SR 03-22-2016 3R
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: March 22, 2016
Agenda Item: 3.R
To: Mayor and City Council
From: David Martin, Director, Planning and Community Development,
Transportation Planning (PCD)
Karen Ginsberg, Director
Subject: Authorization of Professional Services Agreements to Community Arts
Resources (CARS) to produce June 5, 2016 Open Streets Event
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a professional services
agreement with Community Arts Resources (CARS), a California based
company, to produce the June 5, 2016 open streets event in an amount not to
exceed $150,000.
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a first modification to
professional services agreement No. 9870 (CCS) in the amount of $57,000 with
Community Arts Resources (CARS), a California based company, to provide
additional production services for the June 5, 2016 open streets event. This will
result in a two-year amended agreement in an amount not to exceed $257,000,
with three additional one year renewal options in the amount of $300,000, on the
same terms and conditions for a total amount not to exceed $557,000 with future
year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Executive Summary
The City is organizing an open streets event on Main Street, Colorado Avenue and
Ocean Avenue for Sunday, June 5, 2016 to celebrate mobility, culture and
sustainability, and to commemorate the beginning of Expo Light Rail service in Santa
Monica. The event will allow pedestrian and bicycle access to designated streets free of
automobiles and welcome participants to activity hubs along the route. City staff from
nearly all City departments will be engaged in executing a successful event, yet
professional services assistance is necessary from an agency with specific knowledge
and experience in executing events of this type, and to produce an event of this
magnitude within grant timeframes, in coordination with the Expo opening. The City was
awarded a $200,000 open streets grant from Metro for the event, and authorization is
requested for the City Manager to enter into a professional services agreement with
CARS for production of the grant funded portion of the event. In addition, staff
recommends modification of an existing professional services agreement with CARS for
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production of the portion of the open streets event to supplement the grant funds.
Background
The open streets event is funded in part with an Open Streets Program grant from
Metro, in the amount of $200,000, which necessitates a $50,000 in-lieu local match.
Council accepted the grant at its July 28, 2015 meeting (Attachment A) to fund the
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original route of Colorado Avenue from 5 Street to Ocean Avenue, and Main Street
from Colorado Avenue to Marine Street. An expanded event route was described in a
ght Rail Celebration and 2016 Santa Monica
the west side of Ocean Avenue between Colorado Avenue
and Wilshire Boulevard, and Wilshire Boulevard between Ocean Avenue and Lincoln
Boulevard. Since that time, operational concerns have necessitated modifications to the
open streets route and the date of the event. The event will no longer include the
Wilshire Boulevard segment but the full width of Ocean Avenue between Colorado
Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard will be used for the event. The date has been changed
to Sunday, June 5, 2016 to respond to operational and business concerns and to be
consistent with the prevalence of successful open streets events in southern California
being held on Sundays. General Fund are necessary for
production of the remaining expanded portion of the event route.
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The open streets event is scheduled for the Sunday two weeks after Expo begins
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service on May 20, 2016. Events on May 20 will be produced by Metro and
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supplemented by Santa Monica activities. The June 5 open streets event will be Santa
traditionally been integrated into the Santa Monica Festival. Funding agreements,
however, will require the
addition to the City. In lieu of having the Santa Monica Festival as a third
communitywide event in the months of May and June, resources are being redirected to
the open streets event for this year only.
Discussion
Coordinating the logistics for this unprecedented event in Santa Monica with successful
programming that reflects the themes of mobility, culture and sustainability requires a
unique combination of skill, vision and experience to make the event become a reality.
The production needs for an open streets event include pre-production elements,
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relevant community outreach, traffic control plans, small business outreach, route and
planning for four hubs of activity and overall logistics. The types of materials that need
to be prepared include: collateral to solicit business participation in the event,
advertisement of the event, signage and day of guides. Programming of hubs involves
site selection, site layout, provision of basic amenities such as first aid, water, and bike
repair, and the curation of what activities and/or entertainment would be available where
and when.
The comprehensive production of a community gathering of this scope is beyond the
capacity of City staff within the grant timelines and coordinated with the Expo Light Rail
opening. City staff from nearly all City departments will be engaged in executing a
successful event, yet professional services assistance is necessary from an agency with
specific knowledge and experience in executing events of this type and magnitude.
Staff is recommending that CARS produce the open streets event. The production of
the open streets event original route is funded by a Metro Open Streets Program grant,
which is one-time funds with federal reporting requirements that can be much more
easily administered as a stand-alone agreement. The grant is for a total of $200,000.
Staff recommends allocating $150,000 to a professional services agreement for
services related to the open streets event, reserving $50,000 for direct costs to the City,
such as staff overtime for the event. The City funds necessary for production of the
expanded route include $100,000 that is being redirected from Santa Monica
Festival budget, plus one-time funding of $57,000
recommends these City funds be administered through a modification to an existing
multi-year agreement with CARS.
Contractor/Consultant Selection
As it relates to the agreement modification, in December 2013, staff solicited proposals
for an event production team to produce the Santa Monica Festival. Requests for
Proposals (RFP) were sent to production companies in the greater Los Angeles area
and was posted on Planet Bids. Four production companies submitted proposals and all
four were interviewed. CARS was selected based on their experience producing a
broad array of community events with a unique understanding of Santa Monica,
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demonstrated ability to meet both artistic and production standards, relationships with
artists, innovative marketing and outreach, and a proven track record in particular with
implementation of interactive, engaging and relevant programing. As described in the
March, 2, 2016 Information Item, their scope of work for this year only is being revised
to produce the non-grant funded portion of the open streets event instead of the Santa
Monica Festival. In addition to the $100,000 originally budgeted for the Santa Monica
Festival, another $57,000 is necessary for production of the non-grant funded portion of
the open streets event.
As it relates to the grant funded agreement, staff recommends CARS be contracted
with, to also provide production services for the grant funded portion of the open streets
event. A standard competitive bidding process was not relied on for this
recommendation, given the specific needs of the City and unique services that CARS is
able to provide, namely:
The existing agreement for CARS to produce the non-grant funded portion of the
event,
The infeasibility of having different providers produce different parts of the same
event,
The short time frame to plan the event that per the grant needs to be held prior to
June 30, 2016 but after Expo Light Rail is operational on May 20, the date of
which was only recently announced, and
CARS staff has a track record of producing open streets events in the region and
producing events in Santa Monica such as the Santa Monica Festival and Glow
thus having unique experience and knowledge of Santa Monica processes and
requirements.
For these reasons, staff recommends CARS to produce both the non-grant funded and
grant-funded portions of the open streets event.
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Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The agreement modification to be awarded to CARS is $57,000, for an amended
agreement total not to exceed $557,000. Funds are available in the FY 2015-16 budget
012071.555060. Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
The agreement to be awarded to CARS for the grant funded portion of the event is for
an amount not to exceed $150,000. Funds are available in the FY 2015-16 budget in
the Planning and Community Development Department. The agreement will be
charged to account 20267.570420.
Prepared By:
Beth Rolandson, Principal Transportation Planner
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Attachment A - 7/28/15 Staff Report Accepting Metro Open Streets Grant
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Reference:
AgreementNo.
10276(CCS)
AmendedContractNo.
9870
(CCS)