A quick stop from last month’s Culver City Family Ride. Photo: LACBC/Flickr

I became passionate about biking when I lived in Paris. Mayor Bertrand Delanoe had implemented a bold transportation plan making biking safe, practical, accessible and fun. When I moved back here, I decided not to get caught up in the L.A. car culture: riding rather than driving whenever possible, and teaching my two kids to do the same. I have high hopes for my hometown Culver City, which has the perfect size and demographics to become truly bicycle and pedestrian friendly.

This Saturday, June 12^th, is an important day for Culver City- it’s the final community meeting in a 2 year+ process for the City’s first-ever Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan. The meeting will be held in the Garden Room at Veteran’s Memorial Park, from 10am-12noon. Free childcare is available. After this community meeting, the formal public review process starts, which includes public review and comment that would be considered by the City Council in their process

Culver City residents and visitors have the opportunity to shape the Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan by looking at the draft online and coming to the workshop on June 12th. The collective genius and experience of the community are the vital ingredients to this plan’s success: this is our chance to ensure that it represents our needs, concerns and bright ideas. If you cannot attend the workshop, please post your comments online.

Biking and walking are healthy for our bodies and our planet: they are the means of transportation with the absolute lowest cost and the very highest benefits. Making our city friendly to walking and biking is a step toward a better future for all of us, but if the plan doesn’t meet your specific needs, will you walk and bike? Will you feel safe and comfortable?

Your input is welcome and vital.

We hope to see you on the 12^th!

Meghan Sahli-Wells is the Vice Chair
of the Public Advisory Committee for the Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian
Initiative.