Communities

At last evening’s meeting of the Santa Monica City Council, Councilmember Phil Brock pulled his motion concerning the 17th Street protected bikeway that Santa Monica Next covered earlier. Both Councilmember Jesse Zwick and Mayor Gleam Davis separately took issue with the two major components of the motion. Brock, who clearly did not want the 17th Street issue to turn into a repeat of the debacle in Culver City, pulled the motion before Council debate was completed.

Tomorrow the Metro Planning Committee will vote on a Metro staff proposal to allocate $8 million for a 405 Freeway expansion project that would add additional lanes to the 405 between Artesia Boulevard and the 105 Freeway.

At tonight’s Santa Monica City Council meeting, Councilmembers Phil Brock and Oscar de la Torre are asking city staff to report “regarding bicycle and pedestrian improvements installed on 17th Street from Pico to Wilshire.” (Item 16b, read the agenda here.) 

Metro's new downtown subway connector opens in one week: Friday, June 16

The city plans to replace its very large shelters with streamlined designs that still cast shade

This week’s SGV Connect is the second in our “Reclaimers” series, focusing on the efforts of a group of formerly homeless activists housed in formerly unoccupied El Sereno homes owned by Caltrans.

Up in the West San Fernando Valley is what appears to be the city’s of Los Angeles’ most substandard bike facility, and the city has all too many inadequate bike facilities to choose from. A stretch of De Soto Avenue has a three-foot wide bike lane, two feet of which are the concrete gutter. It’s at the intersection of De Soto and El Rancho Road, located in the community of Woodland Hills. It’s just one long block south of the Metro J Line (Orange) Bus Rapid Transit and bike path, and right across the street from Pierce College.

The wait will soon be over.

Much of the equestrian community’s agricultural zoning has been proposed for change to residential zoning. Planners say it’s not meant to push out horse use.