1/30/09: URGENT ACTION NEEDED

Help secure federal stimulus spending for bike/ped projects!

Pres. Barack Obama has called on Congress to pass an economic stimulus and recovery plan that would give states billions of dollars for ready-to-build transportation projects such as roads and bridges.

We need your help to ensure that Safe Routes to School projects and other bicycle/pedestrian infrastructure projects benefit from this spending.

Since many bike/ped projects can be built at the same time as other road projects, including them in economic stimulus spending makes the most efficient use of limited public funding. It also helps ensure that Californians have access to safe and affordable transportation options like bicycling and walking during this time of financial and economic crisis.

Once Congress approves the federal economic stimulus plan, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Caltrans, along with governors and transportation departments in other states, will need to quickly assemble a project list that shows how they'll use this funding. Throughout California, cities, counties and metropolitan planning organizations (also called MPOs - usually the local council of governments) are already compiling lists of projects to include as part of California's stimulus funding plan.

In its review of draft project lists from California and 18 other states, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found that just 0.3% of their recommended projects are for bike/ped infrastructure, even though bicyclists and pedestrians comprise 10% of all trips. As of December 2008, California's draft list of $1.4 billion in proposed stimulus projects contained no bike/ped projects at all!

Here's how you can help correct this imbalance:

1. Call your local mayor, city councilperson/county supervisor, department of public works, state legislators, and/or metropolitan planning organization and use these talking points to make the case for including bike/ped projects in their lists.
2. Using this template, send letters to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Caltrans Director Will Kempton asking that they include your ready-to-go project in their list.

Please act today to ensure that federal stimulus spending meets the needs of California schoolchildren and all other Californians who rely on bicycling and walking for transportation.

Thank you!

• Find your state legislator.
• Find your local metropolitan planning organization (.pdf)
• Read the U.S. Public Interest Research Group's report on economic stimulus spending (.pdf)
• Learn more about the Safe Routes to School National Partnership, which provided much of the content for the talking points and letter template.

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