Agenda items include ten minutes on a mission statement and possible names, brainstorm review and enhancement, identifying low hanging fruit, possible short and long term projects and next steps - small and large.

Future meeting locations may vary depending on the motivations of participants. Would holding a meeting in your community help get the drive-less ball rolling there? For directions or additional information about this ad-hoc group, please email carlite at sonic.net, call 824-9931 or the Community Bike Shop on Sunday afternoons or Thursday evenings - 579-5811.

Safely Reducing Traffic at Sonoma County Schools 
Sebastopol Veterans Auditorium, March 4, 2006
The Reducing Traffic at Schools Forum, held in Sebastopol on March 4, went quite well. More than 20 people attended the Saturday afternoon event produced by Portia Sinnott, Executive Director of Car-Lite, and sponsored by the Sonoma County Office of Education, Sonoma County Conservation Council and the Sonoma County Air Quality Resource Team.

Participants included Ray Peterson, the President of the Board of Education and his wife Ettamarie, Mike Rea, Executive Director of the West County Transportation Agency, Rick Massell, President of the Windsor School Board and Pat Landrum, Executive Director of the Healthy Community Consortium of Petaluma and Kellie Noe, Candidate for the West Sonoma County Union High School District, plus teachers, parents, concerned neighbors and bike and drive-less activists. Car Wong, Sonoma County Superintendent of Schools, dropped in before the forum began and Keller McDonald, Superintendent West Sonoma County Unified High School District, Sarah Gurney, the Mayor of Sebastopol and her fellow City Council Member, Sam Pierce, all expressed interest in attending but had other obligations.

Jim Smith, Coordinator of the Resource Team, began the forum with an introduction of Palo Alto's Gunn High School's popular traffic reduction program. Jessica Kellett, of the Climate Protection Campaign's Cool School Program, and Dave Casey and Tessa Henelsmith of Analy High School, briefed the audience on the findings and next steps of their impressive AP Statistics class student commute study *. Tim Gonzalez of the Sonoma County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee and the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition reviewed their Sonoma County Walk and Roll to School activities, and Steve Schmitz, staff to the Committee and active member of the Bike Coalition, described his Walk and Roll work with the Tri-School PTSA and three Sebastopol schools.

Marin County's award winning Safe Routes to School, a project of the Marin Bicycle Coalition, was introduced as well as the 2004 state regulations limiting diesel truck and bus idling. After a discussion of available resources and the draft Sonoma County Traffic Reduction Resources handout (soon to be posted at www.car-lite.org), the group participated in the lively brainstorming session documented below. For ease of reading, the ideas were assigned possible topics and sorted. Popular ideas included a full time Sonoma County Office of Education Safe Routes To School Coordinator, having a coordinator and/or committee at each school and encouraging every school in the county to have at least one walk and roll to school activity in Fall 2006.

Everyone in the group was eager to meet again; Monday and Thursday evenings seemed to suit the great majority of the attendees. Another meeting will be scheduled shortly, at which the group will add to the list, break out low hanging fruit, possible short and long term projects and identify next steps - small and large. To be added to the meeting announcement email list, please send a note to car-lite@sonic.net.

Portia Sinnott Car-Lite/Community Bikes

* www1.pressdemocrat.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060202/NEWS/602020334/1033/NEWS01

Brainstorm Notes
Safely Reducing Traffic at Sonoma County Schools

Immediate Action

Demand Co. put school transportation plan into General Plans -Timing?

Make bus companies to coordinate schedules with each other  

Form a task force

Admin

Two sets of text books

Re-institute student lockers      

Use laptops instead of books/get rid of books  

Stagger school starting times    

Full time SCOE Safe Routes To School Coordinator    

Coordinator and/or committee at each school   

Supervise closed campus to enforce rules         

Require all schools to have transportation plans - Stream lined process would help

Make a transportation packet for new students

A stand alone display that rotates locations around the school

Hire a full-time employee to work on this write - grants, etc.

Re-institute Junior Traffic Patrol/Age?

Carpooling

Give parents incentives – meet children’s peers 

Mandate carpooling in elem and jr high 

Financing       

Get money       

Tax on employees who have free parking at work        

Tax developers for making bike paths, etc.       

Legal   

Make 18 the driving age          

Make all drivers take CPR & First Aid

Reinstate drivers training in schools       

Teach envr. impacts with drivers ed      

Neighborhoods

Tie into neighborhood watch programs 

Encourage neighborhood associations

Restrict driving in school neighborhoods during peak times        

Parking

Require parking permits in school neighborhoods          

Bust up parking lots and plant gardens  

Have parking districts in school neighborhoods with fees           

Safety

Make school buses safer

Clarify safety reality versus perception

Reduce parents fears of children walking, riding bus and biking

Make roads safe and difficult to drive/Traffic calming

Walk/ Roll     

Satellite parking/drop-off points for student drivers        Parents, teachers and admin also

Random incentives for walking/riding days        

Encourage teachers/administrators to walk and ride      

Encourage every school to have at least one walk and roll to school event in fall 06