Here’s what the candidates said – 2026 City Council Election Questionnaire

Tempe, celebrated for its cycling culture, has earned a Gold-Level Bicycle Friendly Community designation from the League of American Bicyclists for several years in a row now. However, despite this recognition, the city still confronts challenges such as rising vehicle collisions with cyclists and pedestrians, unsafe routes to city amenities and businesses, and a pressing need to enhance our Vision Zero plan.

Tempe Bicycle Action Group has posed five questions to the 2026 election candidates, offering insights into their stances on bicycling and active transportation issues in our city. While we do not endorse any candidate, we aim to inform and educate our members and the wider community ahead of the election on March 10.

CITY COUNCILMEMBER CANDIDATES

Jennifer Adams
Arlene Chin
Joe Forte
Berdetta Hodge
Bobby Nichols
Brooke St. George
Elvis Taska

Questions

What is your vision for the future of transportation in a growing Tempe?
What specific roadways or areas of Tempe do you think need the most attention when it comes to making traffic safety improvements and how did you determine that list?
Most of our schools are still unsafe for kids walking, scooting, or biking to school with frequent near-miss collisions with drivers. How do you plan to work with school districts, city engineers and neighborhoods to make it safer and easier for students using active transportation to get to school?
What specific actions would you take to address the root causes of traffic fatalities, such as speeding, unsafe road designs, and lack of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists?
How do you plan to balance limited budgets and reduced federal funding with needed active transportation improvements? How would you assess immediate maintenance needs with longer-term projects?

Responses

Jennifer Adams

What is your vision for the future of transportation in a growing Tempe?

My vision for Tempe’s transportation future focuses on safety, sustainability, and smart growth. As a City Councilmember, I’ve worked to make our streets safer by cracking down on dangerous drag racing, re-establishing the Tempe Park Rangers program, and championing the Pavement Quality Index to guide repairs to roads, bike lanes, and walking paths. I’ve also supported climate-forward investments like Trees for Tempe, increasing shade along streets to make walking and biking safer while reducing heat impacts. As Tempe grows, I will continue pushing for a connected, multimodal transportation system that improves public safety, supports climate resilience, and keeps our city livable and accessible for everyone.

What specific roadways or areas of Tempe do you think need the most attention when it comes to making traffic safety improvements, and how did you determine that list?

Broadway Rd
Priest Dr
Guadalupe
McKellips
Miller Rd
Roosevelt
Veterans

These seven streets were identified by Tempe as having more crashes, and it was proposed that the speed limit be reduced on these streets. I think that these streets specifically need the most attention when it comes to making traffic safety improvements.

I also think that improving the area surrounding the ASU Tempe campus is extremely important, as many students rely on walking and biking to get to class, meaning that crashes involving pedestrians are more likely.

Most of our schools are still unsafe for kids walking, scooting, or biking to school with frequent near-miss collisions with drivers. How do you plan to work with school districts, city engineers and neighborhoods to make it safer and easier for students using active transportation to get to school?

Keeping students safe on their way to school must be a top priority. I plan to work closely with school districts, city engineers, and neighborhood leaders to identify dangerous routes using crash data, school feedback, and community input. That collaboration allows us to target improvements like traffic calming, safer crosswalks, better lighting, protected bike lanes, and shaded walking paths, especially around school zones. By coordinating across departments and listening to neighborhoods, we can make walking, scooting, and biking to school safer, healthier, and more accessible for Tempe’s kids and students. Last, we also must listen and do more outreach to Tempe’s families and school districts to learn what intersections are the most problematic in their view and then rapidly pursue improvements.

What specific actions would you take to address the root causes of traffic fatalities, such as speeding, unsafe road designs, and lack of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists?

To reduce traffic fatalities, I support using data to target more dangerous streets for pragmatic traffic calming measures such as narrowed lanes, raised crosswalks, protected bike lanes, and improved lighting. Slowing speeds is also critical. I support stronger school zone and neighborhood safety measures, including safer crossings and clearer signage. By prioritizing complete streets and investing in infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists, we can create a transportation system that is safer for everyone.

How do you plan to balance limited budgets and reduced federal funding with needed active transportation improvements? How would you assess immediate maintenance needs with longer-term projects?

With limited budgets and reduced federal funding, it’s essential to be strategic and data-driven. Immediate needs, such as fixing dangerous pavement, faded crosswalks, and broken sidewalks, should be addressed quickly to prevent injuries. We can also coordinate maintenance with longer-term projects, integrate bike and pedestrian improvements into road repaving, and pursue partnerships and grants whenever possible. This approach ensures we protect public safety now while making steady progress toward a safer, more connected transportation system.

Arlene Chin

What is your vision for the future of transportation in a growing Tempe?

As a cyclist, my vision for Tempe’s transportation future is rooted in safety, accessibility, and real transportation choice. I want Tempe to fully realize our Vision Zero commitment, where no one is seriously injured or killed on our streets, and continue taking more aggressive steps to reform our transportation system as one built around people, not just cars.

Continued investment in the streetcar, strong support for the Orbit system, and better regional transit connections (such as the expansion of the street car into Mesa) are all essential to reducing car dependency and congestion. Every trip taken by mass transit, bike, or on foot is one less car on the road, which improves safety and quality of life for everyone.

I also envision ongoing, meaningful improvements to bicycle infrastructure, including safer and more connected bike lanes, increased use of physical barriers where appropriate, and better-designed intersections that reduce conflict points. These improvements should be paired with street designs that naturally slow traffic, making our roads safer for all users.

Ultimately, the future of transportation in Tempe should give residents real, safe choices in how they move around the city. By prioritizing Vision Zero, expanding multimodal options, and designing streets that calm traffic rather than encourage speed, we can support growth while making Tempe a safer, healthier, and more livable community.

What specific roadways or areas of Tempe do you think need the most attention when it comes to making traffic safety improvements, and how did you determine that list?

Traffic safety improvements need to focus first on the corridors where we consistently see higher speeds, higher traffic volumes, and more conflicts between cars, bikes, and pedestrians. In Tempe, that includes areas like Broadway Road, Rural Road, Apache Boulevard, Mill Avenue, and several north-south connectors where residents regularly raise concerns, especially near schools, parks, and transit stops. We identify these priorities by combining crash data, traffic studies, and direct feedback from residents through neighborhood meetings and service requests. By grounding decisions in both data and lived experience, we can make targeted improvements that actually reduce crashes and make streets safer for everyone who uses them.

Most of our schools are still unsafe for kids walking, scooting, or biking to school, with frequent near-miss collisions with drivers. How do you plan to work with school districts, city engineers and neighborhoods to make it safer and easier for students using active transportation to get to school?

Students should be able to get to school safely whether they are walking, scooting, or biking, and I agree that too many of our school areas are still unsafe. Improving this will require close coordination between school districts, city engineers, neighborhoods, and public safety. To that end, I’d like to explore doing a full study of each neighborhood around our schools to ensure it is as safe as possible.

In the meantime, I will continue to be accessible to parents, students, and neighbors to identify specific routes and intersections where near-misses and unsafe conditions are happening. Those lived experiences are critical for prioritizing improvements. I also support ongoing collaboration with Tempe Police to focus patrols and speed camera enforcement around school zones, particularly during arrival and dismissal times, to address speeding and dangerous driving behaviors.

Beyond enforcement, I believe infrastructure and visibility are key. I will advocate for safer street designs near schools, including improved crossings, traffic calming, clearer signage, and protected space for students using active transportation. I also strongly support neighborhood-led solutions like Bike Bus and Walking School Bus programs, which increase visibility, build community, and make it safer and more comfortable for kids to bike or walk together. I have met with several school board members to discuss these programs. Finally, I will push for stronger partnerships with school districts and city engineering staff to ensure Safe Routes to School principles are consistently applied and funded. Making it safer and easier for students to use active transportation isn’t just about individual streets, it’s about coordinated planning, accountability, and a shared commitment to protecting our kids.

What specific actions would you take to address the root causes of traffic fatalities, such as speeding, unsafe road designs, and lack of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists?

Addressing traffic fatalities and making our city safer for pedestrians and cyclists requires a comprehensive approach that tackles speed, street design, and safe access for people outside of vehicles.

I have already taken important steps in conjunction with my colleagues by approving the return of intersection speed and red-light cameras, along with two mobile enforcement units. I strongly support these measures and the use of data-driven enforcement in high-risk areas. I am also prepared to support the second and final vote to lower speed limits on seven city streets, and I would continue to advocate for additional reductions where the data supports it.

That said, enforcement alone isn’t enough and isn’t always realistic as a long-term solution. The most effective way to reduce speeding, distraction, and impaired driving is through street design and infrastructure that influence driver behavior. I support engineering solutions such as traffic calming, narrower travel lanes, safer intersection designs, protected bike lanes, improved crossings, and better lighting. When streets are designed to prioritize safety rather than speed, everyone slows down naturally.

Expanding infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists is also critical. There is a well-documented “safety in numbers” effect: as more people walk and bike, driver awareness increases and crashes decrease. If we make our streets and neighborhoods more comfortable and inviting for non-vehicle travel, it changes the culture of the roadway for everyone.

Finally, there is an accountability piece that we can’t ignore. Speed matters, whether it’s on arterials, neighborhood connectors, or school zones. The reality is that even a 5 mph difference significantly affects reaction time and injury severity. Those same physics apply across our street network. I support lowering speed limits on select arterials as well, because research shows that higher arterial speeds lead to higher speeds on neighborhood streets.

Preventing traffic fatalities and making our city safer for multimodal transportation means slowing down, designing safer streets, and making it easier and safer to choose walking and biking. I am committed to advancing all three.

How do you plan to balance limited budgets and reduced federal funding with needed active transportation improvements? How would you assess immediate maintenance needs with longer-term projects?

I believe active transportation improvements should be integrated into routine street maintenance whenever possible, so we are addressing safety and upkeep at the same time. When a street is being resurfaced or reconstructed, that should be an opportunity to add or upgrade bike lanes, improve crossings, enhance accessibility, and implement traffic-calming designs rather than deferring those improvements to a later date.

I will continue to push for steady progress on active transportation projects, even if that means fewer projects happening simultaneously. What matters is keeping these improvements moving forward, maintaining momentum, and ensuring they are not sidelined or delayed indefinitely. This work must remain a clear and consistent priority, with dedicated and reliable funding to support it.

I also support ongoing, data-driven evaluation of our street network to identify additional locations where safety would be improved by measures such as lower speed limits, redesigned intersections, or other engineering changes. By pairing maintenance with safety upgrades and continuously reassessing where improvements are needed most, we can make meaningful progress toward safer streets for everyone who walks, bikes, or rolls in Tempe.

Joe Forte

What is your vision for the future of transportation in a growing Tempe?

My vision for the future of transportation in a growing Tempe is a multi-modal system where people can easily drive, take transit, walk, or bike. The city, under the leadership of Transportation Director Eric Iverson, is already doing great work with plans like Transportation Plan 2050. I want to support those efforts and push for safer bike infrastructure, such as physical barriers, armadillos, and protected lanes to make biking feel secure for everyone.

What specific roadways or areas of Tempe do you think need the most attention when it comes to making traffic safety improvements and how did you determine that list?

The roadways that need the most attention for traffic safety are the main arterial streets like Rural, McClintock, Kyrene, Mill, Baseline, Southern, and University. These areas often have high crash rates, as shown in city data and community reports. I would determine the list by listening to input from the bike community and neighborhoods through social media groups and meetings. I also like the “11pm test” which means that if a road still has heavy car traffic late at night, it’s not ideal for bike lanes right next to cars, like how College Avenue works better than McClintock.

Many parents worry about kids walking, scooting, or biking to school because of near-miss crashes with cars, and I’ve heard heartbreaking stories about this. To make it safer, I would work closely with school districts, city engineers, and neighborhoods as a strong advocate. My focus would be on adding physical bike lane barriers wherever possible. These protections not only keep bikers safe but also encourage more families to let kids bike to school, since people use safe infrastructure more often.

What specific actions would you take to address the root causes of traffic fatalities, such as speeding, unsafe road designs, and lack of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists?

To tackle root causes of traffic fatalities like speeding, unsafe road designs, and poor infrastructure for walkers and bikers, I would push for new ways to build bike lanes. I visited Regensburg, Germany, our sister city, and saw how they divide sidewalks into clear sections, one for walking with smooth pavement and one for biking with better materials. This makes sense because many people already bike on sidewalks here, and it could be made legal and safe. On busy streets, this could replace lanes next to fast cars. We would need education for drivers to stop fully at crosswalks to check for bikers, plus other measures like more barriers to make biking safer and more popular.

How do you plan to balance limited budgets and reduced federal funding with needed active transportation improvements? How would you assess immediate maintenance needs with longer-term projects?

With limited budgets and less federal funding, I would balance needs by growing the city’s revenue through more economic activity, not higher taxes. After talking with Transportation Director Eric Iverson, I learned the needs are huge compared to available money. My plan focuses on events and tourism. One big idea is bringing back a college football bowl game to Tempe, like the old Fiesta Bowl that brought major economic boosts. This could add $25 to $40 million in activity, creating $500,000 to $1 million in new tax revenue yearly. I would earmark it for neighborhood improvements like roads, alleys, lighting, parks, and bike lanes. For South Tempe, I’d start a Spring or Fall Fair to bring in extra funds specifically for local upgrades, including better bike infrastructure. This way, we handle quick fixes while planning big long-term projects.

Berdetta Hodge

No response

Bobby Nichols

What is your vision for the future of transportation in a growing Tempe?

My vision for transportation in Tempe is built around sustainability and affordability. The cost of car culture can cause financial stress for working families in Tempe, but by building protected bike lanes on major streets and expanding public transit options throughout the city, we can reduce costs and make our streets safer.

What specific roadways or areas of Tempe do you think need the most attention when it comes to making traffic safety improvements and how did you determine that list?

Tempe’s major north/south streets need protected bike lanes so that cyclists can ride their bikes to work in Tempe. In a perfect world, I would like to see protected bike lanes running north and south between Warner and Rio Salado on McClintock, Rural, Kyrene, Mill, and Priest. I would start with Rural, as the most central street, and build out from there.

In residential neighborhoods and at intersections near schools, I would like to install bollards and buffer lanes to protect students using active transportation to get to school, and I would cooperate with city planners and school administrators to identify the most urgent areas of need for these infrastructure improvements. I would also look into starting a subcommittee on active transportation to bring these stakeholders together and make these important decisions with informed community input.

What specific actions would you take to address the root causes of traffic fatalities, such as speeding, unsafe road designs, and lack of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists?

In order to reduce the number of cars on the street I would work to increase access and availability to fare-free public transportation like orbit, while expanding public transit routes and fighting to make streetcar free again. I would also work with city staff to research and install traffic calming infrastructure like roundabouts, red light cameras, and car free zones throughout Tempe.

How do you plan to balance limited budgets and reduced federal funding with needed active transportation improvements? How would you assess immediate maintenance needs with longer-term projects?

I will fight to reduce wasteful spending on the criminalization and surveillance of our unhoused neighbors by building non congregate shelter facilities where they can get off the street and on their feet at a lower cost to the city than is currently spent on policing and imprisoning our least fortunate neighbors. I will also work to increase city revenue through 2% transaction privilege tax increases on short term rentals (like Airbnbs), hotels, motels, commercial leases, commercial transportation, commercial shipping, and commercial construction. Together, these efforts will increase the city’s budget by about $40,000,000 every year, and we can invest that money in improved infrastructure that makes our streets safer for everyone.

Brooke St. George

What is your vision for the future of transportation in a growing Tempe?

My vision is a Tempe where biking feels safe and doable for everyone, where kids can ride to school and where adults can choose to leave the car at home because they know they will be safe and riding their bikes in a city that supports their decisions. To get there, we need a truly connected infrastructure network of protected bike lanes, protected intersections, real shade, and calmer neighborhood streets. We need transit that not only shows up on time, but also makes sure their bike racks are accessible and easy and quick to use so people can easily combine a bike trip with a bus or light‑rail ride. Tempe already has a solid multimodal plan, so my focus would be on pushing forward the pieces that will make the biggest difference right now, like closing gaps in the bike path network and creating more protected bike lanes to reduce crashes.

What specific roadways or areas of Tempe do you think need the most attention when it comes to making traffic safety improvements and how did you determine that list?

I would prioritize corridors based on crash data and the lived experience and feedback from riders and groups like TBAG. With these criteria in mind, the streets that need the most attention are Rural, McClintock, Baseline, Southern, Broadway, and Apache. These are wide, fast arterials with a history of serious bike and pedestrian injuries. The goal is simple: focus our limited resources on areas where they will prevent the most injuries and deaths.

Kids should be able to bike or walk to school without near‑misses being a daily occurrence, so I would love to see a formal Safe Routes to School partnership between the city, our school districts, and our neighborhoods. The goal of this partnership would be to conduct joint audits of school zones, fund more rapid deployment of traffic calming measure like speed tables and curb extensions, provide more protected routes to schools (not just painted lanes), improve speed enforcement in school zones, expand crossing -guard staffing, and create a clear, public process for neighborhoods to request improvements.

What specific actions would you take to address the root causes of traffic fatalities, such as speeding, unsafe road designs, and lack of infrastructure for pedestrians and cyclists?

We reduce fatalities by redesigning streets, not by hoping people’s behavior just one day changes on its own. If we want fewer deaths – and we do! – we have to change the design of the streets where those deaths are happening. I was in Washington D.C. a few years ago, admiring the protected bike lanes they have on streets that are narrow and 300 years old. If they can prioritize creating this infrastructure, so can we. And frankly, it’s embarrassing that we haven’t done it already. My priorities would be to prioritize creating truly protected bike lanes on the highest‑injury corridors, adding protected crossings at our major intersections, as much lane narrowing and traffic calming that we can do to reduce vehicle speeds, building raised crosswalks and adding better nighttime lighting, and adding more shade to our sidewalks.

How do you plan to balance limited budgets and reduced federal funding with needed active transportation improvements? How would you assess immediate maintenance needs with longer-term projects?

My approach to balancing our shrinking budget is with discipline first. We need to take a hard look at each and every one of our city departments, analyze what’s actually working versus “what we’ve always done,” and re-build each department’s budget line-by-line, from scratch. This “zero-based budgeting” approach has been shown to save cities between 2-5% of their expenditures. In Tempe’s case, that’s between $34 and $85 million a year, which would easily close the $21 million revenue deficit the city is currently facing. My next step would be to address immediate maintenance needs, like repaving, sidewalk repair, ADA access, etc. We’re already doing a pretty good job of this, but let’s finish it up, and quickly. We also need to phase larger projects so we can build the most critical safety elements early, like protected intersections or shade structures. And we need to prioritize our high‑injury corridors in the capital improvements plan. We can aggressively pursue grants and regional partnerships to assist with funding, and make sure that we continue to build density near transit so that we could potentially unlock future federal transit funding.

Elvis Taska

No response