Pennsylvanians debate whether bike boulevards like this should be a priority. Image courtesy of Paul Bender.

Red light cameras are a hot topic in Connecticut this week as well as New York. Members of the CT Livable Streets Campaign
are working to gain ACLU support for a bill that will bring badly needed red light cameras to New Haven. Kirsten Bechtel explains why she, as a driver, wants the cameras:

If you go the speed limit here, you will be tailgated, honked at, cursed at, and passed illegally several times a week,
if not per day. If you slow to a stop with a yellow light turning to
red, same thing. Here, a red light is a "New Haven Green."

The ACLU initially opposed the measure, but they’re now in talks with Livable Streets member Erin Sturgis Pascale, who serves on New Haven’s Board of Aldermen. She’s optimistic about gaining the group’s support:

I
believe that we are capable of crafting a nuanced bill that that can
work to protect citizens from both invasions of privacy and violent
acts resulting from irresponsible driving, without simply precluding
the use of red light cameras altogether.

Meanwhile, members of PA Walks and Bikes are debating whether bike boulevards of the type that just won approval in Santa Rosa, CA would work in Pennsylvania as well.

From their discussion forum, we learn that Santa Rosa’s city council unanimously approved "the county’s first
bike boulevard where cyclists and motorists will share the road equally." Many members want to lobby for similar boulevards in Pennsylvania. But others, like richardm — who comes from the community of Ephrata, where Old Order
Mennonites depend on bicycles for transportation — believe funding for continuous road shoulders and sidewalks for roads without them should be a higher priority. 

Take a peek at the discussions going on in these groups to get a sense of how useful these public forums can be for building dialogue — within the Livable Streets Community and with people outside it.

We also welcome this week: New groups for Traffic Professionals, Annapolis, MD and Tacoma, WA.