In this episode, I connect with Megan Ramey, a mom and safer street advocate in Hood River, OR for a conversation about what it takes to make a difference on the street at a community level.
 
Access the video here

I am asked all the time by listeners and viewers of this podcast, 'how can I make a difference and effect change in my community?' My answer is to engage with your neighbors, find a kindred spirit or two, speak up, and use these lessons from Megan Ramey to help guide you.

She and I talk about her journey to Hood River and her assuming the role of "safer streets advocate" and embracing the "crazy bike lady" moniker.

She has helped lead the effort to bring several safer and more vibrant street initiatives to Hood River, including:
- School Streets
- Bike Train (riding with kids to school)
- Open Streets
- Vision Zero

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):

- KEXP
- Urban Arrow e-assist cargo bikes
- Megan's Bikabout website
- Bikabout Tucson profile
- Chuck Marohn and Strong Towns
- Book - Strong Towns: A bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity
- Book - Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong Town
- Preston Tyree (featured in this recent bike study tour ride)
- Jonathan Fertig video podcast episode

Four Easy Steps to Support My Efforts:

1. Become an Active Towns Ambassador by "Buying Me a Coffee" or by pledging as little as $1 per month on Patreon

2. If you enjoyed this episode, please give it a "thumbs up," leave a review on Apple Podcasts, and share it with a friend.

3. Subscribe to the podcast on your preferred listening platform and the Active Towns YouTube Channel

4. Pick up some Active Towns #StreetsAreForPeople Merch at my store

All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Various mixes also by John Simmerman

- My awesome recording platform is Ecamm

- Adobe Creative Cloud Suite

For more information about my Active Towns effort or to follow along, please visit my links below:

- Website

- Twitter

- Newsletter

- Podcast landing pages

- Facebook

- Instagram

Hi Everyone, my name is John Simmerman.

I’m a health promotion professional with over 30 years of experience and my area of concentration has evolved into a specialization of how the built environment influences human behavior related to active living and especially active mobility.

In 2012 I launched the non-profit Advocates for Healthy Communities as an effort to help promote and create healthy, active places.

Since that time, I've been exploring, documenting, and profiling established, emerging, and aspiring Active Towns wherever they might be, in order to produce high-quality multimedia content to help inspire the creation of more safe and inviting, environments that promote a "Culture of Activity" for "All Ages & Abilities."

My Active Towns suite of channels feature my original video and audio content and reflections, including a selection of podcast episodes and short films profiling the positive and inspiring efforts happening around the world as I am able to experience and document them.

Thanks for tuning in; I hope you have found this content helpful.

Creative Commons License: Attributions, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives, 2022

Advocates for Healthy Communities, Inc. is a nonprofit 501c3 organization (EIN 45-3802508) dedicated to helping communities create a Culture of Activity. To donate, click here.