Tell Council that you want them to support a 2016 budget options for a full-time Active Transportation Coordinator at the City! email Council, call your Councillor, come to the budget option voting meeting at Tom Davies Square on February 2! The meeting starts at 4 pm, but the budget options are last on the Agenda.

Our submission about the options:

To all members of City Council:

Next week you will vote on a number of Active Transportation budget options that have been proposed by City of Greater Sudbury staff, including the position of an Active Transportation Coordinator and additional dollars for Rainbow Routes to continue their invaluable work in developing city trails. We urge you to vote for these recommendations.

Council has approved Quality of Life and Place as one of the City’s pillars in its coming Strategic Plan. Quality of Life and Place goals, objectives, and action plans will make our city attractive to employers and people who may be looking to establish themselves in our city. It will provide additional tourism opportunities and economic growth. It will provide opportunities for active lifestyles for our seniors, our children, and our adults. But these directions will require leadership in key positions who will make things happen. One of these key positions is an Active Transportation Coordinator.

Other Northern cities like Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, and North Bay have been working for a number years on infrastructure and strategies to decrease congestion and get people out of their cars. Last year, Thunder Bay received a Bicycle-Friendly award at the Ontario Bike Summit – the first Northern Ontario city to do so. Many other Ontario cities have received Bicycle-Friendly and Pedestrian-Friendly designations. Unfortunately, we are not one of them.

We need to start working this year on building additional safe cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. We need to get more people to use transit. We need to approve the policies and strategies that will make our city healthier and safer for residents who use all modes of transportation. We need to invest in Quality of Life and Place.

An Active Transportation Coordinator will be able to help move the Master Transportation Plan forward, will help develop the policies recommended in the MTP, will work on finalizing the Active Transportation Network, will help liaise between city departments, will help implement critical programs and strategies like Transportation Demand Management and Complete Streets, and will leverage partnerships with community groups and volunteers.

Sincerely,

Rachelle Niemela
Chair, Sudbury Cyclists Union

———————-

About the Sudbury Cyclists Union

The Sudbury Cyclists Union has been working for a number years to support active transportation and cycling in Greater Sudbury.

Our volunteers run community bike safety rodeos; our certified Can-Bike instructors teach cycling courses offered by Leisure Services; we offer free safe cycling workshops in primary schools; we provide free bike valet parking stations at community events and festivals; we help organize and run community events like Bike Fest, Commuter Challenge, Share the Road rides, and Kids Bike Exchanges. We sit on community panels including the Sustainable Mobility Advisory Panel, the Road Safety Committee, and the Healthy Kids Community Challenge PAC and Theme 1 Working Group. We participate in initiatives like the Greater Sudbury Community Safety & Well-being initiative. We partner with the City of Greater Sudbury, Greater Sudbury Police Services, the Sudbury & District Health Unit, EarthCare, the Social Planning Council, Community Action Networks, the Rainbow Routes Association, the Brain Injury Association, Crime Stoppers, reThink Green, the Coalition for a Liveable Sudbury, the Canadian Mental Health Association, Parachute Canada, local schools, other local cycling groups, and other community groups to promote safe cycling in Greater Sudbury.