Long Beach, Santa Monica, If YouDonate to Streetsblog in May…You Can Win More Than Just a New Bike

The Southern California Streets Initiative, the local non-profit that staffs and edits Streetsblog Los Angeles, has voted to support local journalism outside of the city limits to Long Beach and Santa Monica. Thanks to local support from Santa Monica Bike Center and Long Beach Community Foundation, we've been able to do this without reaching into our regular operating funds.

Our goal is to expand coverage into Santa Monica and Long Beach, and with your help, these dreams will come true. We're proud to announce we're raising funds for both a Streetsblog Long Beach and a Livable Streets/Green Living news website in Santa Monica (which would be sort of a cross between Streetsblog and the old Green L.A. Girl website). This is where you come in. Your gift can help determine which city gets its own Livable Streets news site first.

We're holding  the "Long Beach v.  Santa Monica" Livable Streets Contest. Whichever city raises the most funds between April 15, 2013 and the end of this month wins and will be the first city to get its own Southern California Streets Initiative either Streetsblog Long Beach or Santa Monica. Regardless of which city wins, we'll continue trying to raise the funds to bring each city its own Livable Streets news site.

There's a lot of ways you can contribute:

• Make a donation to Streetsblog Los Angeles by clicking here. Make sure to designate the funds to go towards "Los Angeles" and indicate the city you're supporting in "why you support this work" section.
• Make a monthly donation. If fifty people make a $5 monthly donation, that creates a $3,000 funding stream for your local website.
• If you're a major donor or potential advertiser for either site, email me at damien@streetsblog.org. Your commitment will count towards picking the Livable Streets Fundraising Champion.
• Write a check to Streetsblog Los Angeles, 11539 National Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90064.

If you don't care about Santa Monica or Long Beach, shame on you! But you can still contribute to support Streetsblog, and and we've got some great prizes, including a Dahon Folding Bike and a Bike Commuter Pack courtesy of Planet Bike..

Oh, and for those keeping score at home:

Santa Monica: $450

Long Beach: $100