Gabe Salazar is KGTV's newest multimedia journalist, weekend anchor and forecaster.
A growing debate over e-bikes in La Mesa is taking another turn ahead of a key City Council vote on Tuesday night. Just weeks after the council unanimously voted to move forward with restrictions targeting young e-bike riders, one councilmember is now publicly opposing the proposal following pushback from parents and families.
City leaders say the ordinance is about safety. According to Rady Children’s Hospital, severe e-bike-related trauma cases increased dramatically — from just three cases in 2021 to 262 by the end of last year. In La Mesa alone, officials say police responded to more than 50 e-bike-related calls for service last year, along with multiple crashes involving riders. The proposed ordinance would ban children under 12 from riding Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes within city limits.
Violations could result in warnings, fines, and in some cases, confiscation of the bike. The proposal is part of a broader regional e-bike safety effort aimed at addressing the growing number of crashes and complaints involving young riders. But some parents say the city is targeting the wrong group. Families gathered outside La Mesa City Hall arguing that younger children riding with their parents are not the source of the dangerous behavior city leaders are concerned about.
Instead, they say the bigger issues involve older teens riding recklessly. Others worry the proposal could discourage biking altogether in a city that has been trying to become more pedestrian and bike friendly.
“Bicycling and walking is a big part of our future, and I think that preventing a generation of kids being exposed to this early on is a bad way to achieve that,” one community member said during public comment. The debate has also caused at least one councilmember to reconsider her position. La Mesa City Councilmember Laura Lothian, who initially supported moving the ordinance forward, now says she opposes the proposal after hearing concerns from local families.
Lothian said she worries the ordinance could unintentionally criminalize families who use e-bikes for everyday activities like visiting downtown restaurants or riding to the farmer's market together.
'So we have families who moved here so that they could travel to the village and have breakfast, go to the farmer's market, and they're with their 9 and 10 year olds on these little e-bikes,” Lothian said. “And if this law is enacted, they're breaking the law now, and the joy of riding their bikes together is taken out of the window. ”The La Mesa City Council is expected to take up the proposed ordinance during Tuesday night's meeting.
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