CMABS News: April 15th, 2024
Local Meetings to Pay Attention To:
City Council Meeting, April 16, 2024 at 6:00pm, City Hall (Council Chambers). Council Member Arlis Reynolds has called up the proposed Raising Cane’s drive thru on Newport Boulevard for a de novo City Council review. If you have concerns about (yet another) drive thru in Costa Mesa this will be an opportunity to raise them. The City Council will also appoint new members to the Planning Commission and the Active Transportation Committee.
Active Transportation Committee Meeting, April 17, 2024 at 6:00pm, City Hall (Community Room). The ATC will have a special meeting this week, with the big item on the agenda being a presentation on the CMPD’s proposed e-bike ordinance. The first version of the e-bike ordinance presented to the ATC contained a blanket ban on e-bikes on sidewalks. If you want your voice to be heard on this and any other e-bike-related regulations, we strongly encourage you to attend. Unfortunately, committee meetings are not livestreamed or videotaped, so you have to show up in person if you want to participate.
OCTA Legislative and Communications Committee, April 18, 2024 at 9:00am, OCTA Board Room, 550 South Main Street, Orange, CA. This OCTA committee helps the agency decide which California State bills to support or oppose. What caught our eye was that Mia Bonta’s AB 2535 is slated to be opposed by OCTA. AB 2535, which would prevent the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program from funding general freeway widenings or freeway widenings in pollution-burdened areas, has been endorsed by CalBike and environmentalist groups like the Natural Resource Defense Council. Want to push back on OCTA’s decision to oppose AB 2535 but can’t make the meeting? Submit a written comment to ClerkOffice@octa.net by 5:00pm on April 17, 2024 (the day before the meeting). It’s probably too much to ask OCTA to support AB 2535, but just getting it to not take a position would be huge.
Upcoming Events
Join us for boothing at City Hall for Earth Day, April 20, 2024 from 10:00am to 12:00pm! CMABS will be hosting a booth at the City’s annual Earth Day celebration. Feel free to stop by and help man the booth or just s hi ay hi! Hopefully we’ll have a new popup and swag with our new logo, but even if we don’t, it will be a great time as we get to know our neighbors, connect with fellow activists and enjoy everything the City’s Earth Day celebration has to offer.
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…
Love Costa Mesa Day is coming up fast on May 18, 2024! We’re still working on a potential project with the city but don’t wait for us. This is an awesome opportunity to find a project that speaks to you and give back to the city we all love, so go do it!
Lillordag Weekly Rides
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!
Current Projects
May is Bike Month! The city is gearing up for a bunch of different bike-related events, from “Cinco-de-Bike-o” community rides on May 5th to the city’s annual bike-to-school days to potential bike education events with Walk-n-Rollers. Stay tuned for more updates about these.
CMABS is also hoping to celebrate Bike Month with a bike selfie scavenger hunt, featuring one of Costa Mesa’s best assets: its public murals! We hope to put together a friendly competition where participants bike to our favorite murals, take a selfie with their bikes, and submit them for a chance to be featured on our Instagram page (and maybe some other goofy prizes). If you are interested in helping us organize this effort, please reach out to Jenn Tanaka (jenn@cmabs.org).
Recent Wins
Public Works has been busy repainting bus shelters after some CMABS activists reminded them that they were in sorry shape and that our bus advertising vendor, Clear Channel, should be doing a better job.
The City has also been installing more bike racks in the public right of way, this time in Downtown Costa Mesa.
And in case you missed it, the city netted a huge, $7.9 million grant from OCTA to expand its bike network along Adams and Fairview. The renderings for the Adams project look especially promising – can we say Class IV bikeways all the way to the Santa Ana River Trail? Yes please!
Pictures From the Community
Submit via e-mail to info@cmabs.org to be featured!
