ACTIVISM
The Spring Zoom Meeting of the Capital Region Vision Zero Alliance will be April 18th at 6:30 pm.
Our guest speaker will be Amy Cohen, Co-Founder of Families for Safe Streets (see https://www.familiesforsafestreets.org/). Amy Co-Founded Families for Safe Streets in 2014 after she lost her son Sammy to traffic violence. There are now chapters across the United States. Amy is a leader among advocates for Vision Zero in New York State. You can view her fireside chat with Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at:
https://www.nsc.org/newsroom/nsc-usdot-families-for-safe-streets-fireside-chat
Other agenda items include:
- Capital Streets (https://capitalstreets.org) a new regional org promoting safety and transportation alternatives
- Capital Region crash statistics since COVID – fewer crashes but more fatalities and serious injuries?! How does that happen?
- Supporting efforts to lower municipal speed limits to 25 mph
- Albany City Council Public Safety Committee Meeting – April 19th @ 5:30pm
- Report on East Greenbush 25 mph public meeting
- A local Assembly Member’s effort to raise Interstate speed limits
- CDTC’s FHWA $1.15 Safe Streets and Roads for All Grant for supplemental safety analysis and Vision Zero Planning
For Zoom Meeting Details e-mail visionzero518@gmail.com
Capital Streets Launch Event Held March 30, 2023 . Capital Streets, a new nonprofit focused on transportation and liveable streets in the Capital Region held a launch event on March 30th at the Troy FOCUS Lab to a standing room crowd. The launch event was attended by advocates, activists, pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders, and others interested in mobility and complete streets. There were attendees from Troy, Albany, Schenectady, Saratoga Springs and other Capital Region localities. Capital Streets provided an overview of their organization, how they got here and where they are heading. The event guest speaker was Jeff Olson, author of The 3rd Mode and an extremely well versed expert in bike/ped issues. A lively afterparty and networking session at Rare Form Brewing followed.
Ride of Silence, May 17, 2023. All around the world Rides of Silence are held to commemorate cyclists that are killed and seriously injured by traffic violence. Albany Bicycle Coalition will hold its annual Ride of Silence to commemorate cyclists that have been killed or seriously injured. The ride will leave Corning Preserve Boat Launch in Albany at 5:30 PM. Persons wanting to join the ride later may meet the group when it passes by the Boat Launch again between 6:15pm and 6:30pm. There is no cost for the ride and anyone 18 or over with a bicycle and a helmet may join. The ride will be approximately 17.5 mostly flat miles and include stops at sites where persons died while cycling in downtown Albany and Troy. Minimum rider age is 12; riders under age 18 must be accompanied by adult. For more details see: https://albanybicyclecoalition.com/events. For information about starting a ride in your area see: https://rideofsilence.org/main.php
The New York Safe Streets Coalition is an alliance of over 100 organizations fighting for statutory changes at the state level to reduce traffic violence. Last year the Coalition successfully helped three important bills get signed into law, including a Complete Streets funding bill and legislation allowing municipalities to lower speed limits to 25 mph. Go to this site to review this years SAFE Streets Act. Fill out the form to automatically ask your Assembly Member and Senator to support their lifesaving bills.
SAFETY PROGRAMMING
Two Day Smart Cycling Training by a League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor: Fri 4/28 in classroom 6 – 9 pm; Sat. 4/29 10am – 4pm on bikes. Open to all levels of cyclists. Class is $40 with discounts for Albany Bicycle Coalition Donors. Anyone interested should e-mail albanybicyclecoalition@yahoo.com