For this final episode of Lancaster on the Move, I had the honor to speak to none other than City of Lancaster Mayor Danene Sorace. I was curious to find out why this work is so important to her and what drives her as well as her City leadership team to ensure that streets are safe for all in Lancaster. “From my first observations as a City resident and mother, then listening while campaigning and serving as Mayor, one of the top things I consistently hear in the community is that we need to address speeding in the City. People need to slow down. Our efforts over time have started to chip away at that, and we aim to change the culture for pedestrians, bicyclists and drivers here in the City of Lancaster.”
One thing typical about Mayor Sorace’s time as the Mayor of the City of Lancaster, is that she also uses her platform as Mayor to make connections with other cities to bring learnings and resources to help improve Lancaster. “I was part of the Mayors Institute on Pedestrian Safety organized by the Mayors Innovation Project. I learned that in communities that have had these kinds of traffic safety infrastructure for an extended period of time, not only does the utilization rate goes up, but the design elements really become part of the fabric of the community. So it gave me a lot of hope, but it also gave me a lot of perspective of the time that it takes for communities to adjust.”
For example, Mayor Sorace noted she feels a lot of joy seeing kids riding in the protected bike lanes on Lemon Street and Walnut Street. “One particular evening, I was leaving a McCaskey high school football game. There were kids leaving the game and they were on their skateboards and bicycles riding home. That makes me feel really proud of the work we have done and why having those bike lanes are important, rather than having our kids out in traffic, they are riding in a lane.”
Mayor Sorace expressed that she is grateful and so lucky to be surrounded by a team of such thoughtful and dedicated public servants that are working hard every day to make the City a better place. “My time as Mayor has been marked by having really good people working with me on behalf of City residents, it has made my time as Mayor so rewarding.”
Bryant Heng is a Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellow studying how Lancaster City can make transportation better. Learn more here.
