PBPAC Next Meeting: Monday December 8th

[Myles G. Smith]

Hello folks,

We will follow our regularly scheduled program this month, and meet on the second Monday online at 7pm.

PBPAC Monthly Meeting – Monday, December 8th at 7PM

Meeting Conducted Online Via Zoom

Recurring Monthly Zoom Link: https://maine.zoom.us/j/82362843383

Here's a draft agenda. Suggestions and comments welcome, please email us. We will discuss our priorities for 2026 and some unfinished business.

My ask: Get involved!

Today's vigil for Diane Bell reminded me how urgent this work is. Diane's daughter Jamie brought me to tears. She described how Diane was doing everything that we're told we're supposed to do to be safe on our streets, and she was there protecting others, and she died for it. She said if one of her runners had been killed, she would have been down at the police station demanding answers every day. I was moved to work harder. And I know that change will happen with many of us doing what we can. We need help to:

• Follow up with Portland Police on their investigation and poor public communications
• Engage the media on how to report on traffic violence objectively and accurately
• Recruit additional neighborhood groups to endorse our urgent call to action on Vision Zero
• Take up leadership roles in PBPAC - we are still seeking a co-chair and a secretary!

This work is a great way to make an impact in your community, with benefits you'll enjoy in your daily life. I'm happy to work with anyone who wants to learn how they can do more. If we all do a little, eventually Portland will become the "Portlansterdam" of our walking and biking dreams!

Myles

Chair, PBPAC

[Damon Yakovleff]

Myles, thanks for sharing out the agenda and "Letter to Portland Police and Elected Officials on Street Safety". Should we also discuss and officially vote on this letter at the meeting tomorrow?

As discussed at our last meeting, I hope PBPAC will support improved bike/ped safety education at Portland Public Schools. While there have been efforts to create a mandate for this type of education statewide (led by BCM) , unfortunately the efforts were unsuccessful over several legislative cycles. Because of this I wonder if we should focus first on local schools, with the hopes that a program like this can then go statewide. 

Such a program would directly improve safety for students, and over time it will create an improved awareness of bike/ped safety among motorists. The program can also help more immediately, as kids who receive bike/ped safety education inform the adult drivers in their lives. 

I am not sure if the discussion of bike/ped safety education would be a good fit for the meeting tomorrow, for the goal-setting meeting, or perhaps as a stand-alone discussion. Perhaps a brief discussion tomorrow would be helpful to determine whether/how to pursue this.

Here are some references from the previous statewide effort, with BCM testimony on the most recent effort, LD730 in 2023, attached.

LD730: https://legislature.maine.gov/billtracker/#Paper/730?legislature=131

LD1130: https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_128th/billtexts/HP079301.asp

LD470: https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/bills/bills_129th/billtexts/HP035401.asp

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[Myles G. Smith]

Hello folks,

PBPAC Monthly Meeting – Monday, December 8th at 7PM

Meeting Conducted Online Via Zoom

Recurring Monthly Zoom Link: https://maine.zoom.us/j/82362843383

Here's a draft agenda. Suggestions and comments welcome, please email us. I'll add Damon's great suggestion of bike/ped safety education to it!

Thanks for this suggestion, Damon! 

Myles

To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/PBPAC/CALqySn%3D30GUud5SE-Q8dcPp1QhqcRna7mkYfRLXoYj1UytJkzA%40mail.gmail.com.

[John Clark]

Hi all, good to see some of you on Monday. Minutes can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1h6Ho95ZpQqkYvgx-EStealCXxp3Iz0lj/view?usp=sharing

Hope to see many of you tomorrow for our goals workshop!