A Great Day For Glendale

Tuesday night was tremendously energizing for advocates of bicycle and pedestrian friendly infrastructure in Glendale. First and foremost, the City Council unanimously passed the long-awaited Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, which lays out a framework for bicycle and pedestrian-related safety improvements in the city. So a hearty thank you to the city council for that.

Additionally, with the exception of Dave Weaver -- who still grudgingly voted for the plan -- all of the councilmembers spoke glowingly about bike infrastructure and their experiences with it in other cities. Mayor Laura Friedman, capably presiding over her first full city council meeting at the head of the dais, set the tone, and Frank Quintero, Ara Najarian, and, encouragingly, newly re-elected Councilman Rafi Manoukian also spoke strongly in favor of bike related projects. Mayor Friedman has been a stalwart supporter from the beginning, and councilman Quintero gave an enthusiastic report about his experiences attending the Velo-Cities conference in Seville, Spain; and about how much he has learned from the bicycle infrastructure projects in other cities such as Chicago, Vancouver and Long Beach. He also spoke firmly about how the city will implement these improvements.

LA County Bicycle Coalition Liason and PLACE Grant Coordinator Colin Bogart gave an excellent presentation, and over ten members of the community came forward to speak in support of the plan.

Including me - here are my comments to the city council:


Mayor Friedman's Comments, followed by some additional comments by Frank Quintero and the Council's vote


Councilman Manoukian's comments

Councilman Weaver's comments

I believe that Councilman Weaver's comments deserved a response, so I wrote a letter to him which I have also posted here.

Now the hard part: actual implementation. The first step is a community outreach meeting about the update of the city's bicycle master plan. I look forward to seeing you there-

BICYCLE MASTER PLAN COMMUNITY OUTREACH MEETINGS

A Bicycle Master Plan (BMP) is most successful when the members of the community participate in the planning process. In that regard, the City has planned several Community Outreach meetings that will be held at different locations within the City during April and May of 2011. The entire community is invited to participate and we are hoping for a great turnout with many comments and recommendations.

The first Community Outreach meeting is scheduled as follows:

April 28, 2011
6:00 pm
Glendale Central Library
222 E. Harvard Street
Glendale 91205

Please check back for additional dates to be posted.

The complete council meeting is viewable here.

IMPORTANT: Come To Glendale City Hall This Tuesday to Support Safer Walking and Bicycling in Glendale

Please come to the City Council meeting this Tuesday, April 19th at 6pm to encourage the adoption of the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan. It is very important. The Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, which LA County Bicycle Coalition liason Colin Bogart has been assembling from public meetings with Glendale residents, is a policy document that is intended to provide a blueprint for making the city a safer place for bicyclists and pedestrians. In the short amount of time that Colin has been working with the city, his presence and energy have already resulted in numerous positive changes for bicyclists and pedestrians in the city of Glendale. Some examples of these changes are improved bicycle parking throughout the city, sharrows on numerous Glendale streets, landscaping, bicycle and pedestrian improvements in the Riverdale-Maple corridor, and safe bicycling education classes being conducted in Glendale schools. I fully endorse the plan and the efforts of Colin, the LA County Bicycle Coalition and the LA County Department of Public Health, whose grant made this project possible. Please come to the City Council meeting on Tuesday to support it.

In addition to the hopeful adoption of the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, you will also get to see the re-seating of Rafi Manoukian and the election by the city council of Glendale's new mayor, so it should be an unusually interesting council meeting no matter what. Please come.

I have reproduced Colin's blog post on the meeting in it's entirety here:

Don’t forget, we will be presenting the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan to Glendale City Council on Tuesday, April 19, 6:00 pm in Council Chambers at Glendale City Hall. Please attend the meeting if you can to show your support of the Plan. We need your support! Invite your friends!

The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition has been working in partnership with The City of Glendale to conduct extensive outreach, build support, and develop the Plan since 2008. The Draft Safe & Healthy Streets Plan has already received unanimous votes from three City Commissions recommending Council approval.

Adoption of the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan would establish programs and policies that will support and encourage biking and walking. The Plan is organized into five main categories (plus a few more):

1. Education
2. Encouragement
3. Enforcement
4. Engineering
5. Evaluation

Examples of what you can expect if the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan is approved include:

• A Pedestrian and Bicyclist Advisory Committee that will meet regularly to address ongoing concerns for Glendale pedestrians and bicyclists
• City-sponsored rides and walks
• Safety education classes (and materials online)
• Helmet and light distribution programs in lieu of citations
• City-sponsored promotions such as Car Free Fridays or Walking Wednesdays
• Incentive programs for those who commute on foot or by bike
• Walking and biking maps for Glendale

If you can’t attend the Council meeting, please send an e-mail expressing your support of the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan to the City Council no later than 12 noon on April 19. You can e-mail the entire Council at citycouncil@ci.glendale.ca.us . If you send an e-mail, please cc colin@la-bike.org . Once again, here are the details for the Council presentation.

Safe & Healthy Streets Presentation to Glendale City Council
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
6:00 pm at Glendale City Hall, Council Chambers
613 E. Broadway
Glendale, CA 91206

See you on Tuesday!