Category: Safe Streets for Biking and Walking

Move to moveDC Saturday, and more on the calendar

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

Are you going to moveDC? This Saturday is the moveDC Idea Exchange, the big kickoff to DDOT’s big effort to create a comprehensive transportation plan. Plus, there are 2 forums on the future of transportation in Montgomery County next week.


Photo by Read G on Flickr.

The Idea Exchange includes an open “transportation fair” all day, from 9:30 am to 3 pm at the MLK Library at 9th and G, NW. The booths, open all day, include family-friendly activities as well as more serious transportation discussion.

Mayor Vincent Gray, Councilmember Mary Cheh, and DDOT Director Terry Bellamy will talk at 10:30, and then there will be a panel with Anita Hairston of Reconnecting America, author Chris Leinberger, and Slate’s Matthew Yglesias at 11.

If you take Metro, be aware of track work on the Red and Orange Lines north/west of Grosvenor and Ballston and north/east of NoMA and Stadium-Armory. DDOT is also setting up more temporary bike racks to handle the extra bike parking demand. Finally, Anacostia Waterfront Initiative officials and consultant CH2M Hill have set up a 25-lane racetrack oval. No, not really that last one.

For Montgomery County residents, there are 2 great opportunities to talk about transportation’s future next week (and in the same spot!) The Action Committee for Transit’s monthly meeting features WMATA planning head Shyam Kannan talking about the Metro “Momentum” strategic plan. That’s Tuesday, February 12, 7:30 pm at the Silver Spring Civic Center, One Veterans Place.

Wednesday, The Coalition for Smarter Growth is holding a forum on the “next generation of transit.” How can the county accommodate 200,000 new residents and 100,000 jobs in the next 20 years? It will take investments in Metro, the Purple Line, and bus rapid transit.

Geoff Anderson, head of Smart Growth America, and Councilmember Roger Berliner will speak about the future of Montgomery County, and there will be presentations on transit projects in the pipeline. The forum is Wednesday, February 13, 6-8 pm at the Silver Spring Civic Center, still One Veterans Plaza. RSVP here.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, the Piedmont Environmental Council is holding a public meeting to talk about the McDonnell Administration’s push for an Outer Beltway through Loudoun and Prince William. It’s Monday, February 11, 6:30-9 pm at John Champe High School, 41535 Sacred Mountain Street, Aldie, VA.

Also, a film about plastic bags is screening Sunday in Hyattsville; John Muller is giving another tour of Frederick Douglass’s Anacostia February 23; and the Anacostia Watershed Society is holding a “Green Roof Networking Happy Hour on Tuesday, February 26.

Photo courtesy of Read G on Flickr

Read the original article here. >>

Walkable Neighborhoods: How to Make Them for Everyone

Walkable Neighborhoods: How to Make Them for Everyone

Posted on by Elena Sorokina


Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Refreshments 6:00 pm
Program 6:30-8:30 pm

National Capital Planning Commission
401 9th Street NW, North Lobby, Suite 500
(Metro: Archives)

Walkable urban places are in high demand. A decade ago, Columbia Heights, H Street NE, and Petworth weren’t considered particularly desirable places to live. Today, these neighborhoods are booming, and so are many more city blocks close to transit and downtown. In addition to the more established affluent neighborhoods, demand to live in newly-popular neighborhoods that offer walkable, bicycle-friendly, and transit-oriented lifestyles is driving up housing prices. Given the turnaround in 2000 of D.C.’s decades-long population decline, the city’s growth could be used to ensure that everyone – especially disadvantaged D.C. residents – shares in the benefits of a stronger city and stable tax base. But rising housing prices loom as an increasing problem for moderate- and low-income who want to stay in the city and take part in the District’s resurgence.

 

How can we continue to offer more opportunities to live in walkable, transit-oriented neighborhoods and share the benefits with people across the income spectrum? Join us to discuss this challenge with Chris Leinberger, David Bowers, and Ed Lazere.

  • Chris Leinberger is a land use strategist, developer, researcher and author of Walk this Way: The Economic Promise of Walkable Places in Metropolitan Washington, D.C.. Chris will discuss the benefits of rising values from walkable urban places and the need complement these opportunities with affordable housing strategies.
  • David Bowers of Enterprise Community Partners will discuss how a stronger affordable housing strategy can be a part of the city’s agenda, especially as demand to live near transit continues to rise.
  • Ed Lazere of the D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute will explain how the city’s growing financial strength can help ensure that new prosperity is shared with everyone through the budget decision-making process.

This event is part of CSG’s 2013 Walking Tours & Forums Series, possible by the generous support of the National Association of Realtors. In cooperation with APA Virginia, AICP credit for this event is pending.

 

 

Letter Supporting CB-2 “Adequate Pedestrian and Bikeway Facilities” to Prince George’s Council

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

We would like to express our strong support for this important bill, CB-2, which we call the “walk/bike connections” bill. This bill helps ensure that Prince George’s residents and visitors have better and safer transportation choices. By allowing the Planning Board to ensure that developments fill in missing links of essential sidewalk and other walk/bike facilities around a new development, the quality of development, as well as safety and access, will be improved. Offering multimodal transportation choices has been the intention of the county for several years through the “Complete Streets” policy adopted in the 2009 County Master Plan for Transportation. This bill helps implement this policy.

Support for Support CB-2-2012, Adequate Public Pedestrian and Bikeway Facilities in Centers and Corridors

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

I am here to express our strong support for this important bill, which we call the “walk/bike connections” bill. This bill helps ensure that Prince George’s residents and visitors have better and safer transportation choices. By allowing the Planning Board to ensure that developments fill in missing links of essential sidewalk and other walk/bike facilities around a new development, the quality of development, as well as safety and access, will be improved. Offering multimodal transportation choices has been the intention of the County for several years through the “Complete Streets” policy adopted in the 2009 County Master Plan for Transportation. This bill helps implement this policy in the development review process.

Fairfax County: Recommendation against mandate for 36 foot wide streets in residential neighborhoods

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

Fairfax County is becoming a leader in addressing the challenges created by the patterns of suburban development through transit-oriented development, commercial corridor revitalization, affordable housing, stormwater, and reform to parking policies. We believe that Fairfax County can also join places like Charlotte, North Carolina, in addressing the design flaws and safety risks inherent in overly wide suburban streets. Therefore, we are concerned about and recommend strongly against the proposal to mandate a standard width of 36 feet for new suburban streets in the county.

Click here to read the full memo>>

Montgomery County: Testimony regarding the White Flint Development Tax District Transportation Infrastructure Improvements

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

We would like to express our support for the White Flint Sector Plan and urge the Council and County Executive to create a feasible transportation infrastructure financing plan to move this effort forward without delay. We call on the Council to work with the Executive to establish a financing plan that is fair, accelerates redevelopment, and rightfully places this high value Metro-oriented development plan as a top priority for County and state transportation spending. The urgent need to create a workable, timely transportation financing plan requires us to rethink our spending priorities.

Prince George’s County: Letter to Chairman of the Planning Board

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

We request that the board not approve the DSP as proposed but request a full revision of the “Commons at Addison Road” in order that ensure the project conform with transit- and pedestrian-oriented design standards in the Approved Sector Plan and Sectional Map Amendment for Addison Road Metro Town Center and Vicinity (ARM).

From Mean Streets to Main Streets

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

Walkable neighborhoods are not only more vibrant and convenient, but safer, too. In this 2010 presentation, CSG Policy Director Cheryl Cort shows how missing sidewalks create hazardous walking conditions for pedestrians and lead to more traffic fatalities, as evident in local data. She argues that streets need to be more pedestrian-friendly, especially in high-demand areas with lots of traffic.