Safe & Healthy Streets

The second in a series of five Community Meetings for the Safe & Healthy Streets Plan will be held on Wednesday October 21, 2009 in the Brand Library Recital Hall, 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm. The focus of this meeting will be on “Issues in Your Neighborhood” related to walking or biking. This meeting will primarily be about central and northwest Glendale (north of the 134 freeway and south of Sparr Heights), but comments about other parts of the city will be welcome. Anyone who lives or works in Glendale is encouraged to attend. You don’t have to be an avid cyclist or pedestrian. In fact, we also encourage those who would like to walk or bike in Glendale more, but who don’t for various reasons. Please invite your friends, family, or co-workers to join you. The information provided by the public about their experiences will help develop the Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, a set of bicycle and pedestrian policy recommendations for the City to adopt. Translation into Spanish or Armenian will be provided upon request by calling (818) 548-2000 at least 72 hours prior to the meeting date. Click here to see the flyer listing all the meetings.

Summary of notes from First Safe & Healthy Streets Community Meeting

Thanks to everyone who attended the meeting on October 8 at the Central Library. Here’s a brief summary of the discussion from that meeting. If you’d like to read more detailed notes from the meeting, click here. PLACE Grant Coordinator Colin Bogart facilitated the discussion while Glendale City Staff members Marc Stirdivant and Mike Nilsson recorded comments on poster pads. Attendees were asked a series of questions for discussion as well as questions for written responses on index cards. Here are some of the questions and responses.

When asked “What do you think is good or bad about biking/walking in Glendale?” attendees spoke of aggressive drivers and distracted drivers (many on cell phones or texting) as a big part of what’s bad in Glendale about walking or biking. Cyclists and pedestrians seemed to agree that there’s a need for better driver awareness and education.

When asked “What are good/bad locations to walk/bike in Glendale?” the comments included concerns about drivers crowding crosswalks and that it’s difficult for pedestrians and cyclists to get across Glenoaks Blvd. and the 134 freeway. In terms of good locations, attendees mentioned that they liked the Montrose Shopping District as well as many of Glendale’s neighborhoods.

In response to the question “What would you like to change about biking/walking in Glendale?” there was a range of answers. Some spoke of street design changes and infrastructure such as stop lines being placed further from the crosswalks and street medians such as the new median on Glenwood, as well as more bike racks and sharrows. They also spoke of reducing speed limits and the possible use of speed enforcement cameras. Encouragement strategies were also discussed, such as Walk to School Days promoted city-wide, bigger promotion of Bike to Work Day/Week, and more community walks and rides.

Finally, the meeting ended with a discussion about what actions the attendees see the city has taken to improve conditions in Glendale for walking/biking. The group commended the City for its Safe Routes to School program (in partnership with GUSD), bike racks on all Beeline buses, new bike lanes on Glenoaks Blvd., bike racks for bike parking on Brand Blvd. downtown as well as Kenneth Village, and the many lighted crosswalks throughout the city.

Glendale Healthy Streets Meet Up Group

Glendale resident Cindy Coan has launched a Meet Up group to gather for lunch every Tuesday and to go for a lunchtime walk every Wednesday. “I plan to host a weekly lunch to encourage folks to get out on the streets, walking, using public transportation and visiting our local merchants. It is amazing what you see in a city when you get out of your car and walk around. I‘ve discovered more of the city this way. Although I lived in Glendale for over 10 years before I became car-free, by choice 3 years ago – I found places I never knew existed just by walking the same streets I drove daily. Although I don’t expect others to join my car-free quest, I would like to encourage people to slow-down, get out of their cars and discover the city and the people in it. Each Tuesday we’ll pick a local restaurant for lunch and provide information on how to get there on foot or via the Beeline Bus from various points in Glendale.” You can join the Glendale Healthy Streets Meet Up group and be notified about events as they are scheduled.

Reuters Health Article Points to Need for More Bicycle Infrastructure

A recent article in Reuters Health titled “Bicycle Injuries in US Becoming More Severe” concludes that, “Although the public is very enthusiastic about bicycle use as a means of transportation, we think that infrastructure has lagged behind in the US.” Essentially, the article is suggesting that the severity of bicycle injuries is getting worse and that it seems to involve commuter cyclists and motorists more often. The article alludes to the need for more bicycle infrastructure to catch up with the increasing popularity of cycling as transportation, but it can also be argued that there is a need for better education among motorists and cyclists so they can more safely interact on our streets.

The PLACE program, which funds the Safe & Healthy Streets project, seeks to establish better infrastructure for bicyclists and pedestrians as a means to help prevent health problems such as obesity and Type Two Diabetes. The goal is to create a built environment that encourages daily walking and biking so that the overall public health will improve. It’s interesting and worth noting that the medical community is now looking at the need for a better cycling (and walking?) environment to improve public health by helping to prevent injuries.