Vote in the County Council primary next week

If you were present for the vote on the County Council Complete Streets resolution in 2010, you know that it was tabled by a vote of 6 to 5. The vote against that resolution was a major set back toward to the goal of making the roads in Greenville County safe for all users, and that is exactly why the upcoming Republican Primary election on June 12^th is so important to those of us who really care about bicyclist/pedestrian safety  issues on our county roads.

Four of the twelve Greenville County Council seats will be contested in the primary that is just over a week away, so now is a great time to find out where each of the candidates stand on issues related to improving safety for cyclists and pedestrians.  Spinners Advocacy Chairperson Frank Mansbach and Pamela Wood Browne of Carolina Cycling News prepared a survey to ask each of the candidates a few questions along those lines. The four incumbents all answered the questions, as did two of the new candidates, and you can see each of their responses on the Spinners advocacy page. 

The survey responses are great information for those of us voting next week. In addition to those answers though, I think past voting history is very important to consider. Of the four incumbents running for re-election, Joe Baldwin (district 18) was the only one who was a vocal supporter of the Complete Streets resolution. Sid Cates and Bob Taylor both voted to table the resolution (effectively killing it),and based on their comments on the night of the vote, I would not expect either of them to support future efforts to make Greenville County roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians.  Jim Burns was not present to vote that evening in October of 2010. I do believe that Councilman Burns is sincere in his answers to the Spinner’s survey, but it is disappointing that he was not present that night to make it a tie. 

Regardless of who you support, I encourage you all to get out and vote on the 12^th with bicycle and pedestrian safety issues in mind. The County has a long way to go in order to catch up with the City’s efforts to safely accommodate all road users, but it will never happen without public support.