Cities are made for people - PARKing day 2008

So a few of us put the call out to celebrate National Parking Day in Cleveland. Partially because it was a beautiful day, mostly because I think that raising awareness of designing cities for people instead of cars can make cities so much more interesting and enjoyable.

During our entire stint there was only a slight case of harassment (Escalade, go figure) and only a slight close call of someone mowing us down without looking at where they were driving. Most of the time people were very supportive. Not at all uncomfortable at the fact that someone actually made a yard downtown to sit in.

I suppose it was that everyone can enjoy sitting outside on a nice patch of grass in glorious weather watching the world go by. If anything I am surprised that no one said "screw work, I'm going to sit here all day too!"

Well, we didn't sit there all day. We stayed until 1.30 when we ran out of meter change and packed it up to go. Be on the lookout for the plethora of cell phone photos that we taken and since so many people asked what we were doing and why I can only hope perhaps more people will be willing to take the time to enjoy a brief respite once in a while and maybe place more import on people in cities then the cars that get them there.

PARKing Day Cleveland brought to you by LAUNCHcleveland and the regular crowd.

1/3 Movie Night - Mystery Movie

Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Bela Dubby, Lakewood, OH
13321 Madison Ave. Lakewood

Due to the storm the movie this week will be a surprise. An awesome surprise to be sure but still a surprise.

ps. Cake.

LAUNCHcleveland Movie Night

More Sustainable Cities - Panelists Interview

Green Leaders: Interviews with For the Greener Good Panelists

Interview with Sten Nordin, Mayor of Stockholm, Sweden
Interview with Cassio Taniguichi, Mayor of Curitiba, Brazil
Interview with Congressman Earl Blumenauer, Representative of Oregon's 3rd District

As a struggling city such as Cleveland searches for ways to recruit from the international talent pool as well as ways to recruit businesses for said talent to find employ at, one discovers that the creation of "green" and "sustainable" urban enclaves find themselves very attractive to the next generation of job seekers.

What makes sustainable urban initiatives work? Where does the capital investment come from? How does one garner the federal or government funding? How does a governing body receive community support? What are the reasonable and easy "first steps" to implement larger plans and reach larger goals?

Cleveland is attempting to find the right track and undoubtedly has the backing of the population of Cleveland to invest in walkable, bike-able and public mass transit infrastructure. It is being implemented bit by bit (granted the Euclid Corridor Project is a rather large bit) and even the city fabric is beginning to reflect the reinvestment and anticipated rebirth of downtown.

I suppose one could argue for a bit of patience to see what develops however I would rather argue that the city should strike now while the iron is hot (or at least sort of warm) and develop downtown strategies for cyclists (move ahead with the cycle parking spaces and perhaps even allocate a cycle station similar to Chicago as well as more bike lanes and even training programs for cyclists and drivers to learn the rules of the road).

Even an added influx in public transportation monies (at least to cover rising fuel costs and to keep the system running normally) would do well to bide people over until the corridor project can be proven and/or enough citizens move to using public transit to remove all stigma and ingrain its usage into everyday life.

A third suggestion would be directly in line with the first two in designing streetscapes around pedestrian movement including proper orientation of commercial and residential entries, street scale and the reintroduction of neighborhood or community based development similar to the intents of the tenants of new urbanism but thoughtfully applied to the specific location in question.