Bike Lanes Over Safety Killed Ackerman

West Hollywood’s City Council spent Aug. 4 talking about how to make Fountain Avenue safer after the July 10 hit-and-run that killed 27-year-old cyclist Blake Ackerman. The City Manager, David Wilson, offered three near-term steps:

1. end peak-hour parking restrictions so the curb lane doesn’t turn into a rush-hour speedway, (Occupied West Hollywood called for this on May 26th in Genocide by Traffic.)
2. retime signals to auto-cycle rather than rely on vehicle sensors, and,
3. add leading pedestrian intervals at all Fountain signals.

The Council set Sept. 15 for formal direction, and the city booked community and commission meetings for Aug. 19, 20, and 26 to preview the streetscape work (not to discuss the options presented by Wilson).

Dramatic campaign promises

• Campaign promises: In 2024, Fountain safety was a marquee issue. Candidates rallied at Crescent Heights and Fountain, with pro- and anti-bike-lane camps staking out literal corners. Election-season coverage called the project a political flash point.
• Swearing-in: John Erickson and Danny Hang took office on December 16, 2024.
• The crash: Ackerman was killed on July 10, 2025; a suspect was arrested July 15.

From swearing-in to the fatal crash: 206 days. That is, roughly twenty-nine weeks.

In Wilson’s Aug. 4 remarks, these were described as near-term changes; he said LPIs could be done within weeks of approval, with the other items implemented quickly after Council direction.

The city had time. It simply did not spend it on these steps.

But the Erickson-Hang-Byers majority prioritize bike lanes over safety.

What the candidates said (the receipts)

The candidates’ own words from the campaign trail:

• Danny Hang, Congregation Kol Ami Candidate Forum (Sept. 24, 2024): “There is no set plan yet, and no set number of parking spaces that will be lost. But in general, I’m in favor of creating safety on Fountain, safety for people walking on the sidewalks.”
• John M. Erickson, Congregation Kol Ami Candidate Forum (Sept. 24, 2024): “Safety is my top priority. Whether it involves bike lanes or not, I’m in favor of making Fountain safer.” When the moderator pressed “pro or anti adding bike lanes and reducing parking?” Erickson added: “It’s not a black-and-white issue. There’s no actual proposal right now. I’m happy to discuss it once we have an actual plan on the table.”
• On-the-ground alignment (Oct. 18, 2024): Erickson and Hang joined the pro-bike contingent at dueling rallies at Crescent Heights and Fountain, while several opponents rallied the opposing corner.

The day‑one test for campaign promises

If Fountain safety was a marquee plank, it’s reasonable to expect a day‑one package: specific, low‑friction moves a that the Erickson-Hang-Byers majority could direct immediately. Wilson’s suggestions are not rocket science; they’re standard corridor safety levers, many of which are already implemented around the city, that any campaign claiming “Fountain first” could have named on the trail and placed on the first agenda after swearing‑in:

• Keep curb parking all day (end peak‑hour parking restrictions): issue the traffic order, change/cover the signs, and communicate the effective date.
• Load fixed‑time/phase‑recall signal plans that “rest in red” between platoons and target the posted 30 mph progression; publish the timing sheets and offsets.
• Turn on LPIs corridor‑wide (with County coordination where required) and report where they’re active.

A mayor can ask staff to calendar an item; any councilmember can request direction be brought back. None of this requires discovering new physics in August.

If the campaign promise was “make Fountain safe,” the day‑one proof was a ready list of near‑term directions that mirror the long‑term project’s core effect, a soft road diet now, while the streetscape project catches up.

Taken together, these three measures deliver the core speed‑management and conflict‑reduction benefits the permanent streetscape aims for now. The long‑term project still adds the concrete and protection (e.g., dedicated bikeway, curb work, lighting) that make those gains durable, but the Council can order this “soft road diet” while that buildout proceeds.

What’s been done… and what hasn’t.

In plain terms, Wilson’s three recommendations would replicate much of the long‑term streetscape’s safety effect immediately by using policy and signal timing instead of concrete. The central move is to keep the curb lane as parking at all hours, which prevents it from turning into a temporary rush‑hour travel lane. That’s a de facto road diet: fewer lanes to weave through, a narrower feel, lower operating speeds, and fewer high‑speed passes next to people on bikes.

But the Erickson-Hang-Byers majority prefer bike lanes over safety.

How each piece works right now:

• End peak‑hour parking restrictions (de facto lane removal). When the curb stays parked during the peaks, the “extra” lane never appears. Drivers have fewer opportunities to overtake at high speed or slalom around slower traffic. Expect lower top speeds, calmer flow, and fewer close passes of cyclists. (Trade‑off: some added delay at bottlenecks like Holloway/La Cienega.)
• Auto‑cycling, fixed‑time signal coordination (engineers call this phase recall on fixed‑time/“pre‑timed” signals; colloquially, signals can be set to “rest in red” between platoons). Instead of waiting for vehicle detectors to extend greens, every signal cycles at set intervals and the corridor is tuned to a target progression speed (think ~30 mph). Drivers who speed simply hit more reds; platoons move together at a calmer pace; late yellow/red “gambles” become less rewarding. For people crossing mid‑block or at the next signal, the resulting, predictable red phases create more frequent safe gaps.
• Leading Pedestrian Intervals (LPIs). LPIs give people on foot a 3–7 second head‑start before the parallel vehicle green. That makes walkers visible in the crosswalk before right‑turning drivers move, which cuts turning conflicts and improves yielding. It also lengthens the WALK time so slower walkers clear more of the crosswalk before opposing movement begins. (LPIs are a known, quick, low‑cost safety upgrade.)

Taken together, these three measures deliver the core speed‑management and conflict‑reduction benefits the permanent streetscape aims for now. The long‑term project still adds the concrete and protection (e.g., dedicated bikeway, curb work, lighting) that make those gains durable, but the Council can order this “soft road diet” while that buildout proceeds.

But the Erickson-Hang-Byers majority prioritize bike lanes over safety.

On blame, selectively applied

In the days after the crash, a petition circulated demanding Councilmember Lauren Meister’s resignation and tying her past opposition to aspects of the long-term Fountain plan to Ackerman’s death. Local outlets amplified it.

Two things can be true at once: (1) Meister has opposed parts of the larger redesign; voters and advocates can argue with that on the merits. (2) The near-term fixes presented on Aug. 4, ending peak-hour parking restrictions, auto-cycling signals, and LPIs, do not require a years-long streetscape build. A three-vote majority could have ordered them in early 2025. It didn’t.

That’s the proximate failure window.

That Meister opposed elements of the long-term Fountain redesign is not relevant to safety measures that could be implemented today. Hysterically singling her out as “to blame” for Ackerman’s death ignores that a three-vote majority (Byers–Erickson–Hang) could have directed and implemented the near-term safety measures months earlier in 2025.

The contrived petition demanding Meister’s resignation was a clear effort by the council majority behind the scenes to distract from the craven fact that they were using the death of Ackerman in the service of advancing their policy agenda in favor of bicycle infrastructure.

Instead, the petition backers appeared desperately schizophrenic in their effort to somehow blame Meister.

Erickson’s theatrics, in context

Erickson ended with a mix of apparently contrived personal grief, a push for the long‑term streetscape, and a rebuke to his imagined opponents. Erickson’s rant was filled with creepy moments where his eyes seemed to gleam as he likely played back his own dramatic scene in his mind as an imaginary campaign-style TikTok.

“I walk by Blake’s ghost bike every day… I pass that bike and it haunts me.”

“You can have one motorcycle cop out there and then another one will go… This is not the issue. You need permanent structural infrastructure change.”

“I hope this council unanimously approves the Fountain Avenue streetscape plan… I no longer want a freeway in my backyard. Period. End of story.”

“It is no longer time to say no. It’s a time to say yes and how can we help?”

He also aimed criticism at activists and even those close to the victim’s family: “People that are even close to the [Ackerman] family should question themselves and their actions, too, because they have been [stopgaps] to improvement as well. It is shameful…” (brackets indicate transcript clarifications).

Context: His core point, that design beats enforcement, is obvious. But centering the long‑term streetscape and unanimity omits the fact that a seated majority had ~206 days (Dec. 16 → July 10) to direct near‑term design fixes that mimic much of the streetscape’s safety effect now: keep the curb lane parked all day (de facto lane removal), switch to fixed‑time/phase‑recall signal plans that “rest in red” between platoons, and turn on LPIs corridor‑wide. Staff characterized these as weeks‑scale post‑approval.

Bottom line for readers: Want progress on the streetscape, maybe. That’s not the issue. The absence of progress on this project does not mean that Wilson’s solutions cannot be implemented now.

Dramatic Distractions

In fact, right after Wilson laid out the three near‑term options, Erickson pivoted into an extended interrogation of the Sheriff’s Acting Captain Fanny Lapkin, in a Congressional committee cosplay about why ticketing isn’t the answer to a safer Fountain. Maybe. But that’s not the point.

Erickson’s theatrics, tuned and timed for campaign season, were so distracting and off-base that no serious follow up was asked of Wilson.

With a Fountain community meeting already calendared for Aug. 19, leadership could have augmented that agenda, for example, to further discuss Wilson’s options, LPIs corridor‑wide or to end peak‑hour parking (or modified hours) so residents see some safeguards operational within weeks.

A call for a unanimous future vote does not erase a majority’s earlier choice not to deploy near‑term tools already on the shelf.

Because the Erickson-Hang-Byers majority prioritize bike lanes over safety.

What happens next (preferably before another obituary)

• Adopt the three near-term items with dates, not adjectives. “Near-term” should look like: signs changed and covered; new timing plans loaded; LPIs live at every Fountain signal – each with a public completion date and a 30/60/90-day follow-up on speeds, red-light entries, yielding, and observed passing behavior.
• Keep the long-term project moving, but stop pretending only the long term matters. The city’s public process continues Aug. 19 (community meeting) and through commissions, with Council direction set for Sept. 15. Show your work at each step.
• Be honest about trade-offs. Ending peak-hour parking will affect throughput at known bottlenecks; that was flagged from the dais (thanks, Heilman). Model it, publish it, and explain why lower speeds and fewer conflicts are worth a few extra minutes at rush hour. Then vote accordingly. And end the theatrics.

The mildly disappointed conclusion

Erickson and Hang campaigned on Fountain safety.

They were sworn in 206 days before Blake Ackerman was killed.

Over that span, staff‑level fixes that mirror the core effect of the long‑term streetscape, a soft road diet now, were available: keep the curb lane parked all day (removing the peak‑hour travel lane), convert Fountain’s signals to fixed‑time/phase‑recall plans that “rest in red” between platoons, and turn on LPIs at every signal.

Instead, Erickson, Hang, and Byers appear to have ignored obvious solutions that could seriously address the problem and are now using the death of a resident to advocate for bike lanes.

Each of the staff-level fixes can be delivered on a weeks‑scale once directed: LPIs within a few weeks with County coordination; signal retiming by loading new timing sheets and offsets; ending peak‑hour parking via a traffic order and sign changes.

None of this requires a grant award, a construction contract, or years of design, just direction, dates, and no drama.

If the city implements these fixes now, and it should, remember why they were not implemented sooner.