Bicycle Advisory Committee & Transportation Commission Joint Meeting

Walkers and bicyclists - please come to this meeting and let your voice be heard as the city is trying to waterdown a policy that would vastly improve the livability, safety and economic stability of Walnut Creek. 

At this meeting, we will discuss the adoptation of a Complete Streets policy. This means that the needs of all users should be equally considered - pedestrians, cyclists, mass-transportation users, and drivers. It also considers all types of users - children, handicapped, seniors, and so on. The city needs to adopt this policy to be able to receive millions of dollars from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. 

However, reading through the draft policy, it seems that Walnut Creek is prefering to accept the status quo and change as little as possible to meet the Complete Streets policy. The city risks losing millions of dollars by not adopting a policy that is good enough. We citizens risk losing access to the improved facilities that could be built. Worse yet, we could get stuck with the City ignoring the needs of walkers and bicyclists if they can get their minimal policy accepted. 

The agenda is here: http://walnutcreek.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=12&event_id=212

Here is an example of how the city intends to minimize any advancements in pedestrian/bike friendly facilities:

The Complete Streets policy, point #7:

BPAC Consultation - Input shall be solicited from local bicycle and pedestrian advisory committees (BPACs) or similar advisory group in an early project development phase to verify bicycling and pedestrian needs for projects. (MTC Resolution 875 requires that cities of 10,000 or more create and maintain a BPAC or rely on the county BPAC to receive TDA-3 funds.)

The City's status-quo solution:

Transportation Commission Consultation. The Transportation Commission is the multimodal commission for the City. It is also the outreach board to communicate with all stakeholders to guide the design of all new public and private transportation projects. The engagement of the Transportation Commission early in the planning and design stage will provide an opportunity to provide comments and recommendations regarding Complete Streets features to be incorporated into projects. The Transportation Commission shall review the design principles used by staff to accommodate bicycle, pedestrian and transit modes of travel when reviewing and designing projects.

The city's solution is to dissolve the current BAC (Bicycle Advisory Committee) and have the Transportation Commission handle all consulation, in direct disregard for the Complete Streets requirement that the city have a BPAC or BAC.