Trailnet Champion: Stephan Tomlinson
Each month we feature a member or members of our community that work to push Trailnet’s vision of Streets for All. We’re thrilled to feature Stephan Tomlinson as our first champion of 2026!
Sometimes, change doesn’t start with a policy paper, a formal campaign, or a big organization. Sometimes, it starts with one neighbor who simply refuses to accept that something unsafe has to stay that way.
This month’s Trailnet Champion, Stephan Tomlinson, is a powerful reminder of what’s possible when one person decides to act — and invites others to act with them.
Stephan didn’t set out to lead a movement. He moved into his Creve Coeur neighborhood with his family and noticed something that didn’t sit right: Fernview Drive, a busy neighborhood street with no sidewalks. As a parent, the safety implications were immediate and personal. For Stephan, this wasn’t abstract planning policy; it was daily life.
“I really just envisioned a neighborhood where I could safely walk out of my front door with my five-year-old,” he said.
When he spoke to Trailnet about these issues, he talked about carrying his daughter until they reached safer streets, about traffic speeds on his road, and about the constant anxiety of walking just a few feet from moving cars. The issue wasn’t aesthetics. It was safety, dignity, access, and quality of life.
That concern turned into action.
When the proposed sidewalk project on Fernview Drive stalled in the City Council, Stephan didn’t assume someone else would fix it. He showed up, and started talking to neighbors. He reached out to Trailnet for guidance, and found the support practical and accessible. He ended up speaking with Cindy Mense, CEO of Trailnet.
“Cindy had great advice. I think what she helped me really think about was sort of expanding beyond some of the people I typically would have reached out to and think about who could tell different stories about why safe streets were so important to our neighborhood.”
He started small with conversations at school bus stops, texts between parents, and knocking on doors. He gathered signatures. He invited people to hearings. He helped neighbors understand that showing up mattered.
And in one of the most human, not to mention memorable moments of organizing, Stephan took advocacy door‑to‑door on Halloween.
Dressed as Gandalf while trick‑or‑treating with his kids, he talked to neighbors about the sidewalk project.
“So I’m walking around on Halloween dressed like Gandalf, and I just started asking people, ‘are you aware of the proposed sidewalk project, and what do you think?’”
He listened, shared information, and invited people to participate. And people responded. He kept at it, even talking to people from his car, giving a shout to folks walking in a part of the neighborhood that didn’t have sidewalks. He’d then pull over and chat with pedestrians about the project, and many signed a letter of support.
What started with a few conversations quickly became something bigger.
Stephan didn’t try to be the face of the effort; he created space for others to bring their own stories forward. Parents. Seniors. People with disabilities. Pet owners. Transit riders. Students. Neighbors who had lived on the street for decades.
“There were so many more people in the community that came out… and they had angles on how safe streets affected them that were not necessarily part of my experience.”
People showed up at a hearing in late November, and shared why sidewalks mattered to their lives.
“People came out and talked about family members with mobility issues, sight issues… there were pet owners, concerned about the safety of their animals, and parents worried about their children waiting at the bus stop early in the morning in the dark on a street with no sidewalk.”
This is what Streets for All looks like in real life: not a slogan, not a campaign line, but neighbors recognizing that different people have different needs, and that safe infrastructure serves everyone. Stephan reflected on what was going through his mind at the November meeting as people were speaking:
“There were people saying, ‘I can’t take a walk in my own neighborhood because I don’t have anywhere to go and I’m stuck in my house,’ and that hit me. That then pushed it into another level of quality — what community is about, our responsibility to each other, and who we’re planning communities for. If you’re concerned about these sidewalks and you’re never going to use them, that’s fine. You don’t have to. But if your neighbor literally can’t get exercise because there’s nowhere for them to go, or they don’t have a car…people have different needs. The sidewalks help support them in a lot of different ways, whether it’s making it safer for them to get to the bus stop, whether it’s folks who you know have mobility or other challenges getting around, or parents who want their kids to be safe. There’s just a lot of different planning goals that I think that will be met when it finally gets installed.”
When the project finally received approval, it wasn’t because of one voice — it was because one voice helped unlock many.
And that’s why Stephan is our Trailnet Champion of the Month.
He saw a problem, reached out for support, organized with care, and showed his community what collective action looks like.
This is the power of one person — not acting alone, but gathering people, building relationships, and moving the needle together.
Stephan’s story is a reminder that Streets for All isn’t just Trailnet’s mission; it’s something communities build themselves, one conversation at a time, one neighbor at a time, one brave act of involvement at a time.
Sometimes, all it takes to change a street is someone willing to knock on a door — or ring a doorbell in a Gandalf costume — and start the conversation.