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Call for nominations: Golden Shoe Awards
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To encourage a better balance between people and cars, 
PEDS honors outstanding projects, places and people who have contributed significantly toward making metro Atlanta safer, more accessible and enjoyable for pedestrians.
We need your help identifying potential award winners. Projects for consideration must be completed or almost completed during the past 12 months or be part of an ongoing program. The nomination form is available online. Nominations must be received in PEDS' office by Friday, September 23.
Awardees will be recognized at our 12th annual Golden Shoe Awards Celebration. The event date and location will be announced soon.
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September 13 Town Hall: Funding Sidewalk Maintenance
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Join us for a panel discussion on funding sidewalk repairs and ongoing maintenance. City of Atlanta Public Works Commissioner Richard Mendoza will make a presentation on the state of the City's sidewalk infrastructure -- and it ain't pretty!
Assistant Director for Transportation Planning Joshuah Mello and PEDS CEO Sally Flocks will join the Commissioner for a panel discussion on sidewalk maintenance issues. - Will the City finally fund sidewalk maintenance?
- Where will the funds come from?
- How long will it take to fix the backlog?
- How will the City prioritize repairs?
- What can you do to make it happen?
Find out - and show Atlanta officials that residents support using public funds to pay for sidewalk repairs. Tuesday, September 13 6:30 - 8:00 pm Auburn Avenue Research Library 4th Floor Auditorium 101 Auburn Avenue, NE Atlanta (view map) On Tuesday, August 30, Commissioner Mendoza will also make a presentation on the State of the City's Transportation Infrastructure to the City Council Utilities Committee. The meeting is at 10:00 am at City Hall Committee Room 2. |
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Keeping safe access to transit on the region's radar screen
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PEDS continues to focus on raising awareness of the urgency of creating safe crossings at bus stops located on high-speed multi-lane streets. Cobb County's conviction of Raquel Nelson for vehicular homicide after her four-year old son was killed as they attempted to cross from the bus stop to their home generated national outrage.  The public outrage and media attention may explain why the judge offered Nelson a new trial. It also resulted in a petition signed by over 157,000 people calling for Cobb County to install a safe crossing at this bus stop. In response to a letter from PEDS, Georgia Department of Transportation District 7 engineer Bryant Poole promised to review the area soon to determine the feasibility of crossing improvements. PEDS also wrote to Cobb Community Transit to encourage the agency to move the bus stop slightly to the north, where the median is 16 feet wide.
To increase awareness of how engineering changes can reduce risk to pedestrians, PEDS CEO Sally Flocks published an op-ed in Creative loafing and a blog on the PBS Blueprint America website and participated in several television interviews. She also made presentations at the Georgia Highway Safety Conference in Savannah and at a Design and Technology for Healthy Aging meeting at Georgia Tech.
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How's the Atlanta Regional Commission doing?
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P ublic comments accepted through August 26
Every four years, the Federal Highway Administration gives residents of metro Atlanta an opportunity to weigh in on the Atlanta Regional Commission's public involvement and transportation project selection processes. 
If you participated in public meetings or online surveys sponsored by ARC, PEDS encourages you to let FHWA know what you think of the process. Do you feel what you've said in public meetings is having an impact on which projects get selected? At a public hearing last week and in comments submitted via e-mail, PEDS expressed concern about the region's preference for funding projects that serve long-distance travel. While that might work for the suburbs and exurbs, it does not adequately serve areas of the region most suitable for walking, bicycling and transit use. The last day for submitting comments is Friday, August 26. Comments should be e-mailed to Carlos Gonzales. |
 Help make metro Atlanta walkable!
  
PEDS is a member-based advocacy group dedicated to making metro Atlanta safe and accessible for all pedestrians. 404-685-8722 peds.org |
