James Travers

My name is James Travers, Transportation Bureau Chief of Stamford. I have been in the position for about a year and a half. Prior to this, I worked for the city of New Haven.

During my time there, two tragic traffic accidents occurred in city the streets. Initially one promising young medical student was struck and killed. Shortly after, an eleven year old girl was struck and killed while crossing. The two incidents were separated by a short amount of time. Neighbors soon approached me after, with a request to take action. In the world of traffic and parking, we don’t often get money to do things. With no money in our budget, we looked toward a community effort. Through that, the community created “Street Smart”. It is a pedestrian, cyclist, motorist education and safety campaign. It did so well that it was adopted by the city of Stamford a few years ago.

I believe in partnerships. The city can’t do everything on its own; there has to be a way for the community to aid us in the process. People are consistently throwing things out. It would be nice to get help from citizens in that area. We have not had a chance to go out into the community much. From my perspective its really about the community. The community should have a voice, and that voice adds a key part to my job as a whole. This is where the East Side Partnership comes in. ESP is well established in its respective community. James has helped me connect more with the community. One of the first things he did was take me on a tour around.

I was left with a good impression. He was the first person I met with a “how can we do it together?” drive. That alone inspired a lot of respect in me toward him. Many people are quick to talk about issues that need to be fixed in the community but only a few actually offer help through the process. With a realistic approach, he holds me accountable with high expectations to get things done. Together we hope to implement temporary solutions that will lead us toward permanent ones.