So, for anyone who hasn't guessed, Leigh Ann is Collingswood Street's fairy godmother!  Every time I think I have to start something from scratch, I find out the VTC has a wonderful support system in place to help.    This was my thinking on the school board, (and you all can tell me if this makes sense or not): We need a small core of people from this group willing to actively work on a Safe Routes to School Campaign, starting now.  I figure if planning starts now the campaign could be started next spring.  But before we go to the school board, I would like to see us talk to the parents at the schools and really get their support.  From what I've been told, the school board does not change their ways unless they find their re-election may be in jeopardy. That means we need parents in numbers.  To that end, after a couple of initial SRTS committee meetings, we should go to the schools at pickup time and talk to parents, and see if they will sign a petition and give us their emails/ phone numbers for future contact.   I think SRTS and getting the bike ban overturned is our first step in the schools, and after that we can introduce the idea of BIKESCHOOL.  In the meantime, I think John's idea of bike classes in the Knight Park sounds good, and is a way we can begin to reach out to the community in a positive manner.    What do you think about this tentative plan-of-action?   Stella --- On Thu, 7/23/09, Leigh Ann Von Hagen <lavh@rci.rutgers.edu> wrote: From: Leigh Ann Von Hagen <lavh@rci.rutgers.edu> Subject: [Collingswood Streets discussion] Traffic in Knight Park & Schools To: collingswood-streets-discussion@lists.livablestreets.com Date: Thursday, July 23, 2009, 8:13 AM Hi Collingswood folks, I've been trying to keep up with your discussion lately. You've made a lot of great points that coincide with some of the research we are conducting. 1. Banning bicycling to school is way too common throughout our state. We are in the planning stages of conducting a statewide survey to find out how often bicycling is banned. We are also developing a model policy for walking and bicycling to school. It is true that teenage driving is significantly more dangerous than students bicycling when you look at crash statistics. Yet, no schools considers banning teenage drivers. Schools often use liability concerns to get out of taking account of walking and bicycling to school conditions. A good Safe Routes to School Travel Plan would help with liability issues. If anyone is interested in approaching the School Board to work on reversing the ban, please call me. We have had one success so far in working with an elementary school on reversing their ban on bicycling. We hope to add many more. Stella, let me know when your Safe Routes to School Committee is established. 2. We are also piloting a youth bicycle education program - NJ BIKESCHOOL this summer. I would be happy to speak with Tony or anyone else about bringing our program to Collingswood. We are working on models in which the program could be run as part of PE classes, after school programs and/or summer camps. See http://policy.rutgers.edu/vtc/srts/education.php Safety on wheels Burlington County Times • Monday, July 13, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/mov3yo Tony, since you are an LCI, we may have future funds to hire you to teach it. Let's talk. Good luck with your efforts. You are doing great stuff. Leigh Ann -- Leigh Ann Von Hagen, AICP/PP Senior Research Specialist Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey 33 Livingston Avenue, Suite 500 New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Phone: 732-932-6812, Ext. 613 Fax: 732-932-3714 League Certified Instructor for Bicycle Education (LCI# 2124) Visit the New Jersey Bicycle and Pedestrian Resource Center web site at www.njbikeped.org s bonaparte wrote: > I'm glad everyone is passionate about these issues. A lot of good points have been raised.  1)Joan, since we have several people in this group interested in doing something about the parking and the speeding in Knight Park, should we all just call you individually, or should we do something more formal, like a written statement that everybody can sign?  2)To clarify, it is just the elementary schools that don't allow biking.  3)These are just the type of thing I would like us all to tackle as a group.  We should absolutely have bike education for kids and adults, as well as education for drivers to understand how to drive safely around bikes and pedestrians.  Maybe Tony and Dave and anyone else who is interested can begin to put together a program of classes or workshops.  The library and the community center are good places to start.  If you are interested in taking action in this way, please email me so we can get started. >  We should also begin to craft a Safe Routes to School Campaign, so anyone interested in that should also contact me.  See my blog about "projects and goals" for more things to work on. >  Each of these issues can be tackled by a small working group of 3-5 people.  We can also have larger meetings with everybody to report our progress and share ideas. >  Everybody interested, get in touch with me so I can meet with you and we can start taking this to the next level. >  Thanks, >  Stella > > > > > >     --- > > > > > > > > > > -- > Archive: http://www.livablestreets.com/[…]/1248313113128 <http://www.livablestreets.com/projects/collingswood-streets/lists/collingswood-streets-discussion/archive/2009/07/1248313113128> > To unsubscribe send an email with subject "unsubscribe" to collingswood-streets-discussion@lists.livablestreets.com <mailto:collingswood-streets-discussion@lists.livablestreets.com>. Please contact collingswood-streets-discussion-manager@lists.livablestreets.com <mailto:collingswood-streets-discussion-manager@lists.livablestreets.com> for questions. -- Archive: http://www.livablestreets.com/projects/collingswood-streets/lists/collingswood-streets-discussion/archive/2009/07/1248351225100 To unsubscribe send an email with subject "unsubscribe" to collingswood-streets-discussion@lists.livablestreets.com.  Please contact collingswood-streets-discussion-manager@lists.livablestreets.com for questions.

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