First plans for Santa Monica's Michigan Avenue Neighborhood Greenway (MANGO!) were released at a planning commission meeting last week, and attendees were "optimistic but shared concerns," says the Santa Monica Daily Press. The three-mile greenway will eventually link the Expo Line bike path to the beach, with connections to Expo stations, Samohi, downtown Santa Monica, the Civic Center, and Bergamot Station. The idea is the path will make the area more pedestrian- and bike-friendly, providing, per the project website, "residents and visitors with a safe and comfortable place to walk, interact with neighbors, play, travel, and be." It would also make the streets safer for students biking to school. Three options for installing MANGO were presented last week: traffic circles, slow-speed intersections, and a cycle track. The cycle track, which would divide the street in half for bike and car traffic and remove half the available parking on Michigan Avenue, was the most popular option among the planning commissioners, but of course the loss of parking was the source of much concern among residents in attendance. One commissioner worried that "the drive for perfection, in some way, will get in the way of simply a very good thing happening, and happening quickly." With this and the city council's rejection of the "perfect" Rem Koolhass project, we're wondering what Santa Monica has against perfection all of a sudden?
· Loss of parking a concern with greenway plan [SMDP]
· New Way to the Beach: Greenway for SaMo's Michigan Avenue [Curbed LA]
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