Tag: feedback

SANTA MONICA—On Friday, July 5, the city of Santa Monica announced that on Tuesday, July 9, the Santa Monica City Council will vote on Brighter Blue, the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) five-year plan to improve Big Blue Bus service in the city and West Los Angeles.

According to a press release from the city of Santa Monica, the proposed plan was created as a result of travel and behavior changes since the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapidly growing regional rail network. Brighter Blue is informed by an extensive analysis of Big Blue Bus’s existing service and an 18-month rider outreach and stakeholder engagement effort that utilized on-board and online surveys, focus group meetings, public workshops and hearings, and an extended public comment period.

Brighter Blue calls for greater investments in service frequency and span, and enhanced connections to Metro Rail’s expanding network. Brighter Blue will provide riders with fast, sustainable and reliable access to jobs, healthcare, education and other essential destinations, and help deliver a world-class transit experience during major events, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.

If the Santa Monica City Council adopts Brighter Blue, Big Blue Bus riders can anticipate the following enhancements:

-More frequent service on most routes, including a high frequency network with weekday service every 10 minutes or better on select corridors during peak hours.

-Expanded operating hours so that most routes start earlier in the day, end later at night and operate on weekends.

-Improved connectivity to key destinations, such as the LAX/Metro Transit Center, Culver City Transit Center and the Metro Rail D Line extension.

The city is alerting the public to support Brighter Blue by participating at the meeting on July 9 at 5:30 p.m. Submit a written public comment via email to councilmtgitems@santamonica.gov before 12 p.m. on July 9. To learn more about Brighter Blue visit www.BrighterBlueBBB.com.

By Trevor

BEVERLY HILLS—The city of Beverly Hills announced on its Facebook page that it is hosting a multi-family ADU Community Workshop on Monday, July 8.

The workshop will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Beverly Hills City Hall Municipal Gallery. Participants can join BH planners for an interactive workshop to discuss potential changes to multi-family Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) regulations.

Key topics include height, floor area, and setbacks. The participation of the public will be valuable feedback for our Planning Commission and the Beverly Hills City Council.

The city of Beverly Hills posted on its website that Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) are attached or detached units that provide complete, independent living facilities for sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation on the same site as a single-family residence or multi-family building.

Sometimes called second units or granny units, ADUs can be an effective way to provide additional housing on single- and multi-family properties where housing units already exist. ADUs cannot be sold separately from the main residence; but can be optionally rented for periods of 31 days or longer. ADUs are allowed on any property that is zoned for residential or mixed-use that has an existing or proposed dwelling unit.

The City Council adopted Ordinance No. 24-O-2892 amending the ADU regulations in the Beverly Hills Municipal Code (BHMC) on March 18, 2024, which became effective on April 18, 2024. The ordinance includes, but is not limited to, amendments to the BHMC that:

-Repeal and replace the existing ADU code sections [BHMC §10-3-409; §10-3-603.5; §10-3-702.5; §10-3-803.5; §10-3-902.5; §10-3-1002.5; §10-3-1102.5] with a new Article 50 (Accessory Dwelling Units and Junior Accessory Dwelling Units) in Title 10, Chapter 3 (Zoning) of the BHMC to comprehensively regulate ADU development consistent with state law, including local standards beyond state law minimums for single-family development;

-Amend the Definitions section [BHMC §10-3-100]; and

-Create a discretionary review path for ADUs located on any residential property developed with a single-family residence to allow ADUs that do not conform to the proposed by-right objective standards [BHMC §10-3-3600].

For those unable to attend in person, they can join the virtual workshop on Zoom occurring on July 31. That workshop will be held from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. To learn more about the event visit www.beverlyhills.org/adu.

By Trevor

MALIBU—On Friday, May 31, the city of Malibu announced on its website that it is encouraging public participation as part of ensuring the city’s services, policies, programs and activities respond to the evolving needs and desires of the entire community.

The city of Malibu noted its goal is to engage the community on issues that are important in Malibu. The city partnered with FlashVote, a third-party platform renowned for its expertise in collecting statistically valid community input.

TO SIGN UP: To join the conversation and make your voice heard, visit https://www.flashvote.com/malibucity or call 775-235-2240 to participate by phone or text only.

Flashvote’s methodology ensures that, even with relatively low participation rates, the survey results will provide a statistically valid representation of the community’s views on a given subject. For example, with a population the size of Malibu’s, in order to get a five percent margin of error, a survey needs 384 respondents. To achieve a seven percent margin of error, just 195 respondents are needed.

According to Flashvote, the most common question about their methodology is “what percentage of our population do we need to hear from?” Only the total number of responses matters. A good target range is about 200 to 600 people regardless of the size of the population, as long as there is a valid scientific sample.

Keys to statistically valid surveys are: a large number of responses, respondents who are not self-selected to the topic (and therefore biased), and using well-structured, unbiased question and answer choices. Flashvote prevents “ballot stuffing,” or people voting multiple times to skew the results.

For more details on Flashvote’s methodology, visit: https://www.flashvote.com/margin-of-error.

Participants will receive a short one-minute survey every few months and will get to see full survey results within two days. FlashVote offers a user-friendly interface accessible via email, text or phone so participation is convenient and accessible to all residents.

FlashVote also makes sure the feedback received is always anonymous. In order to participate, an account must be created that involves sharing some personal information. Personal details are kept confidential and is not shared with marketers, advertisers or any other third parties. Flashvote utilizes safeguards to ensure data protection. The city of Malibu will not have access to users’ data.

Government agencies may only see your screen name, nothing else. By default, a screen name will be set to your real first and last name, but it can be changed to anything the participant wants. Emails sent by FlashVote by participants  will disclose your name and email unless sent anonymously, which is an option.

For more details read the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs): https://www.flashvote.com/residents_faq.

By Trevor

SANTA MONICA—On Friday, May 10, the city of Santa Monica announced that the city will kick off the official community engagement process for the Santa Monica Airport Conversion Project at a community event on Sunday, May 19, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Clover Park. The event will be held at 2600 Ocean Park Blvd., in the BBQ Area No. 1, which is on the east side of the park.

The kickoff event will be a community open house, featuring multiple stations for community members to listen, to learn, and to share ideas with the team about plans for the future of Santa Monica and the airport land.

The community engagement process is expected to be a 21-month effort to determine a preferred scenario for the future of the airport site, focused on a “Great Park”, consistent with the 2014 voter-approved Measure LC.

The preferred scenario, once approved by the Santa Monica City Council, will inform the environmental review process required by the California Environmental Quality Act.

Implementation would start after the airport operations end, anticipated on December 31, 2028, as agreed upon with the Federal Aviation Administration in the 2017 Consent Decree.
Following the event at Clover Park, the city’s contracted consultant team, led by Sasaki, will continue to communicate with the public at community events and other venues.

Community members can email TheFutureofSMO@santamonica.gov with questions about the community engagement process. The community website smacproject.com provides an email sign-up option for project updates and will soon expand to include the first survey, engagement timelines, virtual learning sessions and more.

By Trevor

WEST HOLLYWOOD—On Friday, April 26, the city of West Hollywood disclosed that they want community members to provide feedback on proposed policy changes to the Sunset Arts & Advertising Program.

“The Sunset Strip has been a premier outdoor advertising venue since the 1960s and ’70s, when recording artists debuted albums on custom-painted billboards. Today, technology propels advertising into new realms, transitioning from painted murals and vinyl to dynamic and creative billboard displays,” the city of WeHo stated in a press release.

The Sunset Arts & Advertising Program was adopted in 2019 to allow a limited number of new billboards on Sunset Boulevard. The program includes a design excellence competition where only a select number of applicants are awarded the opportunity to proceed with applications for new billboards. The proposed amendments will provide additional clarity for defined terms, clarify intent and vision principles, and strengthen the standards, including those around brightness and orientation of the new billboards.

Proposed amendments focus on making guidelines, vision, and standards clearer for the public and applicants; clarifying the language of standards and guidelines to make them easier to understand and follow; bolstering the lighting standards with specific and measurable standards; and incorporating best practices into the policy.

West Hollywood wants residents, businesses, and visitors to share their feedback and suggestions on Engage WeHo. PDF documents of proposed amendments to the program, a map of billboard locations, the original Sunset Boulevard off-site signage policy, and the Sunset Boulevard lighting study are available by logging in or creating an account at https://engage.weho.org/SAAP.

The feedback portal is open and will remain open through Sunday, May 19 at 11:59 p.m. (Those looking to provide feedback must be logged in). West Hollywood’s Community Development Department will gather feedback submitted during the review period and present proposed program updates at a future date.

Goals for the Sunset Arts & Advertising Program are:

Revitalization: The principal benefit of the program is to help revitalize the Sunset Strip. Through this program, new development and façade remodels were encouraged and this has led to several projects completely redeveloping underutilized, and sometimes deteriorating sites;

Historic Preservation: The program encourages the designation, restoration, and preservation of historic buildings. Once designated, the income from a billboard helps the property owner maintain the historic building;

Streetscape and Public Realm: An important aspect of the program is the improved streetscape that is part of many of the projects. The goal is to create meaningful public realm enhancements that actively engage and enrich the pedestrian experience along Sunset Boulevard, providing interesting places to sit, to view, and to engage with streetscape elements, some of which will be interactive. Program projects also contribute to capital improvement projects, such as the Sunset & La Cienega Boulevard Intersection Improvement Plan, which will improve this intersection for both the pedestrian and the motorist;

Economic Vitality: This program helps individual property owners and business owners with additional revenue to improve and maintain their buildings and businesses, thereby encouraging economic stability and growth. Iconic businesses such as the Rainbow Bar & Grill, the Roxy Theatre, the Whisky a Go-Go nightclub, and the Comedy Store will be ensured a stable and steady income, helping to maintain these important businesses on the Strip; and

City Content & Arts Programming: Each billboard must provide a contribution of time (17.5% per hour, 10.5 minutes per hour) to city content (public City announcements and/or public art). At the top of every hour, full motion animated billboards will display ten and a half minutes of City content and/or arts programming curated by the City of West Hollywood in consultation with the City’s Arts and Cultural Affairs Commission. This is an important aspect of the program, helping the City achieve the goal of bringing art to everyone using Sunset Boulevard and adding to the vibrancy and aesthetics of the Sunset Strip, ensuring its importance and relevance as a world-famous destination.

For more details on the Sunset Arts & Advertising Program, visit the city of West Hollywood website. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing call TTY (323) 848-6496.

By Trevor

SANTA MONICA—On February 22, the city of Santa Monica indicated in a press release that it will host a community solutions summit on Saturday, March 2, as the next phase in the process to create a citywide equity plan.

Everyone is invited to attend the “Community Solutions Summit: Turning Equity Priorities into Action,” which will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Blank Spaces, 1450 Second Street. There will be an option to participate virtually.

The event will feature:

-Community feedback results: Hear about the top priorities the community wants to see included in the citywide equity plan.

-Info about city programs: Learn about existing city programs, policies and priorities related to the priorities recommended by the community.

-Grant info session: Learn how to apply for the Community Solutions Grant Program. The program provides $500 in funding for a Santa Monica community member or organization to host a session to collect community feedback on solutions to the top community priorities announced at the summit.

-Community advocacy session: Learn from an expert in community advocacy about how to take basic ideas and turn them into city council-ready solutions.

Participants can RSVP for the event. Space is limited to 75 spots at the venue. Lunch will be provided for participants who attend in person. Parking is available at Parking Structure 6 and Parking Structure 8 (check the respective websites for parking rates). The city will provide the link to virtual attendees ahead of the event.

Individuals can read the July 18 staff report on the city’s equity work.

By Trevor

WEST HOLLYWOOD—The city of West Hollywood announced on Tuesday, January 9 that Metro is studying the proposed Northern Extension of the Metro K Line, that could provide new rail connections to, from, and throughout the region, including up to three stations in the city.

According to a press release from the city of West Hollywood, they are complementing that effort by conducting a Rail Integration Study (RIS) to ensure all future rail service is carefully integrated into the region, while supporting sustainability goals and community expectations.

The current phase is looking to improve multimodal transportation and delivering safe routes to and from planned stations to maximize access, ridership, and use of future stations in West Hollywood.

A half-mile region was audited by West Hollywood near each potential station to examine pedestrian and wheeled access improvements.

West Hollywood audited a half-mile area around each potential station to explore potential pedestrian and wheeled access improvements. Input is being requested from the community via the Engage WeHo digital engagement tool to confirm the findings and to provide suggestions to the project team.

The project team will evaluate community feedback and suggestions to inform a draft first/last mile plan, which will be presented to West Hollywood advisory boards, commissions, and the West Hollywood City Council. They will transmit the approved plan to Metro and incorporate it into future updates to the City’s Capital Improvement Plan and other mobility planning documents that guide future infrastructure investments.

Residents, businesses, and frequent visitors are encouraged to share their feedback and suggestions on Engage WeHo to inform the plan’s development.  The survey is open and will remain open through Wednesday, February 7. Participants can provide input through an online form on any of the three stations proposed in West Hollywood as well as the Citywide bicycle network.

Interactive online maps are available for participants to place suggestions for improvements directly on online maps.

A specific number of stations have not been determined by Metro to serve the WeHo area. Pedestrian and bicycle improvements identified for any of the proposed station areas may be relevant regardless of the final route Metro selects as West Hollywood works to improve safety and mobility.

For more details about the survey go to engage.weho.org/metroFLM or contact David Fenn, Senior Planner, at (323) 848-6335 or dfenn@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing call TTY (323) 848-6496.

By Trevor

WEST HOLLYWOOD—The city of West Hollywood announced in a press release on Wednesday, December 13 that they have started development of a municipal fiber network. The initial phases of West Hollywood’s fiber network (fiber-optic internet) are now complete.

The city reported that with its Information Technology Division and a collaborative private-public partnership with Plenary Americas and Digital Ubiquity Capital, West Hollywood is exploring expansion of the city’s fiber network for a growth phase of connectivity. The goal is to provide community digital equity with affordable high-speed internet connectivity.

The city is asking for the community to participate in a survey to garner their feedback. Residents and business members are asked to participate in the survey, available in English, Spanish, and Russian. The survey is open now and will remain open through Wednesday, January 17, 2024. It will take approximately ten minutes to complete. As part of the survey, participants will be asked about connection speed using a speed test link.

Data collected will be used to explore broadband access options and will not be sold. To learn more and take part in the survey at go.weho.org/broadband or visit West Hollywood’s Municipal Fiber Network website page with links to the survey at www.weho.org/services/municipal-fiber-network.

In 2016, West Hollywood adopted the Fiber Network Infrastructure and Service Strategic Plan. The plan outlined the major benefits of having a fast and affordable broadband infrastructure, including improved internet service, equitable access, public safety, economic development, healthcare, and Smart City applications, and set forth a plan to develop a series of initiatives that leverage technology and improve quality of life for community members.

For additional details contact Eugene Tsipis, West Hollywood’s Information Technology Manager, at (323) 848-6399 or at etsipis@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing call TTY (323) 848-6496.

By Trevor

WEST HOLLYWOOD—The city of West Hollywood indicated in a press release on Thursday, September 7 that the Community Safety Department is working on next steps to update the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan and making it available on the city’s website to collect feedback. The draft Plan will be posted online from Thursday, September 7 thru Monday, September 25. Community members can provide feedback at: https://go.weho.org/hazardplan.

Local Hazard Mitigation Plans are aimed to serve as guides for communities to reduce adverse impacts from natural and human-caused hazards. West Hollywood’s updated Local Hazard Mitigation Plan will provide a roadmap that identifies hazards affecting the community and outlines actions that can be taken to limit negative impacts on residents, businesses, and the community. Local Hazard Mitigation Plans will provide an opportunity to access funding for specified actions to mitigate identified hazards.

Community outreach on updating the City’s Local Hazard Mitigation Plan started in Spring 2023. Hazards included in the update involved wildfire, earthquake, extreme heat and rainfall, flooding, high winds, drought, terrorism, and hazardous materials incidents. Local Hazard Mitigation Plan must be updated every five years and reviewed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

West Hollywood’s Local Hazard Mitigation Plan has been revised from earlier versions, with specific attention given to FEMA’s recent guidance from April 2023 requiring a sharper focus on climate impacts and equity. The Plan will allow West Hollywood to further champion the actions needed to meet the global and local challenges of hazardous materials and reaffirm the region as “vibrant, sustainable, and resilient leadership city for current and future generations.”

For more details about the Local Hazard Mitigation Plan contact Margarita Kustanovich, West Hollywood’s Emergency Management Coordinator, by phone at (323) 848-6414 or by email at safety@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing call TTY (323) 848-6496.

By Trevor