Living Car Free - infrastructure and how we get it

I'm finding the more I bike, the more I love good roads. So I'm doing things so I have more good roads.

This week I wrote to my US Senators and Representative about why I don't like President Bush's plan to open up more offshore areas to oil exploration. And I told them about how much I like mass transit, bikes and walking. I also pointed out that making it easier for their constituents to conserve oil will do more to reduce the price than drilling for more. (The US uses about 25% of the world's oil production each year, and about half of it goes towards transportation... so reducing transportation use makes a large change in how much oil the whole *world* uses) The more Federal funds support car-free infrastructure, the easier it is for people to make the shift.

So far, I've gotten an autoresponse from 2 of them. Nothing from the third, which is a bit depressing.

Several evenings next week are for Madison city planning. The city is working on how to expand and change downtown infrastructure so it works better. So, I need to show up, pay attention and ask questions. Downtown is centered on a narrow isthmus, and cars really don't work well there. It's a good place to start learning about city planning and local politics.

I really *love* the city's RSS feed, since all the public announcements get posted there. No searching the newspaper trying to figure out where and when a planning meeting is. No more wondering why a road is closed or when a bit of construction will be done... it gets announced on the feed.

Going to my first city planning meeting was scary. But it was worth it. The more I do, the easier it feels to speak up.

Contact you locals reps. Good move. Don't forget the Congressional Bike caucus, chaired by Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon.
http://www.cyclingdude.com/congressional_bicycle_caucus_watch/index.html

An increase in supply from Alaska. Miniscule and much slower results as compared to raising auto efficiency standards.

This week I wrote to my US Senators and Representative about why I don't like President Bush's plan to open up more offshore areas to oil exploration. And I told them about how much I like mass transit, bikes and walking.

I'm against offshore areas for oil exploration but for different reasons. In 100 years from now when all the oil is gone, were going to need that offshore oil for the military and emergency vehicles.

Perhaps you should do some research on Bogota, Columbia.

http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-miscellaneous/4154745-1.html
http://postcarboncities.net/node/276
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2002/04/04/of/

Good for you for getting involved. I am planning to do the same here in my city. The accomodations (or more precisely lack thereof) for bikes are shameful, especially considering that the city has been transformed into just another parking lot.

infrastructure and how we get it

wait. Then push abandoned cars off the road.

Perhaps you should do some research on Bogota, Columbia.

http://www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-miscellaneous/4154745-1.html
http://postcarboncities.net/node/276
http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2002/04/04/of/

http://www2.grist.org/images/news/maindish/2002/04/04/bogota_bikes.jpg

From the Grist article, the 2 mayors seem like some pretty remarkable characters. A while back, there was a video available about bike Transportation in Bogota.

Perhaps we need to import Markus to a North American city.



Under Mockus's leadership, Bogotá saw improvements as: water usage dropped 40%, 7000 community security groups were formed and the homicide rate fell 70%, traffic fatalities dropped by over 50%, drinking water was provided to all homes (up from 79% in 1993), and sewerage was provided to 95% of homes (up from 71%). When he asked people to pay a voluntary extra 10% in taxes, over 60,000 people did so. His market-oriented social policies were much less successful. Poverty and unemployment levels were high throughout his tenures and continue to be a pressing issue in Bogotá's social life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antanas_Mockus

wait. Then push abandoned cars off the road.
:roflmao:

Tuesday, Wednesday and tonight each host meetings with city planners about the Downtown Plan. I did not attend Tuesday's meetings on "visitors and tourists" and "recreation, culture and entertainment"... these meetings happen at night, and I need to be on my toes for them. Since I know that from other meetings, I decided I'd save my energy for the tougher meetings. Wednesday night was "moving around" and "working and business". Tonight is "downtown living" and "sense of place(s)".

Last night was fun. I'm not particularly helpful on the transportation focused stuff. I know about alternatives, and I use them often, but so do a *lot* of other Madison residents. The moving around meeting probably had 40 people present, and over half used cars rarely or didn't own them. Many many people had good ideas, and knew the various systems well enough to criticize them clearly and without malice.

The part where I am useful is for other stuff. Having someone who is car-free, shops at downtown businesses and who can *listen* to what other people want helps. So for the "working and business" meeting, I was at a table with a car-light man, a hotel owner, a downtown landlord, and several developers. The biggest thing I learned was that when a business makes a deal to lease from a landlord or developer, they want a certain number of parking spaces per employee. This may sound normal and sensible, and if downtown development stays exactly the way it is now, it *is* sensible.

Madison's downtown has a protected historic district (mansion hill) that is light density and cannot be made denser. That's roughly 4 blocks worth of mansions that have been turned into apartments. Most of the remaining residential is 2-4 story individual houses that have been turned into student housing on small parcels... and it only takes one or two neighbors to mobilize and protest someone redeveloping those "historic houses" into something denser. There's roughly 20-25 blocks of this kind of development. (many of these houses would have been lovely in 1950... after 50 years of students beating them to death, it is going to be *very* expensive to restore them to their original condition, and then they're easily worth 500k or more each. not a good deal for the city or the residents)

Not a good situation for me, not a good situation for the developers and landlords and not a good situation for employers. Students will happily live packed in like sardines, so the landlord can collect $1.30/square foot in rent. A slightly older married couple earning in the 30-60k range can't afford that rent (or rather, there are few 500 sq foot one bedrooms available for $650/mo... if the apartment is that spacious, it rents for $750 or more). Then around 70k and up, couples can again afford going rates and there are units available. So minimum wage workers are available, and expensive professionals are available, but middle income workers aren't. So the neighbors who try to block denser housing are advocating for urban sprawl, more car traffic and more pollution because they are trying to prevent having enough housing to support short commutes.

When it comes to buying a condo or house, the situation is even worse. Prices start at $300k, so you need to be earning 75-80k to even think about buying. It doesn't matter how bike friendly downtown is if less than half the people who work there can afford to live there. And right now, that's the case in Madison.

I never would have thought "we need more residential" and "we need a clear zoning policy and procedure" would come out of "we need more parking". Most of the business owners didn't *want* to build more parking... they just couldn't figure out a way around it.

A professional city planner posted an interesting idea here on LCF a while back. When a downtown business requests a variance to parking requirements because it's impractical, that's an excellent time for someone to propose that bicycle racks, lockers, or some other such accommodation be provided instead.