The Irony of Green Hills

From a recent article in The Tennessean, entitled Green Hills Project Ramps Up Traffic Woes, the author begins by saying:

'When Joy Richards needed to buy something from the Mall at Green Hills a week ago, the retired counselor left home at 9:35 a.m. to ensure she would find a parking space and get in and out before traffic worsened….'

LINK to article:

http://www.tennessean.com/story/money/2015/05/28/green-hills-traffic-plan-sparks-debate/28131887/

I want to point out the stinging irony of this article - The very 1st sentence details Ms. Richards, a resident of The Apartments for Retired Teachers needing to drive to The Green Hills Mall. Now, if you are not familiar with these two locations, you may not recognized that Ms. Richards home is directly kitty-corner from the mall.

It is literally across the street!!!  

To be fair, we never learn why Ms. Richards does not walk across the street to make her purchase.  She may have a physical issue that makes walking hard highlighting the lack of ADA compliance in the area.  If I can speculate,  I would say she felt unsafe to walk.  There is no sidewalk on the corner where the mall starts for which I can find no excuse.  The mall must be a huge trip generator and yet does not have adequate walking infrastructure in place.

In Nashville, we have literally designed away every mode of transportation except driving in the Green Hills area with its too-many-to-count ingress/egresses per block, super block design, dilapidated / missing walking infrastructure, lack of pedestrian awareness, and too many drivers trying to cut through from the Williamson Co. suburbs at high speeds.   

Rather than being so concerned about adding citizens to the area, why not hold the city & the developers accountable for building the infrastructure to support them?

What I fear is that our attention is being diverted and our energies are being wasted on complaining about more residents.  This is going to happen regardless.  We need to refocus the lens on to how to make the situation best for all.   People are not going to want to walk if they feel unsafe.  The plan currently has pedestrians crossing 6 lanes of traffic on Hillsboro with no pedestrian island in the middle.  This is the equivalent of crossing a highway and it doesn't feel good.  (I encourage you to try it!).  Lastly, there should be no right turn on red (onto Richard Jones as a driver is heading north) to prevent turning into pedestrians trying to cross.  

Richard Jones Rd. also needs some attention.  This road is HUGE (5 lanes) - but only a few blocks long ending in a cross street that does not line up.  It is weird little road but if done right could become its own urban center kind of like Hillsboro Village.  It has a number of businesses and a number of homes/apartments.  It is the perfect street to have pedestrian rest running down its center.  I would also strongly encourage a loss of the radius turn and making it so there is no right turns on red to prevent drivers turning into people crossing in the cross walk.  This road should not be a high speed cut through but rather the beginning of a mixed use neighborhood like the 12th So area.  

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Shade Parade is for well designed sidewalks / walkability in all of Nashville. Instead of making the core of the discussion about traffic and parking spots - let's refocus and create walkable neighborhoods so that we can get around on foot.

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The big picutre here is to consider putting in pedestrian rests down Richard Jones and in Green Hills on Hillsboro so people do not have to cross a riduculous amount of lanes to cross the street.

Opposition

One goal of Shade Parade is to create a forum for discussion around walkability in Nashville. 

In so doing, I have spent a lot of time and effort educating myself on sidewalks and have viewed the subject from a variety of angles (please refer to this blog, start date 11/2013, with hundreds of posts)

Right now, I am highly focused on what it takes to get a sidewalk on a major connector street (Bowling Av) that already has a portion of its sidewalk completed.  Just trying to finish an already started job.  A very good neighbor & I have written letters to each property owner on Bowling, held a public meeting, met with councilmembers, talked to neighbors, polled our whole neighborhood, discussed it with the mayor.  We have been at it for over 1.5 years.

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I am much less inclined to push for a sidewalk on quiet residential side streets.  But those tree lines quiet streets are not off my radar.  In the meantime, I advocate for residential side streets to have a reduction in the speed limit to 20-25 mph for the comfort and safety of those walking them.  

The prettiest walks, were many people already choose to get out on foot, could be rezoned as Walking Districts with 20 mph speed limits.  The notion of Walking Districts in select neighborhoods could be a great 'brand' and a real draw for both tourists and citizens alike. 

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I want to hear your thoughts whether they coincide with mine or not.  Along these same lines, I am really quite pleased to hear what exactly someone would take offense to when it comes to putting in sidewalks.  Recently, I encountered some opposition to sidewalks (read below) from a neighbor… 

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'The Other Side of The Issue:

I am among others who strongly disagree with asking for sidewalks on Bowling Avenue.  From Whitland to Lynbrook to Golf Club, Forest Park and the rest, there are many quiet, safe areas for walks or exercise.  Our neighborhoods are green, tranquil and well-preserved.  They do not need to be "urbanized".  People who want sidewalks can go live in a high rise downtown or in the commercial area of Green Hills where sidewalks prevail of necessity.  We treasure our lush lawns and tall trees and are fighting to preserve the ambiance we enjoy here.  The few people who want sidewalks are newcomers who also think that sandwich boards and tacky signs on the lawn are acceptable (they are not!).  We who appreciate the beauty and rarity of our neighborhoods do not wish for the crushing urbanization that Nashville is in danger of.  The last thing we need is more of an infestation of concrete!

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Do you agree?  I very much encourage you to form your own opinion.  I love this email as it shows real passion and can help clarify what the opposition may be.

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Hillsboro Road to be ADA Compliant Only On the West Side

Hillsboro Road to be ADA Compliant Only On the West Side

A lot of people ask me how to get a sidewalk in their neighborhood.  In Nashville, were we have never honestly funded a sidewalk plan and where we have a severe deficit of walking infrastructure compared to other cities with the same population the answer to how has not been clear.  

This is the story of one person deciding to do something in honor of her daughter.  She wrote this in January and there is a change happening that I belive can be directly tied to her actions.

http://shadeparadenashville.blogspot.com/2015/02/sofia.html

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This is GOOD NEWS.

An ADA grievance request has been filed for Hillsboro Rd and Public Works takes these very seriously.  

Repairs are coming - starting June 1st.  

It must be noted that this is a minor repair plan - to make this stretch ADA compliant but it is not a step to correct this sidewalk to the preferred dimensions of a 6' buffer and an 8' sidewalk.  

 This does mark an improvement BUT it is bittersweet.  Instead of making it right, we are just going to put a temporary band-aid on it until the area redevelops…likley many years down the road.

  

MEDIA ADVISORY

Hillsboro Pike Sidewalk Project To Begin Monday, June 1

Intermittent Lane Closures will be in place throughout the 3 week project

Nashville, Tenn -  Metro Public Works will begin constructing new sidewalk to fill in gaps that exist along the west side of Hillsboro Pike between Crestmoor Road and Hobbs RoadMonday, June 1.  The project, approximately 1 mile long, also includes repair of existing sidewalk and will address ADA needs. 

Construction is expected to take approximately 3 weeks.

There will be intermittent lane closures during the project.  Access to businesses within the footprint of the project will be maintained throughout construction. Police officers will provide traffic control.  

Travelers navigating through this and any construction area should be alert and plan for possible delays during the construction period. 

Please refer to the attached map for affected area. 

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About the Metro Public Works Sidewalk Program:

The goal of Metro Public Works sidewalk program is to provide safe comfortable, continuous, and convenient pedestrian facilities.  Metro Public Works currently maintains over 1,070 miles of sidewalks.  For more information about the sidewalk program, visit: http://mpw.nashville.gov/IMS/Sidewalks/StrategicPlan.aspx.

You Know You Have Made It When…

You know you have made it when…you find a photo of yourself on a US Department of Transportation web site while searching for photos of people 'walking - lack of sidewalks'.

This photo is me walking to the public park in my neighborhood.  This is the quality of many many streets in Nashville in the Urban Service District & it is frankly unacceptable.  You can see the flow of traffic - it isn't minor - and the speed limit is 35mph although, I suspect, that many go a lot faster.  

Would you let your children walk alone here?

This is also my Sidewalk Project #1.  Bowling Av, Nashville, TN.  Trish Mixon & I have been working on this street - which would allow an entire neighborhood to walk to our public park, our middle school, the bus stop on West End, churches, synagogues, and many businesses.  

You can help - we have created a non-profit called The Sidewalk Foundation to raise funds to accomplish this goal.  $350 per linear foot.  We are also looking for one homeowner on Bowling to put in a piece of sidewalk (to Public Work specs) with the aid of crowdsourcing and volunteers to occur in October for Walk Nashville Month.

Link:
https://www.dot.gov/fastlane/big-week-bicyclists-and-pedestrians

Living in a Walkable Neighborhood May Be Better Than Brain Games

Sorry for the wholesale copy & paste but this is a good article about one of the many benefits of living in a walkable neighborhood.  

Want To Stop Your Brain From Getting Old? Live In A Walkable Neighborhood

Put down the brain training computer game and try walking someplace interesting.

Brain training companies say that carefully designed computer games can make a brain work better, but neuroscientists and Alzheimer’s researchers have warned the public that such conclusions can be misleading. Now, some researchers say that neighborhoods could impact how well the brains of older people function.

At Kansas University, assistant professor of psychology Amber Watts is gearing up for a large study on how the walkability of neighborhoods impacts cognition—and maybe even dementia. An initial pilot study on 25 people she conducted with a fellow Alzheimer’s researcher and two architects found that the sample of older adults who lived in more "walkable" neighborhoods performed much better on cognition tests. Another sample of adults with early dementia living in walkable neighborhoods also showed promising signs, but the results were more complicated.

"I wouldn’t say that moving to a walkable neighborhood will prevent you from getting Alzheimer’s," Watts says. "This could be a relatively small contribution, but it could be important. We can’t change our age, we can’t change whether we have genetic alleles that put us at risk, but we can change how we live."

Watts explains that "walkable" neighborhoods have a couple of key characteristics that hold great promise for the brain. Using mapping software called Space Syntax, she and her colleagues pinpointed neighborhoods that maintained the most connectivity, meaning the number of places there were to visit within a half-mile radius of a person’s home, and the most integration, the complexity of navigating such a space.

"Higher connectivity across the board is associated with better cognitive function. It could be that there’s more places to walk to, more people to socialize with, more opportunities to get there," Watts says.

Higher connectivity across the board is associated with better cognitive function.

The integration factor, on the other hand, is a little trickier. For people who aren’t cognitively impaired, navigating a more complex neighborhood could be linked to better cognitive function. But that same characteristic could end up backfiring for people with Alzheimer’s. If the neighborhood is too complex for those with dementia to remember how to find their way out, walkability could work against them.

Now that Watts and her colleagues have the preliminary results (which was funded by the National Institute on Aging and presented at the annual meeting of the Gerontological Society of America last month), they’re hoping to do a follow-up study with pedometers on 100 older adults and those with early dementia. Even after controlling for other factors like age, sex, and income, the walkability results look promising, Watts says.

Link:
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3039276/want-to-stop-your-brain-from-getting-old-live-in-a-walkable-neighborhood

Were You Confused When You 1st Moved to Nashville? This is for you!

When I wear my Nashville Needs Sidewalks sign, I tend to have people say one of two things:

- 'Nashville does need sidewalks'

or

- 'You are right.  When I moved here, I was so confused!'

I hear this all the time but I want to know more…

Have you moved to Nashville and thought to yourself, "How am I supposed to get around this town?'  Did the lack of mobility, sidewalks, and public transportation leave you confused?

  Have you grown up here, left for a while, moved back and equally had a sense of uncertainty about what we were doing in Nashville in regards to transportation?

Well, this is for you!  We are collecting your stories!

Please share with us your first impression of Nashville's walkability.

It Takes Courage To Invest In Infrastructure…Will Nashville Do It???

It Takes Courage To Invest In Infrastructure…Will Nashville Do It???

On this Memorial Day, with the striking continuance of violence and war in the world, consider the gnawing issues we have right here at home.  Right before our eyes, we have infrastructure that is rusting, crumbling, or possibly worse, promised but never materialized.  

I very much encourage you to watch the video link below to learn more & think hard about what we can do to invest right here at home.

Solutions?

• Elect individuals who are heavily educated and committed to improving infrastructure.  (Avoid those you say the issue 'needs more study'!)  
• Promote civic philanthropy:  there are leaders in the US who donate to important causes.  This qualifies!  
• Create alternative revenue streams:  Increase the gas tax.  We have no choice but to 'confront the privilege of private cars'.  Create a congestion charge on those entering the city from out of town.  Use these funds to improve alternative modes of transportation:  walking, bike, and public transportation
• Be willing to do your part!  We all understand that government cannot do it all:  build and maintain your own piece of sidewalk?  Donate to The Sidewalk Foundation?  Support investment in infrastructure in your community.

LINK:

http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/falling-apart/

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Don't let Nashville continue to be the town where the sidewalk ends…

I have to include this link:  https://www.dot.gov/fastlane/big-week-bicyclists-and-pedestrians

While looking for photos for this piece, I found a picture of my son Henry and me on the US Dept of Transportation website!  The original picture was published in The Tennessean.