by Debbie Grubb
America Walks, a non-profit coalition of community-based groups dedicated to promoting walkable communities, sponsored the first Congress of Pedestrian Advocates in Oakland, CA from August 16 through 18. I was privileged to stand in for Julie Carroll, chair of the ACB environmental access committee, as ACB’s representative at this most exciting and historic event. I believe it is important to share with others in ACB the promising mission and achievements of this coalition of pedestrian advocates, as well as the role that ACB can play in making the world a safer place for all pedestrians. My report on the conference follows.
First, I want to commend the California Council of the Blind for sending a delegation of seven to represent its constituents. Bernice Kandarian, Jane Kardas, Dan Kysor, Gene Lozano, Roger Petersen, Barbara Rhodes and the CCB treasurer, Peter Pardini, who was always at the right place at the right time to lend a hand, were advocates of whom all of us in ACB can be very proud. In addition, the state of Oregon was ably represented by Patricia Kepler and Judy Wilkins. Ken Stewart, president of CCLVI and a member of the Public Rights-Of-Way Access Advisory Committee (PROWAAC), represented people with low vision, and the state of Illinois was enthusiastically represented by Bill and Sylvia Van Dyke.
The America Walks leadership did their best to meet our program access needs, and with no prompting from us, the ACB Pedestrian Safety Handbook and a link to the Access Board web site were included on a CD that was distributed to each participant. America Walks President Ellen Vanderslice serves on PROWAAC and edited the report that was submitted by the subcommittee to the Access Board for its consideration.
Although most attendees had no real working knowledge of our unique issues, I must say that all of us representing people who are blind and visually impaired have rarely seen a group of people more open and willing to learn. There were many opportunities for interaction as all congress attendees walked and took mass transit to reach the event locations.
During my presentation, I took workshop participants on a virtual walk in which we ran across every troublesome street and signalized configuration that I could think of. I cannot begin to tell you how many people came to me exclaiming that they had never realized the challenges that we as people who are blind and visually impaired face on America’s streets. Without exception, each pedestrian advocate said with great feeling now that they had glimpsed the hostile environment of the streets and highways that we face every day of our lives as American pedestrians that they were committed to learning more and to including our access requirements in their future local initiatives. Not even one of the many advocates who sought me out expressed concern that inclusion of our issues might negatively impact work on their own projects.
John Z. Wetmore, host of the cable TV show “Perils for Pedestrians,” asked to use the video of my presentation and of course I happily consented. I also had the opportunity to speak with Mark Fenton, who will be hosting a pedestrian show on public TV, and I truly believe that ACB now has a valued ally in him as well.
One of the most exciting occurrences was an opportunity to speak with Dan Burden, a pedestrian friendly design guru of international acclaim. After Gene Lozano and I had an opportunity to spend a bit of time with him, he promised to have an ongoing dialogue with us in order to learn more about our issues to ensure that his plan for America is truly a plan for all of her citizens. Burden’s pedestrian and bicycle design, where implemented, is already weaving the magic, one street at a time, of turning impersonal towns and cities into beautiful, friendly villages where people are free and safe to live and move and congregate and where the plan to get from point A to point B is predicated, not on the need to move automobile traffic, but rather on making the experience itself one that promotes human interaction, safety, good health in an environment of beauty and universal access.
If we can catch the vision of the goals and dreams of America Walks, towns and cities all over this country and Canada will feel like home to us. Dan Burden’s designs include wide, clear, well-maintained sidewalks, separate wide, safe bicycle paths and fewer driving lanes which, while meeting the requirements of drivers, will necessitate their slowing down. His belief is that as towns become more walkable and automobiles are slowed, more people will decide to walk. His design places business and merchant entities within a quarter mile of home. As folks begin to spend more time out of doors in the village setting, they will become healthier and more congenial and community-oriented. As this takes place, towns and cities will become friendlier as we spend less time isolated in our air-conditioned cars and homes and more time on sidewalks and on our front porches. Mass transit will be reliable and move frequently in order to enable us to travel distances too great for walking. A “Share A Car” plan will allow folks to have access to a car when it is really needed while freeing up funds which were formerly allocated to purchasing, insuring, fueling and maintaining personal automobiles.
Although much of what this group espouses borders on the Utopian, all of their goals are achievable now. Many of the local groups who made presentations at the conference are already doing amazing things regarding street design and walk to school programs and other walking ventures in their cities and towns.
Ellen Vanderslice, America Walks President, stated, “I’m very pleased with the success of the first National Congress of Pedestrian Advocates. The principal goals that America Walks set for the congress were to spark new pedestrian advocacy groups and strengthen existing ones, and we feel we really met those goals. We also hoped to build our strength as a mainstream movement by reaching out to new constituencies and including a diversity of interests. I think we had some success there, as well. Finally, the planning of the congress was an exercise that helped develop the leadership within America Walks itself. But, in the end, what really made the congress work was the energy and enthusiasm that all who came brought to the gathering. Now our challenge is to take our success, build on it, and really get to work making things better for pedestrians across the country.”
If you’ve been longing for something to do to assist ACB, I encourage you to find out if your town has a pedestrian and bicycle group and join it and become involved. I found that if one shows a willingness to learn and to work in coalition with others, these pedestrian advocates are more than eager to reciprocate. If you don’t have a group in your area, find out the most efficient way to advertise a start-up meeting for anyone who shares your interest in pedestrian and bicycle issues. These advocates for pedestrian rights and safe communities are our friends, and our issues have, for the most part, a friendly fertile place to grow in their world. If during your work with a group you should run into difficulty, there are people in ACB and America Walks ready and willing to assist you.
I believe that while ACB continues to work with the Access Board and to involve itself in other national initiatives, local efforts will bear more fruit than we can ever imagine.
Catch the vision, make the dream a reality!
How to Contact America Walks
Write to America Walks, P.O. Box 29103, Portland, OR 97296-9103; call (503) 222-1077, or fax (503) 228-0289.