Two conditions galvanized political will to change course, the slaughter of children and elderly whose freedom of movement was limited by the growing commitment to the automobile and the oil/energy crisis of the 1970′s that showed clearly the un-sustainability of a reliance on imported fuel.

The result: leaders of The Netherlands made a choice to invest in a more conservative path forward that created a sensible transportation system that put people first. The rest is a history with enviable results.

via markenlei

The solution was found in the political will on a national and municipal level, with both decision-makers and planners, to deal with this situation by turning away from car-centric policies and making way for alternative transport like cycling.”

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Related: A Dutch intersection to indeed envy. 

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Contributions greatly appreciated.

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Yes, we’ve seen these processes before and many have not come to fruition. For example, the City invested tens-of-thousands of dollars and countless citizen volunteer hours into a model for easing the negatives on Division St. (CS:CC) and Grandview Parkway (MW) in 2010 and 2011. Both those plans are sitting on a shelf somewhere and the mere mention of the “R” word makes the commissioners and staff quiver in their saddles (click here for an overview of the R word).

Yet, this corridor project, funded by a federal livability grant, has potential and is a worthy cause. An 8th St. revitalization would be a game-changer and Garfield Ave. is, relatively speaking, an easy one. Despite my nature, I remain optimistic.

The first meeting held on January 11 had a healthy, mostly positive showing of citizens who understand the issue is greater than moving traffic. Most of the comments expressed were about redesigning the corridors into better places, and in turn, places that better serve the needs of residents and visitors alike. It is early in the process, so we might as well dream big.

Public input is a major part of the process and you can do so online by making your asset map.

Have you made your planner map yet?  What do you trust will happen?

Click through to start your own map

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Contributions greatly appreciated.

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Recently on Henry Morgenstein’s “Essays”, he calls attention to the planning truth that goeth unspoken: the power of a healthy grid of streets.

If you have a grid of ten street by ten streets – you can all envision that – if you seek to go by car from one corner of the ten street grid to the other far corner, there are 184,000 possible ways to do that.  You heard correctly, 184,000 ways to get from point A to point B.”

He continues, applying the analogy to Traverse City.

The point of all this?  If you make one major road — the Old Town by pass for instance — they’ll all come roaring down that wide & welcoming way — and it will soon be stinky, clogged, overcrowded, noisy….

But if you leave the situation alone, some will come down tenth, some will go down seventh, some will take State, others Cass, others union.”

Traverse City residents and fearful fearless leaders have heard this here before … and here (MW). The lesson repeated over and over and over and over is: maximize your grid while treating all your streets as livable streets (StreetFilms). Do it responsibly, of course. Slow our 2-3 ton beasts down and stop investing in ”car cannons”– those arterial speed zones that border and divide the community. The attempt to “solve” our traffic problem with more arterials is insane in the full Einsteinian sense of the word.

To flip the approach, start thinking about people cannons (MW).

Henry concludes with a call for sanity. Balance.

For at least the next 20 years, let us focus all our resources on making towns navigable by foot, by car, by trolley, by bus, by train, by tram.  It is not so much that we will ban cars as that we will make the alternatives enticing, fun, inexpensive, readily available, safe & warm.  Everything that cars are now.

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Of course, isn't this how we arrived at our current problems?

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Thoughts?

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Contributions greatly appreciated.

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This takes more time than I care to admit. The blog, social media content, research, tracking of meetings, and occasional advocate role associated with MyWHaT can easily dominate. That’s not a complaint; it has been a rewarding experience over the last two years. We’ve seen some payoff on the ground with better design, better policy, better process, better participation.

People who otherwise would only be ranting at home and within their own circle are reaching out to engage in the community. They are doing so, in part, because they are motivated by information and discussion made accessible via MyWHaT. As was written to me concerning the impact of the blog:

It is one of the sites necessary to knowing what is happening in T.C., why bike-ability and walk-abilty matter, and why consciously designing our community spaces is important.”

It’s good to know that perspective is out there and thank you to the people “out-there” that have helped provide the perspective, knowledge and support to make it successful.

As I warm back-up the keyboard, I would like to re-visit some of what this project attempts to do and what it has done. A special thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the 2011 MyWHaT Reader Survey that has provided some tea-leaves to consider the past and what’s to come. In the near future, I’ll lay out ideas for moving forward, but for now I’d like to explore the intention.

MyWHaT aspires to…

…Facilitate learning & questioning for the potential of public spaces and to bring to attention how the design of those spaces shapes our lives–whether we intend it to or not. If we aren’t designing for people, it won’t be for people.

…Build a network of people discussing these issues in a constructive, positive and actionable way. Readers of MyWHaT have shown a propensity to carry ideas into a wider community. The replies to the first question of the 2011 reader survey suggests we are achieving this objective.

…Inspire possibilities for action and for being the change you wish to see. Again, the survey suggests MyWHaT is influencing people’s behavior. 28% of the survey respondents said a post or comment on MyWHaT inspired them to alter their “use of public space” including how they move around.  There has been a handful of people express that a post opened up the possibility for them of walking to work–that’s heart-warming. A fine measure of community is the number of people who walk to work.

…Encourage engagement of readers to represent the interest of the commons at public meetings, through letters of support or directly volunteering for an issue. Ultimately, the championing of our public spaces needs to reach those making and guiding the decisions–the elected and appointed officials, government and agency staffs and other luminaries that hold influence over the former. Again, from the survey, 30% of MyWHaT readers were moved to contact public officials on one or more issues. 24% did so in person and 5% had enough of other people representing them and actually stepped-up to sit on a local board or commission. If you can’t serve, adopt someone holding a seat of power and offer your advice directly.

The Car is no match for propelling ones-self。

(車不如自行 • chē bùrú zìxíng）
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FYI: 2012 is the year of the black-water dragon. In general, that means a year of strength and good fortune. With the inclusion of water, it is a calmer, more empathetic dragon open to collaboration, cool deliberation, and the making of intelligent decisions. Yet, it remains a dragon and needs to be approached with caution.

Good luck.

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Bike ♥ by Rick Darge.

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…A love story to hold you over another week. 

Winter riding, finally here.

There were 376 posts last year and a total of 886 posts since the MyWHaT launch in 2010. There have been over 2,000 reader comments in that time span as well.

The busiest day of 2011 was October 26th with over 700 views with a post titled: What is wrong with Gary Howe? (That helps the self-esteem). However, the most viewed post from 2011 belongs to a graphic post titled: My Car Sucks $7,000 A Year Out Of The Local Economy…Sorry.

Other posts with high unique hit counts involved Traverse City’s proposed W. Boardman Lake Ave. The pros and cons of W. Boardman Lake Ave. and Megan Old’s guest post BLA: Let’s Call A Spade A Spade being the top two on that subject.

The Bayfront Plans also attracted attention for the discussion around phase one at Clinch Park and the fate of the mini-train ride.

Guest contributors continued to attract readers. Former Mayor Chris Bzdok’s Shedding Discrimination: Eventually, we’ll all just be neighbors and Joel Gaff’s Sharing Streets With Angry People: The Front St. Incident were in the top 10 in terms of hits.

The Other Side of the School Car-line, Beware of the Very Unforgiving Door Zone… Seriously, and A Baaaa-d-Ass Traffic Calming Device rounded off the most visited list for 2011. The resource page Michigan Roundabouts & Resources also continues to attract interest.

The 2011 MyWHaT Survey will close this week, so if you want to contribute your perspective on this blog and its future direction, I invite you to do so today. The responses so far have surpassed expectations…thank you!

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Take the MyWHaT Survey

(Survey will pop-up and if you have trouble, use this link: MyWHaT Reader Survey)

In the meantime, winter break continues. Instead of writing, I’ll be “sticking” some under-viewed posts, and a few reader recommendations, from last year to the front page this week.

If you’re itching for Citizen engagement opportunities, this week the City Commission votes on the 2012 Clinch Park plan (Tues., 6pm), the Planning Commission considers the CVS Pharmacy project (Wed., 7pm) and TC’s Parks and Recreation Commission discusses goals for 2012 (Thurs., 6:30).

Go play in the snow! 

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MyWHaT: More Good Than Harm.

Ways to stay in touch

• Send me message and introduce yourself.
• Subscribe to receive email feeds of future posts (upper right corner).
• Follow me on Twitter (no sabbatical there).
• Follow MyWHaT on Facebook.

Thank you

by Sherpas Cinema via Price Tags

All around excellent…there is even something for my transit buddies. And, I’d be amiss not to point out the covered sidewalk at the 2 minute mark.

OK…back to sabbatical. 

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Take the MyWHaT Survey

Survey still open, please help with your opinion…thank you.

Happy Holidays!

Despite having a full Santa sack of City projects (MyWHaT) to crank about over the next couple of weeks, I’m taking the prudent advice to take a year-end break. A sabbatical of sorts that involves stocking the fridge with holiday cheer, having a healthy book list (Amazon) at the ready, playing a little ping-pong and other mischief I can rustle-up.

Please take a lightning quick survey, click

I’m also asking relying on MyWHaT supporters for feed back during this time. It really does help.

I’ve now been writing, editing and curating resources for the blog for two years. It was intended as an outlet for the material that was occupying my brain, energy and time; it quickly became a public forum and a source of information for around 400 unique visitors per day. Not astronomical numbers, but certainly readers. The numbers have surpassed the goals set in 2010.

So, no matter when you started reading, even if it was yesterday, please take one minute out of your day and complete the following survey. If you have more to say after that send me a message or invite me out for a coffee/beer. One of the biggest rewards from publishing this blog is meeting the people who share passion for well designed, people orientated public spaces.

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Take the MyWHaT Survey

(Survey will pop-up and if you have trouble, use this link: MyWHaT Reader Survey)

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Ways to stay in touch

• Send me message and introduce yourself.
• Subscribe to receive email feeds of future posts (upper right corner).
• Follow me on Twitter (no sabbatical there).
• Follow MyWHaT on Facebook.

If  MyWHaT has been valuable or entertaining, consider a contribution. Financial help in the past has ranged from $5-$500 and the average is around $90. More important than the amount, a donation validates the effort behind MyWHaT and its value to the community; it makes me relax a little, smile more and feel like I’m at the least, as one contributor says, “doing more good than harm.”

MyWHaT: More Good Than Harm. 

Thank you