Safety & Vision Zero

With the end of the 2017-2018 legislative session, it’s an opportune moment to review the fortunes of some of the bills we have supported this year.

Hundreds of applications were submitted for the recent Cycle 4 of the Active Transportation Program (ATP), and only a small percentage will be successful.  Our new publication, California’s Active Transportation Program: A Step-by-Step Guide to the Application Process, can help you work through the process. This 22-page document offers a road map to all five application categories of the ATP in a digestible form.

Join us and The Alliance for Healthy Orange County, as we will be hosting a Community Vigil and Forum in Santa Ana on Tuesday, September 25th at 6:00 pm. The Vigil and Forum is sponsored by SCAG’s Go Human Campaign as a part of their Community Engagement Call. We will be facilitating a discussion around highlights from our 2018 Orange County Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety Issue Brief. A vigil will be held ahead of the discussion forum to honor pedestrian and bicyclist victims of traffic crashes who lost their lives.

We co-sponsored SB 760 under author Senator Wiener, which would have required the State Highway Operations and Protection Program (SHOPP) implement Complete Streets near critical locations. As we reported in January, it was scaled back due to concerns over the effort to repeal last year’s increase in the Gas Tax. While we plan to reintroduce a bill with similar objectives next session, Sen.

The California Transportation Commission has announced another (likely final) workshop on the applications and guidelines for Cycle 4 of the Active Transportation Program on Tuesday April 17 in Sacramento. The workshop will also cover SB 1 accountability guidelines. Please see the meeting announcement with full details including how to participate remotely here.

In recent months, the Safe Routes Partnership has solicited input from constituents throughout California about the potential impact of SB 328, which would require middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30 a.m.  We received input from stakeholders on all sides of the legislation and have done some careful research and consideration of the issues.

Last month, a group of youth and community residents initiated a meeting with Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes of the 47th District in San Bernardino County. Youth representatives from the group Soar IE envisioned an initiative for safer sidewalks around neighborhood schools in Muscoy. Muscoy is unincorporated area of San Bernardino that has a CalEnviroScreen pollution burden profile of 96-100%, is low-income, and the population is 82 percent Latinx.

We were disappointed this week when, at the first Senate Transportation and Housing Committee hearing of the year, SB 760 - the Complete Streets for Active Living (Wiener) bill - was stripped of its most transformative components.