When I ran for City Council, increasing the infrastructure
for bicycles and pedestrians was one of my priorities. I have biked many
neighborhoods in this city—as a teen riding through Scenic Heights to piano
lessons, as a young mom biking my daughter to school in East Hill, as a
councilwoman biking to Woodland Heights to meet with constituents. I also have
walked all over, including knocking on doors on every street in the city.
Progressive cities throughout this country provide
transportation alternatives for residents. And the kinds of workers we hope to
attract look for alternatives. Residents and visitors alike benefit. I have
researched many systems and believe that, by incorporating complete streets into our transportation planning, we
can become a better community.
Last winter a group of citizens came to the council and
asked us to consider complete streets as one of several policies. I watched
happily as the council, almost to a person, voiced support. I had had
conversations with the mayor previously, and I knew he cared about this issue,
too. So I decided that it was time to act.
There were some glitches, but last council week the
administration finally brought us a resolution in support of complete streets. But the
council decided that that didn’t go far enough and created a
committee to come up with a complete streets network plan. We are gearing up
for our first meeting and hope that many citizens will show up to help us take
the first steps in this process.
So what do bikes have to do with the charter? While
multi-modal transportation is a passion of mine, good government is even more important. In our transition to the new charter, much energy has been
devoted to defining the role of the mayor. But often overlooked is the change
in the role of the council. The council is the “governing body of the City with
all legislative powers of the City vested therein,” often interpreted as the
policy making body.
What the Council has yet to tackle is how it sets policy. So
far, most of our actions have been approval, modification, or rejection of
recommendations from the mayor. If the council is going to carry out its
responsibilities under this new charter, it must have a process by which it
creates policy.
Our new government is like the Congress and President or the
State Legislature and Governor. The Congress/Legislature sets policy by holding
hearings (usually in committee) and researching an issue. Then the body will
vote to approve the new policy, usually a resolution or law/ ordinance, and send it to the President/Governor for approval and execution. This
structure can inform the council on how to carry out its role as well.
I am glad that we are using Complete Streets as the test
case for the council to create a system for setting policy independent from the
administration (though with their assistance, much like a Secretary of State
would testify before Congress). There is consent among the council to support
the idea, the mayor seems supportive, and many citizens are excited by the idea
as well. I hope everyone will work together to make this a successful effort.
Please plan on participating in the Complete Streets
Committee process so we can set the most informed policy for this city. And so
that it can be a model for how the council can work with the citizens to carry
out its role under this new charter. Look for an announcement of the first committee meeting soon.
