Living Car Free - The local government is actually...

...letting people decide on the Master Plan. http://planitulsa.org/

Though I'm not a resident of the city, I do work and attend college there. If their school system was 'more balanced' and the crime rate lower, I would not think twice about moving back. As much as I would like to see 'D' succeed, it's just a pipe dream.

Any of your communities doing something similar?






On a side note, the current city management team is a little daft. Budget shortfalls has the employees being forced to take unpaid leave. The local transit is being forced to consider eliminating some of the buses on the routes to reduce operating expenses (even though they said that now would be the best time to increase service). And the real kicker? The city is buying another 100 police cars. There's still about 70 from the last purchase that have not been used. Why? Because there is 1 guy who is qualified to install the radios/computers/electronics to make the cars useable for police duty. And the city has a hiring freeze, so they won't hire anyone to help, nor will they transfer/train someone else for a 'temporary' assignment.

The city where I lived asked for input on their new transportation plan. I attended a series of meetings and discussed all sorts of car-free alternatives, and traffic restructuring alternatives with other people there, and meeting officials took notes and recapped our discussions, everyone's discussions. A wide range of good ideas (car-free alternatives, vehicle options, road restructuring, etc. etc.) came out of those meetings.

At the end of the series of meetings, the meeting officials told us they would put together a document detailing the new transportation plan based on all the good ideas which came up in the meetings.

Several months later, all those of us who participated in the meetings received a large document in the mail. I read it. The committee used a very small handful of the ideas presented ... and had either rejected or completely ignored all the rest. Most of the stuff mentioned in the document hadn't come up in the discussions at all ... obviously it was stuff they had been planning to do all along, and the meetings were an attempt to make it look like the public had been consulted.

About a year later, a new mayor was elected, and the whole new transportation plan was scrapped. The new mayor was into beautification ... rather than doing any improvements to the overall traffic situation in that city, a set of real trees were dug up, and a set of metal trees with little lights in them were planted.

Somehow, I'm sceptical when local governments appear to let people decide. :D

Anchorage just got through with a very ambitious bike plan, and I attended a few public inputs sessions when it was being drafted. It's a sea change in focus from purely recreational multi use, seasonal trails to incorporating bikes as part of a way of life. That's very radical this far north. It was a lot of fun and I encourage others to participate in this kind of planning if they have a chance.

Anchorage just got through with a very ambitious bike plan, and I attended a few public inputs sessions when it was being drafted. It's a sea change in focus from purely recreational multi use, seasonal trails to incorporating bikes as part of a way of life. That's very radical this far north. It was a lot of fun and I encourage others to participate in this kind of planning if they have a chance.

Did your changes actually come through?

I must say it is an interesting process ... and very eye opening.

On a side note, the current city management team is a little daft. Budget shortfalls has the employees being forced to take unpaid leave. The local transit is being forced to consider eliminating some of the buses on the routes to reduce operating expenses (even though they said that now would be the best time to increase service). And the real kicker? The city is buying another 100 police cars. There's still about 70 from the last purchase that have not been used. Why? Because there is 1 guy who is qualified to install the radios/computers/electronics to make the cars useable for police duty. And the city has a hiring freeze, so they won't hire anyone to help, nor will they transfer/train someone else for a 'temporary' assignment.

Seems like the Plans were developed by a group of consultants, probably working thanks to some federal or state funding. Certainly, plans B, C and D sound pretty different than most midWest towns, so I'd have to wonder when you all get to decide.

Unless it all goes for new squad cars.

Some interesting things going on in Tulsa! I'm kinda leaning toward Scenario B, but I would consider a couple of the other ones. Maybe we should all go to the Tulsa website and take the survey--see if we can skew the results toward a good carfree plan. :D

Here in Lansing, we're going a different route. There is a grassroots petition drive going on now to make the city adopt a Complete Streets plan. This would require the development of a non-motorised network and also require 5 % of future street development to be non-motorised. Hizzonor Virg Bernero ("America's Angriest Mayor") has signed on to the plan, which was developed by a coalition of environmental groups, cycling clubs, senior citizen groups and health agencies. I'm starting to get pretty geeked about it!

http://www.walkbikelansing.com/ordinanceFAQ.html

Must be nice...:innocent:

Town nearest me (about 8100 population) just threw the police chief and his top two honchos in jail on multiple felony charges and they are starting an investigation into the mayor and the town board.:rolleyes: Plus our illustrious former governor along with his wife are being investigated by the FBI for "campaign irregularities" :roflmao2:

Towns around here can't seem to plan past the latest political scandal. The one where we had our retail shop was supposed to renovate the downtown area, but the local yokels voted the progressive mayor out and the first thing the new one did was kill the entire project and is pushing to have a new city hall built out on the far edge of town, in his words "we need a fresh start":notamused:

Aaron:)

I wouldn't be so hopeful about community involvement. communities are terrible at seeing the big picture, it always comes down to petty personal biases.

I wouldn't be so hopeful about community involvement. communities are terrible at seeing the big picture, it always comes down to petty personal biases.

Well of course it does. That's what politics is, especially on the local level where government meets the streets. The desires of cyclists are "personal biases" as are the desires of the bus riders, the walkers and the cagers. Everybody will use either force or compromise to get as much of their own way as they can. The big picture is just the sum of a lot of small pictures. We call this "democracy" when we can make it work for the people instead of the honchos.