Advocacy and Public Service
From the first days of living here, Shapiro saw that the layout of GB Township was perfect for cycling and walking; However, it was clear that the infrastructure to support those activities was not in place.
She was a regular attendee at Township planning meetings - anyone remember “Vision 2000”? She researched the issues of non-motorized planning and funding beginning in 2005, the year President Bush signed the Safe Routes to School program into Federal law. She has actually read ACT 51 - closely! She has attended county road commission meetings for years. She attends planning seminars and conferences in Flint and Lansing. She completed Safe Routes to School training and organized a meetings with State, County and Local officials about the possibility of a project that would connect Creekside Village and other residents along Cook Road to Cook/Mason Elementary. She says, “Some people would consider an hour long presentation on road salt boring, but for whatever reason I can’t get enough of that stuff!”
She wrote a grant for an MDOT Training Wheels program, which brought MDOT representatives to the Township for a day-long conference with Road Commission and MDOT engineers, township officials and interested residents about designing road projects for pedestrians, cyclists, people with disabilities and Mass Transit users.. She was appointed to the Metropolitan Planning Alliance board by Micki Hoffman in 2015 and became a trustee of that board in 2021.
In 2019 Shapiro and Joanie Towarnicky formed a non-profit organization, the Friends of the Grand Blanc Grid, to advocate for equal access to roads in Grand Blanc Township and Genesee County. The Grid Groups regular meetings feature speakers from State and County Transportation organizations as well as local law enforcement and non-profit leaders.
Shapiro advocates for equity and accessibility at the Road Commission, the County Commission, the MTA, and MDOT. She is a member of the M15 Heritage Committee, and the Michigan League of Bicyclists. She has good working relationships with both Republican and Democratic officials in Flint, Fenton Township, Mundy Township, and Atlas/Goodrich.
She participated in the recent year long Planning and Environmental Linkage (PEL) study of the upcoming 350M I-475 reconstruct. In 2022, She and Paulette Johnson, chairman of Atlas/Goodrich Walk/Bike/Run, were instrumental in convincing Genesee County to successfully apply for a 412,0000 SS4A Action Plan grant two weeks before the final deadline.