Good afternoon Municipal Service Committee and Staff,
I am writing today regarding street safety in Pasadena. As you know, the streets of Pasadena are dangerous, especially for those who choose not to drive or who do not have access to a car.
Over the last decade the California Office of Traffic Safety has released its Crash Ranking list comparing similar-sized California cities, and Pasadena has consistently ranked among the top 5 for the highest numbers of injuries and fatalities for pedestrians.
These deaths are preventable, and the City has an obligation to use best practices to try to prevent future injuries and fatalities here in Pasadena.
In addition to saving lives and reducing injuries, creating safer streets would have positive economic impacts for the city, by reducing property damage, medical care, and time lost from work. Creating safe options for walking and hiking will reduce dependence on cars, reduce stress on public roads, improve air quality, improve the health of residents, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support local businesses, and lead to a more vibrant, livable city.
Here are a few suggestions for actionable steps the Municipal Service Committee can take to improve street safety in Pasadena.
1. Ask city staff to strengthen the draft 2022 Pasadena Pedestrian Plan. The current draft lacks goals for specific projects and/or target dates, and, as such, is not really a plan at all. Making this an actionable plan is an important step.
2. Ask city staff to set target dates for completing all nine "high priority" projects in the Bicycle Transportation Action Plan (BTAP), and lay out a timeline for reaching these goals. The BTAP was approved by the city council in 2015. Seven years into the plan, none of the 9 "high priority" projects are complete. At this rate of progress, it will take at least 60 years to implement the plan. Once a timeline is set, MSC should ask for annual progress updates on the BTAP, as required by the Pasadena Climate Action Plan.
3. Ask city staff to change the design of the Greenways in the following ways:
a. Traffic diverters and partial closures described in the BTAP should be returned to the plan.
b. Add low-cost, common sense traffic calming measures like speed humps and raised crosswalks.
Additional suggestions for the Greenways have been recorded by city residents who attended outreach events, and are available at:
httDS://www.Dasadenacsc.orQ/bloa/safe-neiahborhood-greenwavs
4. Provide city staff additional resources to support competitive grant writing. 04/12/2022
Public Comment
Items not on Agenda
5. Create a budget line item in the CIP budget to fund the implementation of the BTAP, at the level of at least $1,5 million dollars per year. At this funding level, city staff could reduce their reliance on difficult-to-obtain grant funding, and complete projects on a predictable schedule. For example, the four "Greenways" currently under study could all be completed in 5 years with this funding level, instead of waiting decades for grant funding to be awarded. This funding represents only a 2% adjustment to the CIP budget. This is a small price to pay in the face of the millions of dollars of property damage, injuries to residents, and 6 - 8 preventable deaths every year.
Thank you for considering these suggestions. In addition to these comments, I am sure city council members will have many additional helpful ideas. Whatever approach MSC takes, I hope we can agree that the status quo is not acceptable. Research in comparable cities shows that engineering streets toward safety prevents traffic deaths of motorists as well as pedestrians. Ignoring the needs of residents who experience injuries and deaths from traffic violence is no longer an option. In future planning and funding, we respectfully request that you give priority to road users who choose to navigate outside of a car and reduce carbon emissions by walking, biking, or rolling on our streets.
Thank you for your time, and for everything you are doing for our city.
Jonah Kanner
For Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition