January 01, 2003 - Soto Honored For Her Advocacy For "Safe Routes To School"

For Immediate Release:
January 01, 2003

Contact: David W. Miller
(916) 445-6868

Soto Honored For Her Advocacy For “Safe Routes To School”

State Senator Nell Soto (D – Pomona) has received the "Anne Seeley Achieving Walkability" Award from the Pasadena Chapter of California Walks honored Senator Nell Soto.

The group, which presented Soto with the award at the annual national summit of “America Walks” January 29 in Pasadena, honored Soto for her untiring efforts in support of the state’s “Safe Routes to School” (SR2S) program.

SR2S was established in 1999 when then-Assemblywoman Soto introduced AB 1475. The new program redirected approximately $20 million of the state’s annual allocation of $60 million in federal Hazard Elimination/Safety funds to community grants for street lighting, crosswalks, sidewalks and traffic mitigation efforts along routes to schools.

In 2004, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Soto’s SB 1087, which extends the SR2S program until January 1, 2008. The Senator is encouraging communities to apply for grants through the upcoming funding cycle.

“We should not compromise when it comes to protecting our children,” Soto says. “And making the necessary improvements along routes to school not only increases safety as well as peace of mind for students and their parents, it also promotes greater health. By giving kids more options to ride their bikes or walk to school, we may begin to get a handle on the explosive growth in childhood obesity that is plaguing many parts of our state.”

###