Dear Google, please stop polluting my neighborhood
Editor:
If you live in Santa Monica, it's hard to miss the big, red double-decker buses wrapped in ads for YouTube shows circling the neighborhood.
I live in a residential part of the city, and on a typical weekend, I see one of these buses turning my corner every 30 minutes. Curious, I ran up to the bus and asked the driver if he made any stops. He said no. I asked if anyone else was on the bus. He said no.
I think it's safe to conclude that these double deckers exist for the sole purpose of advertising YouTube shows. One of the shows advertised, Video Game High School, was described by Common Sense Media as a "movie centered on gaming with some realistic video game violence and real-life bullying."
As a mother of a 7-year old girl, I'm not watching your "violent" shows. My daughter's not watching your shows. My neighbors, many of them families with young kids, are also not watching your shows.
Why do you keep circling my neighborhood, causing traffic congestion, air pollution, noise pollution, and visual pollution without any real benefit to the public?
Google, as the parent company of YouTube, is a self-proclaimed green company. From their website, "We're greening our company by using resources efficiently and supporting renewable power. That means when you use Google products, you're being better to the environment."
Google, I know you're trying to be green in Palo Alto, but you're being brown in my neighborhood.
Monica Ciociola
Santa Monica
Opposed to sharing bikes
Editor:
I am a bike rider and huge advocate for bicyclist. However I hope that you do not approve bikeshare program. I recently used a bikeshare in London that really opened my eyes to all of the logistics and issues with such a program. I urge you to try a bikeshare before you make any decision on one.
Some of reasons I believe it is a bad idea in Santa Monica are:
$10.4M for 500 bikes = $20,800 per bike! For that kind of money you could buy everyone in Santa Monica a low cost bicycle
Bikeshares work well in dense urban environments like London. I continuously hear we are a small beach town and our residents care about cars/parking. Conversely London embraces density, tall buildings, public transportation and is anti-automobile - all things which are critical for a successful bike share program.
Most everyone who wants to ride a bike has one - even the homeless; you could offer low cost loans for people who can't afford one
Perry's and our bike center already provide bikes for those visiting and provide them a locations where the tourist are. I believe Perry's pays the City substantial sums to operate these and they would most likely go out of business.
Why would residents pay $15-25 per month or up to $300 per year when they could just go out and buy a bike?
Therefore I appreciate your looking to support cycling. More importantly invest the money into making cycling safer. A couple of dedicated cycling lanes would go much further to promoting cycling. Our very expensive bike center is already a good solution for our city
The only way I could support such a program is if you find a corporate sponsors willing to pay for 100% of the installation and even more importantly the daily upkeep of the system.
If you get some numbers on the actual cost per ride, I think you will see this is an extremely unsustainable idea.
Thank you.
Linda Fineman
Santa Monica
