Resources from Pedestrians Count! 2012

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Alexis Kelso

WALKSacramento staff and our board president had the pleasure of attending the second Pedestrians Count! Conference in Los Angeles last week. I wish I could have gone to all the sessions! There were so many great presentations, discussions, and inspirations packed into the two-day event that it is hard to pick just a few to talk about, but what follows are resources all pedestrian advocates should know about. Leave a comment if you were at Peds Count! and let us know what your favorite part was.

It is always a pleasure to see Dr. Richard Jackson speak, as he did at the Friday plenary. Dr. Jackson says a good solution solves multiple problems. Building walkable communities will do just that: it will make Americans healthier, will decrease spending on costly sprawling infrastructure, and will improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and conserve undeveloped land. If you haven’t yet checked it out, watch the PBS series he hosted, Designing Healthy Communities.

Holly Sisneros presented the California Pedestrian Safety (PedSafe) Program’s workbook, Communication for Pedestrian Safety: Risk, Response and Change. The workbook is recommended reading for advocates, law enforcement, planners and engineers who may find themselves responding to media and public inquiries regarding pedestrian-involved collisions. It is key to read the workbook and develop a plan with partners before an event occurs.

The Model Design Manual for Living Streets, developed by Ryan Snyder Associates, is a fully customizable manual for designing complete streets. Local jurisdictions can adopt the manual as it is, or edit it to meet their specific needs. If you’ve ever had trouble wading through all the manuals and policies that shape how our roads are designed, I highly suggest reading the Legal Standing of Street Manuals section of Chapter One.

Congratulations to California WALKS for organizing another successful Pedestrians Count! WALKSacramento is glad to have helped with the registration, outreach, and organizing of this conference.

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WALKSacramento at Transportation Choices Summit

Posted on May 6, 2012 by Terry Preston

 

Teri Duarte describing the benefits of walking in health and transportation policy

WALKSacramento executive director Teri Duarte opened up a panel presentation on  the connection between healthy outcomes and investment in active transportation at the first Transportation Choices Summit, hosted by TransForm, at the Sacramento Central Library on Tuesday, May 1, 2012.  The highlight of of the panel was the work of Neil Maislich, Ph.D., MPH detailing the research and findings from the Bay Area that WALKSacramento hopes to bring to the Sacramento region.

WALKSacramento joined 150 other advocates from across the state at the Summit to call upon the state of California to re-invest in active transportation and sustainable communities over more roads and continued sprawl, and to address the challenge of reducing greenhouse gases through smarter policy choices.

On Wednesday, May 2, Terry Preston. Complete Streets Coordinator, and Stephanie Parent, WALKSacramento volunteer, visited state legislators’ offices to urge support for funding sustainable development and affordable housing, among others. Go here for more on the Summit and follow up Advocacy Day.

Posted in Complete Streets, Safe Routes to School, Sustainable Communities | Leave a comment

Community Walk in The Avenues

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Terry Preston

 

Waiting for the bus in The Avenues with no bench and no shade at an empty lot on MLK Jr. Way

On Thursday, April 19, WALKSacramento and partner Ubuntu Green led a community walk around The Avenues neighborhood (roughly northeast of the Highway 99 and 47th Avenue intersection, as well as MLK Jr Way) to document challenges to transportation, access to healthy food and other services and, and safety.  15 parents and five youth from the school participated.

The parents and youth came together to make initial findings and develop initial recommendations from their observations.  Safety issues, access to transit and empty lots in place of needed goods and services were noted.  Earlier, the youth had reviewed the green space called Pacific Park adjacent to the school and made recommendations on how to make it a vibrant place for families.  The next step is returning to the school to envision a strategy for bringing all of the recommendations to action.

Pacific Elementary was the site of a WALKSacramento walk audit in 2005 that led to a report and successful application for Safe Routes to School funding for curb and intersection improvements on the way to the school.

 

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Infill Can Happen Far From Downtown Sacramento

Posted on April 21, 2012 by Chris Holm

WALKSacramento recently sent a letter to the Sacramento County Planning and Community Development Department commenting on the Davis Property project proposal.  We recommended the site plan be redesigned to include more homes that could take better advantage of the site’s closeness to Fair Oaks Village.

Davis Property, a residential project proposed for a seven acre site on Fair Oaks Boulevard about one-third mile northeast of Fair Oaks Village, is an infill project even though it’s almost twenty miles from downtown Sacramento.  Infill sites are vacant properties within existing communities where infrastructure (such as utilities, roads, and drainage) and services (such as law enforcement, fire protection, and schools) are already provided. 

Seventeen home sites have been proposed for the Davis Property, but the general plan calls for a minimum of twenty-six.  The neighborhoods adjacent to Davis Property are primarily low density single-family homes at densities of 2-3 lots per acre; there’s an apartment complex with 114 apartments at a density of 24 units per acre at the southern edge of the site.  The general plan minimum density of 3.75 lots per acre for the Davis Property would complement the existing development.

 

Read our letter on our Comment Letters page.  Get project information on the County’s Planning Project Viewer.  Read a recent article about the project in the Sacramento Bee.

 

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Projects Improved After WALKSacramento Testifies at County Planning Commission Hearing

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Chris Holm

 

Looking North at Watt Ave and Orange Grove Ave

Testimony by WALKSacramento staff at the March 26, 2012 Sacramento County Planning Commission hearing resulted in positive changes to two projects in North Highlands.  In the first project, a walkway for the proposed Watt Avenue Walmart may be rerouted to encourage pedestrians to cross a busy, high speed arterial at a safe location.  The second project, the North Watt Avenue Corridor Plan by the County, was revised to conform to the 2011 Bike Master Plan.

Walmart is proposing a store of about 120,000 square feet on the western side of Watt Avenue at the intersection of Orange Grove Avenue with a 735-foot walkway from the entrance to the Watt Avenue sidewalk, directly across the street from a bus stop.  WALKSacramento contended that such an arrangement creates a desire line that may prompt customers leaving the store to cross Watt Avenue mid-block rather than using the crosswalk at the intersection.  The planning commission directed staff to meet with WALKSacramento to identify potential routes and wayfinding for the walkway.  We hope that changes to the site plan will be made by Walmart so customers will be guided towards either the southbound bus stop or to the signalized crosswalk for safe crossing to the northbound bus stop.

The North Watt Avenue Corridor Plan was revised by staff several days before the Planning Commission hearing to remove an overcrossing of the UPPR tracks between Winona Way and Dudley Ave in McClellan Business Park at the request of the business park.  WALKSacramento asked at the Planning Commission hearing for clarification that the future pedestrian/bicycle crossing would remain in the plan since the future over/under-crossing will be a valuable transportation connection and is included in the 2011 Sacramento County Bicycle Master Plan.  The commission’s recommendation to the Board of Supervisors for approval of the corridor plan included the future ped/bike crossing.

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