Safe Routes and Cherriots Host Second Active Transportation Network Meeting Thursday

This is late notice, but if you have tomorrow afternoon free, Thursday the 30th a group of transportation advocates will hold their second meeting at Cherriots. The group appears to be mostly aimed at those already working for government or non-profits in transportation or transportation-adjacent areas, but if you wanted to network and learn, this could be a good way to get involved and for something to lead to specific projects and advocacy.

meeting agenda

From the Safe Routes to Schools description:

The Salem-Keizer Active Transportation Network (ATN) serves as an informational hub for community-based organizations and public agencies in the region to share information on best practices and upcoming funding competitions, and to engage in increasing active transportation investments and policy....

The ATN meeting on the 30th will be focused on transit and transporation options for the region....A Spanish language interpreter will be available to accomodate our Spanish-speaking partners.

Last week the Cherriots Board met and appointed Hernandez-Lomeli to a seat on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Fund Advisory Committee:

The STIFAC is a newly appointed committee of the Board in compliance with State rules adopted in 2018 as a result of the passage of House Bill 2017 for a new statewide transportation funding package....

Sandra Hernandez-Lomeli, Director of the Latinos Unidos Siempre at Mano-A-Mano is willing to serve as a member of the STIFAC. Ms. Hernandez-Lomeli is also the current Land-Use Chair of the Northgate Neighborhood Association, and is a transit user. She stated in her application [on file] that her priority as a member of the STIFAC will be to advocate for longer service hours, the youth pass, affordable/fixed services for low income communities, and better outreach to people with disabilities.

This STIFAC is a new committee, it may be a little more diverse than the usual, and it will be interesting to see if it is mostly ornamental or if it is able successfully to push for change and be influential.

It is also interesting to see on the Network's agenda a focus on "grassroots organizing for transit."

There are some interesting things percolating around active transportation and mobility other than drive-alone trips.

More specifically, there will also be a talk on the RTSP, and one immediate opportunity for additional advocacy is to push our MPO, SKATS, for a robust Goal 7 in the RTSP in line with the request from the City of Salem:

The City's draft letter on Greenhouse Gases

Goal 7 is heavily contested right now at the MPO, and a greater emphasis on reducing greenhouse gas emissions will benefit all kinds of walking, biking, rolling, and transit. It may be the single most powerful general policy out there. (You can read the latest on the struggle over Goal 7, the MPO, and the RTSP here.)

The Active Transportation Network meets Thursday the 30th, at 2pm, in Courthouse Square, the Senator Hearing Room, 555 Court St NE.