MyWHaT

Calling it Friday and Surfing Chicks & Bikes on the Hammock.

Today I’m bringing you the chatter and then unplugging for a four-day hiatus from MyWHaT. I may post a few Tweets or posts on Facebook, but the next post will be on Tuesday. Come visit me on the front porch or wherever my hammock ends up.

There’s plenty here today, so I think you will have plenty to read.

Weekly Chatter

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Seeking comment, support & ideas! People, Roads & Rail

• Thanks to MyWHaT guest contributor, the level of understanding about one-ways vs. two-ways is rising. Let the city management know you support a conversion back.

• The Motor City needs your voice in support of Complete Streets & you don’t need to be a city resident.

• MODT taking comment on State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP)…The introduction to this is telling, as they are whining about $$$. Despite costs, the agency still promotes new, wider and single use dedicated roads.

• MDOT is also soliciting comments on the State Rail Plan. M-Live has makes a good point: include roll on bike service. MDOT will kick off there public meetings on rail in TC on September 22.

Chit-Chat

Yeah, it's a BLOG I visit: Chicks & Bikes

• Streetcars everywhere! Why not? Plus, a place with a plan: Grand Rapids’Street Car Plan. Traverse City once had a plan as well…it failed.

• There’s another way…How we unnecessarily tax the capacity of our roads. “Rather than plan new roads, most traffic engineers are working to spread traffic out more evenly.”

• Free parking subsidies for city employees being axed in SF. Should it be considered in TC?

• Californian walkers getting extra time to cross intersections. The clock is ticking. Still, isn’t 3.5 mph fast for a grandma?
  

• Black Rock City, home of Burning Man, has become an example of the resilient, self reliant city, despite being perceived as consisting of NPRAOD. It’s impressive, a 50,000 person city that barely leaves a trace.

• The bicycling boom is generating a backlash in NY, but in the UK: “Cyclists! The public thinks you’re cool and normal“

TwitterVille

• “The true failure of suburbia: a landscape in which automobile use is a prerequisite to social viability” #duany #platerzyberk #smartgrowth (@jimbruckb)
• The Zipper Merge and Civil Society: Jon Stewart talking to Drew Barrymore: JS: To me, the hallmark of civilization… (@tomvanderbilt)
• Creepy, but still, a good practice, I think: Corpses Used as Crash Test Dummies:  (@FreeRangeKid)
  
• If you think gas taxes pay for roads, you’re just not reality based. Not even close: ( @pwthornton) We will revisit this one for sure…

20-mph is Just Fine

To wrap, 20-mph is fast enough for me, you and everyone. Cities are finding that 20-mph through neighborhoods reduce crashes and fatalities, and create for better places. And, the beauty of it, motorists still get to where their going without the world blowing up. What they’ve discovered in the UK is that not only do the streets become safer for all users, but traffic actually becomes more efficient. The following StreetFilm’s video explores the concept with the UK’s 20′s Plenty for Us campaign, Rod King.

Top Posts from MyWHaT this Week:

• A One-Way Desert of Parking: State Street
• One-way & Two-way Streets Reflect a Community’s Priorities
• Conversion of a City’s One-way Street back to a Two-Way Begins with an Ask
  
• Sense of place: Traverse City needs an ‘SOB Square’