Renewal 2020
Changing course from car-based to people-based cities in this century will require leadership and decisive action.” - Janette Sadik-Khan (NYC Transportation Commissioner, 2007-2013)
A Pasadena elementary school student holds a "Walking School Bus" as he leads a group at Walk to School Day, 2019.
2019 was a challenging year for Complete Streets in Pasadena. City Hall showed no reaction to a slew of car crashes around Pasadena, including the two that killed Michelle and Anthony. Common-sense, years-in-the-making transportation improvements like LA Metro’s NoHo-Pasadena Bus Rapid Transit line continued to get pushback from a small group looking to upend safer streets and climate change goals. With Governor Newsom vetoing the Caltrans Complete Streets bill, there are no new external factors to push the city in the right direction.
However, we also hit a number of successes. Our major 2019 accomplishments were listed in our December 2019 newsletter. Each action added up to an awareness campaign that is reaching more and more people. More and more people are seeing and understanding that they don’t have to settle for less - that we can have, and all deserve, the freedom and safety of a transportation system that works for everyone.
Will 2020 be the year of renewal, a turning point that will spur Pasadena to bring its transportation system into the 21st century? It’s up to all of us to take action and make it happen. Next year is an election year, and the excitement and controversy at the national level will surely trickle down into state and local contests. Also, local projects such as the Union Street protected bike lane and the NoHo-Pasadena BRT line will reach key milestones.
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Regardless of what’s in store for us politically in 2020, we’re taking steps to prepare for an active and dynamic year. With your help, we’re looking forward to repeating (and exceeding!) the success that was Walktober 2019, upgrading Pasadena’s Bike Month, and releasing videos of resident testimonials on their experiences traveling around Pasadena. We’ll continue to build relationships with key city stakeholders, and we’ll be hosting a wider range of social events.
Most important, however, is that we’d like to more effectively engage you!
Three things to look out for in 2020:
A member survey! Let us know what we’re doing right; what you’d like to see more of; what doesn’t interest you; and how you’d like to support Complete Streets in Pasadena.
A new mailing list focused exclusively on things you can do to make a difference: direct actions, opportunities for City Council testimony, and social events that are part of larger projects or campaigns. We’re making it opt-in only so you’ll never have to worry about unwanted emails.
New ways to get involved. We’ve got a full slate of projects and new initiatives, and in the coming weeks, we’ll be announcing several new teams and open positions to help us do what we do.
Together with a focused set of goals for the year, we can continue to raise the bar for Complete Streets!
