Take action: tell City Council you want active transportation goals

Urgent call to action

The process to shape City Council’s goals is underway. Now is the time to provide input on prioritizing active transportation in the city budget. As outlined at the Bend City Council meeting last week, the Council goals inform the budget that will be adopted in late May. Contact City Councilors by Wednesday, February 22nd to let them know how how important it is to support the next step in active transportation for our streets: implementation. The City has already adopted active transportation goals (see Table 1 below), but they won’t do any good without the funding to implement them. Councilors need to hear from you! To reach City Councilors by email, you may send a note to [email protected] and your note will be forwarded to [email protected] as well as Bend Bikes.

Tips for greater impact when you email Councilors

How has active transportation personally impacted you and your family? Tell your active transportation story!
What could you do differently if active transportation goals were fully funded?
You may also wish to include Bend Bikes’ top goals for active transportation:

Install protected bike lanes and sidewalks for the full length of two main corridors
- While it would not create a complete, interconnected active transportation network, it would serve as an anchor to build on towards that end.
Add capacity to install more neighborhood roadway safety projects
- Hiring more project managers in the Engineering Infrastructure Planning Department (EIPD) will allow the city to implement lower cost projects such as neighborhood greenways awaiting design and implementation.
Create annually renewing fund for roadway safety improvement projects already identified
- See Table 1 on page 4 from the 2015 Strategic Implementation Plan for Walking and Bike Infrastructure for a list of projects that were cited in the city’s Integrated Land Use and Transportation Plan.

City of Bend, Active Transportation goals 2015 - 2017 — Table 1: Active transportation goals from 2015 – 2017

If you care about keeping our city livable by decreasing auto congestion, then support empowering people to choose to walk or bike around Bend. Take advantage of the opportunity we have right now to shape city goals and budgets to reflect that. Email your City Council at [email protected] by this coming Wednesday, February 22nd, and tell your friends to do the same via social media.

Bend Bikes President Lucas Freeman presents active transportation priorities to the Bend City Council on Wednesday, February 15, 2017.

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