My Wheels are Turning

A Call to Inaction

Friday September 17th is International PARK(ing) Day.

Traverse City residents are ready to take part and we have plenty of downtown parking. (The waters were tested back in August). Due to scheduling conflicts, it’s proposed that TC hold a PARK(ing) event two-days before the world, on Wednesday September 15th.

Hump Day needs more activity anyway.

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A preliminary PARK(ing) Event on Front St. (photo: GLHowe)

Interested? Can you Take Back Your Time somewhere 10am-2pm on September 15th?

If you are, leave a comment or send me an email. This will largely be self organized, but MyWHaT can offer coordination. A few ideas have already been generated, but I’m personally interested in what many of you can come up with.

What is PARK(ing) Day?

The following is from the creators’ DIY planning network website:

“PARK(ing) Day is an annual worldwide event that inspires city dwellers everywhere to transform metered parking spots into temporary public parks for the public good.”

Fair enough…now, what does can it look like?

PARK(ing) Day: User-Generated Urbanism from Brandon Bloch on Vimeo.

Original concept of PARK(ing) Day by Rebar. www.rebargroup.org. Thank you for sharing.

Related Articles

• Park(ing) Day and Climate Branding (worldchanging.com)
• 700 parking spaces to be transformed into parks (globaltvbc.com)
• NYC Summer Streets 2010, Opening Up Park Avenue (laughingsquid.com)

From the weekend

Street Pong

The Lincoln/Boyd Street Brigade held a small gathering in the street over the weekend, with full permission.

In the TC Street Ordinance (PDF): 1020.05 CLOSING STREETS; PERMIT REQUIRED (PDF). No person other than a police officer or firefighter shall close any street without a permit. A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction.

Permit is easy. $25.00

EXTRA: I do take issue with this section in the Street Ordinance. Streets are for people too…

1020.04 PLAYING IN STREETS AND ALLEYS; TOY VEHICLES.
(a) No person shall play ball or any other game upon any public street or alley.
(b) No person upon roller skates or riding any coaster, toy vehicle or similar device shall go upon any roadway except while crossing a street on a crosswalk. (1976 Code Sec. 9.06)
(c) A person who violates this section is responsible for a civil infraction. (Ord. No. 410. Passed 12-19-94).

Reclaim the streets, beginning with your own.

Park Portrait: The Jay P. Smith Walkway

Traverse City’s only genuine pocket park is The Jay P. Smith Walkway, which was renovated in 2006 with improved landscaping, a drinking fountain, street furniture and a “Grandfathers Fountain” seen above with a bit of a bubble issue. Typically, this is used as a walkway or a casual place to sit and people watch. The bubble scene happened sometime last Sunday morning during the Film Festival. The  young Tanner didn’t seemed to mind and ended up negotiating with his mother for more time. Fun all around, although the city employee who volunteers to clean up the park almost every morning had a bigger than usually job (thanks D.W., the kiddos did have fun).

History

The walkway was established in 1965 by the city commission and named in honor of Jay P. Smith for his leadership in community, which included work with Cherry Festival. In 2006, through city staff and resident volunteer hours, the renovations were completed. Record Eagle writer/editor Loraine Anderson wrote about about Smith and his ties to the community, and the connection to a broader history and sense of place in a short column in 2008. In it, she list those involved with raising money for the walkway.

In 2005, the city decided to rehab the walkway with new landscaping, a “Grandfathers Fountain” with donations from former Mayor Linda Smyka and Socks Construction, as well as new benches and tables bought with money from the families of the late Robert J. Brick Sr., Jackson Bensley, John W. Rennie and Mary Lou Cain. The city also received a donation from the Girrbach family, which includes Pangea Pizza owner Chris Girrbach.

The park is an example of one of the most used intentional public spaces in the city. Below, the fountain can be seen below sans-bubbles and the walkway on a typical summer day being used as any great public space. Follow the link for more images of the bubble scenes.

Take back your time, take back your space.

A small band of us held the summer’s first PARK(ing) celebration in downtown Traverse City this morning. Inspired by the international movement PARK(ing) Day, we thought it was time to utilize more of the public right-of-way for human enjoyment instead of car storage. We did well. In the same amount of space typically dedicated to a car, we had a dozen people participate, even if just for a moment, and still room for our bikes, house plants, seating, table and snacks.

And it only cost $2. Cheap.

We honored the two-hour parking limit and paid our full share (minus the free half-hour). We played checkers, ate cookies, some of us worked using a nearby wi-fi and generally, we sat around and people watched. All what you’d expect people do in parks.

PARK(ing) Images

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This was easy. Anyone can do it. We weren’t bothered by anyone at all. There will be more. Ideas for next time: ping pong, a carpet of sod, a kiddy-pool and more dog biscuits.

Parting shot

Many asked how you get house plants & such downtown without a car. You do it quite easily.

Bill “No Spill” Palladino has two videos up on YouTube: “Choosing A Space and Claiming It” and “Liberal Interpretation of the Michigan Penal Code.” (I lost in the end).

What kind of park could you make?

Video marketing for a splash pad

Splash Pad, New York’s Battery Park July 2010

Splash pads are popping up everywhere lately, and why not? It seems like instant entertainment for hours and hours. I stumbled upon this water playground while in New York. As a $300,000 line item, it doesn’t seem like a a bad investment at all in terms of fun-per-hour.

The bayfront plan, to be presented to the city commission at their next meeting, includes a splash pad between the Clinch Park Beach and the proposed Con Foster Commons.

Illustration provided by Johnson Hill Land Ethics Studio & URS

Parents and kids out there, what do you think?

Imagine slightly heated water to make it usable for 6-7 months out of the year.

Ideas like natural playscapes are why I’m serving on Traverse City’s parks and recreation commission. Traverse City’s parks are really undeserved. We have over 30 of them and I’m sure we’ve all passed by at least one of them and said, “wow, I never knew a park was there.” We don’t notice them because they tend to be open grass lots without much to draw us in except for someone mowing them.

I trust that we can do better; the bayfront design currently underway will be different.

Harness Water for Play

(Image provided by URS)

There has been a concerted effort, beginning with the Your Bay, Your Say, to not just design something out of the box. There is a still over a month left before the final designs are due from the consultant URS Engineering, but during the month of May there will be a series of public meetings to show the work up to this point.

There is a lot of things to like in the design and one of them is the inclusion of some natural playscapes. The image of the child at the right is an example of an element that may be included in the old zoo property. During the charrette, it was brought to the attention of the design team that an artesian well is located nearby. Currently, it is piped and discharged into the marina harbor. What a waste!

What if we could harness that water into a meandering creek that is accessible for children to play in and around? With the right design this element could serve as an educational piece, environmental improvement (water may need some cleaning), addition of a pleasant noise scape, a focal point and still allow for interaction with children and families. It would define the place.

You can download the bayfront plans (PDF), but to really understand what is being designed it’s best to attend one of the presentations during the next month. Dates, times and locations are available via the press release (PDF) and below. I’ll also be writing about the bayfront plans over the next month to highlight key features that I think show intentional design and the potential for something special.

The next public meeting is this Sunday May 16 at 4PM at the Kids Creek neighborhood Ass. meeting at building 50.

All meetings :

• May 16, 4 PM: Kids Creek Commons Neighborhood Association, Bld 50, GT Commons
• May 18, 7 PM: Recreational Authority, County Cmmn Room, Gov Center
• May 19, 7 PM: Planning Commission/Parks & Recreation, Cmmn Chambers, Gov Center
• May 20, 7 PM: Old Towne Neighborhood, St. Francis Church, 1025 S. Union
• May 21, 8 AM: DDA, Commission Chambers, Gov Center
• May 24, 12 Noon: Traverse City Kiwanis Club at Traverse City Elks Club, 625 Bay St.
• May 24, 7 PM: City Cmmn meeting, Commission Chambers, Gov Center

The concept above shows the creek flowing east through what's been offered as a possible new name for the zoo "the Con Foster Commons".

Oakland County's Waterford Oaks Park: much larger scale than what's being proposed for the bayfront, but how cool. Great description of the intention behind the park at the website.

Thinking about playgrounds today, I visited Playscapes, a BLOG about playground design. The statements of intent in the right hand column of the website say it all:

• Because it’s difficult to find non-commercial playground information. And I find that frustrating.
• Because a playground doesn’t have to cost a million bucks and come in a box. In fact, it’s better if it doesn’t.
• Because playgrounds are under-recognized as an artistic medium.
• Because everybody loves a playground.

(Click for larger view photo by Ian MacPherson via Playscapes)

The main role of the site is finding images of interesting playgrounds and parks. Recently they ran this image of an interactive sculpture in Bondi Beach, Australia. Yes, this is a sculpture; but it also is a playground. It rotates when children push it.

It’s brilliant.

In particular, the collection of ideas at Playscapes under the category: ‘natural playgrounds and natural playground elements‘ is worth a perusal.

Here you’ll find a collection of inspiring play spaces, like a beaver lodge, amazing playhouses made out of sticks and, to prove it’s not that difficult, a massive rock can provide hours of exploration for the children in all of us. We need more equipment that is safe and let’s little people figure out how they want to engage.

I’ll be writing more about natural playscapes in the future. In the next post, I’ll talk about their inclusion in some of the current bayfront plan and there already is a local neighborhood interested in the concept for Clancy Park that I will highlight next week.

There is a little resistance by the city staff, so if you know anything about the natural playgrounds or are just interested in them, please send a short email to the parks and recreation commission, in care of the city manager. That could go a long way in showing that there is support for something a little different.

You can learn more about natural playscapes at:

• Earthplay: A company that helps communities plan, design and implement natural playgrounds
• Natural Playgrounds Company: another design business, with an excellent list of resources on the need and the how to help people reconnect with the natural environment.
• LandCurrent: Out of Eugene, OR, doing similar work and providing background like the two above. Their portfolio is worth a quick look.
• And, a search for Natural Playgrounds in Google images is sure to take up a chunk of your time.
  

This past week’s warm weather and sunny blue skies is getting people outside. Rightly so! This video is via Two Wheel Technique of 2WT’s posse’s first group ride of 2010.

If you’re interested in learning skills like the ones shown in this video, contact Jonathan Pool via his BLOG or show up with your bike and your helmet at one of the Two Wheeled Tuesdays.

Or, if you see them out practicing–>join in! They don’t bite…

It’s free. Full of passion. And you’ll come away with a massive confidence boost.

NOTE: MyWHaT will publish an interview with Pool later this spring to learn more about TC 2WT.

If you see something you like, please subscribe to this BLOG’s feed and also pass this link on to a friend.

NOTE: Check in tomorrow morning for an update reflection on the 2010 8th Street Kerfuffle. Needless to say, yesterday’s Record Eagle article misrepresented the issue…Compromise? What compromise?

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As we turn the corner away from winter, let’s pause to reflect a moment on the cold & one Wisconsin man’s adventure across the Apostle Islands this past winter. On a bicycle. Across the ice of Lake Superior. To record the sounds of shifting ice.

“It’s almost like ice fishing, just waiting for sounds,” said Marlin Ledin in his interview with Fox 21 out of Duluth, MN.

He covered around 150 miles on this bike expedition that was 2 years in the making. On his blog, appropriately titled Apostle Islands Bike Expedition,  you can find links to the sound recordings, images of the journey (including the gear and his Surly Bike shown here) and updates from his journal.

This quote from his first entry expresses the excitement of staying overnight on the largest freshwater lake in the world:

“Bam!” “Crrraaaaack! The ice vibrates again. I’m startled. This is way more than I expected.“

Congratulations Marlin! Excellent adventure and we look forward to hearing more about it.

NOTE: Thanks to my Minnesota friend’s at Peace Coffee for the heads up.

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If you see something you like, please subscribe to this BLOG’s feed and also pass this link on to a friend.

More from the twitter love fest and the hash-tag trend #whyweride:

• BikeandRollSF because it makes us feel alive #whyweride
• BikebytheSea seeing families on bikes and hearing laughter #whyweride
• habitat44 Mastering a physical skill is the best way to cope with stress. #whyweride
• h_wren Because I can park my bike right in front of my neighborhood bar, instead of circling endlessly for a spot (and for fun!) #whyweride
• lastreetsblog Because what’s the point of driving to a Farmer’s Market. #whyweride

This Twitter trend has been generating for the last three days.

Loving it.

Why do you ride? Or, walk?