3-31-11
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 31, 2011
Contact:
Jessica Meaney, California Policy Manager, Safe Routes to School National Partnership
Los Angeles Council to Vote on New Strategy to Help Students Get to School Safely
Putting Safety First
Tomorrow morning, the Los Angeles City Council will consider allocating $1.2 million in funding to a Strategic City-Wide Safe Routes to School Plan to make walking and bicycling to school a safer and more attractive option for students and their parents. The Council will vote on Friday, April 1 at 10am Van Nuys City Hall, 1441 Sylvan Street, Van Nuys 91401.
The safety study is funded by voter approved Measure R local return dollars and will not impact the city’s operating budget. The City’s Transportation Committee in a vote taken on March 9 has already recommended the use of this funding for Safe Routes to School.
Currently in the City of Los Angeles 25% of school aged children are obese and parents driving children to school can cause approximately 15- 25% of all morning traffic congestion. By fostering walking and bicycling to school, and increasing opportunities for physical activity the City can demonstrate leadership in addressing this pressing public health, safety and traffic issues.
The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition (LACBC), the Southern California Safe
Routes to School Network1, and many other supporting organizations and individuals
have come together to advocate for this plan to build healthier and safer streets and
transportation choices for Los Angeles children and young adults.
Creating a City-wide Safe Routes to School Plan will help Los Angeles secure additional state and federal Safe Routes to School funding for pedestrian improvements such as sidewalks and safer crossings, education and encouragement programs, and implementing many of the miles of bikeways dedicated in the newly approved bicycle plan in order to safely connect children and families to schools.
“This is a tremendous opportunity for City leadership to plan and provide for the mobility of our most vulnerable citizens; our children,” said Jennifer Klausner, Executive Director, LACBC. “Approving the funding for this plan is a progressive step toward making the streets around our schools safer and more inviting for children and families bicycling and walking to school by making the City of Los Angeles more competitive for state and federal Safe Routes to School funding.”
LADOT staff is recommending using collision data to prioritize the city’s efforts and develop a meaningful approach for making communities in the city more walkable and bike-able for children and parents on their way to school. The Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition and the Southern California Safe Routes to School Network endorse this proposal and also recommend that the City use socio-economic data in the prioritization, as research shows that children and their families in low-income communities suffer a disproportionate burden of chronic diseases related to sedentary lifestyles and injury. A recent UC Irvine study found that residents in low-income communities are four times as likely to be injured in a collision while walking or bicycling.
The Southern California Safe Routes to School Network and the Los Angeles County Bicycle Coalition encourage the media, parents, and bicycle/pedestrian advocates to attend this important Council vote and show support for making the City of LA a safer and more inviting places to walk and bike to school.
“We all benefit from making our communities places where our children, young adults, and families can safely and enjoyably walk and bike to school,” says Jessica Meaney, California Policy Manager at the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, “It’s so inspiring to see the City of Los Angeles demonstrate leadership and provide local funding to help Los Angeles become more walkable and bike-able. It is a smart fiscal investment with tremendous co-benefits for the entire city and another great reason to be out at cicLAvia next Sunday out biking and walking and enjoying our neighborhoods and communities.”
1 The Southern California Safe Routes to School Network is a project of the Safe Routes to School
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From more detail on 3/9/11 Transportation Vote see story: http://la.streetsblog.org/2011/03/10/council-moves-anti-harassment-ordinance-safe-routes-to-school-plan/
A copy of LADOT’s staff report can be found here:
http://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2011/11-0333_RPT_DOT_03-03-11.pdf.
The relationship of pedestrian injuries to socioeconomic characteristics in a large Southern California
County.
Chakravarthy B, Anderson CL, Ludlow J, Lotfipour S, Vaca FE.
Traffic Inj Prev. 2010 Oct;11(5):508-13.
PMID: 20872307
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]