Candidates not the same on Safe Streets Scorecard

Should a student at Rippowam Middle School be able to walk to school without serious risk of being killed by a car on High Ridge Road? Should a worker who lives in Springdale or the South End be able to safely ride their bike to work Downtown? Should a family be able to walk through their neighborhood without cars speeding by? These are just some of the issues involving safe streets that are at stake in November’s city elections. The candidates we vote for next month will decide whether Stamford finally gets serious about building new sidewalks, bike lanes, and other infrastructure that ensure that roads are safe for anyone who wants to walk, bike, or take the bus.

For too long, our roads have been built only for cars. As a result, most people in Stamford don’t feel safe walking or biking and instead drive everywhere, even on short trips that could easily be done on foot or by bike if there were real sidewalks or bike lanes. This means that our roads are clogged with cars, carbon emissions are increasing, and people are getting killed or seriously injured while doing something as simple as walking to work.

Because of what’s at stake in this election, we at People Friendly Stamford want to make sure that voters know who among the 75 candidates on ballots this November have a proven record of voting to make our streets safer. People Friendly Stamford is an advocacy group made up of members across the city and political spectrum who are working towards our mission of transforming Stamford’s neighborhoods to make them more walkable and bikeable, economically vibrant, affordable, and less reliant on cars.

In April, PFS released our firstever Safe Streets Scorecard. The scorecard reviewed key votes by the current members of the 30th Board of Representatives related to our mission, such as votes to fund street safety improvements. We were happy to see that the Scorecard showed broad support for “People Friendly” issues among members of both parties, with high-scoring representatives in 16 of the city’s 20 districts.

In particular, Reps. Ben Lee (who is running for the Board of Education) and Gloria DePina each had perfect scores of 100 percent, meaning they voted in favor of the safe streets position 100 percent of the time. They and seven other members were designated “Safe Streets Champions” for scoring between 80 percent and 100 percent, including Monica Di Costanzo (91 percent),

Eric Morson (91 percent), Anabel Figueroa (90 percent), Jonathan Jacobson (90 percent), Bradley Michelson (82 percent), Susan Nabel (82 percent), and David Watkins (80 percent).

Seven additional Representatives were labeled “Safe Streets Supporters” for scoring 50 percent to 79 percent, including Annie Summerville (70 percent), Mary Fedeli (64 percent), Mavina Moore (60 percent), Denis Patterson (56 percent), Robert Roqueta (56 percent), Virgil de la Cruz (55 percent), and Elise Coleman (50 percent).

Unfortunately, there were several representatives who will be on this year’s ballots who scored under that 50 percent threshold, including Megan Cottrell (45 percent), Lindsey Miller (45 percent), Rodney Pratt (40 percent), Ines Saftic (33 percent), J.R. McMullen (30 percent), Terry Adams (25 percent), Jeff Stella (25 percent), Dennis Mahoney (22 percent), John Zelinsky (9 percent), and Nina Sherwood (0 percent). We hope that these low-scoring representatives reconsider their positions and, if they are elected again this year, will work towards making our streets safer in the future.

These issues are ongoing. At a recent committee meeting, for example, Rep. Adams expressed disapproval of the idea that expanded sidewalks and bike lanes in his South End district could come at the expense of a few on-street parking spots, and questioned whether people on bikes pay taxes (they do). This is exactly the opposite of where his priorities should lie if he cares about his constituents’ safety.

We urge voters to reach out to Board of Reps candidates, as well as those running for mayor, Board of Finance and other powerful positions in city government, and ask where they stand on safe streets issues. The cause of safer streets is not political or ideological. Creating more walkable neighborhoods and reducing our collective reliance on driving is good for the environment, good for quality of life, and friendlier and safer for everyone. We need to design our streets so they are safe for all users, not just those in cars.

The full scorecard, including a complete listing of all of the votes and an explanation for our methodology, can be found at peoplestamford.org/scorecard.