CMABS News: June 3rd, 2024
Hey everyone! As always there is a lot happening to make our streets better in Costa Mesa. Let’s dive in ⤵️
Bike Rodeo! On Saturday, May 25th, the City’s Public Works and Police Departments worked with Walk ‘n Rollers to put on a Community Bike Safety Workshop at the Costa Mesa Senior Center. Volunteers passed out and fitted free helmets, tuned up bikes, and led kids on a training route in the parking lot to help them understand hand signalizing and cycling rules and safe practices. CMABS had a booth!
Bike Month was a Success! Bike month in Costa Mesa gets better every year. Elementary kids biked to school with CMPD, Irvine hosted their first open streets event, our friends at Lillördag led rides on Saturday mornings and Wednesday nights, and the City continues to make progress in transforming our public spaces to be more hospitable to those outside of cars.
Love Costa Mesa Day. CMABS had a booth at City Hall for the Love Costa Mesa Day rally, where volunteers could stop and write a thank you note to the school crossing guards serving our kids every morning and afternoon. We collected 200 notes and they’ve been delivered to all 21 crossing guards in Costa Mesa!
We got our first peek at the plans for Del Mar Avenue. The Public Works Department shared plans with the Active Transportation Committee on May 1. What do you think? Better? If you’ve got a comment, send them to info@cmabs.org and we’ll get them to the right place!
The Annual Lions Club Fish Fry is coming up. Parking will be limited, so consider walking or riding! We’ll have a booth. Come say hi!
Join Costa Mesa’s weekly social bike ride.
Casual/party pace, 10-15 mile rides around the area.
We meet by the restrooms on 18th street at Lions Park in Costa Mesa every Wednesday Night:
6:15pm: meet up
6:30pm: ride begins
🚨Bring lights! 🚨
City Council Meeting, June 4, 2024 at 6:00pm, City Hall (City Council Chambers). City Council will get its first crack at approving the 2024-2025 city budget, including the capital improvement plan. This is probably your last, best chance to weigh in on city priorities for the next year. Want to see more traffic calming? More bollards? More speeding and DUI tickets? You name it, it’s probably covered in the budget (or should be).
People Over Parking Webinar presented by AmericaWalks, June 5, 2024 at 11:00am (Online - RSVP at the link). Want to learn more about how parking mandates (also known as parking “minimums”) negatively affect walkability, housing affordability and the fabric of the city? This is the webinar for you. Our very own Arlis Reynolds (City Council Member, District 5) will be one of the panelists! Parking is going to be a hot button issue, both this year and in the years to come, so the time to brush up on the topic is now.
Active Transportation Committee Meeting, June 5, 2024 at 5:00pm, City Hall (Community Room). There will be some great projects covered here, including a recap of bike to school and the city’s bicycle education efforts. But there are two big ticket items worth watching:
Westside: West 19th Street will get an “oral update” from staff. As you’ve probably seen there has been some rabblerousing around W. 19th Street’s bike and pedestrian improvements. We’ve heard in chambers that the staff is considering reintroducing the center turn lane to part of W.19th Street impacted by the new bicycle lanes, which can only mean those lanes will be narrowed or eliminated. Got a problem with that? THIS is the meeting to attend to learn more and make your voice heard.
Eastside: Santa Ana Avenue is on the agenda! Completing the Santa Ana Avenue bike lanes in front of Kaiser Elementary as well as from Broadway to E. 17th Street has long been on our wish list. Any chance this new business item will address one or both of these missing links along this crazy busy bicycle corridor? One can only hope! If this is a big deal to you, you will get the most bang for your advocacy buck by showing up to the ATC and speaking out in favor of changes like these.
The City also continues to consider its proposed capital improvement budget for 2024-2025. As we noted last time, the CIP Is full of active transportation projects. 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! And if you need help, please reach out to us at info@cmabs.org.
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