A couple MyWHaT fans spotted this well-worn social trail at the base of Old Mission Peninsula along Eastern Ave. It’s a block from the high school, 2 blocks from the elementary school and 3 blocks from NMC. I know of one long-time instructor who used to walk it everyday. It is also a connector from the neighborhoods to Bryant Park.  Who would want to walk to any of these places?

While she was there, she reports that she “saw several walkers (talking on cell phone and another walking and carrying his dogs, haha) and cyclers and they all had to be on the road with with the cars. The dog was smart and used the social trail.“

There is a wide shoulder along Center Rd., but the high number of active people along this route seems to beg for something.

REMINDER: Are you seeing social trails in Traverse City? The city engineer is currently collecting data on the existing sidewalk network (or lack thereof) and has asked for help in spotting social trails. The social trails will help prioritize where the city constructs sidewalks for the coming decade.  If you want to send comment with a location, I will get an image and send it on to the city engineer. Or, send an image and description to him and the city planner directly (copy MyWHaT as well so we can keep a running list).

Using his space efficiently and wisely, this Dutch man demonstrates how he parks his car in, perhaps, the world’s narrowest car-garage.

“Eugène from Liedekerke is an 87-year old man who still parks his car in a very narrow garage. So narrow that he only has 1,2 inch to spare at either side of the car. Luckely for Eugène Fiat has produced the Panda.“

Makes you wonder about those of us who build garages that rival our homes.

(Click to enlarge)

An on-street bicycle parking experiment is underway on Front Street for the next month, or two. Located in front of Red Ginger and the State Theatre, a space dedicated to cars now has room for 12 (+/-) bicycles. The project is a result of effort by TART Trails, through McClain’s Cycle and Fitness and a grant from Specialized.

It’s unfortunate that the parking wasn’t installed earlier in the summer as intended, however, there’s no time like today to get something accomplished.

There is plenty of riding, and parking, ahead of us before the snowplows force the rack off the street, so please use it and show city staff, and area businesses, that these racks fulfill a need.

In addition, send the city manager, DDA, and city planner feedback on the concept , value and suggestions/support for more locations in 2011 (emails below).

Why Bother with On-Street Bicycle Parking?

A need for more bicycle parking in Traverse City.

MyWHaT is a strong supporter of on-street bicycle parking. It accomplishes the direct result of providing convenient parking to area businesses & public spaces, but it also accomplishes several other goals for a community focused on increasing active transportation & has concerns about public space.

My brainstorm of  benefits:

• Fulfills a latent demand for bicycle parking.
• Improves the walking & wheelchair experience for sidewalk traffic.
• Provides space for up to 12 visitors, instead of the typical 1.2 average per car.
• Increased visibility for and of bicycles. After all, bikes belong.
• Increase visibility of store fronts, as the bikes don’t block the view of street-level entrances.
• Saves the city money locating & building infrastructure singly for bicycle parking.
• Saves the city money on maintenance of light poles & trees damaged by free-range bicycle parking.
• Traffic calming: on-street parking adds a human scale to the street. Motorists slow down when people are present.
• Combined with street beautification, can help create a sense of place across the entire public right-of-way.

Do you have any other benefits to add?

Where do you see some other opportunities for on-street bike parking?

(Map of Suggested Locations)

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The Installation

No fan-fare, just two engineers getting a job done.

SUPPORT ON-STREET BIKE PARKING: Send your comments regarding on-street bike parking to: City manager, Ben Bifoss, city planner, Russ Soyring, Executive director of DDA, Bryan Crough

bbifoss@traversecitymi.gov,rsoyring@ci.traverse-city.mi.us,bcrough@ci.traverse-city.mi.us

Related Articles

• Bike corral installed at Jolly Roger Taproom (myballard.com)
• New York Trades Parking For Pedestrian Space (BrokenSidewalk.coom)
• More home shoppers include bike access on their list (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Nick Marsh: Cycling carrots in Copenhagen (nudges.org)

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’

Peter’s guest post about how a community’s choice between one-way and two-way streets reflects its values is poignant. It’s not just on this BLOG that residents are talking about street design and use.  There are neighborhood traffic committees, both official, ad hoc and impromptu discussions happening on front porches, alleyways and sidewalks across the city. Presentations by a leading traffic engineer generated large audiences in middle of summer.

Street design is sexy!

The practice of building and maintaining streets at a minimal level of innovation is no longer acceptable. Streets and right-of-way reflect most of our public space and we’re beginning to realize that it’s insane to let a single-use run amok.

Focus on State Street: The Forgotten Child

As Peter mentioned in his post this morning, we have a focal point in the proposed West Front parking deck that requires innovation and strategic planning to manage the extra motorized traffic that it will create. Yes, the deck will grease the wheels of ‘development’ in that corridor, but will it be car focused or people focused development? State Street, as designed now, is primarily populated by businesses focused on serving people in cars. In between businesses are parking lots, both public and private, most of it very cheap. It’s not true that parking decks aren’t subsidized. The external costs to the surrounding neighborhoods are high.

An all out strategic plan for the entire city needs to go with any state of the art blue print and economic promises accompanying the West End parking deck. The first two-parking decks did not, it’s a requirement for the third downtown parking deck in a decade. We can begin by asking for elimination of the State Street one-way.

Supporting a Smart Choice

It’s my understanding that city staff isn’t necessarily opposed to this idea and they need to know that we, the citizens of the region, are aware of the issue and support, at the least, the idea, if not full implementation. Below is my draft of a letter to send to the city manager, his assistant and the city planner. I limited its scope and readers will certainly have additional recommendations. Share them with us here in the comment section and then share them with the city staff.

EMAIL CONTACTS: Please consider drafting your own (use mine as a model if you need to) and send it to: bbifoss@traversecitymi.gov • Ben Bifoss, city manager; mvitous@ci.traverse-city.mi.us • Makayla Vitous, assistant to cm; rsoyring@ci.traverse-city.mi.us • Russ Soyring, city planner.

Also, the staff and board chairperson of the Downtown Development Authority need to be included: bryan@downtowntc.com • Bryan Crough, E. D. & Community Development Director; rob@downtowntc.com • Rob Bacigalupi, Deputy Director; ncf1997@aol.com • Burian, Robert C., Chairperson.

___

To City Manager R. Ben Bifoss and staff,

Lately, there has been a lot of attention focused on the design of our streets. Count me as one of the voices that believe that we can design them to better reflect the values of city residents. The neighborhoods have voiced their desire to live in a city that isn’t dominated by, and built solely for the convenience of the motorist. The list of prescriptions is lengthy, however, there is an opportunity now to fix one of the forgotten streets: State Street.

I support converting State Street from a one-way street back into a two-way street, including the short section of Pine Street.  The proposed West Front parking deck is an excellent impetus to kick-start this conversion. The parking deck will purposefully increase the amount of motorized traffic in our city. That needs countering with any and all professional recommendations possible to reduce the negative impacts that will occur. The parking deck doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There will be consequences for other modes of transportation, as well as on the economic vibrancy & livability of adjacent parts of the downtown  and in the neighborhoods. A strategic plan to deal with the impact needs to be more than simply converting a street back to a two-way, but it is a start to the conversation that must occur. (I’d be happy to sit with you to explore more changes and enhancements that need to occur, like a real reduction in surface parking, raising the price of street parking, and leading edge traffic calming and LID storm-water treatment.)

A walk along the route is revealing, the 3 decade long experiment of a one-way street on State Street has hindered economic activity, active transportation, transit and increased safety concerns downtown. One-way streets are known to create excessive speeds, unnecessary circling (which leads to congestion and reduced downtown desirability) and a decrease in walkability and bikability. Front Street is successful and our city would be much improved if we could emulate, improve and augment that on another street.

One-way streets have one purpose: moving cars quickly through a place at high speeds. On State Street, it is also built to provide parking for Front Street. We, as a community, have moved beyond this need. It no longer makes sense to maintain a 1960′s traffic experiment.

I would like to see the city move forward. Plans for the west end parking deck need to include a redesign of State St. back to a two-way street among other changes to our street network.

How can I help you make this conversion?

Sincerely,

Gary L Howe

Traverse City Michigan

____

Peter’s posts are at:

• Part I: One-way & Two-way Streets Reflect a Community’s Priorities
• Part II: A One-Way Desert of Parking: State Street

Well done to the organizers of the Third Coast Bicycle Festival. It was great to see so many people with their bicycles, of all shapes, sizes, bells and whistles riding around town. Fun events, spread over many interests. Good work. Cheers!

Some Footage

Bruce Bodjack, a member of the Cherry Capital Cycling Club took some stills at the Bicycle Festival Fashion Show and has kindly posted them on his Flickr page. To the right is the honorable white van, decked out in TCBF garb.

MyWHaT Events?

I missed out on a lot of the events, but look forward to scheduling it into my August next year. August is the new July, I might as well embrace it. In fact, if MyWHaT is still around I may have to host some events…ideas?

I have three for you to consider:

1. A slow bicycle race? More of a physics experiment than a race.
2. A bicycle rack contest? we can get beyond the functional upside down “U”, can’t we?
   
3. A DIY Street Improvement Sprint? No link for this one, but there might be a way to make it legal.
   

What do you think? What event(s) pops out for you?

Video Tuesday

The first is a quick grab at last week’s fashion show ride around the ‘gut’. Anytime a group of riders can joyfully command the street, it’s hard not to smile.

Joel Gaff, one of the organizers of the week, has a couple of videos online from races during the week. Here’s the Wayne Hill gut buster. He has another video of the Cherry-Roubaix Street Sprints 2010…holy crap they are fast!

Oh, and TCBF. Thanks again for The Cranky. How embarrassing.

Filed under: Chatter, Visual Stimulus ]]> http://mywheelsareturning.com/2010/08/31/props-to-the-third-coast-bicycle-festival/feed/ 1 GLHowe tcbf clapping http://mywheelsareturning.com/2010/08/31/our-cities-ourselves/ http://mywheelsareturning.com/2010/08/31/our-cities-ourselves/#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 11:45:01 +0000 GLHowe http://mywheelsareturning.com/?p=6644 ]]> How would you design your street?

These are images of drawings left at the Our Cities Ourselves exhibit at the Center for Architecture in New York city. Viewers are giving a cross-section of a street and asked, “How would you design your street?”

Click to view slideshow.

I like the old car jungle gym…recycle it!

MyWHaT highlighted this exhibit earlier this year when we highlighted the 10 Principles for transport in Urban Life.

Also included in the slide show are the feet of Bill Palladino and I standing in a square meter. It’s a powerful visual to see the space we consume when we make simple trips. The description at the top suggests that a bus in Mexico City is full at 7 people per square meter.

The Next 20-years

The booklet at the bottom of this post is an excellent substitute to visiting the exhibit. I really like pages 8 & 9 that walk the reader through the ‘the next 20 years’ and what we will need at different stages (page 8 below).

The first example is a 30-year-old woman expressing a desire to bike her children to day-care, but forced to drive. “It would be much more convenient to take my child to day-care on the bicycle on the way to work, but I’m just not sure it’s safe, so I drive the minivan. It costs a lot and I spend more time looking for parking.“

Reminds me of one of MyWHaT’s earliest unsolicited emails by a frustrated mom wishing to bike her children around instead of drive.

(Click for larger view)

If you’re in New York, “Our Cities Ourselves” is up until September 11. Details are here.

Our Cities Ourselves Booklet:

Related Articles

• Architecture exhibition envisions a sustainable urban future (greendiary.com)
• Our Cities Ourselves (archidose.blogspot.com)
• N.Y. exhibit imagines utopian, green cities in 2030 (ctv.ca)

Social trail along Fair St. looking north towards NMC’s entrance.

This social trail caught my eye for the little bend towards the road. On this busy neighborhood street, most people are resistant to walk in what we assume are people’s front yards. So, they take to the streets. However, just because there is no sidewalk present doesn’t mean that the public right of way doesn’t exist. On a busier street, the view south at this point would still have a social trail as people would refuse to walk in the street. South to 8th Street there is no sidewalk.

The view south. Nice lawns, but it remains the public right of way.

This sidewalk is obviously well-traveled. The school, restaurant, church and civic center are all attractions. What we aren’t seeing when we accept this lack of infrastructure is the inequality that it promotes. Imagine traversing this with crutches, a wheel chair, as an 8 or 80-year-old. Or, with your shoes tied together. Then, going the rest of the way to 8th Street along the street. In this case, it’s not what makes for a walkable city.

The adjacent property owners may not initially like it, but this goes on my ‘priority sidewalk‘ list.

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ATTENTION: Are you seeing social trails in Traverse City? The city engineer is currently collecting data on the existing sidewalk network (or lack thereof) and has asked for help in spotting social trails. The social trails will help prioritize where the city constructs sidewalks for the coming decade. I’ve started to collect some (Flickr photo Set) and have written about a few, but I know there are more out there. If you want to send comment with a location, I will get an image and send it on to the city engineer. Or, send an image and description to him and the city planner directly (copy MyWHaT as well so we can keep a running list).

It should be noted, the criteria for prioritization will also consider the size and volumes of streets and whether the proposed sidewalk would fill a missing link, not just social trail placement.

sidewalks won’

Happy spotting and shooting.

Filed under: Advocacy, Announcement, Walking ]]> http://mywheelsareturning.com/2010/08/30/needed-social-trail-sightings/feed/ 2 GLHowe Social Trail SocialTrail_Fair2 http://mywheelsareturning.com/2010/08/30/the-uninteded-consquences-of-closed-minds/ http://mywheelsareturning.com/2010/08/30/the-uninteded-consquences-of-closed-minds/#comments Mon, 30 Aug 2010 13:05:50 +0000 GLHowe http://mywheelsareturning.com/?p=6708 ]]> Monday’s Quote

Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static snapshots.”

– Peter Senge, Pattern of Behavior

It’s a complex world and our choices have consequences beyond the immediate. I’m trying to see those patterns in our community. Frequently on this website, we discuss the problems of today without always fully realizing that those problems were yesterday’s solutions; at least, for someone.

Today those ‘someones‘ are all of us. Neighbors. Our actions are driving status quo as well as change; nothing stands still. Is what’s to come in the future what we intend? For example, we may fully intend to calm traffic along Division St., but our actions (unnecessary driving), preferences (NIMBY, speeding), perceptions (cut-through traffic is bad) may be getting in the way of present solutions and creating future problems.

Participating in and watching several community meetings lately has me slightly worried about the ability for Traverse City to improve its use of public space, in particularly improving our worst streets. Too often, we enter discussions with our position made-up, our perspective set, our preferences un-bendable and our assumptions solidified. I’m often guilty of it myself. What brings me around is stepping back and throwing out The Answer, and letting a solution present itself.

Answers aren’t acquired & collected, but heard, explored and implemented with open minds.

By the way, the TC Bicycle Festival is taking over Friday Night Live tonight on Front Street. Bikes, bikes and more bikes is the theme. (Favor to ask: send me images if you can. I, unfortunately, but necessarily have to work.)

Weekly Chatter

• The City of Traverse City introduced a traffic calming document. They are seeking advice and from my first read, they really need help. Send comments to the city planner.

• A driveway tax. hmmm? Interesting idea. Here’s how a community steps away from valuing parking over people.

• This “little dog will keep barking”: Reclaim the streets, don’t let the bully win.

• Road diets reduce collisions AND improve traffic flow. The summary of the report can be downloaded at “Evaluation of Lane Reduction “Road Diet” Measures on Crashes” (PDF). I will be writing about this soon, as we have some serious decisions to make in Traverse City. Basically, if we want road diets on our worst roads, we need to use the entire network, otherwise we will continue to create car sewers like Division St., 8th Street, Garfield Ave…..

• What’s your vision for passenger rail in Michigan? Rumor has it there will also be a meeting in Traverse City on September 22.  Rail seems more doable as  the economic reality is setting in. There is even a symposium coming up on the conservative case for rail.  Just please keep the libertarians away, as far as infrastructure goes, they are wrong.

Twitterville:

• RT “Boulder to use car colors to discourage driving” (@lutzfernandez)
• We kill 40k people in traffic accidents and maim 3x that each year and we don’t think anything of it. (@pwthornton)
• Burlington, Vermont turned a parking space into bike parking in a very creative way.  (@ohhleary)
• Ingham County Road Commission, 1st Cmmn in MI to adopt Complete Sts. Kudos to IC Women’s Commission (@WalkBikeRollMI)

To wrap, the King of Cycle Chic misses the “Cycle Chictress” while eating lunch (warning: eye candy alert). Cycle Chic is a global movement showcasing everyday people riding their bikes and looking good. In a subtle way, it’s advocating style over speed and creating a culture where bikes are valued beyond recreation. Last night’s Bicycle Film Night started with the following short: Cycle Chic in Copenhagen and Beyond. For a list of Cycle Chic spin-offs, see below, but first this short for inspiration.

Key Posts on MyWHaT this past week:

• Parking in Traverse City: Key to Prosperity or Car Incubator?
  
• Guest Contributor: One-way & Two-way streets = Choices
• 無爲 wúwéi of MyWHaT: Not Quitting, Just Letting Go
• PARK (ing) Day: Are You In?

Have a weekend!

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List of Cycle Chic Community from the Original:

• 416 CYCLE STYLE – TORONTO • A PARISIAN CYCLIST • AIX-EN-PROVENCE CYCLE CHIC • AMSTERDAMIZE • AUCKLAND CYCLE CHIC • BANDUNG CYCLE CHIC • BARCELONA CYCLE CHIC • CHANGE YOUR LIFE, RIDE A BIKE • CHARLESTON CYCLE CHIC • CURITIBA CYCLE CHIE • CYCLE CHIC BELGIUM • CYCLE CHIC PORTO ALLEGRE • CYCLE CHIC SUNDAYS • CYCLE CHIC VALÉNCIA • CYCLE CHIC HUNGARY • ESTONIA CYCLE CHIC • EUGENE CYCLE CHIC • FEATHER BRIGADE – SYDNEY • I DREAM OF BICYCLING • CYCLE CHIC JACKSONVILLE • KOSZALIN CYCLE CHIC • KRAKOW CYCLE CHIC • L.A. CYCLE CHIC • LAKELAND FLORIDA CYCLE CHIC • LODZ CYCLE CHIC • LONDON CYCLE CHIC • LUBLIN CYCLE CHIC • MOSCOW CYCLE CHIC • MALMÖ•LUND CYCLE CHIC • MUNICH CYCLE CHIC • MY HYGGELIG • NO HO CYCLE CHIC • ODESSA CYCLE CHIC • PHOENIX CYCLE CHIC • PORTOCALA MECANICA • RADOM CYCLE CHIC • RIGA CYCLE CHIC • SACRAMENTO CYCLE CHIC • SEXIFY – SEOUL CYCLE CHIC • SHE RIDES A BIKE • ST. ANDREWS CYCLE CHIC • ST. PETERSBURG CYCLE CHIC • STOCKHOLM – PUT THE FUN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS • SWEET GEORGIA BROWN • SYDNEY CYCLE CHIC • TALL CHICKS ON DUTCH BIKES • THE HAGUE CYCLE CHIC • TORINO CYCLE CHIC • TORUN CYCLE CHIC • TUCSON BIKE BEAUTIFUL • VANCOUVER CYCLE CHIC • VELO BELLO • VELO VOGUE • VÉLOCOUTURE • WARSAW CYCLE CHIC • WILL ‘O THE WISP • WROCLAW BICYCLE CHIC • ZIELONA GÓRA CYCLE CHIC •

Filed under: Chatter, Complete Streets ]]>