The City of Monrovia received two Local Government Excellence Awards from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). These awards recognize city governments for their contribution to local government leadership and outstanding local government programs.
The City of Monrovia won two awards this year including the Community Partnership Award for the GoMonrovia program and the Strategic Leadership & Governance Award for the Monrovia Renewal project.
“Enhancing the quality of life through programs and projects is one of our highest priorities in Monrovia and GoMonrovia and Monrovia Renewal have done exactly that,” said Monrovia Mayor Tom Adams. “Whether it’s taking a discounted Lyft ride anywhere in the city or walking on a newly paved sidewalk, we are thrilled that our community is proud of and continues to support these award-winning programs and projects.”
Seeking a more thoughtful, affordable and efficient way of providing transit services to the community, the city launched GoMonrovia, a multi-modal transportation program that leverages the strengths of ride-share programs offered by Lyft. In a completely revamped transportation model, Lyft serves as the city’s primary public transit provider for all non-ADA-related services, collaborates with the city’s existing dial-a-ride operator to serve passengers with ADA needs and helps transition dial-a-ride shuttles onto the Lyft platform. The city chose to partner with Lyft due to the company’s desire to play a role in the larger mobility ecosystem in a way that does not replace but rather complements public transit.
This program has truly changed individuals’ behavior on a grand scale, with many reports of GoMonrovia changing lives for the better.
“It has been a pleasure to work with the innovative team at the City of Monrovia to develop the award winning GoMonrovia partnership,” said Paul Davis, Transit Partnerships manager at Lyft. “By simultaneously filling a transportation gap in first-last mile access to the local L Line station while expanding access for all residents around town, the GoMonrovia program has provided a new model for delivering suburban community mobility programs.”
Monrovia Renewal is a multi-year initiative to prioritize repairs and restore the city’s aging infrastructure that was plagued by a backlog of deferred maintenance. Since implementation, the city has completed approximately $41.7 million in improvements and repairs. Additionally, the city has made over 8 million square feet of street improvements, 154,000 square feet of sidewalk replacements, 114,000 linear feet of new curbs and gutters, over 2.5 miles of new water pipelines, nearly 5 miles of sewer improvements, 197 point repairs to sewer lines and 800 new water service lines installed.
Monrovia Renewal demonstrates that a city can work in partnership with residents, businesses, utility services providers and other stakeholders to ensure that local streets, sidewalks, water, sewer systems and other infrastructure can operate reliably and cost-effectively for decades to come.
ICMA is the world’s leading association of professional city and county managers and other employees who serve local governments. This year, ICMA awarded five talented individuals and 13 innovative programs. For more information on ICMA, visit icma.org.
