Congestion Pricing Is A Great Idea…It’s About Time

We’ve hit peak car. People are complaining about traffic, and lack of parking in Asbury Park and in cities all over the US. Building wider roads was never a good idea (induced demand), and it isn’t feasible or economically a great idea to build more parking (Cities are eliminating parking.) Maybe car culture in the US is about to change.

The Streets Were Never Free. Congestion Pricing Finally Makes That Plain.

The policy could change not just traffic, but also how we think about the infrastructure cars require.

By Emily Badger April 4th, 2019

The idea of the open road evokes these intertwined meanings: The freedom to use it should be free. Residential street parking should be free. Traffic lanes should be free. Stretches of public curb dedicated to private driveways? Those should be free, too.

In other ways, the government has heavily subsidized driving, or hidden the reality of who pays for it in places no one sees. Local laws require off-street parking from businesses and housing developers, who pass on the construction cost of it to tenants and customers who may not drive at all.

Read the article:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/04/upshot/the-streets-were-never-free-congestion-pricing-finally-makes-that-plain.html

March 31, 2019April 1, 2019

Success! APCSC Annual Meeting and Bike Light Fundraiser

What a fun way to have a meeting!

Thank you Smith Group for hosting at Little Buddy Hideaway with food, drink and a door prize donation, and to Stringbean Blues for the tunes, and Sarah Galloway for allowing us to screen Bike Riddim. To all who stepped up to support and participate, it was a terrific event on Saturday!

Stringbean Blues

The crowd, Tshirts + Bike Donation (Second Life Bikes)

We had a wonderful group at APCSC Annual Meeting and Bike Light Fundraiser. The ticket and tshirt sales, plus generous donations will enable us to purchase bike lights for people in Asbury Park who need them.

Our State of The Organization was read, and the Proclamation was on view for attendees to sign. Our transportation manager, Mike Manzella was on the mic with updates to keep us apprised about Complete Streets upcoming initiatives.

The Proclamation Mike Manzella, Transportation Mgr.

Kay Harris (Asbury Galleria and Asbury Park Museum), and Polli Schildge (Executive Committee APCSC)

Thanks so much to our amazing and supportive Asbury Park business door prize donors!

Ada’s Gojjo; America’s Cup; Asbury Galleria; Asbury Park Cyclery; Booskerdoo; Beach Box; Carla Gizzi; Cryolete; Foolish Ginger; High Voltage Cafe, Pipe Dreams; Second Life Bikes; Smithgroup; SoulKraft Ink; Words! Bookstore.

Onward!

March 29, 2019March 29, 2019

APCSC State Of The Organization

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition Annual Meeting and The State of the Organization

Raising funds for the Bike Light Campaign to Light Up Bikes in Asbury Park

Annual Meeting and Bike Light Campaign Fundraiser at Little Buddy Hideaway, Saturday, March 30th 6-8pm

Get tickets in advance here, or buy at the door (limited to 75).

Music by Stringbean Blues, door prizes (2 bikes!), screening of Bike Riddim, the award winning documentary, and updates on what’s happening in city infrastructure for biking and walking.

This event will help to raise funds for bike lights for people who need them. We hope to engage APPD to help distribute and install the lights, and we’d like to provide lights to restaurants to help hospitality staff to be lit up when they ride at night.

Buy tickets

Annual Meeting and Bike Light Campaign

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition

How Far Have We Come?

February 2019

Thank you for your continued support as APCSC endeavors to make the streets of our city safer for all users, especially the most vulnerable. If we design our streets for children and for the elderly they will be safe for everyone, including for drivers. As advocates for safe and accessible streets for all users, we want to be a one-point contact for all things regarding street safety. Our mission evolved to advocate for City streets that are safe for all road users. Speed endangers our most vulnerable citizens – Crashes cause pedestrian, bicyclist, and driver deaths.

APCSC is entering the 4th year of our existence. We were originally founded to address bicycle regulations on the boardwalk. While that issue remains one of our goals, the successful completion of other initiatives are many.

When the Route 71/Main Street road improvement plan was announced, APCSC advocated and educated for the proven safety benefits of a lane configuration. Many Main Street businesses signed on in support. Success in achieving this goal was recognized at the State level and by the NJ Bike and Walk Coalition, with whom we have an affiliation.

Leading the City’s street safety efforts today is the City’s Transportation Manager, Michael Manzella. Mike has shown his expertise and dedication to biking and walking planning from conception to implementation. Mike has proven to be our “road warrior,” working with Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition on transportation and mobility concerns for Asbury Park: A Bike Share Program; An increasing number of bike lanes; a checklist for a “Complete Streets Policy”; The “Asbury Park Plan for Walking and Biking”; spearheading the implementation of an electric car share, approval of the NJDOT reconfiguration of Main Street and Road Diet; improved crosswalks and markings, and a bicycle registration program by the AP Police Department.

We continue to advocate for:

Requiring new construction and road paving to include accommodation for bicycles

Installation of more bike racks throughout the city

Engaging with APPD in support of people riding bikes, and installing bike lights

Continuing bike light giveaway project

Reducing parking spaces to provide for safe corners and bike parking

Rewriting boardwalk bike ordinance

Making recommendations for city ordinance re: riding on sidewalks

Continuing crosswalk improvements

Encouraging regular Community Bike Rides

New initiatives are:

Installation of Leading Pedestrian Intervals and Leading Bicycle Intervals at intersections

Installation of protected bike lanes

Building a bike depot at the transit center

Promote alternative “traffic calming” strategies

Encourage walking and jogging paths around Sunset Lake

Encourage alternate means of transportation – not cars

Enforcement of speeding, double parking, and blocking bike lanes

Designation of loading zones

Develop off-site parking for delivery trucks and mandate smaller truck delivery

Develop an anti-bike theft program

Developing off-site parking and “Last Mile” transportation options from the transit center to destinations in the city

Thank you for your continued support, as APCSC endeavors to be your one-point beacon for all things regarding equitable mobility and street safety.

Look for us and follow on social media. Twitter: @Asburyparkcsc; subscribe to our website: www.apcompletestreets.org; Facebook page: @asburyparkcompletestreetscoalition.

Upcoming:

Annual Meeting and Fund Raiser: LIttle Buddy Hideaway, Saturday, March 30th 6-8pm See more and buy tickets!

“ASBURY PARK ALIVE!” on May 4th from 1-5pm:The ultimate open streets, car-free festival. Cover letter for Asbury Park Alive

State of The Organization Letter-3_8_19

March 29, 2019March 29, 2019

Love This City

Asbury Park is is undoubtedly experiencing a “rebirth”. This renaissance includes thriving music and dining scenes, plus luxury condominiums on the oceanfront, and more to come. Some residents credit developers for “revitalizing” Asbury Park, (although the reality is that timing is everything, and developers knew the time was right, even considering the risk). At the same time, many good people are focused on serious issues of social justice, “basic functional needs”, like food, housing, jobs, and education.

Besides upscale development, and in addition to the wonderful people helping to make the city livable, what make us really LOVE a city? Are possibly we missing opportunities to promote and enhance the things that would make Asbury Park truly loveable? Preserving and keeping our incredible waterfront accessible and welcoming to everyone is the first thing that comes to mind…it’s a resource like no other.

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition supports Save Asbury’s Waterfront.

LOVE THIS TOWN: WATERFRONT LESSONS FROM HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA

MAR 25, 2019

By: T.J. Maguire, Manager of Design with Develop Nova Scotia

“The 2017 Placemaking conference in Amsterdam opened my eyes to the concept of ‘lovability’, thanks to Dutch placemaker Peter Groenendaal, who encouraged participants to think beyond basic ‘livability.’ This message was recieved with an open heart, as it came only days after the Mayor of Amsterdam, Eberhard van der Laan, passed away. The Mayor concluded his final letter to the citizens of Amsterdam with a call to action: “Please take good care of our city, and of each other.”

Read about how to love a city:

https://www.pps.org/article/love-this-town-waterfront-lessons-from-halifax-nova-scotia-canada#.XJo0JI-G81M.twitter

March 27, 2019March 25, 2019

Slow It Down. Way Down.

“Traveling at high speeds causes you to miss things, or to assign things more or less importance in your mental model of a place than they may really have. One of the best ways to deeply understand the place you live is, thus, to slow down. Way down.”

Take a walk or a leisurely bike ride for no particular reason, for exercise or for an errand. It’s a fantastic way to get to know people and neighborhoods in your city. Asbury Park is easily walkable in terms of distance to any destination, at only 1.4 m square.

Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition hosts regular Community Bike Rides – slow ambles through various parts of the city, sometimes picking other riders up along the way. It’s a great way to get to know new people and other neighborhoods, to see things all around town that we may not have known about. We’ve talked to The Asbury Park Historical Assoc. about walking tours too. Our streets are becoming safer and more accommodating to people walking and people on bikes, so take a walk or a ride and explore a part of the city you may not have known!

See Your City Differently by Slowing Down

July 27, 2018 by Daniel Herriges

“One of the simplest ways to engage with your community is to physically get out in it. When you walk or bike, the slower pace allows you to notice details you’ve never seen before. Not only that, you will hear, smell and feel the environment in a way that’s impossible to experience from inside an automobile.

I’m always amazed how many total strangers speak to me when I’m walking or biking. They ask for directions, make surprising observations, or just say howdy. Cars create barriers between people. Active transportation eliminates them. When we’re not surrounded by glass and steel, people can see our faces and we become recognizably human. Sharing a smile, which happens a lot more often when you’re on foot or bike, reminds us of this fact.”

Walking tours in Montreal.

A group of friends from all over Asbury Park on a Community Ride in Spring 2018. Bikes, and even pedal surreys are all lit up!

March 26, 2019March 25, 2019

Better Streets. Less Victim Blaming.

Cities shouldn’t have to rely on “human sacrifice” to get more/better pedestrian infrastructure. “We’ve sort of come to accept these deaths as part of the background of our daily lives,” Angie Schmitt, editor at Streetsblog USA…” We’ve all been conditioned to believe that “cars (should) dominate streets above all other multimodal needs”. People walking and on bikes are routinely injured and killed, and drivers are only sometimes held accountable. If a case actually goes to court a jury will often sympathize with the driver who claims that the person “came out of nowhere”- “it could be me”. With better street design, slowing traffic speeds, and fewer people owning cars, we may be on our way to having safer cities. It won’t happen over night, and it will take strong advocacy to change the culture.

Advocates urge less ‘victim-blaming,’ better street designs to reduce pedestrian deaths

Chris Teale August 8, 2018

“As cities try and make their streets safer for all users, especially with the likely increase in use of autonomous vehicles (AVs) in the coming years, investments in pedestrian infrastructure becomes paramount. And beyond the financial requirements, Schmitt said a “wider cultural bias” that cars dominate streets above all other multimodal needs must be addressed…”

March 18, 2019March 17, 2019

Culture Is A Critical Component In City Transformation: The Asbury Park Museum

A World Bank report linked in this article, offers a “roadmap for integrating culture into people-centric and place-centric policies in a way “that accounts for the needs, values and priorities of people.”

Asbury Park is undergoing transformation – after decades of instability, like many cities globally after periods of conflict, whether from war, disasters or other forms of urban distress. City leaders and advocates are working on ways to effectively engage and address needs in all areas of the city, such as safer mobility on city streets and housing, as we strive to bring the city together. People and their culture are key elements to unification. Asbury Park has incredibly rich cultural history, and The Asbury Park Museum is a perfect resource and a reservoir of AP culture, dating from the city’s founding in 1871. It was only open for 3 months in a temporary location, from Dec. 2018 to early March 2019. Currently the museum has no home. APCSC supports the museum’s endeavor to to share, and bring to life AP cultural history in a permanent location. Stay tuned for updates!

The Secret Ingredient of Resilient Cities: Culture

TANVI MISRA MAR 12, 2019

Investing in cultural cohesion and preservation can help rebuild cities devastated by war or natural disasters, says a new World Bank report.

French artist Tarik Bouanani and project coordinator Maria Camila Moreno look on, as they work to paint a giant mural on the walls of 230 houses in the slum neighbourhood of El Pesebre, in Medellin, Colombia July 19, 2017. Picture taken July 19, 2017. REUTERS/Fredy Builes – RC1891A43DF0

According to the World Bank, cities that find themselves at the beginning of a rebuilding process first need to acknowledge that culture—whether it is tangible (monuments, religious spaces, and protected sites) or intangible (like art, traditional craft practices, or other types of local knowledge)—is crucial to their social fabric and self-image. Cities should start reconstruction of the sites that mean the most to locals.

Read about how how culture is a part of transforming a city.

March 16, 2019March 15, 2019

Peak Car

Driving in major cities in the US, particularly NYC has become a nightmare of traffic. Do drivers even realize that THEY are traffic? Car manufacturers are scrambling to build vehicles and keep them on the road for car services, and designing electric cars and self-driving vehicles. Tragically while young people aren’t buying cars like they used to, the automotive industry in the US is also catering to drivers who love their BIG vehicles. The current increase in pedestrian deaths has recently been attributed in part to the prevalence of people driving these vehicular behemoths, in which drivers are unable to see more vulnerable road users. People are killed in these crashes rather than injured by smaller vehicles. But the fact remains, sales are down. Can US cities take note of success stories across the globe where human life is prioritized over cars? It’s time. Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition advocates for street design for people, and we continue to advocate for better, safer ways to get around the city.

This Is What Peak Car Looks Like

By Keith Naughton and David Welch

February 28, 2019

“Meanwhile, mobility services are multiplying rapidly, with everything from electric scooters to robo-taxistrying to establish a foothold in the market. Increasingly, major urban centers such as London, Madrid, and Mexico City are restricting cars’ access. Such constraints, plus the expansion of the sharing economy and the advent of the autonomous age, have made automakers nervous. That’s also pushed global policymakers to consider the possibility that the world is approaching “peak car”—a tipping point when the *killer transportation app of the 20th century finally begins a steady decline, transforming the way we move.

*Editor’s note- was this an intentional description of cars?

March 15, 2019March 14, 2019

What Are We Going to Do About It?

If you wouldn’t let your kids ride a bike or walk across town in your city, or if you, as an adult are fearful of riding your bike around your town or for a bike ride to another town, there’s something seriously wrong. And the tragedy is that we know what it is. It’s cars. We know cars kill. We know that streets and roads are engineered to move cars quickly, and not to enable people to move about safely. So what are we going to do about it? Check out the podcasts.

We Need a Sea Change in How We Think About Roads and Streets

March 12, 2019

“You are grossly negligent if you show a conscious indifference to the safety of others. In other words, you’re aware that the safety of others is endangered, but you don’t do anything to act on that knowledge.”

— Charles Marohn

#8 in our Greatest Hits collection of the best Strong Towns Podcast episodes you may have missed the first time around, here’s “Gross Negligence” from June 2015. In it, Chuck Marohn describes:

An exercise from army basic training in which he had to crawl through a trench while an expert marksman sent bullets whizzing nearby. No parent would let their child do this. So why do we accept that this is basically the condition of being on the sidewalk of an American stroad?
Why we tend to associate speed with mobility and economic opportunity—and why we’re wrong.
The incoherence of common responses to tragedy on our streets, such as a proposal to remedy an unsafe highway through a park in Buffalo by simultaneously making it more like a city street… and more like a high-speed road.
What we would do if we actually wanted to make safety the number one priority on our streets. The podcast: http://podcast.strongtowns.org/e/greatest-hits-7-gross-negligence/