Pedestrian Discussion

[flar]

I'm in Regina this week and get this: vehicles stop to let you cross the street. This is not an isolated thing, it's the norm and happened at least 20 times as I've walked around the city. And not just on side streets. This afternoon at 4pm, with rush hour gearing up, I was standing on the side of Broad St. waiting for a gap. To my utter surprise, I was not even at an intersection and SIX LANES of traffic stopped to let me go across!

These are by far the most courteous motorists I have ever seen.

[matt602]

Haha. Wow.

[markbarbera]

The city is conducting a pedestrian survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/StepForwardHamilton

Take some time to fill in the survey. It's open for comment until April 15.

[flar]

Originally Posted by markbarbera

The city is conducting a pedestrian survey.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/StepForwardHamilton

Take some time to fill in the survey. It's open for comment until April 15.

That is the most poorly designed survey I have ever seen. There are so many things wrong with it I don't even know where to begin. They won't get any useful information out of this.

[LikeHamilton]

Originally Posted by flar

They won't get any useful information out of this.

Maybe they really do not want any useful info out of it!

[markbarbera]

The survey is poorly worded and has nonsensical ranking categories for a couple of the questions.

A monkey could have written a better survey

Seriously, if this is the best this survey company can throw together then the city shouldn't use them anymore.

[SteelTown]

Did the survey. The last part was kinda useful, which intersections and roads need improvements.

[flar]

Surveymonkey provides the web hosting and interface, somebody at the City of Hamilton had to write the questions. Even worse, somebody in management at the City of Hamilton approved this work

[coalminecanary]

I have seen worse surveys but this was pretty bad. hopefully someone actually reads the text commens which i think are more important than the check boxes. some of the wording is so awkward with double negatives etc... "don't do what johnny don't does"

[SteelTown]

Public Information: City of Hamilton Pedestrian Mobility Master Plan

Posted on August 09, 2011 at 12:00 AM.

City of Hamilton Pedestrian Mobility Master Plan Public Information Centre at McMaster University

August 10, 2011 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. Across from University Hall

The City of Hamilton has initiated the Municipal Class Environmental Assessment (EA) Process for the Pedestrian Mobility Master Plan. This plan will establish a 20-year (2031) framework to improve the pedestrian mobility environment in the City of Hamilton. Mobility is intended to refer to all modes of walking, running, scooters, wheelchairs, and walkers. The term is inclusive to all.

The first round of Public Information Centres (PICs) held earlier this year identified the opportunities and constraints to walking and mobility in the City. A series of information sessions is being held at various farmers' markets across the City to promote the second upcoming PIC (PIC #2) and to build momentum going forward.

Please join us at McMaster University's Main Street Campus to provide your feedback. The information session at McMaster will be held on August 10th from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. by the Nina de Villiers Memorial Garden (across from University Hall) in coordination with the Mac Farmstand.

PIC #2 will present alternative solutions based on public and agency input gathered from PIC #1. The same information will be provided at each PIC. Your participation is an important part of the process and we welcome your input.

http://www.hamilton.ca/pedestrianMP

[LikeHamilton]

This is where some people get the idea that only cars are good!

Dad Arrested For Picking Up Kids At School By Foot

A Tennessee father was arrested recently by an overzealous officer for picking his children up at school by foot. The school’s policy is that children can only be picked up by parents driving cars or kids can board a school bus.

Parents who wish to pick up their children on foot or by bike are apparently shit out of luck. Thankfully I don’t live in Cumberland County, Tennessee, because they would have a fight on their hands.

Jim Howe became concerned about the long line-up of cars that extended over a mile on a busy highway. So he decided to pick up his children by foot, and was told by the school to go back to his car and wait in line like everybody else.

The school provided Howe a form to fill out that would permit his children to leave the school alone (his children are 8 years old and 14 years old), but they wouldn’t release his children to him until after the long line-up of cars was gone – to presumably encourage him to get his car and sit in line like a compliant sheep.

Here is the full story with a video of the discussion with the sheriff and the arrest.

http://www.theurbancountry.com/2013/...l-by-foot.html

[KDP]

That..... is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever read. lol. Dear God.

[Jon Dalton]

Amazing

[HillStreetBlues]

Well, we’ve had the first major snowfall of the year, and it’s pretty neat to see such a great illustration of how important motorists are compared to pedestrians- what little space pedestrians have is often reduced by half, so that motorists may not have the widths of their roads reduced by even a fraction. City plows shove the snow that landed on the road onto the sidewalk, and then property owners carve out a goat path- if that. It’s just like the bible says: “For everyone who has will be given more…Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.” Even on City property, sidewalk clearing is pretty poor and access ramps are often not cleared at all.

Anyway, all this to say that, if there happens to be a property owner or property owners that you notice are being derelict in their duty to clear the sidewalk in front of their property, e-mail mle@hamilton.ca with the address. I’m not trying to suggest that anyone be frivolous (I think it’s a really small minority of people doing the job to the letter of the bylaw, but most are trying), just that the really egregious ones, especially on major streets, be made aware. It’s hopefully a matter of not realizing that, yes, it’s your job, and it has to be done to a certain standard to allow people to keep moving.

[coalminecanary]

I find it rich that the city would enforce against a single property owner before all city owned sidewalks are clear, which takes weeks - if ever.

This is a great video - test-driving traffic calming by observing snowdrift effects:

http://vimeo.com/19607481#at=0

[HillStreetBlues]

Originally Posted by coalminecanary

I find it rich that the city would enforce against a single property owner before all city owned sidewalks are clear, which takes weeks - if ever.

I agree that the City needs to do a better job with sidewalks bounding its properties, but sometimes those sidewalks are not heavily trafficked, whereas sidewalks in front of some privately-owned lots are extremely busy stretches used by many people. Should the City ignore a sidewalk that is not properly cleared by a property owner on John Street say, because it hasn’t yet been able to clear the sidewalk in front of one of its own properties on Fay Ave?

[coalminecanary]

I'm not saying we should follow the city's bad example.

The city needs to prioritize sidewalk clearing on its own property. Whether one person/hour or a hundred use a sidewalk, it's part of the transportation system, and those with mobility issues as well as the younger/older people rely on that network. If they have time to clear Fay Ave then they should have time to clear the city-owned Fay Ave sidewalk. I cleared my elderly neighbour's sidewalk but I don't have the resources to plow the perimeter of the park the next block down, so he can get as far as the corner before having to walk in the street to get to any destination further than a mailbox. That's not appropriate.

[HillStreetBlues]

I don’t think we disagree about anything. Sidewalks should be given more attention than they are compared to vehicle lanes.

I was just confused that you seemed to be saying that the City should not be issuing orders to comply (or whatever) to private property owners, until they have cleared all of the sidewalks abutting their property. You understand priority (not everything can be cleared at once), so it does matter if it’s one or one hundred people passing on a sidewalk. And there are a lot of private property owners who should be given a notice at the first possible second, because they have extremely busy sidewalks in front of their properties which should be cleared as soon as practical. I’d suggest, though, that if you have a problem with how the City is clearing the sidewalks in front of a lot in your neighbourhood, e-mail or call them and complain that someone (they) is not obeying the bylaw. I was pointing out to people that they can and should do the same when a private property owner does not maintain their sidewalks properly, and I can’t think of an argument against the City enforcing against them.

[CaptainKirk]

Miami wants pedestrian-friendly downtown

Excerpt

It’s no coincidence that most of the great cities of the world — Paris, Barcelona, New York, even Melbourne, Australia — share a concept that makes them pedestrian friendly:

“Which is, they’re all walkable,” says urban planner Victor Dover. “We have to make streets that are great locations where people want to be.”

Miami, where downtown for so long was a danger zone closed after dark, is trying to make the leap to great city. After a decade of development, the city’s downtown neighborhoods are now teeming with residents living in towering condos, eating at ritzy restaurants and visiting iconic cultural spots.

The old historic post office has been retrofitted into an architectural hub; the popular MetroMover ferries people from one downtown spot to another, and one of the newest art museums in the world is now open and within walking distance.

So, say city leaders and shopkeepers, it’s time to make downtown’s walkways safer and friendlier for the 200,000 people who work, play and visit every day.

Commissioners have scheduled a preliminary vote for Thursday that could start the process of turning the city streets into a Downtown Pedestrian Priority Zone, an initiative that would widen sidewalks, create tree-lined canopies, reduce clutter, slow down traffic and make right turns on red lights illegal.

The plan is to make downtown Miami — one of the most dangerous neighborhoods for pedestrians in South Florida — safe, comfortable, and inviting.

“Everything is about making downtown the primo place to work and play,” said Miami Commission Chairman Marc Sarnoff, who also heads the city’s downtown development agency, and who is pushing the initiative.

The priority zone plan would require Downtown Miami to mark all crosswalks and unify the street lighting. Clear pedestrian pathways would lead to crosswalks at all intersections. Stop lights would have coordinated timers. Ramps would align with sidewalks, which would have a minimum width of six feet. Sky-high street lights would be lowered. Speed limits would go down to 25 mph.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/12/0...#storylink=cpy

[CaptainKirk]

Goodbye Car Lanes: Madrid Wants To Take Back Streets For Pedestrians

Excerpt

Cities used to think the solution to heavy traffic was more roads, whether that came in the form of new freeways or extra lanes. But it’s more and more common now to go in the other direction and take lanes away. In Madrid, according to a new general plan that will likely be approved early next year, 24 of the city’s busiest streets are going to be redesigned for walking instead of cars.

The streets will link up with urban parks in an “environmental network” that gives top priority to pedestrians, followed by public transportation, then bikes, and finally cars. As some of the car lanes go away in the process, two-thirds of that space will go to people on foot.

read more http://www.fastcoexist.com/3023187/g...or-pedestrians