Philly bicycle advocates deliver 6,000 petitions demanding action from mayor, City Council on protected bike lanes

PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Bicycle safety advocates gathered at City Hall on Thursday afternoon to deliver a stack of close to 10,000 petitions and personal anecdotes demanding that the mayor and City Council take action on protected bike lanes.

“You have the authority, where’s your priority?” they chanted.

It comes almost a month after the day Dr. Barbara Freides, a 30-year-old oncology doctor at CHOP, was struck and killed by a drunk driver while riding her bike near Rittenhouse Square. That same day, pedestrian Christopher Cabrera was killed in Kensington by a reckless driver.

“I think that Barb would want this,” said Noreena Lewis, a colleague of Freides who joined the demonstration. “She was an advocate in her own right, and I think that she would be proud.”

The stack of close to 6,000 petition signatures, bolstered by some 4,000 letters of support for protected bike lanes, sat in the basket of a bicycle that was wheeled into City Hall and taken to the Mayor’s Cherelle Parker’s office.

“These signatures and comments that we’ve collected and that we’re delivering today represents thousands of concerned people who just want a safer Philadelphia,” said Chris Gale, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia.

Advocates have heavily pushed for concrete barriers between roadways and bike lanes since the deaths of Freides and Cabrera.

“Traffic violence is something that is currently plaguing this city… that’s why we’re out here. We want to see that safety. We want to see solutions proposed by the city.”

Sam Resin is with Philly Bike Action, one of the many bike advocacy organizations banding together to demand action from elected officials.

In the fall, Council may advance a bill to bring $1 million back to Vision Zero, a plan to reduce the number and severity of crashes that occur on Philadelphia streets every year.

And the city’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Services is working on an analysis of short- and long-term solutions for more bicycle and pedestrian safety along Spruce and Pine streets, in the area where Freides was killed. Both the mayor and City Council President Kenyatta Johnson say they are awaiting that report to act.

“As far as safety, we’re waiting to hear from them if that includes protective barriers or what kind of protective barriers they might recommend,” said Vincent Thompson, chief spokesperson for Johnson’s office.

However, even when that report drops, there will be limitations, Thompson said.

“We can only control what’s in the Second Council District,” Thompson said. “We respect other City Council members as to what they would want to see in their districts.”