Last week the South Bay Bicycle Coalition announced, with great excitement, that we had received the support of three Manhattan Beach Commissions, Parks and Recreation, Planning and Parking and Public Improvement, who came together and UNANIMOUSLY voted to recommend the Bicycle Master Plan to the city council.  Feeling encouraged, we went into our next commission meeting hopeful that we would be met in Torrance with similar excitement.  Today, we are happy to report that the Torrance Transportation Commission also unanimously voted to move the plan forward City Council’s Transportation Subcommittee.   The plan will be presented to the subcommittee on Tuesday, September 13th, and ultimately to the entire city council, whose vote is the last step in the city’s process of adopting the plan.   Torrance is the largest South Bay city affected by the plan and the support of their Transportation Commission is very significant as 76.9 of the 213 proposed miles of bikeway will be implemented in the city of Torrance.

We could not have achieved such victories in Manhattan Beach and Torrance without the supportive words and emails offered by each city’s bike advocates, environmental stewards, and active community members.   It is important that we continue this momentum!  The commission and city councils need to hear how important the issues dealt with in the Bicycle Master Plan are to YOUR community.  We are asking you to show your support in two ways.  First, we ask that you write a letter of support to the commission members and city council in your city.  Second, we need to turn out as many advocates and supporters as possible at the upcoming commission and council meetings.  We invite you to join us at any of the commission meetings happening in the next two weeks:

• 9/8 – El Segundo Planning – Council Chambers – 7:00pm
• 9/13 – Torrance Trans. Committee – West Annex Commission Room – 4:30pm
• 9/14 – Lawndale Planning – Council Chambers – 6:30pm
• 9/14 – Hermosa Beach Public Works – Council Chambers – 7:00pm
• 9/15 – Redondo Beach Planning and Harbor – Main Library Second Floor – 7:00pm

Letter of support can be e-mailed directly to the commissioners or council members in your city.   Sample support letters and Council contact information can be found here.

• El Segundo Planning Commission:  Venus Wesson at vwesson@elsegundo.org
• Torrance Transportation Subcommittee:  Councilman Tom Brewer,  TBrewer@torranceca.gov, Councilman Cliff Newmark, CNumark@torranceca.gov, or Councilwoman Susan Rhilinger, SRhilinger@torranceca.gov.
• Hermosa Beach Public Works Commission:  Frank Senteno, fsenteno@hermosabeach.org.
• Lawndale Planning Commission:  Chris Wilson cwilson@lawndalecity.org
• Redondo Beach Planning and Harbor Commissions:  Aaron Jones, aaron.jones@redondo.org or Pete Carmichael, pete.carmichael@redondo.org.