I will absolutely do more than just support Montclair’s Vision Zero Task Force, as Mayor, I will join the task force. There is a seat immediately available on the task force and after the election there may be 2 other seats that become available. Not necessarily, and quite frankly I hope that the council members who have committed to the Vision Zero Task Force and began the process will remain on the task force to help to guide us through phase 2 and phase 3. One of the things that I think we should work on is how to maintain crossover when councils change. This would be the beginning of what a powerful force it is when we have some people who have the history and have been already working on a team, remain in place and welcome new members to carry us on into Phase two and phase three.
I was on the council in 2009 and was a very active council liaison with Mayor Jerry Fried and Laura Torchio and Bike Walk Montclair when we worked with Engineer Kim Craft to become the first municipality to pass a complete streets policy. I was on the Steering Committee of the Montclair SAFE Complete Streets Implemenation Plan. While our policy was weak and didn’t result in Streets being “complete,” the information that I learned as part of the team was invaluable. I learned different ways that we can design our streets; narrow the streets, provide pedestrian scale lighting, create pedestrian safety infrastructure like curb extensions, islands, high visibility crosswalks, rectangular rapid flashing beacons, traffic calming measures such as speed humps, roundabouts, radar signs, ADA compliant infrastructure, a must, a comprehensive transportation network, just to name a few. These things can slow cars and reduce deaths and injuries, reduce congestion and carbon emissions and improve public health. As part of the Vision Zero Task Force, we need to pull out and dust off some of the street maps and designs that Kim Craft presented at the many community meetings that I hosted to help residents to understand what options are available to us and the expected results by each option. We even have examples in Montclair right now where we created very bright and visible crosswalks, and have painted on “bike lanes which have bicycles painted on them so that residents may see some of the less expensive options. The work that we originally did with SAFE streets didn’t include as much about Green Streets and green stormwater infrastructure in the complete streets as I would have liked, The green components came later. The more that I lean about them the more excited I am to figure out how we can incorporate some into our comprehensive policies. I love the idea of using permeable pavers, stormwater planters and definitely tree pits to allow and encourage storm water and melting snow to remain close to where they fall. The later Complete Streets policy sharpen the focus on implementing comprehensive Complete Streets policies prioritizing health, equity and fairness in transportation expenditures and project selection.
I recognize, like the Vision Zero Task Force that in order to reach our goal of Zero Deaths, it must be a multi-layered approach, incorporating the Safe System Approach. The goal is to prevent crashes but even with that goal we must create situations that will minimize harm if an accident does occur. We have to have a holistic and comprehensive approach. Education is always a great place to begin. We must educate our population about the effects of driving at various speeds and actually hitting an object or person. The video that Laura Torcio showed at the last council meeting was very impactful and educational. If we showed educational things like that regularly on TV 34 and followed up with town-hall meetings and encouraging more residents to become proactive about traffic concerns and make it a priority that would be a good start. We should discuss the importance of Vision Zero starting with our youngest school-aged learners with age appropriate information. Just as our students played a huge role in helping Montclair families to begin to recycle, I think that it will be very impactful to have our young learners in their family cars encouraging their parents to slow down and drive with care. After we complete the data reviewing process and perhaps extend the data collection process ( our data may be skewed because of the COVID years and we may need to extend the data gathering a bit longer. I’m not sure, I have not seen the data) At any rate when we have completed the data reviewing process then we will begin the community outreach. The community- outreach must involve all wards and districts, every age group from babies in strollers to people who may be moving slower in their later years,, people of varied abilities, bicycles, pedestrians, now we need to factor in the motorized scooters, The Bike Bus population.
I will then work with municipal employees, from engineering and planning and public safety ( police, fire and MAU and crossing guards), Essex County because we have county roads, some of which contribute in disproportionate numbers to our crash data and State agencies as well. NJDOT presently has 9.8 million dollars for Essex County to fund these types of projects. The deadline is December 2024 for Essex County to tell the state if they want to do several smaller projects or a few larger
projects. I have very close and strong working relationships with our county representatives as well as our state legislators and will immediately begin to have discussions about the resources that we need and to advocate for our Vision Zero Task Force updates. I understand that our County Commissioner, Gill has already been very helpful in this regard.
Senator Corey Booker who secured billions of dollars for municipalities to do infrastructure projects may be another source of revenue to help us to fund some of the phase 2 and phase 3 outreach recommendations and even to provide sources of revenue to complete some of the recommended holistic and comprehensive agreed upon measures.
This is a high priority for me. Every person living in our township or visiting our beautiful township should feel safe and secure as they travel to and fro, going to schools or houses of worship, jobs, restaurants, parks, shops, museums, art galleries, the Presby Iris Gardens, The MLK Jr and Coretta Scott King Monument, The World War One Memorial, jazz and other music festivals, the various theatres movie and Vanguard, to the beautiful Van Vleck Gardens,the Howe House, or Montclair History ( The early YWCA) visiting friends and families in our beautiful residential neighbors, to one of our libraries or to receive medical care from one of the extensive lists of medical providers and our improving Hackensack Meridian Health Mountainside Hospital, they deserve to travel safely without the risk of death.
renee baskerville
Dr. Renee for Montclair 