A fine time was had by all at the Second Annual Complete Streets Dinner, held on Tuesday night at Washington, D.C.’s New Heights restaurant. The featured speaker was Roy Kienitz of Roy Kienitz LLC, who recently left the U.S. Department of Transportation where he served as Under Secretary for Policy, the number three post in the agency.
Roy spoke of the tremendous growth in the number of people and organizations working for Complete Streets and a more diverse transportation system – and what a game-changer this expansion has been in achieving change. He noted that despite the slow progress on passing a new federal transportation bill, the desire and movement toward transportation choice is clear in states, cities, and towns across the country.
Our dinner attracted 50 attendees this year, most representing consulting firms and organizations that support the Coalition at the Partner level. Their generous contributions are what make our work possible, and this dinner was just a small thank you and celebration of our accomplishments.
And we had plenty to celebrate! I listed some of the successes of the past year: with new policies adopted in Washington, Vermont, and New York, more than half the states now have policies. More than 100 new local policies were also adopted in the past year, and a bi-partisan Complete Streets measure is included in the pending federal transportation authorization. The Coalition more than doubled our workshop offerings over last year, produced our first edition of the Complete Streets Policy Analysis (.pdf), and launched a new project to address the costs of Complete Streets.
We hope you’ll be able to join us next year!