Vitality Beach

The Friends of Redondo Beach Arts is hosting a party to raise money for the creation of A Harbor Mosaic Wall on Harbor Drive.  The party will be held at SeaLab on Sunday June 9 from 4:30-7pm.  Local Restaurants are donating food for this worthwhile fundraiser.  There will be  a live band and wine and beer are included with the ticket price.  This will be a great opportunity to support the beautification of our city.  Buy your tickets early for a discount.

The concept of Complete Streets, also referred to as Living Streets, is to design and create streets with all users of all ages and abilities in mind.  Plainly stated it means that the policies and planning of streets should not merely consider the flow of traffic, but more importantly it should consider how pedestrians, bicycles, and public transit users use the streets and then design and build them for the benefit of all users.  The idea of Complete Streets has evolved from a trendy concept among bicycle activist into a strong social movement with many communities everywhere adopting the concept and applying its principles.  One goal of Complete Streets is to encourage people to become more active and provide inviting places and streets to help that be more viable.  A natural side effect of people walking and/or biking more is less pollution and a healthier population.   There has been a big push in our local community to bring the concept of Complete Streets here.  These innovative concepts have been championed by The Blue Zones Project and all three beach cities have been working hard to make these concepts a reality. According to Smart Growth America (www.smartgrowthamerica.org) our own Hermosa Beach has been ranked as the #2 city in the last year to craft comprehensive policy language for Complete Streets.  What an exciting time for all of us in the Beach Cities! Living by the beach is an incredible thing, but being a part of a community that is actively working at making our streets more accessible and livable makes living here spectacular.

For more information on the concept of Complete or Living Streets check out these websites

http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org

http://www.livingstreetsalliance.org/

Art is an important piece of any culture so important in fact that you can trace the history of that culture through it’s art.  We at Vitality Beach strongly believe in the arts and in promoting public art within our community.  Which is why we want to inform everyone about a new public art piece that will be coming to Redondo Beach.  An installation of permanent mosaic art depictions of six different ocean activities which include sailing, fishing, outrigger canoe paddling, kayaking, standup paddle boarding and surfing and will be placed on the privately owned 8ft high by 190ft long concrete block wall running along the west side of Harbor Drive between Yacht Club Way and Marina Way. The wall is owned by King Harbor Marina and the owners are contributing $10,000.00 towards the project and are planning to raise the remaining required money for this worthwhile project.   The mosaic murals will be created by the same artist who gave us the beautiful mosaic steps next to the pier, Patrice Linnett and Deborah Collett.

The following images are the sketches of each of the Mosaic Murals.  Each mural will be approximately 5-6ft tall and will be a grand improvement to the area.

Greetings all! We have exciting news to report: The wall is coming down:

There will soon be a safer, and better entrance from the Strand into Redondo Beach.  Last night was a historic day for all users of the Strand and the Bike path into Redondo.  The Redondo Beach City Council voted to move forward with the Proposed Changes to Herondo St. and Harbor Drive, including the Strand transition and a new Bike Path along Harbor Drive with some important and wise safety suggestions. This has been a long and strenuous process and we would like to thank the City Staff for reaching out to the community and inviting people into the process. We also want to send a proud shout out to the many people who took the time to get involved and make a difference. We truly believe that together we can create a safer, happier and healthier community and we also believe we are one step closer to that.

For all those that supported our concept of a Welcome Park, we are proud to announce we are half way there.  A park area was approved last night with the possibility of expanding that area in the future.  Stay tuned as the process moves forward as we will continue to update everyone as things unfold.

For today I’d like to leave you with one of our favorite quotes:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

Margaret Mead

We believe the current condition of the Strand transition from Hermosa into Redondo is unsafe, unattractive, and in desperate need of a complete remodel.  Which is why when we heard that there were changes coming we were overjoyed and excited to see what could be.  After attending many community meetings with Redondo Beach City Staff and learning about the proposal we have concerns about the project and want to share them with our community.  The proposed plans includes removal of the wall, which we love, and a safer transition into Redondo Beach, which we also love.  What concerns us the most is the plan to eventually reroute Yacht Club Way so that it will cross the “new bike path” with no safeguards such as lights, and then continue on to join the roundabout.  We truly believe that this proposal will create more problems than it will solve.  The City Council will be receiving the proposal and recommendation Tuesday April 16 during the City Council Meeting that will begin at 6pm.  People in the community will have the opportunity to address the Council with their support, concerns, and/or suggestions with each person allowed 3 minutes to speak.  We believe strongly that everyone should have the opportunity to have their voice heard.  If you can’t attend you can always send a letter or email to the Mayor and Council members.  Below is a list of email addressed to the Mayor, City Council, and City Clerk:

Redondo Beach Mayor Mike Gin    mike.gin@redondo.org

District 1 Steve Aspel                         steve.aspel@redondo.org

District 2 Bill Brand                           bill.brand@redondo.org

District 3 Pat Aust                               pat.aust@redondo.org

District 4 Steve Diels                          steven.diels@redondo.org

District 5 Mat Kilroy                          matt.kilroy@redondo.org

City Clerk Eleanor Manzino             Eleanor.Manzano@redondo.org

Below we have posted a sample letter:

Dear Mayor and City Council,

As a resident I am truly excited about the waterfront revitalization plans and look forward to a better Redondo Beach.  That being said, I also wanted to share my excitement and concerns with the improvements planned for Harbor Drive and Herondo St.  Firstly, I am overjoyed with the plan to remove the wall that currently exists at the entrance to Redondo Beach from the Hermosa Beach Strand.  Surely I am not alone with my cry of “about time” and “yes”.  Secondly, I like the plan to make an easier and safer transition from the Strand to the two lane bike path on Harbor Drive.  My real concern is with the proposed plan to reroute Yacht Club Way.  The plan calls for Yacht Club Way to cross the bike path with no stop sign, lights, or protection for bikes and pedestrians alike.  I believe this is an unsafe and unwise plan and believe there are better alternatives.  I further understand that due to a funding shortfall the improvements would be completed in stages with the proposed Yacht Club Way rerouting and roundabout not happening until later.  Rather I recommend a single stage plan that will provide the safest possible transition between the Strand and the proposed two-way bike path on Harbor Dr.

Let’s instead create a welcome park to accomplish this objective.  The main goals for revitalizing the waterfront should be “place making” and creating “living streets” which a welcome park will help fulfill in a safe and beautiful manner.  A park will be an inviting and wonderful way to welcome people into our great city along with complementing the exciting improvements planned at the south end of Harbor Drive.  Since we are making a change let’s make it right the first time.

Respectfully,

Trinity Singer

Please let your views be heard no matter what you believe.  Either join us at City Council or send in your own letter.

Remember there will be two more community meetings we will be hosting to further discuss the proposals before the City Council will hear them:

Thursday April 11, 5:30-6:30p RB Yacht Club- 210 Yacht Club Way &

Saturday April 13, 10:30-11:30a Bluewater Grill- 665 N. Harbor Drive