Testimony of Nancy Smith, Executive Director of GrowSmart Maine in support of LD 1556 A Resolve to Establish a Vision Zero Task Force to Recommend Strategies to Achieve the Goal of Eliminating Traffic Fatalities and Serious Injuries
Download a PDF of the testimony here
April 25, 2023
Senator Chipman, Representative Williams, and Honorable Members of the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation,
My name is Nancy Smith, I live in Ellsworth, and I am the CEO of GrowSmart Maine. We are a statewide non-partisan non-profit organization helping communities navigate change in alignment with smart growth. We advocate for comprehensive policies and funding for smart growth practices and outcomes.
We have partnered with Build Maine to guide a transparent crowd-sourcing of policy proposals that began a year ago, and has drawn together over a hundred people from across Maine and beyond. This testimony represents the view of Build Maine as well as GrowSmart Maine. Attached is a list of Policy Action 2023 legislative proposals.
Policy Action 2023 has resulted in sixteen proposals from eight working groups, all addressing this goal, “to address barriers to and create incentives for equitable, sustainable growth and development that strengthens downtowns and villages of all sizes while pulling development pressure away from productive and open natural areas. We do so acknowledging that Maine has urban, rural, and suburban settings for which any solution may or may not be a fit and a variety of people who deserve to be welcomed to their communities.”
This Resolve establishes a state-level task force to lead Maine in building a strong, actionable foundation for safe mobility. It does so by:
- Developing a comprehensive and coordinated action plan for Maine including short-term and long-term strategies with measurable goals and target dates.
- Promoting effective, transparent collection and dissemination of traffic safety data.
- Providing recommendations for changes to state, county, and municipal street design standards, state laws and municipal ordinances.
Please refer to the attached fact sheet for an overview of the positive impacts this proposal will have across Maine. GrowSmart Maine and Build Maine will assist the committee in any way that is helpful.