SAFE & HEALTHY STREETS PLAN APPROVED!
City staff and supporters after the Council meeting
The Glendale City Council voted unanimously to adopt the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan during its regular meeting on Tuesday, April 19, 2011. “The Safe and Healthy Streets Plan is a comprehensive blueprint with solutions for making our roads safer for pedestrians and cyclists. The full implementation of this plan will help get people out of their cars and onto sidewalks and bikes, making Glendale a healthier, safer, more livable city,” says Mayor Laura Friedman, who has supported walking and biking in Glendale since her election to Council two years ago. All five Councilmembers were present and voted yes. Councilmembers Frank Quintero, Ara Najarian, and Rafi Manoukian all spoke positively about the pedestrian and bicycle improvements promoted by the Plan. We’d like to thank all the Councilmembers for their yes vote!
We’d also like to thank City Staff members and all of the individuals and groups in the community who have supported the Safe & Healthy Streets project over the last two and a half years. We’d especially like to thank the people who attended the Council meeting, twelve of whom spoke, as well as those who sent letters to Council urging a yes vote for the Plan. Thank you!
You can watch the City Council meeting video by clicking here (fast forward to 41 minutes) and you can read the Glendale News-Press article here.
As indicated in Mayor Friedman’s comments, the next step for Safe & Healthy Streets is implementation of the Plan. To give you an idea of what this means, a few of the policies and programs recommended for implementation in the first two years include:
- Establish a Pedestrian and Bicyclist Advisory Committee
- Establish City-organized rides and walks
- Create a simple pocket-guide of bicycle and pedestrian laws for Glendale
- Create bicycle and pedestrian maps for Glendale
- Launch and maintain a City website with pedestrian and bicycle safety information, maps, and resources
- Establish bicycle helmet and light distribution programs in lieu of issuing citations
You can review all of the policies in the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan as well as the implementation timeline in the Action Plan Chapter by clicking here.
BIKE RIDE to ARMENIAN GENOCIDE MARTYRS MONUMENT
The Armenian Cycling Association (ACA) will be riding to the Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument in Montebello on Saturday, April 23, 2011. They will be gathering at 8:00 am and riding at 8:45 am. Here is the starting location:
Consulate General of the Republic of Armenia
1000 N. Central Ave (Glenoaks & Central)
Glendale CA 91202
“We are only a small part of the general program for that day. The event will be going on for the remainder of the afternoon and our group will be heading back a few hours after we arrive,” says Armen Hagobian of the ACA. Anyone who would like to join the ride is welcome. “We hope that our peaceful ride will leave a positive message and awareness not only for the victims of the 1915 April 24 Armenian Genocide, but for all humanity and individuals who were faced with similar atrocities,” say Hagobian. For more details, call (818) 497-1233 or visit their Facebook event page here.
MAY IS BIKE MONTH
Glendale Bike Month 2011 is coming! There will be a proclamation for Bike Month at the Glendale City Council meeting on Tuesday April 26 at 6:00 pm in Glendale City Hall, Council Chambers. All are welcome to attend. More details will be available soon, but here’s a brief list of the events planned for Glendale Bike Month this year. Mark your calendar! (Update: here’s the web-page with all the details for the Bike Month events listed below: http://la-bike.org/glendale/bikemonth/ )
May 2 – Bike Commuter Tips Workshop
May 4 – Pre Bike to Work Day Expo
May 9 – Basic Bike Repair Workshop
May 14 – Ice Cream Ride!
May 19 – Bike to Work Day
May 19 – Bike from Work Happy Hour (this is NOT a City sponsored or endorsed event)
May 20 – Bike to School Day
GLENDALE BIKEWAY MASTER PLAN MEETING – APRIL 28, 2011
- Front cover of Bikeway Master Plan completed in ’95
The first community meeting for the update of the Glendale Bikeway Master Plan will be held on Thursday April 28. Without an updated plan, the City cannot apply for certain state funds designated for bike projects. The Plan is also necessary to help ensure implementation of bike projects as routine maintenance (repaving, etc.) is performed by the City in the coming years. Here are the details for the meeting:
Glendale Bikeway Master Plan Update Community Outreach Meeting
Thursday April 28, 2011
6:00 pm at the Glendale Central Library
222. East Harvard St.
Glendale, CA 91205
All Glendale cyclists are encouraged to attend this meeting. This will be the first community meeting for the bike plan update, which is expected to continue through the summer. Additional meetings will be announced later. For more information, contact the Glendale Public Works, Traffic and Transportation Division at (818) 548-3960 or check theCity of Glendale website. You can review the current Bikeway Master Plan (completed in 1995) by clicking here.
We’ve been asked to explain the difference between the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan and the Glendale Bikeway Master Plan. Basically, the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan is a broad policy document that seeks to encourage and support bicycling and walking while the Bikeway Master Plan is for bicyclists only and includes more specific details. The Bikeway Master Plan is a planning document that will include the same “five E’s” as the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan (education, encouragement, enforcement, engineering, evaluation), but the Bikeway Master Plan will also include a detailed map that will show what streets will be designated for future bicycle infrastructure like bike lanes, sharrows, bicycle parking, etc. The Safe & Healthy Streets Plan does not include the same level of detail, but helps to guide the objectives of documents like the Bikeway Master Plan. An example would be that the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan encourages the implementation of experimental bicycle and pedestrian projects (such as protected bike lanes), but the Bikeway Master Plan would be the document to designate if and exactly where the protected bike lane might be installed.
BICYCLING SKILLS CLASS for CHILDREN IS STILL OPEN
One of the policies in the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan is to set up bicycle and pedestrian safety classes through the Glendale Community Services & Parks Department. The first bicycling skills class has been set up and is still open for registration. The class will be held on Saturday, April 30, 2011 and is geared for children ages 8-12. For more details about the class and where to register, click here. If this class is successful, we plan to organize more!
OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS AND DATES TO REMEMBER
- Verdugo Mountains 10K Run & Hike – May 1, 2011. This is the inaugural 10k fundraiser for the Glendale Parks and Open Space Foundation. Details here.
- 11th Annual L.A. River Ride – June 5, 2011. This is the LACBC’s annual fundraiser. Kids 12 and under ride for FREE! Details here.
Cathy Nicksin said,
April 21, 2011 @ 4:00 pm
Congratulations on the success of getting the Glendale Safe and Heathy Streets Plan approved. Thanks for all your efforts!
Sunroom Desk, Glendale, California marks three years of online publishing. | Sunroom Desk said,
October 28, 2011 @ 11:25 am
[...] the school district, and the community have focused on improving safety for all users of our roads. Glendale’s Safe and Healthy Streets Plan was created from 2009-2011 and approved this April. GUSD, the city, and concerned parents reached out to National Safe Routes to School and other [...]