Equity
photo courtesy of Guillermo Delgado
Transportation equity is more than infrastructure - it’s about prioritizing the mobility and rights of everyone. In many communities, people of color utilize walking, biking, and public transit at higher rates than others, but experience less support and fewer amenities in their neighborhoods and along their routes.
In Oak Park, people of color experience non-traffic related stops by police at alarmingly higher rates than white people. The data analysis and report by Freedom to Thrive Oak Park highlight these disparities and illustrate that Oak Park’s Black and Brown residents cannot walk through their community without the real fear of racial profiling. In addition to this data, Black and Brown youth in Oak Park have reported the common experience of being stopped by Oak Park police while on their bicycles to demonstrate proof their Village Bicycle Registration. This is an experience that is not shared by Oak Park’s white youth. It is imperative that our Village ensures the safe access and use of our public spaces for all people in our community.
For Oak Park to truly represent and accommodate the diversity that it proports to embrace, we need to move away from the pervasive prioritization of cars within the Village. To have access to a car is a privilege that many residents of our community do not have. Travelling safely around Oak Park should not require the financial burden of car-ownership. Bike Walk Oak Park continues to advocate to the Village Board and Village Staff that creating a network of safe, accessible streets which prioritizes pedestrians and non-motorized transport ensures everyone can get around our Village safely.
Bike Walk Oak Park supports the following actions to improve equity in relation to active transportation in Oak Park:
Public outreach and education around the concept and implementation of defunding the police
A review and removal of Village codes which have been used disproportionately to target and racially profile people of color in our community
Implementation of the Greenways Plan, a distributed network of lower-traffic streets that will prioritize the safety of all people and modes of transportation
Establishment of a free Community Bike Library Program so everyone has access to a bicycle
Increasing the availability of bicycle storage and parking throughout the Village