Both worked extensively on the Glendale Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, approved by city council this April, and are now members of Walk Bike Glendale, an advocacy group that has been meeting for months now “to make Glendale a safer, healthier, more welcoming place for people to walk and bike by promoting and advocating for safe, sustainable, and efficient transportation options.”

Walk Bike Glendale aims to implement the Safe and Healthy Streets Plan, and is now pushing for formation of an official Pedestrian and Bicyclist Advisory Committee for Glendale. Embracing the tradition established when the grant-funded planning effort was underway, Walk Bike Glendale will be marching and cycling (with holiday lights on the bicycles!) in the Montrose Christmas Parade this Saturday.

Colin Bogart, coordinator of Glendale’s Safe and Healthy Streets Program, spoke in support and quoted survey comments he’s received about the need for more sidewalks and safe pedestrian access. Bogart is gearing up to present the Draft Safe and Healthy Streets Plan for Glendale to a joint meeting Monday of the Planning Commission and the Parking and Transportation Commission (set for 6 p.m. in City Council chambers, 613 E. Broadway – the public is encouraged to send and send in comments!).

The Glendale News-Press published this feature on the plan’s progress yesterday.

Grandview Avenue leads directly up to Brand Park. A sidewalk ends at Kenneth Road, starts again further north, stops, then starts up again and continues to Grandview’s tricky 3-way intersection with El Miradero and Mountain.

Photos taken yesterday traveling north on Grandview:

The program for improving mobility and safety of bicyclists and pedestrians is off to a running start in a very short time:

• A website is up and running

• Outreach to several community groups got only positive responses on the program and its goals

• Several city departments and commissions are coordinating with Bogart on the grant work

• Public Works is coordinating Federal Recovery Act funded street improvements with Safe and Healthy Streets to create pedestrian and bicycle enhancements along Riverdale Drive and Maple Street, linking Pacific, Maple, and Carr Parks

• The city’s Safe Streets Initiative, UC Berkeley’s pedestrian safety initiative in Glendale, and Safe Routes to School are progressing in tandem and raising visibility of these issues in the city.

In the fall, the program will conduct a baseline count of bicyclists and pedestrians, hold public input meetings, develop pedestrian walking maps, and assist in an update of the city’s Bicycle Master Plan.

Bogart’s report (beginning at 1 hour into the meeting – video link here) was very well received by City Council. Traffic Engineer Tom Mitchell presented the next agenda item, an update on Glendale’s Safe Streets Initiative established at Council member Ara Najarian’s suggestion, which held a half-day fully-booked pedestrian safety training seminar for residents and a three-day Pedestrian Safety Action Plan training seminar for city staff, both in May.

The three-day staff seminar dealt with engineering, design, and land-use tools to create safe environments for pedestrians. Mitchell praised the seminar and its presenters effusively, saying that staff were very impressed both with the material and the professional approach to these issues. Council member Laura Friedman urged all city staff to incorporate the seminar’s “policy-practices-design” elements into their evaluation processes for all proposed projects.

Riverdale Drive and Maple Street in Glendale will get bicycling and pedestrian enhancements, thanks to a federal stimulus grant to Glendale. Public Works will present the project on June 10, 7 p.m. at Pacific Park Community Center.

Glendale is considering updating its Bicycle Master Plan, which dates from 1996. (Warning: the downloadable file is huge.)

Glendale is also considering creating a pedestrian walking map.

Glenoaks Blvd., Foothill Blvd., and Kenneth Road are primary bike routes in the area.

Better bicycling access to Griffith Park via improvements to the Sonora corridor is one of the grant’s special projects, raising jurisdiction issues as physical improvements will involve surrounding cities.

California recommends that municipalities adopt a Complete Streets policy for all improvements. (Notes: At this week’s city council meeting, Glendale Council member Laura Friedman asked Public Works to look into implementing this policy in Glendale.)

Grant coordinator Colin Bogart will be organizing a pedestrian and bicyclist count later in the year to establish a baseline of Glendale numbers. He needs lots of volunteers to cover the city!

Special thanks to El Morfi Grill, which provided free empanadas and salad for the meeting. As Tropico Station noted, the restaurant is sensitive to traffic problems having had a literal “run-in” with a speeding driver last year. The delicious spread reminded me that El Morfi is my family’s first choice for great pizza in Glendale. I stopped by the restaurant for a take-out pizza on the way home!

Here is the Glendale News Press report on the event, reporting Bogart’s call for input on bike rack locations, planned bike route improvements, and the Public Works federal stimulus project.

Safe and Healthy Streets grant coordinator Colin Bogart is holding a Community Stakeholders meeting Thursday, May 28, 2009, 6 p.m., in the Glendale Central Library Auditorium.

He encourages everyone, including families whose children walk or bike to school, to get involved. Contact him through the website link above for more information.

Focusing on pedestrian issues as well, Bogart is working with two other Glendale programs: Safe Routes to School, and the Safe Streets Initiative. His goal is to develop a “Safe and Healthy Streets Plan” for Glendale, working with Parks and Recreation , Public Works, Planning, and other departments. He is currently meeting with stakeholders in the city and planning community input meetings for July and August.

One policy question he raised for discussion at a meeting last week was adoption of a “complete streets policy” guaranteeing that whenever any changes are made to a street, it is also made accessible for all users. Such changes would address problems such as a bicyclist’s inability to trigger a traffic signal change, and the lack of wide intersection medians where pedestrians can safely stop and wait for the next signal change.

While coordinating the grant, Bogart is also working on community outreach efforts such as the Glendale History Bike Ride, to be featured in the next post.