HomeMy WebLinkAboutConstituent Letter - Read Before Packet - 10/7/2014 - Letter From Bevin Llewellyn Barber-Campbell Re: Bfo � Agenda Item #16Bevin Llewellyn Barber‐Campbell
504 Duke Lane Fort Collins, CO 80525 (970) 482‐3080 bevinbcampbell@gmail.com
October 5, 2014
City Manager & City Council
City of Fort Collins
Re: BFO’s
165.3 ENHANCEMENT: Safe Routes to School Strategic Traffic Infrastructure Program
165.2 ENHANCEMENT: Safe Routes to School – School Rotation Schedule
To the City Manager & the members of City Council:
I am writing you to express my support for the two BFO’s listed above. I am a safe cycling instructor for
the City’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program and a parent champion of building bike and walk to
school programs.
As a parent champion, I have presented at approximately 75% of the PTO’s in PSD about building bike
and walk to school programs. At nearly every presentation, a parent will say to me that they drive their
child three blocks to school because they are afraid of crossing a certain street. Nearly every major road
has been mentioned at these meetings: Shields, Harmony, Drake, Mulberry, Taft Hill Rd, Timberline,
Vine, Laporte, Prospect, Lemay. My conclusion is that this is a common fear among parents in Fort
Collins.
While their concern might boil down to lack of confidence, these fears are not unfounded. Last month, a
child was hit on Vine leaving Lincoln Middle School. Last fall, two children were hit in crosswalks biking
to Blevins within a two‐week period.
Advocates like myself can go out into the community and champion biking and walking to school, but
the effort and words are lost upon parents with each child that is hit.
The City’s SRTS program has set a goal of getting 50% of children biking and walking to school. This will
not happen without a major commitment to improved infrastructure and to delivering bicycle and
pedestrian safety education to school children.
165.2 seeks to establish a budget for offering bike and pedestrian safety education to children every
three years at every school; 165.3 provides vital funds for making our roadways safer, in particular our
crosswalks that children are using to get to school. Most schools in Fort Collins could benefit from major
infrastructure improvements.
With better engineering and education, families will have the facilities and confidence to more
realistically consider biking and walking to school.
Regards,