Action Alert: Call Cambridge City Councilors by Monday for Protected Bike Lanes!
Written by Boston Biker on Nov 05The group of citizens in Cambridge pushing for safer streets is on a roll! (more, here and here)
From the email:
Unfortunately, the City has delayed or declined to implement all of the orders that involve actual infrastructure, so our fight to create safe streets in Cambridge is not over! The following is your third call to action.
THE ACTION
WHAT: Call Cambridge City Councilors
WHEN: Before 5pm Monday (11/7)
ALSO: if you’re able, join us at the City Council Meeting, Monday November 7 at 5:30pmto offer public comment
We need each of you to call Cambridge City Councilors (contact information listed below) and ask them to explain why they have not followed through on all of the 8 policy orders that they approved on October 17th.
Here’s why this is important to do right now: Councillor Mazen, with support from Councillor Devereux, has introduced motions to instruct the city to act quickly. Passage of these motions by the full council this Monday is the clearest route to making sure the changes the City Council already ordered actually happen in a timely way.
INSTRUCTIONS & SCRIPT
The following is a draft script you can use when you call. If you are leaving a voicemail, please ask the councillor to call you back with answers to your questions.
- I am a Cambridge resident (or I ride to work, etc. on Cambridge streets) and I want to know why the City has not yet implemented the popup protected bike lanes on Mass. Ave., Cambridge, Broadway, and Hampshire called for in the policy orders the City Council passed over two weeks ago, which are designed to ensure that our streets are safe for cyclists, and the first three of which were supposed to go in on Nov. 1, 2016.
We hope you will come out in clear support of the motions from the Neighborhood & Long Term Planning Committee, particularly numbers 1 and 3, to begin implementing the policy orders from Oct. 17 immediately, with a popup protected bike lane by winter on one street and a full network of popup protected lanes this spring, as well as protected bike lanes on Huron Ave.
See further talking points below
If you can, please place your call before the next city council meeting this Monday at 5:15pm. Calling is the most persuasive action, but if you cannot call then please contact councillors by email and ask them to respond to your questions. The following is a list of city councillors that we most need to persuade.
[email protected]
617 349-4321 (work)
Leland Cheung
[email protected]
617-444-9080 (home)
617-349-4280 (work)
Marc C. McGovern (Vice Mayor)
[email protected]
617-642-1731 (home)
617-349-4280 (work)
Annie and Nate
FURTHER BACKGROUND & TALKING POINTS
What’s happened before now?
- 8 policy orders were passed 10/17, including:
- pop-up bike lanes on Mass Ave, Hampshire, Cambridge, Broadway
- revisit Huron / Pearl St to improve bike infrastructure per bike plan
- include bike leaders in Vision Zero working group
- City presented on its plan this Wednesday 11/2:
- planning to implement one pop-up by Spring (on part of Cambridge St), no others in foreseeable future
- not going to revisit Huron, Pearl St will have parking studies done
- Vision Zero group with community leaders to be formed by December
- Most important are motions #1 and 3 from the Neighborhood and Long-term Planning Committee to move up the pop-up for one street from Spring to NOW (pre-Winter), put in a larger network of pop-ups in the spring, and put in protected lanes on Huron as it is reconstructed.
- See the motions here
- Mayor Simmons has a policy order to implement all 8 policies by Nov 2017
- this is WAY TOO SLOW. Which is why we MUST make sure the pop-ups get done by pre-Winter/Spring
- When talking to her, you can say “thank you, but we need you to vote YES on the motion to move the pop-up to pre-Winter”. This is fine, since some of the 8 policies can get done by Nov 2017 (e.g. the website for bike safety)
- We realize this is an ambitious program, so we need city councillors working with the city staff to move this work forward
- In the past three months since Amada Phillip’s death there have been over 80 recorded crashes in Cambridge involving cyclists. Of the 69 crashes that were so serious they were reported to the police, 44 have been on Cambridge, Mass Ave, Hampshire, or Broadway
- The city is encouraging new businesses (e.g. in Kendall) to minimize parking and encourage workers to commute by bike, but then not providing the needed infrastructure for safe commuting
- We want to see cyclists from ages 8 to 80 able to get across the city safely.
- Protected bike lanes increase safety for all users of the street and also increase foot traffic to businesses
- Tell them your personal biking story
We need your help! Looking for all skills and levels of commitment. If you want to see better streets, please join us!
Yes, I’ll get involved
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