Transportation for Livable Communities releases 2014 Voters Guide for the New Orleans City Council and Mayoral Elections

For Immediate Release, 1/15/14

Media Contact: Rachel Heiligman, 504-345-8360, rachel@rideneworleans.org

NEW ORLEANS – Transportation for Livable Communities, a coalition of New Orleans transportation, public health, environmental and community-based organizations, today announced the release of its 2014 Voters Guide for City Council and Mayoral candidates in the February 1st election.

The document provides voters with candidate positions on several issues related to sustainable, safe, affordable and healthy transportation. Questionnaire topics include:

• public transit and the RTA’s financial outlook
• infrastructure and programs for pedestrian and bicycle safety
• neighborhood parks and green spaces
• implementing the city’s Complete Streets ordinance
• transportation needs for all New Orleans residents, especially seniors, people with disabilities and low-income families

The guide is also an outlet for candidates to give voters their opinions about specific transportation equity issues, which are often under-represented in elections and political debates.

In New Orleans, 19 percent of households don’t have access to a vehicle, and transportation is the second highest expenditure for families – so for many New Orleans residents having sustainable, safe, affordable and healthy transportation is vital in order to access jobs and critical services.

More information about the Transportation for Livable Communities Voters Guide is available online at www.transportationforlivablecommunities.org. Click here for a copy of the Transportation for Livable Communities Voter’s Guide.

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About the Transportation for Livable Communities Questionnaire & Voter’s Guide:

The candidate questionnaire and voter’s guide was drafted by a diverse coalition of organizations advocating for equitable access to sustainable, safe, affordable, and healthy transportation choices in all New Orleans neighborhoods. Member organizations include: Bike Easy, Friends of the Lafitte Corridor, KidsWalk Coalition at Tulane University, Lower 9^th Ward Center for Sustainable Engagement and Development, Merritt C. Becker Jr. Transportation Institute at the University of New Orleans, Stay Local/Urban Conservancy, Ride New Orleans, Sierra Club, and the Vietnamese American Young Leaders Association.

Streets will transform into playground at New Orleans’ Play Streets

For one day, a few New Orleans streets will come alive with people walking, cycling, dancing and playing games, all free of cars and exhaust. That’s the goal of Play Streets Ciclovia on Oct. 26.

Other Play Streets events have been held and are planned for parks and playgrounds. But this first-of-its-kind event on Oct. 26 will bring people together in the street from 9 a.m. to noon to walk and talk, get moving and feel good. Other cities across the world have created similar street-based events, also called Open Streets or Ciclovias. There’s no start or finish line, and it will be free to the public.

The plan is to close the lake-bound traffic lanes of Esplanade Avenue from N. Claiborne Avenue to Bayou Road, and Bayou Road from Esplanade Avenue to N. Broad Street. Then event partners will repurpose the street space for people to walk, ride, dance and play. The goal is to take this type of open streets event to different parts of the city in the future, so more neighborhoods can experience it.

“It is about rejuvenating New Orleans,” says Jamie Wine, executive director of Bike Easy, a local bike-advocacy group and lead coordinator of the event. “It’s about creating a city that people want to work and live in and be healthy.”

Potential activities include dance classes, sports games, Double Dutch, biking and walking groups, cooking demonstrations and fresh food.

“When we show that streets can serve more than just cars and trucks, we can reimagine streets as these great places for walking, biking and staying healthy,” says Naomi Doerner, program manager for the KidsWalk Coalition at the Tulane Prevention Research Center.

“And by creating safe spaces for physical activity, we are helping make the healthy choice the easy choice.”

Play Streets Ciclovia is looking for more program partners to lead, organize and create wellness activities, and also educate the participants of Play Streets. The goal is to have more than 50 program partners for the day of the event and help lead the way for subsequent future events across the city. Sponsors include American Traffic Solutions, Bike Easy, New Orleans Health Department, Louisiana Public Health Institute, Partnership for a Healthier America’s Play Streets program and the KidsWalk Coalition at the Tulane Prevention Research Center.

Traffic safety campaign features KidsWalk Coalition

American Traffic Solutions have teamed up with partners in New Orleans to raise awareness of the dangers of speeding and red-light running. The campaign not only explains the dangers to vulnerable populations (bicyclists, walkers and children), but also how the camera systems work to reduce injuries and fatalities.

Featured in the video is Dr. Kathryn Parker, director of KidsWalk Coalition and assistant director of The Prevention Research Center at Tulane University, who states, “Traffic cameras really do reduce speeding and collisions in schools zones and thereby improve safety for children and families walking in school zones.” Also featured in the video is partner Jamie Wine, executive Director of Bike Easy, Lt. Anthony Micheu, New Orleans Policy Department, and Deputy Chief Ken Bouvier, New Orleans EMS.

Groups collaborate to help students be active and ready to learn

Creating opportunities for New Orleans students to be physically active around their schools was the focus of the KidsWalk Coalition’s Breakfast Roundtable in July.

The gathering – titled Active and Ready to Learn – drew more than 35 school personnel, transportation engineers and planners, physical activity advocates, youth-based organizations and education researchers.

The meeting’s focus – on transportation’s role in the health and academic readiness of students – led to discussions about how schools can tap into existing resources and create partnerships to incorporate physical activity into regular transportation trips.

“Children who walk to and from school most days of the week are more likely to have higher levels of physical activity,” said Kathryn Parker-Karst, director of KidsWalk Coalition at the Tulane Prevention Research Center. Higher levels of physical fitness are linked to better academic performance, she said.

But, as many attendees noted, students face challenges if they try to walk or bike to school. Some students have to take public transportation, running into problems when buses are delayed or law enforcement accuses them of truancy.

One of the roots of the issue is that educational reforms in the past several years have led to open enrollment. Among other effects, this has resulted in many students ending up at schools outside their neighborhoods. And that means longer commutes for students. Before Hurricane Katrina, about 50 percent of students lived within one mile of their school. After Katrina, that number dropped to about 22 percent, said Debra Vaughan, director of research at Tulane’s Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives. Vaughan said the Cowen Institute, which co-sponsored the Breakfast Roundtable, wants to continue looking into how long commutes impact student behavior and other issues.

One way schools can improve their students’ physical activity levels is through the Safe Routes to School grants program. Safe Routes to School provides up to $250,000 for improvements to sidewalks, crosswalks, signage, and traffic signals and other pedestrian infrastructure, and up to $50,000 for biking and walking safety education, encouragement and enforcement programs.

“Safe walking and biking are things kids don’t automatically know anymore. We need to teach them,” said Shalanda Cole, Safe Routes to School coordinator at the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

Audubon Charter School’s grant will include a “walking school bus” to take adult-supervised students to and from parks near the school, said the school’s development special Sofia Griffies. Some teachers will become certified bike-safety instructors under the grant, Griffies added. The grant will also help improve the parking and intersections around the schools.

Cyndi Nguyen, executive director of Vietnamese Initiatives for Economic Training, said her organization decided to work with Einstein Charter on a Safe Routes to School grant because she saw children weren’t able to play outside in the Michoud community and parents were afraid of their children walking to school.

The grant also links schools to transportation officials so that any work to sidewalks, streets and signs around schools is coordinated with the New Orleans Department of Public Works. The department is a resource for grantee schools, giving guidance on how to make changes to streets and sidewalks and possibly leverage grant money with other road work money, said Col. Mark Jernigan, director of Public Works.

The event was hosted at local business incubator Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation. The event was made possible thanks to generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

KidsWalk Breakfast Roundtable July 30

Active and Ready to Learn: Transportation’s Role in Creating Healthy and Academic Ready Students

Tulane University’s Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives and KidsWalk Coalition at the Tulane Prevention Research Center are proud to co-sponsor a free breakfast roundtable discussion about the role transportation plays in the health and academic readiness of New Orleans’ school-age children. Please join us for breakfast and to contribute to an important conversation about creating social change through transportation for better health and academic readiness outcomes for our city’s youth.

When: Tuesday, July 30, 2013, 8:00 AM – 9:30 AM

Where: Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation, 2035 Washington Avenue, Suite 105, New Orleans, LA 70125

Speakers:
Kathryn Parker, Ph.D., Director, KidsWalk Coalition at the Tulane Prevention Research Center
Debra Vaughan, Director of Research, Cowen Institute for Public Education Initiatives
Shalanda Cole, MBA, Safe Routes to School Coordinator, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development
Mark Jernigan, LTC. (Ret.), Director, City of New Orleans Department of Public Works
Cyndi Nguyen, Executive Director, Vietnamese Initiatives for Economic Training
Sophia Griffies, Development Specialist, Audubon Charter School

*Space is limited. RSVP required by Noon Monday, July 29, 2013 via eventbrite or phone at 504-658-8045.

RVSP via Eventbrite:
http://nolaschoolsandtransportation.eventbrite.com/

Special thanks to Propeller: A Force for Social Innovation for the use of its space. This event is possible through generous support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Active Living by Design, Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities program.

New bike lanes open in New Orleans

More bike lanes have been added to New Orleans’ growing network, and the latest addition was officially opened on June 24 at a ribbon-cutting ceremony complete with media outlets, bike advocates and local politicians, such as New Orleans City Councilwoman Susan Guidry and New Orleans Deputy Mayor Cedric Grant.

The $5 million project included installing bike lanes on Esplanade Avenue from Moss Street to North Claiborne Avenue and on City Park Avenue from Canal Boulevard to Orleans Avenue. The project also included handicap ramps, repaving, curb repairs and other work.

Staff from the KidsWalk Coalition, and the coalition members, worked with government officials to research various options of upgrades for this project.

The road work is part of Paths to Progress, a $90 million government program for road work in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Paths to Progress is a collaborative effort between the Federal Highway Administration, Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, New Orleans Regional Planning Commission, City of New Orleans, Jefferson Parish and the City of Kenner.

For more information about Paths to Progress, visit www.pavinglaroads.com.

Tulane PRC and partners to host “Weight of the Nation” film screenings

THE WEIGHT OF THE NATION is a documentary series, featuring case studies and interviews with leading experts and with individuals and families struggling with obesity. The series spotlights the facts and myths of this urgent public health issue, showing how obesity affects the health of the nation and cripples the health care system – and what individuals and communities can do.

Free and Open to the Public

• May 15, 6-7:30 p.m. at Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center, 2200 Lafitte Street, New Orleans. Snacks provided. Parts to be screened: “Poverty and Obesity” and “Nashville Takes Action.” Group discussion will be held between each part, led by Dr. Karen DeSalvo, New Orleans Health Commissioner.
• May 17, 6-7:30 p.m. at Ochsner Medical Center Auditorium (Monroe Hall), 1514 Jefferson Highway, Jefferson. Free parking in Ochsner garage. Snacks provided. Parts to be screened: “Children in Crisis.” Opening remarks by Charlotte Parent, Deputy Director of the New Orleans Health Department. Group discussion will be held afterward, led by Ochsner pediatricians Dr. Samira Brown and Dr. Robert Cunningham, Interim Chairman, Department of Pediatrics and Section Head, Pediatric Nephrology/Hypertension.

More info at prc.tulane.edu/events. Questions? Contact Naomi King at nking2@tulane.edu

Download the flyer

***Important note: HBO recommends these films for adult audiences. Seating is somewhat limited for the May 15 event at Sojourner Truth Neighborhood Center (50 seats), so please arrive on time if you plan to attend. The May 17 event at Ochsner will be in a larger auditorium (50-100).

TODAY: Youth Run New Orleans seminar at the PRC

Cultivating Character, Community and Wellness through Structured Youth Development

March 30th, 2012
Noon to 1 p.m.
Room 1210, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, 1440 Canal St.

“Cultivating Character, Community and Wellness through Structured Youth Development” is the first seminar in the
spring 2012 Prevention Research Center series, sponsored by a Usdin Family Endowment to Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

Seminar presenters are Alex Lebow Andre Fiegler, co-founders of KidsWalk Coalition member Youth Run New Orleans. Attendees will learn strategies to developing and sustaining youth wellness programs. Attendees will learn about developing and sustaining youth programs that promote physical fitness and other values, such as leadership and civic responsibility.

The seminar is free and open to the public. Light lunch will be provided.

For information, contact Naomi King at nking2@tulane.edu or 504.988.7410.

New Orleans celebrates International Walk to School Day

On October 5, four New Orleans schools marked International School Day by holding walk to school events, demonstrating the health and wellness benefits of getting an active start to a student’s day.  The Tulane Prevention Research Center teamed up with Coalition partner the Louisiana Safe Routes to School State Network to help programs organize and publicize some of these events. Below are photos from the event held at ARISE Academy in the Upper 9th Ward – which organizes Safe Routes to School programs with the support of a federal Safe Routes to School grant.

Siblings Darriella, 6, and Derrick, 7, lead a walking group on Pauline Street to ARISE Academy for International Walk to School Day Wednesday morning. Others in the group, from left to right, included ARISE Principal Andrew Schahan, second-grade teacher Kathleen Stevens, New Orleans Health Commissioner Karen DeSalvo and State Police Trooper Mark Jackson.

The Louisiana Department of Transportation will again offer up to $300,000 in reimbursable grants for infrastructure and non-infrastructure in 2012. Contact us at kidswalk@tulane.edu or 504-988-7778 to learn more about how we can help your school or community organization take advantage of this opportunity.

State Police Senior Trooper Mark Jackson, center, helps walkers cross N. Rampart Street on their way to ARISE Academy for International Walk to School Day

Sunday Times-Picayune features review of bicycling progress in New Orleans

Current status of New Orleans bikeways

Did you see this weekend’s coverage in the Time-Picayune of all the great things going on in New Orleans for bicyclists?  Check it out to learn what local organizations have been up to, including the Tulane Prevention Research Center, Bike Easy, Where Ya’ Rack?, Plan B and NolaCycle.