Kansas City News Blog

It was Caryn Giarratano’s job to make Missouri’s streets safer and more accessible for pedestrians and cyclists. As the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the Missouri Department of Transportation, Giarratano chaired a group of officials and advocates who met every three months to guide state policies. A year ago, her supervisors told her to call off those meetings. A month ago, she was abruptly fired.

For years, Giarratano has been a hardcore cyclist, racing for the Columbia Race Team. She’s also pounded the pavement on two feet, running road races and completing several triathlons. In 1990, the Jefferson City resident started the Capitol City Cycling Club; three years later she helped establish the statewide Missouri Bicycle Federation. So in 1993, when the federal government passed a law requiring every state to have a bicycle-pedestrian coordinator, MoDOT interviewed her for the new post. The job went to a different candidate, but when it came open again in 2002, Giarratano got the gig.

“It was a natural fit for me,” she says.

She took over as chair of the Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee and the group soon published a statewide plan to improve cycling and walking accommodations. She pushed to change the way MoDOT engineered streets and sidewalks, worked on legislative issues, and created a concise outline of the state’s cycling laws that’s now a standard handout at many bike shops in Kansas City.

But last November, she says, supervisors told her “to cut down dramatically my interaction with outside people.” They told her that the quarterly advisory committee meetings were to be canceled until further notice. She’d been part of a Mid-America Regional Council effort to create a regional bike policy for Kansas City, but when the issue of including bicycle accommodations on the new Paseo Bridge made headlines earlier this year, Giarratano wasn’t included in the discussion at MODOT.

Instead of continuing with her previous efforts, her supervisors told her to drop everything and devote all her time to creating a training program for MODOT engineers. Giarratano came up with a four-hour program and started traveling the state, teaching department staffers about cycling and pedestrian accommodations. After four workshops, Giarratano says the participant evaluations were consistently high. She had six more scheduled last month.

She was fired on October 2.

“They let me go in the middle of the training and I don’t know why,” she says.

Giarratano says her walking papers gave little explanation. The termination letter cited “poor communication” as a reason for her firing. As a statewide liaison for cycling issues, she says that allegation came as a shock. Giarratano has filed a grievance against the department for wrongful termination. She declined to comment on what grounds, but says she’s going to fight to get her job back.

More importantly, Giarratano doesn’t want to see the state’s bike/ped efforts to hit the skids. As of today, MODOT has not posted a notice for a new coordinator on its Web site.

Giarratano expects to have a hearing with the state this month. MODOT spokesperson, Jeff Briggs, said the department had no comment on Giarratano’s termination because it is an ongoing personnel matter. – Carolyn Szczepanski