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Action Alert: Support Complete & Green Streets!

It’s a new day in Cleveland and an updated Complete & Green Streets will be introduced at Cleveland City Council tonight! Watch the council meeting live at 7:00pm here and read the legislation here.

Now, we are asking for YOUR support to ensure the legislation passes. Email Cleveland City Councilmembers and Mayor Bibb, urging them to support and VOTE YES on Ord. 370-2022. Make your voice heard here: https://p2a.co/Ic9guHx

The updated ordinance will:

Last week, City Council heard from advocates supporting Complete & Green Streets. Bike Cleveland Executive Director, Jacob VanSickle, spoke in support of the Complete & Green Streets ordinance. 

“Improving our infrastructure can benefit the health of Clevelanders in many ways: it will reduce traffic-related injuries and fatalities; it will improve mobility for people who need to get to their work, doctors appointments, or school; and it will offer active mobility options to encourage physical activity and improved health,” Jacob said in his testimony.

Ashley Shaw, Chief Operating Officer at Ohio City Inc., was seriously injured while riding her bike in 2017. Last week, she shared her story with Cleveland City Councilmembers in support of the Complete and Green Streets ordinance:

“In 2017 I was biking home when a driver turned into me in an intersection causing me to sustain a subdural hematoma which is a brain bleed…I spent years recovering from my brain bleed. Motor vehicle crashes are one of the leading causes of traumatic brain injuries…Every day of the rest of my life will be impacted by my brain injury. I encourage you to make this a priority so not even one more person has to share this experience with me.”

Sam Pruitt, a board member of the American Heart Association, also shared his story and urged council to pass Complete & Green Streets legislation.

“I’m a heart attack survivor. I have experienced firsthand the importance of having streets and sidewalks that encourage and make it easier to be active because, for me, it’s essential to my survival…This is important to me because I realized complete streets is a health equity issue. As I biked through some of the areas of town, I realized that many low-income communities lack well-maintained routes to parks & schools, roads, bike lanes, and sidewalks…It’s no coincidence that these same neighborhoods—often Black and Hispanic neighborhoods―experience higher rates of chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.”