A few weeks ago, one mayoral candidate came out with a Vision Zero commitment in Philadelphia, and advocates celebrated. But it's only gotten better from there.
Earlier this week, NewsWorks published a story comparing all seven candidates’ positions on Vision Zero. Amazingly, most of them clearly stated that they would sign on to a plan to reduce traffic deaths in Philadelphia. And tonight, those candidates will have another chance to focus on their plans for bike and pedestrian safety and mobility in a candidates’ forum sponsored by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.
“I support the Bicycle Coalition’s Vision Zero plan,” said candidate Doug Oliver, who says he “was probably their worst enemy going in [to the meeting with the Coalition] but I might be their best friend coming out.”
“I absolutely agree with Vision Zero’s mission statement that ‘no loss of life is acceptable,’” says candidate Lynne Abraham. “I will make it a priority under my administration to implement a Vision Zero policy in Philadelphia.”
Candidate Jim Kenney’s website represents his “Environment and Transportation” platform -- which has its own Vision Zero subsection -- with an icon of a bicycle.
Pretty impressive for a city that didn’t even have a Vision Zero campaign a few months ago.
How did the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia work this magic? With a $10,000 grant from Advocacy Advance -- a partnership between the Alliance and the League of American Bicyclists -- the Bicycle Coalition and its partners launched the Better Mobility Philadelphia campaign “to elevate Vision Zero and safer mobility as a campaign issue for the 2015 election in the City of Philadelphia.” As Coalition staff told me last fall when they were awarded the grant, they want to make Vision Zero the “signature issue” of the new mayor. Considering the massive airplay bike/ped safety is getting in this mayoral race, it looks like they stand a good chance of achieving their goal.
And last month, the Bicycle Coalition hired a new staff person, Bob Previdi, dedicated to working with candidates -- for mayor and for City Council -- and promoting the Better Mobility platform. Previdi used to work as a spokesperson for the former leader of City Council and has been a spokesperson at New York's transit system.
"The support the Alliance and People for Bikes provided this fall was crucial for us to do this work and make this hire," said BCGP Executive Director Alex Doty.
It’s all part of BCGP’s not-so-secret plan to triple bike mode share across the region while cutting the number of bicycle and pedestrian deaths and injuries by half.
That’s right -- by half. Though “zero deaths” still infuses the rhetoric, the Coalition’s Vision Zero platform plank doesn’t actually get down to zero deaths. But rhetoric isn’t all the Coalition is after: It wants the cash to make a difference. The Better Mobility campaign wants candidates to agree to increase funding and to create a dedicated funding source for the transportation infrastructure and programs needed to implement Vision Zero.
BCGP knows the power of working with candidates. When current Mayor Michael Nutter was a candidate, the Bicycle Coalition got him to commit to building buffered bike lanes. In 1996, the Coalition worked with then-mayoral candidate Ed Rendell to secure funding for the city’s first bike/pedestrian master plan. Both candidates kept their promises.
"Our job is to get the candidates to talk as much about these issues as we can so we have things to follow up on after election," said Doty.
Doty says they're primarily focusing on mayoral candidates, since it's the mayoral race, not the Council races, that elevate issues. Plus, there's not likely to be much shakeup on the Council, whereas a wide-open mayoral race only comes around once every eight years.
Still, Previdi is reaching out to Council incumbents and challengers, particularly in districts where the Coalition has strong programming or is advocating for infrastructure projects.
