Musical chairs was a fun game, despite the chagrin of being left without a seat. Less fun is finding yourself without a parking space in your own neighborhood.

Inconvenient for some residents, long walks from car to home late at night are dangerous for others.

Next weekend, your Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition will give you a chance to air your concerns and seek solutions.

Saturday, October 18th, from noon till two, we're hosting a Neighborhood Parking Issues Workshop in the large meeting room at Lincoln/Reed Park. This free event, open to all, will let us explore options with the help of City staff.

After an open floor call for issues and problems, Santa Monica Associate Traffic Engineer Doug Biagi will explain possible remedies, including the establishment of preferential, or permit, parking zones.

Then a panel of residents experienced in the pros and cons of various solutions will share their views, and we'll again open the floor for discussion and street-by-street organization.

Special thanks to new W/MNC Board member Robin Waner, who has taken the lead on arranging this neighborhood event.

What do YOU see as ongoing parking issues where YOU live? Commercial parking on residential streets? On-street spots clogged with beach traffic? Periodic swarms of cars brought in by nearby shops or schools?

You don't have to live in the Wilshire/Montana neighborhood to come to our workshop! Parking is clearly an issue in neighborhoods citywide, and the W/MNC's hope is that we can all consider the options together.

For more information, call us at 450-5578.

MEAN STREETS

City Council discussion over the role of crosswalks in pedestrian safety has highlighted the whole issue of how Santa Monica's walkers, drivers and bicyclists are doing at sharing our neighborhood streets.

I spoke to Santa Monica Police Sergeant Gary Gallinot after a crosswalk sting operation. Officers stepped into several City intersections legally, and ticketed drivers who failed to stop.

He told me their sting at 15th and Montana netted five motorist citations in just thirty minutes, for failing to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian. That means officers essentially were issuing tickets as fast as they could write them.

Should we be calling for intensified enforcement? Sounds like a municipal moneymaker!

A new W/MNC member wrote me, "I am an avid bicycler, and really wonder why there is not a bike lane on Montana. The motorists seem really nasty, and little concerned about pedestrian or bike rider's vulnerability."

As a bicyclist myself, and a Montana Avenue pedestrian, I can attest to that!

Of course, we who live here have to acknowledge that sometimes WE are the scofflaw motorists or the jaywalking pedestrians. The most immediate solution is the hardest – changing our own behavior.

MONTANA TRAFFIC

Back to bicycle lanes – the ones on Montana were lost when the street was restriped in the first phase of a streetscape plan, two and a half years ago.

The restriping was supposed to be evaluated after six months. The plan was never finished, other streetscapes seem to have taken priority, and now both residents and merchants are wondering where Montana Avenue is headed.

According to new Montana Avenue Merchants Association president Jack Srebnick, business owners are frustrated by the lack of follow-through, but split over what should be done next.

Jack told me the merchants plan a street-wide meeting the first week of November. Soon, we residents also will be holding a workshop, being planned by W/MNC's Montana Avenue subcommittee.

City survey figures show some dramatic increases in residential neighborhood Average Daily Traffic counts since the March '95 restriping. The largest is on 14th Street south of Montana, where the ADT went up by 2,380 vehicles, an astonishing 64%!

Residents want quiet streets in the neighborhood. Merchants want that traffic back on Montana, in front of their places of business.

Could this be an opportunity for the residents and the merchants to work together?

CONSERVATION ELEMENT

The City of Santa Monica's process toward developing an overall long-range plan for conservation of our natural resources has begun.

A first meeting late last month included discussion of recycling, growth management, and traffic and transit issues. Wilshire/Montana and Mid-City Neighbors were both there to voice resident concerns and suggestions.

At stake is the very quality of life in our community.

JOIN THE DISCUSSION

Working together is what your neighborhood groups are for. To join the Wilshire/Montana Neighborhood Coalition, call us at 450-5578 or write to P.O. Box 607, Santa Monica 90406.

You can find more Wilshire/Montana information posted at the 17th and Montana Library, and on the Internet at http://www.caprica.com/~kevinmck/wminfo.html.

Better yet, come to our Neighborhood Parking Issues Workshop on Saturday, October 18th at noon. See you at Lincoln/Reed Park!

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