TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to schedule a study session for the City Council concerning the Long Beach Bicycle Master Plan prior to the upcoming General Master Plan workshops.
DISCUSSION
The City of Long Beach recognizes the need to provide residents and visitors with a healthy, safe and coherent bicycling environment that contributes to their quality of life. The positive consequences of bicycling as a mode of transportation or as a purely recreational activity, impact several facets of our lives including our personal health, natural environment and local economy. Not to mention the impact on practical concerns such as parking and traffic.
The Long Beach Bicycle Master plan was developed in the summer and fall of 2000 by the Public Works Department. A Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) made up of the Traffic and Transportation Bureau, Planning Bureau, Neighborhood Resources Bureau, Police Department, Parks, Recreation and Marine Department and other agencies including Long Beach Transit and Long Beach Unified School District was established to oversee the project. Public workshops were held around the city to receive additional input while developing the plan. From these initial meetings and workshops a plan, which included thirteen recommendations, was formed to provide the city with a framework for planning and maintaining bicycle-related facilities and programs over the next twenty years.
Recommendations from the Bicycle Master Plan will be included in workshops being conducted next year as part of developing the City's next General Master Plan. In anticipation of those workshops, I believe that newly elected and senior councilmembers would benefit from a study session on this plan, both as an introduction and update on staff s most recent efforts to implement the recommendations.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
SUJA LOWENTHAL, SECOND COUNCIL DISTRICT