Villaraigosa makes teachable moment out of bike fall

Maybe it's more like a flackable moment, an easy way to throw a bone to bicyclists. In any case, even with his arm in a sling, Mayor Vilaraigosa signed his name to a Huffington Post entry this afternoon making nice on the subject of bikes:

If there's one thing everyone now knows after my recent accident, it's that I like to bike in Los Angeles. The City's landscape, climate, and neighborhoods offer a cyclist's paradise. Biking in Los Angeles should be a natural.

Unfortunately most of our City was built with cars in mind. It's time to recognize that bicycles also belong on L.A.'s streets.

We're working on enforcement of traffic laws and improving the City's bicycle infrastructure. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck has reached out to the cycling community and is actively working to make the streets safer.

Villaraigosa (or an aide) also tweeted twice this afternoon about bikes and four times about Lu Parker's volunteer effort at a South L.A. animal shelter. Meanwhile, as I appended to the morning post, Warren Olney talks about the weekend's criticism of Villaraigosa's leadership (with a Daily News editor and blogger D.J. Waldie, maybe others) on "Which Way, L.A." at 7 p.m. [Update: Guests were Waldie, DN editorial page editor Mariel Garza, ex-mayor Richard Riordan and Deputy Mayor Mayy Szabo.]

LA Observed on KCRW at 6:44 p.m.: Mel Gibson, Frank and Jamie McCourt and the Beverly Hillbillies. Listen on the web.