Person:Alexander Baum (11)

Los Angeles City Resolution

Alexandre Baum

WHEREAS, Alex Baum has been a resident of Los Angeles for over 50 years. Born in the Alsace region of France, Alex relocated to the United States following WW II where he was a member of the French Underground and a detainee at Dora-Mittelbau Concentration Camp where the V2 rocket was developed by the Nazi regime. After the war he played soccer on the French National team and immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized US citizen in the 1950's; and

WHEREAS, Alex was a member of the Board of Directors for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and was very active in the City's bid to host the Olympic Games. He was influential in the construction of the original Olympic Velodrome built at Dominguez Hills

WHEREAS, Alex also helped to include road and track bicycle racing events for women in the 1984 Olympics for the first time in Olympic history. For his dedication to the Games he was awarded one of the Olympic torches carried into the Coliseum during Opening Ceremonies of the 1984 Games;and

WHEREAS, Alex was the first American appointed to the International Board of Directors (UCI), the governing body for world bicycle competition, and was active for many years as a member of the Board of Directors for the United States Cycling Federation now U.S.A. Cycling; and

WHEREAS, Alex also worked with AEG and the original organizers of the Tour of California to initiate the inaugural event. He was very involved with restoration efforts of the Encino Velodrome which was the first Velodrome in located in Los Angeles; and

WHEREAS, Alex Baum was instrumental in the formation of the City of Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) with Mayor Tom Bradley. He was chairman from its inception in 1973 through 2008 and continues to remain an active member of the Committee serving as Chairman Emeritus, appointed by Mayor Villaraigosa; and

WHEREAS, in 2005, Alex was recognized for his ongoing efforts to the biking community. Local officials and bikers were out in force for the dedication of the 680-foot Alex Baum Bicycle Bridge that spans the LA River at Los Feliz Boulevard. The bridge includes a bicycle motif and provides safe access for bicyclist and pedestrians crossing Los Feliz while utilizing the Los Angeles River Bike Path; and

WHEREAS, Alex is a tireless advocate for bicycling as a mode of transportation, recreation and competition; and

WHEREAS, Alex has dedicated countless hours to the City in an effort to make sure bicycles are included in the transportation plan, as well recreation planning, and finally the project implementation; and

WHEREAS, Alex continues to be very active in City affairs at (almost) 90 years, Alex and his wife, Rachel, were married for over sixty years prior to her passing last year. They have a son, who is a noted pediatric nephrologist, a daughter and three grandchildren; and

WHEREAS, on May 15, 2012 Alex Baum will be presented the 2012 Golden Spoke Award at the Annual Blessing of the Bicycles at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles for his contributions to the health and welfare of cyclists throughout California:

NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that by the adoption of this resolution, City Council of Los Angeles, along with the Mayor, City Attorney and City Controller do hereby recognize Alex Baum for his leadership on bike issues and his extraordinary contributions to the bicycling community in the City of Los Angeles. Alex you are truly an angel in the City of Angels!

PRESENTED BY: TOM LABONGE, Councilmember, 4th District

SECONDED BY: Paul Krikorian

ADOPTED: APR 24 2012, lOS ANGELES CITY COUNCIL

Source: [1]

1.   Jewish Journal.com
   28 December 2006.

   Alex Baum: Wheels of a Dream
   
   by Robert David Jaffee
   December 28, 2006
   
   Alex Baum, who will be celebrating his 84th birthday on Dec. 30, fought in the French Resistance, survived two and a half years in the concentration camps, and has since dedicated his life to performing good deeds, most notably in his advocacy of amateur athletics.
   Yet, when asked if he is a mensch, he says, "You never know."
   
   Baum is of French Jewish ancestry, but he speaks with a German accent, befitting one who was born in a small town in Lorraine, which along with the province of Alsace was frequently the subject of territorial disputes between the French and the Germans. Concerning the war, he says without embellishment, "We fought the Germans in any possible way we could."
   
   Although he was caught by the Nazis, he convinced them that he was a resistance fighter, not a Jew. Due to his Algerian passport (his mother was from the North African country), he was treated as a political prisoner in the camps. The Nazis did not question why he was circumcised, because Algerians, being desert dwellers, practiced circumcision for hygienic reasons.
   
   After surviving the Holocaust, Baum vowed that he would be a good role model, like his grandparents and uncles: "I felt a need to do that."
   
   He moved to the United States shortly after the war and settled in Chicago, where he played semipro soccer for the Chicago Kickers. A center-forward on the team, he scored his share of goals, but his greatest goal has been developing cycling programs and recreational facilities for inner-city kids in Los Angeles.
   
   When not working as a caterer, his living for 30 years, he has been an adviser to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and the previous three Los Angeles mayors, but Baum is not simply a cycling enthusiast and fitness fanatic -- he has also shown the vision of an urban planner and the determination of a mensch in implementing the now-ubiquitous bike paths throughout the city of Los Angeles, pioneering the Tour of California bike race and building velodromes in Dominguez Hills and Encino.
   
   Of all his projects, he remains most passionate about the creation of bike paths and facilities along the L.A. River. In the next 10 years, he expects to see a 50-mile path bordering the river from the Valley to Long Beach. Speaking with unmistakable enthusiasm, he envisions the following: "You can stop anywhere through the city, enjoy the Sunday or the weekend without using the car; [you can] even ride at night. We have lights and rest stops, parks and a restaurant."
   
   Although the complete river restoration has not come to fruition yet, Baum says that, due to all the bike paths in recent years, 2.5 percent of people now go to work by bike, as opposed to 0.5 percent in the past.
   
   Despite constant talk of ethanol and hybrid cars, this goodwill ambassador to the city of Los Angeles, who served on the 1984 Olympic host committee, might have the simplest and greenest solution of all for Los Angeles' gridlock as well as global warming -- riding a bike.

2.   Los Angeles, California, United States. Los Angeles Times
   2 March 2015.

   Alex Baum, Los Angeles bicycling advocate, dies at 92
   Alex Baum, a Los Angeles bicycling advocate who over decades successfully pushed for bike paths, bike lanes, and a greater consciousness of bikes as legitimate transportation in a sprawling city built around cars, has died. He was 92.
   
   Baum’s death Sunday in a Los Angeles hospital was caused by a bowel obstruction, his daughter Danielle Gardner said.
   
   Baum was a former member of the French resistance who was imprisoned in a Nazi labor camp and immigrated to the United States after the war. By trade he was a caterer, but he was more well-known for his involvement in sports organizations, including the committee that organized the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
   
   For more than 30 years, Baum was head of the city’s Bicycle Advisory Committee -- a group he organized under former L.A. Mayor Tom Bradley to work with city transportation officials on cycling issues.
   
   “He was a voice for cyclists at a time when cyclists had no voice in L.A.,” said Michelle Mowery, the city transportation’s department’s senior bicycle coordinator. “He used to call us the poor stepchild of transportation.”
   
   Without Baum’s lobbying, the city’s 56 miles of bike paths and 369 miles of bike lanes would probably not exist, she said. Current plans, which Baum was instrumental in developing, call for 1,680 miles of bike paths, bike lanes and bike-friendly streets.
   
   A memorial service for Baum is planned for 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Santa Monica Synagogue, 1448 18th St., Santa Monica.