Hi all,
Below is the email I will send to city council. I need you to sign with me. We need to encourage their support for repaving McLoughlin with bike lanes, and adding crosswalks and speed bumps.
Since they just put on hold the Columbia
project, this letter has two goals:
1 Clarify to council the key differences in the two projects so they don't "delay" this one, too.
2 Remind them we are human beings, not just a mode of transportation, e.g. Jan, animal lover not Jan,
cyclist.
Could you please add your name for support and your descriptor tag?
What I want to avoid are political or transportation labels like concerned citizen, recreational cyclist, angry voter, bike commuter---etc.
Thanks!
Jan, retired teacher of English, Spanish and German
Jan, wannabe gardener
Jan, trying to be healthy but I love donuts
Jan, avid reader
(You get the tag idea: relationships, work, interests – we’re humans.)
Council, Mayor, and City Manager,
We thank the city for adopting the Complete Streets Policy in 2017 and respect you for
re-affirming your support for this safety project in a recent council meeting.
Now we expect you to implement it, and we have two goals for this email.
First, we hope you see
the three significant differences between the Columbia Complete Streets project you voted to delay for a year and
this pilot project, the East McLoughlin Safety Improvement Project.
For this project---
1) Public Outreach: Staff
listened to the public and significantly
revised the McLoughlin plan after public feedback. Parking was restored to
the entire south side of the street,
Grand to Brandt, as some residents wished.
2) Consideration of other streets: While
some people thought other streets should be further considered for Columbia, a 365-day delay to look for alternative streets is unnecessary for this project since there aren't any. Mill Plain? Ha! 13th Street? Haha!. It’s
Vancouver's very own Tour-de-France Paris-Roubaix – a steeeeeep hill with cobblestone pavement that people can barely drive, much less walk or bike. Planning staff considered 13th Street and rejected it. McLoughlin is the only viable street.
3) Safer streets for
all
people: Some
criticized the Columbia project as not defining clearly enough the safety benefits for people in cars and on foot. McLoughlin’s
improvements as stated on the website and in the awarded $700,000 grant clearly include two safety measures supported by the residents of the street to calm traffic and make walking safer.
*First - speed cushions on McLoughlin between Reserve Street and Brandt Road
*Second – crosswalks with flashing beacons for people crossing the street at the intersections
of McLoughlin at 13th Street (the first curve) and McLoughlin at 32nd Avenue (another curve). Protected bike lanes in the project complete the clear goal of safety for all people by narrowing the street which we know slows people driving their cars. McLoughlin
would now have designated places to be safe for all of us, making it less confusing for all of us whether we are driving, riding, or walking.
These significant differences make any delay for McLoughlin inappropriate.
Our second goal is that
you see us as human beings
who will benefit from these safety improvements. We are more than the mode of transportation we’re using. We are volunteers and engineers, grandmas and dads, gardeners and musicians, animal lovers and business owners, technicians and readers, neighbors and
coworkers, young and old. We are the city’s supporters of innovation and ideas.
We all share the same transportation goals: to get somewhere and then to arrive back home. Safely. You have the power and responsibility
to help us do that.
Planners have done their jobs well. Now we look to you to
do the same.
Signed by people you are protecting:
Angela Davis - wife to Sherman and mom to two young adult children Alex and Sydney,
Copy Center Coordinator at the Camas School District, 3rd generation Clark County resident
Anne Moyers – retired from teaching (love-of-my-life job) and Clark County resident
for over 40 years
Anna Danzer - lover of the outdoors and dogs
Bill Moyers – love my neighbors and neighborhood
Bob Verrinder- riding my bike when hit by a car in a lighted crosswalk
Britt Martens- gardener and cook
Carol Evans - mom, retired regional account exec of Organic Foods, now living the life
my husband and I worked hard for and loving it
Carole Dollemore - homecookin’ granny
Christine Toscano - musician
Dan Packard - dad, bus driver, woodworker, and piano player
Henrik Martens- avid news junkie
Kathy Fockler - mom, wife, nurse and community volunteer
Jan Verrinder - wife to Bob, grandma to Josh and Jonas, niece to Dorothy and Durwood
Jill Oshiro - Retired engineer, lover of gadgets, outdoor enthusiast, family caretaker
Joe Toscano- intrepid traveler
Judy Boyle - love my ShihTzu, Bentley, tap dancing, biking, and baking. Hat yard work,
but I do it.
Leah Jackson – business owner
Madeleine von Lau- animal lover
Mary McLaren Nurse, lymphoma survivor
Sally Butts - long-time Vancouver resident who is proud to call this place home
Sherman Davis - husband to Angela and dad to two young adult children, Alex and Sydney,
Director of Technology at the Camas School District, 3rd generation Clark County resident
Tom Dollemore - good-times grandpa
Victoria Rehfeldt - retired teacher, lifetime student, mom of two and gram of six,
grateful for so many friends, and lover of all things outdoors