Striped crosswalks will make every pedestrian safer by making intersections more visible!
A Street You Go To, Not Just Through – Principles for Fostering Streets as Places
https://www.pps.org/reference/8-principles-streets-as-places/
These eight principles focus on ways to attract people to a street and to tap into its community-building potential. These guidelines closely parallel PPS’s “What Makes a Great Place” diagram, which we have adapted to fit the context of streets.
Transportation Safety Establishment Finally Starting to Understand Bicycling
http://usa.streetsblog.org/2017/08/31/transportation-safety-establishment-finally-starting-to-understand-bicycling/
“The Governors Highway Safety Association came out with a report last week about how states can reduce cycling fatalities [PDF]. It’s not a revolutionary document, but if you look closely you’ll see signs of progress at one of the big national organs of the transportation safety establishment.”
This is the beginning and it’s a good start. It is unfortunate that NHTSA still focuses on advising kids (and adults too of course) about obeying traffic laws and wearing a helmet as the best measures against car-related injuries and fatalities. Onward.
Stand Against Hate Asbury Park
Count Asbury Park Complete Streets Coalition among organizations supporting The Rally Against Hate on September 4th. Join us at Springwood Park at 10am.
“Equitable use of public streets is a social justice issue; we are willing to stand up for other important social justice causes.”
NJTV In Your Neighborhood Special: Asbury Park, August 30, 2017
NJTV interviews business owners, community organizations (watch those terrific kids at the Boys and Girls Club!) and stakeholders in Asbury Park, including Lisa Lee of EZRide and Alliance for a Healthier Asbury Park. She speaks at 32:15 about ways that the organization is helping residents healthier, which includes making streets safer.
Asbury Park Community Forum: Schools, Jobs, Transportation
Asbury Park Community Forum on August 23.
After comments and discussion about the West Side Community Center, schools, business opportunities and jobs, a great discussion about transportation by Lisa Lee
Thank you NJTV and Lisa Lee of EZRide and The Alliance for a Healthy Asbury Park for your informative and supportive comments and an excellent presentation.
(Lisa opens at 1:43:48.)
Substitute US for UK. The Guardian: Is the UK really menaced by reckless cyclists?
Asbury Park has just launched a new Bike Share! We cut the ribbon tonight and people are happy that AP is becoming a safe and welcoming city for people-particularly the most vulnerable road users-pedestrians and bike riders, whether visitors or residents. But there is still a sense that people on bikes are a renegade bunch.
There are too many disturbing news stories recently about badly behaving bike riders, and even more stories about bike riders being hit and killed by drivers of motor vehicles with little or no consequences. APCSC is making an effort to turn this around in Asbury Park, advocating for streets that are safe for everyone.
“Yes, a percentage of cyclists ride like idiots, and their actions can cause injury and, more often, intimidation or alarm.
But the same can be said for just about every form of transport. As I’ve written before, I strongly suspect cyclists who rush through red lights are likely to drive a car equally stupidly. It’s about idiots, not the mode of travel that happen to be using at the time.
And there is a lot of stupidity in cars. Speeding and phone use at the wheel is less visible than a cyclist sailing across a red, but (for reasons of physics rather than morals) is much, much more likely to kill or maim someone else.”
PARK(ing) Day! NYTimes: Prime Parking Spaces for People, Not Cars
National Park (ing) Day In Asbury Park!
Asbury Park is designating 2 parking spaces for people instead of cars on September 15.
http://parkingday.org/about-parking-day/
“The street seats grew out of a national movement that began in San Francisco in 2005 when members of an arts collective called Rebar transformed a parking spot with grass turf, a bench and potted tree, and invited passers-by to feed the meter. The experiment inspired a daylong celebration, known as Park(ing) Day, in which people took over parking spots. Later, a new generation of curbside micro parks, or “parklets,” was born.
“The miniboom in parklets nationwide underscores how cities are reinventing how they use their most abundant public space — their streets,” said Alex Engel, a spokesman for The National Association of City Transportation Officials, which has included parklets in its guide to urban street design.”
Amazing Place series: “A change is gonna come” in Macon, Georgia
Macon’s rich heritage sounds so much like that of Asbury Park. This is a great story of how placemaking in Macon had been initiated and created by groups outside of government, and is now bringing those strategies in-house.
From native American history to the birthplace of great American music, Macon, Georgia, has a rich heritage. City leaders have witnessed the positive returns of a place-based approach to economic development, but those efforts have largely originated outside of government. Macon’s Amazing Place leadership team of mostly elected officials wants to learn more about bringing those same strategies in-house.
https://smartgrowthamerica.org/amazing-place-series-change-gonna-come-macon-georgia/
Bike Share Ribbon Cutting and Community Ride August 29, 4:30pm
“Biking is good for the environment, it helps our residents connect to jobs and commercial districts, and it’s good for our health,” said Mayor John Moor. “We’re one of the first cities in New Jersey with a bike share program, and definitely the first along the Jersey Shore.” “A bike share system is the kind of amenity that people expect to see in a city like ours,” said Deputy Mayor Amy Quinn. “This system is a piece of the transportation puzzle that will help to reduce parking demand in our commercial districts, connect residents to important destinations, and make Asbury Park an even more attractive place to live, work and visit.”
Bike Share Ribbon Cutting August 29th
Kickoff at Springwood Park on Tuesday, August 29th at 4:30 PM. The event will include a ceremonial ribbon-cutting with remarks from the City Council followed by a community group ride in the neighborhood. The ride will return to Springwood Park in time for the finale of the Music Mondays concert series at Springwood Park, starting at 6 p.m.
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30 cruiser bikes will be available at 6 stations for members to use for on-demand, local trips. Riders join the program by signing up for an annual subscription or per-hour rides. Rides for members – who must be 18 or older – are $30 per year or $3 per hour. The program is supported by four community sponsors: Madison Marquette (Asbury Park Boardwalk), iStar (Asbury Park Now), The Asbury Hotel, and Home Drug Store.
Sign up here:
bike.zagster.com/asburypark