TOMORROW (WEDNESDAY, MAY 21st) IS THE BIG DAY! For those of you who took time to sign and share the online petition, thank you. But tomorrow is the day we need as many of you as possible to actually SHOW UP and SPEAK OUT. Everything will come down to the Mayor and Council votes TOMORROW. The more people we can have show up IN PERSON the better. Please wear a RED t-shirt/shirt. Unfortunately the city requires in-person speakers to register an hour prior to the start of the meeting at City Council Chambers (I will be there by 1:15PM) so if you think you may be running late, etc., please sign up to give comments by phone or virtual just in case. More detailed info on that below and remember to sign up in support. Public comments are 2 minutes total, and they do cut you off. Nicole and I are also looking for a few people to gift us their minutes as the city won’t allow us to speak longer than 2 minutes or give presentations.

The full agenda for tomorrow can be found HERE. Reverse lanes is Item #107 and there’s another great citizen petition submitted by Nicole Rodriguez for high visibility crosswalks and stop bars at intersections that we’d encourage you to support also. That’s Item #106 and this ABC15 story does a great job of explaining it.  If you don’t feel like dealing with parking, we’d encourage you to use public transport or Uber/Lyft. There is a paid public parking garage on 3rd Ave. and Washington (entry is off 3rd). Bring your parking garage ticket with you as I think you may be able to get a discount on parking from the city (but no promises).

In-Person Requests to speak at a meeting:

- Register in person at a kiosk located at the City Council Chambers, 200 W. Jefferson St., Phoenix, Arizona, 85003. Arrive 1 hour prior to the start of this meeting. Depending on seating availability, residents will attend and speak from the Upper Chambers or Lower Chambers. Individuals should arrive early, 1 hour prior to the start of the meeting to submit an in-person request to speak before the item is called. After the item is called, requests to speak for that item will not be accepted. The meeting starts at 2:30PM.

Virtual options:

Register via telephone at 602-262-6001 at least 2 hours prior to the start of this meeting, noting the item numbers. Then, use the Call-in phone number and Meeting ID listed below at the time of the meeting to call-in and speak:  Call-in to listen to the meeting. Dial 602-666-0783 and Enter Meeting ID 2551 885 9853# (for English) or 2558 164 1403# (for Spanish). Press # again when prompted for attendee ID.

Register online by visiting the City Council Meetings page at least 2 hours prior to the start of this meeting. Then, click on this link at the time of the meeting and join the Webex to speak. If you don’t wish to speak publicly (but we hope you will) you can submit written comments here (May 21 formal meeting) or if you don’t want to be limited to 500 characters, you can email the Mayor and Council. The meeting is also live streamed.

Just as a heads up, Streets Department staff is recommending yet another study, which is the Phoenix way of kicking the can down the road, so please say in your comments that we absolutely DO NOT NEED any more studies! It is time for the rush hour reverse lanes on the 7’s to GO, and for those center lanes to just be 24/7 regular turn lanes like every other big street in our city. If you need inspiration for your public comments, visit the End Reverse Lanes website.

Hopefully I'll see/meet many of you tomorrow!!!

Below is the email I sent yesterday to the Mayor, City Council & City Manager’s office after learning those of us who filed Citizen Petitions wouldn’t be allowed to give presentations or speak longer than 2 minutes. Sharing as a FYI.

Hello,

In order to ensure everyone has time to review pertinent information since I will not be allowed to give a presentation or speak for more than two minutes, I am attaching information here, and I will share this email with the 4,910 people who’ve signed the online petition and others.

I find the manner in which Nicole, Jeremy and myself are being treated by the Mayor, Council and staff appalling, especially given that developers and others have historically been allowed to present at formal city council meetings. And what the city chose to include in its public-facing packet lacks transparency — which I believe many of us have come to expect from this political and city manager leadership unfortunately. 

What your Streets Department staff provided in the packet for mine and Nicole’s Citizen Petitions is embarrassing for the 5th largest city in the country — and a city that is at the top of the list for crashes as well as pedestrian/cyclist injuries and fatalities. 

Let’s first address the City’s claim made to numerous media outlets regarding the 2021 study — the biased study that came after years of prodding by Nicole, myself & others for which we have plenty of receipts: "The study found it would increase travel times during rush hour by 40% or more, and also make intersections more congested and prone to crashes.” There are two huge problems with this claim — 1. The study offers no clear explanation of how this travel time was ever even calculated, and 2. The traffic volumes used in the “study” were almost double those reported by MAG — so the study used grossly inflated traffic data to yet again justify an outdated and flawed traffic system. It is also important to note this “study” was never sealed by the lead engineer. Has anyone ever asked why? It should also be noted that many cities around the country who did have these rush hour reverse lanes and had even added digitized signage still eventually removed them due to them being dangerous. And talking about where they exist on/in bridges, tunnels, etc. versus running through NEIGHBORHOODS is like comparing apples to pizza. Just ridiculous...

We don’t need more studies. It is a waste of time, money and resources, not to mention the city has repeatedly broken trust with the community. Literally go walk/drive on those streets and use your eyeballs and common sense. Speaking of which, I would encourage you to visit this Strong Towns dashboard on the 7’s and read this 2024 ASU Thesis Study, as well as check out all of the information collected on the End Reverse Lanes website. Several of the news sites did their own online surveys which showed 80% - 85% of people are in favor of removal.

I have personally advocated for safer streets in Phoenix for 17+ years now, through three Mayors and various council members and staff. It is exhausting with so much lost potential and a deep history of some staff working directly against community which I witness continuing today with the Vision Zero committee. Meanwhile, those who want to see real change and progress get pushed out. Y’all regularly play kick the can or just entirely move the goal posts. So many preventable deaths over so many years… 

Here’s a gem from my friend Yuri (who moved away) written in 2010. Our then Councilman Tom Simplot wanted the reverse lanes gone, and Melrose Pharmacy owner Teresa is still here fighting — our current Councilwoman not so much. Here’s a story from 13 years ago which is all meant to highlight how stupid it is to try to kick the can for any longer! Please stop it and just do what should’ve been done years ago.

On Wednesday, you all have the ability to better protect public health and safety with mine and Nicole’s petitions. If you follow staff’s recommendations, fill the coffer for more multi-million dollar death payouts, because you’re allowing our streets to continue to be dangerous by design.