Thursday, August 18, 2011 at 08:16AM I’m not a fan of the buses here in North Fulton... Well, I would be if there were better routes and more frequency... but I’m definitely not a fan of this bus.
image: FailBlog.org
Wednesday, August 17, 2011 at 06:01AM I have intentionally stayed quiet while all of the wrangling has been going on to shave the list of transit projects down from roughly $23 billion to the $6.14 billion. This was in part to keep me from getting my hopes up and then dashed when projects were cut from the list. Fair warning, the current constrained list (pdf) of $6.14B is by no means the final list. There will be wrangling all the way through Oct of this year when the final list is selected by the Regional Roundtable. However, we’re closer now than ever. So, there are two questions I have:
Let’s start by taking a look at what’s in it for Roswell. The first thing that I noticed was that most of the road projects in the North Subregion are slated to receive full funding, $440M total. The Roswell specific road projects would receive $133M. This is roughly 2% of the available pie and Roswell represents about 2% of the region’s population. Seems fair to me. The tax would also kick in $37M of the $900M needed to bring rail to the Holcomb Bridge/400 interchange. Here’s a list of the projects that directly impact Roswell:
Another absolutely huge project that will impact North Fulton is the improvement of the interchange at 400 & 285. In the current list, there is $450M budgeted for this project. Considering that the northern section of 285 between 75 and 85 is consistently recognized as one of the most congested roads in Atlanta, if not the nation, I’d say this is a big win. Improving flow at this interchange could significantly improve commutes for many Roswell and North Fulton residents.
Some other personal favorites of mine are:
So, should we vote for it? All in all, I believe there is a good mix of Transit and Road projects on this list and it should definitely be considered seriously. Here’s a quick list of Pro’s and Con’s:
Pros:
Cons:
One last thing... This tax will fail unless it is moved to the general election ballot. The region deserves to be represented fairly and having this on a republican primary ballot will not generate a turnout that is representative of the region. Fortunately, Gov. Deal gets this and has put this on the agenda for the current special session for the general assembly.
It’s our only chance to actually move the political and traffic gridlock that has existed for the past 10 years in our region. I’m voting for it. I might have to give up a lunch each month but I just might save some money in gas and more importantly time. Where it stands right now, I'm for this tax and given what our sub-region has to gain, it's hard to argue that the rest of North Fulton shouldn't be for it as well.
Saturday, July 23, 2011 at 10:08AM This story has been all over the place locally and nationally. Raquel Nelson, mother of three, lost her 4 year-old son in a hit-and-run incident in April while crossing a divided highway (Austell Rd) in Marietta from a MARTA bus stop to her apartment. There were no pedestrian crossings within a third of a mile. The spot where she crossed was a de facto crossing legitimized by the fact that MARTA had bus stop there to cater to exactly those apartment dwellers and homes in that area. The driver had a history of hit and run, had had several beers earlier in the day and was on pain medication. We won’t re-hash the details but suffice to say that the driver peaded out for a lesser charge of hit-and-run down from a charge of vehicular manslaughter and the mother has been convicted of vehicular homicide and is awaiting sentencing. She doesn't own a car, wasn't in a car and lost her 4 year-old son. You can judge for yourself on whether this is fair or just. Transportation 4 America has a worthwhile interpretation of the details.
This picture illustrates the accident side well. What rational person wouldn’t be enticed by that proximity with the alternative being a walk of half to three quarters of a mile with three children in tow and grocery bags in hand?
The route Raquel Nelson, her children and other bus riders used is in dotted green. There are no safe crossings in sight. (Image: Transportation4America)
So, where could this happen in Roswell? Here are the areas that I think are most prone to an incident of this nature.
Holcomb Bridge & 400 - The first spot that comes to mind for me is on Holcomb Bridge Road between 400 and Dogwood. Pedestrians ALWAYS cross between the Chevron and the Shell to get to or from the MARTA stop in front of the Shell station. At least there is an ample median.
South Atlanta Street - The next spot my list is the MARTA stop on South Atlanta Street on the north bound lane across from Chattahoochee Landing Apartments. Here bus riders must cross three lanes of traffic (reversible) with no refuge. They must wait on a sidewalk that is narrow and perilously close to the roadway.
Add to the comments if you know of any other obviously poorly designed/located MARTA stops in Roswell. Also, if this interests you at all, you really should take the time to read these additional articles in addition to the Transportation 4 America article linked to earlier.
When Design Kills: The Criminalization of Walking - Grist
The Lonesome Death of a Child Pedestrian - The Infrastructurist
Related Posts
The Ten Deadliest Cities for Pedestrians - Close Call for ATL
Watch & Learn: Buford Highway, A Case Study for Pedestrian Nightmares
Marietta, walkability in Mobility Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at 09:58PM If you've ever been riding in a bike lane only to find it blocked by a car or some other obstruction, you'll sympathize with this guy. After getting a ticket for not riding in the bike lane, he proceeds to film himself running into every bike lane obstruction he could find with the last being too ironic. I wish we had enough bike lanes that you could get a ticket for not riding in the bike lane.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 03:08PM 
Roswell News
Norcross-Grimes Roundabout Update - The roundabout is finally functional. I’ve used it about 10 times in the past few weeks and so far I love it. I have seen a couple of confused drivers and I’ve heard one honk at someone who wasn’t paying attention. I’d love to see some stats on how many accidents there have been since it opened. If there have been any, they surely can’t have been too bad as the speed within the roundabout has been low as predicted.
Midtown Streetscape Project - The finishing touches are being put on the landscaped islands on Alpharetta Hwy. The first one is just north of the Norcross St intersection and the last on is at the Hog Creek Bridge. This one will be the largest. I’m still concerned about the lighting and overhead wires. To spend all of this money on streetscape improvements and overlook the most unsightly piece of the streetscape (aside from the crappy buildings along the corridor) is a disappointment.
Historic Gateway Project - This project was included on the final list of projects submitted to the regional transportation roundtable. It will be reviewed for potential inclusion in the list of projects that will be included in the regional sales tax initiative that is going to be on the ballot next year.
Comp Plan Undergoes Changes After Residents Sound Off - Roswell Neighbor
There was a vocal contingent that voiced its concern over the types of uses the Roswell Comp Plan (Roswell 2030) was proposing for the Holcomb Bridge and GA400 interchange. There are still thoughts of Charlie Brown in everyone’s minds. I’m in favor of a massive revitalization of that area for many reasons, not the least of which is that it is a dysfunctional area in our city that has the potential to be a major jobs, residential and transportation center that Roswell and North Fulton can use. Here’s a quote from the Roswell Neighbor article that outlines the types of changes that were made after the ‘sound off:’
Among the changes sought, according to Tolleson, is shifting density from the southeast quadrant of Ga. 400/Holcomb Bridge to the northwest quadrant. And instead of designating Holcomb Bridge Road as a commercial corridor, it would be the lower impact designation of neighborhood commercial, which would allow businesses “that support people who already live here, not the people passing through,” he said.
You can take that for what it’s worth but I think it’s a classic case of ‘we don’t want that type of people getting any closer to our space here in East Roswell.’ Also, what in the world is ‘lower impact’ ‘neighborhood commercial?’ If that is another way to say, ‘exactly what we already have,’ then I’m 100% against it because it’s not going to work in the years ahead.
Regional News
Regional Light Rail All About Jobs North Fulton Chamber CEO Says - Alpharetta-Milton Patch
image: Metro Atlanta Northern Crescent Transit
Brandon Beach has been lobbying pretty actively to get transit into the northern burbs of late. Most recently a public/private consortium of regional leaders met at the Cobb Galleria Centre to discuss the prospects of transit in the burbs. It seems to have been an optimistic meeting with a caveat that most of the people there stand to benefit financially from transit development especially if it is primarily publicly funded. Here’s a quote that I found interesting:
A survey conducted by McKinsey & Company in 2008 found that by investing $26 billion to $46 billion in transportation infrastructure, including light rail, Georgia could increase its gross domestic product by $114 billion and create 230,000 jobs over the next 20 years.
35% of Atlanta Homes Underwater - Atlanta Business Chronicle
YIKES! This is well above the national average of 22.7% according to CoreLogic.
Stalled Alpharetta Project to Get New Life - AJC
Prospect Park is about to have a new owner. North American Properties plans to purchase the land and build a more realistic and less grandiose mixed-use center on the 106 acre property. They will begin community outreach in the coming months. You may recognize North American Properties as the company that purchased the retail and some of the office space in Atlantic Station last year. I believe they have done a good job engaging that community thus far to find out what they want to see at Atlantic Station.
image: Atlanta Business ChronicleBidding will open at the end of this month to improve linking the Buckhead station with developments on the north side of the station. This is a great step to making MARTA more functional within neighborhoods (albeit wealthy a wealthy neighborhood) and job centers.
City Hall East Deal Could be Derailed by Feds - Creative Loafing
image: Creative LoafingThis is complicated and I find that generally when things get complicated, we’re doing something wrong. My understanding is that the deal is being held up because the US Parks Department of the Dept of the Interior is not comfortable with what potential owner/devolper Jamestown Properties wants to do with the long vacant building. Jamestown is applying for some $15M in tax credits??? Do they really need $15M in tax credits to make this thing work? It’s a gem in an area that is revitalizing. I think both sides need to give a little here. I’d love to see this building get put to good use. It’s a great pice of historic architecture in our region.
Go East, Young Beltline Fanatic - Creative Loafing
image: Historic 4th Ward Park ConservancyThe loaf has a good quick update on what is going on with the parks and trails along the Beltline. The park in Old Fourth Ward was recently ‘officially’ opened and it has been getting rave reviews. Just from the images I’ve seen, it looks incredible. One of these days, I’ll make my way down to check it out.
Streets of Buckhead now Buckhead Atlanta - Atlanta Business Chronicle
image: Oliver McMillanSay what you will about the name of the project but I am certainly glad to see new ownership and the potential for progress. The eyesore in Buckhead has been a horrible scar on our region’s most prosperous area. You personally may never buy something from the shops that will be at ‘Buckhead Atlanta’ but the county’s tax base will reap benefits. The new developer said this about the project:
One of the highest profile developments in the country halted by the economic downturn and financing drought. The new name signifies a departure from the concept of a single destination development and a move toward a mixed-use community that will fit seamlessly within the existing Buckhead Village
Atlanta Grants Siemens Contract for 4 Atlanta Streetcars - Green Building Chronicle
image: SiemensThis is a $17M+ contract with Siemens. The city is expecting delivery of the first car in September 2012 with revenue service starting up in early 2013. The Siemens facility in Alpharetta will be doing much of the work on the propulsion systems for the new cars.
Bike Trails Proposed along GA 400 - Reporter Newspapers
image: Reporter NewspapersThis is a win in the Buckhead area. Buckhead is great but it does have Atlanta’s lowest acreage of parks per capita. The trail system is a partnership between several organizations including the PATH foundation, Buckhead CIT, Atlanta City Council and others. The trail will begin at Loridans Drive just south of the toll booth and will continue 4.5 miles into Midtown also connecting with the Beltline trail system.
GA400/I-85 Interchange Work Set to Start - Atlanta Business Chronicle
image: GDOTWill we finally be able to go northbound on I-85 from GA400 South? Will those traveling south on I-85 be able to get on to GA400? Looks like it’s happening. You can thank the GA400 toll for this one.
Plans for Upscale Apartment Tower at 12th & Midtown
image: Midtown PatchThis looks like a nice project. It’s interesting to see another tower going up in Midtown in this environment. The economics of apartments are definitely different than those of condos/lofts right now. I’ll be interested to see how this one pans out. Midtown is obviously doing well but I’m not sure it needs another tower right now. However, it’s definitely better than a surface parking lot.
Regulator Calls for 20-30MW Solar Projects - Atlanta Business Chronicle
The Georgia Public Service Commission would like to see plans in place to significantly increase the state’s renewable capacity given the increasing volatility in traditional energy markets.
Sunday, June 12, 2011 at 12:19AM 
Steve Smith's home in Charlotte, NC listed for $2.9MAs many of my friends and readers know, my small family has been progressively downsizing our home for the past three years. We started in 2007 with a 2,500 square foot home with a detached 2 car garage and a yard. In 2008, we moved into an 1,800 square foot townhome with a 1 car garage and no yard. Finally in 2010, we have settled on a 1,290 square foot condo with covered parking. This suits our family perfectly right now and gives us the time to spend with each other rather than doing house chores that we don't find gratifying. ...we built this huge house and we just don't have any business living in it. It seemed like a great idea, and then we moved into this big house. Qe started cringing at all that space we had. For me, it was a little bit vain that I have this big house with this big yard. People saw my house was on sale and said it was me sending a message. Really the message I sent was to my kids: Dad made a mistake. This isn't how we are supposed to live. This isn't what I should be projecting. If we don't do this now (sell the house), what incentive do I give my kids to reach for? You make a lot of money and then you go blow it? I don't want to be a statistic. I want to be a good steward.
charlotte, downsizing in Sprawl, Trends Wednesday, June 8, 2011 at 11:51PM 
This year's theme was Growing Local. Madison could not have been a more appropriate setting with a rich history of farming and a good number of local family owned farms which is not the norm in the midwest. They also have the nation's largest producer only farmer's market. 
Tracks
There were well over 100 sessions, tours and discussions that attendees could participate in over the course of the four days. Tracks included:
I tended to focus on the Bikeability and Transportation as well as the Architecture and Placemaking tracks although all of them were very interesting with a myriad of knowledgeable speakers. Here's a recap of my journey for you (and me lest I forget):
Wednesday, June 1
Bike the Transect Tour - We ventured out on rented Trek 7200 bikes for a ride out of Madison through Verona and out to Paoli for brunch at the Creamery. Our return trip took us through Fitchburg and the University of Wisconsin Arboretum. There were about 20 of us including guides and 19 of us made it the entire ~35 miles back. An elderly gentleman had to drop out at our brunch stop. The landscape went from Urban Center to General Urban through Suburban and into Rural. It was amazing watching it unfold. The more amazing part was that a good portion of our trip was made on dedicated bike paths. They even had their own road signs. Our brunch in Paoli at the Creamery was insanely good. This tour started the conference right.
New Urbanism 202 - The Smart Growth Manual - I was a little late to this session because the bike tour was a little long and a shower was necessary. Unfortunately, I missed most of Andres Duany's part of the session (don't worry, his speech on Saturday more than made up for my lost time with the grand poobah). Mike Lydon and Jeff Speck took about 2 hours and 15 min to go through the Smart Growth Manual and touch on some of the finer points that the book doesn't hit. If you are a nerd like me or just someone who wants to know about how to develop our places in a more effective manner, check out the book. It's a quick read and is a very good resource.
Opening Plenary with William Cronan - This lecture was absolutely incredible. Cronan is a professor at the University of Wisconsin, an author (Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West) as well as an excellent speaker. He delivered a lecture titled "What time is this place?' that was thought provoking and educational. He looked at aerial imagery of Madison from the late 40's through present day and discussed how different transportation systems impacted the pattern of development. He went from horse and buggy to the electric street car and finally to the automobile. The pictures examined the transect from the state capitol west out to agricultural land. He went west on Regent St to Speedway Rd to Mineral Point Rd out past the W Beltline Hwy. I can't give it justice in just a blurb so I'm going to stop trying.
Thursday, June 2
Open Source Plenary - This was an interesting addition to the Congress. Essentially, it was a crowd sourcing event where audience members could propose topics. Those topics were put on a board and assigned a breakout location. Anyone who was interested in discussing that topic could go to the designated location and work with that group. I chose Chuck Mahron's topic of Complete Streets and New Urbanism. Chuck works with an organization called Strong Towns in Minnesota that works with small town governments to ensure they are aware of the financial implications of their development decisions. I regularly read his blog and was glad I got a chance to meet him in person. The group was about 15 strong for this session and we had a good discussion of the impacts of road design on safety as well as what makes sense in certain areas. One of Chuck's main points is that there is a difference between a road and a street and that municipalities need to understand that. To generalize, a road is meant to get you from one city/town to another city/town and a street is meant to get you from place to place within a city/town. This was a good session even though I was the note taker.
The City of Continuity: New Urbanism and Historic Preservation - My interest in this session has to do with the fact that I live in Roswell. We have a great history of historic preservation here and I was curious to learn more about the relationship between new urbanism and historic preservation. If you are knowledgeable about the new urbanism, then you probably know that a common critique is that new urbanist communities tend to be nostalgic and have traditional architecture. The real reason for this tends to lie in the fact that it is what the buyers want time and time again. But, there are rifts between historic preservationists and new urbanists that I wasn't aware of. It was interesting to see the dialogue. There were speakers from New Orleans, the University of Notre Dame and South Florida.
Charter Awards Lunch - CNU has been giving out awards for excellence in the design and implementation of projects annually for the past 11 years. This year's awards were separated into academic and professional. As it turns out the most impressive of them all was a plan for Skaneateles, NY that was done by the Notre Dame Graduate Urban Design Studio. 
The New Urbanism and the Bicycle: A Dialogue - I attended this session to learn a little more about implementing good bicycle facilities since I'm participating in the public input process for the Roswell Historic Gateway project. There were major differences in opinion on the need for separate bike lanes, painted bike lanes and overwhelming signage. I tended to agree with the side of less signage but I think it's all about context. In situations where speed limits are 25mph or lower, lanes probably aren't necessary. The Q&A in this session was great.
Public Space Design in Europe, the Middle East, China and South America - This one started off a little slow with looks at public spaces in the middle east and asia. A very interesting tidbit about China though. Chinese regulations demand that every room in the house have at least two hours of sunlight on the winter solstice. This creates an interesting design dilemma as all buildings must face the same way and high rises cannot be too close to each other. The next presenter showed some AMAZING projects that have been completed in Europe. i was shocked and jealous of some of the things going on in Europe. Of course, I'm not jealous of their fiscal issues.
Salons - There were a number of salons on Thursday night. I chose the Federal Sustainable Communities Initiative salon. It was run by former CNU Executive Director, Shelly Poticha. She is currently the Director for Sustainable Housing and Communities at HUD. She worked closely with the HUD EPA DOT partnership in reviewing grant applications for the most recent round of funding. There were many people representing organizations that received grants. To me, the most memorable was Jerry Tinianow with the Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission who discussed the initiative to revitalize a blighted area, Weinland Park, by incorporating urban agriculture. Here's a great presentation on the initiative. I wish them luck.
Friday, June 3
Friday Morning Plenary - Harvard economist and author of bestseller Triumph of the City Ed Glaeser talked for about 45 minutes and then took questions. He was a furious talker comparable to the MicroMachines man from teh 80's commercials. His talk was relavent . I asked him after the lecture what he thought about crime and density. He wrote a paper in the late 90's on the topic and he feels there is a weak correlation but was uncertain whether it still existed and whether the research was robust enough to prove. He did say that interestingly people who live in high rises in high density areas are statistically more likely to be victims of crime than those who live in shorter buildings in high density areas.
Stefanos Polyzoides, one of the CNU founders, followed Prof. Glaeser and did a great job examining how the New Urbanists need to take a page out of the Landscape Urbanists' playbook and focus much more on design for a region or climate rather than just building things that people will like. He focused on ten principles for designing proper buildings in a hot dry climate and a hot damp climate. The lessons were memorable but were directed at the architect segment of the audience.
Preparing Communities for an Aging Society: Discussion with Henry Cisneros - Mr. Cisneros is a strong advocate for creating places where elderly can live without assistance until much later in life. There will be a major need for this in the coming years as the baby boomers begin to enter their golden years. This year is when the first boomers begin to hit 65. I thought the part of the discussion that focused on old folks who absolutely refuse to leave their homes was sad. I recall when my grandmother hit an age when she couldn't care for herself anymore and we had to move her out of her condo. She was as feisty as they come but it was necessary. What are we going to do when we have millions of elderly refusing to leave their big houses with big yards? It was an interesting and important discussion.
Transportation Initiative Meeting - The transportation initiative meeting had good attendance. The Project for Transportation Reform was the topic. It opened with Carl Wren of the Austin Fire department talking about successes and challenges in working with emergency response units throughout the country to advance the Networks and Emergency Response Initiative. It is apparent that many municipalities across the country are seeing the benefits of a networked street grid when it comes to efficient and timely emergency response. After Chris finished the group discussed transportation initiatives and many of the points came back to safe bicycling. I brought up the challenge of placemaking when our streets are littered with unnecessary road signs.
Sprawl Retrofit at the Micro Scale: Repairing All Dimensions - This one was interesting. We first took a look at the a project that focused on repairing missing teeth throughout Long Island. The project identified thousands of acres of parking lots in town centers that could be redeveloped creating a more inviting environment in those town centers. Other speakers talked about the challenge of repairing sprawling environments with small scale solutions. The sheer size of our suburban landscape makes the addition of a small park or some benches almost irrelevant.
Sprawl Retrofit Action: From Design to Reality; Seeping vs. Sweeping
CNU Atlanta Meetup @ Brocach Irish Pub - This was a good event following a long day of Cities, Elderly and Sprawl Retrofit. The Atlanta CNU chapter was well represented in Madison and we also had local entrepreneur Farmer D in the house. The food was good but the conversation was better. Lots of good ideas came up and hopefully we can take some of them home with us.
Saturday, June 4
Bike to the University of Wisconsin - I took a ride over to the University of Wisconsin with fellow new urbanist from Orlando, Todd Bonnett. Todd wanted to try out his free B Cycle bike sharing card. It turned out to be a pretty sweet system. Easy to use, easy to ride and very convenient.
Dane County Farmers' Market - What can I say about this other than wow. Here's a link.
Saturday Morning Plenary - The last morning plenary of the Congress did not disappoint. We heard a motivational story of success from Will Allen of Growing Power. Will runs a non-profit urban agriculture organization in Milwaukee. They teach inner city youth the virtues of growing food. They work with fish, bees and livestock in an urban environment. Here's a quick blurb from Johanna Bye on the CNU blog:
Since it’s founding, Growing Power has maintained close ties with the working-class neighborhood it calls home. Through outreach and education programs, the farm introduces agriculture and business skills to youth from low-income backgrounds. One such program is the Milwaukee Youth Corps (also operating in Chicago), which invites kids and teens from the inner city to work on the farm and learn all aspects of the trade, from growing produce to eating healthy, being more active, marketing, and learning entrepreneurial and leadership skills.
Will Allen is a big man but his heart and story are even bigger. This was truly worth hearing.
Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) followed Mr. Allen and did a great job positioning the issues of the day and framing the challenges that we face as a society with energy, finances, and climate change. The great thing is that new urbanism and smart growth can help with all three.
Typology of Transit-Oriented Development - This was a comparison of older transportation locations versus newer transportation locations in two metro areas. It was interesting to see how certain types of implementation and densities can impact driving habits, CO2 emissions. The most interesting part of the entire presentation was around the actual data.
Academic Paper Session 2: Investigations on Transportation Networks - If you think widening roads is an effective way to increase the level of service at a given intersection, think again. The absolute silver bullet in increasing level of service is increasing the network. Widening roads decreases pedestrian safety and does very little to actually improve level of service. Several other academic papers with interesting research were presented but I'll spare you.
New Mobility Meets New Urbanism
Final Plenary - This was the hyped event of the week. Ever since Andres Duany fired a direct shot at the Landscape Urbanism establishment in his Point of View piece in Metropolis Magazine, New Urbanists have been waiting for a response from the Harvard Graduate School of Design. This was that response. The original format was expected to be a debate between Duany and GSD head Charles Waldheim. It then turned into a Q&A. Finally it turned into a lecture by Prof. Waldheim followed by a short Q&A from Duany. But, in typical Duany fashion, he surprised us all.
Prof. Waldheim presented a well laid out overview of Landscape Urbanism over the course of 50 minutes. The biggest success of the movement has been the High Line in New York. They haven't really built any neighborhoods or cities or anything. However, they do enjoy influence over many of the premier architecture schools in the nations. So, the New Urbanists view the movement as a threat especially since the movement is based on an idea rather than practical and empirical observation over time.
Following Prof. Waldheim's lecture, Duany came out and issued a challenge to the crowd. It was to essentially learn what can be learned from the LU's and incorporate the good into the practice of building better New Urbanist communities. It was amazing how he almost completely dismissed the most powerful man in academic architecture and took a message directly to his following. I was impressed. If you want to see the entire Closing Plenary, you can view it here.
Closing Party - The closing party was held on top of the Monona Terrace Conference Center. It was a beautiful setting for the end of the Congress. I met and talked to some more people before finally calling it a night and ending my conference.
If you'd like to inquire on any of the sessions, I'd be more than happy to discuss.
Next year's congress will be in West Palm Beach. I'm planning on going. If you're interested in joining the cause, let me know or go to www.cnu.org.
images: CNU, Opticos Design
Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 11:31PM 
Transportation for America recently released their Dangerous by Design 2011 report. Fortunately, Atlanta did not make the top 10. They state that between 2000 and 2009, 47,047 pedestrians were killed by vehicles and another 688,000 were injured. To put that into perspective, it would be more than 15 passenger jets carrying 300 passengers crashing each and every year for 10 straight years. I don't think we the people would put up with that. However, because of the non-spectacular nature of pedestrian deaths and the fact that they all too often occur to people living in poverty, this pedestrian genocide goes overlooked.
Over 50% were on arterial roads like many of the roads right here in Roswell and North Fulton that were designed to give automobile traffic the highest priority. Fortunately, Roswell has been adding sidewalk capacity and filling in gaps in just these types of areas and has plans to do more. Now, adding sidewalks is just a band aid but at least they offer some level of safety that doesn't exist without them.
Here's the list of the top 10 metro areas:
My message to you... DO NOT WALK IN FLORIDA!! These findings remind me of a talk that an acquaintance of mine, Rick Geller, delivered earlier this year at the Congress for the New Urbanism Florida Chapter meeting in Seaside. Rick is trying to gain support for a safe streets bill in the Florida legislature. It's pretty obvious from this report that they need it. Check out his blog if you'd like to read more about the issues in Florida. Good luck Rick!
So, it's great that the ATL isn't in the top ten. Well kind of, we're number 11. The Atlanta MSA had 798 pedestrian deaths during the decade which accounted for 12.5% of all traffic related deaths. Slightly above the national average of 12%. Be careful out there and any time you hear someone say we don't need to fund sidewalks and safe streets, you may want to inform them of this depressing stat.
Other tidbits that I find interesting:
Related Posts:
image: Transportation for America
Rankings, walkability in Mobility, Sprawl, Transportation Monday, May 23, 2011 at 09:32PM This is part of a greater certification that Johns Creek is working on that would certify the city as a community wildlife habitat.
I have a problem with it because it's inherently misleading. Calling a school a 'certified wildlife habitat' immediately makes one think this school is focused on nature and preserving the natural environment. Just take a look at the Google Maps image below.
From what I can tell, about the only true 'wildlife' that this school is certified to nurture and sustain are cars, teenagers, football players, baseball players, softball players, fans and the like. Sure, the open fields could attract some migratory birds and the Johns Creek Greenway runs through site but is that really grounds for a wildlife habitat certification? The fields are residual space or sports fields and the greenway is a convenient suburban buffer zone between differing land uses. It's a good use for the land given the situation but a wildlife paradise it's not and we shouldn't pretend that it is.
Now, I don't want to downplay what Johns Creek Student Malcolm Barnard is doing because his intentions are good and I commend him for his efforts. However, I find fault with the National Wildlife Federation for turning what should be a meaningful certification into what essentially amounts to a boy scout merit badge. Saying that Johns Creek High School is a Wildlife Habitat is a joke. With the right amount of effort, any school in the nation could 'earn' that title.
Here are some ways the school could have truly been more wildlife friendly...
Sorry Malcolm, you get an A for effort but I'm calling foul on the National Wildlife Federation here.
Education, Johns Creek, Wildlife in Ridiculous, Sprawl Friday, May 13, 2011 at 11:48PM The only memorable 91 I can remember is Dennis Rodman when he was with the Bulls. He was mostly memorable for the wrong reasons. I think Atlanta is in the same category here.
The Brookings Institute recently released its study 'Missed Opportunity: Transit and Jobs in Metropolitan America.' I wish I had better news for everyone but I don't. Those of us up here in N.Fulton who would love to see better transit in our area know this all too well already. The Atlanta region ranked 91st out of the top 100 metropolitan areas in the transit accessibility profile. The most shameful statistic was that only 38% of metro residents live in a neighborhood that is 3/4 of a mile or less from a transit stop. This compares to a national average of 69%.
Our lack of redundancy in our transportation system coupled with our sprawled out living arrangement is threatening our quality of life and it could cause talent and business to look elsewhere. At least we have one thing going for us... We'll all be able to read the billboards.
See the Atlanta breakdown here.
image: FailBlog.org
MARTA, Rankings in Mobility, Ridiculous, Transportation 
