Kate Cagle
Daily Press Staff Writer
At the upcoming meeting, City Council will vote on whether to integrate Breeze Bike Share with other nearby cities to create a major regional bike share network throughout Los Angeles County.
The item is on the Consent Calendar, which is routinely passed by the Council with little or no discussion from elected officials or the public.
Here are some of the items they may quickly move forward:
Meeting reschedule:
The Council will vote whether to cancel the regular City Council meeting schedule for Dec. 26 due to a lack of quorum and add a special meeting for Tuesday, Dec. 5.
Breeze Bike Share
The City’s Mobility Department is asking the Council to integrate Breeze Bike Share with similar systems in Beverly Hills, West Hollywood and UCLA to give users access bikes across the region.
If integrated, a Breeze Bike Share member would be able to use their account in participating cities and no longer receive “out of hub fees” for leaving a Hulu branded bike in a connected area.
Each city would still own their own bicycles and pay their own operator fees but bikes may migrate freely from one jurisdiction to another.
Breeze Bike Share remains popular and successful in Santa Monica with nearly 80,000 active subscribers. City residents account for only 12 percent of those subscribers but take nearly half the total amount of trips.
Los Angeles County residents account for nearly a third of subscribers and take 38 percent of trips.
Usage of the bikes in 2017 increased 15 percent over the previous year.
The Mobility Department has also discussed integrating Breeze with LA Metro’s bike share program which recently launched in Santa Monica and Venice.
The City is interested in pursuing a long-term partnership that would allow TAP cards as payment throughout the system. There is no clear timeline for that to happen, however.
Lincoln Corridor
Staff is asking the Council to award Kimley-Horn and Associates with a three year, $582,472 contract for the final design phase of the Lincoln Neighborhood Corridor Streetscape Project (LiNC).
The firm will provide engineering design services, develop construction plans and documents and provide engineering support during construction.
The City chose Kimley-Horn because of their success with similar projects in Glendale, Agoura Hills, Culver City, Oceanside, Anaheim, Seal Beach and Calabasas, according to a staff report. The engineering design phase will take about eight months.
When it’s over the Council will need to award a construction contract for the project.
The LiNC project includes new landscaped center medians, pedestrian friendly crosswalks, new striping, curb ramps, LED lights, and curb-extensions to make Lincoln Boulevard north of Interstate 10 more walkable.
The first phase of construction will cost about $3 million.
A total of 48 new trees will be planted during the two design phases.
The project spans 17 blocks and more than a mile through three neighborhoods: Pico, Ocean Park and Sunset Park.
City Services Project
The Council will vote whether to award United-Heider Inspection Group a $278,480 contract from the Capital Improvement Budget for deputy inspection and material testing at the new City Services Building.
The group’s team would include a project manager to oversee the general work plan; a deputy inspector to monitor and inspect all concrete, masonry, steel, welding and bolted elements; and field and laboratory technicians to assist testing.
Total construction costs for the City Services Building are projected to reach $76.76 million. When complete, about 240 City staff members will work in the building.
Funding for the inspector was already included in cost estimates for the project, according to a staff report. The project is expected to be complete by mid-2020.
Council meets at 5:30 p.m. on Nov. 14 in City Hall, 1685 Main St. Visit www.smgov.net for more information.
Kate@www.smdp.com
