Municipal Forum

8:30 – 9:00 – Breakfast and Networking

9:00 – 9:15 – Welcome and Introductions

Speaker: Hon. Stephen Shaw, Deputy Director, Morris County Board of County Commissioners

Speaker: Dan Callas, President, Avenues in Motion

9:15 – 10:00 – Panel 1: Placemaking and Demonstration Projects: Improving Safety through Strategic Partnerships and Initiatives

How can your town go from zero to Vision Zero? Learn how to implement low or no cost initiatives that involve the community in a culture of safe streets. In this session, you’ll learn about a successful local streetscape and placemaking project, and hear about tools available to you from regional planners that can be implemented now.

Speaker: Yahayra Mejorada, Deputy Department Head of the Executive Department and Constituent Affairs Coordinator at the Town of Dover

Speaker: Jasmine Grossmann, MCRP, LEED Green Associate, Principal Planner at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority

Moderator: Dan Callas, President, Avenues in Motion

10:00 – Sponsor Remarks

Speaker: Joe Colangelo, CEO, Boxcar Inc.

10:10 – 11:10 – A Conversation About the Safe System Approach

The USDOT has embraced a national framework called the Safe System Approach. What is it, and what does it look like on our local streets? Join us in a moderated conversation around the principles and objectives of the Safe System Approach, and hear from experts and key stakeholders about taking this holistic and comprehensive guidance and turning it into local action.

Speaker: Stephen Dunn, aka “The Biking Fireman,” Bike Advocate, Social Media Influencer, NJ EMT and Firefighter, Elizabeth Fire Department

Speaker: Pam Shadel Fischer, Senior Director of External Engagement at the Governors Highway Safety Association and Chair of the Avenues in Motion Board of Directors

Speaker: Lauren Paterno, Senior Government Affairs Advisor at AAA Northeast

Speaker: Rachana Sheth, AICP, NJ PP, Senior Planner/Urban Designer at NV5

Moderator: Laura Cerutti, Director of Program Development, Avenues in Motion

11:15 – 11:45 – Breakout Workshop: Working Through Transportation Safety Challenges in Your Community

Facilitator: Emily Gates, Active Transportation Manager, Avenues in Motion

11:45 – Closing Remarks

Stephen Dunn

Stephen Dunn, also known as “The Biking Fireman”, is a first responder with 17 years’ experience as an EMT, EMT instructor, and firefighter. He started experimenting with bike commuting over 10 years ago and has not driven a car to the firehouse since 2019. His experience as both a first responder in an urban environment, and a vulnerable road user, has given him a unique perspective on our transportation system. He is passionate about promoting active transportation as a means of equitable access to mobility options, improving physical/ mental health, reducing traffic fatalities, and environmental stewardship.

Stephen is a founding member of Union County Connects (UCC) and currently serves as President. UCC is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote healthy lifestyles through safe outdoor recreation and active transportation. As a member of the Vision Zero for NJ Alliance and board member of the Nikhil Badlani Foundation, Stephen has developed and intimate understanding of the Safe Systems Approach and has traveled around the state, using his personal social media and blog to advocate for Vision Zero initiatives. Stephen resides in Kenilworth with his wife and two children, where he serves as Kenilworth’s representative to the Union County Transportation Advisory Board and a Planning Board member. In his spare time, he coaches basketball for his two boys and loves to hike, with a life goal of one day thru hiking the Appalachian Trail.

Pam Shadel Fischer

Pam Shadel Fischer has been addressing behavioral safety issues at the local, state and national level for nearly 40 years. After a 20-year tenure with AAA New Jersey (now AAA Northeast) and a four-year run as Governor’s Representative and Director of the New Jersey Division of Highway Traffic Safety, she established Pam Fischer Consulting and for a decade helped state and federal agencies as well as nonprofit organizations address the behavioral safety issues that put all road users at risk.

Currently, Pam is Senior Director of External Engagement for the Washington, DC based Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), which provides leadership and advocacy for the states and U.S. territories to improve traffic safety, influence national policy, enhance program management and promote best practice. She manages many of GHSA’s key partnerships, provides guidance to state highway safety offices and works to bring national visibility to highway safety. She has authored more than a dozen national traffic safety publications for GHSA addressing pedestrian, bicyclist and Micromobility safety; teen drivers; and impaired, distracted and drowsy driving; and contributed to many others. She is recognized as one of the nation’s leading experts on novice driving and co-author of Not So Fast: Parenting Your Teen Through the Dangers of Driving, published by Chicago Press Review.

Pam earned a B.A. in English from Lebanon Valley College; an M.A. in Leadership and Public Administration from Centenary University; and a Certificate in Advanced Management from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She is an avid walker; her personal best is 30 miles in one day.

Jasmine Grossmann

Jasmine is a Principal Planner at the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority. She oversees the Transportation Management Association (TMA) program and works on other mobility and regional planning initiatives such as the NJTPA’s Complete Streets Demonstration Library, to support the broader use of tactical urbanism. She has experience in municipal and county planning, landscape design, master planning, and redevelopment studies. Jasmine also teaches an urban planning and design course to undergraduate students at Rutgers. She holds a master’s degree in city and regional planning and a bachelor’s degree in urban planning and design, both from Rutgers. Additionally, she has her LEED Green Associate certification and a certificate in community sustainability.

Yahayra Mejorada

Yahayra Mejorada is a native Peruvian who moved to the US at age 9. A first generation graduate, she earned the Drew University Presidential Merit Scholarship and majored in International Relations and Public Affairs. Following her graduation, she consulted for NGO CSW (Commission on the Status of the Woman) to decrease the NGO’s intergenerational gap through marketing and program development.

She spent 12 years working and advocating for adults with developmental disabilities as a developmental instructor, and later, as a business development professional. Yahayra also held a parallel career as a political consultant with a focus on new candidate training. Yahayra uses her passion for government and community engagement in her current role as the Town of Dover’s Constituent Affairs Coordinator.

She humbly serves on the board of:
La Via Al Exito – to empower low income students reach their educational goals
Avenues in Motion
Morris Arts
Garden State Impact 100: Young Philanthropist Committee

Lauren Paterno

Lauren Paterno is AAA Northeast’s Senior Government Affairs Advisor for New York & New Jersey. She provides analysis impacting transportation and traffic safety at the state level, and advocates for roadway safety improvements that help protect all roadway users. Lauren was instrumental in passing the 2020 rear seat belt law in New York State and passing required practice hours for young drivers in New Jersey.

Commissioner Stephen Shaw

Stephen H. Shaw is a lifelong resident of New Jersey and has lived in Morris County for more than five decades. He is serving his second term on the board and was Commissioner Director for 2021. He also chairs the county’s Capital Budget and Facilities Review Committee and the Strategic Planning Advisory Committee, which has been key to Morris County retaining its AAA financial rating throughout the pandemic. He is a member of the Operating Budget Committee and liaison to the county Public Works.

In 2023, Commissioner Shaw was appointed by his colleagues as Morris County’s representative to the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA). He was elected Secretary of the NJTPA Board of Trustees at the January 8, 2024 board meeting.

Commissioner Shaw moved back to his hometown of Mountain Lakes 22 years ago and became active in public service, elected to the borough council for 12 years and selected by his peers as mayor for three of those years. He was a member of the Mountain Lakes Planning Board for seven years and was named “Mountain Lakes Police Citizen of the Year” in 2012. He also served his community as a leader of the Vestry of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Mountain Lakes. Commissioner Shaw was a member and Vice-Chair of the Morris County Open Space Trust Fund Committee, assisting in the preservation of the Giralda Farms Preserve at Loantaka Brook Reservation in Chatham Township with a $10 million Morris County Open Space grant.

Professionally, Commissioner Shaw owns and operates a small family contracting business and has been president of his local and state builder’s trade association. He is a graduate of New Jersey Institute of Technology; Newark College of Engineering, with a BS in Civil Engineering; and in 2006 was named their “Outstanding Alumnus.” In addition, he is a licensed New Jersey real estate agent, a licensed private pilot, is married and has two adult children and two grandchildren.

Rachana Sheth

Rachana Sheth is a senior planner and urban designer with a background in land use planning and architecture. At NV5, she has worked on multiple transportation planning projects including Vision Zero Action plans, road safety audits, statewide trail planning, bicycle/pedestrian plans, and visioning/public outreach activities. Rachana has worked with government agencies, developers, community organizations and private firms, which has helped develop her understanding of public and private perspectives on community planning, public outreach, equity, transportation planning and redevelopment. Her recent experience includes the West Orange Vision Zero Action Plan, Route 27 Road Safety Audit, Middlesex County Vision Zero Action Plan, NJDEP Greenway, Hightstown Mobility Master Plan and the Hudson County Vision Zero Action Plan. Rachana is an avid long-distance bicyclist and has completed multiple century rides in New Jersey.

Panel 1: Placemaking and Demonstration Projects

NJTPA Complete Streets Demonstration Library – Jasmine Grossmann, NJTPA

Asphalt Mural + Dover Arts Festival – Yahayra Mejorada, Town of Dover

Panel 2: A Conversation about the Safe System Approach

Safe System Approach Overview – Laura Cerutti, Avenues in Motion

Event Sponsor: Boxcar

Websites

Safe System Approach (USDOT)
NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety
North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority
Local Safety Action Plans (NJTPA)
Boxcar

Avenues in Motion Reports

Dover Asphalt Art Final Report
Central Avenue School Travel Plan
Denville Township Walkability Report

Boxcar was founded in 2017 and headquartered in Chatham, NJ and focuses on enhancing the suburban commuter experience. Boxcar provides two main services that enhance municipal vitality:

Boxcar’s commuter parking offering increases a town’s available commuter parking at zero cost to the municipality. For towns with insufficient commuter parking, Boxcar partners with private property owners (primarily churches), within walking distance of suburban train stations. We make the church’s unused parking available to commuters on weekdays. In 2018 the town of New Canaan, CT cancelled a $12M bond for a new parking garage as a result of Boxcar finding over 100 private parking spaces for their commuters.

Boxcar’s private commuter bus service is completely free to the towns we serve. We offer commuters who drive to Manhattan a relaxing alternative that gets them close to their office. Boxcar’s bus service currently serves 23 NJ suburbs, including many in Morris County. New York City’s congestion pricing, beginning in June, will increase the cost to drive by $15 per day, or $2,500+ per year for the daily commuter. In anticipation of this, Boxcar is exploring expansion in more Morris County towns whose commuters will be looking for alternatives to their current car-centered commute.