working within the system to create active streets
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Working within the System to Create Active Streets Format: 60 minute panel Abstract: Fostering walkable, active streets requires an understanding of how government works – particularly the transportation agencies, engineers, and elected officials who often serve as gatekeepers to change. Learn about how to build the relationships, partnerships, political support, and resources necessary to create successful, healthy streets. Presenters: Presenter: Kelly Morphy WALC Institute Co-Presenter: Molly O'Reilly America Walks Co-Presenter: Gary Toth PPSTRANSCRIPT
Working Within the System to Create Active Streets
“Walking Institute” America Walks
Project for Public Spaces Walkable and Livable Communities Institute
“Why Walking and Walkability? The Latest Info to Make the Case” “Core Principles of Walkable Places and Lessons Learned” “Creating Programs that Get People Walking” “Working within the System to Create Active Streets” “Talk with Walking/Walkability Experts” 3PM, Room 318 “Funding Community-Based Walkability Efforts” 4:15PM, Room 311
Kelly Morphy Executive Director Walkable and Livable Communities Institute Gary Toth Senior Director of Transportation Initiatives Project for Public Spaces Heidi Hansen-Smith Community Programs Coordinator Healthy Hawaii Initiative, Hawaii Dept. of Health Molly O’Reilly Board Member of America Walks President of Idaho Walk Bike Alliance
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Working with Street Designers & Engineeers
Gary Toth
Project for Public Spaces
Pro Walk Pro Bike Pro Place May 2, 2014
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES 2
34 years at the New Jersey Department of Transportation
7 Years Director of Transportation Initiatives at PPS
Invested Career working at the community/agency interface
Bachelor’s Engineering Stevens Institute of Technology 1973
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Engineers are not bad people!
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Engineers as problem solvers!
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Engineers as problem solvers!
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Engineers as problem solvers!
Engineers as problem solvers!
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Pre-Automobile Era We Had a Different Problem to Solve
Street design HAD to accommodate all users Relationship of land use to streets was critical for survival
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES Graphic courtesy of Andy Singer
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
The Problem Engineers Were Asked to Solve Changed
And we all stopped viewing Streets as Places
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
How to Partner to Get What You Want
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
How to Partner
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Getting hit in the head with a rock is a bad way to start an open minded conversation
General Principles
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Don’t be afraid to escalate If Respectful Communication Doesn’t Get You What
You Want
General Principles
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
“If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten!”
When all else fails, then you can get tough
General Principles
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
“If you can’t beat them, arrange to have them beaten!” George Carlin
When all else fails, then you can get tough
General Principles
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Observe/gather information at different times of day. Do not seek solutions—stick to “building a case” for the government jurisdiction to solve the problem!
Define the problem, not the solution How to Partner
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
The PPS Street Audit Tool
Define the problem, not the solution Resources
How to Partner
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Do Your Homework How to Partner
Do Your Homework
Do Your Homework
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
PPS Rightsizing Web Resource http://www.pps.org/reference/rightsizing/
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Asking the Right Questions regarding Roadway Design Flexibility
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Where is the flexibility?
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Where is the flexibility?
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
Where is the flexibility?
• Functional Classification
• Design Vehicle
• Design Speed
• Ranges in tables
• Level of Service is NOT a mandate
PROJECT FOR PUBLIC SPACES
“You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar” Rose Toth, circa 1960
General Principles
Working Within the System to Create Active Streets
Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place
Pittsburg, PA 2014
Hawaii State
Department of Health
Chronic Disease Prevention & Health Promotion Division
Healthy Hawaii Initiative
Paradise?
We want more of this!
• Build Partnerships – Relationship building
– Education
– Persistence
• Recruit Champions
• Partner with Transportation
Agencies & Officials
Passing & Implementing Complete Streets Policies
Reality Check: Policy change is hard work – Implementation is harder
Build Partnerships
• Elected Officials – Mayor
– State Senators & Representatives
– Councilmembers
• State Agencies
• County Agencies
• Advocacy Groups – AARP
– Hawaii Bicycling League
– Hawaii Public Health Institute
– Nutrition & Physical Activity
Coalitions
Champions need support
– Provide political cover
– Rally the advocates
– Provide funding support
Recruit Champions
• Ask how you can support THEM – don’t tell them what to do or what YOU need
• Find the common ground and language that you both speak
– Safety
– Perception
– Funding – leverage opportunities
• Bring solutions – not problems
• Incorporate the HEALTH
message
Partner with Transportation
Agencies & Officials
Challenges
• There will be many!
• Change takes time – it’s all about seizing opportunities
• Not everyone is ready at the same time
– State DOT
Mahalo!
Stopping a Proposed Freeway
A Grassroots Victory -- Portland, OR 1989-1995
How We Won • Persistence! • Organize/Strategize • Build support widely • Analyze independently • Offer better alternatives • Find and support allies within the
system; Find the ones who can say “YES”
Portland’s Unbuilt Freeways
Proposed Western Bypass
The Early Days • Good Luck: Premature Press Coverage • One Thousand Friends of Oregon
– Connected those concerned – Ultimately a crucial ally
• Organized from the first meeting – Chose a name: STOP – Sensible
Transportation Options for People – Divided tasks – Coordinated regularly
Who Decides?
Metro Council
Cities
JPACT TPAC
Counties
Voters; the Public
We Deemed Important: • Independent Analysis
– Reinterpreted study numbers to show project not needed, effective
– Published and cited • Grassroots activation and education
– Countless community meetings along alignment
– Built membership ~500, newsletter list of 2,500
– “If Freeways Were the Answer, Los Angeles Would be Paradise”
We Deemed Important, 2
• Offering alternatives – People felt they couldn’t be “nimby” without an
alternative (or two) – A new paradigm
Eight Myths of Traditional Traffic Planning
Myth 1: Traffic projections are important in deciding what roads are needed.
Myth 2: Planners are not responsible for how much people want to use their cars.
Myth 3: Predicted traffic growth must be provided for.
Myth 4: Bigger roads are safer roads.
Myth 5: Bigger roads increase people’s mobility.
Myth 6: Bigger roads advantage more people than they disadvantage.
Myth 7: It is not the job of traffic planners to look at wider social, political and environmental trends.
Myth 8: Planning should be left to the experts.
The LUTRAQ Principles: 1. Focus the community
toward transit.
2. Encourage a variety of uses.
3. Create streets for people.
4. Provide public open spaces.
5. Design the community for livability.
6. Involve citizens in the creation of their community.
Our Work:
• Working from the inside – Members of ODOT’s Citizen Advisory
Committee – I served on Metro’s Transportation Policy
Alternatives Committee (TPAC) – I became president of my Neighborhood
Assn. to oppose from that platform – Others did similarly
Our Work
• Swaying decision makers – Educating!! Copies of Traffic Calming Sharing news of developing LUTRAQ study – Attending hearings Large crowds, well identified – Behind the scenes
An Enduring Victory
• Light rail has been extended throughout the Portland Metro region
• Metro now takes walking and bicycling seriously
• Portland’s newest bridge has no automobiles!
• Smart Growth organizations are now serious players in transportation
Lessons Learned
• Persistence! • Organize/Strategize • Build wide support • Analyze independently • Offer better alternatives • Find and support allies within the
system; Win the ones who can say “YES”