Streets For All: A political action model for cities everywhere (Measure HLA)

Рет қаралды 1,256

2 ай бұрын

In this episode, I connect with the founder of Streets For All, Michael Schneider. We discuss the recent huge win, Measure HLA, in the March 2024 Los Angeles elections and how other cities learn from the Streets For All experience and start getting major political wins in their communities, whether large or small.
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Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
- Streets For All: www.streetsforall.org/
- Streets For All Channel: / streetsforall
- Streets For All Merch: www.streetsforall.org/merch
- Where it all started Tweet: / 1776085072573235600
- HLA Campaign website: yesonhla.com/
- The Impatient Driver: • The Impatient Driver
- Driving Mr. Begley: • Driving Mr. Begley - n...
- Ethan Tufts / Hello Road Channel: ‪@HelloRoad‬
- My interview with Ethan: • Why is Ethan Tufts now...
- My Austin Dutch-inspired playlist: bit.ly/AustinDutchBikePlaylist
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3. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store: bit.ly/ActiveTownsStore
Credits: Video and audio production by John Simmerman
Music via Epidemic Sound: bit.ly/3rFLErD
Resources used during the production of this video:
- My recording platform is Ecamm Live: bit.ly/3rwsUup
- Editing software Adobe Creative Cloud Suite: bit.ly/35DBDDU
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Background:
Hi Everyone! My name is John Simmerman, and I’m a health promotion and public health professional with over 30 years of experience. Over the years, my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization in how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.
Since 2010, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be while striving to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."
The Active Towns Channel features my original video content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.
Thanks once again for tuning in! I hope you find this content helpful and insightful.
Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2024

Пікірлер: 35

@JonFairhurst 2 ай бұрын

I grew up in the San Gabriel Valley in the 60s and 70s. Riding a bike was normal and expected - until you turn sixteen. Fortunately, I lived in a grid city, so we could always minimize riding near fast cars. There was a park that we would cut through, reducing the ride by a mile or so and keeping us away from the stroads. Now, the park has signs prohibiting bikes. It’s time for us to build the infrastructure that enables mobility for everyone, lets kids be kids, and let’s adults continue to enjoy life the way we did as kids.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

Agreed! My extended family was in Glendora, and my mom remembers being able to walk or ride her back to school, visit friends, and shop downtown. Some streets did have sidewalks, and she said it felt safe to walk and ride her bike. Decades later, after I launched Active Towns, we walked these same streets together and noted that it still feels safe, many destinations are within distances, and the only real challenge was crossing the handful of STROADs that have emerged. In Season 8, I'll have an episode all about "let kids be kids." Thanks for watching and for your contributions to the conversation. Cheers! John

@JonFairhurst 2 ай бұрын

@@ActiveTowns From Covina, we would often ride to Glendora, and if we wanted an adventure, we’d ride up Glendora Mountain Road. We knew all of the backstreets and byways to minimize riding in traffic, but also, I don’t think there was as much road rage or bike hatred back then. Drivers thought it was normal for young people to be on bikes. How else would they get around? Helicopter parent chauffeurs weren’t a thing back then.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

Yep, I’d agree. Btw I also used explore GMR, even did a couple time on the Brompton just for the challenge and to the surprise of the roadies hammering up. 🤣

@knarf_on_a_bike 2 ай бұрын

Safe streets for everyone. What a concept! HLA is amazing.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

Indeed! So glad you enjoyed it.Thanks so much for tuning in and for your awesome support. I really do appreciate it. Cheers! John

@Dutchreason 2 ай бұрын

I remember my dad telling me about L.A. after he went there for a trip for work in the late 80's or early 90's (he visited the East-Coast dozens of times and even proposed moving our family there in the very early 80's after an offer from IBM that would have quadrupled his salary). My dad was a train enthousiast and took the bus to the head-office of Philips in Eindhoven every day. We did not own a car since before my birth (due to the early-70's oil crisis combined with environmental awareness). After my dad's visit to L.A. he lost all interest in moving our family to the U.S. I can't tell you about the good and the bad of the U.S. in general from a Dutch perspective in the 70's/80's. I just have memories of stories. My dad passed away in 1999. So I can't ask him. My mom passed away about 10 years ago, so I can't ask her about those early 80's fights between them about us moving to the U.S. But I do remember her telling me that she insisted on me having finished school before the move. I guess stuff changed economically - it was 1987 by then - but I distinctly remember my dad's West-Coast visit being the end of the "shall me move or shan't we" discussion.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

Fascinating personal account. In 1987 I was in my junior at the University of Southern California (USC) there in LA. We had a joke back then that when people from cold climates who visited Southern Cal in the wintertime and caught LA and its beach communities on a cool, clear, crisp sunny day with snow on the distant mountaintops would be tricked into looking past the insanity on the roads and be mesmerized by the inherent beauty. Perhaps your father did not visit on just such a magical day. 😉 Thanks so much for watching and sharing your story. Cheers! John

@markcramer14 2 ай бұрын

Congratulations on HLA. When a combattive single father of 2 kids, I once lived in LA for an entire year in WITHOUT A CAR (pre-Metro days). Only a former New Yorker would do such a thing. I even got a ticket for jaywalking. The already grim traffic death statistics do not take into account the thousands who emerge from fenderbenders with long-term neurological issues caused by whiplash. Good luck to Streets For All in the fight against the structural obscenties of Los Angeles, where my family is subjected to the dictatorship of the automobile. Love your culture change initiative.

@crowmob-yo6ry 2 ай бұрын

I blame the evil John Phillips of 790 KABC.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

Thanks for tuning in, Mark! I'll see you soon in Paris. Cheers! John

@toddjohnson6809 2 ай бұрын

I like your ideas. I'm a conservative. Would like to see more biking and walking infrastructure everywhere. Where I live, the route I walk lacks sidewalks, so I'll walk in the road with traffic. As well as bike. I'm still trying to get in condition to bike the 30 miles across the Phoenix valley for commuting. There I'll have about 90% paths to use to get across the valley. An Urban Arrow would be great to have for the commute.

@JonFairhurst 2 ай бұрын

Historically, conservatives would oppose spending money in order to keep taxes low. The exception was spending for military, police, and security. Liberals would want more public works at the cost of higher taxes. In small towns of yesteryear, the biggest fights of the year might be over a stretch of sidewalk or a park. Now, it can be more about identity than policy. Hopefully, we can make safer streets and mobility options popular across the political spectrum.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

@toddjohnson6809, Thanks so much for watching and for your comment. Yeah, the true fiscal conservancy chops of having an environment that is inherently walkable and bikeable are impressive, as is the ROI of an investment in a cargo bike like the Urban Arrow, when you use it to replace those "short" motor vehicle trips. Since we both live in areas without walking and cycling infrastructure in place, a fiscally conservative approach, depending on the street width, might be to implement low-cost traffic calming measures that make the experience safer and more inviting for everyone. Cheers! John

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

@JonFairhurst, Yes. My position is that safer streets and mobility options for all ages and abilities are good for all people, regardless of political party affiliations or lack thereof. Thanks so much for tuning in. Cheers! John

@toddjohnson6809 2 ай бұрын

@ActiveTowns My area can definitely use traffic calming. My route that I walk has a posted speed limit of 35mph. People are doing 45+. Some will go through our new roundabout, doing 35mph as if it's an obstacle course challenge. I would like to see a city wide 30mph enforced speed limit on most of our streets. Doubt either will happen, unfortunately. Just an FYI, I'm a otr trucker, and I carry a folding bike in my truck.

@toddjohnson6809 2 ай бұрын

@JonFairhurst I don't mind the taxes if the money is used for what it is meant for. It's when it is misapropriated for bs use that I object to the tax. I wouldn't mind a reasonable fee or added tax to my car registration and fuel to go to, specifically funding biking and walking infrastructure with maybe a federal government funding match. Maybe this has already been implemented. I'm just not aware of it.

@bcase5328 Ай бұрын

55:00 I like the cargo bike. It looks useful.

@ActiveTowns Ай бұрын

Yeah, I love these cargo bikes! Thanks so much for watching. Cheers! John

@JustClaude13 2 ай бұрын

The female lead in the book I'm working on now rides vintage Schwinns. A 5-speed Collegiate for around town and a 15-speed LeTour Luxe for road trips. Researching possible bikes was a lot of fun. Schwinn used to have some incredible bikes. My sister lives on one of those excessively narrow streets. Traffic is very quiet in her neighborhood. She can ride her bike everywhere.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

Sweet! 😀

@crowmob-yo6ry 2 ай бұрын

IN YOUR FACE, JOHN PHILLIPS!!!!! XD So happy for LA! You won big! I bet the evil John Phillips of 790 KABC is in tears!😆

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

😀

@Chris-hl3yn 2 ай бұрын

Lately, I have seen a lot of videos about city planning (Not Just Bikes, for example). One thing I think doesn't get explained or emphasized enough is that making cities less car-friendly by reducing the lanes, investing in good public transportation, and making biking and walking safe and viable for quick trips to a grocery store, for example, enhances the driving experience. You take a LOT of people off the road who don't want to be there but have to be. So driving becomes much more pleasurable. Add better street design on top of that by implementing roundabouts and thus removing stoplights, and you can actually drive instead of stop and wait every 20 seconds. Secondly, saying a city is too big to implement the above is just wrong. The majority of people don't have to commute from one side to the other daily. Most trips are just a few miles, especially for grocery shopping and such things. Mixed zoning can add to that, ensuring that people can get the majority of their daily needs close by, which lowers cars on the road even further. So, if you are the person who likes to drive everywhere by car, you're BETTER off. I might be wrong, but I think this is a common misconception when the roads in the Netherlands, where I am from, are shown. Smaller roads can move a lot of cars much more safely, but you need to rethink junctions. You'll want traffic to be able to keep flowing as much as possible, also by lowering speed limits in certain areas. I'll take continuously driving 30 mph through a busy area over 60 mph and sitting at traffic lights every 30 seconds any time.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

Yep. You are spot on. I say this all the time here on the Active Towns Channel. Thanks so much for tuning in and contributing to the conversation. Cheers! John

@crowmob-yo6ry Ай бұрын

NJB sucks, he's too angry and hateful. RMTransit, City Beautiful, Oh the Urbanity!, and Alan Fisher are way better.

@nunyabidness3075 2 ай бұрын

Was it being privately owned really the problem for the LA Trolley? As I understand it, in NYC the government used price controls to bankrupt the subway, then took it over and raised the prices. The LA Trolleys failed financially because they were unpopular and more expensive than buses. One reason they were unpopular was they did not have any right of way. They were stuck in traffic. Is there any reason the city could not have given trolleys right of way simply because they were privately owned? I doubt it, but perhaps. In most major cities, it’s illegal or virtually illegal to operate a private bus or jitney cab. The whole idea that mass transit has to be government controlled is some kind of urban myth IMO. It’s a political choice.

@ActiveTowns 2 ай бұрын

Yeah, the downfall of the Los Angeles streetcar line network (and those in place in most cities across the continent) was definitely multi-factorial. At the time, the feeling was that modernity would prioritize cars, with a few buses thrown in for those who couldn't afford a car or couldn't drive themselves for some reason. In the end, we learned that there is a major spatial problem with everyone driving everywhere all the time. Thanks so much for watching and for contributing to the conversation. Cheers! John

@miguelnajerarubio1434 Ай бұрын

Gordon Ramsey just got in an bike accident i wonder if he knows anything about this

@ActiveTowns Ай бұрын

He crashed while riding his bike? Or was he hit while riding his bike? Was this in LA? Just curious on the reference, as I just had lunch one his London restaurants.

@miguelnajerarubio1434 Ай бұрын

@@ActiveTowns I heard it was in Connecticut, he just said it was an accident, and to make sure you wear your helmet, he said if he wasn’t wearing his helmet would not be alive right now, not in LA but maybe the built environment is the same.