Santa Monica Daily Press, May 30, 2007

Page 1

INSIDE SCOOP

COMMENTARY

SPORTS

DRUNK DRIVING DRAMA PAGE 3 WHY IS AMERICA SO VIOLENT THESE DAYS? PAGE 4 READY FOR 500 PAGE 11

WEDNESDAY, MAY 30, 2007

Visit us online at smdp.com

Volume 6 Issue 170

Santa Monica Daily Press

LINDSAY’S AT IT AGAIN SEE PAGE 13

Since 2001: A news odyssey

THE WEEKEND COMEDOWN ISSUE

BUSINESS

CUSTOMER SERVICE Do-it-yourself repairs for pedal pushers STORY STORY BY BY KEVIN KEVIN HERRERA HERRERA PAGE PAGE 8 8

Photo courtesy Franz Ellers

Millions in funding up for grabs Santa Monica officials vie to receive cash from MTA, CalTrans BY KEVIN HERRERA Daily Press Staff Writer

CITY HALL Santa Monica is in the running for $7.2 million in grants from the MTA and CalTrans that will help pay for school-based

bicycle training, alternative fuel buses and other transportation-related projects on the Westside. City officials recently participated in an appeals meeting to provide additional information on five city projects and two others submitted by the Westside Cities Council of Governments, or COG, of which Santa Monica is a member, city and county officials said. The Metro board is expected to make a final decision on the projects in July. It is the first time in six years that the MTA has initiated a “Call for Projects,” allowing all 88 cities in the county and transit operators to compete openly for funding.

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Metro received 406 applications totaling $1.7 billion. Staff is recommending funding just 174 projects for a total of $450 million, according to Carol Inge, chief planning officer for Metro. Of the seven projects submitted by Santa Monica, five have been recommended for funding, a good percentage considering the competition, said Don Patterson, assistant to the City Manager. “We did fairly well,” Patterson said. “It’s quite unique ... We really tried to focus on projects we felt were competitive and that really had a regional significance.”

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The projects being recommended for funding are: a bike transit station in one of the city’s downtown parking structures, where there would be both attended and selfparking for bicyclists; bicycle training for students, to teach them how to safely ride on city streets; the replacement of 20 dirty diesel buses with those running on liquefied natural gas (complete replacement of Big Blue Buses diesel fleet with alternative fuel buses is anticipated by 2014); the installation of real time beach parking signs that will let motorists SEE FUNDS PAGE 10

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