Thank you to all of you who emailed Governor Newsom and asked him to sign the Complete Streets Bill! Now, we’re joining California Bicycle Coalition and safe streets partners in ramping up the pressure to pass this bill for safer biking and walking on local streets that Caltrans controls.
Caltrans is too often an obstacle when local communities try to create livable streets. Please call Gov. Newsom and ask him to sign SB 127, the Complete Streets for Active Living Bill. Call (916) 445-2841 right now!
State your name, zip code, and that you are calling to urge the governor to support SB 127. Here are some additional talking points: • SB 127 is the most-cost effective way to make our streets safer. • SB 127 is a sensible law that will require Caltrans to follow its own Complete Streets policies. • If you are serious about tackling climate change, we have to make it easier and safer to bike, walk, and take transit. SB 127 will do all that.
Caltrans is too often an obstacle when local communities try to create livable streets. Tell Governor Newsom to sign SB 127 for safer streets. Call him at (916) 445-2841 now.
Thank you!
P.S. Every call makes a difference. Please call Governor Newsom now at (916) 445-2841.
No matter where you live, we ask you to take action to protect the Vision Zero project in Mar Vista. We can’t let misinformation and impatience stop us from building safer streets and more vibrant communities.
We wanted to reach out to all of you who support the roadway safety project implemented on Venice Blvd in Mar Vista.
Today (02/27), the City Council Transportation Committee will vote on whether to make the project’s changes permanent. Restore Venice will be there in force to oppose the project – AGAIN – and have also filed a lawsuit to try to get the city to reverse it. This small but vocal group of opponents continues to organize to get the project removed. Let the Council know that these improvements are important to you by sending a letter. It can be as simple as a couple of sentences or you can express more of your personal opinions. You may also use the letter template below, please customize this email where you see it highlighted. The important thing is that you include the Council File # and email it to both the City Clerk and Hannah Levien from Mikes Bonin’s office. They need to receive it before the meeting at 2:00 pm – the earlier the better.
Thank you for continuing to support safe streets and livable communities! The letters help enormously!
EMAIL INFORMATION: One Click to send email HERE – please customize textÂ
RE: Council File 19-0092, Venice Blvd Great Street
Dear Councilmembers Bonin, Koretz, and Martinez,
I am a community member who (lives/bikes/walks/drives/shops) on Venice Blvd, and I am writing to support making the Mar Vista street safety improvements permanent and ask the committee to deny the CEQA appeal.
The Great Streets improvements have made Venice Blvd. a more vibrant corridor by increasing walking, biking, and scooting by 11%. At the same time, it has significantly increased the number of new storefronts and added $3 million in business revenue to the sector. Most importantly, Venice Blvd. is undeniably safer: no fatalities or serious injuries have occurred in its first year of implementation.
Traffic violence is the number one killer of children aged 14 and younger in America. In 2017 alone, 270 people died walking and biking in the streets of Los Angeles. This is part of why I’m working with an active community of neighbors pushing to make our streets safer.
Thank you for supporting this project and denying the CEQA appeal. The new Venice Blvd. increases our safety, decreases our environmental impacts, and makes Venice Blvd. more easy to travel and a more people-centered place.
CalBike and Senator Scott Wiener Introduce ‘Complete Streets’ Legislation Ensuring State-Owned Roads Prioritize Safety of People Walking and Biking
Each year, thousands of Californians needlessly suffer injury and death on our streets. Why?Because our streets are designed for cars to move fast, instead of for people to move safely.
That’s why our statewide advocacy organization -the California Bicycle Coalition is joining Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), and coalition partners California Walks, Safe Routes to School National Partnership, and the American Heart Association in introducing Senate Bill 127, “Complete Streets for Active Living,†to make state-owned roads safe for everyone.
State-owned streets are often major surface streets that run through our communities. Unfortunately, Caltrans designers too often treat them like busy highways instead of the main streets they are—places to work, play, shop, and learn. They design them for fast car traffic, not for safety, because they are only required to consider safety improvements when they repair such streets. The Complete Streets for Active Living bill requires them to implement safety improvements. It elevates safety to the top of the priority list when Caltrans is repaving or rehabilitating a street. The difference is that now they’re required to consider safety improvements by internal policy, which means they can and usually consider and reject them. This bill will require them to implement safety improvements unless they have good reason not to.
CalBike’s Senior Policy Advocate Linda Khamoushian said it clearly at the press conference announcing the bill’s introduction: “Every day, poor street design causes hundreds of avoidable injuries and deaths on our roads. Because of this, the lives of our loved ones are altered by injury or cut short by speed. Because of this, we continue to divide communities and ignore our residents who need to or have the ability to walk and bike for their everyday needs. Because of this, we have systematically created barriers to healthy movement and affordable transportation for all Californians.â€
Senator Scott Wiener added, “For too long, Caltrans has talked about complete streets as a policy, but hasn’t actually delivered these improvements in its projects. SB 127 ensures that as we rehabilitate state highways that run through the centers of our towns and cities, we prioritize active transportation uses like walking, bicycling, and riding public transportation. Streets designed for all residents create safer, healthier, and more inclusive communities. Ensuring everyone has access to safe streets also encourages alternate modes of transportation, which can help reduce vehicle miles traveled, and help us fight climate change.â€
You can help by sharing about the campaign with your community, and if you or anyone you know is interested in highlighting how SB 127 will help conditions in your community, please contact CalBike’s Policy or Communications teams. Stay up-to-date with this Complete Streets campaign and more at Santa Monica Spoke and at calbike.org — join the conversation on social media @CalBike.
🗳 Election Day 2018 is Today, Tuesday November 6th! 🗳
Have you VOTED yet!?! What should you know?
• Polls are open from 7am – 8pm.
• As long as you’re in line before 8pm, YOU CAN VOTE.
• Breeze Bike Share is FREE along with other shared mobility. All Local transit providers are offering free rides Election Day Nov. 6th.
• If you missed the registration deadline for this election YOU CAN STILL VOTE. Under California Election Law, Conditional Voter Registration (CVR) allows a prospective voter to conditionally register AND cast a provisional ballot ON ELECTION DAY.
EXERCISE YOUR RIGHT TO VOTE – Biking to the polls?, tag/tweet @SMSpoke @CalBike @BikeLeague with a picture and #IBikeIVote!
Please Vote NO on Prop 6
Click image for more info on why #NoProp6
Prop 6 threatens thousands of jobs, your public transit system, your safety when you walk and bike, our environment, and our progress toward transportation equity. Please join us, the California Bicycle Coalition and the many local bicycle advocacy organizations that have taken a position, along with hundreds of other organizations across the state in saying no to Prop 6.
Just as we are making progress in our campaign to ensure the state always takes bike and pedestrian safety into account in transportation funding, Proposition 6 threatens to tear it all apart. If it passes, Prop 6 will cancel $5.2 billion in funding for desperately needed transportation projects repairing roads across California—thousands of them already underway. Thanks to this funding, the 2018 state transportation budget put a greater proportion of funding into transit, walking, and biking than any previous state transportation budget.
❌ #NoProp6 for equity in transportation and a greener, more sustainable #California!
You can support #CleanAir #CompleteStreets by voting 11/6!
Find your polling place and more to plan for #ElectionTuesday here: https://www.smvote.org 🗳
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.
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.
Have you VOTED yet!?!
