This is the September issue of the Marin Safe Routes to Schools ENewsletter. This newsletter provides you with monthly updates of the Marin Safe Routes to Schools program, including highlights of the month.
Highlights of the Month
International Walk to School Day, October 3
Team Leader Meeting, September 18
New Crosswalk at Manor School
Cancel-a-Car Partnership
SchoolPool Pilot Program
Street Smarts Pilot Program
Safe Pathways Projects to be approved September 27
SEPTEMBER'S CALENDAR
Mill Valley Task Force
Tuesday September 11, 9 am
Sewer Agency of Southern Marin Conference room
450 Sycamore Ave., Mill Valley
Team Leader Meeting
Tuesday September 18, 11:30 am – 1 pm
San Rafael Community Center
618 B St., San Rafael
Novato Task Force Meeting
Thursday September 20, 6 pm
Margaret Todd Senior Center
1560 Hill Road, Novato
Twin Cities Task Force
Tuesday September 25, 3 pm
Larkspur Recreation Dept.
240 Doherty Drive, Larkspur
Sun Valley Task Force Meeting
Wednesday October 3, 8:30–9:30 am
Sun Valley School
75 Happy Lane, San Rafael
Ross Valley Task Force
Wednesday October 10, 9:30 am
Ross Valley School District Office
110 Shaw Drive, San Anselmo
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International Walk to School Day October 3
Time to gear up for International Walk to School Day October 3rd. Join 40 countries and every state in the U.S. in this seventh annual event to celebrate the joys of walking and biking. You can download a guidebook on planning your Walk and Roll event at www.saferoutestoschools.org/Forms/WalkandRollGuide2006.pdf
Safe Routes to Schools has lots of goodies for you to liven up your celebration. There are flyers and posters, bookmarks and energy “z-bars” to give away. Plus, we’re borrowing some sticker designs from the Alameda County Safe Routes to Schools project that say “I walked (or biked or carpooled or bused) to school today”, and one that says that “Tomorrow is Walk to School Day”. To collect your goodies, contact Laura Kelly at laura@marinbike.org or 456-3469 ext 2#.
Team leaders will get weekly emails to help you plan your event and spread the word. You can also go to the following sites for more material to help you with your event:
California Walk to School: www.cawalktoschool.com
National Walk to School: www.walktoschool.org
International Walk to school: www.iwalktoschool.org
.
Team Leader Meeting September 18
Team Leaders are invited to get together for our annual fall luncheon on Tuesday, September 18 from 11:30 to 1:00 at the San Rafael Community Center, 618 B Street. We will have Walk to School Day materials to distribute and will discuss how to proceed with your travel plans. This is an opportunity for team leaders to share ideas and support each other. Lunch will be provided by the Good Earth. For more information contact Laura at laura@marinbike.org or 456-3469 ext 2#.
New Crosswalk at Fairfax's Manor School
Manor School in Fairfax kicked off the school year with another Walk and Roll to School Day on the first day of school. The school’s bike racks were full to overflowing as 175 student bikers converged at the school. The Manor community was also delighted to discover a new crosswalk that was installed over the summer. Supervisor Hal Brown provided funding to put in a crosswalk after a child was struck (fortunately uninjured) last spring in front of the school. The crosswalk leads to a pathway behind a fence and allows pedestrians and bikers to arrive at school separate from the car traffic. In addition, dozens of signs appeared throughout Fairfax reminding drivers to slow down and watch for children. Cut outs caricatures of children playing can be seen along Cascade Drive. This is all part of a grassroots safety campaign to alert drivers to the fact that the streets are now filled with children walking and biking.
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Cancel-a-Car Partnership
Safe Routes to Schools is excited to be a partner with the Cancel a Car program coming this fall to 28 schools in Marin. The program, which began in Kentfield, is the brainchild of Cool the Earth, aka Carleen and Jeff Cullen of Kentfield. It encourages school children to cut their carbon consumption through a series of coupons that hold carbon value for an action taken – such as turning down the heat or walking to school. Marin Conservation Corps and Strategic Energy Innovations will assist Cool the Earth in implementing the program in the schools. Safe Routes to Schools will provide the transportation initiatives for the program through classes, Walk and Roll to School Days and the Pollution Punchcard. For more information on Cool the Earth contact April Dean at april@pmd.com
SchoolPool Pilot Program
This year the SR2S staff will provide extra support for five schools to develop their SchoolPool programs. The SchoolPool outreach effort will provide selected schools with specific assistance in matching parents to share responsibilities for transporting their children to school by walking, biking or carpooling together. Deborah Cole, the new SR2S SchoolPool coordinator joins the program after her amazing success last year in introducing SchoolPool at Edna Maguire School (see Safe Routes News, Spring 2007). Deborah will work with a liaison/organizer at each school to develop their programs, which will include neighborhood directories using geographic information system (GIS) technology. The program will be evaluated at the end of the school year to determine how it should be expanded into other Marin schools. For more information contact Deborah Cole at deborah@parisi-associates.com
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Street Smarts Pilot Program
The Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) is excited to introduce a demonstration project for Street Smarts, a public education campaign designed to target unsafe behaviors of drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists. Street Smarts uses both advertising and focused community-relations efforts to transmit messages about the need for behavior change to neighborhoods, schools, and businesses.
Three communities, Corte Madera, Larkspur, and Mill Valley, have stepped up to test pilot Street Smarts campaigns. Each of these communities will participate in the program through their planning, community services, public works, and law enforcement departments. The towns will also partner with their active Safe Routes to School Task Forces.
For more information contact Deborah Cole at deborah@parisi-associates.comn.
Safe Pathways Projects to be approved September 27
The Transportation Authority of Marin staff has reviewed the Safe Pathways proposals for the first round of grants funded through the Measure A Transportation Sales Tax. The staff has made recommendations which will go before the TAM board at its September meeting on Thursday, September 27 in the County Board of Supervisors chambers. For more information on the Safe Pathways project contact Eric Schatmeier at eschatmeier@tam.ca.gov.
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Safe Routes to Schools
is a program of the
Transportation Authority
of Marin
3501 Civic Center Dr.
San Rafael, CA 94913
www.tam.ca.gov
Project Manager:
David Parisi
415-388-8978
david@
parisi-associates.com
For general
information
on the Safe Routes
program:
Program Director:
Wendi Kallins
415-488-4101
wendi@marinbike.org
For information on
school activities
and classes:
Project Coordinator:
Laura Kelly
415-456-3469 ext. 2#
laura@marinbike.org
