In joy, sadness, anger...and hope

Most days, working in the CSC is an expression of joy. We come together out of a shared love for bikes, urban walks, and our city, and a desire to share that passion with others. Everything we do towards Complete Streets is in honor of a vision that Pasadena will someday be made even safer and better.

But there are also days when our work is fueled by sadness and anger. This past week, we heard that a 7-year old pedestrian, Aidan Tam, was struck and killed by a motorist at the intersection of Colorado and Hill. The follow-up article suggests that Aidan’s family was crossing the north side of Hill Ave. at the time of the accident, moving east in the crosswalk on the green light. The driver, who was coming west on Colorado and also had a green light, says he saw the previous driver make a right to turn north on Hill, assumed it was clear, and also turned into the crosswalk, hitting Aidan.

These tragedies happen far too often, and they occur in part because our streets have been designed to favor cars over people. As Dianne reminded us at last Monday’s meeting, incidents like these are another reason why we work for Complete Streets. And in fact, they are why our group came together in the first place.

This Sunday, June 15, we’ll be gathering to remember Phillip O’Neill, who was hit from behind with great force while biking on Del Mar last year.  He was 25 years old at the time, had already accomplished, loved, and been loved so much in his young life, and had so much more to give.  And so we’ll be walking and riding to honor his memory, the memories of other cyclists and pedestrians who’ve been killed on our streets, and our memory of the day we came together to say: this is unacceptable, and we will not remain silent.

We ride and walk forward because our work, at core, is an expression of love and hope.

We hope you’ll join us next weekend.