WalkBikeCT

We have such an excess of parking spaces in our ci...

2010-02-21T23:14:30.246-05:00

We have such an excess of parking spaces in our cities - the question is not how many to build, but how many to dispose of.

As a manufacturer of nearly 1000 electric bikes, I...

2010-02-02T18:37:29.894-05:00

As a manufacturer of nearly 1000 electric bikes, I can attest that the buyers of these bikes are not using them for commuting or exercise. They are baby boomers who are buying them to have fun. Do they eventually use them for trips to the sore, bank, etc.? Yes, because it is more fun to go to the store that way. Do they get exercise on them? Absolutely since people tend to pedal most of the time while riding. Are they being eco friendly? Better than driving a car to the market. These people remember how much fun it was riding a bike as a kid but today there is just a hill or headwind that they do not want to fight. So, because they are not willing or capable to struggle up some hill, they should not be allowed to ride at all? Electric bikes allow them to get back on a bike and be a kid again. Go for it!

Still better than being a driver and choosing to s...

2010-02-02T12:30:49.829-05:00

Still better than being a driver and choosing to support your car habit to the tune of $5-10K per year -- instead of, say, using your money to help end the killings, starvations, rapes, deaths and 25,000 children dying every day around the world in places like the Congo and Haiti.

I think that's the message, but most people have their heads too buried in their a&&es (or TV entertainment) to see it.

A very interesting post. Have you read Nudge, by ...

2010-01-29T01:18:41.572-05:00

A very interesting post. Have you read Nudge, by Thaler? He talks about default options. The thing we can do without thinking about it. Driving your car is a default option. You have to make a more conscious decision to do something different. And the world has been designed in the past 50 years for the car to be the default option. Your work and home would be more accessible now if the car had not been the default option for the designer.

If enough people are driving, perhaps there is a carpool option that makes sense, with flexible carpooling in mind? That would take some research, and it has to work both ways.

Excellent commentary and analysis. I particularly...

2010-01-28T18:43:06.810-05:00

Excellent commentary and analysis. I particularly like the third scenario you bring up about the 2 drunk drivers. A simple solution would be to make sure that the penalty for killing either person to be equally strict and harsh. Careful and thoughtful legislation can take car of this.

This is kind of a top-down solution, but why not b...

2010-01-27T10:20:04.904-05:00

This is kind of a top-down solution, but why not build significantly less spaces (say, 25% less + convert the old spots to greenspace), charge more for them, as Shoup suggests, and see what the results are. Adjust. Repeat.

In other words, this is going to have to be a trial and error scenario which the general public will probably get frustrated with. Politicians and advocates like Shoup will have to try and convince them that it's necessary, which will not be easy, but certainly worthwhile.

Regarding the last comment, some of those very sma...

2010-01-22T21:42:12.507-05:00

Regarding the last comment, some of those very small town centers such as "Branford, Essex, Madison" may be too small in his/her book to count as places--but they can be wonderful sources of a walkable life! With shopping, library, churches, restaurants, schools, parks, and more within one mile of the town center, a person can get a lot done without the car. In my book, they are the best places.

The goal of any development project should be to i...

2010-01-22T12:18:49.047-05:00

The goal of any development project should be to improve the space in a way that will benefit not only investors but even tangential users. Developers need to decide if they want to make an investment in the local housing market or an investment in the local community. It's basically a political/ethical debate: Which do you value more - financial or social capital?

The city's role should be to assist/encourage "smart" developers and restrict/regulate greedy ones.

So-called "Jaywalkers" should be protected with v...

2010-01-19T23:47:14.830-05:00

So-called "Jaywalkers" should be protected with very strong laws too.

There is no excuse to kill another human being, whether or not he/she makes a mistake.

Hahahaha!...And so very correct...(as a quick asid...

2010-01-16T13:33:35.591-05:00

Hahahaha!...And so very correct...(as a quick aside: Most Republicans are not Conservatives in any sense of the word beyond their espousal of social mores that kowtow to the voting block they need. The truest public Conservative this country has today is probably Texas' Ron Paul, and look at how his presidential campaign went...this is becoming a not very quick aside: It is, however, interesting to note how the Republican Party, which depends on 10% of this population to be so loud and vocal they appear to be 40% of this country, has been so successful with their embracement of corporate propaganda campaigns that, if you compare voting records, both our current president and Clinton were more Conservative than Nixon.)

A recent blog posting of mine received a comment that my finding this here blog post last week triggered this response to said comment: http://placemakinginstitute.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/all-austin-has-to-do-is-remember/

Sometimes you have to jaywalk, though, e.g.: 1. Th...

2010-01-14T11:20:31.753-05:00

Sometimes you have to jaywalk, though, e.g.:
1. There are no crosswalks or intersections (this is especially the case in rural and sprawling suburban areas)
2. The crosswalks are all at very busy intersections where the risk of being hit is actually higher (e.g., drivers turning right on red without looking); in these cases, it's often safer to cross in the middle of the block, away from intersections

A thoughtful look at the issues. Thanks! I think ...

2010-01-12T17:15:02.299-05:00

A thoughtful look at the issues. Thanks!

I think it's important to remember that all humans are vulnerable. Many people die in horrific carnage despite being surrounded by steel and glass.

I would like to see a stronger stance on traffic justice across the board. It is true that motorists who kill pedestrians and cyclists are getting away with barely a slap on the wrist, but motorists who kill motorists aren't exactly paying a hefty price either.

Across the board, there is little accountability anymore, for the awesome responsibility of operating heavy vehicles at high speeds. Our licensing process is a joke (particularly in Florida, I'm looking for the DL vending machine, I know it's around here somewhere and it must be destroyed!). We cover the horror with euphemistic terms, like "accident," and we anthropomorphize the vehicles as if there was no responsible human in control.

This dysfunction is much deeper than disrespect for pedestrians and bicyclists. It's an addiction-driven amnesia—a helpless shirking of personal responsibility—that has made our culture forget that traffic is made up of people driving vehicles and making decisions. Instead, we've mythologized it as a force of nature to which the bicycle driver or pedestrian is the one making the dangerous choice to expose him/herself.

IMO, the vulnerable user concept is not only a construct of this paradigm, it feeds right into the dysfunction. That is why there is potential for backlash. If we attack the very notion that *roads* are dangerous, and put the responsibility for safety back on the individual, there will be no need to distinguish a vulnerable user from any other.

Maybe someone ought to get a big government progra...

2010-01-11T21:13:19.014-05:00

Maybe someone ought to get a big government program going to confiscate bicycles and sensible leather boots. This may get the requisite rage going - imagine Glen Beck weeping about how he loved his bike as a kid and Sarah Palin telling us they will take her hiking boots off her cold dead feet...

The funny thing with Conservatives, especially tho...

2010-01-08T16:29:45.508-05:00

The funny thing with Conservatives, especially those of the so-called Greatest Generation, is that they supposedly abhor collectivism (and yet they are quite good at forming collectives in order to should down other collectivists) and change. And yet what they are still espousing, ie we should continue our auto-centric sprawl, was in fact a radical break with the past at that time. If it was okay to do so then, why is it not okay to do so now?

http://placemakinginstitute.wordpress.com/2009/12/16/contriving-multi-modal-contrivances/

Almost forgot... I'm having a hard time finding t...

2010-01-08T11:35:08.067-05:00

Almost forgot...

I'm having a hard time finding the full article. It looks like the only place around here that has it is at SCSU via EBSCO. Does that seem right?

Great report! It's impossible for these folks to l...

2010-01-08T11:21:20.074-05:00

Great report! It's impossible for these folks to live without the basic necessities we all take for granted.

It always seemed rather sinister to me that the projects here and on the other side of West Rock were built so far away from the rest of the city. It's the worst type of ghetto. That is, the type where members of a community are forced to be cut off from the rest. Sad.

"Mr. Destefano, tear down that wall!"

"The bicycle is the true automobile."

2010-01-06T14:06:05.481-05:00

"The bicycle is the true automobile."

I grapple with the oddity of conservatives' hatred...

2010-01-06T11:45:50.113-05:00

I grapple with the oddity of conservatives' hatred of non-automobile alternatives regularly in my blog and while serving on my city's Economic Development Commission. The latest is here:
http://bit.ly/4zfDcg

It mystifies me.

So, how about putting tolls back on the turnpike? ...

2010-01-06T09:27:17.096-05:00

So, how about putting tolls back on the turnpike? And stopping the widenings planned east of New Haven? That would be the small-government thing to do, right?

Oddly enough I was thinking about this earlier, ha...

2010-01-06T09:22:32.951-05:00

Oddly enough I was thinking about this earlier, having read an essay proclaiming "environmentalists want to destroy cars because they are representative of total freedom to go where we want, when we want" or words to that effect.
I'd suggest the opposite: You can drive a car, only when you take lessons certified by the state, and have a licence issued by the state. Your car must, likewise, be registered by the state, and you have to fulfill certain conditions the state lays down for insurance and other things. IN short, you'll be on half a dozen state agencie's lists by the time you hit the road.
Ah, yes, the road. This is essemntial to the 'freedom' of a car. Okay, some people drive SUV's but most drivers need that black flat surface to get anywhere. They are in fact imprisoned on this network. And who owns it? The state, or the county. Same difference. Either way you follow the routes decided by the government. And as one transport planner suggested, run on the soviet model: The citizens pay, the state runs it, and it's used by the people most willing to stand in line longest, with equipment from state-subsidized industry.
So, in total, apart for being a state-subsidized money guzzler (used by the rich and subsidized by the poor, no less)a car proclaims that you're a part of the state system, following the laws and requirements of the all-powerful government/industry.
So much for freedom.

Pain from wearing high heels is nature's way of pu...

2009-10-05T19:10:12.961-04:00

Pain from wearing high heels is nature's way of punishing women for wearing flats.

It's especially notable how there is no retesting ...

2009-09-29T23:59:44.348-04:00

It's especially notable how there is no retesting of elderly drivers. It should be a requirement for a re-evaluation of a person's motor skills when they reach over 65 and then probably every 5 years after.

Sure if your comparing the numbers of auto acciden...

2009-09-17T00:26:52.690-04:00

Sure if your comparing the numbers of auto accidents to murdered family members your going to get some serious extreme differences. People get into their cars on a daily basis, repetition adds to the odds.

On the train, I always notice a lot of women who w...

2009-09-11T09:01:02.634-04:00

On the train, I always notice a lot of women who wear sneakers for their commute, and carry their shoes with them.

Many good points here, but the DOT is still not co...

2009-07-02T13:17:22.659-04:00

Many good points here, but the DOT is still not coming around on some "big picture" issues. In my town, Branford, we have sufficient bike parking AND we even have new housing near the Shoreline East station. However, while I am being encouraged to ride my bike to the station, I cannot ride my bike from my destination station to work. Why? Because I can't bring my bike on Metro-North! As best as I understand, that is not going to change. If I decide to bike all the way, which is a long ride, crossing the Q river is a challenge because the Rte 1 bridge is very bicycle hostile, and the new "Q" bridge, when completed in another 10 years will not have a bike/pedestrian walkway. SO, my bike stays at home.