WESTFIELD – City residents will have an opportunity to discuss a broad range of issues related to increasing bicycle and pedestrian access in the city next Thursday at an informational meeting.
The Bicycle and Pedestrian Planning Advisory Committee is seeking to both provide information and receive input from a broad spectrum of local residents to help with creating a plan intended to improve mobility options and increase bicyclist and pedestrian safety across the city.
City Engineer Mark Cressotti said the informal informational meeting will follow the Department of Transportation public hearing on a project to rehabilitate the former railroad bridge over the Westfield River, the northern phase of the Columbia Greenway project.
Cressotti said that the DOT hearing will have a rigid structure to satisfy legal requirements of the federal and state government. The informal exchange between the advisory committee and residents is slated to begin after the DOT hearing concludes.
The DOT hearing will be held on Thursday, Nov. 13, in the City Council chambers at City Hall beginning at 7 p.m. The advisory committee anticipates starting its much broader discussion of mobility access and safety around 8 p.m.
Residents will have the opportunity to identify strategic goals and define a vision to enhance mobility choices in the city. The advisory committee will incorporate that input into its strategic planning and vision statement.
Committee member Joe Giffune said the advisory group needs to identify its mission and routes to accomplish objectives to facilitate its mission vision.
“I feel that we are jumping into new business without first defining goals or a vision statement,” Giffune said. “I think it’s important to establish what our purpose is.”
Committee member Don Podolski said a mission statement should focus on creating “safe, convenient access for all residents to places they live, work and play” through “safe and viable alternative transportation options.”
A subcommittee of Giffune and Podolski was created to rough out a mission statement that will be used at the informational meeting to initiate further discussion.
The committee also discussed outreach to city schools, youth organizations and senior citizens for additional input, as well as increasing and enhancing safety by a diverse constituency.
”Education will be a big part of this,” Planning Board member Cheryl Crowe said. “We will be seeing more and more bicycles (as the Columbia Greenway stretches into the city center), but what we don’t want to see are more accidents.”
