Active Transportation Program

Everyone agrees that transportation investment is needed. But the talk is too much about how to get the money, not enough on how best to spend the money.

Caltrans already has a “Complete Streets Program.” But the department too often makes moving vehicles a priority over safe and attractive infrastructure for people not sitting in a car.

This statewide bike and pedestrian plan should also rightfully serve as the underpinning for local and regional bike and pedestrian plans, and for that reason alone needs to be a strong statement about the relevance and importance of encouraging these active modes of transportation.

FresnoCOG chose five projects, out of twenty applications submitted, to receive ATP funding. The money will go towards closing a bike path gap, fixing sidewalks, and replacing pedestrian signal heads.

In the first step of the budget process for 2017-2018, Governor Brown proposed a budget that shows fiscal restraint--and includes money for the Active Transportation Program.

The statewide advocacy organization focuses on policy at the state level, and training and capacity building at the local level. It's a lot of work.

CV Link had been on the list to get almost one-fifth of the money available from the Active Transportation Program, but a mistake in its application moved it down a few notches. Now five other projects will likely get funding.

Fresno is frequently described as "two cities"--the more affluent north, and the south, where more low-income residents live. Advocates question whether the city's Active Transportation Plan does enough for residents in the south.

I wanted to share some inspiring post-election advice from someone who I really admire: Dan Savage. Savage, a father, husband, and a wonderfully out gay man, is a sex advice columnist based in Seattle. I think his advice is insightful and entertaining. I am an avid listener to his Savage Lovecast podcast, which comes out every Tuesday morning. The Lovecast typically opens with a monologue with a generous dollop of Savage's radically inclusive left politics before he responds to readers questions on love, sex, and relationships. I am not sure that I would call Dan Savage a full-on urbanist, but now and then his urbanism shows. He is not preaching about walking, bicycling and transit, but he does mention his dislike of driving and his love for cities.