This week, you can help name Santa Monica’s new bike share system; the City Council will discuss Santa Monica’s revised water conservation proposal; and the Santa Monica Police will once again hold a special bike/ped safety operation.
Help Name Bike Share
In case it isn’t exciting enough that Santa Monica is on track to launch the first public bike share program in Los Angeles County later this year, now City officials are asking for public input on the system’s name.
“Give us your thoughts on suggested SYSTEM NAMES or suggest your own: Take the system naming survey now!” reads the City’s website on bike share. “The results will be shared with the City Council for consideration in its decision.”
The date for Council consideration of the system’s name has not been set, but Santa Monica’s bike share system is scheduled to come online later this year (possibly by late summer/early fall). That’s a year earlier than Metro’s planned bike share pilot program is expected to launch in Downtown Los Angeles.
The Council unanimously approved a contract with CycleHop, LLC. in November to operate the system, which will include 500 bikes and between 65 and 75 stations (you can suggest a station location online, too) to be dispersed throughout the City.
Where: Online
When: Ongoing
Water Conservation Question Returns to City Council
In the face of California’s worst drought in recorded history, the City Council has been mulling a water shortage response plan that officials hope will help cut back on water wastage throughout Santa Monica.
Following a Council motion in August that declared a Stage 2 Water Emergency, staff will present Tuesday a revised plan that aims to reduce water usage in Santa Monica by 20 percent by the end of 2016.
As proposed, the plan would require all water users to cut back to 80 percent of their 2013 use. It would impose penalties on those customers that exceed the limits.
The plan would also establish conservation thresholds for single-family and multi-family homes, according to the staff report.
For single-family homes, staff is recommending that the conservation threshold be set at 22 HCF (hundred cubic feet), or 16,456 gallons per bill. For multi-family homes, which on average already use significantly less water than single-family homes, staff recommends the threshold be set at 11 HCF per unit per bill. That’s about 8,228 gallons.
If a customer is already using less water than the conservation thresholds require, that customer will not be required to make the 20 percent reduction in use, according to the staff report. If approved, the plan could go into effect by April, with penalties for over usage starting in August.
For more information, visit the City’s website.
Where: Santa Monica City Hall
When: Closed session starts at 5:30 p.m.; public meeting starts at 6:30 p.m.
SMPD Continues Bike-Ped Safety Operations
This Saturday, the Santa Monica Police Department will continue a series of special enforcement actions that target unsafe road users at trouble spots throughout the city, according to a press release issued last week. Saturday will mark the third such operation since the start of the new year.
The press release was similar to those issued before the previous enforcement operations.
“Officers will be looking for violations engaged by drivers, bike riders and pedestrians alike that can lead to life changing injuries,” the release said.
As during the past several operations, the release said, “[s]pecial attention will be directed toward drivers speeding, making illegal turns, failing to stop for signs and signals, failing to yield to pedestrians in cross walks and similar dangerous violations.”
Officers won’t be focusing exclusively on drivers, however. People walking or riding bikes will also be cited for flouting the rules of the road, according to the release. If you need to brush up on your rules of the road, SMPD joined forces with the Santa Monica Bike Center to produce this handy guide. And, Santa Monica Spoke, a branch of the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition, has this guide available for riders.
Where: City-wide
When: Saturday, January 17
