Streetsblog Los Angeles

Melani Smith pictured second from the left, leads a walking audit in Michigan corridor.

Our Santa Monica weekly column is supported by Bike Center in Santa Monica.

This past Saturday marked the beginning of the public process for a proposed  Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway in Santa Monica (a video of the concept for the unfamiliar). This is one of the more high profile projects called for in the early scope of Santa Monica’s Bike Action Plan, although the greenway concept goes far beyond bicycling, and requires it’s own public process to proceed. The good news is by the end of the workshop I think a lot of people came away with good ideas and valuable conversations.

However things got off to a bit of rocky start, and anyone who left before the hosted bike & walk audits may have left with a very different impression of community sentiment of those present.

Greenway study area.

Melani Smith of the Los Angeles based urban planning & design firm Meléndrez kicked off a loose presentation on what greenways tend to feature, with a few photos examples. In the immediate Q&A before the workshop portion, a few heated questions and concerns were asked involving traffic generally, and the fear of neighborhood gentrification, an issue that goes much deeper than just the design of streetscapes. Dealing with these concerns is a tightrope city planners have to walk. Under investment in the Pico Neighborhood frequently draws criticism (something I have criticized myself before), but apparently so to can proposing new investments.

Understanding debates about change in the Pico Neighborhood, which happens to be the area of Santa Monica I’ve lived for the past seven years, requires a little of the history that goes further back. The neighborhood, which has long been the most diverse in the city, and with what had been one of the largest black populations in the Westside of the LA region, was quite literally ripped in half back during the Santa Monica freeway development. Many homes were bought out though eminent domain and destroyed, with the loudest and most influential constituencies  the consequences of getting a freeway to the beach fell hardest on other neighborhoods with less of a voice.

The Pico Neighborhood remains with a literal and figurative divide, along with the brunt of the air toxins associated with high traffic volume freeways. With property anywhere in Santa Monica increasingly in demand, and rents going up, some members of the community are now concerned that what’s left of ethnic and economic resident diversity in Santa Monica is increasingly at risk. Why gentrification occurs and where, and how best to ensure people are not displaced from the community as things change (and many changes pressing in on Santa Monica are beyond the scope of the city’s own choices as well), are topics I don’t feel I have done enough research on to write on as confidently as I do transportation. However I do know enough to know it’s a complex, multifaceted, and loaded issue.

Anyone advocating for new ideas or proposals within the Pico Neighborhood, regardless of what they may be, or however well intentioned, would do well to make themselves aware of it’s history and context, and spend some time listening. Folks with deep ties in the area have an understandable and warranted skepticism when they hear talk of deliberately changing things, and have been burned in the past. Read more…

Santa Monica as seen from Skull Rock atop Temescal Canyon.

One of the ways I’m often reminded I’m really a Santa Monican first, Angeleno second, is when I see Styrofoam as a food container . It makes feel a little ill inside. We pride ourselves on environmental stewardship as a core value in Santa Monica, and take protecting the coast and the ocean seriously. Always striving to get items that will not breakdown out of our waste stream and off the beaches. However there is much more we can and must do if we truly want to lead on a society wide transition to sustainability and a stabilized impact on the natural world that supports our very existence.

Our Santa Monica weekly column is supported by Bike Center in Santa Monica.

I want to take a moment here to step back and be more specific about what is meant by sustainable, especially since the word is so often overused, and subject to abuse. Jarret Walker of Human Transit has on occasion called for another word, pointing jokingly to the unsustainbility of the word sustainability, and his own preference for durable. Durable being the word the french use for sustainability. Resilience is also a term gaining a lot of traction recently as well, with it’s own slightly differing connotations.

However any word can be warped of concrete meaning if we let people get away with sliding definitions or dubious contexts. I often wished we spent as much effort trying to defend and articulate the meaning of the words we use as we did trying to imagine or adopt new ones after letting others be appropriated or co-opted.

I recently read The Natural Step A Framework for Sustainability, a short book from The Schumacher Briefings series, summarizing the organization and framework for sustainability called The Natural Step (or TNS). The book caught my eye recently in one of the displays at the library. Every since I read about this brief it has really stuck with me as a potentially valuable tool. Whether we stick with the word sustainability or adopt another word to try and encapsulate the concept, the TNS principles are worth considering as a starting point. Read more…

At Tuesday night’s council session at Santa Monica city hall, it was a clean sweep toward making progress on multi-modal transportation goals and reducing greenhouse gas emissions (for areas not dependent on outside decision making like the federally regulated SMO airport).

The big item that most of the public was in attendance for was the proposed transportation impact fee (or TIF) on new developments, and redevelopment that intensifies land use (and does not fall into one of a handful of special exemptions). The funding generated by the TIF will be one means to help fund capital transportation projects benefiting the surrounding area, an expenditure no longer benefiting from the state redevelopment funds that were part of our pie chart before, was approved unanimously. (Item 7-E on agenda for detailed info)

Also of interesting note here on the TIF, was that mayor Pam O’Connor (also on the Metro Board & SCAG), added to the motion that the language “alternative transportation” be replaced to active transportation or transit respectively, to normalize these means of travel, rather than them being described as “alternative”. A subtle switch, but the words we use matter greatly to shaping our perceptions, and shouldn’t be underestimated.

The primary focus of the spending will be on active transportation since this type of inconsistent funding is best used for one off capital spending, and the biggest financial need for Big Blue Bus is in ongoing operating expenses. One early commentator during the public comment took offense to bicycle improvements targeted for more spending than for transit in one of the slides, but given the nature of this particular type of funding, I believe the staff targets presented were appropriate, and are also not set in stone at this point. Many residents expressed support for the fee and intended improvements, and Santa Monica Spoke featured a presence of a handful of speakers adding to the support for the measure.

This column is supported by Bike Center and the Library Alehouse

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I’m currently rolling out (on Amtrak) of Washington D.C. following what has shaped up to biggest rally ever held specifically to confront global warming and climate change as an issue in the United States (the estimates I find most likely were that there were around 35,000 marchers in the street).

Our Santa Monica weekly column is supported by Bike Center in Santa Monica.

I made a last minute decision to make the trip. The more I come to grasp the science of the dilemma as well as the many non-climate related impacts of our society’s endless thirst for ever more fossil fuel energy, I am compelled to go out of my way to try and be part of anything moving this issue to a topic of serious national debate.

Climate activist and environmental author Bill McKibben, and the 350 Organization have made disinvestment in the fossil industry a central platform of their recent activism, along with pushing Obama to not approve the keystone pipeline project. Grist has a great follow post on why choosing the Keystone XL Pipeline as a target, and going for broke on resisting it, matters, despite some “middle of the road” environmental writers wishing for different targets or different plans, or some grand bargain of congress to materialize.

The rally itself, and it’s satellite gatherings that included Los Angeles, have spent some time at the the top of the twitter trends. But rather than try to dig into covering the massive day of action myself, and many photos I have left to go through, I want to share some of my thoughts relating this back to what we can do in Santa Monica to get serious about green house emissions, without depending on acts of congress, or an overthrow of capitalism.

On the financial divestment front, efforts have started first with a focus on college endowments and funds. There has been successes getting some institutions to reconsider and realign their investment funds. Dealing with our own complicity on the demand side is difficult. I’ve also become interested in broadening the concept of disinvestment to include public financing of projects that induce systemic fossil fuel demand including highway expansions and mega parking structures. As well regulations and mandates by governments that push private businesses and developers to invest heavily in outcomes that are energy hungry. Read more…

Following up on the passage and initial efforts of the Bike Action Plan, Santa Monica is kick starting the process on a new Pedestrian Action Plan.

For those who didn’t know, some commitments came up that demanded nearly all of my time the past few weeks so I took a break from the blogging. For my first post back I thought I’d quickly go through a few of the recent or developing Santa Monica stories I caught word of or have seen that have been mulling around in my brain during my blogging absence. Things are moving quickly these days in Santa Monica, on more fronts than just bicycling, and there’s a lot to talk about out.

Our Santa Monica weekly column is supported by Bike Center in Santa Monica.

As a component of the LUCE general plan, more specific plans are coming into shape around the city, such as the in development Bergamot Area Plan, and Downtown Specific Plan. The Bike Action Plan has gotten off to a solid start after it’s passage, and now the public process for crafting a Pedestrian Action Plan kicked off in mid-January. Santa Monica is further ahead in accommodating walkability than most areas of the LA region, but continued fatal incidents every year at crossings are a stark reminder of the consequences of inaction. There are also a few places in the city than remain without sidewalks up to ADA standards. A few of which I encounter on a regular basis that are obviously too narrow.

Something new this time around is a more layered web interface for the Pedestrian Action Plan, a “virtual town hall” for giving input as well. If you care about walkability in Santa Monica and missed the workshop, definitely check out the website. And if you aren’t already, you should check out the group Los Angeles Walks that has been hard at work advocating for pedestrian issues all around L.A.

Phase II of the Expoline is moving right along, and the signs of it’s arrival into Santa Monica are increasingly feeling concrete, literally. I hear a lot more buzz about the project now even amongst the non-transit nerd set around the water cooler and food trucks these days in the jobs heavy Bergamot area. I know there is a lot of skepticism concerning whether  commuters will use the train. But, I hear some people already planning for their future Expo Line commute. Both excitement for the train and excitement about the bike path, is fizzing for people not far away, but still cut off from Santa Monica by uninviting streets. Read more…

A bike facility so nice it has bike-themed art. One of 3 sculptures I saw.

Riding on Pearl Street a few weeks ago, I noticed preparations for a new bicycle parking lot.   This past Saturday, before Santa Monica College students returned for the spring, I had a chance to check out the new bicycle parking.  I was surprised to see not only bike parking, but other parking and amenities for those who travel to Santa Monica College without a car.

Our Santa Monica weekly column is supported by Bike Center in Santa Monica.

Unlike the college’s large automobile parking structures, which are accessed via Pico Boulevard, the new bicycle parking is right off of Pearl St., one of Santa Monica’s primary east-west bike lane south of the 10 Freeway.

I estimated around 200 new U-racks with good spacing between each.  These new racks will accommodate around 400 additional bicycles.  With 32,626 students enrolled last semester, Santa Monica college needs as much parking as it can fit on campus. By fitting space for 400 bicycle commuters and 20 skateboard commuters on land that could accommodate roughly 15 parked cars, the choice for the type of parking  should be obvious.

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The difference between a roundabout and a traffic circle? One misplaced stop sign.

When is a roundabout not a roundabout?

Evidently, when it’s located roundabout the beach in Santa Monica.

It’s not that the city by the sea hasn’t made great strides in recent years, particularly in justifying its designation as a Bicycle Friendly Community. The new Green Street on Ocean Park Blvd. shows Santa Monica’s commitment to re-imagining streets to accommodate all road users, as well as the environment.

On the other hand, some of the legacy streets could stand to see some improvement. Like tiny Bay Street between Neilson Way and the beach, for instance.

One of the problems for those of us who ride our bikes to the beach from points further inland is how to access the popular Santa Monica and Venice sections of the beachfront Marvin Braude bike path (pdf) that runs along the coast from Pacific Palisades to Palos Verdes.

The bluffs that protect the city from the sea also limit direct access to the coast, as does the dangerously high-speed traffic that careens along PCH all day and night throughout the week.

For some, the answer is the walkway that runs under the coast highway at West Channel Drive, allowing riders to walk their bikes down a flight of stairs and underneath the speeding traffic. Assuming they don’t mind traversing a dark and secluded walkway, completely hidden from public view.

While Gary Kavanagh is on a short hiatus, Ted Rogers and Juan Matute will cover the Santa Monica beat for Streetsblog. This column is supported by Bike Center and the Library Alehouse

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A week or so back, I was riding eastbound on San Vicente Blvd in Santa Monica, a block or two above Ocean Ave.

It’s my usual route home after biking to the beach; drivers seem familiar with the bike lanes there, and, for the most part, seem to respect and stay out of them.

On 6th near Wilshire; photo courtesy of Cynthia Rose and Santa Monica Spoke

Except for delivery drivers, that is.

The lane ahead was blocked by a UPS truck. So I checked the traffic behind me, signaled my lane change, and rode around it before returning to the bike lane — just as a driver was pulling out from his parking spot in front of the truck, his view of me completely blocked by the large truck just behind him.

Fortunately, he saw me in time and jammed on his brakes. There was nothing I could have done to avoid a collision; hitting my own brakes would have left me directly in his path, while swerving to the left would have put me in front of traffic coming up rapidly from behind.

Unfortunately, it’s not an unusual problem.

While Gary Kavanagh is on a short hiatus, Ted Rogers and Juan Matute will cover the Santa Monica beat for Streetsblog. This column is supported by Bike Center and the Library Alehouse

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Bikes, skateboards, skates and cigarettes are banned from Santa Monica's popular Third Street Promenade.

Just because Santa Monica is officially bike friendly doesn’t mean everyone there is. Even the ones you’d think would get it.

For all its progress in recent years, there are still significant issues biking — and parking your bike — in L.A.’s city by the beach.

As Gary Kavanagh has pointed out, bicyclists are officially banned from riding on the sidewalk anywhere in Santa Monica. Yet other than a few new signs on 2nd Street apparently installed on a trial basis recently, and signs prohibiting bikes on the popular Third Street Promenade, there’s nothing to tell an uninformed rider coming in from another city that they can’t ride on the city’s sidewalks.

For instance, someone pedaling in from Venice, where riding on the sidewalk is legal, may not even know when he or she has crossed into Santa Monica, where it isn’t.

It’s a situation reminiscent of the infamous speed traps from the first part of the last century, where drivers might find themselves entering a small town with no city limits signs, and violating a speed limit that wasn’t even posted. And in some cases, may have been made up on the spot.

Despite the ban on bikes, Santa Monica offers secure bike racks on Promenade, almost always in use.

Santa Monica’s prohibition on sidewalk riding may be legitimate, and sort of available online, but without posting the law where two-wheeled out-of-town visitors are likely to see it, it seems to rest just this side of entrapment.

Hopefully, the signage installed on 2nd will prove successful, and be deployed throughout the city so bike riders can make an informed decision whether to observe the law, rather than unintentionally run afoul of a regulation they may not be aware of.

Although to be fair, Santa Monica isn’t the only area city that fails to inform riders they can’t ride on the sidewalk; West Hollywood is the only one I know that consistently offers signage indicating where sidewalk riding is banned.

Then there’s the question of where to park your bike when you get to your destination.

In that area, Santa Monica has made great strides in recent years, from the new bike corrals on Main Street to a proliferation of bike racks along the Promenade, where you’re welcome to park your bike as long as you don’t ride it.

While Gary Kavanagh is on a short hiatus, Ted Rogers and Juan Matute will cover the Santa Monica beat for Streetsblog. This column is supported by Bike Center and the Library Alehouse

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Santa Monica has made substantial improvements, such as this door zone buffered bike lane on Montana Ave

Consider this a public apology to L.A. County’s bike-friendly city by the bay.

No, not that one. The other one.

It’s something I’ve been mulling ever since I met Andy Clarke, President of the League of American Bicyclists, at the ceremony honoring L.A.’s recognition as a Bike Friendly Community last October.

As we talked, I felt compelled to tell him I’d been one of the loud, angry voices complaining about the bike league’s 2009 designation of Santa Monica as a bronze level BFC.

He responded by asking if I was the one behind the petition calling on the LAB to rescind the award. I wasn’t, I said. But I sure as heck signed it.

And I was wrong.

It wasn’t like we — those of us who signed the petition and opposed the award — didn’t have our reasons.

In those deep, dark days of the last decade, Santa Monica may have been the L.A. area’s most pleasant place to ride. But compared to the virtually non-existent support for cycling in other area cities, that wasn’t saying much.

And Santa Monica certainly had its issues, like a heavy-handed crackdown on the city’s nascent — and now dead — Critical Mass, which included ticketing cyclists for things that weren’t even illegal. Not to mention a reputation for unresponsive city and police officials.

Then there was the relative handful of bike lanes in the city, all of which were in the door zone, and usually blocked with cars or other objects that didn’t belong there.

Previously, the bike lane put riders directly in the path of swinging car doors

Meanwhile, traffic-clogged Lincoln Blvd was inexplicably classified as a Class III bike route in what could only be considered an attempt to thin the herd.

And what should have been the crown jewel of SaMo’s bicycling infrastructure, the city’s section of the beachfront Marvin Braude bikeway, was virtually impassible on weekends.

Evidently, some things never change.

But then a funny thing happened.

As Cynthia Rose of the LACBC affiliate chapter Santa Monica Spoke explained, city officials learned a lot from the application process itself, and in the process, actually grew into the award.

While Gary Kavanagh is on a short hiatus, Ted Rogers and Juan Matute will cover the Santa Monica beat for Streetsblog. This column is supported by Bike Center and the Library Alehouse

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