Even decisions as small as taking a right into a parking lot can change the course of one’s life forever.

For Jim Shanman, it was that very decision that led him to found Walk n’ Rollers, a bicycle safety organization with roots in Culver City but influence far beyond Los Angeles’ boundaries.

“When someone asks, ‘What do you do?’ my answer is always ‘Save kids’ lives,’” Shanman told Westside Voice. 

Shanman founded his 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2012 and has since helped run and establish bike safety programs not only on the Westside but also in places from Valley High School in Santa Ana and the Corona Norco Family YMCA.

But even before Walk n’ Rollers and bicycle advocacy, public transportation had played a big part in most of Jim Shanman’s life.

Lost and Found Again

Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley in the ‘60s, Shanman remembers how prevalent and convenient getting around the city through public transportation was, riding a bicycle or walking to school almost every day.

“Everybody was biking,” Shanman said, “And if a bike didn’t get you somewhere, the bus certainly did.”

But Shanman received the ultimate killer of biking habits when he turned 16: a car. This is where many people’s biking story ends, with the bike moved back into the garage, lying undisturbed gathering dust, and turning into rust as the car becomes the central form of transportation in their lives.

For the next decade or so, that’s the way that Jim Shanman’s life was going as well. But all those years after he had lost the hobby integral to getting around his hometown as a child, he was brought into the Santa Monica mountains to be reintroduced to biking in a different form.

“My girlfriend at the time was into mountain biking, and she had a couple of friends that were into mountain biking,” Shanman said. “And so I got introduced, and I’ve been hooked ever since.”

His passion for biking was back, but he wanted to learn more about mountain biking. His curiosity led him to CORBA — The Concerned Off-Road Bicyclists Association — which was hosting a Sunday ride where people could learn more about the organization. CORBA is dedicated to “preserving open space, maintaining public access to public lands, and creating more trail opportunities for all to enjoy,” according to their website.

After the ride, CORBA co-founder Mark Langton announced that the group was looking for volunteers. A graphic designer at the time, Shanman offered his services to the organization. 

“That was my introduction into cycling advocacy,” Shanman said. “From there, I attended community meetings and worked on various projects with them.”

Shanman never joined the board of directors at CORBA, but his efforts working with the organization guided him on the path toward his future work as a bike advocate.

“When It’s Your Neighborhood”

Shanman and his wife purchased a house in Culver City in 1999 and have lived in the Westside city ever since. His daughter was born there, and the city has grown near and dear to his heart.

“You see things on a whole different level when it’s your neighborhood,” Shanman said.

Looking to give his daughter the same freedom to bike around the city he had as a child, Shanman shifted his advocacy efforts from off-road to urban cycling.

As he was biking to work one Saturday in 2010, he noticed a sign directing him to a city meeting available to the public. He had a choice: keep going straight and continue what he was doing, or make the right into the parking lot to check out what the meeting had to offer.

Shanman decided to make that right.

“That right turn changed my life,” he said.

The fateful meeting he attended was the final public meeting for a Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan, the first of its kind in Culver City at that point. While it was a significant step in improving the conditions for alternative modes of transportation in the city, Shanman was disappointed by the lack of local urban biking advocacy groups.

But an opportunity was about to arise out of that.

“We didn’t have [an organization like] CORBA,” Shanman said of urban bicycle advocates at the time. “I inquired as to why and the county bike coalition said that they were trying to build local chapters and asked if I was interested.”

He soon co-founded the Culver City Bicycle Coalition — now called Bike Culver City — to help advise the city, but the slow speed at which the plans would be implemented “horrified” Shanman.

“What can we do here locally?” Shanman asked himself. With his daughter in second grade at El Marino at the time, he knew he wanted to do something as soon as possible to improve her safety and quality of life.

This led to him leading a walking school bus — where an adult leads a group of kids on a walk to or from school — as a parent volunteer at his daughter’s school in October 2010.

The program built up quickly, going from 16 to 18 kids during the first month to over 160 through a mixture of marketing using Shanman’s graphic design skills and incentives provided to kids who participated. Suddenly, the metaphorical light bulb in Shanman’s mind lit up.

“It was transformative for the school and for me,” Shanman said. [The thought] became ‘if I can do this at one school in my little city of Culver City, what would happen if I did throughout the county?’”

Shanman soon founded Walk n’ Rollers in 2012, whose mission it is to encourage parents to rethink their commute to school through methods like the walking school bus. Shanman believes that bike safety is more than what it appears to be on the surface.

“It’s also about teaching kids about time management and about responsibility and community awareness and traffic safety awareness,” Shanman said. “Things that they are not going to learn until they drive a car.”

Walk n’ Rollers entered a contract with Culver City in 2013 to oversee the local Safe Routes to School program, and have since become a cornerstone of their safety education offerings.

On top of expanding on Shanman’s efforts to help organize and lead walking school buses at Culver City schools, Walk n’ Rollers helps plan Walk or Bike to School Days and coach schools to help them develop other Walk to School programs.

They also host a variety of classes on topics like bike safety and bike repairs, the former of which are taught by Licensed Cycling Instructors certified by the League of American Bicyclists.

Shanman’s organization also runs an Adopt-a-Bike program where bikes donated to Walk n’ Rollers are repaired and restored before being given out through organizations like Boys and Girls Clubs and YMCAs. 

Since being established, Walk n’ Rollers has expanded the range of its services far beyond the boundaries of the Westside. Shanman says he runs a small operation even today — with just two other part-time staffers as employees besides himself — and was willing to drive to provide his services. Walk n’ Rollers influence can be seen as far as Riverside County and Ventura County today.

“There’s a lot of territory out there that has no services; there’s nobody in Riverside County really,” Shanman said. “We tend to be in demand because of that.”

Walk More, Bike More

As the organization’s 10th anniversary rolled around in 2022, Shanman decided it was time to do something bigger than the usual fundraiser. The result of that vision was a fundraising event that has evolved into the Walk More Bike More Festival — which is being held for a third consecutive year this Saturday on Main Street in Downtown Culver City from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

The first festival was held at the Wende Museum — which offered its parking lot space and garden space for the day to Walk n’ Rollers. There, the organization gave out free bike helmets and bikes, put on a BMX show, and held bike skills workshops and rollerskating demos, among other things.

“It was supposed to be a one-off event,” Shanman said. “But it was so successful, so we asked ‘Why don’t we do this every year?’”

Now called the Walk More Bike More Festival, it was moved to Main Street the following year. The 2023 iteration of the festival also featured the Golden Sneaker Award, which Walk n’ Rollers gives out annually to mobility champions in the area.

This year’s Golden Sneaker honorees are David McNeill, Executive Officer, Baldwin Hills Conservancy, and Deborah Murphy, founder of LA Walks and Chair of the Los Angeles Pedestrian Advisory Committee.

While attending the event is free, the organization wants to raise $20,000 to help fund the repair and restoration services for its Adopt-a-Bike program. There will be things like new and used bikes that Walk n’ Rollers will have for sale at the event as well as an online auction featuring a Prevelo Alpha Five Bike (retail $649) and a HR4000 bike rack from event sponsor Hollywood Racks that can be picked up at the festival.

Sponsorships are also important for the event and Walk n’ Rollers. This year’s Walk More Bike More Festival is sponsored by several organizations, including the Wende Museum, Culver City Rotary Community Foundation, and Prevalo.

There will also be a group bike ride at the event, run in conjunction with electric bike leasing company Wombi — another sponsor of the event. Shanman has not released the official route yet, but said that it will be locally contained.

“We are not riding down to Manhattan Beach and back,” Shanman said. “But it’s a good way to get people out and about and demonstrate best practices on the street.”

Wombi will allow people to test their bikes on demo rides on Venice and Culver Boulevard. Additionally, attendees will be given a ticket to enter a prize drawing. Other features of the event include an art space and photo booth, and Shanman hopes even those who aren’t regular cyclists can also find their place at the event.

“Even if they are not cyclists, I’m sure most people can relate to the importance of teaching and exhibiting safe practices,” Shanman said. “Last year, we also had an organized walk because we recognize that there are people that are not cyclists that come to the events.”

For Shanman, the Walk More Bike More Festival is a culmination of a great deal of hard work not just in preparing the celebration, but also in his work making Walk n’ Rollers what it is today. Even after more than a decade of advocacy, he still finds joy in what he brings to the community.

“I’m extremely happy with what I do,” Shanman said. “It was never a wrong choice to go to that meeting.”

Photo: Supervisor Holly Mitchell receives the 2022 Golden Sneaker award from Walk n Rollers and founder Jim Shanman