Santa Monica Next

While researching the Streetsblog Los Angeles story concerning the new regional push for bike share, I had a chance to talk with Santa Monica Mayor Pam O'Connor about what role Santa Monica has in the regional effort. As Gary Kavanagh reported last month, Santa Monica leaped Long Beach and Los Angeles in the race to be the first L.A. County city to have bike share when it approved a motion to pursue proposals for a city-wide bike share system.

(This is part II of a two part series on Santa Monica Next. Part I is here. - DN)

On Tuesday Night, the Santa Monica City Council approved a motion by a 5-1 vote (Bob Holbrook the dissenting vote and Pam O'Conner absent), to move forward with soliciting request for proposals ("shopping" as city attorney Moutrie referred to it), for a city-wide bike share system.

This Sunday was the city's Pop-Up MANGo event to demo and solicit input for possible neighborhood greenway proposals in the Michigan Ave. corridor of the Pico Neighborhood. It was well attended throughout the 11-3 event, by supporters, by detractors of certain ideas under consideration, and locals wanting to check out the ideas and give input. In my time as an observer of Santa Monica and regional planning efforts in other neighboring cities, I have never seen such a thorough effort (including prior workshops and meeting) to get feedback for a potential street reconfiguration, and  also demonstrate the possibilities on-site.

Riders listen to Frank Gruber as planes and jets idled and landed. All images via Bryan "Orange" Baretta/Santa Monica Spoke. For more pics from the ride, click here.

After 3 years in the works and dozens of public workshops and meetings before commissions and the council, the Bergamot Area Plan has finally passed Tuesday night (really Wednesday morning) with a 6-1 vote. The vote both approves the plan (which will take effect in October), and clarifying that the plan takes the place of existing zoning for the area.

This next coming Tuesday, the Bergamot Area Plan is going to the city council for possible adoption. The Bergamot Area Plan, is one of the key pieces of the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) general plan. The plan scope area is at the heart of the arts and commercial office centers of the eastern end of the city, and which is soon to have train service again in a few years.

Last week, Santa Monica held two meetings for the Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway proposal, following an earlier presentation to Santa Monica Spoke. I've now seen the latest developments on this project presented and discussed 3 separate times to different audiences.

Last week, the City of Malibu released a draft study addressing safety issues on the 21 miles of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) that runs through the city. The release coincided with the launch of an online survey to garner feedback from the public on a series of possible safety improvements.