District 9: Judith Ginyard Responds to BikePGH Candidate Survey
District 9 Candidate Judith Ginyard
1. Do you use a bicycle (or walk) in the city? If so, for what purposes (commuting, recreation, errands, exercise) and how often? Do you have any favorite places to ride or walk?
I often walk throughout my district, whether it be as I commute to work, or to take my grandchildren to Westinghouse Park, or to attend community events. Walking through our neighborhoods is a great way to stay connected with our neighborhoods, and especially when you take the children in your family on walks to enjoy nice days. Unlike driving, walking allows you to converse with your neighbors and for people to get to know each other, as well as for the children who walk to get to know their surroundings better and interact with communities and help them develop a respect for our neighborhoods at an early age.
2. What roles do you think city council can play in making cities safe, accessible and friendly for biking and/or walking?
Pittsburgh City Council needs to continue to further establish bike lanes throughout the city. In the areas where it has been provided, transit becomes easier because more residents can feel more comfortable using their bikes to commute to their jobs which reduces the amount of cars that need to be on the road. We need to push further to make it so that bicycle lanes and the people who use them are more accepted by drivers in Pittsburgh culture.
3. How can improved biking and/or walking benefit your district? Are there any specific projects that you would like to see accomplished or are in the works that you’re excited about?
Biking and walking encouraged throughout our district would promote more community interaction which is essential in our district. The bike lane being used on East Liberty Blvd. is a great example of what we need to see more of in our neighborhoods. It does not disrupt traffic and it encourages more riders in our district.
4. In your district, what particular problem spots for pedestrians and/or people on bikes that you’d like to see addressed?
Specifically for our district, we need more well-established crosswalks for pedestrians. Many intersections and street corners do have crosswalks available, but also have the street paint fading or lack of signage to make it clear for walkers to use and for drivers to respect Pennsylvania laws that require yielding to all pedestrians.
5. Do you have any ideas on how the city can better maintain, fund, and fix our public steps, an important piece of our pedestrian infrastructure?
There are many unmaintained steps throughout the city, but especially in our district. As we begin to invest more into our own communities, our city needs to be working to make sure that the contractors that serve certain districts are from those districts. This way, we’re investing our own public dollars back into businesses that work to improve the upkeep of our communities.
6. Aggressive and drunk driving seem to be problematic throughout the city. What steps can Council take or advocate for to address these life-threatening issues?
Several measures need to be taken to further combat the serious threat of intoxicated drivers. We need more police to keep an eye out in our district for drivers who shouldn’t be on the road. Just last week I witnessed a driver run into a dumpster on the side of a road who was determined to be intoxicated when the police arrived; however it took the police over 20 minutes to get there. The presence of authorities can be a help on this issue. In addition, with the rise of driving services such as Uber and Lyft, many opportunities exist now for our residents to use these convenient and non-expensive driving services instead of driving when they wish to indulge in drinking alcohol on an evening. We need to look into promoting businesses such as these so that people can learn more about these services and make it more regular so that drivers have more appealing alternatives to drunk driving.
7. In conclusion, why do you think people, who care about issues involving biking, walking, and the built environment, should vote for you?
A major part of my campaign is promoting community interaction and working to build stronger neighborhoods. Part of that is the promotion of smarter method of travel which encourage more friendly and personal environments. For those interests who align with biking, walking and preserving/improving the environment, they can rest assured that the Judith K. Ginyard campaign is very concerned with fighting blight in our communities and investing our local governments efforts and money into improving itself.
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