COG News

Westside Mayors Share Their Communities’ Challenges and Successes at Westside Urban Forum Event on February 15, 2013

Our Westside cities - West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and Santa Monica – are all on different but overlapping paths to bright futures. Santa Monica is becoming Silicon Beach, Culver City welcomed the Expo Line, eclectic projects continue to break ground in West Hollywood, and Beverly Hills looks forward to cutting the ribbon on the new Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Each city has strategies to achieve distinct goals. Do they need to work together to achieve mutual success or is competition healthy as each city works to attract businesses and discretionary dollars? How do decisions made in each city affect the Westside as a whole? What is each mayor’s vision for the future of these unique, but connected cities?
Click here for more about the event.

NOTICE OF DECLARATION OF PAM O’CONNOR, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA, AS THE WESTSIDE CITIES SCAG REGIONAL COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE FOR DISTRICT 41 (Westside Cities)

ELECTION PROCEDURE
The District Representative is elected by local elected officials of the cities within that district, voting as individuals, by a majority of a quorum. A quorum is defined as at least one local elected official in attendance from 2/3 of the jurisdictions in the district. Proxy votes will not be accepted. If there is only one candidate, that individual shall be declared the SCAG Representative without having to conduct an election. The deadline for nominations of candidates was 5:00 p.m. February 27, 2013. At that time, Mayor O’Connor was the only nominee, and thus, is declared the Westside Cities’ Regional Council Representative.

INTER-COG BICYCLE FACILITIES CORRIDORS

Thank you to all the cyclists who took the time to provide input on the COG's Recommended Priority Inter-COG Bicycle Facilities Corridors! In March, the WSCCOG Board approved the five recommended inter-COG Bicycle Facilities Corridors. By adopting these Corridors, the COG is facilitating regional cooperation and connectivity so that local jurisdictions can individually develop and prioritize projects to address these goals. It is also a strong statement of inter-jurisdictional support for grant applications to help guide independent efforts by Cities to improve the connectivity and quality of the regional bike network.

The team's work is not over. We are holding on to all input for consideration in future recommendations to the Board.

Click here to view the map.

THE WSCCOG BOARD PRIORITIES EXERCISE UPDATE, June 2012

During the past year, the Westside Cities Council of Governments (COG) has accomplished several actions that have increased its effectiveness as an organization and to accomplish its mission to produce benefits that improve the quality of life of its residents, businesses and visitors.

The Board is about to complete its first priorities/visioning exercise to guide the COG’s policies and efforts and maximize measurable improvements to the COG’s constituents over the next two years. The three standing committees have revised their proposed work programs into action-oriented deliverables and timeframe formats. The Board expanded the Homelessness Committee’s scope to include other Social Service Issues.

Two Ad Hoc Staff Committees have been established. The Bicycle Safety Awareness/Bike Sharing Committee has been working aggressively and as a result, the Board adopted a policy of mutual support for bicycle grants and recommended prioritizing five regional bike infrastructure gap closures. The Committee is currently tackling the barriers and challenges to implementation of a regional bike sharing program that includes the City of Los Angeles and has developed a Request for Information in advance of a Request for Proposals to meet this goal. The Committee is working with METRO to include the COG region in its first phase of evaluating bicycle sharing needs, and/or provide grant funds to conduct the evaluation to enable the COG members to move forward together. The Senior Transit Staff Committee is focusing on seeking opportunities for cost savings, service improvements and expanded transportation services for seniors.

The COG received a grant to localize the Energy Upgrade California rebate program into the Energize the Westside marketing campaign. It resulted in several westside households taking advantage of the program that would likely have missed the opportunity if the program marketing had remained county-oriented. The COG recently finalized a grant application for California Energy Commission Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PEV) Readiness grant. The scope of the study is to evaluate the challenges of retrofitting the electrical systems of multi-family buildings in the COG to enable PEV charging and develop incentives to implement the retrofits. The majority of the residents in the COG region are renters. The COG was not awarded the grant, but staff of the Luskin Institute for Innovation of the Luskin School of Public Policy at UCLA, who will conduct the study, believe that other grant opportunities are available. The study has the support of the Southern California Association of Governments.

It is anticipated that the COG’s priorities/visioning exercise will be completed in July, and additional activities that will need to be accomplished in the coming years will be initiated.



Mission Statement COG Description Work Programs Joint Projects Accomplishments Meetings COG News Contact Us E-mail Subscription	COG News Westside Mayors Share Their Communities’ Challenges and Successes at Westside Urban Forum Event on February 15, 2013 Our Westside cities - West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and Santa Monica – are all on different but overlapping paths to bright futures. Santa Monica is becoming Silicon Beach, Culver City welcomed the Expo Line, eclectic projects continue to break ground in West Hollywood, and Beverly Hills looks forward to cutting the ribbon on the new Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. Each city has strategies to achieve distinct goals. Do they need to work together to achieve mutual success or is competition healthy as each city works to attract businesses and discretionary dollars? How do decisions made in each city affect the Westside as a whole? What is each mayor’s vision for the future of these unique, but connected cities? Click here for more about the event. NOTICE OF DECLARATION OF PAM O’CONNOR, MAYOR OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA, AS THE WESTSIDE CITIES SCAG REGIONAL COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE FOR DISTRICT 41 (Westside Cities) ELECTION PROCEDURE The District Representative is elected by local elected officials of the cities within that district, voting as individuals, by a majority of a quorum. A quorum is defined as at least one local elected official in attendance from 2/3 of the jurisdictions in the district. Proxy votes will not be accepted. If there is only one candidate, that individual shall be declared the SCAG Representative without having to conduct an election. The deadline for nominations of candidates was 5:00 p.m. February 27, 2013. At that time, Mayor O’Connor was the only nominee, and thus, is declared the Westside Cities’ Regional Council Representative. INTER-COG BICYCLE FACILITIES CORRIDORS Thank you to all the cyclists who took the time to provide input on the COG's Recommended Priority Inter-COG Bicycle Facilities Corridors! In March, the WSCCOG Board approved the five recommended inter-COG Bicycle Facilities Corridors. By adopting these Corridors, the COG is facilitating regional cooperation and connectivity so that local jurisdictions can individually develop and prioritize projects to address these goals. It is also a strong statement of inter-jurisdictional support for grant applications to help guide independent efforts by Cities to improve the connectivity and quality of the regional bike network. The team's work is not over. We are holding on to all input for consideration in future recommendations to the Board. Click here to view the map. THE WSCCOG BOARD PRIORITIES EXERCISE UPDATE, June 2012 During the past year, the Westside Cities Council of Governments (COG) has accomplished several actions that have increased its effectiveness as an organization and to accomplish its mission to produce benefits that improve the quality of life of its residents, businesses and visitors. The Board is about to complete its first priorities/visioning exercise to guide the COG’s policies and efforts and maximize measurable improvements to the COG’s constituents over the next two years. The three standing committees have revised their proposed work programs into action-oriented deliverables and timeframe formats. The Board expanded the Homelessness Committee’s scope to include other Social Service Issues. Two Ad Hoc Staff Committees have been established. The Bicycle Safety Awareness/Bike Sharing Committee has been working aggressively and as a result, the Board adopted a policy of mutual support for bicycle grants and recommended prioritizing five regional bike infrastructure gap closures. The Committee is currently tackling the barriers and challenges to implementation of a regional bike sharing program that includes the City of Los Angeles and has developed a Request for Information in advance of a Request for Proposals to meet this goal. The Committee is working with METRO to include the COG region in its first phase of evaluating bicycle sharing needs, and/or provide grant funds to conduct the evaluation to enable the COG members to move forward together. The Senior Transit Staff Committee is focusing on seeking opportunities for cost savings, service improvements and expanded transportation services for seniors. The COG received a grant to localize the Energy Upgrade California rebate program into the Energize the Westside marketing campaign. It resulted in several westside households taking advantage of the program that would likely have missed the opportunity if the program marketing had remained county-oriented. The COG recently finalized a grant application for California Energy Commission Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PEV) Readiness grant. The scope of the study is to evaluate the challenges of retrofitting the electrical systems of multi-family buildings in the COG to enable PEV charging and develop incentives to implement the retrofits. The majority of the residents in the COG region are renters. The COG was not awarded the grant, but staff of the Luskin Institute for Innovation of the Luskin School of Public Policy at UCLA, who will conduct the study, believe that other grant opportunities are available. The study has the support of the Southern California Association of Governments. It is anticipated that the COG’s priorities/visioning exercise will be completed in July, and additional activities that will need to be accomplished in the coming years will be initiated.