StreetLife #36 / July 2009
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Dear friend,
What are livable streets worth to you? Please think of all the ways that you know the LivableStreets Alliance has already made a difference
your life and in our region, think of all that you've learned from
attending LivableStreets StreetTalks and events, and then click here to become a 2009 member today to support our work creating more livable spaces in your neighborhood. Thank you! |
In this issue
StreetTalk
· StreetTalk: Mode shift: moving from driving to biking, transit and walking by Jason Schrieber, Nelson/Nygaard, Wed, July 22, 7-9 pm >>>
· MBTA public meetings regarding fare increases and service cuts, for time and locations, click here Livablestreets Pushes for Transit Funding
Announcements
· Join LivableStreets Alliance team at Hub On Wheels, Sun, Sept 27 >>>
· SomerVision: Trends in Somerville July 21 & Aug 4 >>>
Recent Activity
· Bike/Ped Safety Included in Revised Plans for BU & MoS Bridges
· Full house at LivableStreets June StreetTalk
· LivableStreets Applauds "Healthy Transportation" Section of Reform Bill
· Appetite for Mayoral Debates - Boston Globe editorial · Safety in Numbers |
StreetTalk
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StreetTalk: Wed, July 22 @ 7-9 pm
Mode shift: moving from driving to biking, transit and walking
by Jason Schrieber, Principal, Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates @ LivableStreets office, 100 Sidney St, Cambridge [ map...]
What
makes people shift out of their cars? Is it building more subways, bike
lanes, and better sidewalks? Is it financial factors like a gas tax,
congestion charges, and parking prices? Is it land use patterns like a
mix of uses, local retail and where people live and work? Or how about
the health and environmental benefits? Think about the factors that
make you choose to walk, bike, drive or take transit. What would make
you, or the people you know, take one mode of transportation over
another?
Come
to the StreetTalk to hear Jason's perspectives on these issues related
to the metro-Boston area, and get a visual tour of some of the great
places in the world for getting around. Jason will reveal some
surprising truths comparing the subsidy for transit versus that for
driving. He will talk about several local initiatives aimed at helping
us achieve "mode shift".
Jason Schrieber has 14 years of multi-modal
planning and design experience including changing parking policies to
better balance cars and other modes of transportation. Jason previously
worked for the City of Cambridge where he managed all planning
activities for the City's transportation department. Nelson/Nygaard:
www.nelsonnygaard.com
free
and open to the public, donation suggested, beer/sodas provided
compliments of Harpoon Brewery and delivered thanks to Metro Pedal Power!
Sponsored by LivableStreets Alliance. For more information, click here.
Do you find yourself looking forward to the next StreetTalk? Support this event series!
> Related article from infrastructurist.com,
Tearing down a highway can relieve traffic jams and help save a city
"Though
our transportation planners still operate from the orthodoxy that the
best way to untangle traffic is to build more roads, doing so actually
proves counterproductive in some cases. There is even a mathematical
theorem to explain why: 'The Braess Paradox' (which sounds rather like
a Robert Ludlum title) established that the
addition of extra capacity to a road network often results in increased
congestion and longer travel times." Read on >>>
> LivableStreets is advocating
for city and state agencies to encourage mode shift during the
construction of all Charles River basin bridges. Read more about our
ideas and efforts here >>> |
Action e-lert
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LivableStreets Pushes for Transit Funding
Action e-lert: Attend 1 of 13 public meetings/hearing regarding fare increases and service cuts.
LivableStreets
wrote a letter to the legislature telling them that they haven't
provided enough money to transit. Because of inadequate funding by the
legislature, the MBTA is stuck having to choose between raising fares
or cutting services (or some combination) in order to balance the books
for the next two years (meaning if nothing is done, there will be more
fare increases in two years). The MBTA is holding hearings to discuss. For dates and locations, click here >>>
In response, LivableStreets
Alliance sent a letter to the entire Legislature pointing out that one
of every three residents in the metro Boston area relies on transit to
get to work. Seventy-five percent of the population and half of
the jobs in the Commonwealth are in the MBTA catchment area. Without
high quality transit service, we cannot continue to prosper and
grow. Vibrant business districts and walkable urban environments
are made possible by a dense land use pattern that relies heavily on
transit rather than on single-occupancy vehicle trips. Excellent
transit is also necessary to meet the Commonwealth's climate protection goals. In addition to ensuring the
MBTA's ability to maintain a state of good repair and operate the
existing system sustainably, LivableStreets Alliance
urges legislators not to lose sight of the need to continue to
move ahead with system expansion.
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Announcements
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Join the LivableStreets Team at Hub on Wheels
Hub
On Wheels, Boston Mayor Menino's annual Bike Ride & Festival, has
played a critical role in raising public awareness for the Boston Bikes
program. LivableStreets has been involved in Hub On Wheels since its
inception. This year, you can both join the city-wide ride and support
LivableStreets (at no extra cost). When registering, just indicate that
you are a member of the LivableStreets Alliance team when prompted for
a team affiliation
Ride 10, 30 or 50 miles on September
27, 2009. Pre and post events for team members, LivableStreets
T-shirts to wear on the ride, and more!
Register online now here!
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Urban AdvenTours Supports LivableStreets
Urban
AdvenTours is starting a new membership program that will, among other
things, benefit LivableStreets Alliance. The program allows people
to purchase 'Bike Buck' vouchers that provide discounts on rental of
hybrid, high-end road, or kid's bicycles for 24 hours with helmet,
lock, and map included -- as well as a lifelong discount with Zipcar! Click here for full details. Part of the proceeds will benefit local non-profits including LivableStreets. Thank you Urban AdvenTours! |
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Bike/Ped Safety Included in Revised Plans for BU & MoS Bridges
Still Need to Facilitate Leaving Car at Home
Impact of State Transportation Reform Still Unclear
In
response to efforts by LivableStreets Alliance and other advocacy
groups, the rebuilt versions of both the BU and Museum of
Science (Craigie) bridges will eventually have bike lanes going in
both directions and parts will have wider sidewalks. In addition, the
state Dept. of Conservation & Recreation (DCR) has agreed that the
intersections on both sides of the BU bridge will be reshaped to smooth
car traffic and improve safety for all users, with a public
process to allow for comments over the next few months.
At the
most recent public meetings, on June 11th and 30th, speakers praised
DCR's new direction and urged the state to do more to expand
public transit and encourage drivers to leave their cars at home.
The Transportation Reform bill just passed by the
Legislature and signed by the Governor moves control of the bridges
from DCR to the Highways Division of the new
Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). LivableStreets
and other advocates intend to continue pushing for the hard-won new
approach of designing for all users that has been endorsed by DCR, so
that it will continue to be applied to the remaining Charles River
bridges and Parkways after the transfer to MHD/MassDOT.
For more information about our advocacy work, check out our project pages here >>> |
Full house at LivableStreets June StreetTalk
Marius Navazo from Barcelona, Spain spoke at our June StreetTalk about urban mobility planning in the Catalonia region in Spain.
It was a full house with 100 attendees (top)
Thank you volunteers for making StreetTalks possible! (bottom)
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LivableStreets Applauds "Healthy Transportation" Sections of State Transportation Reform Bill
 One
section of the newly passed Transportation Reform Act creates a
"Healthy Transportation Compact" under the joint leadership of the
Secretaries of Transportation and Health & Human Services. Along
with the requirement that the new office of transportation planning
focus on creating a sustainable, multi-modal, environmentally
protective transportation system, the Compact seeks "positive health
outcomes through the coordination of land use, transportation and
public health policy." While this promising language will
only be as meaningful as the political will to implement it, in a
statement issued by the Massachusetts Public Health Association,
LivableStreets Alliance Board member, Steven E. Miller stated; "This
legislation represents a historic shift in how Massachusetts thinks
about transportation. For the first time, public health, environmental
protection, energy conservation, and quality of life issues are being
recognized as important as car speed." |
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Appetite For Mayoral Debates
The
following Boston Globe Letter to the Editor, published July 7, was
written by Chris Hart, LivableStreets board member and Director of
Urban and Transit Projects at the Institute for Human Centered Design.
Here's an opening question
YES,
MORE debates are critical, but rarely do they go beyond sound bites and
typical platitudes. Perhaps more useful would be a forum to engage
young civic leaders and smaller nonprofits, many of whom represent the
city's next generation of leadership, to describe a vision and policies
for Boston going forward. Then, in turn, the candidates could respond
thoughtfully in writing. Yet even this would cause organizations and
people to think twice, lest they run afoul of any of the candidates.
Still, here's an initial question: How is a neighborhood's quality of life affected by an aging population, and what policies and procedures are needed to welcome this reality?
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Safety in Numbers 
New
statistics from New York City show that the more people who bicycle the
lower the rate of accidents - and often the lower the absolute number
of accidents even as the number of cyclist increases, as has been
previously learned from European experience. NYC has shifted street
space from car traffic to walking and bicycling, including turning
parts of Times Square into a car-free pedestrian mall in order to
improve traffic flow.
A LivableStreets member made the graph above by using a NYC Transportation Alternatives graph about
daily ridership and annual casualties as a basis, and then added bars
showing the number of bikeway miles built in 2004 and 2008
(extrapolating in between). This new graph shows not only that
safety is improved as the number of cyclists grows, but that the number
of cyclists increases along with the number of bikeway miles. NYC
is seeing the same results as Portland, Oregon, as show in graph below
from the City of Portland.
 Learn
more about how LivableStreets is working to create livable streets
to increase safety and bicycle ridership at www.livablestreets.info or contacting LivableStreets staff directly.
Click on graph to enlarge. | |
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_______________________________________________________________ Sincerely,
Jacqueline Douglas
Transportation Advocate
LivableStreets Alliance
E: jackie@livablestreets.info
P: 617.621.1746
W: www.livablestreets.info
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