Senator Tom Harkin (IA)

Finally the US Congress is following the lead of more than 20 states, including Wisconsin and Minnesota, by introducing Complete Streets legislation at the federal level. This is exciting news as it will work to reenforce the current US DOT Policies that are already having an impact on FHA projects across the country. The bill was introduces by Senator Tom Harkin (IA) and co-signed by a dozen others. It will be a fight to get the legislation through the existing congress and on to the Presidents desk.

From the National Complete Streets Website:

A dozen members of the Senate today introduced the Safe and Complete Streets Act of 2011, S. 1056, designed to create safer streets with every project built. Led by Senator Tom Harkin (IA), the measure would direct states and regions to adopt policies to provide for the needs of all users of the transportation system, including people of all ages and abilities who are walking, bicycling, and taking the bus.

The introduction comes in the wake of the release of a new safety report, Dangerous by Design 2011, which finds that 67 percent of all pedestrian fatalities in the last ten years took place on federal-aid roads. Children, older adults, and minorities are especially at risk.

“In many places across the country, there is a complete lack of sidewalks and bike lanes. This not only makes our roadways more dangerous for pedestrians, it discourages people from being more active by walking or riding a bike,” said Senator Tom Harkin. “The legislation I am introducing today aims to address this issue by making streets safer for everyone and promoting healthier living. It is truly a double win for our communities.” Read the entire article here.

A similar bill was also introduced into the US House of Representatives earlier in the Month. Read the article on the National Complete Streets Website here.

                          

“We talked to transportation engineers with decades of experience, elected leaders, community board members, people on the street, and business owners to get their take on the new configurations.”

                          

On Thursday April 14th the Common Council of the City of La Crosse passed a “Green Complete Streets” resolution. The resolution directs city staff to create an ordinance of the same name within 90 days for the council to consider. This is a big step forward for the city. DRBC members have been working with council member Bob Seaquist and city staff since last October to move this forward. DRBC Advocacy committee members also made phone calls and talked with almost every council member in an effort to educate them about Complete Streets and to encourage them to support it when it came before the council. All of you efforts and support are paying off.

The next steps at the city will be watching the creation of the actual policy and giving our input. We are asking that the city allow us to give input during the process. After the completion of the Policy there will be a number of committees it will have to pass through before going back to the council. the DRBC will remain active in all parts of this process.

The County passed a resolution adopting a Complete Streets policy on Tuesday April 19th. this makes La Crosse County the fist county in Wisconsin to adopt a Complete Streets policy. This effort was lead by county staff who created the resolution & policy with no outside input. they did a pretty good job of. Of course we would have preferred an ordinance rather than a policy. DRBC members participated in the public input sessions at multiple county committee meetings and attended one county board session where we haded out Complete Streets materials to all board members in attendance.

Policy v. Ordinance
I mentioned above that we would rather of had an ordinance at the county rather than a policy, why? Simply put an ordinance has more force than a policy. Policies depend on the staff and leadership of the organization to enforce them , but that level of enforcement and commitment to a policy can change rapidly with changing political winds. While an ordinance can be changed, it is a much harder and slower process. We would like to see ordinances whenever possible but will gladly accept a policy if that is the only possibility.

Good job and many thanks the many DRBC members and other people that are making Complete Streets happen in the Driftless Region.

                          

City of La Crosse
At the Thursday March 10th a Resolution supporting Complete Streets and directing staff to draw up  a “Green Complete Streets” ordinance was read-in. That means that the council will consider the resolution at their April meeting (La Crosse Green Complete Streets 3-7-11 [PDF]). This is a big step forward, if the resolution passes in April then the ordinance should be ready in about 90 days. So we could have an actual Complete Streets ordinance in place as soon as July in the City of La Crosse. The advocacy committee and other members of the DRBC have done a lot of work to help make this happen including contact and talking with almost every member of the current city council, as well as delivering Complete Streets information packets to them. the resolution will go before several city committees before returning to the council for adoption next month. Read the Take Action Now section below for how you can support Complete Streets in the City of La Crosse.

The short video interview below were shot right after the city council meeting on March 10th. Please bear with the poor quality, this was our first attempt at doing our own videos!

Complee Streets Interviews from Driftless Region Bicycle on Vimeo.

La Crosse County
At the March 7th La Crosse County Planning Committee meeting, the board members received a short presentation on Complete Streets from Health Department staff. This was their first official introduction to Complete Streets. DRBC Advocacy Committee members have talked with several county board members in the past about Complete Streets. The board members also received an information packet from the DRBC that same evening. County staff are recommending that the board only adopt a Complete Streets policy where the City of La Crosse is working on an ordinance.

What’s the difference? An ordinance has a lot more meat behind it and can not be as easily changed or ignored like a policy can. The proposed policy will now go to several county committees before being presented to the board formally for adoption. The DRBC will be attending these committee meetings giving our input on the proposed policy and recommending that it be changed into an actual ordinance. Read the Take Action Now section below for how you can support Complete Streets in the County of La Crosse.

Take Action Now!!
here are some steps that you can take to help insure passage of Complete Streets in the City and County of La Crosse:

1. Make some phone calls today! Please pick up you phone and call both you City Council and County Board members and tell them that you support Complete Streets and ask them to do the same. Be sure to tell your county board member that you would like to see an ordinance, not just a policy. Contact information, including phone and email, for City of La Crosse Councilors is here and for your County Board Representatives is here.
2. Attend and speak at Committee meetings! Council and Board members like getting phone calls, but they really react when bodies show up to their meetings. That effect is doubled if you actually stand up and speak. Remember that many of these committees only offer a short period of public comment at the beginning of the meeting so don’t sit on your hands and be sure to sign in if there is a sign in sheet available. If you are unsure, always look for other DRBC members at the meeting to help you with information. Below is a list of committee meetings, their dates and times, that you should attend if at all possible! These will be your only opportunities to speak publicly in support of Complete Streets.
   1. City of La Crosse committee meetings where Complete Streets will be considered:
      1. Board of Public Works: the date to be determined. But most likely sometime this month.
      2. Highways, Properties and Utilities Committee: April 6th, 7:30pm
      3. Committee of the Whole: April 12th 7:30pm, Council Chambers
   2. La Crosse County committee meetings where Complete Streets will be considered:
      1. Planning, Resources & Development Committee: April 4th, 3:30pm, Rm 3220 County Admin Building
      2. Public Works & Infrastructure: April 11th, 4:00pm, Rm 3220 County Admin Building
      3. Health & Human Services Committee: April 12, 6:30pm, Rm 3220 County Admin Building
3. Watch our Complete Streets website and Facebook pages for updates and other action alerts!
4. Join the DRBC if you have not yet done so. You membership adds weight to and supports our efforts.

Talking Points for Complete Streets:

• Complete Streets make economic sense. A balanced transportation system that includes complete streets can bolster economic growth and stability by providing accessible and efficient connections between residences, schools, parks, public transportation, offices, and retail destinations.
• Complete Streets improve safety by reducing crashes through safety improvements. One study found that designing for pedestrian travel by in­stalling raised medians and redesigning intersections and sidewalks reduced pedestrian risk by 28%.
• Complete Streets encourage more walking and bicycling. Public health experts are encouraging walking and bicycling as a response to the obesity epidemic, and complete streets can help.
• Complete Streets can help ease transportation woes. Streets that provide travel choices can give people the option to avoid traffic jams, and increase the overall capacity of the transportation network.
• Complete Streets help children. Streets that provide room for bicycling and walking help children get physical activity and gain independence. More children walk to school where there are sidewalks, and children who have and use safe walking and bicycling routes have a more positive view of their neighborhood. Safe Routes to School programs, gaining in popularity across the country, will benefit from complete streets policies that help turn all routes into safe routes.
• Complete Streets are good for air quality. Poor air quality in our urban areas is linked to increases in asthma and other illnesses. Yet if each resi­dent of an American community of 100,000 replaced one car trip with one bike trip just once a month, it would cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 3,764 tons of per year in the community. Complete streets allow this to happen more easily.
• Complete Streets make fiscal sense. Integrating sidewalks, bike lanes, transit amenities, and safe crossings into the initial design of a project spares the expense of retrofits later. Jeff Morales, former Director of Cal­trans, said, “by fully considering the needs of all non-motorized travelers (pedestrians, bicyclists, and persons with disabilities) early in the life of a project, the costs associated with including facilities for these travelers are minimized.”
• An ordinance is better than a policy. Policies do not carry the same weight as an ordinance and are more subject to the whims and interpretations of staff. We all know that staff and elected officials come and go, but having a good ordinance rather than a policy will help see that the concepts of Complete Streets survives such transitions and political whims.

                          

Here is a series of three short videos produced by the AARP on why Complete Streets are important for seniors and communities:

Why Complete Streets?

Planning Complete Streets

Who is working toward Complee Streets?

                          

Downtown La Crosse CC sleepycat5 Flickr

The City of La Crosse is about to take a big step towards adopting a Complete Streets ordinance! Our advocacy efforts are paying off. Read on…

As we told you previously our first attempt in October to get a Complete Streets resolution introduced in the La Crosse City Council hit a few road blocks. As promised we have kept on working to get the process to move forward. As you can see by previous posts we focused on gaining public support from institutions and organizations such as the University of Wisconsin La Crosse to demonstrate the high level of support within the community. We also remained in contact with various members of the city staff and council.

On Tuesday I received information from reliable sources at City Hall that the Complete Streets resolution had come back to life and that staff was working with the city council member who originally agreed to introduce the Complete Streets Resolution at our request. From the information we received, it looks like a resolution in support of Complete Streets will be introduced at the March La Crosse City Council Meeting of the Whole. We were able to confirm this information with Councilman Bob Seaquist Thursday. Cpuncilman Seaquist confirmed his intention to introduce the resolution at the March Meeting of the Whole.

Councilman Bob Sequist

We will be working closely with the councilman and others to help the resolution through the process. The resolution will have to go before several committees including the Public Works Board before going to the Council for vote. The earliest a vote on the resolution could happen would be in April, but minor delays could set that date back to early May. Either way it looks like we will have a Complete Streets Resolution in time to celebrate during Bike to Work Week!

As currently proposed the resolution will declare the council’s support for Complete Streets and then direct staff to draw up a Complete Streets ordinance for the City. This last part is important, if it was just a resolution in support of the concept it would have no teeth. Passing a Complete Streets ordinance will put real legal power behind Complete Streets in La Crosse. It will be late Summer or early Fall before the ordinance will come before the council. Sadly the lost time between October and today will mean that the new ordinance will not have real impact in 2011.

Our next steps are to continue to build support for Complete Streets within the community, watch the process as the resolution moves through La Crosse City Hall and keep you informed. There will be several points in the process where we will be asking you to take some form of action, from attending meetings to calling or emailing city councilors. There is still a lot of work to do, in La Crosse and every other community in the Driftless Region, but we can do it!
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The DRBC advocacy committee is currently seeking people who are will to help with our Complete Streets and other efforts. If you are interested please contact us.

                          

The Complete Streets initiative will provide added encouragement for bicycle
transportation on local roads and streets. This will help to relieve traffic and
parking congestion in the central business district, a clear benefit to Western
Technical College and the overall community.

We applaud those visionaries who are advancing the Complete Streets initiative.
On behalf of Western Technical College, we pledge our support.

You can read the full Western Technical College letter of support here: WTC Complete Streets Letter

                          

The DRBC will be hosting a Public Complete Streets workshop/meeting in La Crescent on Thursday February 10th, 7pm. The meeting will be held in the La Crescent Community Center, 336 S. 1st Street (Fire Station). This meeting is open to the public and everyone who is interested in making their community more livable and accessible should attend this hour-ish long informational session. Lite refreshments will be served. We hope to see you there!

Contact us if you have any questions.

                          

On behalf of the 10,000 students, staff and faculty who make up the UW-L community, I am honored to provide this letter of endorsement for Complete Streets. We wish the Driftless Region Bicycle Coalition all the best with these very important efforts!

We have been working with the UW-L Faculty Senate, Academic Staff Council, Student Senate and the Classified Staff Advisory Council.  We spoke to each group and ask that they encourage the Chancellor to support Complete Streets on the University’s behalf. We always received a warm reception and the support was pretty much unanimous with every group.

UW-L Chancellor’s Letter of Support |   UW-L Student Senate Resolution

We are continuing to reach out to other organizations in our community seeking their support for Complete Streets in the Driftless Region. Please contact us at info @ driftlessbicycle.org for more information.