WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 10, 2011
Volume 10 Issue 230
Santa Monica Daily Press
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THE CONTRAST ISSUE
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SAVED: ReCork is collecting corks for charity.
Used wine corks go to a good cause BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
CITYWIDE The sound of a popping cork is music to many people’s ears, but it means something different to Matt Hughes. Hughes is the director of ReCork, a nonprofit organization that collects used wine corks and repurposes them to make shoes with the help of the Vancouver-based shoe maker Sole. ReCork was established by Amorim Cork America, an arm of the Portuguese cork producer Amorim, to help reclaim some of the 13 to 14 billion corks used every year, many of which end up in landfills. Although ReCork has successfully gathered over 16 million corks, it needed a little help to catapult over the 20 million cork mark, which Hughes called a “milestone number.” That’s where Gerri-Lynn Becker came in. Becker is the director of operations at the California Wine Club, a 21-year-old organization that ships wine to its members across the country. “Ultimately, it came down to a moment in my kitchen,” Becker said. She had opened a bottle of wine and was about to throw the cork into the recycling container when she stopped. “I’m embarrassed to say, I never considered what to do with the cork,” she said. “I thought, ‘Wait a second, I can’t put this in recycling.’” Becker knew that both she and many of the customers of her club drink wine regularly, and she got to wondering: Where did all those corks go? SEE CORKS PAGE 9
Daniel Archuleta daniela@smdp.com
COASTING: A family rides along the beach bike path near the Santa Monica Pier on Tuesday. City Hall’s draft Bike Action Plan is receiving praise.
Activists applaud City Hall’s bike plan BY ASHLEY ARCHIBALD Daily Press Staff Writer
DOWNTOWN Members of bike activist group Santa Monica Spoke got the first peek at City Hall’s draft plan for bicycle facilities and improvements across the next two decades, and, for the most part, they
seemed pleased. “It was the best thing I read all summer!” said bicyclist Michael Feinstein, referring to the tome of a draft Bike Action Plan, a large document that spells out, in great detail, the vision city planners have created to improve access, education and supporting facilities to make bicycling easier, safer
and more pleasant in Santa Monica. Although much of the commentary was positive — many comments were prefaced by rounds of applause or generic accolades — bicyclists present did have commentary about which streets needed extra love to SEE PLAN PAGE 8
Flash mob participants use big crowds as cover ERIC TUCKER & THOMAS WATKINS Associated Press
The July 4 fireworks display in the Cleveland suburb of Shaker Heights was anything but a family affair. As many as 1,000 teenagers, mobilized
through social networking sites, turned out and soon started fighting and disrupting the event. Thanks to social networks like Twitter and Facebook, more and more so-called flash mobs are materializing across the globe, leaving police scrambling to keep tabs on the spontaneous assemblies.
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"They're gathering with an intent behind it — not just to enjoy the event," Shaker Heights Police Chief D. Scott Lee said. "All too often, some of the intent is malicious." Flash mobs started off in 2003 as peaceSEE MOB PAGE 10
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