Albuquerque City Council considers Final Action on Councilor Benton’s proposed Downtown Safe Zone at its meeting starting at 5:00 p.m. this late afternoon. BB readers are quite informed on the proposal, right down to some needed tweaks, such as:

1. Including Lomas Blvd.;
2. Implementing previously planned parking-protected bike lanes (say that five times fast) on Lead & Coal from 2nd to 8th;
3. Extending the Safe Zone by commencing studies of other parts of town as possible additional zones; and,
4. Including an appropriation to pay for engineering beyond mere speed limit signs to better ensure drivers stick to 20 mph.

Yours truly won’t be attending the meeting this evening, having used up a year’s worth of public extroversion in speaking on the resolution at its recent LUPZ committee approval. Those who can make it might not make too many inroads (get it, “inroads”?) regarding the tweaks recommended above, unfortunately, but you could just use the two minutes to repeat the words “Vision Zero” 500 or 600 times, depending on how fast you talk. Better yet, a slow, repeated Gregorian Chant or Buddhist zendo incantation might have greater effect. Suggestion: Bring a gong and mallet.

This because, all in all, it’s the inclusion of Vision Zero language in the resolution that might well have the most lasting importance. City commitment to VZ principles and methodology, along with creating an “active transportation” coordinator (i.e., those using our roadways not in a vehicle), would do much to simply sweep ideas such as a Downtown Safe Zone into part of a larger transformation of how we all get around town safely.

Ommmmmmm….