BIKEable Communities posed a series of five questions to each of the active candidates for elected positions in Long Beach that will be contested in the upcoming election on Tuesday June 3.

Below are the answers from Long Beach and San Pedro State Assembly Candidate Suja Lowenthal to the five questions posed by BIKEable Communities regarding active living, Biking and walking in Long Beach.

Active living, bicycling and walking in Long Beach

1. Can having an active living oriented, bike and pedestrian friendly culture be an important business differentiator for Long Beach.  Can it help us attract new businesses and new resident that are looking for a city that promotes an active life style along with a business friendly environment. If so, what as an elected civic leader would you do to help deep us ahead of the pack. Absolutely.  In fact, it is an essential differentiator for Long Beach to attract a creative class of residents and businesses who factor quality of life elements such as active living, arts & culture and a diverse citizenry into their location decisions.  I am very proud of my record in championing changes to Long Beach’s infrastructure, programming and culture in support of bicyclists and pedestrians. What had been largely a staff initiative relegated to more modest projects received greater attention following my request for a study session in 2006, and ensuing council motions that I authored calling for bolder infrastructure and programs setting a vision that would propel the City to the forefront of urban cities espousing bicycle reforms. Projects such as separated bike lanes, green shared lanes, citywide way finding signage, bike boulevards and bike corrals all came to Long Beach with the award of more than $20 million in mobility grants fostered by political and community will and a cultural shift in City Hall. As your Assembly member, I would continue to author legislation, urge funding and department policies that prioritize bicyclists and pedestrians in planning and infrastructure – not just as a means of healthy living, but for economic and public safety benefits as well.
2. Studies from Portland other US cities show people on bicycles spend more per month in local business districts than those arriving by other modes.  Bicycling and walk also promote a “shop local” mindset (it’s difficult to get to a far away store to shop if you are walking or biking). What steps would you take to ensure that local businesses in your district are able to benefit from better access by bicyclists?From neighborhoods to parks, beaches and even its business corridors, Long Beach is becoming a more active community. Different neighborhood and business associations are planning events, creating clubs and establishing new traditions around healthy lifestyles, which in turn are promoting greater civic involvement and economic vitality. Much like our bike racks, residents and businesses are realizing that more than one purpose can be served by infrastructure and programs promoting bicycling. These activities are also supportive to local small businesses and neighborhood safety as more residents get out of the house and into the public space. I believe we must continue this trend by further focusing our attention on linkages between our small business corridors and adjacent neighborhoods through wayfinding signage, bike sharing, infrastructure improvements and pedestrian lighting. That’s why I have allocated $450,000 in one-time infrastructure funding to small business corridor master planning and demonstration projects in my Council district that encourage pedestrian and bicycling.  Through community stakeholder consensus, we are developing vision studies that better position the corridors for grant funding and inform city staff of the community’s capital improvement priorities.  As your elected representative in Sacramento, I intend on creating the same types of opportunities and support through policies and grant funding criteria. I will also focus more attention on the “First Mile, Last Mile” challenges in cities statewide.
   
3. Childhood obesity and chronic weight related health issues are a major problem in the city of Long Beach.  In six of Long Beach’s zip codes residents diagnosed with diabetes, sugar diabetes or pre diabetes is 20% or greater.  As an elected official how would you use your position to foster an active lining agenda that will make measurable improvements in these chronic but often preventable diseases?When I hosted former Bogota, Colombia, Mayor Enrique Penalosa at our first speaker series event in Long Beach, I took away two very important messages as an elected official: 1) elected officials are tasked with providing the political will behind projects and initiatives that benefit the community, and 2) design your city so that a young person can navigate it on bicycle.  I have committed myself to both messages during my 8 years on City Council and I intend on taking them with me to Sacramento. By re-designing our streets with bicycles and pedestrians in mind, combined with education and community outreach about healthy habits, we enable families to make beneficial decisions.I would add that for our programs and initiatives to succeed at the local and state levels, we must reach out more to women (mothers, wives, daughters) as a means of enticing the entire family to become involved in healthy living.  To this end, I have partnered with various community groups over the years including Women on Bikes California to encourage more women to advocate a healthier lifestyle centered on active living.I will also take away lessons learned from the successful implementation of our liquor store conversions initiative, which I coauthored with Councilmember Steve Neal.  The program incentivizes liquor store owners to include healthy food and drinks on their shelves.  I think this is a model for success statewide.

   
   

4. Would you support a business are resident council on active living that would provide guidance for city policy?  Yes, I am very supportive.
5. Will you commit to using your leadership position in the community to “walk the walk” by personally walking and biking during your tenure in office?
   My staff and I already make a point of riding and walking in our daily routine, so I look forward to “walking the walk” in Sacramento and in the 70th Assembly District through special events and social media to reach a larger audience.  I welcome future opportunities to partner with Bikeable Communities to achieve our mutual goals for Long Beach and surrounding communities.