Exciting new priorities are beginning to take shape with the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition’s new Pedestrian Work Group. The group continues to welcome new members and build upon themes identified in previous meetings to hone an agenda for the coming year. Through reviewing the priorities discussed at the last meeting as well as introducing city-wide street overhaul projects, group members had a chance to take in the range of options at hand.
People around the table took turns highlighting important things from small group discussions of meetings past in order to advance the discussion. Some priorities lent themselves well to function as organizing principles, such as “focusing on priorities of communities of color and low wealth communities” or “focus on education methods the Bicycle Coalition has found effective before,” while others were more specific outcomes like “improve winter maintenance” or “adopt a Vision Zero policy in Minneapolis.” 
Each individual was then able to vote for three priorities and three street projects that they felt should be emphasized in the Work Group’s 2017 efforts.
In order to make your voice heard in these deliberations, please take our survey here and share to your social networks. The Pedestrian Work Group, through this survey, hopes to reach as broad a range of perspectives as possible in order to inform their advocacy. With so many opportunities for advancement of walkability and pedestrian safety in our city, it will be a key tool in centering the group’s work on the primary concerns and desires of the community first.
The next meeting will take place at the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition Office (1428 Washington Avenue South, Suite 204) on February 20th and there are rumors that there will be snacks! This meeting will be when the group gets to dig into the individual goals as actionable tasks. Advocates from the Work Group will also be attending various City-led pedestrian-focused meetings, so stay tuned for updates on the blog.
