• Name: Becky Alper
• Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
• Contribution: Advocated for street closures amid the pandemic

How did you get the idea to launch a petition to close streets to cars?
I’ve always been interested in transportation. My mom started a transit-to-trails program with the Sierra Club North Star Chapter. I also work in transportation at a nonprofit organization, but the petition was a personal project. In March, I felt like the world was coming down around me, and I wanted to channel my energy into something positive. School and all the playgrounds were closed. I saw this growing movement around the world to close streets to cars, and I decided to create a petition to open up the parkways—which are streets that go around certain lakes and along the Mississippi River—to walking and biking.

What happened next?
I texted everyone I knew, asking them to sign. I wrote our neighborhood group and worked with the North Star Chapter to put out an action alert. The petition got around 300 signatures. I submitted it to the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, and they implemented partial closures of the parkways. Then I joined up with another resident to create a second petition, asking to expand the closures, and that got over 600 signatures. The board discussed that petition on a Wednesday, and by Friday morning, the signs were up. The parkways were fully closed.

What’s it like having these roads free of traffic?
It’s truly amazing. The West River Parkway is about four blocks from where we live. In late March, my kindergartner learned how to bike without training wheels. I also have a three-year-old, and she loves to go out on her little scoot bike. I felt like she could be safe there, now that there aren’t any SUVs barreling down the road. There was enough room for everybody.

Have the parkways remained closed?
It keeps changing. It actually costs the board money to maintain the closures—believe it or not, they have to rent the traffic cones. I think keeping up the pressure is really important to show that people want this.

Do you think that experiencing these roads without cars will change the way residents think about public space?
I wish I could look into that crystal ball. Before the pandemic, it didn’t occur to most people to close these streets to cars. But now they have seen that the impossible is possible.

This article appeared in the September/October 2020 edition with the headline "Room to Roam."