Category Archives: Funding

Action Alert: Local Safe Streets Funding

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Meeting: Tuesday, June 25th, Council Agenda Item 14A (attachment B)
Support item 14A: Parking Facilities Tax Measure

Santa Monica Spoke and the Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance request your help in support of placing a measure on the November ballot that – if approved – would help fund safer streets in Santa Monica. The measure is an increase in the parking facilities tax that would allocate steady funding for programs and infrastructure projects to build safer streets in Santa Monica for everyone.   

Join us to email the council to approve placing a parking facilities tax measure on the November ballot that if approved by the voters would increase the Santa Monica parking facility tax by 8%, only applied to private lots. 

As Santa Monica strives toward economic recovery, budget shortfalls have hindered the City’s ability to expand services to levels that meet the community’s needs and expectations. The leading cause of death for our children in LA County is motor vehicle crashes. Let’s make sure we are funding safer street projects. 

This measure would generate around $7 million annually for our community to help fund safe street programs and infrastructure. This increase will not affect costs in city-owned parking lots downtown or at the beach. The tax increase would impact people using overnight parking or utilizing private parking facilities. 

Not since 1995 – almost 30 years ago – has our local parking facility tax been updated. Santa Monica’s values and norms lead with sustainability and climate actions as we steadily work to meet our climate goals. Over 2/3 of our city’s emissions stem from transportation, particularly motor vehicles. It is critical to stop subsidizing and incentivizing car trips.

Join us today and add your voice to help strengthen the community’s call for a fair increase of the parking facility tax to help fund safer streets. This measure could have a significant and positive impact on improving street safety. Let the Santa Monica City Council know that a healthier and more equitable future requires us to act today with creative solutions like this ballot measure to increase the parking facility tax by 8% –
let’s support putting it to a vote in November!

One Click email to Council:  Please do add your comments and personal stories if you can!

Or use/personalize this “copy and paste / template” below:

Send emails to:
To: councilmtgitems@santamonica.gov, council@smgov.net
gleam.davis@santamonica.gov, jesse.zwick@santamonica.gov, Caroline.Torosis@santamonica.gov, lana.negrete@santamonica.gov, oscar.delatorre@santamonica.gov, phil.brock@santamonica.gov, christine.parra@santamonica.gov
cc: david.white@santamonica.gov, Anuj.Gupta@santamonica.gov
bcc: info@smspoke.org

Subject: Support item 14A: Parking Facilities Tax Measure

Dear Santa Monica City Council Members: 

Please support item 14A (attachment B) that places a measure on the November ballot that would help fund safer streets in Santa Monica.

It is time for us to get more serious about reducing incentives to drive and make sure motor vehicle drivers contribute to funding safe streets for everyone.

The leading cause of death for our children in LA County is motor vehicle crashes. Over 2/3 of our city’s emissions stem from transportation, particularly motor vehicle use. To achieve a cleaner and safer Santa Monica, it is critical to stop subsidizing and incentivizing car trips. As Santa Monica recovers economically – this measure can create a critical step towards achieving our adopted climate goals and improve safety for everyone who lives in and visits our city regardless of how they travel. It’s been nearly 30 years since parking fees were updated.  Let’s do this now!

We will never meet our goals to reduce car trips if we continue to subsidize parking that only encourages driving. This measure allocates funding for programs and infrastructure projects aimed at creating a safer, more environmentally sustainable, and joyous Santa Monica for everyone

Please vote to approve placing this Parking Facilities Tax Measure on the November ballot and give Santa Monica residents the opportunity to vote on this important measure.

Please support item 14A, Attachment B, Parking Facilities Tax Measure

Action Item 16D: Improve Safety and Support Safe Routes to School funding. Email Council Today

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This Tuesday, 12/19, Santa Monica City Council proposes an opportunity to create funding for Safe Street Infrastructure and Safe Routes to School.

On Tuesday, at the request of safety champions Councilmembers Zwick, Davis, and Torosis, Santa Monica City Council will vote on item 16D potentially placing a measure on the November 2024 ballot to increase the parking facility tax while preserving free 90-minute parking in the downtown lots. This measure can help to address traffic congestion and with it the risk of traffic fatalities and serious injuries in Santa Monica.

Send an email to voice your support of the City Council Agenda Item 16D motion by Councilmember Zwick, Torosis and Mayor Davis to reduce traffic and improve safety. Click here to send your email

This measure would generate funding to be used to prioritize today’s youth and future generations by restoring essential resources to Santa Monica’s Safe Routes to School programs. Resources would fund safety-enhancing street infrastructure to protect children, elderly and disabled residents; add additional school crossing guards and traffic enforcement officers. Additionally funds would be used to address the deferred maintenance needs of the City’s downtown parking structures.

Join us in support of item 16D and help create a significant and positive impact for street safety and climate resiliency in Santa Monica with resources to fund safety-enhancing street infrastructure and protect the most vulnerable in our community, and all who live in or visit Santa Monica.

Easy One click to Email Council
We encourage you to personalize, add your own stories or comments – and please don’t forget to sign your name and add your zip code.

Council item emails: 
gleam.davis@santamonica.gov, phil.brock@santamonica.gov, christine.parra@santamonica.gov, lana.negrete@santamonica.gov, jesse.zwick@santamonica.gov, Caroline.Torosis@santamonica.gov, oscar.delatorre@santamonica.gov, councilmtgitems@santamonica.gov, david.white@santamonica.gov, Anuj.Gupta@santamonica.gov, council@smgov.net,

Action Alert: Stop Attack on Bike/Walk Funding

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Last year, the legislature increased taxes and fees on gasoline and certain vehicles to help maintain our crumbling roads, bridges, and highways. They were smart about it, emphasizing maintaining what we have, and including biking and walking infrastructure to the tune of $100 million per year.

But now that funding is under attack. And we need your help to defend it.

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Anti-tax activists have gotten Proposition 6 placed on the November ballot. Prop 6 will eliminate this critical funding and the transportation projects it supports, making it much harder to make our streets safe for biking and walking.

We need your help to fight the repeal. And for the month of August, your donation will be doubled. Our friends at Cohen Law Partners have pledged a $10,000 match for safer streets.

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Chip in today to defend the gas tax and make our streets safer.

Thanks,

Dave Snyder, Executive Director
Cynthia Rose, Vice President, Board of Directors
California Bicycle Coalition

P.S. With your help, we can beat back the repeal effort and make our streets safer for all road users. Chip in now to make the most of this match.

Thanks to our friends at Cohen Law Partners for this generous match.

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Sign the Petition for Safer Street TODAY!

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We invite you to participate at the May 9th City Council Meeting by joining us, sending your personal input to council, and Signing the Petition for Safer Streets Today!

Will you attend? RSVP@SMSpoke.org

First the Fun !

At the May 9th Council Meeting the Mayor will proclaim May as Bike Month in 2017!
Join us to celebrate our communities dedication to biking and healthily active transportation.

Next ACTION !

“the current epidemic of serious injuries and traffic fatalities is nearing double digits in just the last few weeks”

At the May 9th meeting the City Council will hear from staff and the public on the City’s efforts on pedestrian and biking safety programs, infrastructure improvements and implementation on Vision Zero.  Here is the Staff Report on Vision Zero, Bike Action Plan, and Pedestrian Action Plan Implementation. The Council’s agenda has the hearing immediately after the consent calendar; we expect it to begin between 6:30 and 7:30 pm this Tuesday.With the 2 year budget soon to be discussed this is our opportunity to tell our city leaders we want true commitment to safety in the form of dedicated funding for improved safety infrastructure. This is our chance to tell the City that we want them to hire a full-time pedestrian safety coordinator to coordinate Vision Zero and to fund improved safety infrastructure, like buffered bike lanes, better crosswalks, and safer sidewalks.

Without a pedestrian coordinator dedicated to the task of Vision Zero to coordinate between City departments and to shepherd and oversee projects we can never realize the commitment Santa Monica made to reduce preventable traffic fatalities to zero in 10 years. The City must be transparent, coordinated and data driven if we ever wish to solve the growing epidemic of serious injuries and fatalities due to traffic collisions!

Santa Monica has demonstrated it’s commitment to the environment and reducing emissions by encouraging residents and visitors toward alternate modes of transportation like walking, biking and public transportation. With that there is also the obligation to keep us safe when we opt for these modes for our health and for the health of our community through the commitment of funds for staff and projects. With the current epidemic of serious injuries and traffic fatalities nearing double digits in just the last few weeks in Santa Monica — the time is now to make that commitment!  One’s life should not be put at risk for walking or riding a bike to get to our daily destinations.

If you have not yet signed the petition, we invite you to do so now. PLEASE also invite your friends and family to sign before the City Council Meeting May 9th. In addition to the petition you are also invited to send your thoughts and concerns directly to City Council members in advance of the May 9th meeting by emailing council@smgov.net.

If you have questions please do not hesitate to email us Info@SMSpoke.org

Click here to Sign the Petition for Safer Streets Today!

CalBike and the CA State Transportation Bill needs our help!

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California Bicycle Coalition

You’ve probably heard about how our state transportation bill, which California Bicycle Coalition / CalBike has been working on for the past two years, has been poisoned by a last-minute deal with the trucking industry that would exempt large dirty diesel trucks from air pollution regulations.

Support us today to defeat this deal.

The policy team at CalBike is fighting right now in Sacramento for a better deal for people biking and walking, and to protect communities that have suffered decades of crummy transportation policy that has put cars first instead of people. We can’t let our state government sell these communities’ clean air and healthy lungs to the trucking industry.

With your support, we can stop this deal and get a great transportation bill with more money for biking, walking, and transit, and no dirty trucks loophole.

Donate right now to help the policy team defeat the dirty trucks loophole.

Thank you,
Cynthia Rose, Board Member
Jenn Guitart, Development Director
California Bicycle Coalition

P.S. People are counting on us to fix this deal, and we’re counting on you. Join us today in this fight.

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California Bicycle Coalition · 466 Water St, Oakland, CA 94607, United StatesÂ