We Get Letters: Going Beyond the Pedestrian Transportation Action Plan

Pasadena Now:

I was fortunate to be named to the Pasadena Walks Advisory Committee that provided input into the Pedestrian Transportation Action Plan. Pasadena is a beautiful city, and it is important for us to provide opportunities to encourage walking and make walking as safe as possible.

The advisory committee was made up of a variety of people representing different city council districts and different constituent groups. It was an engaged group of people that I enjoyed meeting and working with.

Now that the final draft of the plan has been put forward, I would like to compliment the Department of Transportation and consultants who developed the plan and identified corridors and neighborhoods where there is a critical need for improvements to protect pedestrians. 

At the same time, I would like to mention several opportunities not included in the plan that should be addressed – either in this plan or in another form by the city.

• Need for more outreach and engagement to neighborhoods and businesses impacted by recommendations – before a project is approved.  As we have seen with the recent two-way cycle track on Union and the roundabout on North Hill, impacted residents are speaking out after the projects have been completed – when it is too late. On the Union project, residents have been raising concerns about parking reductions that negatively impact businesses like Vroman’s and safety concerns about the cycle track’s design. Residents on North Hill are reporting seeing fire trucks and other first responders having problems navigating the tight clearance.
• Need for more streetlights and concern about security in Pasadena. Many of the focus groups I attended mentioned that the lack of streetlights is a major hurdle that prevents people feeling safe to walk at night. Councilmember Felicia Williams is a lonely advocate on the city council who pushes for the use of funding available for “Safe Streets to School” to help place new streetlights in several areas. Where are the other councilmembers on this issue? The fact remains that too many of our neighborhood streets are dark at night. The city needs to make this a priority.
• When it comes to walking, biking, running and playing, the Rose Bowl area is the primary place people go to enjoy these activities. And yet, the Pasadena Walks Project totally ignores this important corridor. Even though this area is where many accidents happen, there were no outreach to people walking at the Rose Bowl and the final draft totally ignores this corridor. We need to stop speeding cars, make it safer to cross streets in the area and better separate pedestrians from bicyclists in the ring path around the Rose Bowl. 
• Sidewalks are mentioned as an important component of walking in Pasadena, but the fact is many sidewalks are in bad shape. Residents have to proactively take photos and send it in to be evaluated in a process that is little known by the average resident. There is no proactive program in the city that I am aware of to fix dangerous and broken sidewalks proactively without resident reporting. Green Street is a good example of a dangerous corridor with many uprooted sidewalks.

I hope the city council will continue to be open to addressing these issues – either in the walking plan or in other ways.

Ken Perry
Keep Pasadena Moving
East Pasadena 91104