From the rally at Syd Kronenthal Park to the ride to City Hall, the supporters of the MOVE project gained numbers all evening; dozens stayed to the end of the council meeting to give their energy to maintaining and expanding the transit project and to preserve the bus and bike lanes that have been in place since November of 2020.
Addressing the Culver City council meeting, Bubba Fish, of Bike Culver City stated “On behalf of a coalition of 28 community organization working towards a better future for Culver City and beyond, we … urge you to make the MOVE project permanent, without adding lanes for passengers vehicles, and begin the process of expanding the project to more neighborhoods around the city.”
The rally to Expand the MOVE Project started at Syd Kronenethal Park at 6 pm, and heard from both community activists and elected officials in support. A sizable crowd attended, and almost all chose to ride bikes to City Hall, creating a mobile lobbying corridor for mobility.
The City Council meeting of April 10, 2023 saw more speakers for “Items Not on the Agenda” than for all the rest of the evening’s combined business; possibly an historic first. Fish was one of more than fifty speakers who came in support of the project.
The most recent statistics from the city’s tabulation showed that, as of November of 2022, the corridor saw a 52% increase in bus ridership, 32% increase in cycling, 18% increase in pedestrians and 95% increase in micro mobility trips. An independent economic entity showed that sales tax receipts for the area rocketed up from $1.9 million dollars to almost $2.7 million dollars from 2020 to 2022.
Many who spoke in praise of the bus and bike lanes offered that their family had been able to give up a car, that they were much more frequent visitors to the downtown area, and that they made it a point to patronize businesses because of the increase in pedestrian safety.
Several speakers were critical of the recent survey done by the city, in that it only surveyed Culver City residents. People living adjacent to, and also those coming to work in Culver City were just as enthused about the bike lane and the public transit. Olga Lexell noted that “This is not just for residents of the city, it’s for everyone who works here and plays here.”
The council is currently scheduled to consider the future of the MOVE project at the April 24, 2023 meeting.
Expect the bike parking to be very crowded.
Judith Martin-Straw
Photo- crowd at City Hall courtyard before council meeting
