CA Walks - Pedestrian Safety Workshop
On Saturday, May 9th, PasCSC co-hosted a California Walks-facilitated pedestrian safety workshop with the Downtown Pasadena Neighborhood Association, Stop 4 Aidan, and Day One. The workshop had 3 objectives:
Learn about the latest pedestrian safety and walkability best practices to inform strategies for Pasadena
Develop consensus pedestrian safety priorities and actionable next steps for Pasadena
Foster an open and collaborative relationship between community groups
Many attended the event out of a shared love of walking and a desire to make walking in Pasadena more joyful. However, several attendees had also lost loved ones in car-pedestrian collisions, and the determination to have the workshop came out of a recent loss: a preventable crash that killed an elementary school student on Colorado Blvd.
When cars and pedestrians meet in a crash, the pedestrians invariably lose. Over 30,000 people are killed by motorists while walking in the United States every year. Each one of these lost lives underline why improving pedestrian safety is so vitally important, here in Pasadena and across the country.
The workshop was broken into several parts. The morning began with a presentation and overview by CA Walks staff. This was followed by a “Community Walking Audit”, which had the approximately 50 attendees break into walking groups, traverse a 0.5-1.5 mile pre-determined route, evaluate existing walking conditions along it, and then share their findings with the larger group following a healthy lunch. The findings were incorporated into a list of recommendations, to be used to guide future infrastructure improvements and organizing.
PasCSC would like to thank California Walks for all their help and providing the group with a final report and recommendations. We would also like to thank the Pasadena Presbyterian Church, for providing a wonderful space for the workshop, as well as Whole Foods Pasadena (Hastings Ranch and Arroyo Parkway) for providing lunch. Finally, a huge thank you to city staff and officials for taking the time to attend the event, including Pasadena’s new Mayor Terry Tornek, Council Member Margaret McAustin, Rich and Joaquin from the Department of Transportation, Mary from the Pasadena Public Health Department, and Vannia from Victor Gordo’s office.
