News from Santa Monica.
At its annual meeting Thursday morning, Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. — the nonprofit that oversees the city’s thriving core — celebrated the district’s growth and continued success as a world-renowned destination while welcoming coming changes. At the morning gathering in…
The Santa Monica Police Department will once again be on the look out for unsafe behavior by all street users, whether you are riding a bike, walking, or driving a car. All day Thursday (Aug. 13), Friday (Aug. 14), Thursday…
Santa Monica’s Big Blue Bus this month will begin the first phase of one of the municipal transit agency’s largest service changes in its 77-year history. The coming changes, which will occur in three phases over the next 12 months,…
Breeze, Santa Monica’s new bike-share system, operated by CycleHop, and the first public system in L.A. County, has launched a new website in anticipation of the system’s test-run starting next week. Through the website, you can already sign up as a “founding member”…
There is a great new report out that shows that bike-share systems really are legitimate, full-fledged transportation facilities. The focus of the report is how bike-share interacts with other transit systems. The report is summarized in this excellent CityLab article. Researchers…
Can you give up driving to work and walk instead for a month? If you can, you could win some decent prizes as part of Santa Monica’s 2015 Commuter Challenge, designed to get people to rethink their daily commute. According…
Last week, we reported that Metro was testing Expo trains between Centinela and as far west as 17th Street. Today, Expo hit another milestone — and made L.A. transportation history — when the first train pulled into the western terminus…
Yesterday’s monthly Metro Board of Directors meeting saw the chair transition from L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti to L.A. County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas. Incoming Chair Ridley-Thomas expounded on his priorities for the current fiscal year. The July board meeting did not feature…
Today, in Santa Monica, Metro began testing Expo Line trains running under their own power, though we will have to wait until next week before we see trains pulling into the 4th Street station, according to officials. “Project staff said…
Last month, after a fairly lengthy debate, the Metro Board of Directors approved an $11 million contract to bring bike-share to downtown Los Angeles. Though there is a lot of interest in bike-share on the Metro board, there’s not a…
Another moderate-sized mixed-use housing project is wending its way through Santa Monica’s development agreement (DA) process this week, stopping at the Planning Commission on Wednesday for consideration. The 64-unit (six-story) apartment building with ground floor retail — proposed at 1451…
Elected officials, labor leaders, and Metro’s CEO assembled this morning to call on Congress to pass a long-term transportation bill. In order to highlight the ways that transportation infrastructure funding benefits communities, the press event showcased the bluff top construction site for the…
The dust is settling from the recent zoning ordinance update and downzoning amendments to the city’s Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE). It will take some time to really understand the impact of the decision to eliminate the possibility of…
2015 is an exciting time for transportation innovation in Los Angeles. We have a rapidly-expanding frequent transit and bicycle network. Technological innovation has already brought us reliable point-to-point mobility for passengers, real-time transit arrival and traffic incident information, and even…
Santa Monica Next sat down to talk with Rick Cole, who took the reins as Santa Monica’s city manager on June 29 after leaving his post at L.A. City Hall as deputy mayor in charge of budget and innovation. The Pasadena…
