In Santa Monica there are several key streets that act as spines, shaping and also subdividing the city. Lincoln Boulevard is one of those spines. Its uses, its built surroundings and its traffic volume have changed dramatically over the years, but it hasn’t aged well or successfully adapted to intensification of use over time. It is not a very pleasant street to walk along. Cars roar, there's poor tree cover, and its development pattern is very automobile-oriented. Lincoln Boulevard can also be outright dangerous, sadly claiming the life of a man walking across it this past week, struck by a…

It is often assumed that the development of more efficient technologies is always beneficial toward sustainability and environmental goals. Very often, numbers are thrown around, like, "If we all drove cars that got X miles per gallon, we would save Y amount of barrels of oil per year." These equations rarely turn out as advertised, because as energy efficiency improves, it triggers changes in prices, behaviors, and the uses and applications for an energy resource. Improvements in technology can reduce energy consumption, but they also sometimes contribute to more energy use rather than less…

The electric car has been a fixation of many within the modern environmental movement. Magazines, blogs, and the AltCar Expo in Santa Monica, which will have just passed by the time you are reading this, often drool over the latest electric and hybrid wonders. I think there are some worthwhile advantages to using electric motors over combustion engines, and as long as cars are around I think we ought to be transitioning how they are powered. However I strongly believe the merits and advantages of converting to electric cars are overstated in light of the problems with trying to perpetuate car…

Santa Monica College is a valuable educational asset to the city and its surroundings communities, but it also creates its fair share of negative impacts and cost burdens on the city and its neighbors. The most contentious issues are an auto-traffic mess on school days and spillover parking onto neighborhood streets. The school has made some efforts to address these issues, with the most notable and successful measure being the “Any Line/Anytime” program allowing current SMC students to ride the Big Blue Bus without paying a fare directly. To clarify, that service is not provided free by the …

I never cease hearing the common myth that nobody rides the bus in L.A., but that couldn’t be further from the truth. The LACMTA (Metro) carries more bus passengers than any agency besides the New York MTA, and we have many overlapping regional systems, like our own Big Blue Bus in Santa Monica. The L.A. metropolitan region may be most closely associated with car culture, but if you break out a Metro regional transit map, you’ll find quite a density of bus service.My own experiences riding public transit to get around began when I started attending Otis College of Art & Design near LAX. I was…

After several scheduling shifts and cramming in last-minute tweaks, the Santa Monica Bike Action Plan is nearing adoption. On Tuesday, the Santa Monica City Council will review the plan, a full draft of which is finally available to the public. After giving their input, the plan goes through one final (hopefully) round to various city commissions, after which adoption by the council will be decided at a following meeting. It’s been quite a process getting to this point, but it’s really exciting to finally see things moving into place and momentum build, and see how my own involvement in …

In our hierarchy of transportation in the city, there is none more basic, fundamental and sustainable than walking. Not to mention, at the end of any trip, no matter how else you got to your destination, everyone becomes a pedestrian at some point in their journey. According to our traffic laws, the pedestrian has the right of way when crossing. However, in practice, many drivers do not respect this right. Also, they'll often encroach upon the pedestrian so closely that it startles and strikes fear, or worse. (Go here for a list of pedestrian deaths in Santa Monica since 2001.) In a sign that…

Any reader of the book Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says about Us) by Tom Vanderbilt would be unsurprised that the predicted traffic nightmare of "Carmageddon" never really materialized. The highly researched book explains such paradoxes like cases where closing a route or reducing capacity actually improved traffic flow. One of the flaws in a lot of conventional thinking on traffic is believing that the same number of drivers and vehicles that travel normally will seek alternative routes during a closure and jam up everywhere else. However, people do respond to changes in…

Having grown up in the digital age, I have to admit I’ve gotten used to thinking of changes as things that can happen instantly, and that mistakes can be fixed as quickly as clicking undo. Real life doesn’t always work that way. However, new technologies and increasingly modernized city governments are empowering people to make changes in their community quickly and efficiently. There will never be a replacement for old-fashioned face-to-face interaction, or eyes on the street, but there a host of new tools we have to work with now. We’re also fortunate in Santa Monica that we have a city …

It was only a couple months ago that I was lamenting the lack of bike racks at many locations around town, particularly parts of Santa Monica outside the downtown region. I am happy to report that this is quickly being addressed with the installation of a lot of new bike racks. It seems almost every day I’ve been out riding in the past week I spot a new bike rack that wasn’t there before. A new design has started in Santa Monica that is a little more functional than the silver bollard racks used primarily in downtown. With two points of contact on the new racks, it is much easier to balance …

The environmental movement has made some amazing progress in spite of opposition from powerful interests over the years. However, while some aspects of our environment have gotten better, there are also declines, with many problems getting worse, and some with increasing acceleration. Issues like climate change, the rate of species extinction and natural resource depletion have serious repercussions for our society's long-term viability. Efforts toward policy changes strong enough to get us on the right track often run into hostile resistance, especially when sustainability measures are …

Food trucks, which have always been around in the L.A. area, have blown up in a big way recently. Something I’m sure anyone not living under a rock has become aware of by now. There are more high end options, and they are targeting new areas and demographics with unique food combinations. The long lines and cut throat competition implies many people like the new trucks, but they can also stir up some controversy when competing with business from brick and mortar restaurants. I believe there is something deeper going on here that will far outlive other recent food crazes, with implications …

Life in the city in an apartment or condo is an energy efficient way to live, but it does have it’s drawbacks, like the lack of yard space with which to garden. Using public land for community gardens is a great way to get around that problem, by giving anyone who is willing, access to gardening opportunities.  We have a few community gardens in Santa Monica, but the waiting list is so deep, the prospect of being able to use one seems pretty distant.Every time I ride down Broadway Ave. on my way back from work I glance over at the community garden at Broadway & Park Drive, wondering if my …

When it comes to talk of sustainability in urban planning, transportation and development, Portland, Ore., shows up near the top of a lot of lists. In the world of bicycle advocacy and cycling subculture, the city takes on an almost mythical status. It's land of bike lanes and cutely themed social rides for any occasion, a place where the drivers don’t harass you just for having two wheels. Two friends of mine, Russ and Laura of the blog Path Less Pedaled—after selling their belongings and setting off from Long Beach to tour America by bicycle for a full year—decided to settle into Portland …

Buying locally sourced food has become quite popular in the pursuit of improved environmental sustainability. My wife and I shop for most of our groceries at the Co-Opportunity market near our apartment. The store carries a lot of local produce, and going there makes reducing food miles in our shopping a lot easier. However, a cultural perception has developed that seems to suggest local is always good and foods from far away are bad. But that is not always the case. The truth is rarely so black and white, and sustainability is not just measured in mileage. For every kind of produce or food …

The recent, sudden ascent of gas prices has everyone interested in energy supply issues again. President Obama gave a speech articulating a plan on the thorny issue this past week, calling for a one third reduction in U.S. oil importing within a decade. Opinions on what to do and why we are in the situation we have been in are flying left and right—and some of them are contradictory. Some are saying now is the time for electric cars, some are saying we must drill everywhere we can, and fingers of blame are being pointed at Wall Street speculators, oil companies, Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan…

Santa Monica has embarked on a “Buy Local” campaign, and by the time you read this, it will have been underscored by Saturday's Buy Local Day Expo and related Buy Local Day events. There are a number of benefits to buying local, and they're not just the obvious economic benefits of retaining more money in our local economy. When residents shop at local businesses, it also cuts down on congestion, reduces emissions and encourages investment in our own community. However, there is something currently missing from efforts to encourage buying local. That is dedicated, secure bike parking at the …

As kids, we all learn about sharing our toys with others. The efficiency benefits of sharing are obvious. For two teams of five kids to play a game of basketball, you don’t need 10 basketballs, just one. But somewhere down the line, as we get older, amid a consumer-driven culture, many of us begin to buy and use more things for exclusive personal use. If we are to create a lasting and sustainable future, we are going to have relearn how to share. Some exciting new ideas are taking root around the world and the country that use sharing to change the face of urban transportation.One such idea …

The streets of Santa Monica are often a place of conflict, as drivers compete for asphalt, pedestrians try to get across in one piece and cyclists attempt to squeeze in wherever they can fit. Some of this conflict comes from carelessness, impatience, frustration and roadway design. But oftentimes, it also comes from ignorance or confusion about what the rules of the road really are. To have a truly sustainable city, being able to get around by foot and bike is an essential component. However, if some people live in fear of walking or cycling in the city, which is often the case presently, it …

I am officially car-free again. I had sold my own car a few years ago, but when I got married, a car came with the deal. After taking up work closer to home, my wife decided she too could part with owning a car, and it’s now been sold. Departing with car ownership was a very difficult decision for me even after I had given up driving to ride a bike for most trips. No matter that the car mostly collected dust and parking tickets. Letting go of the freedom the car represents was not easy. So why go car-free? There are quite a few reasons worth considering. As I’m sure you are aware, cars are …