Philadelphia, PA – The Better Mobility Working Group, consisting of 11 mobility, economic and sustainability advocacy organizations around the Philadelphia region will be hosting the Better Mobility 2015 mayoral forum on Thursday, March 19 at the Friends Center in Center City, Philadelphia.
Moderated by Philadelphia Magazine Deputy Editor Patrick Kerkstra, all candidates vying to become Philadelphia’s next mayor will answer questions pertaining to the ten points laid out in the Better Mobility platform.
Those points include installing buffered and protected bike lanes, enlivening streets, enhancing public transportation, obtaining a larger paving budget, and related issues.
“This is the most comprehensive work we’ve ever done in preparation for a mayoral election and we are extending this, also, to City Council,” Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia Executive Director Alex Doty recently told Newsworks. “We have met with each of the viable candidates so far, which is a chance for us to discuss this in depth for about an hour. Then, we have the forum, which is a chance for them to talk publicly about it, and we can write down what they’ve said.”
The Better Mobility Working Group—consisting of the Clean Air Council, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, 10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania, Feet First Philly, Bike Share Philadelphia, Philadelphia Parks Alliance, PenTrans, Penn Future, the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society—worked together throughout over the last year to put together a platform that addresses better streets for all users.
“Better Mobility is more than bicyclists; it’s about pedestrians, transit users, even motorists. It’s more than Center City; it’s about all of Philadelphia’s streets,” adds Bicycle Coalition Deputy Director Sarah Clark Stuart. “The goal of Better Mobility is to make all of Philadelphia’s 2,500 miles of streets safer for all Philadelphians to get wherever they want to go.”
The Better Mobility mayoral forum will be a chance for all Philadelphians to understand where their candidates stand on the specifics of these issues. At the forum, citizens will have the opportunity to listen to the candidates on these issues, and, toward the end of the forum, ask their own questions.
The Better Mobility Working Group asks that guests RSVP to this event, which they can do here. To see who else is going, check out the Facebook invitation.
In addition to the Working Group, the forum would not be possible without our sponsors: Parsons Brinkerhoff, ClearSound, People for Bikes, the Alliance for Biking and Walking, and the William Penn Foundation.