Earlier this week, CicLAvia held our first-ever public CicLAvia meeting in the city of Pomona - and it was a huge success! Lots of people attended and there's a lot of great energy in support of bringing a CicLAvia to Pomona.

CicLAvia received L.A. County Department of Public Health grant funding to assist a few cities with looking into how CicLAvia events can take place in new areas. The County is interested in replicating CicLAvia's success in other parts of the county, especially areas where residents are at high risk for obesity.

Representatives from Pomona attended the October 9th 2011 CicLAvia event, and received a guided tour from event producers and organizers. Late last year, CicLAvia representatives met with key city of Pomona staff, including Pomona's Public Works Director Daryl Grigsby who commutes by bike, and who hosts regular group rides.

The next step was to open up the dialog to the greater public. On Tuesday January 31st 2012, more than 60 people showed up for Pomona's CicLAvia Stakeholder Planning Session which took place at a small theater space at Cal Poly Downtown Center. The crowd was very diverse, including city staff and city commission appointees, business leaders, Cal Poly Pomona students and professors, health professionals, local residents, and more. There were plenty of local bicyclists, including leaders of Pomona's Mobbin Monday group ride.

CicLAvia representative explained how open streets events work, showed our favorite 10.9.11 video, and presented a preliminary-draft 7-mile route. The draft route included mostly Garey Avenue, 2nd Street, and Towne Avenue. Attendees suggested numerous other potential routes:

• connections with Lincoln Park and the surrounding historic neighborhoods
• connections with historic Adobe de Palomares at Palomares Park, possibly via Orange Grove Avenue - and/or the historic Casa Primera on Park Avenue
• extending the route north along Garey Avenue, Park Avenue, Indian Hill Blvd, and/or White Avenue
• extending the route west to Cal Poly Pomona via Holt Avenue and/or Mission Blvd
• connecting with working class Latino neighborhoods in southeast Pomona
• connecting with Metrolink stations along the northern boundary of the city, and/or seeing if Metrolink service to Pomona downtown can be added for a CicLAvia event day
• connecting with neighboring La Verne and Claremont via Bonita Avenue, Arrow Highway, and/or White Avenue

If you're interested in getting involved in bringing CicLAvia to Pomona, including potentially connecting with neighboring areas, comment below and/or email info [at] ciclavia.org and we'll connect you with the ongoing campaign. 

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