CMABS News: April 29th, 2024
Hey everyone! As always there is a lot happening to make our streets better in Costa Mesa. Let’s dive in ⤵️
CMABS attended the CalBike Summit 2024! Every two years the California Bicycle Coalition holds a summit for active transportation professionals, leaders, and advocates. This year we sent board members David Martinez and Russell Toler to San Diego. Russell presented a session called Local Action and Advocacy: Strategies That Work, where he recounted the work and progress of CMABS over the last five years. It really kicked the summit off on an optimistic note for those who joined. See Russell’s full write-up on the summit here.
CMABS board member David Martinez named to the Costa Mesa Planning Commission! Join us in congratulating David for being named to the Costa Mesa Planning Commission. David was nominated by District 5 City Council Member Arlis Reynolds at the April and confirmed by a vote of the entire City Council. We are excited to see David in action when the Planning Commission meets next!
Construction is beginning on the long-awaited Adams Avenue project. No, it’s not that Adams Avenue project that envisions fully separated bike paths all the way to the Santa Ana River. But it is a big project that will lay the ground work for that future improvement by fixing the broken pavement and adjusting the lane striping.
May is Bike Month in Costa Mesa! The City has lots of great events planned, and our friends at Lillördag has an entire series of rides (see below!). Stay tuned for updates on our website and in our newsletter for all of the events!
As promised the City is going to be hosting a number of bike safety events this month, starting off with a Kids Bike Skills Workshop at Woodland Elementary School on May 2, from 4-7pm! Woodland already has a great bicycling culture so we love seeing the city building on that 💪
Ciclo-Irvine is coming up on May 4, 2024! Let’s go and support our neighboring city as it hosts its first open street event. If we can help make this event a success, hopefully that will build momentum for a similar event closer to home…
And finally, Love Costa Mesa Day is coming up fast on May 18, 2024! This year our project will be to write thank you notes to school crossing guards. Our crossing guards and beloved members of the community and they brave traffic every day to keep kids safe. Just last year a crossing guard in Newport Beach was struck by a car, and earlier this month one of the beloved crossing guards at Kaiser Elementary, Robin McKenna, passed away. Stop by City Hall on Love Costa Mesa Day and write a note to your favorite crossing guard, or just pick a few at random to write a quick note of encouragement. All materials will be provided!
Join Costa Mesa’s weekly social bike ride.
When? Every Wednesday Night
@6:15pm meet up
@6:30pm ride begins
Where? Lions Park in Costa Mesa, meet by the bathrooms on 18th street
What? Casual/Party pace bike ride, 10-15 mile rides around the area. 🚨Bring lights! 🚨
Active Transportation Committee meeting on May 1. The big news on the agenda will be the ATC’s last crack at the e-bike ordinance before it goes up to the City Council for final review. Thanks in part to excellent public participation last meeting, Staff looks to have removed the e-bike sidewalk ban that gave many of us pause. If you have more input on the proposed ordinance, consider dropping by on May 1.
CMABS celebrated Earth Day at City Hall! We debuted our new popup (it’s beautiful 🥲) and had a great time chatting with everyone who stopped by. We also had a couple of board members and other residents join Arlis Reynolds and members of the CMPD bike patrol for an Earth Day bike ride around the Fairgrounds!
The City also unveiled its proposed capital improvement budget for 2024-2025, and it is full of active transportation projects! Not only does the staff report contain a really nice summary of the active transportation projects that are either complete or underway, it also previews some big projects on the horizon. Adams Avenue and Fairview Road are the big items, but also keep an eye on the signal synchronization project: it will add leading pedestrian intervals at 49 intersections, which is incredible progress 🙌
But this means this is also the season for elected officials to get cold feet. So please, please, please: if you love all these new capital improvements, consider writing your City Council and tell them how much you love them. A short email to citycouncil@costamesaca.gov is perfect. Tell them which project you love most and why — it will pay huge dividends as we continue to encourage our local government to be bold!
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