If AB 371 passes, we won’t be able to expand shared micromobility programs to low-income communities that need them.
AB 371 endangers shared bikes and scooters in California
The California State Senate is considering a bill that will endanger bike and scooter sharing in California. It’s absolutely crucial to voice your opposition to this dangerous bill today. UNLESS FIXED, AB 371 COULD KILL BIKE-SHARING IN CALIFORNIA
The Kill Bike-Share Bill (AB 371) would require providers of shared scooters (whether a private company, non-profit, or a transit agency) to carry insurance to pay for injuries caused through no fault of their own including by the rider’s own negligence. It requires a study that is likely to lead to a similar requirement for shared bikes in the future.
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.Â
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!
Passing this on, Peaceful, silent protest from home.
Tonight, Wednesday, June 3rd, at 9:00 pm, for exactly 8 min and 46 seconds, let’s go outside our homes and shine a flashlight into the sky. That’s the amount of time that George Floyd had a knee on his neck, pleading for his life.
All we need to do is to go outdoors (rooftop, front yard, back yard, street, any place outdoors) and turn on a flashlight, or emergency light, and point it to the sky for exactly 8 min and 46 seconds starting at exactly 9:00 pm.
Let’s get the entire City of Santa Monica and Los Angeles to do it, let’s show that we, the people, can come together peacefully, even when we are forced to be apart. Let’s show that we care, and that we do not want more violence, we want change. Join this at-home protest and we can make our City shine as bright light for change.
Wednesday, June 3rd, is 9 days from George Floyd’s murder. He lost his life in almost 9 minutes by police unnecessary brutality. Let’s come together and demonstrate that it’s not okay – it will never be OK – and that we demand change.
On the agenda for the May 5th, Santa Monica City Council meeting, devastating cuts in response to the catastrophic budget shortfalls created by the Covid-19 crisis were proposed and later approved. As we shared in previous communications, we felt (and still feel) strongly that without active and engaged Council direction these cuts will surely unwind decades of progress and community hard work toward a city where everyone can move safely, with or without a car, and where we protect our most vulnerable citizens. These are, without a doubt, unprecedented and difficult times. Difficult decisions and devastating cuts will need to be made. We must continue to demand our leaders be creative in finding solutions that maintain our city values and as many essential programs as possible as we rebuild our economy, and our community from the Covid-19 crisis.
We are grateful that on May 5th Council directed staff to consider the following areas as priorities for continuing services, funds permitting:
Food security for our most vulnerable community members through restoring funding to Meals on Wheels and the Westside Food Bank
Keeping people in their homes through increased support for the Preserving Our Diversity senior housing subsidy program and restoring funding to the Legal Aid Foundation
Funding for youth-related programs, such as after-school programs and mental health support services
Resources for outdoor health, such as playgrounds and fields, including the Playground Partnership program with the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District (SMMUSD)
Mobility programs with an emphasis on providing safe, sustainable, affordable and accessible transportation choices
Sustainability with an emphasis on community resilience
We need Council to stay engaged directing the priority of creative solutions. We must insist our leaders continue to be strategic and thoughtful with “restructuring†that reduces costs and bureaucracy while retaining essential capacity to build confidently on the foundation and programs that define what we love about Santa Monica — including safe bike lanes, sustainability efforts to address climate change, after school programs, community gardens, libraries, and social services for those most in need. We are pleased to see some of these essential programs have been recommended for at least partial reinstatements. Programs like these are neededto keep neighborhood streets safe and calm, and provide ways for kids, seniors, low-income families, and car-light/carless households to keep moving.
Congestion management is only possible with these programs; when stay-at-home orders are lifted the congestion will be back in weeks, with additional drivers who used to ride transit.
Even in the most difficult of times we must retain our values and prioritize these programs or we slide backward decades, putting essential outcomes out of reach:
Safer Streets
Climate Action & Adaptation Plan air quality and emission reduction
LUCE congestion mitigation and neighborhood traffic calming
Vehicle trip reduction necessary for new housing capacity
Bike Action Plan health and active trips targets
Pedestrian Action Plan injury and fatality reductions
This Community has worked hard to build a brighter future – a vision for an economically, environmentally, equitably and socially sustainable community.
Please join us in supporting solutions outlined in the Staff Report and ask Council to keep prioritizing creative solutions to retain more essential services and staff:Â HERE
The streets we travel on make up over 20% of our city, and are one of our biggest assets. ​Our streets move people, goods, and services and are essential infrastructure for our economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.​ It is crucial how we manage and use this public asset, at the core of economic resilience, social equity, health and environmental sustainability.
Read our full letter HERE #TransportationMatters #SafeStreets
How we manage our streets – or ignore them – will move us either toward environmental justice, economic recovery and climate resiliency or away from those vital community and city goals. Our goals must be prioritized, clearly, in all plans and efforts to create solutions appropriate to equitably resolve the budget crisis caused by Covid-19.
Please join us and share your support with Santa Monica City Council. Information, email addresses and template can be foundHERE.
While the City suffers catastrophic shortfalls, we should not use a sledgehammer where a scalpel is needed to balance new budgets. Let’s be strategic and thoughtful with “restructuring†that reduces costs and bureaucracy while retaining essential capacity that builds confidently on the foundation and programs that our public roadways and investments afford us as they advance us to a vibrant and full recovery.
Use any of these images or your own to share this message on Social Media #TransportationMatters #SafeStreets
Shared Mobility keeps us moving
Access to safe mobility is tied to health and wellbeing
Mobility supports economic recovery for our Local Business
Equity = Safe Mobility for our Essential Workers and Commuters
