.
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In response to yesterday’s post, thanks to David for pointing me to an Instagram post identifying the two victims killed by an alleged speeding, drunken driver in Ventura County last Thursday.
However, they still haven’t been publicly identified by any official source, so I won’t name them here. But reading what others had to say about them, it sounds like we lost some very exceptional people.
Then again, we’re all exceptional in some way, to someone.
There’s also no word yet on the name of the accused driver, who should have appeared in court by now, which raises the question of why they’re holding back his identification.
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Finally, someone in France must have a hell of a sense of humor.
To promote the 2027 UCI Cycling World Championships, which will be held in France’s Haute Savoie region, French President Emmanuel Macron gave every leader attending the G7 conference at Lake Geneva a personalized Look bicycle.
Yes, even Donald Trump.
As Fortune wryly observed,
There was no hot mic moment to detect the reaction of Trump, who is not known to bike and has joked about doing minimal exercise beyond regular golf outings.
Despite being called — or calling himself — the fittest, healthiest president in recent history, Trump has said he will never, ever ride a bicycle, and has mocked Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and John Kerry for their two wheeled exploits.
Although I’d pay good money to see him try.
Maybe they didn’t have enough FIFA Peace Prizes for everyone.