Category Archives: Vision Zero

Santa Monica Spoke Meeting

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Please join us for a gathering to get receive your input and get updates on Santa Monica Spoke’s community engagement, education, outreach, volunteer opportunities, Bike Month and the Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance. We will be joined by Santa Monica City Mobility staff to receive exciting updates on the launch of the “Take the Friendly Road” Campaign, Vision Zero, Updates on the Bike Action Plan and more.

Doors open at 9:30 with coffee and bagels. The meeting will start promptly at 10:00am

Kid friendly

Agenda will be posted to the event page here

Action Alert: Venice Blvd Great Street under attack AGAIN

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>>>>>>> JOIN US IN TAKING ACTION >>>>>>>

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 text 

To: councilmember.bonin@lacity.org, paul.koretz@lacity.org, councilmember.martinez@lacity.org, john.white@lacity.org, cityclerk@lacity.org, hannah.levien@lacity.org
bcc: jesi@la-bike.org, Cynthia.Rose@SMSpoke.org

SAMPLE EMAIL: please personalize

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. 

Your neighbor,
[Your name]
[Your address]

City of Santa Monica Open Streets Event COAST: October 7th, 10am-4pm

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Celebrates Art, Sustainability, + Mobility
Sunday, October 7, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

This Sunday is the City of Santa Monica’s third annual open streets event COAST presented by Metro. At this free event, the public will experience two miles of streets closed to car traffic and filled with interactive art exhibits, live performances, local food and business purveyors, and connections with families, friends, and neighbors.
More info on COAST HERE

Visit Santa Monica Spoke and the Santa Monica Safe Street Alliance on route in front of the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.

  • Free Bike and Small Wheels Skills, Safety & Obstacle course for the kids (11am-3pm)– bikes/helmets provided by Santa Monica Safe Routes to School
  • FREE bike safety checks by Performance Bicycle Santa Monica
  • BEST Class” Bicycling 101 (1pm – 2pm) register HERE for Free
    – no bike needed for this workshop
    – gifts for all attendees – (please register)
  • Lots of great information all day at COAST
    – free and low cost helmets while they last.

In its second year in 2017, COAST welcomed more than 50,000 visitors of all ages to Downtown Santa Monica for the event. This year the route will feature a variety of interactive and eclectic performances including a performance stage on Ocean Avenue at Santa Monica Boulevard, strolling musicians, dancers and large-scale immersive art installations at site-specific locations to be discovered along the route.

Aerial Artist John Q will gather up to 1,000 people in real time at the event creating a live human installation to artistically illustrate art, mobility and sustainability. Artists Jana Cruder and Matthew LaPenta demonstrate the impact of disposable plastic on the natural environment with their larger-than-life art installation titled, Natural Plasticity, constructed of a massive plastic straw and giant plastic bottle towering nearly 30 feet high. Event goers will have an opportunity to contribute their personal mark to artist Peter Tigler’s interactive thumbprint mural that will take shape with public participation to illustrate a message of mobility and sustainability.

Time:
Volunteers: 8:00am – 12:30pm
Participants: 11:30am – 12:30pm
(photograph at 12pm sharp!)

Where:
Volunteers will meet in downtown Santa Monica, on Ocean Ave just north of Santa Monica Blvd. There will be an A frame with a bright umbrella just north of the stage where folks can assemble. A volunteer coordinator will be there to greet everyone. Participants arriving at 11:30am will see us set up just north of the stage, the image will be more obvious / laid out by then.

The Santa Monica Community Garden offers a variety of ways to explore the natural world through garden tours, arts and crafts, planting tips, and a how-to on preparing home-grown vegetables. Active Santa Monica will lead a series of engaging sessions ranging from dance to sports.

Click map to download PDF

COAST will be held on two miles of streets closed to street traffic, including Ocean Avenue from Wilshire Boulevard to Tongva Park, as well as Main Street to Marine Street. To attend COAST, visitors can ride the Expo Line, Big Blue Bus, or take advantage of Santa Monica’s 110 miles of bikeways.

Attendees are encouraged to use all human power mobility, ride bikes or walk along the route. Bike rental will be available at multiple locations along the route as well as 85 Breeze stations located throughout Santa Monica. Free bike valets will be available to make it easy to check-in your bike to grab lunch and enjoy the entertainment.

For more information about COAST, visit www.smgov.net/coast and join the conversation on social media using #COASTSaMo. For more information about Metro’s Open Streets Program, visit https://www.metro.net/projects/active-transportation/metro-open-streets-grant-program/.

The event is funded by Metro’s Open Streets Grant Program, which seeks to bring visitors to new parts of the region to explore and enjoy car-free streets within Los Angeles County. Metro supports numerous active transportation programs that create better conditions for walking and bicycling, particularly to connect with Metro’s growing public transit system. The agency’s Open Streets Program, the largest of its kind in the United States, invests approximately $2 million each year for car-free events, many in new communities. In total, 23 Open Streets events have been hosted to date. 

Safe Streets for 17th Street & Michigan Ave

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Safe Streets for 17th Street & Michigan Avenue goes before
Santa Monica City Council Tonight.

We LOVE this project.
You can explore more HERE and HERE

Today we sent a letter to the Santa Monica City Council, management and staff in support of Safe Streets for 17th Street and Michigan Avenue. We hope you will join us and send an email with your thoughts to Council@SMGov.net

Dear Mayor Ted Winterer, Santa Monica City Council, management and staff:

Thank you for your leadership as we move toward a more sustainable, healthier and active multimodal Santa Monica. Attached is our letter expressing our enthusiastic support of the Safe Streets for 17th Street and Michigan Avenue Project and the allocation of funds to “green bike lanes” — making them more visible, safe and inviting. In particular we would like to thank the Mobility Division and Carlos Morales for their planning of this visionary project and the dedication to robust and inclusive outreach as we move toward final planning and implementation. We do believe moving the implementation to the fastest timeline feasible would be a community benefit and get us closer too achieving our city’s safety and mobility goals.

Thank you
Cynthia Rose & Cris Gutierrez

Support Letter:
2018 July 24 Council Agenda Item 8C SM Spoke CASM SaMoSSA

 

April Distracted Driving Awareness Month

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Thousands have died in vehicle crashes because drivers are distracted by cell phone conversations, emails, text messages and social media. Do not become a statistic. Here are some tips to keep your eyes on the road, your hands on the wheel and your mind on the drive.

  • First and foremost, turn off your cell phone. Put it in the glove compartment, in your purse or in your trunk. There is no safe way to make a call while driving – not even hands-free.
  • Send and read text messages and emails before you start driving.
  • If you’re going on a longer drive, schedule breaks to stop, park safely, and respond to messages.
  • Using voice features in your car’s infotainment system is also distracting. Take care of communications before you start driving.
  • Know where you’re going before you put the car in “drive.” Put your destination into your GPS so you do not need to touch it while the car is moving.
  • Social media can wait. No update, tweet or video is worth a life.
  • Park in a safe area if you must take a call, return a text or check email.

Do not call or text friends or family if you know they are driving.

Distracted driving is an epidemic.
Be part of the solution, Just Drive.

nsc.org/justdrive