Bike advocacy: How to get notifications about Monterey County municipal meetings affecting people who bike

Just want the list of links to local cities, so you can get on their notifications lists? They are in the the green and yellow boxes at the end of this post—or just click here.

As we say elsewhere on this site (e.g., in “Speak up for bicycling: Transportation Agency for Monterey County’s bike-ped committee,” and “Why get involved in infrastructure planning: North Fremont, Monterey— and other projects“), it’s quick and easy to rant online! It takes more effort to advocate for the changes you’d like to see in your community and the world.

In the Civil Grand Jury’s report on City of Monterey’s North Fremont bike lanes, the need to “communicate better with the residents” on future projects was emphasized.

As we mention in the infrastructure section of Bicycling Monterey’s Monterey County Bicycling Resources directory, one way to stay informed is to get on notification lists of local cities for related meetings (such as Architectural Review, Engineering, Planning, Traffic, Transportation), as well as notification lists for meetings of the County of Monterey and the Transportation Agency for Monterey County (TAMC).

The public is welcome and encouraged to attend such meetings. As stated in our post about TAMC’s “Bicycle & Pedestrian Facilities Advisory Committee meetings,” the remote meetings (i.e., participation via telephone or Zoom, etc.) that have resulted from the global pandemic now allow more people from throughout Monterey County (3,771 square miles) to participate, since they do not need to travel to a meeting.

Many local cities have email notification list options that allow you to easily choose the types of emails you want to receive. Where an email notification link is not provided below (we’ve researched just a sampling), we’ve included a contact link for that city so you can research it yourself on their website, or contact that city for help.

For the Transportation Agency for Monterey County, scroll down their Contact page to “Would you like to receive our agendas?” and then scroll that box for a list of options. https://www.tamcmonterey.org/contact-us

For the County of Monterey, sign up for notifications https://www.co.monterey.ca.us/residents/alerts-notifications/enotification. Also note https://monterey.legistar.com/Default.aspx; scroll down that page to “Sign Up for Alerts.”

Of course many people don’t have time to sift through all meeting notifications for bike-related topics. Occasionally bike topics may be announced by local cities, the county, or TAMC, via posts on social media, but that can’t be counted on. Likewise, you may or may not find these meetings mentioned in local media reports. That’s why signing up to receive notifications is often more reliable.

Below is a list of some local cities, with links for each one. (For how to report any broken links, refer to our Contact page.)

Unincorporated communities—such as Big Sur, Bradley, Chualar, San Ardo, Spreckels, and more—are under the jurisdiction of County of Monterey (see link above).

Carmel: Contact https://ci.carmel.ca.us/contact-us.

Del Rey Oaks: Contact https://www.delreyoaks.org/contact.

Gonzales: Sign up for notifications https://gonzalesca.gov/government/information-center/sign-e-news. For any more specific options, contact the City of Gonzales: https://gonzalesca.gov/contact.

Greenfield: Sign up for notifications https://ci.greenfield.ca.us/list.aspx

King City: Contact https://www.kingcity.com/list.aspx

Marina: Sign up for notifications https://cityofmarina.org/list.aspx.

Monterey: Sign up for notifications via sign-up link on the following page, https://www.monterey.org/City-Hall/Boards-Commissions-and-Committees ; scroll down to “Subscribe to the Boards and Commissions Interest List and any other email lists that interest you!” To be sure you get notifications of upcoming decisions on bike-related topics, you may also wish to check in with the Traffic Engineering Office https://www.monterey.org/Services/Public-Works/Traffic-Engineering.

As of 7/25/24, City of Monterey welcomes bikeway maintenance requests to be submitted through their online portal: https://monterey.gov/city_hall/departments/streets___utilities.php

To report damage or safety issues on the City of Monterey’s section of the Monterey Bay coastal trail, you may phone the city’s parks division, (831) 648-3860.

Pacific Grove: Contact https://www.cityofpacificgrove.org – https://cms9.revize.com/revize/pacificgrove/enotify/index.php

Salinas: On the City of Salinas news page https://www.cityofsalinas.org/news, there’s link to their connect page (social media and email connections); scroll down that page for current notification sign-up options https://www.cityofsalinas.org/our-government/information-center/connect-us. On the Traffic & Transportation Engineering page https://www.cityofsalinas.org/our-city-services/public-works/traffic-transportation-engineering, there’s info on the Traffic and Transportation Commission and its meetings.

Sand City: Contact https://www.sandcity.org/contact-us/staff-directory.

Seaside: Sign up for notifications http://www.ci.seaside.ca.us/list.aspx. To learn about Seaside’s Traffic Advisory Committee, see http://www.ci.seaside.ca.us/424/Traffic-Advisory-Committee. While agendas for any month may not include specifically bike-related topics, pedestrian and other active transportation topics will likely also be of interest to many people who bike Seaside. Questions? Contact assistant engineer Leslie Llantero (email preferred); or other Engineering Department staff http://www.ci.seaside.ca.us/Directory.aspx?did=18, Planning Division staff http://www.ci.seaside.ca.us/Directory.aspx?did=16, or Public Works staff http://www.ci.seaside.ca.us/Directory.aspx?did=17.

Soledad: Contact https://cityofsoledad.com/connect/ – https://www.cityofsoledad.com/departments/public-works/engineering-services/

Note: If a local city specifically contacts us that they have an upcoming meeting whose agenda includes an item of particular interest to people who bike, Bicycling Monterey may feature a guest post about that upcoming meeting.