…it is greatly appreciated. And, needed._
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by reifindout
Freedom of the bike ride expressed in this promo for REI’s city cycling brand. Certainly provides a nice portrait of #WhyWeRide (SBlog)….Independence, pleasure, stress free, connections, fun…what else?
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TC350 supporters gather for Climate Impacts Day at the Open Space.
The group isn’t alone. The event was an international day of photos, led by the 350 campaign, to highlight the harbingers of global weirding that are already occurring. In Traverse City, the theme was roughly based on the hottest March on record (NOAA)–winter hats and bathing suits, anyone?
A slide show of Connect the Dots images is available here.
I certainly appreciate the following group photo from Bekaa, Lebanon connecting active transportation to more resilient transportation.
Locally, I admit there is very little to do about global weirding. However, we can build resilient communities that are able to quickly adapt and respond to adversity. In Traverse City, weatherman Dave Barrons explores these topics bi-weekly on his public access show, Investigating Community Resilience.
In a recent show, he discusses with Bob Russell of the Neahtawanta Center two of the primary drivers of change: climate change and resource depletion.
Thank you for all those paying attention and drawing attention to the issues.
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Related:
MyWHaT underwriter TART Trails, as they often do, is taking a lead on a community improvement project this afternoon and you’re invited to come lend a hand or simply ride by and give them a big thank you.
In partnership with the City, volunteers will be planting trees along the Boardman Lake Trail near the waste water treatment plant. There is a combination of 26 White Pines, 26 White Spruces and 20 Virginia Creeper (vines) to be put in the ground.
Volunteers will be equipped with wheelbarrows, shovels, buckets for water and gloves, but if you want to work you may also like to bring your own favorite tool(s). They will be meeting Today at 3:30pm along the trail near Hull Park and expect to be done by 5:30.
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Have a weekend.
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Help keep me off the road, donate to the walking shoes fund
Last week, while walking to work, I had a near civic experience.
I was walking in the narrow one-way street heading into the Grand Traverse Civic Center. There are no sidewalks and it was more crowded with parked cars than usual. It can be a bit of cluster-bunch there. I’ve always thought it just needs a bit of intentional design to improve it.
As I was walking, a car approached from behind. I moved closer to the south side of the street to allow room, but I was headed to the north side to access the trail system. As the driver pulled by, I made my cross expecting him to continue into the Civic Center. Only he didn’t continue, instead he stopped and abrubtly started to back-up without hesitation–I was already crossing the street and now directly in his path. Luckily, I did notice even if he didn’t and bounced out of the way. As I stepped around the front of the car and the driver continued to back-up apparenlty oblivious to my presence.
I had a completely normal human reaction; I shot a stink-eye and mumbled an insanity. That was enough. No harm, just a reaction. Moving on. Then the car stopped and the driver rolled down the window to ask, “what did I do?”
“You almost hit me. You didn’t have a clue I was walking there when you began to back-up,” I replied, not quite knowing what to expect and still a little rattled by almost getting smacked by a sedan.
He got out of the car and began to walk towards me. By now the park fence was between us and we both approached each other; choosing to further engage. I wasn’t in the mood for a fight. Really, I thought, do I want to do this right now. Thankfully, neither was he.
With an uncomfortable smile, he explained how he had seen me and expected me to keep walking on the right. I said I understood and simply had a reaction to all of sudden having a car backing-up towards me. I pointed out how the bottle neck of the entrance didn’t help the situation and that extra caution was needed due to the lack of design considerations. He wasn’t expecting a discussion about street design, but agreed and said he sees the problem. We both agreed to watch out and shook hands as best we could through the fence.
All quite civic and civil.
That’s it. A story of civility from the wild streets of Traverse City.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The opportunity to write a guest commentary for TCBN was a nice challenge and chance to introduce the place-focused intent of my writing over the last two years to a different audience. A big thank you to the editors at TCBN for the offer. I’ll be writing another piece for their June issue.
* Originally published in the Traverse City Area Business News, April 2012
In Traverse City, we aren’t accustomed to 82 degree weather in mid-March. When it happened it was a major social event. People flocked outdoors. Downtown was buzzing. We populated parkland, the bayfront, trails, sidewalks, and neighborhoods. Acquaintances chatted with each other in the streets and corners. Public spaces were occupied for no reason other than to be out and about.
Winter met a dramatic end; we wanted to see people.
Collective happenings like these are when the potential vibrancy of a place is on full display. They nudge us out of our normal routines and into shared space. Seeing the energy and activity makes one wonder: why don’t we spend more time out and about? Going for strolls for no reason other than to people watch. Seeking chance encounters and random acts of community.
The design of our public spaces plays a major role in facilitating these connections. However, we often struggle to invest in quality designs that make places inviting, comfortable, and safe. Many of our parks sit as empty lawns except for a few old pieces of playground equipment. Our sidewalks are incomplete and unconnected. Many of our city streets are not designed at a human-scale, but as thoroughfares for when we are at our most disconnected; traveling at speeds of 35 and above–all but oblivious to our surroundings. In the normal course of our days, when there isn’t a major event or happening to bring us together, we hole-up. We invest heavily in our lives away from the public realm to make them comfortable, buy don’t always apply that same logic to investing in community.
Community is not static. It is a process that develops as the flow of people and ideas tangle and interweave with a place. When these exchanges are positive, the outcome is increased social capital with payoffs measured within the community by things like safer streets, stronger neighborhoods, more resilient economies, and healthier people. Researchers are now documenting direct links to people’s health and the quality of the neighborhood where they live.Places that invite daily activity, and the community cohesion that occurs when we interact with others, lead to more expansive social networks.
These networks are what we rely on to discover new economic opportunities and to navigate social and political affairs. The authors Melinda Blau and Karen Fingerman titled a book after these interactions. “Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don’t Seem to Matter…But Really Do” explores the often overlooked payback from interactions we have with people on a daily basis–if only for a moment. As they write, “we might like to think of ourselves as independent agents, marching through life to our own iPod soundtrack, but our relationships propel us as well.”
The buzzword of late pertaining to this investment is Placemaking. It is often narrowly introduced as an economic tool rather than a social tool—but the two aren’t exclusive. There remains a critical role for public-private partnerships to invest in public spaces for the purpose of encouraging people to serendipitously come together. One crowd-sourced definition of Placemaking recently published by Project for Public Spaces, a leading Placemaking organization, was “taking back the public realm to create memorable, beautiful, vibrant places where people want to gather and participate in the community.”
Placemaking is investing in the public realm to encourage effortless, easygoing, unhurried interactions. Places like pocket parks, trailheads, and dog-parks where civic life can occur without being centered on consumption or entertainment. Places where happiness is pursued through the joy of being an active and socializing contributor to the community experience.
Luckily, Traverse City and the surrounding region are well positioned to embrace this type of investment. We already have Placemaking projects in the making, both big and small from Suttons Bay to Elk Rapids. As we proceed, let us focus on the underlying principle of connecting people.
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Safe and convenient for humans, Safe and convenient for beagles.
Over the weekend, city goers enjoyed a diversion in-replace of the ill-attempted pedestrian detour at the Midtown construction zone along Cass St. (MW) Nicely done City staff.
At a social event Friday night someone unaware of last week’s blog post on the subject started to complain about walking along Cass St. with her son during this construction. She found herself crossing the street at odd places and not feeling at all comfortable or safe. It was nice to be able to pause her for a moment, get out my phone, and show her an image of the diversion (TPic). A huge improvement to the attempted detour (TPic).
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I admit it, I do miss curating a collection of news bits, studies, commentary, and curiosities related to public spaces and transportation every week. It was nice way to collect my thoughts from the week and clear the multiple browser tabs left open throughout the week. It was fun to piece together. But, the advisory council agreed that the labor hours put into the blog had to be cut somewhere, and so…
I trust the MyWHaT readers who were fans of the Weekly Chatter are following when they can on the MyWHaT Tumblr. It operates like a streamlined archive of items that catch my eye and mind; sometimes I add commentary, often I don’t.
This hierarchical traffic pyramid below is something that caught my eye recently. I’ve certainly seen similar ones, but I like the comprehensiveness to this version. Some other visuals to flag from the Tumblr: this is how to paint a street, introduce fun into the built environment, and watching citizen cyclists from above (admire the flow).
Thank you for your time and continued support (your $5, $10, $25 helps prevent further cuts).
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(via alascca)
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Below is an email I sent to the City yesterday concerning the construction zone at Midtown along Cass St. I did receive a reply confirming that the situation would be addressed. Something to keep an eye on.
UPDATE 3pm: It appears that the City went for the less desirable “detour” solution (TwitPic)–underperforming on north approach, but trying to meet the standard. Moving on.
UPDATE II 3:30PM 04.27.1012: Upon further review, a diversion upgrade (TP). Thank you City!
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To City Engineering and Planning,
I’m trying not to complain, so let me attempt to frame this email as simply a description of how I’d like to see my city treat people who happen to choose to move around on foot. Using, of course, a current issue as an example.
Sidewalk closed, you're on your own
The construction at Midtown necessitates a closing of the sidewalk along Cass St. for safety purposes. I understand that. However, I fail to see where basic consideration for pedestrian traffic through this construction zone has taken place. There is a sign, at the closure, that simply says, “side-walk closed.” No detour. No alternate route. The allowance of parking along this edge compounds the problem by obscuring the view of someone attempting to navigate around.
When I attempted to walk in the street around the construction, I was almost clipped as I stepped out and around an SUV that was blocking my view. I can only imagine what it would be like if I was in a wheelchair or otherwise less agile than I am.
Is this the worst place in the world? No. Can this construction zone be improved? Most definitely.
Preferred diversion
I scribbled a simple solution that I’ve seen countless times in other cities. It attempts to maintain the original path as much as possible (which is something I’d like to see in my City) and can be made wheelchair accessible with a few sheets of plywood or other solution. The orange barriers are exactly that, orange barriers. You can charge the developer to bag the meters (4 spaces*), so there is no loss of revenue.
The result, uninterrupted walkability that encourages, rather than discourages the most basic form of transportation known to humans.
I continue to believe that as a City we can do better and the hopeful thing is that to achieve better, all we really need to do is follow the basic guidelines in the Federal and Michigan MUTCD.
Thank you for continued hard-work on behalf of the City.
Sincerely,
Gary
* The parking meters are already bagged and are reserved for the work-crew on site.
The two standard options, neither of which were followed:
Related:
Give, you’re designed to, and it is greatly appreciated._
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Scene from last week as crews wrap-up the first clean-up.
I don’t know about you, but I’ll miss the traffic calming impact of this year’s extra, storm-induced brush pick-up. The piles of sticks, branches, and other debris made for almost perfect chicanes (MW). Sorry to see them go, but know they must.
Thank you to the City work crews for all their hard work. They are now in the midst of a loose leaf pass of the City. The annual trash pick-up and scavenger hunt begins April 30th on the West side of the City moving East for one pass. Trash must be placed in the alley. Brush will also be picked up from the alley in another pass also beginning April 30th.
More information: Spring Clean-up Rules (PDF)
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Related: Record Eagle Editorial: Scrapping TC’s spring cleanup not worth the price
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Give, you’re designed to, and it is greatly appreciated._
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Concerned citizens listening to the City Manager present his proposed budget.
The operation of the ski program at Hickory Hills appears to be saved, for now. Each member of the City Commission expressed a strong interest in maintaining the investment for the coming fiscal year at last night’s study session.
It became clear during the discussion that the final budget to be approved by June 4th will not look exactly like the City Manager’s proposed budget (MW), but given the time-crunch for alternatives it will largely remain intact. An idea resurfaced to restructure the fire department (RE), but it isn’t clear that there is enough time this year for that to solve the gap to pass a balanced budget. Those discussions will continue over the next month.
Building off of the expressed commitment by the City Commissioners to Hickory Hills, interested parties like the Grand Traverse Ski Club will continue to be very active in finding agreeable solutions long-term. There has long been a desire to form a regional authority to manage the program for the City, but in order for that to happen there needs to be a commitment by the City to support the energy, time, and investment needed to begin giving shape to the idea. Last night might have been a catalyst for that. As well, some unsure but fairly easy suggestions were made last night to better spread the cost across the regional townships–about 50% of the users are not City residents, and there is interest among some for more regional contribution.
What is needed from the current City Commissioner is a number. What is the annual investment they are willing to put towards the recreational program? If $80-$90 thousand is too high, then what about $60,000? $50,000? If the public knew what level was acceptable to this commission, realistic alternatives to assist the City would be, if not easier, at least be tangible.
There is work to be done. From the crowd last night, those that are interested are certainly engaged and mobilized. If you’d like to join them, you can contact the Preserve Hickory Hills group through Facebook or contact the Grand Traverse Ski Club. You are also encouraged to continue to contact your City Commissioners and let them know what you are willing to contribute to the maintaining Hickory Hills.
As frequent user of the hill, Enrico Schaefer, said at the podium last night:
“It’s about keeping it open. We will help you, but that has to be the mandate. Let us help you keep Hickory Hills open.”
They’ve expressed an interest in preserving it, let’s show them how.
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