Category Archives: SaMo Safe Streets Alliance

Action Alert: Support Pedestrian Pilot on Main Street

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June 8th Council Meeting 

This Tuesday, Santa Monica City Council is expected to vote on final approval of the pilot program for temporary weekend street closures for vehicular traffic for a few weekends this summer on Main Street. In other cities programs like this have proven to reduce car use, support local businesses, and increase walking and biking. Santa Monica City Council needs to hear from you – share your support for a more sustainable, walkable, and vibrant Santa Monica! We want Santa Monica to be a great place for residents, workers, students and visitors of all ages to safely walk, bike, and scoot. As we emerge out of the pandemic, finding creative ways like this to support healthy active mobility and our local businesses by providing more outdoor experiences is critical for our community wellbeing and our economic recovery. 

We know you may have previously sent an email or submitted a survey but we need you to help demonstrate support to Council this evening with a short note to ensure that Item 7-A is approved. Click and customize the template below.

Santa Monica Spoke enthusiastically supports the Main Street Buisness Improvement District and the Ocean Park Neighborhood Association pilot. Other cities in the US and around the world have long been discovering the economic and safety benefits of slow and shared streets for safer, more equitable and sustainable mobility, for people walking, biking, scooting and driving. We have the data, we know that prioritizing people over cars makes streets safer for everyone, improves gridlock, is better for the environment, and indeed improves the experience of mobility regardless of mode. By providing safer and healthier options that encourage more people to leave their cars behind and explore the city, we improve safety, climate impacts, economic and environmental resilience, and vitality for our future. 

This item will be heard tomorrow at the Tuesday, June 8th council meeting.
Please send a quick note of support on Item 7-A, pilot program for weekend closures on Main Street, to the members of City Council* — template and email addresses listed below.
*preferably by noon on Tuesday June 8th. 

Example from Santa Barbara 

Template: Please personalize as you like

To: councilmtgitems@smgov.net, sue.himmelrich@smgov.net, kristin.mccowan@smgov.net, phil.brock@smgov.net, gleam.davis@smgov.net, oscar.delatorre@smgov.net, Kevin.McKeown@smgov.net, christine.parra@smgov.net

Dear Mayor and Santa Monica City Council,

As a Santa Monica resident, I support the pilot to pedestrianize Main Street for a few weekends this summer and hope you will consider making it permanent. Pedestrianized streets are more vibrant and encourage people to visit by foot, bicycle or scooter and leave their car at home. Pedestrian streets improve the visitor experience, encourage people to stay and bring in more customers to shops and restaurants. Streets that are pedestrianized are much more relaxing and enjoyable to visit and eat outdoors than a street with the noise and pollution of car traffic.

I very much support this program and ask that you vote to approve of the pilot on Main Street!

Protected Bike Lane Amendment Adopted by SM City Council

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On Tuesday, October 13th, Santa Monica City Council unanimously adopted the Bike Action Plan Amendment adding protected bike lanes to the Current 2011 Bike Action Plan. We were humbled and grateful for the youth that spoke so passionately and articulately at the online meeting — despite the late hour — in support of expanding protected bike lanes and safety for our community, workers, students and visitors.

Broadway Protected Bike Lanes

We’d like to thank City Staff for their meticulous work preparing the Draft Plan and the Santa Monica City Council for their continued direction and support to expand healthy active transportation options in Santa Monica along with necessary infrastructure and safety improvements for people walking, biking, scooting or driving cars. Together – with commitments like this – we can and must continue to prioritize improving safety for all, particularly our most vulnerable road users.

You can click these links to:
View the Staff Report
Watch the meeting – scroll to item 8A under the video to jump to the item.
Visit Info page Bike Action Plan Update: Protected Bikeway Network – Project Goal
DRAFT Bike Action Plan Amendment



Also Check this out!
Ocean Avenue Project – Protected Bikeway and Expanding Outside Dining

Want More Protected Bikes Lanes in Santa Monica?

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Well the day has come! The Bike Action Plan Amendment will be brought to City Council the evening of October 13th for adoption.

Newest Protected Bike Lane on Broadway in Santa Monica

This exciting Bike Action Plan Amendment will advance the goals of the original 2011 Bike Plan by officially adding protected bike lanes, a relatively new type of approved bikeway that better meets the needs of our Santa Monica community of residents and visitors. Protected bike lanes add separation between people bicycling/scooting and people driving, which reduces opportunities for conflicts and are proven to create an environment that is more welcoming to a broader spectrum of people including families with children, novice riders, and those who are just nervous about riding on the road.

The Bike Action Plan Amendment will help move our City to improve:
• Safety: Reducing conflicts result in fewer fatal crashes and fewer crashes overall as people on bicycles and scooters move with more protection from motorized car traffic.
• Sustainability and Climate Action: Safer options encourage local trips walking, bicycling or scooting, reduce transportation emissions while increasing safety and equitable access for everyone. 
• Economic Recovery: COVID-19 has re-emphasized the role of living local, supporting community businesses, shops, and eateries. Protected bike lanes help in creating a network of safer and convenient bikeways to enable residents, visitors, and workers to walk, bike and scoot to local businesses, schools, parks, transit stations, and other destinations.

We invite you to join us by provide your input and showing your support for protected bike lanes and the Bike Action Plan Amendment. The Bike Action Plan Amendment will be presented to Santa Monica City Council for consideration on Tuesday October 13, 2020, and further information is available on the project website.

Email Council at: councilmtgitems@smgov.net
Subject Item: 8A

Read our letter of support HERE

Bike Action Plan Update: Protected Bikeway Network

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Santa Monica Bikeway Network Vision Map

Project Goal

The 2011 Bike Action plan provided a road map for developing Santa Monica’s bicycle network including a 5-year and 20-year visions. Back in 2011 protected bicycle lanes were not yet as well-known or accepted in highway design in the United States but began picking up steam not long after it’s adoption. Protected bike lanes have for some time been central component of our advocacy here in Santa Monica, as well as cross the US. This Amendment provides an vital updates to the Bike Action Plan so that it may build on it’s 20-year vision by incorporating now accepted best paretics by updating corridors to protected bike lanes. The Amendment is being developed following the same goals and objectives of the Bike Action Plan, but includes an updated approach to meet the needs of Santa Monica today. This Bike Plan Amendment is also an essential component as it creates an encouraging path forward for Santa Monica to build a network of protected bikeways citywide in the next five years, helps the City compete for outside grant funding, support our progress towards the community’s climate, safety, and mobility goals, while building resilience during these uncertain economic times with a vision for a more sustainable and resilient future. 

Project Website

Find our more in this informative video presentation of the Bike Action Plan Amendment’s objectives and goals:

View options and give input on this Mobility Dept Survey

Project  Downloads:

Project Information English/Spanish

City Contacts:

Carlos Morales Carlos.Morales@smgov.net
Kyle Kozar Kyle.Kozar@smgov.net 

Together, we can create a safe—and friendly—Santa Monica FOR EVERYONE

MOTHERLOAD Online Community Screening, Santa Monica Spoke

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Click image to view to the event page

Updated panel!!
Join us for an Online Screening of the film MOTHERLOAD | and a Live Panel Discussion.

RSVP for your link to watch the film (on demand) prior to our live panel as we discuss the film’s lessons on the intersections how #BikesUnite, #LessCarMoreGo, and our struggle for social change on May 31st, 7:30pm with:

• Liz Canning, Filmmaker/Director
• Ross Evans, Xtracycle’s Cargo-bike Evangelical Optimist (CEO)
• Cynthia Rose, Santa Monica Spoke, Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance
• Cris Gutierrez, Climate Corps, Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance
• Larry Kraemer, PE – Director of Public Infrastructure, Cannon
• Debs Schrimmer, Senior Manager, Future Cities, Lyft

Click image for more information on our panelist.

THE STRUGGLE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE, MOTHERLOAD is a crowd-sourced documentary about a new mother’s quest to understand our current cultural shift toward isolation and disconnection, what this could mean for the future of the planet, and how life on a cargo bike could be the antidote. As filmmaker Liz Canning explores the burgeoning global movement to replace cars with purpose-built bikes, she learns about the bicycle’s history and potential future as the ultimate “social revolutionizer.” Her experiences as a cyclist, as a mother, and in discovering the cargo bike world, make it clear to Liz that sustainability is not necessarily about compromise and sacrifice and there are few things more empowering, in an age of consumption, than the ability to create everything from what seems to be nothing.

* rsvp to view the movie starting Saturday, May 30th

Watch the Trailer

MOTHERLOAD THE MOVIE  —        

This event is made possible by our local Community Sponsors:
CannonCorp and Lyft

https://www.smspoke.org/motherload-panelists-and-event-partners/

Get the latest on the event HERE