In this episode, I am honored to have a truly delightful conversation with Avital Barnea, the CalSTA (California State Transportation Agency) Deputy Secretary for Transportation Planning, about her journey to the transportation field, the state capital of California, by way of Washington DC, and why she has chosen to go car-free.

We also discuss the massive challenges California and our nation are facing with regard to climate change and pervasive car dependency and the steps we need to take to turn things around, including modeling what is possible.

Originally from Montana, Avital made her way two the Twin Cities and the University of Minnesota, before making the big move to Washington, DC which is when she decided to ditch her car, and she has never looked back.

Watch the video version of this episode to get the full effect.

Landing page for the episode to see some of the featured visuals

Helpful Links (note that some may include affiliate links to help me support the channel):
- Toward a Multimodal California: How the State is Investing in Walking, Biking, and Transit
- CalSTA website

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

Credits:
All video and audio production by John Simmerman

Music:
Epidemic Sound

Resources used during the production of this episode:
- 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

Background:
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.