Gao, Beilei
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Thomas Priestley
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 2:44 PM
cityclerk
Comments on October 14 MSC Agenda Item #1
Comments on Agenda Item 1 - Thomas Priestley.docx
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Attached is a file with my comments on Agenda Item #1
Please post and make available to the members of the committee.
Thank you,
Thomas Priestley
1 Comments on Agenda Item 1
Local Roadway Safety Action Plan
Pasadena Municipal Services Committee
Tuesday, October 14,2025
Thomas Priestley, PhD., AICP
Background
I am a Pasadena resident who walks to many of my destinations. Also, because of my professional training and experience, I have had long-term exposure to research and planning efforts to redesign streets to improve pedestrian, bicyclist, and resident safety and quality of life. Given my experience as a pedestrian in Pasadena and my specialized knowledge of measures to make streets more livable for non-automobile users, I have been closely tracking the development of the Local Roadway Safety Action Plan (LRSAP) since the start. I was happy to be recruited to serve on the advisory committee created to help develop the plan. As a member of that committee, I expressed my concerns about the analyses being done and offered suggestions for projects that I and members of the Complete Streets Coalition believed should be included in the plan. I also attended the public involvement sessions that took place during the plan's development to stay informed about their structure and to share my preferences.
Let's Just Approve this Plan
Although I have quibbles with the process for preparing the plan, the planning effort's public outreach program, the methodology for scoring the projects evaluated, and the final selection of projects included in the plan, I advocate that this committee and the full City Council adopt the plan and also the associated resolution establishing a City goal for zero traffic fatalities and a reduction in serious injuries resulting from traffic collisions by 2035.
Although the plan is not perfect, given the changed circumstances, my assessment is that it is not worth spending a lot of time and resources revising this document. As you know, the goal of the LRSAP was to identify and prioritize traffic safety projects that could be used as a basis for applying for and obtaining grants from the Federal Safe Streets for All (SS4A) program, which made $5 billion available for street safety improvements. Preparing and adopting a plan like the LRSAP was a prerequisite for securing those funds. Now that the current national administration has gutted the SS4A program, the LRSAP will play a different role than initially anticipated. Given the now significantty reduced importance of the LRSAP, the pragmatic approach would be to adopt the document as is and to provide the Department of Transportation with clear direction for its next steps to make Pasadena's streets safer for all.
Develop a Strategic Action Plan for Implementation of the LRSAP I recommend that, in addition to approving the LRSAP as it is, the City Council direct DOT to develop a strategic action plan for implementing the LRSAP to the best of its ability in the absence of the SS4A funds, which were expected to cover most of the projects it identifies. This plan should specifically identify elements of the plan that can deliver significant safety improvements with relatively small investments, using funds from the city's Capital Improvement Program or any regional or state programs that become available. This might entail breaking larger, more comprehensive projects into smaller ones, focusing on specific areas or types of treatments that can be funded with readily available resources. The strategic plan should emphasize nimbteness to take advantage of opportunities to piggyback on other planned infrastructure or urban design initiatives where safety enhancements can be added with a small incremental investment.
Additionally, the strategic action plan should emphasize the use of quick-build approaches that can stretch limited available resources to achieve the maximum safety impact. Very importantly, the strategic action plan needs to designate a DOTstaff member to take responsibility for implementing the plan and to pursue its aggressive execution.
Shift the Focus to the Active Transportation Plan and Ensure that it is Done Right I also recommend that the City Council provide guidance to the Department of Transportation on its upcoming effort to develop an Active Transportation Plan, ensuring that the resulting plan addresses and compensates for the shortcomings of the LRSAP.Akey part of that guidance will relate to the public involvement process. I am aware of and agree with Councilmember Lyon's concerns about how public involvement was handled during the LRSAP planning process and the fact that issues affecting his district could have received more attention. Councilmember Lyon's concerns about the LRSAP's public involvement align with those of Councilmember Cole, who raised them during last week's council meeting while discussing funding for public involvement in the greenways project and two other street safety initiatives. Because he is dissatisfied with the inefficient and sometimes ineffective way public involvement is conducted in Pasadena,he has called for developing in-house capabilities to manage this work. As plans are made for the development of the Active Transportation Plan, there is an opportunity for the City Council to direct the City Manager and the Department of Transportation to work together to develop a new model for public involvement that includes establishing in-house capabilities and an approach that more effectively engages Pasadena's citizens. With more effective public participation and attention to locations and issues not addressed in the LRSAP, the Active Transportation Plan has the potential to serve as the blueprint Pasadena needs for a more comprehensive and integrated approach to making the city's streets safer and more enjoyable for all its residents.
Gao, Beilei
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Diane Ricard
Tuesday, October 14, 2025 2:48 PM
cityclerk
Diane Ricard; Lyon, Jason
Letter to Municipal Services Committee Regarding the Local Roadway Safety Action Plan Some people who received this message don't often get email fromLearn why this is important i^] CAUTION: This email was delivered from the Internet. Do not click links or open attachments unless you know the content is safe. Report phish using the Phish Alert Button. For more information about the Phish Alert Button view article "KB0011474" on the DolT portal.
To the Members of the Municipal Services Committee:
I live in District 7, and I walk for exercise, enjoyment, and to complete errands such as shopping and going to the post office. I feel very lucky to be within walking distance of the Playhouse District, South Lake Avenue and Old Pasadena. But while walking, I have had many experiences where I have felt unsafe crossing the street because motorists are not stopping for pedestrians at crosswalks, both signalized and unsignalized.
I respect and appreciate the quality work that went into the Pasadena Local Roadway Safety Action Plan, and I look forward to safer streets. I understand that data collected and analyzed needs to be available at the time a study is conducted, but I believe that because of the tower traffic volumes during the pandemic, drivers increased risky traffic behaviors, such as Left-hand turns on busy streets at intersections without a traffic light. I have observed that some drivers continue these risky behaviors, even though many of these roads do not have Low traffic volumes. This suggests the safety rankings may be different if data were analyzed from the years 2022 through 2024 (and 2021 if considered relevant).
Please consider updating the collision analysis with more recent data before this report is adopted.
Thank you for considering this request.
Respectfully,
Diane M. Ricard
Resident of District?
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