Better Infrastructure May Lead to Less Westside Traffic, Says Bloom

Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom delivered remarks and fielded questions Thursday at the Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting. Bloom, who seeks the 50th District seat in the California Assembly this year, dialogued with community council members on a number of issues affecting Palisadians.

He advocated mixed-use developments that incorporate business space and residential housing as well as improvements to the bike and pedestrian infrastructure as key to reducing Westside traffic. The mayor touted his city's success at making it a place where motor vehicles are not as much of a transportation necessity compared with other parts of Los Angeles County.

"Our hotels are now enjoying the highest occupancy rate in the county, and it's really important to point out that 70 percent of the folks who stay in Santa Monica hotels do not use cars," Bloom said. "They're taking public transit. They may be getting in a taxi cab, but they're not renting cars and spending most of their time in vehicles."

"One of the things that's really important ... is that we improve that connection down on the beach between the Palisades and Santa Monica," Bloom said.

He advocated building a pedestrian path from the Palisades down to the Santa Monica Pier, calling it "a very, very important but missing piece of infrastructure."

Noting the recent "explosion" of technology business sector growth in addition to the tourism upswing in Santa Monica, Bloom commented on the affect young people have had on the city's relatively good economy despite the recession bleak conditions in nearby areas.

"The tech businesses are also employers of a lot of young people ... [who] are far less likely to be driving cars in our community," Bloom said. "They want to be in our community because it's walk-able ... [and] because we provide bike infrastructure for them, and we are accelerating our efforts to implement bike infrastructure now."

The mayor also spoke about interconnected environmental issues affecting the region such as water, greenhouse gas emissions and energy efficiency.

Santa Monica has "set a goal by 2020 to be 100 percent water self-sufficient" by utilizing city-owned water wells, a water treatment facility and conservation.

"The movement of water around the state of California is one of the highest consumers of power in the state," said Bloom. "So every drop of water that we do not have to draw ... down from Northern California is a savings in energy cost. ... Using less water promotes energy efficiency."    

In addition to "pedestrian- and bike-friendly" projects, Santa Monica also plans to increase its number of electric vehicle charging stations, Bloom added. And the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority is building a light rail line that by 2016 will connect Santa Monica with downtown L.A.

In response to a question about community input on an earthquake retrofit construction project expected to begin next year on the California Incline, Bloom noted the close ties between his city and Pacific Palisades and pledged to make sure that community council members' voices would be heard during the project's ongoing approval process.

"Santa Monica and the Palisades are really partner communities," he told the PPCC and meeting attendees. "We're codependent on one another, more so than any other community in this [assembly] district. ... Things that we do in Santa Monica have the potential to have dramatic impacts on you, so we need to continue to be aware of that."