Alt-Transiteers Map Attack On ​“Anarchy”

More people biking in protected lanes, paying tolls, surviving crosswalks — and running, for office.

Advocates promoted that vision for safer streets and, with the running suggestion, how to realize it, at a strategy session Monday night.

The occasion was the latest edition of Transportation on Tap, a semi-regular conversation series organized by the local alternative transportation advocacy group GoNewHavenGo.

The series, started in 2015, connects transportation experts with community members every few months to talk about how to achieve improved pedestrian, cyclist and public transit infrastructure and access throughout the city.

Monday night’s conversation, which took place in the back room at BAR on Crown Street, focused on civic engagement and political processes.

That is: Which policy proposals would encourage a safe, sustainable transportation system in New Haven? Which local and state laws are currently standing in the way of that vision? And how can regular citizens best pressure lawmakers to respond to their transportation-related concerns?

Amidst trays of sausage pizza and half-emptied pitchers of beer, around 30 attendees spread throughout the room to discuss three topics: stop (not yield) pedestrian crosswalk legislation, improved bike infrastructure in New Haven, and automated red light cameras.

“Streets Are Anarchy”

Brianne Mullen from Yale’s Office of Sustainability led the breakout group on crosswalks.

A fact sheet she passed around about the state’s current crosswalk laws indicated that vehicles must yield the right-of-way when a pedestrian has stepped ​“off the curb or into the crosswalk” (CGS § 14 – 300(c)).

Mullen explained that, from 1994 to 2007, state law required vehicles to grant the right-of-way to pedestrians even before they had entered the crosswalk, once they had stepped to an adjacent curb.

But the legislature changed that rule in 2007, meaning that now pedestrians are protected only once they have already stepped off of the curb and into the crosswalk.

“And even then, cars only have to yield,” Mullen said, ​“and not necessarily stop.”

She asked attendees about their experiences at pedestrian crosswalks in New Haven, and if they feel safe crossing city streets.

“The streets of New Haven are anarchy, and are just waiting for people to be killed,” replied Martin Simon, who grew up in Westville and now lives downtown on Chapel Street.

He said that he felt much safer crossing the street as a teenager several decades ago. Now, he said, the streets are more congested, and drivers simply do not respect the rights or safety of most pedestrians.

The members of Mullen’s group suggested curb extensions, flashing lights at crosswalks (like those at the intersection of Temple and Wall Streets), elevated crosswalks, stricter enforcement, more frequent driver’s tests for license renewal, and public service announcements about pedestrian laws as potential policy solutions for forging a safer walking culture in the city.

Mullen’s handout also identified two proposed Connecticut General Assembly bills that were co-sponsored by Hamden State Rep. Joshua Elliott in 2017, H.B. No. 5390 and H.B. No. 6274, which would require drivers to grant the right-of-way to pedestrians ​“who step to the curb rather than require pedestrians to step off of the curb.”

In the middle of the room, Elm City Cycling advocate Rob Rocke and WEB (Whalley-Edgewood-Beaver Hills) Community Management Team chair Nadine Horton led a session on how best to improve biking infrastructure in the city.

Rocke and Horton said that their group advocated for bike lanes on Whalley Avenue, more connectedness across existing bike lanes in the city, and more protected bike lanes that are completely separated from roads with vehicle traffic.

“The fact of the matter is that some people will never be comfortable biking unless if they’re in separated bike infrastructure, like the Farmington Canal trail,” Rocke said. Horton also noted that the more that the city’s existing bike lanes and trails are connected, the more that ridership will increase.

15 Years To ​“Nowhere”

At the far end of the room, city transportation staffer Ray Willis led a discussion about automated red light cameras.

He passed around a slideshow presentation from 2009 that the Connecticut Livable Streets Campaign had put together to advocate for a law that would enable cities and towns throughout the state to implement red light cameras at select intersections at their own discretion. Willis said that these cameras would deter red light violations, prevent unnecessary accidents and improve safety for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

“It’s taken us 15 years to get absolutely nowhere on red light cameras,” said city deputy traffic director Michael Pinto, referring to the state legislature’s reluctance to even vote on the issue.

“Red light cameras are just not sexy,” Willis agreed. He said that lawmakers have been susceptible to an Orwellian fantasy that the state will use red light cameras to spy on citizens than to the practical reality that these cameras would reduce unnecessary collisions, injuries and fatalities.

Willis and his group also spoke about how many in the business and technology sectors are anticipating fully automated, driverless cars to become widely adopted in the next 15 years. With driverless cars on the road, is there really any need for red light cameras?

Willis suggested that this new technology may soon render red light cameras redundant anyway, and perhaps transportation advocates should focus instead on policy proposals that would ensure pedestrian safety in the world of driverless vehicles.

Solution: Run — For Office

For the first half of the event, city transit chief Doug Hausladen, Hamden State Rep. Joshua Elliott, former Hartford State Rep. Dave McCluskey and Common Cause CT executive director Cheri Quickmire spoke to those present about the channels that citizens must go through in order to influence the direction of transportation legislation.

McCluskey and Quickmire stressed that people need to organize broadly and get to know their legislators personally if they want to enact any kind of meaningful change.

“It’s important to get to know the folks [in office],” Quickmire said. ​“And get to know what the committee schedules are, get to know what the bills are that you all want to address, and what the committee deadlines are.” She urged everyone present to reach out directly to the members of the General Assembly’s Transportation Committee, and to do so en masse and in person. She warned that sending a lone email to a politician you’ve never meet will accomplish absolutely nothing.

Elliott, a first-term progressive Democrat from Hamden, told the group that he feels stymied by the sway that conservative-leaning Democrats have in a General Assembly that is split 79 – 72 in the Democrats’ favor in the House (and tied in the Senate).

He said that the only way for progressive Democrats to get votes on issues like tolls, medical marijuana, paid medical leave and a $15 minimum wage is by running more like-minded candidates in 2018.

“With only 79 Dems, we’re not going to get a single vote from Republicans,” he said. ​“They want us to fail, because if we fail, they look good. They can say: look, they’re not governing, and then they have a shot at the next election cycle.”

“The best thing that you can do is find somebody that you know and run them [for office],” he continued. ​“It’s all numbers. The die is cast at election cycle and then you have two years to figure out what’s possible in that framework. We need better numbers and more progressive Dems. Run one race, and run it well.”