With local elections underway, and school back in session, Bike Westport is reaching out to candidates and voters.
This is, the non-profit says, “a unique moment to make a real impact for Westport residents.”
Bike Westport has met with the 3 candidates for 1st selectman — Kevin Christie, Don O’Day and David Rosenwaks. All have signed the organization’s “Pledge for a Walkable & Bikeable Westport.”
The pledge says:
WHEREAS, a walkable and bikeable Westport is essential to our community’s health, safety, economy, and quality of life, and makes our town an even more vibrant and desirable place to grow up, raise a family, work, or live as a senior, supporting residents of all ages and abilities.
I hereby pledge my support for a vision of Westport that:
CONNECTS NEIGHBORHOODS AND DESTINATIONS, including schools, parks, beaches, the Westport Library, the Farmers’ Market, Levitt Pavilion, Westport Weston Family YMCA, Westport Senior Center, Longshore Club Park, downtown, and the train station, making it safe and easy for people to walk or bike throughout our community;
ADVANCES SAFETY FOR ALL, by supporting safer street design, connected pedestrian and bicycle networks, and promoting a culture of safe biking;
HELPS REDUCE TRAFFIC CONGESTION, by offering safe, practical alternatives to car travel for everyday trips to schools, the train station, Compo Beach, and downtown;
EMPOWERS INDEPENDENCE, enabling children, seniors, and everyday walkers and bike riders to move around town freely, confidently, and safely;
PROMOTES PUBLIC HEALTH AND FITNESS, by encouraging active transportation and outdoor lifestyles for residents of all ages and abilities;
Bike Westport co-founder Markus Marty rides with his kids.
SUPPORTS A THRIVING LOCAL ECONOMY, by making it easier for people to visit local shops, restaurants, events, and markets without needing to drive or park;
STRENGTHENS COMMUNITY PRIDE AND CONNECTION, by creating public spaces and roads that bring people together and celebrate Westport as a vibrant, welcoming, forward-looking town;
FOSTERS A CULTURE OF WALKING AND BIKING, through community events, education, and partnerships that encourage residents to embrace active transportation as part of daily life.
Bike Westport wants to make Westport more walkable too. (Photo/Tom Cook)
Bike Westport says that as residents assess candidates this fall, the pledge offers “a clear, community-driven framework for what Westport needs: safer, connected walking and biking routes that benefit families, seniors and the environment.”
They call this “a non-partisan issue that speaks to street safety, congestion, public health and civic pride — right when candidate platforms are being shaped.”
Bike Westport’s Jenna Petok and Markus Marty were at Saturday’s Slice of Saugatuck, with their kids. They spoke with hundreds of people, strolling throughout the neighborhood.
Bike Westport hopes that candidates for all local offices — including the Representative Town Meeting — will sign the pledge too.
One of those RTM candidates is Jenna Petok — Bike Westport’s director of strategy and community engagement.
She said that her involvement with that organization — along with her work on the Downtown Plan Implementation Committee, and her neighborhood engagement background — inspired her to run.
To sign the pledge, and for more information, click here.
GREAT IDEA WHOSE TIME HAS COME !!!!!
Rumor that Kevin Christie will recuse himself from the election. Is this true?
I am excited to support making Westport more walkable and bikeable. My young daughters are both aspiring bicyclists, and I hope to safely ride to Compo Beach, to downtown, or to the train with them, and for someday in the future for them to make those trips on their own.
We are lucky to live in a part of town with great new sidewalks and a lot of wonderful places to walk. I hope this effort will make more of Westport available to my children and their friends and their friends’ families.
Do the Bike Westport folks -or anyone else – have a plan or a know a place to recycle bikes? I am appaled by the perfectly good bikes, which many kids would love to have, are dropped off at the dump every day. Any ideas? There used to be a place on the Post Road but it seems to be closed.
I have long suggested that the road dividing line in the middle of our roads be located somewhat away from the middle to allow one side of the roadway to have a wider section available for cycling. I know the width of the biking area is important and also that very few of our bike routes meet the official width standard to be called a “bike” lane. No one in Town has ever responded to my suggestion for consideration.
Making Westport more bikeable is a great idea, but speed limits on Hillspoint Road, especially South if 95, need to be enforced. At present, there is zero enforcement in that area, where walkers and bikers abound.