What is Open Streets?

In the days following the closure of Center City, Philadelphia there has been a strong sense of euphoria over the sense of freedom that had with car free streets. Much has been made of the great experience that people had and there has been a tremendous rush to replicate this experience again. In the not so distant future. What has not been discussed is what an Open Streets is and how it works.

How prevalent are Open Streets events? They are held in 246 municipalities in Europe, South America, and in 100 U.S. cities last year.

Contrary to what some people may be under the impression, an Open Streets event is not a bicycle specific event. It is intended for pedestrians, runners, and human/muscle powered vehicles. Such as bicycles, rollerblades, and scooters.

The normal layout for a Open Streets event in the United States involves blocking off 3 to 7 miles of a main road to automotive traffic for about 5 hours on a Saturday or Sunday. With the location being cleared of parked cars and multiple cross streets are kept open to allow automotive traffic to move through the city. Along the route there are stages and stations hosting a wide range of activities. Fitness, yoga, dance, and sports classes are offered. Along with music, dance, and theatre performances.

Open Streets origins dates back to 1974 in Columbia, South America. Where Each Sunday and on public holidays from 7 am until 2 pm certain main streets of Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, and other municipalities are blocked off to cars for runners, skaters, and bicyclists. At the same time, stages are set up in city parks. Aerobics instructors, yoga teachers and musicians lead people through various performances. Bogotá's weekly ciclovías are used by approximately 2 million people (about 30% of the population) on 74 miles of car-free streets.

The question that should be asked is, does Philadelphia have the wherewithal to make this a reality? Over the years I have lived in several major cities on the East Coast and Philadelphia never ceases to surprise me. badly. For a major city of its size, Philadelphia residents maintain a small town mentality. Resistant to change and unwilling to make the effort to do so.

While Mayor Nutter is looking into an Open Streets event before his term in office ends and Democratic candidate for Mayor Jim Kenney has expressed an interest in holding one. It remains to be seen if there will  be enough positive public pressure to make Open Streets in Philadelphia a reality.

Sometimes 140 Characters is not Enough

Recently I engaged Philadelphia Inquirer writer Inga Saffron in a discussion on Twitter regarding her concerns over a bill being considered by Philadelphia City Council(http://tinyurl.com/pq8qyjd). One that would consolidate several city departments under a single authority, possibly under the authority of the City Council. Which could create a patchwork effect for future projects.

As you can see from the Twitter exchange Ms. Saffron seems to be under the impression that Mayor Nutter’s administration bears some responsibility for the lack of new bike lanes since 2012. The dialogue reached a point where I felt that a 140 character sound bite was not going to communicate what I had to say.

https://twitter.com/IngaSaffron/status/572438262075293696

So let me be blunt, Mayor Nutter’s administration is not responsible for the lack of new bicycle lanes since 2012. That honor is bestowed upon the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia. Who in 2012 thought that giving City Council approval over the installation of future bike lanes that would replace parking or an existing lane of traffic in exchange for the Complete Streets Bill. This was the same deal that the BCGP fought against in 2011.

I don’t know what the BCGP was thinking when they made this deal. The City Council has history of trying to pass punitive bills against cyclists and to think that a City Council member would not use this option was delusional.

This point was driven home Council-Man at Large Bill Greenlee (http://tinyurl.com/kglwfwe) who declared that no bike lane would be installed on 22nd St, between Fairmont and Spring Garden. He claimed that the street needed two lanes of traffic, even though the Streets Department stated that two lanes would not fit. He also claimed that local constituents objected. But refused to allow a public hearing. The frightening thing about this is that a Council-Man at Large has no defined district. They are free to take action in district they chose, even though each district has its own councilman.

There are things I do blame the Nutter administration for. Their failure to deal with the police turning the bike lane at 13th & Arch into police parking. Even though there is public garage and a police parking lot available. Or their unwillingness to get religious institutions to stop using the Pine St. bike lane as on street parking. As most of them have arrangements for off street parking.

But at the end of the day the reason there have been no new bike lanes in Philadelphia since 2012 is because of the deal the BCGP made with City Council for the Safe Streets Bill. Not because of a failure on the part of the Nutter Administration.

If Ms. Saffron feels otherwise she can write something more than 140 characters long about how the Nutter Administration is partly or fully responsible for the lack of new bike lanes since 2012.

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Sisyphus had an easier task

For the past few years the Philadelphia Mayor's office has been testing parklets throughout Philadelphia. A parklet is created by temporarily converting two parking spaces into an out door seating area. For anyone to use. Studies have shown that with the increased foot traffic businesses have seen an increase of 15% to 40% in revenue.

With this success of parklets the Philadelphia City Council is now moving a bill through its chambers to cut through the red tape of the permitting process the Streets Department uses. And by eliminating red tape I mean that the Philadelphia City Council has once again made it impossible for any new pedestrian or bicycling infrastructure to be created.

Now if you want to get a bicycle corral or parklet in your neighborhood you only have to do one of two things. The first is to get 100% of the community would have to agree to the installation of a bike corral or a parklet. Which will be an easy-peasy thing to achieve since we can always count on a entire community to agree to on a single subject. All it will take is 1 person to stop the process in its tracks.

Fortunately there is a second option. Get your district Philadelphia City Council member to write a letter stipulating that he or she felt the great majority of residents were in favor. Which leaves at the mercy of professional politicians who make up the Philadelphia City Council. Meaning you are going owe and be owned by your district Philadelphia City Council member for a future I.O.U. You may not like.

The harsh reality of this bill is that the Philadelphia City Council has eliminated all of the red tape that normally makes obtaining a permit possible a Sisyphean task.

It seems that every time Mayor Nutter dares to create any kind of infrastructure that benefits pedestrians and cyclists you can always count on Philadelphia City Council to do everything they can to turn it into a political power play. And with this bill moving through Philadelphia City Council it appears nothing has changed.

At least they got quotes

In 2011 the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia annual Ride to Work day featured a group ride to City Hall with such elected luminaries as Mayor Michael Nutter, Congressmen Chaka Fattah and Bob Brady. Regrettably the BCGP memorialized this glorious event with an inspiring quote from Congressman Bob Brady; “he could get used to this whole bicycling thing, provided it always came with a bottle of water and a police escort”. It comments like this that make commuting by bicycle sound as safe walking through Philadelphia at night with $100 bills in each hand.

After taking the BCGP to task for this in this blog post it appears that they read it and did better this year. This year the BCGP blog post was filled with quotes from Mayor Michael Nutter. This time they had all sorts of wonderful quotes that included media friendly comments about cars parking bicycle lanes, Philadelphia as a city for cyclists, and bike lanes. This is a good beginning for the BCGP.

So what would I do?

I would like to see the BCGP raise the bar in 2013 for Bike to Work Day. Making bicycle commuting more friendly to the average person, something beyond a one day public relations stunt. How about the occasional profile of Philadelphia area bicycle commuters? New York City's Transportation Alternatives has been doing this for years in their quarterly magazine. Many of the people have commuted long before it was fashionable or even considered normal, and have unique jobs that are within the mainstream. They all manage to do quite well even though they don't have tattoos or wear spandex.

Bike to Work & Ride Silence

There were two annual bicycle rides this week both designed to make a statement and both in need of major adjustment as to how to deliver the message and to make the message remembered by the non-bicycling public.

On Friday May 20 the city of Philadelphia its annual Bike to Work day ride. During which 50 cyclists, Mayor Nutter, Congressman Bob Brady, and Congressman Chaka Fattah rode from the Philadelphia Art Museum to City Hall. The ride was on a cool spring day, with light drizzle and the entire ride couldn't have been more than a few miles, hardly a strain for anyone.

Unfortunately the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia picked the worst possible quote to promote the success of the event, from Congressman Brady; “he could get used to this whole bicycling thing, provided it always came with a bottle of water and a police escort.” This really doesn't sound like someone who sees the possibilities of commuting by bicycle. Anyone reading it is not going to think that bicycle commuting is safe.

So what could be done differently? City officials should make a real commitment to cycling to work, one day at week for the month of May as part of Bike to Work month. But its got to be the same people the entire time so the public connects names and faces. Also so the public officials connect with what cyclists experience, good and bad, when cycling in Philadelphia. The BCGP needs to be a lot more careful about the quotes it selects and understanding the message they send.

The other is the Ride of Silence that occurred on Wednesday, May 17 . An 8 mile, 60 minute, full escorted ride through the streets of Philadelphia to commemorate cyclists who have been killed in traffic. While it may be very impressive to have 250 cyclists riding silently through the streets of Philadelphia, the lack of uniformity fails to deliver a message to the people who watch them role by. As they have no idea what is going on and won't care or remember an hour later other than they saw a large group of cyclists.

So what could be done differently? The ride is led by a white Ghost Bike on a trailer, ask that every cyclist who participates in the ride to wear a white shirt. 250 cyclists riding through the streets of Philadelphia all wearing a white shirt would make a much more memorable statement.