MyWHaT

The spring rains finally began this week and the crocus, daffodils and tulips are emerging (the wild leeks in my yard are coming up too).

At the same time, MyWHaT’s 10,000th visit quietly occurred sometime early Monday morning.

Exciting! Considering that the editor was called out as an over-wired menace the week of the launch, this experiment could have went many ways.

So far, it has been nothing but positive. It’s been invigorating work rewarded by a quick climb to around 150 readers per day. Almost every week someone new appears to offer verbal support and excitement; it’s energizing getting to know many of you. Traverse City really does have many creative minds who want to be involved. One goal for MyWHaT is to help those people stand up and be counted.

The big ask

To accomplish this, I need your help. It’s time for me to step it up and ask for financial support to keep this train running at full speed. Next week, I’ll be directly contacting those of you who have already expressed a desire to underwrite MyWHaT.

Underwriters will help this project flourish.

I’m asking readers to also help me source some additional support. Perhaps it’s you, perhaps it’s someone you know. Either way, send me an email with your idea, as well as a contact person & information if appropriate.

The idea of having underwriters is to seek support from businesses, organizations and individuals who want to be a partner for the advocating for wise use of public space through intentional design.

Not ready to underwrite? Or, would prefer to remain anonymous? You can donate via paypal (I’ll send you some stickers) or send me an email to make other arrangements. In-kind underwriting is also appreciated, so if you have a service that is suitable for trade, let me know.

Some big thank-yous to:

• Everyone who has chimed in or introduced MyWHaT to a friend this past 3 months.
• Trail blazing underwriters: Higher Grounds Beans by Bike delivery, TART Trails, Mike Erway-Graphic Designer.
• The guest contributors Lee Maynard, Bill Palladino, and ‘Chester’. Sharing this space is part of the goal, the Our Wheels are Turning part of it all. If something has your wheels turning, and you want to guest contribute, let me know.
  

Enjoy the spring rain!

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Sightline Daily contributor Eric de Place is fascinated by the ‘functional chaos of the city‘ caught on film in San Fransisco in 1906. He’s struck about how it appears that, “American streets have not always been the exclusive province of automobiles, where all other uses are forbidden on pain of death.“

He then goes on to compare this idea with the modern Woonerf design and refers to a 2004 Salon titled  Why don’t we do it in the road? The article explores the idea that one reason why our streets are so dangerous is because there are too many rules. Something Traverse City writer Henry Morgenstein has also written about and has been proposed in Traverse City in the 200 Front St block alley project (PDF).

U.K. traffic and urban design consultant Ben Hamilton-Baillie explains the advantage in the Salon article:

“One of the characteristics of a shared environment is that it appears chaotic, it appears very complex, and it demands a strong level of having your wits about you. The history of traffic engineering is the effort to rationalize what appeared to be chaos. Today, we have a better understanding that chaos can be productive.

“What the early woonerf principles realized was that there was a two-way interaction between people and traffic. It was a vicious or, rather, a virtuous circle: The busier the streets are, the safer they become. So once you drive people off the street, they become less safe.”

Research repeatedly shows that “fatality rates at busy intersections” drop significantly when modern signals and signage are taken away.

Found looking at the above video was an updated version from 2005. Look how orderly, and separate, everything is..seems a lot less vibrant as well. Not to mention the amount of space & expense dedicated to one function.

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