San Mateo County Supervisors approve bicycle coordinator position
We did it! And by we, I mean SVBC staff and members, San Mateo County political leadership, the San Mateo County Health System, and advocates from all over the county. What, exactly, did we do, you ask?
After more than three years of talks, papers, blogs, requests, letters, and other discussion, we are happy to announce that the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors approved the creation of a Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator position in San Mateo County! This will allow the kind of county-level bike and pedestrian planning and project coordination seen in many other Bay Area counties. The person who ultimately fills this position will be tasked with:
- Helping coordinate multi-jurisdictional bike and pedestrian projects
- Serving as a general resource for the 21 jurisdictions on bicycle and pedestrian projects.
- Serving as a county-level liaison to the pedestrian and bicycle communities.
- Serving as the single point of contact for San Mateo County bicycle and pedestrian funding programs.
- Being the contact for bicycle and pedestrian related questions and directing inquiries to the appropriate jurisdictions and departments
- Alerting city and county staff to available and upcoming funding or training opportunities.
- Sharing and promoting best practices for the development of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure design and implementation
- Working with city and county staff on the build out and implementation of the recently adopted San Mateo County Comprehensive Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.
The Supervisors' vote was unanimous and we thank them for their support. We were especially pleased to hear Supervisor Tissier emphasize that the right candidate "really understands the bicycle community, understands the routes, knows our cities, and can help cities design things are safe." Next steps: SVBC would like to work with C/CAG staff to better define the position and find some spectacular candidates.
