Transportation and Ithaca: Do We Really Need a Train?

First of all, I am not discouraging the tireless and groundbreaking work of the people rallying to get a new system of commuter transit in Ithaca. This blog post is merely a look at what other alternatives are available and what is already in place for our fair city.

It is abundantly clear that the personal automobile is clogging our streets, choking us with pollution and is threatening to take over our cities. The Bureau of Transportation recently released “BTS Special Report: Trends in Personal Income and Passenger Vehicle miles” in which they illustrate that the higher the income ($100,000+) the more trips taken per day, for longer distances and with more cars in the household. For the lower income group ($29,000) about 40% have one car in the household that they use to make daily trips (that are less frequent and shorter than the wealthier counterparts). To find out more about these statistics go to: http://www.bts.gov/publications/bts_special_report/2007_10_03/index.html

With that, let’s look at ways to discourage the automobile from living in our cities and the alternatives to using them at all. I read chapter 9 of “Towards Sustainable Cities” which was titled “ Transportation Planning and Traffic Management.” This chapter started out with car facts and then proceeded to lay out planning policies that offer some alternatives. A very astute observation by Mark Roseland ( the author) was that people spend the most time in their cars on the way to work. Therefore, if employers were targeted to make policy changes and offer incentives to their employees for biking to work, telecommuting, walking to work, carpooling, taking public transit, then this would truly be a comprehensive approach to reducing the amount of personal autos which only carry a single passenger and sit in traffic for 4 rush hours ( yes, it has officially increased from three hours to four hours according to BEST (http://www.best.bc.ca/resources/transportationFacts.html). Employers could offer telecommuting as a way to reduce the amount of trips made. An example of this approach can be seen in Ecovillage Ithaca where you can rent/own office space less than one minute walking distance from your home. Your employer could also help pay for the cost of taking public transportation, or even pay it in full! The university you attend could institute a UPASS system for its students ( ahem, CORNELL?? Way to drop the ball…). Federal agencies could even chip in to subsidize the cost of transportation for those in need of financial assistance. Why not just make it free? Buffalo’s train system is sort of like this: I once went to the machine, paid for the ticket, boarded the train, reached my destination and left the station without anyone taking/swiping my ticket!)

Within the same vein of substituting cars for alternatives, the Community Cycling Center of Portland Oregon offers bikes to low income people in need of transportation. RIBS here in Ithaca offers similar initiatives to that of CCC furthered by the recent release of two hot pink bikes into the commons as the start of a Bike-share program. Policies like adding bike lanes or making streets appeal to only pedestrians and cyclists so that cars are only “visitors” are ways in which municipal planners can take action. Also, as I read from the blog earlier, the elderly and differently-abled may be concerned about the proposal for an elevated train. Planning policies of widening the sidewalks, reducing glare on sidewalks by using sandstone and aligning curb ramps with directional grooves along with corner buldges to decrease crossing distance take these members of society into account. Actions taken to make a city more walkable increase density, economic activity and reduce the need for cars.

While a walkable city is not quite in sight for Ithaca, some actions have been taken. Have you noticed that there is a stop sign or a streetlight for every miniscule sized block in downtown Ithaca? That is technically termed traffic calming. By slowing down cars on the street you can increase safety on the road and discourage drivers from even getting into the car. Car sharing and road pricing are another few alternatives to the traditional car addiction. Cars are heavily subsidized by the government because we generally do no pay for the use of roads, therefore, we can discourage driving with tolls and increase awareness of the costs of using cars. Car sharing is another initiative set to begin this November here in Ithaca, so look forward to that!

There countless ways to discourage the car. Re-designing the layout of our residential streets, charging for parking, reduce the required amount of parking for new developments, incentives to carpool, increase parking rates, and giving priory to high occupancy vehicles—just to name a few. My criticism of the increased parking rates is that the poor people who drive their one car to work are already charged more (proportionately) for driving to work, and those who can afford to pay current parking rates would not be discouraged from driving.

These may seem like piece meal strategies, but really, any comprehensive plan has an overarching objective with small policies that get us to that point. Changes can be made at all levels: personal choices (initiated by employers), neighborhood choices (re-design of residential streets, street reclaiming, etc), municipal choices (infrastructure changes) and regional choices (infrastructure and financing that connect people throughout the region). Many organizations exist around this country and the world that are pushing for these sorts of responsible choices to be made. Some approach the situation on the human level, like RIBS and the Community Cycling Center (http://www.communitycyclingcenter.org/index.php/programs/create-a-commuter/), and others approach the federal government to make laws that dictate changes within the system, like Environmental Defense (http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1740), either way—if you see efforts such as these to be piecemeal, I’d suggest you get a wider perspective.

Step It Up: National Day of Climate Change Action

For anyone interested in getting involved with increasing awareness of issues of climate change, here is an exerpt of a recent email update about upcoming Step It Up events that are planned for Ithaca and across the country:

The plans for the Ithaca activities for National Day of Climate Change Action are developing rapidly, with only about three weeks left until our November 3 events. There will be two events in the Ithaca area:

--Tutelo Park, 12:00 noon
--Arts Quad at Ezra Cornell statue, Cornell Campus, 2:00 pm

If you can help us promote the event by passing this email along to others, please do so. A document is attached to this email which includes a "save the date" notice to use to cut and paste, or print and circulate. Attached also are a map to show the location of Tutelo Park, and a leaflet suitable to post, which has more information. A press release on the national effort we are coordinating with is at: http://www.stepitup2007.org/downloads/9_17%20Press%20Release.pdf


If you would like to volunteer to help, contact Carlos Rymer at CMR55@Cornell.edu (Cornell Campus event) or Krys Cail at KLC32@Cornell.edu (Tutelo Park event). We could use your help!

Even if you can't volunteer, you can help by going on the Step It Up web site and sending an invitation to our federal representatives to join us. The site is configured so that it is very fast and easy to send a message of invitation-- try it! Here is the info (same as from last week's update) on the web site:

Please check out the Step It Up web site at http://www.stepitup2007.org . There you can read about our Nov. 3, noon-3pm Tutelo Park event (http://stepitup2007.org//article.php?id=4710) and also about the other events going on around the country. Also, you can sign up to attend an event, and/or invite our federal elected officials to attend our event via a quick-and-easy web-based interface. We are trying to have as many people as possible invite our Congressmen and Senators to attend, in order to let them know how important this is to us.


--
Krys Cail
3110 DuBois Rd.
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 342-5679
email: KLC32@Cornell.edu, Krys.Cail@gmail.com

The Center for Sustainable Global Enterprises Speaker

“From the Front Line of the Climate Change Debate:
Myths, Realities and Opportunities”
Benjamin T. Ho - Assistant Professor of Economics

Johnson School at Cornell
Tuesday, October 23, 2007141 Sage Hall
3:00 – 4:00pm
Refreshments will be provided.
Sponsored by
The Center for Sustainable Global Enterprise
As part of the
CSGE Speaker Series

Benjamin Ho uses economic tools such as game theory and experimental economics to analyze social institutions that have traditionally been the purview of sociologists and psychologists. Ho was the lead economist for energy and transportation at the White House Council of Economic Advisers. He received his PhD in economics from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and holds master's degrees in education and political science from Stanford and electrical engineering/computer science from MIT, as well as bachelor's degrees from MIT. He has also worked as a research analyst for Morgan Stanley and helped found a short-lived e-commerce startup.

Transportation and Baltimore

1. Coordinating Transit and Land Use
I live in Baltimore, so for a city that already experiences a lot of sprawl, integrating transit and land use pose a bit of a challenge. However, Baltimore also possesses areas that are the victims of blight, which have the potential to be redeveloped into transit-oriented communities. For example, there is a new mixed used development being constructed in Westport, Baltimore. The main feature is that this development will be centered on a previously unused light rail stop. Perhaps a new rail transit line could help with redevelopment efforts and steer the locations of higher density projects.

2. Trams with traffic priority
I like using Baltimore’s one light rail line, but I would sure like using it a whole lot more if it ran quicker. It’s frustrating to be stopped at traffic lights downtown when the whole point of taking the light rail is to avoid dealing with the congestion.

3. High speed rail
Why is there not a high speed rail line running between Washington and Baltimore?!?! Or all of the east coast cities for that matter!!!!!! Register is right, we need to invest more into our country’s rail infrastructure rather than encouraging more highway growth.

4. Car-free developments
These could definitely work in some areas, and I have to agree with the authors- owning a car gives you incentive to use it. I do not have a car while I am up at school, and as a result, I walk or take the bus. I imagine that if I had a car, I would give up walking to places across campus and simply drive. Car-free developments in Baltimore would boost bus ridership and lower congestion.

5. Car Sharing
See above.

6. Road Pricing
This policy I am somewhat more skeptical about using in a city like Baltimore, because we are still struggling to reinvest in the downtown and get people excited about working and living there. New York or LA, yes- there is high enough demand for access downtown that a road pricing system would not harm activity. Perhaps in a couple years this would work. I like this idea a lot, I would just be afraid of implementing it prematurely.

7. Shifting investments toward public transit vs. highways
There are currently millions upon millions of dollars being spent right now reworking the 695-195 connection in Maryland (basically, how commuters get from Baltimore suburbs to the city). I spent this summer taking the bus to my internship (I live in a suburb and worked in the heart of downtown), and I discovered a vastly underutilized resource. Why couldn’t those millions be used to promote and upgrade the bus system, which provides a great express service at peak traffic hours, instead of feeding into the cycle referenced in the readings?

8. Dedicated public transit lanes
Related to number 7, oh how I would have loved it if the #3 Express service was able to zoom past the rest of stalled traffic. At least 10 minutes could have been cut off my morning ride into downtown Baltimore. And imagine what that would do to cut down on car traffic! If people found out that they could get downtown faster using the bus than driving their own car, I bet that would change some minds.

9. Designated bike paths
I really wanted to avoid using my car this summer. I told myself I would get back into riding my bike to get places and I would use the bus when possible. While I did use the bus to get downtown, mobility within my suburb was another story. The truth is, I was afraid to ride my bike along the busier streets because I always thought I would get hit (and I probably would have considering my lack of coordination). If there were actually bike paths, I could have biked to pick up the item I forgot at the grocery store, or used it to run to the photo store to pick up my prints. The time it would take to bike to my nearest commercial district really isn’t long, but the journey could be a lot safer.

10. Motivating the senior lobby
My grandma depends on my mother to take her to all of her doctor appointments and to the grocery store. When my mom has to work on their usual Thursday date, my grandmother either has to forgo her errands that week or call a cab. She votes religiously and is a member of the AARP. Perhaps that lobby should start pressuring local and national legislatures to address their transportation needs as well as healthcare.

Assnmnt 10/16 & Need co-discuss leader

Hi Folks

A) Based on the surveys, we will go a step deeper now into the Transportation issue, including other possible ways forward than the Concept Plan we were working off of. (Survey results & Revised syllabus coming up, I'm still waiting for a few more survey returns!)
Read Green Urbanism: Chapter 4 Transit Cities pp. 109-136 and Green Urbanism: Chapter 5 Taming the Auto pp.137-165 and Ecocities: Chapter 6: Access & Transportation pp. 137-179
(Highly recommended, not required: Green Urbanism: Chapter 6 Bicycles: Low-Tech Ecological Mobility)

B) Reflect, roughly 1 page, DUE SUNDAY OCT 14, at 8 PM
Note 10 of the tools/strategies you like best from the reading in both books and show how they could help shape a ten-year plan for sustainably transforming the transportation and land use infrastructure in Ithaca OR another city you know & care about. Include the systems thinking and the equity/access/justice planning that is built into your plan.
***Optional, Recommended: Do this with a partner and both sign on as authors.

C) Bring in Behavior Change Journals, be prepared to talk about your Behavior Change journey and to hand in the journal. If you want to send in an electronic copy sooner (as someone has already done) that would be great, but I'm assuming most people are doing handwritten journals.

D) We will take a nice chunk of time to talk about our Projects, so if there are any things or thoughts you want to show and share, bring them in.

E) Note requested and suggested leaders/presenters for 10/16. I would like us to have a discussion co-facilitator with Greg.
Case Presentations Rachel Salima
Nature in the City Gabriella Melissa
Discussion Facilitation Greg

Connect Ithaca Team Updates

The Connect Ithaca Team (Carlos, Elisabeth, Gregory, and Tania) has done some great work to date. Below is a summary of our work to day, followed by a summary of our plans, and preceded by our goals.

Goal 1: To engage the Cornell community in learning, discussing, and eventually approving the vision of Connect Ithaca, which includes collaborative planning for an Ithaca-wide personal rapid transity (PRT) system.

Goal 2: To outreach to the downtown Ithaca community about Connect Ithaca and work with any other parties in promoting PRT in Ithaca.

Work To Date:

- We conducted some research on what cities around the country have done to become more sustainable. Information that we found was used by the Connect Ithaca Steering Committee when it presented to the Mayor of Ithaca information about PRT and the group's goals.

- We created other materials for the group, including a mission statement and logo.

- We created a google group for communication (connect-ithaca@googlegroups.com), helped set up a temporary website (www.connectithaca.org), and set up a blog for the Ithaca community together with some groups at IC and Cornell (www.sustainithaca.org).

- We distributed 27 tent cards about Connect Ithaca during Apple Fest and talked to community members about Connect Ithaca. We made some good connections with locals.

- We have engaged several student groups at Cornell. We have created a committee within the Sustainability Hub to promote Connect Ithaca's vision.

- Through the Sustainability Hub, we met with members of the Student Assembly Environment Committee at Cornell to talk about the possibility of approving a Resolution in support of Connect Ithaca's vision.

- Through the Sustainability Hub, we have set a date (October 29 @ 4:30PM) for Connect Ithaca to present about PRT to the Cornell community.

Work To Be Done:

- We are working on a Statement to be endorsed by organizations in Ithaca, including student organizations at Cornell and IC.

- We will seek the endorsement of organizations to support Connect Ithaca's vision.

- We will update the website with more useful information about Connect Ithaca.

- We will continue doing more outreach (such as to the Greenstar Meeting today) at Cornell and elsewhere to build support for Connect Ithaca.

- We are looking into getting copyright, trademark, and non-profit standing for the organization

The Connect Ithaca Team meets on Thursdays at 10:30AM and Fridays at 4:30PM every week.

Maping as the key tool for change

Chapter 10 lays out a plan for gaining momentum in the ecocities movement. It challenges the reader to research the history of their city, not only the social history, but history of the land usages and that flows of the natural environment. This research is map #1, it maps out where all the streams are that may or may not have been buried, the historical use of that old building seemingly out in the middle of nowhere (the the wolf building) and gives you a foundation to redesign and rezone your city. You create the next map by defining with concentric circles the zones of activity. Then, you focus especially on the green belts and natural areas that exist or should exist. Map #3 is the rough draft of your argument for an ecocity. After you drew maps 1 and 2, you digested the information, toured your city and another city like it ( perhaps a place similar to the environment in which your city was located before it became a city), and used this comparison along with suggestions from others of like mind to put some final touches on map #3. Next, you go to your local representatives, planners, mayors, etc and convince them that an ecocity is appropriate and within reach. Maps #4 and 5 are variations on your plan which provide some flexibility to your scheme and allow others to adapt it to fit their vision. Zoning tools use to transform the city include Transfer of Development rights (TDRs), double TDRs, language in a general or comprehensive plan for the city and sprawl roll back campaigns ( inwhich the government buys sprawled out developments and restores these ares back to nature while discouraging sprawling development in the first place).

This mapping plan seems like a great idea. It combines research of all aspects of a city ( social, economic and natural) with visual plans for improvement. Critics might say that all cities are already planned, but this argues that planning is constantly evolving and so is a city, so we might as well evolve in the most environmentally sustainable way. I can relate to this chapter because I know that planners and municipal authorities will not accept just some pie in the sky proposal, they want research, maps and hard evidence that progress can be made. However, some of the zoning tools proposed in this chapter seem like something that people would find to be too communistic, or rather, involving too much governmental management. Honestly, in what world would we live in that the local government would buy back a McMansion, let alone an entire development of them, just to demolish them? Didn't the municipality allow this development in the first place to gain tax revenues? what is the government's incentive to tear them down? On top of that, think of all the resources going to waste from tearing down houses already constructed. I have often thought of this very idea myself, although the only context I can see this happening in would be during total anarchy, a Fight Club type of situation. To this I think Mr. Register would argue that the local government should function as a democracy and would do this because the people wanted it and because it was in the language of the re-zoning. Take a second, think about who lives in those McMansions, do they want their hard earned investment torn to the ground? Some of them probably ARE involved in the local government. The fight for regional sustainability and ecocities on the scale that Register proposes is a hard one that cannot only be approached with a really good map. People need to change their perspectives, the economy needs to market environmental responsibility.