Just three years after SVBC worked to have San Mateo County create and fund their first ever Active Transportation Coordinator position, this position has unfortunately been terminated. We were so thrilled to bring county-level bike and pedestrian planning and project coordination to San Mateo County.
We are currently in discussion with the Office of Sustainability to determine how the many responsibilities of this position will be filled. We will ensure that a plan is in place to provide continuity. Ellen Barton, whom many of you may have met or communicated with, filled the Active Transportation Coordinator role with grace and determination. In her two and a half years with the San Mateo County City/County Association of Governments (CCAG) and the County Office of Sustainability, Ellen was able to accomplish many things.
Partnering with Redwood City 2020, Ellen won a highly competitive California Active Transportation Program grant in 2015 for almost $1,000,000 for the Office of Sustainability. The grant will create a Sustainable Transportation Encouragement Program in North Fair Oaks, encouraging and rewarding people for walking and biking for transportation. The program will include Safe Routes to School work in the area, walking and biking evaluation and data collection, and a community wide encouragement program.
Due to Ellen’s work, the Office of Sustainability was also awarded a Transportation Development Act Article 3 grant to update the County’s bike map, create bike education materials, and conduct community outreach, including for Bike Month. The current, published bike map is outdated and this project will update the routes and create a new print and online map with additional educational resources and biking tips.
Ellen was the staff liaison for the CCAG Bike and Pedestrian Advisory Committee and helped to oversee and inform the creation of the San Mateo County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee. She coordinated the first annual participation by San Mateo County in the National Bicycle and Pedestrian Documentation Project, conducting data counts of people biking and walking in 40 separate locations in September 2015 and establishing a baseline that would enable decision makers to measure trends over time. She also worked with a CivicSpark Fellow in her office to submit, for the first time, an application to the League of American Bicyclists’ “Bicycle Friendly Community” program. The County was awarded Bronze-level Bicycle Friendly Community.
Ellen also went above and beyond her position to think of new ways to encourage and promote bicycling and walking in San Mateo County. She helped San Mateo County Health System create a bike fashion show for employees to normalize bike culture; she got volunteers interested and excited to coordinate Bike to Shop Day in various cities in the County; she offered to bike with people who were hesitant to try it out; and she arranged a San Mateo County Bike Away From Work Bash in Redwood City in 2016. In summary, she filled and exceeded the role we envisioned over three years ago when advocating for this position to be created.
Each of our staff had the opportunity to work with Ellen in her various roles. Personally, I couldn’t go to a meeting without seeing Ellen; anything related to walking and biking, she was there and almost always, she had biked there. San Mateo County needs this type of role model to encourage healthy transportation and provide a resource for the various jurisdictions. We so appreciate Ellen’s dedication, enthusiasm, and presence in our community, and we wish her the best of luck in her future endeavors! We will keep you posted on our conversations with San Mateo County for the future of this position.
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