A Note From Benji, Safe Routes Manager
Benji and the after-school Mission View bike club
I’ll be sadly moving on from LSA after this upcoming Cyclovia on October 26th. I’m honored to have done a big variety of projects with the amazing LSA team, and here’s just a few highlights I feel proud of:
Managing the Safe Routes To School Tucson program for the Department of Transportation and Mobility, bringing biking and walking programs to over 2,300 students this school year!
Biking hundreds of miles with youth from the JVYC, Mission View Elementary, Pueblo Gardens PreK-8, and Pueblo High. Plus teaching safety drills on campus, and teaching many kids how to ride a bike on two wheels for the first time!
Sustaining, growing, and building new community partnerships: I’ve been honored to work with Environmental Education Exchange, City of Tucson, BICAS, Project Bike Club, El Grupo, Tucson Refugee Ministry, Wheels For Kids Tucson, Iskashitaa, Pima County REACH, PDEQ, Ironwood Tree Experience, Amphi Women and Girls Union, plus dozens of amazing organizations through Cyclovia and Cyclovita.
In depth work with our Partner Schools, like Los Amigos Technical Academy, where I’ve been able to support their successful Walking School Bus program that regularly sees 120 kids walking to school, and working with their art teacher Rene El Onache to install a Quick Build project with street murals featuring her student’s artwork!
Collaborating with the LSA team on four open streets events, transforming miles of Tucson streets to people-centered places for folks to walk, bike, and play and re-envision what our streets could look like. Plus working with hundreds of rad volunteers!
I’ll be sad to leave this team and this job behind. Where else does someone get to spend their week with so much variety? In a single week I could work as a bike mechanic, a safety instructor and ride leader, a project manager on a traffic calming installation, a volunteer coordinator, and an advocate for keeping public transit fare-free. I can’t wait to see who takes the baton!
