CITY HALL — Aiming to make the twice-weekly Farmers’ Markets held in Downtown Santa Monica safer, the City Council is expected to approve $199,000 tonight for a new traffic plan during the events.
The plan calls for new “vehicle arresting barriers” to be installed at market entrances and new temporary and permanent signs to be placed near the market to alert roadway users about the Wednesday and Saturday events.
The move comes seven years after an elderly man drove his car through the Wednesday market, which takes place on Arizona Avenue near the Third Street Promenade, killing 10 people and injuring scores more.
The new traffic plan is expected to reduce annual operating costs by $121,418 because it will reduce the number of Santa Monica Police personnel required to handle security at the markets, according to a City Hall report.
The traffic plan is part of a $1.2 million spending package that is included on the council’s consent agenda.
With the goal of improving the skills of city employees who drive “specialty vehicles” like garbage trucks and beach maintenance vehicles, the council also is expected to approve $212,250 for Trukspect Inc., which provides commercial vehicle and equipment safety training.
The proposed contract is for a five-year term and requires the company to cover “a broad spectrum of topics including one-on-one defensive driving testing, training and coaching, forklift safety training, flagger training, traffic control training, proper back-up training, and aerial manlift safety training,” according to a City Hall report.
The program is necessary to comply with California Department of Transportation and other state requirements, City Hall said.
The council is also expected to approve $560,000 to replace old 300-gallon refuse containers used to store solid waste, green waste and recycling materials. The proposed contract with Rotonics Inc. requires the company to replace about 540 containers annually, out of about 32,500 of the collection containers in use citywide.
Also on the agenda is a lease modification for the city’s mail room and print shop at 1660 Lincoln Blvd., which is needed because the building’s landlord is planning to sell the property. The proposed amendment would reduce the rent to $8,000 from $9,495 per month for a 3,723 square foot property while City Hall looks for new permanent location for the facility.
The council is also being asked to sign off on an additional $125,000 for Cityworks Design, which is working on integrating the Expo light rail line with the existing cityscape. The contract amendment is for technical expertise to address the portion of the planned rail line that will run along Colorado Avenue.
The council is also expected to approve $150,711 for water quality sampling at the Palisades Bluffs horizontal drains. The testing, to be conducted by URS Corp., is part of City Hall’s Palisades Bluffs Stabilization Project.
