{"id":789218,"date":"2026-05-11T17:35:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/789218\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:35:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:35:15","slug":"families-speak-out-as-la-mesa-revisits-e-bike-crackdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/789218\/","title":{"rendered":"Families speak out as La Mesa revisits e-bike crackdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

LA MESA, Calif. (KGTV) \u2014 A proposed e-bike ordinance in La Mesa is facing growing pushback from parents who say electric bikes have become a necessity for families navigating traffic and limited parking across the city. <\/p>\n

The hot button issue will be back on the agenda for city leaders on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

The ordinance under consideration by the La Mesa City Council would ban e-bike riders under the age of 12. But after hearing concerns from parents at the previous meeting, some city leaders are now reconsidering whether the proposal targets the right group.<\/p>\n

For Cassi Knight and her family, e-bikes have become an alternative to driving around La Mesa.<\/p>\n

\u201cE-bikes were our solution because parking down here has become so notoriously difficult,\u201d Knight said.<\/p>\n

Knight says her 10-year-old daughter completed a safety course before ever riding and that the family has placed strict limits on the bike itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s 10 years old. We required that she took a safety course prior to ever getting on the thing,\u201d Knight said. \u201cWe\u2019ve throttled the bike. It cannot go any faster than 6 miles per hour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, under the proposed ordinance, her daughter would no longer be allowed to ride.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe only ride as a family, but under this ordinance we\u2019re now prohibited from doing that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Parents also questioned how the city would enforce the restriction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a kid out there that carries a birth certificate or an ID,\u201d said Deric Knight. \u201cSo what are they gonna do? Are they gonna profile the kids?\u201d<\/p>\n

On April 14, La Mesa councilmembers voted 5-0 to move forward with the ordinance proposal<\/a>. But after receiving feedback from residents, the conversation shifted during the April 28 council meeting.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then all of a sudden we started receiving emails from families and parents,\u201d said Councilwoman Laura Lothian.<\/p>\n

At that same meeting, Vice Mayor Lauren Cazares expressed hesitation about the proposal in its current form.<\/p>\n

\u201cDo I think that this right now is the right ordinance? I don\u2019t,\u201d Cazares said. \u201cI also would like to hear from more parents and more community members \u2014 on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lothian also reversed her original support for the proposal after hearing from families like the Knights.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe realized that we had a problem with teenagers and e-bikes, and the solution wasn\u2019t addressing the problem,\u201d Lothian said. \u201cI\u2019m feeling like 9-, 10- and 11-year-olds are being scapegoats for the 14-, 15- and 16-year-olds that are actually doing the reckless riding.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, city leaders say the next council meeting could play a major role in determining the future of the ordinance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know where, how it\u2019s going to go,\u201d Lothian said.<\/p>\n

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, Lothian plans to hold a press conference at 10 a.m. encouraging more community members to share their opinions before councilmembers vote again.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re against the pilot program, come out and say something. If you\u2019re for it, come out and say something,\u201d Lothian said. \u201cThe persuasive people are going to have their day.\u201d<\/p>\n

For parents like Knight, the council\u2019s willingness to revisit the issue is already making a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows that they actually care and that they\u2019re actually listening and that they\u2019re here to truly serve the city,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LA MESA, Calif. (KGTV) \u2014 A proposed e-bike ordinance in La Mesa is facing growing pushback from parents…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":789219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,20161,250141,2961,322453,322454,224,5337,322455,322456],"class_list":{"0":"post-789218","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-east-county","11":"tag-electric-bikes","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-mesa-ebike","14":"tag-la-mesa-ebike-rules","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-san-diego-ebike","18":"tag-tali-letoi"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116557154001252388","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789218"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/789218\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=789218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=789218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}