CicLAvia wants YOU

Helping out with CicLAvia can be a colorful experience, as these volunteers learned last October.

The countdown to the next CicLAvia has started, and organizers have put out an APB for volunteers interested in lending a hand toLos Angeles’ 10-mile celebration of car-free streets.

Volunteers are essential to helping manage the April 15 event in which tens of thousands of people are expected to bicycle, jog, stroll and engage with each other along a route that runs from the Bicycle District in Hollywood to East L.A., and from El Pueblo de Los Angeles to the African American Firefighter Museum south of downtown.

“They are the lifeblood of CicLAvia, for sure.  We couldn’t even dream of doing CicLAvia without them,” said Martin Lopez-Iu of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, who is coordinating the volunteer effort.

Leading up to CicLAvia, volunteers will receive information and training where needed. Then the week before the event, some volunteers will prepare signs and distribute parking notices to residents and businesses. On the day of CicLAvia, volunteers will sell merchandise and distribute information at route hubs, where people stop for water, bike repairs, first aid and entertainment.

New this year, the “Adopt an Intersection” program allows schools, businesses, organizations, and other groups to take responsibility for “soft-closure” intersections. It will be their responsibility to manage pedestrian and bike traffic and allow cars to pass through. The program is also a chance for groups to transform the intersection into their own miniature block party by setting up tables, playing music, putting on a show or creating public art.

Lopez-Iu hopes putting groups in charge of the intersections will help slow people down and look at the communities around them.

“We really want people to get off their bikes, walk around, check out the people and eat at restaurants,” he said.

CicLAvia takes place Sunday, April 15, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you’re interested in helping out, sign up or find out more by emailing [email protected]. All volunteers will receive a free T-shirt, and the hours can be used to fulfill service credit requirements.

Posted 3/29/12