Special interests: Livability, community & the YIMBY effect
Feb. 8th Study session was a packed house with a diverse crowd. (Screen grab from UpNorthMedia)
On February 8th, 150 people went to a Traverse City Study Session to weigh in on a 2-Block section of 8th Street. 33 people spoke at the study session. Prior to that, the city received around 300 emails.
The comments were diverse, articulate and supportive. They were delivered by neighbors speaking to neighbors. Yes, some were ‘bike advocates’, but many spoke as homeowners, walkers, automobile drivers, active city volunteers…
The breadth of the discussion is worth revisiting.
Many comments challenged the working premise of commissioners and others that the streets are for motorized vehicles. This isn’t legally true and it isn’t the value of the residents of Traverse City. The Master Plan represents at the least 30 years of public input repeatedly asking that all streets be treated as places and not just as conduits for cars–too many people have given too many hours with the sole intention of building a better community for implementation to be thwarted by technicalities.
We want Complete Streets.
It’s the cultural, economic, philosophical model of the next 100 years.
- The status quo of meeting the minimum requirements of a project’s process and scope needs to end.
- The poor communication skills of the city need to end (they can begin by embracing effective use of technology and recognizing the urgency of 300 emails).
- The cycle of city officials and staff hearing only from curmudgeons who say ‘no’ to everything needs to end.
- More people need to articulate and advance what they are ‘for’ and where they want it to happen.
We need a YIMBYs for livable streets movement! (More on this ‘Yes, in my back yard’ movement soon.)
On 8th Street, it includes bike lanes. It also includes enhanced pedestrian crossings. Bus stops. Street furniture and green spaces. For some, it even includes advanced natural storm water infiltration–intelligent pathways for water.
It includes engineering a street that forces cars to go the 25mph speed limit (or less). Giving cars valuable public space with wider lanes and throwing up a standard 25 MPH sign doesn’t achieve this–It encourages the opposite.
What are you for and where do you want it?
Bonus Round: In reaction to many comments seen on discussion boards.
- The additional cost for Complete Street amenities is inexpensive when prioritized from the beginning.
- The TART Trail is not a substitution for a bike lane. It’s for mixed recreational use.
8th St. is a destination in itself. Get everyone there!- Sidewalks are statistically more dangerous for bike riders-speeds of 12-25mph do not mix with pedestrians.
- Motorized vehicles going 25mph don’t pose additional risk to bicycle commuters. We can engineer slower speeds.
- Complete Street additions improve universal mobility…not everyone owns or uses a car.
- All of our taxes subsidize the streets. Driving a car contributes about 3-cents a mile to its use in gas-tax (nothing).
- Not many are arguing that the city give-up the grant money and cancel the contract with Kal Excavating. The project hasn’t started, so there is time for a change of order.
- Yet, the urgency is due to the fact that well designed ‘retrofit’ is unlikely within 10 years.
- There are untapped tourism dollars for Traverse City to be billed as an active city.
- And there are 5000 other reasons why 2010 is the year to start the 8th Street rethink and design.
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