MyWHaT

How about some good news? And, a little memory lane for the author…

Melbourne, Australia is getting attention for turning one of its CBD streets into a pedestrian, bicycle and tram only street. The plan also radically limits parking near the redesigned Swanston Street.

What is encouraging is that the main argument for the change is economic. “One of the major reasons for beautifying the street is to make it desirable for these sorts of businesses to move to Swanston Street and change the culture of the street, particularly late at night,” said Melbourne’s Mayor Robert Doyle. Designing with intent!

I was a bicycle courier (a.k.a a pushie) in Melbourne for a year in 1997. At that time, Melbourne was looking to L.A. as a model for its traffic control chaos–glad to see they made the turn. I survived the year without any major injuries or crashes, but along Swanston Street it was advantageous to ride between two opposing trams (video)–not for the squeamish. Lately, I’ve had a lot of memories of that job (video), thanks in part to Youtube videos like the two previous links and this spoof from the Kids in the Hall.

Bike Courier with a death wish, on two hours of sleep

I never went under cars, but certainly went “over-time”. I was also 20 pounds lighter with a 5000 calorie per day diet. Ah, chocolate cake for breakfast.

Anyone else have a bike messenger past? I’ll write about it more in the future.

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I often used the bike lanes in Melbourne–efficiency is the key, not risk (both together work well).

Now, I would greatly appreciate a bike lane along Eighth Street–older and wiser. Contact the city commission to Complete the Street!

On the Plan for TC Web site, Traverse City Mayor Chris Bzdok has made public the details of the deeper issues of the Eighth Street kerfuffle. In a lengthy chronology of the issue & the events that have transpired so far, three sentences stand out. The mayor writes:

Bikes are on 8th street now. The question is whether they will get some protection, or continue to have no protection. The bigger question is, who decides?

It’s this latter question that is at the heart of the matter.

We need the right infrastructure on Eighth St. to help keep bike riders off the sidewalks, a major complaint at a recent neighborhood meeting. (photo: Gary L Howe)

Many people have volunteered hundreds of hours attending planning meetings, Grand Vision sessions and speaking out at commission meetings. They don’t do this for a paycheck, they do this because they care about the community and it’s direction. Unfortunately, too often the public’s is forced to react in response to a project like the current Eighth Street debate.

The 2010 repave simply fails to match the desires of the community and fails to provide adequately for every citizen.

Bzdok’s post, which was also a memo to fellow commissioners, includes a lengthy description of the Eighth Street project’s history and details. This includes the background that this section of Eighth St. is precisely mentioned in the previous & current master plan as needing pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. (Intent was clear.)

The city even voted to re-stripe the most eastern part of Eighth St. as a pilot project. Now, driving between Garfield Ave. and Munson Ave. is more calm and bicycle commuters are accommodated. The city has received few if any complaints from that project, and as the mayor says, “a pilot program is something you try out and if successful, you do more.”

There is plenty more to read in this post. All of it helpful in understanding why the city commission and city manager need to reign in the engineering department. It is no longer acceptable that after years of public process on the general direction of the city, that potentially one person can choose to implement or not implement desired features.

The two block reconstruction of Eighth St. is an excellent opportunity for the city to be pro-active on what it should know is the most sensible direction: calm streets that provide for all modes of transportation choices. It’s what city residents have asked and worked for, and what has proven elsewhere as an engine of community, economic growth and sustainability.

We shouldn’t have to debate this for the next 20 years.

If you haven’t done so already, please Contact the city manager & city commissioners today. And, come voice your opinion or give support Monday night February 8th at 7PM.