SAVE THE DATE! Sustainable Works Fundraiser

National Night Out Block Party

When: Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Santa Monica College Continuing Ed: Green Curriculum

Irrigation System Maintenance--

Green Drinks- West Side

5 Gyres: Plastic Pollution In the World's Oceans

 When: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 

Time: 7pm 

2010 Sustainable Landscape Design Series for Professionals

Water Wise Irrigation Design 

Find out about irrigation systems that meet the requirements including drip irrigation, subsurfacing irrigation and rotary sprayheads. Also learn about proper backflow prevention device installation.
 **PROFESSIONALS ONLY 

Green Business Networking

When: Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Santa Monica Farmers Market
2010 QUARTERLY PANEL SERIES
CONSCIENTIOUS CARNIVORE

When: Thursday, August 12, 2010

Sustainable Works-- Green Living Workshop

Why Raw? - The Basics of a Raw Food Diet

                          When: Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Garden Tour: Lawn Alternatives

 When: Saturday, August 21th, 2010

Cause for Creativity: Tour da Arts, Vol. 2

                                                                        When: Sunday, August 22, 2010

Last Fridays on Main Street -- TGILF!!

The Friday Before First Fridays Is Here At Last! On August 27th and the last Friday of every month, participating Main Street businesses will stay open late with specials and special events!!

Car Free Friday!

THE LAST FRIDAY OF EVERY MONTH IS "CAR-FREE FRIDAY!" More bikes on LA streets for a healthier and cleaner Los Angeles! Car-Free Friday encourages more people to ride a bike at least one day a month. Experience the greater Los Angeles area by bike and stay healthy, save money, reduce green house gas emissions and have fun! Get a friend who does not ride yet, to join you on the last Friday of the month to ride to work, to party, to shop, to eat, to hang, TO BIKE IT!!

Take Out Food Container Program Receives "Outstanding Waste Prevention" Award from the California Resource Recovery Association

 The City of Santa Monica was awarded the 2010 Outstanding Waste Prevention Award from the California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) for its ground breaking take out food container program.  Santa Monica's Non-Recyclable Plastic Disposable Food Service Container Ban, in place since February 9, 2007, is protecting our beaches and bay without limiting the outstanding take out food choices Santa Monica residents and visitors enjoy.  The program prohibits local restaurants from using non-recyclable food containers, including those made from polystyrene (Styrofoam), because these products end up as one of the main components of beach and marine litter.  Restaurants have responded positively by switching to recyclable plastic, paper and compostable containers which helps keep waste off the beaches and out of the landfills.
 
"We are excited to receive this award for what has been an incredibly successful program" said Dean Kubani, director of the city's Office of Sustainability and the Environment. "Santa Monica's restaurants and their patrons have embraced it and it has helped create a market for more environmentally friendly food packaging. And it has now become a model for programs in other cities throughout the country."
 
According to CRRA President Julie Muir, "each year it is great to see the amazing programs that we have going on in the state. Between the initiatives of local government, federal agencies, nonprofits, individuals and small private businesses it's no wonder California is a leader in resource conservation, and well on its way toward Zero Waste."  In 1990 California passed Assembly Bill 939, mandating all cities and counties to divert 50% of their waste from landfills by 2000, since then many jurisdictions have adopted Zero Waste goals.
 
The California Resource Recovery Association (CRRA) is the largest and oldest affiliate recycling organization in the country.  Founded in 1974, CRRA is a dynamic non-profit organization dedicated to resource conservation through the practices of reuse, recycling and composting. 

Santa Monica representatives will be on hand to receive the award presented at the CRRA's annual conference in Sacramento August 12, 2010.

On July 6th, 2010, after a lively and thought-provoking series of 7 Planning Commission and 5 City Council meetings, Santa Monica took a giant leap forward with the adoption of the much anticipated Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE).  Reflecting the involvement of thousands of people and community organizations, the final LUCE preserves the City's unique identity and neighborhood quality of life and celebrates the natural beauty of our beaches and parklands. It also creates walkable transit villages with creative arts and housing near the future Expo Light Rail stations and expands the range of community benefits. The strategy is balanced to ensure a continued stable, diverse and healthy economy to support emergency, social, cultural, and human services.

Green Plumbers Training

'Sharrows' Make Santa Monica Debut on 14th Street

 A new marking known as a "sharrow," short for "shared lane arrow," was recently installed on 14th Street between Montana and Washington Avenues  as a way to remind cyclists and drivers alike that the road is a shared space for both travel modes. The street marking is a white graphic that combines the classic pictogram of a bicycle with two arrows. San Francisco was the first city in the United States to use these markings and since then many cities, including Los Angeles and Long Beach, locally, have installed them.
 
The sharrow reinforces the rights of bicyclists to use the roadway as granted by the California Vehicle Code. It is used to assist bicyclists with positioning on the street where parallel parking exists but there is not enough room for a dedicated bicycle lane.  By indicating a safe distance from both moving traffic and parked cars, sharrows are helpful in reducing collisions between cars and bikes. It also alerts motorists of the location a bicyclist may occupy within the roadway.
 
The 14th Street sharrows connect to the bicycle lane on Montana Avenue and are anticipated to connect to a planned bicycle lane on 14th Street south of Washington Avenue. The sharrows were installed as part of regularly scheduled street maintenance. By incorporating bicycle facilities into these ongoing projects, the City saves money, while continuously building out the citywide bicycle network as envisioned in the Land Use and Circulation Element. The City will be evaluating the effectiveness of these markings.
 
Sharrows are only a small piece of the city's approach to promoting cycling and reducing automobile trips. The paving project also included the addition of a bicycle lane on Arizona Avenue west of Lincoln Boulevard providing a continuous lane from 26th Street to Ocean Avenue. The City has also been installing new bicycle detection technology at signalized intersections. The 46th Santa Monica intersection to include bicycle detection, allowing bicycles positioned at a red light to trigger the signal to turn green, is scheduled to be installed this summer and markings indicating where bicyclists should wait at intersections will be installed next. In addition, the city provides innovative services to encourage cycling, such as the Bike Valet Program which provides guaranteed, free and convenient bicycle parking at community and cultural events including the Twilight Dance Series, Sunday Farmers' Market, Friday nights on Main Street and GLOW.
 
Questions about the City's bicycling projects may be directed to Michelle Glickert at michelle.glickert@smgov.net or 310-458-2204. Please visit www.smgov.net/bikesm to access the city's bicycle map and other helpful cycling resources.

Use the IPhone to Green Your Neighborhood

Want to report someone hosing off, using a leaf blower, or dumping in the storm drain? Now it's as easy as pushing a button! Use the new iphone app to report eco-violations to the City of Santa Monica. Going green has never been so easy!