Must be shared...Maybe your neighborhood is next?
This Nashville neighborhood is ditching its cars for a week
Scott HarrisonStaff ReporterNashville Business JournalOne Nashville neighborhood is pledging to leave their cars in the driveway, or curbside, next week.
The Nations Neighborhood Association is launching its “Don’t Car Campaign” starting this weekend. More than 30 members of the West Nashville neighborhood will go without their cars from Sept. 19 to Sept. 25.
EnlargeSeveral residents of The Nations have pledged to give up their cars for a week.
INGRAM PUBLISHING
Jamie Brown, an attorney with Bass Berry & Sims and member of the Nations Neighborhood Association board, said the idea started from the new developments going on in the area.
“The residential density is getting higher. One [house] goes down and two or three go up,” she said. “Now we’re starting to see condominium and apartment units.“
“Parking has been a big issue here,” Brown added. “We’re worried about how [new development] is going to affect our overflow parking in the street. We don’t have sidewalks in our neighborhood. The developers keep telling us this is a walkable neighborhood, saying it’s close to downtown. … We wanted to test that concept.”
The Nations’ car-less campaign touches on a few hot-button issues that Nashville’s frantic real estate development boom and economic growth have brought to the forefront: An existing mass-transit system that is deemed by Nashville MTA to be inadequate for the city’s expanding population. That goes hand-in-hand with the general walkability of the city’s neighborhoods, not to mention bike lanes.
As Brown describes it, the campaign is meant to do several things. For starters, the Nations neighborhood group hopes it will spread to other communities in Nashville.
“People in other neighborhoods have reached out and told us this is a great idea,” Brown said. “We hope the campaign could be done by other neighborhoods.”
The group wants to challenge transportation norms and test the limits of public transportation within the Nations, whether it’s getting downtown for work or running to the store for groceries. Those participating in the campaign will also be documenting their experiences.
Brown recently moved back to Nashville in 2013, after going to law school from 2007 to 2010. She says she has a few plans to get work at downtown’s Pinnacle building next week.
http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2015/09/this-nashville-neighborhood-is-ditching-its-cars.html
It seems like they are going car free to show the developers that it is hard to go car free? And then the developers will stop tearing down one house and putting up three?
ReplyDeleteSounds kind of confused.
The questions you raise are valid. I was able to find out some additional information….see photo attached above.
ReplyDeleteWe Don’t Car Campaign
The Nations-Nashville TN
This project to go car-less for one week is fundamentally about raising awareness of the challenges all pedestrians face walking in Nashville. The fact is, until you actually get out there on foot, you don’t know. When you are whizzing by in your car, the issues are not necessarily readily apparent.
A small group has signed on but there is no doubt they will be bonded after this unique experience and gain knowledge that will be valuable. Those who sign the pledge to go car-lessness, will take an entry survey, journal daily and take a post survey about their experiences.
As you know, many developers say The Nations is a 'walking neighborhood' but this is not a universally accepted assessment. I applaud their honest attempt to explore and evaluate what the reality is on foot.
Today, I think most people would like to walk but Nashville carries the statistic of having 88% of our public roadways a danger for pedestrians. I love density but I do argue that we need safe and preferably well designed/uniform sidewalks to go with it.
I encourage you to become a pedestrian advocate. Bike riders have a huge leg up on us but we are all walkers…