Support Council Item 16E for Safer Streets: Email Council Today!

Click here to go see the full Council Agenda

Please join us, along with our Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance partners to support Santa Monica City Council Members Zwick, Torosis, and Mayor Davis’ Item 16E that proposes we prioritize timely and effective solutions to make our streets safe for everyone. Voice your support in directing the City to measures that prevent dangerous motor vehicle incursions into our current and future bike infrastructure. Please join us and send your support to Council in advance of the meeting Tuesday, September 12th with this “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.

Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance is a collaboration of local and regional advocacy organizations and community members that together promote and support the implementation of our community’s shared goals of complete streets that are designed to be safe, equitable and welcoming to everyone.

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

The Engine Inside: Film Screening and Panel Discussion

Wednesday, September 6th at the Aero Theatre, (doors open at 6pm)
The event is FREE to ALL but you must register to attend
Free Bike Valet will be provided

Click image to view trailer

The Engine Inside follows six everyday people from vastly different worlds who dedicate their lives to a simple, 200-year-old machine. Their trials and tribulations reveal the bicycle’s unique power to change lives and help build a better world.

Covering many different global issues—from climate change and indigenous trauma to socio-economic inequality and more livable cities —The Engine Inside sparks hope and agency in everyone it touches.

Screening will be followed by a Live Panel Discussion with Jason Kligier, Mobility Manager at City of Santa Monica, Cynthia Rose, Director Santa Monica Spoke and
Cris Gutierrez, Santa Monica Safe Streets Alliance.
The panel will be moderated by Ferris Kawar, Sustainability Manager, Santa Monica College.
See more info in our Calendar event HERE

The Details

  • Event starts: Wednesday, September 6 at 7pm PDT
  • Location: Aero Theater at 1328 Montana Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90403

Free Bike Valet will be provided.

Walk or Ride, don’t drive if you can.
The Aero Theater is served by Big Blue Bus lines 18, 41, and 42.

Bring your reusable water bottle!
Water is provided by the City of Santa Monica’s Office of Sustainability and the Environment

This is a zero waste event!
Enjoy the concessions, but when finished, please discard sustainably at the Zero Waste stations

Upcoming Events: HandleBar Happy Hour & Film Screening

Stay tuned for more events being planned soon!

August 24th:
Join us for HandleBar Happy Hour at Chez Jay

Chez Jay: 1657 Ocean Ave, Santa Monica, CA 90401
Celebrate #BikeLocalSM, our Buy Local SM businesses, happy hour + new friends at our monthly events! Learn about upcoming local bike events + find out about and connect with us at SM Spoke as we visit and introduce you to some of our Buy Local SM businesses.  
Eat Local, Drink Local, Buy Local AND Bike Local SM!


September 6th:
The Engine Inside: Film Screening and Panel Discussion at the Aero Theatre

For more click the here to see our calendar event. Sign up for Bike Valet
The Engine Inside follows six everyday people from vastly different worlds who dedicate their lives to a simple, 200-year-old machine. Their trials and tribulations reveal the bicycle’s unique power to change lives and help build a better world.

Covering many different global issues—from climate change and indigenous trauma to socio-economic inequality and more livable cities —The Engine Inside sparks hope and agency in everyone it touches.

Screening will be followed by a Live Panel Discussion with Jason Kligier, Mobility Manager at City of Santa Monica and Cynthia Rose, Director Santa Monica Spoke,
More Panelists to be added.
The panel will be moderated by Ferris Kawar, Sustainability Manager, Santa Monica College.

The event is FREE to ALL but you must register to attend
ADDED: Free Bike Valet will be provided.

HandleBar Happy Hour This Thursday: The Independence

HandleBar Happy Hour Specials:

  • Extended Happy Hour prices for our group until 7pm – Menu
    (usually ends at 5:30pm)

Our Happy Hours support local businesses and BuyLocalSM like The Independence 

#HBHH #BikeLocalSM #BikeSM #SMSpoke #DrinkLocalSM #EatLocalSM
Our Happy Hours support local businesses and BuyLocalSM


bike_local_sticker

At the end of every month we get together for fun, to support local businesses, and to celebrate all things bike. All are welcome!
Always fun, (almost) always family friendly!

Socialize, talk bikes, give input.

If it’s on your way don’t forget to pass the Bike Counter!


Big thank you to all our Bike Month #BuyLocalSM #BikeLocalSM #HBHH venues Gilbert’s El IndioThömusSanta Monica Brew Works, and Solidarity 

Great people — great fun!

Celebrate #BikeLocalSM, our Buy Local SM businesses, happy hour + new friends at our monthly events! Learn about upcoming local bike events + find out about and connect with us at SM Spoke as we visit and introduce you to some of our Buy Local SM businesses.  Eat Local, Drink Local, Buy Local AND Bike Local SM!

Think Santa Monica First: Buy & Bike Local

Bike Local, Buy Local: Eat/shop/play local by bicycle! It’s fun, healthy and good for the environment. Join us for our monthly Handlebar Happy Hour events the last week of the month, check the Calendar! Organized in partnership with Buy Local SM to help showcase our BLSM businesses and the joy of bicycling and the options of multi-modal transportation! All are welcome!

For every $10 spent at a Santa Monica business, as much as $7 stays in the community through taxes, payroll and other expenditure (Civic Economics, 2008.) Spending locally ensures that your sales taxes are reinvested right here in Santa Monica.
Check out the Top 10 reasons to Buy Local (FAQ bottom of page) 

A Call to Roll Back Street Safety Improvements on 17th Street?

A request by council members Brock and de la Torre to “enhance vehicular movements while not compromising bicycle and pedestrian safety” on the new – not yet completed – 17th Street Protected Bikeway. ie. let cars go faster at intersections where the data shows conflicts leading to crashes and injuries happen. If that sounds strange to you we’d have to agree.

There is no need to “study” this, the documentation on how protected bike lanes and intersections improve safety is widely disseminated and accepted worldwide – this YouTube video on the topic was posted over 12 years ago. The “gold” standard implementations on 17th were years in the planning and follow national and international design standards for safety and were designed by experts in the field. Repeated studies consistently show that adding protected bike lanes increases the safety of all road users – people driving cars, walking, and biking. Research shows that adding protected bike lanes reduces all collisions and injuries by 30-50%. The simple fact is research and experience shows again and again and again the same thing: protected bike lanes are good for everyone. The 2018 CalBike report notes that – among other benefits – protected bike lanes “improve safety for bicyclists, car drivers, and pedestrians” and “Get more people to ride bikes by providing the safety, comfort, and separation most people want and need to consider bicycling.” The 17th Street Protected Bikeway configuration fulfills an international “gold” standard for safety referred to as a “Dutch crossing.” 

There is no argument that useful information is a good thing. However it is important to note – this important safety project – after years of planning and outreach – is not yet even complete having suffered many unavoidable delays during construction due to an exceptional rainy season that no doubt led to confusion. Until recently when the work was nearing completion there was legitimate confusion and concerns that arose in the community from both motorists and cyclists. We all know change is hard. It is a given that – although the changes are an improvement – there will be a certain amount of discomfort and confusion when implementing new and unfamiliar road design standards. It is also understandable that concerns are often generated during construction when new street safety projects are partially implemented. However, now that the project is near-finished it has clearly become evident – supported by the overwhelming feedback received – that the configuration fulfills the world class safety standards that were envisioned by the community. So, do we now switch back to choosing speed over safety to “enhance vehicular movements” at intersections? Is this just the beginning? Where will the vehicle prioritizing corrosive changes end?

These sorts of Council member requests are almost routinely passed. We have no doubt an Information Item on the 17th Street protected bikeway improvements will detail the project’s resounding successes and include Staff’s attentiveness throughout the project and into the final stages of completion. Just recently, as the project nears the finish line, City Mobility staff have made adjustments in response to community feedback and regular onsite inspections to accommodate disability parking, signage and potential conflicts with concrete lips. We ask the Council to remove the counterproductive second half of the 16-D request from any motion being considered. Council needs to choose to prioritize safety over speed modifications that “enhance vehicular movements.” Choosing safety and equity for all road users over “enhanc[ing] vehicular movements.”  We know vehicle speed is a key factor in traffic violence that results in serious injuries and traffic fatalities.  We urge Council to stop prioritizing vehicles over people and to affirm prior commitments to protect our most vulnerable road users, people walking and biking.  Prioritize people, kids to seniors, and our collective future for a livable climate.

One click to Email Council
– Please personalize and don’t forget to sign your name and add your zip code

More Press on Santa Monica Next and StreetsBlogLA

Why 17th Street?

17th Street connects local neighborhoods to transit facilities, bikeways, schools, employment opportunities, and entertainment. 17th Street was identified in the Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), Bicycle Action Plan (BAP), and Pedestrian Action Plan to include safety improvements for pedestrians and bicyclists. With the opening of the Metro Expo light rail station — by 2018 there had already been an 1160% increase in pedestrian traffic and an 82% increase in bicycle traffic.