On Friday, Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio alerted residents to a scheme to be voted on next week known as Vision Zero. DiCiccio says the plan is being offered with virtually “zero public notice.”
DiCiccio’s Facebook post:
“The major policy focus of this plan is a massive reduction in speed limits across ALL city streets.
Boston adopted this program a few years ago and reduced all City streets to 25 MPH. When that didn’t work – and by “work” they mean eliminating ALL roadway fatalities – they developed a plan to reduce the speed to 15 MPH throughout their City core, and massively increase fines on drivers.
This is a horrifically bad idea for the City of Phoenix. Here’s why:
1. First, and foremost, even the short walks to public transit in many East Coast cities are not something most people want to do in 100 degree heat – and a fair lot of people (the elderly, those with disabilities, people with medical conditions, etc.) cannot do here.
2. We lack the density, and are still decades away from achieving it, to make mass transit an effective option for most people on both a cost and infrastructure basis.
3. The infrastructure spending required (a huge number of elevated pedestrian walkways and barriers between the street and sidewalk) to keep even a single City street accessible to vehicle travel above 20 MPH is money we don’t have.
4. We already have massive, basic needs that we don’t have the funding for – like paying off our unfunded pension liabilities, maintaining our current infrastructure, hiring more cops and firefighters, etc. So Vision Zero will come with a massive tax increase.
5. Slowing all traffic to a crawl will result in price increases for just about everything, as the time and resources needed to get products on the shelves and food on plates goes up and is passed along to you.
Proponents of this insane scheme are clear: it can only be passed by filling Council chambers with the victims and family members of accidents, and by lying about the intent of the program. They want to force everyone out of cars. They can’t sell their REAL vision to the public, so their goal is to make driving as inefficient and difficult as possible and slowly force people out of their cars.
If you don’t think their plan is a good idea, Council needs to hear you, they need to see you. Call your Council rep and let them know you think this is a terrible idea. Come to the meeting and stand up to the handful of “Urbanist” social engineers pushing this mess who think they have a right to dictate how your city operates to everyone. Let Council know they don’t speak for you.
THE MEETING WILL BE HELD AT:
200 W. JEFFERSON ST
TUES, APRIL 23RD @ 2:30PM
In case you are curious, here are the requirements of this program, from the Vision Zero Website: