My Wheels are Turning

Spotted: Social Trails

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).

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.

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?”

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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)

Park Portrait: Boon Street Park

Boon Street Park is a standard neighborhood park that currently provides basic playground equipment and a large open space tucked under tall Oak trees. It’s tucked into the neighborhood, and many people pass it with out notice. As equipment ages, value could be added to this neighborhood park with some landscaping, including, perhaps, a few added natural elements meant for play. The park certainly has some space to utilize. One element I’d like to see changed is the utility box smack in the middle of the entry. It takes away from the curb-side appeal.

* Reminder, a map of all 34 city parks is available at the government center (should be there now). You can also view and download a digital version at the MyWHaT Scribed site.

Views from the Street

NE corner of Silver Lake and Barnes

This image of a disconnected sidewalk sent in by MyWHaT reader Mike Coco. Thanks Mike. He included the following commentary:

“This intersection was recently improved with added sidewalks, ramps, crossing lights for the new entrance to West Jr. High.  I noticed today while watching a biker cross this intersection that this new ramp/sidewalk stops just feet short of connecting to an existing path (which I suspect was put in by the developer of the adjacent Copper Ridge).  Why does it stop short?  Why doesn’t it connect to the existing path?  We’re talking about 2 or 3 feet of concrete…..my guess is that connecting them would not comply with existing rules/regulations, not because it cost more ($100???).“

If we, meaning our road agencies, prioritized pedestrians like they do the use of automobiles, disconnects like this wouldn’t happen.

Please, someone show me where a road demonstrates this much disregard for its users? For example, what would be the response if in the above image the space from the stop bar to the crosswalk was left as gravel. —->

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Editor’s Note: If your interested in an archive of images showing incomplete streets, visit the Michigan Complete Streets Flickr group. There are images from all over Michigan, but recently the MyWHaT photography staff has dominated the uploads, so northern Michigan is well represented. If you have an image you’d like to share, don’t hesitate to send an email or post it on the MyWHaT Facebook wall.

Tuesday Video

via StreetFilms

“There’d be no cars in the street and I would ride my fire bike”

Looking for some area teachers to introduce this question to some of their students. Anyone know any teachers?

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: Arbutus Court

Arbutus Court Park in Traverse City, just off of Boon St., is a small neighborhood pocket park. According to a resident who walked by, it is the ‘big kids’ park in the neighborhood. The smaller kids use the nearby Boon Street Park. Personally, I appreciate small parks like Arbutus Court; they add significantly to a neighborhood and are a neutral, public space for people to meet and gather, or just sit alone.

It be interesting to see if the neighborhood would like to work on a small beautification project here. At the least, the city could find some funds to expand the basketball court to something more than a 3-second lane. Although, it is a good place to practice free throws. Additional parks images.

* Reminder, a map of all 34 city parks is available at the government center. You can also view and download a digital version at the MyWHaT Scribed site.

As a community, can we do better?

Looking north at Randolph and Division St. on the east side. Wide open, broken sidewalk, a car-lot, and the Elk’s Club’s back-end leave little to be desired for communicating this is a place for people. Yet, around the corner is a bakery, a bank, a party store, a restaurant and across the street, the Dairy Lodge.

A broader view. (click to enlarge)

A social trail is well worn on the east side of Division St. It continues all the way to Grandview.

2011 could see some improvements along this corridor. What those improvements entail will largely be up to community residents’ persistence. A list of small requests, things like a beautification project in the stretch shown above, has been sent to the city. These projects won’t fix the entire street, but they should help.

Contrasting Priorities

Two backyards; two houses removed from one another in almost any neighborhood in Traverse City. One backyard devoted to producing food, shelter and relaxation, the other backyard devoted to parking cars as close as possible to the backdoor. Both with front yard parking.

There are costs to our choices.