Culver City

Finally, L.A.'s new commitment to bike planning brings some paint to the Westside.  Last Friday Joe Linton noted at the Eco-Village blog that the city had placed down markers for 0.77 miles of new bike lanes from Grand View Blvd to Albright Avenue, in my own neighborhood of Mar Vista.

LADOT Environmental Documents for Expo Phase II Bikeway

While many eyes focused on the Metro Board Room last week, the Expo Construction Authority also met to discuss a series of contract updates and construction news.  But for Expo watchers there was also some major news on the Culver City front.  Negotiations between the City and the Authority seem to be back on track and work on the Expo Station at the end of Phase I seems to be ready to move forward.

Following the decline of the studios in the 1960's and 1970's, Culver City had to reinvent itself.  In the 1990's, the city once commonly referred to as "The Heart of Screenland" undertook an aggressive campaign to revitalize their Downtown area that was mostly successful in attracting businesses and tourists to bolster the city's economy.  Today, nearly 40,000 people call Culver City home, and it's widely thought of as a safe place to live and a good place to raise children.

(This is the second of a three-part series on Culver City's Policies for Livable Active Communities and Environment grant. "First Steps" ran yesterday, and a review of the Pedestrian and Bicycle Initiative will run on Friday.)

(This week L.A. Streetsblog will be looking at the projects completed as part of a PLACE Grant awarded to Culver City in 2008. Part of that grant was a "physical project" that would demonstrate the city's committment to creating a more bicycle and pedestrian friendly atmosphere. Don't forget to tag any responses with #ccsb.) As part of every PLACE Grant, each of the five municipalities had to complete a physical project to demonstrate the goals of the grant.  The main goal of Culver City's grant was to create the Bicycle and Pedestrian Initiative, the city's first serious attempt to do long-term planning for bicycling and pedestrian projects.  However, the city also needed to complete a "Downtown Connector" that would provide safe and comfortable passage for cyclists and pedestrians between the future Expo Line Station and Downtown Culver City. The city just completed the connector project in the last several weeks.

This week, Streetsblog begins its month-long series examining the impact of five public health grants awarded by the L.A. County Department of Public Health in 2008.  The goal of the Policies for Livable, Active Communities and Environments (PLACE) Grants is to change the character of community plans to encourage more walking, bicycling and active lifestyles.  The grant program is the first attempt to try and link transportation policy and the creation of healthy communities that support active lifestyles.

It's been two weeks since staff for Culver City and members of the Expo Construction Authority faced off in a public meeting over the status of the Culver City Station and money that the Culver City has promised the Authority.

In November of 2007, the Expo Construction Authority and Culver City agreed that instead of building a "temporary" station at the terminus of Phase I of the Expo Project, that the Authority would build the permanent aerial station in time for the grand opening of Phase I.  As part of that agreement, Culver City agreed to pay the Authority $7 million to cover some of the construction costs.