Happy Birthday, SAFE!
Our 10-Year Anniversary Celebration
On Sunday, 14 September, we cheered, we laughed, we cried, we hugged, and we remembered 10 years of advocacy, 10 years of legislation, 10 years of supporting victims of traffic violence, 10 years of road safety education through the arts – 10 years of Streets Are For Everyone. It was a special afternoon, shared with so many friends and family, fellow advocates and supporters.
This is the first time SAFE has held an anniversary event. Technically, SAFE’s official birth, the day the IRS recognized us as a non-profit, is on 3 March 2015. And technically, I should have written and sent this blog out two months ago, but, in our defense (well, it’s more my defense), SAFE has been SOOOO busy with legislation, advocacy, education, and support that it has been hard to find a moment to breathe, let alone plan a celebration or to simply write this blog.
Held at the Morrison Restaurant: SAFE’s Roots
This is a well-deserved plug and thank you to The Morrison, where it all started, and where we came back for our Anniversary event. The Morrison is an extraordinary Craft Burgers and Beer restaurant and sports bar in Atwater Village. They were one of the first organizations to step on board to support Finish The Ride on 27 April 2014, and they have been supporting Finish The Ride and Run Griffith Park ever since. Marc Kreiner is the owner of The Morrison. When you see him, you’ll know him with his tall build and his always bright smile.
What’s even funnier about the chosen location is that The Morrison is known for its holiday decorations, especially Halloween, so the event was seasoned with the periodic flying witch, floating head, and other ghouls.
The Night in Photos
The dinner started with a beautiful song from Nysa Shenay, SAFE’s own Community Engagement Specialist, who is also a professional singer.
Dr. Shawna Charles, a member of SAFE’s Board of Directors, served as the Emcee, introducing each speaker and giving short presentations on how far SAFE has come since its start, as guests enjoyed food and drinks.
Justin Hager, founding member, along with SAFE Board Member Danny Stein, presented about Finish The Ride and Run events from 2014 to the present.
Brett Slaughenhaupt, Director of LA County Advocacy for SAFE, presented on a cross-section of all the projects SAFE is involved in across LA County.
Brett introduced Makenzi Rasey, Assistant General Manager at LA DOT, who spoke about the impact SAFE has had on road safety in Los Angeles.
The Deputy Executive Director of SAFE, Kylea-Rose Kevitt, discussed the rapid expansion of the Streets, Art, SAFE high school film and poster competition and showed some of the best PSAs from last year’s competition.
Dayna Galbreath, Senior Director of Public Affairs and Director of the SAFE Support program, gave a truly heart-warming presentation about SAFE’s victim support service.
Dayna then introduced Phoebe Kiekhofer and Cody Hoyt, co-chairs of SAFE Families, who shared their brushes with death due to traffic violence and how they are now helping to support others.
Then it was my turn to speak – so many things to talk about and so many people to thank! We started with SAFE’s Policy and Legislation program.
Alyssa Schmidt, a graduate of the SAFE Policy and Legislation Internship, spoke about how this internship helped shape her future. As a result, she is now interested in public service and pursuing law school at the Pepperdine Caruso School of Law.
Awards and Thank You’s
SAFE wouldn’t be where it is without so many individuals who have worked with us, pushed us to do more and be better, and our supporters and volunteers who have trusted us with their donations to invest in safer roads.
Awards were first presented by the SAFE Board of Directors to those who have gone above and beyond by donating to support SAFE’s work.
Supporter of SAFE Streets
Leslie Cohen with Leslie Cohen Law
Jason Brooks with Beanstalk Computing
Supporter of SAFE Streets with Honors
Matt Summers
Raul Ureno and Kyle Wilcox with Incycle Bicycles
Sponsor of SAFE Streets with Honors
Becky Wagner with Fleet Feet Burbank and Encino
JoAnne De Guzman with the Henderson Foundation
Brittney Delli Paoli with Paoli and Purdy
Protector of the Streets with Honors
Tasi Hogan with Verra Mobility
Josh Cohen with Cohen Law Partners
Someone Special – Dayna Galbreath
There was a special acknowledgement I made to someone who literally helped to keep me alive, and has given up so much to help make the First and EVERY SINGLE Finish The Ride and Run event happen, and that’s Dayna Galbreath.
Dayna was my favorite nurse at the hospital, who took care of me at night and went above and beyond to make sure I was comfortable and well cared for. When we decided to start Finish The Ride, she immediately stepped on board as our first super volunteer, working all night and sometimes volunteering all day.
When SAFE was started, she quit her job, got paid pennies compared to what she had been earning, and, for many years, was the backbone of SAFE day in and day out.
Without Dayna, I might or might not be here, but SAFE for sure wouldn’t, and she will always have my utmost appreciation and respect.
The Original Gangsta’s
It’s possible that none of what SAFE accomplished would have ever been possible if it weren’t for the original team that created the first Finish The Ride event. The fact that they agreed to step up and make my vision real was possibly crazy, but they pulled it off and helped to launch something bigger than any of us would have realized. While they have all gone on to other things (except for my mom, who will always be my mom), SAFE will always know they are the originals, and they are gangsta’s!
JJ Hoffman – former Dir of Development for the LA County Bicycle Coalition, Founding Staff Member for SAFE, and Event Director for the first Finish The Ride events.
Colin Bogart – former Director of Education for the LA County Bicycle Coalition and ride coordinator for the first Finish The Ride.
Eric Bruins – former Director of Policy for the LA County Bicycle Coalition and event manager for the first Finish The Ride Event.
Michele Kirkland – still Mom and super-volunteer from the start.
Justin Hager – former Director of Communications for Asm. Mike Gatto, gov’t liaison for the first Finish The Ride event, and super-volunteer from the start
Dayna Galbreath – nurse and first super-volunteer for Finish The Ride and SAFE.
Missing from this photo, as they couldn’t make it, are Jen Klausner, the former Executive Director for LA County Bicycle Coalition, Traci Parks, and so many other super volunteers.
But it wasn’t just the Original Gangsta’s that made SAFE possible; there are so many partner organizations that SAFE works with, who do so much fantastic work of their own. Some of them were in attendance at our celebration. Truly, we help to uplift each other, and I am constantly learning from and improving what we do because of their work.
They include (not in any specific order): Streets For All, The Auto Club of Southern California, Day One, Pasadena Complete Streets Coalition, South Pasa Active Streets, Bike LA, the Los Angeles Bicycle Advisory Committee, Bahati Foundation, USA Triathlon Foundation, LA Walks, Move LA, Festival Trail, Walk n Rollers, Active SGV, Investing in Place, People for Mobility Justice, Biking While Black, SBBC+, SM Spoke, Walk Bike Glendale, Bike Culver City, Walk Bike Long Beach, Car Lite Long Beach, Strong Towns Burbank, Streetsblog, Biking in LA and I’m sure there are more who I forgot to mention.
Looking to the Future
We then looked to the future, where I talked about programs and plans that haven’t been broadly announced yet, or that were officially announced, but I gave a sneak peek into. These included:
Our strategies and plans ahead of the 2028 Olympics include an aim to foster transportation “mode shift” across LA County.
The first sneak peek into our Hollywood Blvd Bike Lane sweeper, named Sweeping Beauty, which was officially announced on 14 October.
The expansion of Streets, Art, SAFE into Northern California, thanks to a partnership with Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates.
A new pilot program between SAFE Support and LAPD.
The return of the LA River Ride.
SAFE Inland Empire
The announcements included the unveiling of SAFE’s first official chapter, SAFE Inland Empire! SAFE Inland Empire was co-founded by friends and family members who have lost loved ones due to traffic violence in San Bernardino and Riverside County. Co-founders Eileen Navarro and Tami Friedrich were present to talk about SAFE IE, what they are doing, and why they started it.
Save Life Gambia
We also announced our first international partnership with an NGO called Save Life Gambia (SLG). SLG runs The Gambia’s only Safe Routes to School program to help educate kids on safe and responsible walking and cycling, and to create (and I literally mean create) crosswalks and other infrastructure to make it safer for kids to walk or bike to school.
In Closing
Our closing keynote speaker was Councilmember Nithya Raman, who delivered a moving speech about the importance of SAFE's work and how our efforts have helped hold them accountable for safer roads in her district and across the city. Councilmember Raman was presented with an acknowledgment for her work to champion road safety projects in Los Angeles.
As you can see, it was a special night, a beautiful night.
While there will never be another 10th Anniversary Celebration, we all had fun and will do this again next year, even better. We could make it sooner than September, if we take a moment from all the work that SAFE is doing to breathe and plan it out. I hope you’ll be able to join us for our 11th Annual Anniversary Celebration. We’ll let you know as soon as we have a date set.