Safe Streets 'Champions' Announced

Smart Growth America and the National Complete Streets Coalition have announced 21 participants for the new Active People, Healthy Nation℠ Champions Institute, a new initiative to prepare a hand-picked group of elected officials to advocate for an support safer safe and complete streets.

The inaugural class "will receive comprehensive training to help them become champions in their communities to promote activity-friendly routes to everyday destinations" over the course of six months, according to Smart Growth America.

Here is the list of the firstActive People, Healthy Nation℠ Champions:

• Mayor Jerry Martin — Mayor,  Alma, Arkansas
• Mayor Frank Scott, Jr. — Little Rock, Arkansas
• Councilmember Andy Thomson — Boca Raton, Florida
• Councilmember Brandi Gabbard — St. Petersburg, Florida
• Councilmember Carol Myers — Athens, Georgia
• Mayor Allen Haywood — Sparta, Georgia
• Councilmember Nick Palumbo — Savannah, Georgia
• Councilmember Elaine Clegg — Boise, Idaho
• Mayor Gordon W. Petrie — Emmett, Idaho
• Commissioner Tom Burroughs — Wyandotte County, Kansas (Kansas City)
• Councilmember Cassie Armstrong —Louisville, Kentucky
• Councilmember Maggie Duwe — Kirkwood, Missouri
• Mayor Robyn Tannehill — Oxford, Mississippi
• Councilmember Denise Joy — Billings, Montana
• Councilmember Mirtha Becerra — Missoula, Montana
• Councilmember Alexandra Jacobs Wilke — Potsdam, New York
• Councilmember Mitch Gruber — Rochester, New York
• Councilmember Sam Melden — Toledo, Ohio
• Councilmember Allison Terracio – Richland County, South Carolina
• Councilmember Sallie Alcorn — Houston, Texas
• Mayor Steve Williams — Huntington, West Virginia

The article that announces the participants includes more on the benefits of complete streets at a time when fatality rates have spiked even as fewer people stay off the roads during a pandemic. Complete streets address multiple crises at once, according to the article:

Safer streets that anyone can use provide more space for socially distanced and affordable transportation options during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. They can help us reduce emissions and fight climate change by making it possible for more people to walk, bike, or take transit. They can save thousands of lives each year by reducing the growing number of people who are struck and killed while walking on dangerous roads. And they can help us create more equitable public spaces by ensuring that people of all ages and abilities can access our streets.