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.
The California Transportation Commission (CTC) has begun continued workshops for public feedback on guidelines and applications for Cycle 4 of the Active Transportation Program (ATP). As you may recall, for Cycle 4, CTC has proposed five separate applications for different types and sizes of projects. As of this week, seven workshops have been held: in Sacramento, Chico, Los Angeles, Oakland, Fresno, San Bernardino and, this past Tuesday, Monterey.
Last December, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) board approved $2.8 million for the Safe Routes to School program, along with a process for restructuring the education and non-infrastructure components. This is great news for partners in the city/county, who had feared the program could be cut in light of comments from board members at prior meetings expressing concern about citywide coordination of the program.
The Safe Routes Partnership is excited to announce the next round of the Safe Routes to School Launch Program for 2018! Building off a successful 2017 pilot year, we are looking for five new California communities eager to move to a new level of safety and support for students walking and biking to school.
The Safe Routes Partnership submitted a comment letter to the Los Angeles County Regional Park and Open Space District (RPOSD) regarding the Measure A Draft Grant Guidelines. Our recommendations focus on improving equity considerations, community engagement, project evaluation criteria, and discussion around concurrent funding measures in the LA County.
The Fresno Council of Governments (Fresno COG) has released a draft proposed Fresno County Regional Active Transportation Plan. The plan is intended as a guidance document with the ultimate vision of trails, walkways, and bikeways that provide safe, convenient, and enjoyable connections to key destinations around the County.
The state legislature will likely vote again next year on legislation that would require middle and high schools to start no earlier than 8:30am. The bill, SB 328, is coauthored by Senator Anthony Portantino (D-La Cañada-Flintridge). It passed the Senate in May with a 31-25 vote but failed in the Assembly on a vote of 26-30.