Sidewalk Watch: Cumberland Ave

Not much to report here other than the sidewalks on the southern side of Cumberland Avenue, between Franklin Street and Washington Ave, are being rebuilt. I recall this sidewalk consisting of a lot of uneven brick so it will benefit from some new curbing and surfacing. 

Go Car-Free on the 4th

Not only can you get some exercise, meet your neighbors, and be more environmentally friendly (among other benefits), you can also decrease your risk of being injured in an automobile on Sunday if you leave your car in the driveway.

As I saw on the Discovery Channel website, a study by the University of Minnesota Center for Transportation Studies shows that the 4th of July is the most dangerous day of  the year to drive, in addition to the summer being to most dangerous season to be on the road. Some factors that make Independence Day especially dangerous include the amount of traffic (summer travel season and people going to cookouts I suppose) and the increased amount of drunk drivers (holidays tend to lead to a spike in drunk driving).

I'm not sure of any  exact statistics for the 4th of July, but according to one source there is an automobile fatality every 12 minutes and there are in excess of 40,000 fatalities every year. Such statistics are powerful and   knowing that one particular day had a disproportionate amount of traffic deaths is enough for me to say that the 4th is a good day to walk, bike, or use mass transit. Besides, the weather is great and Portland is a great place to not be in a car.

Congress Square Park

Some time ago I started writing a post about the park/public plaza in Congress Square. It is at the intersection of Congress and High Streets, right next to the Eastland hotel. Here's a map:

View Larger Map

Not long after I began writing a post about some ideas for improving the park, which is somewhat under-utilized for it's prime location, a notice was posted on the city website about the creation of the Congress Square Redesign Study Group. The group's aim is to "...advise and guide the design and engineering process for the assessment of the best use and design of Congress Square Park." The group has only met once, back in May, and doesn't appear to have any future meetings scheduled. I was not able to attend the group's inaugural meeting due to time constraints. I don't see any minutes of exactly what was discussed at the meeting, but there is a link to a presentation on the group's website that has some really interesting photographs showing the history of the square. Long story short, the square was  home to various residential and commercial buildings until the 1980's when the current plaza design was installed (along with very positive improvements to the rest of Congress Square). Since it's creation, however, it seems that the plaza has struggled to create a real identity and usefulness and is often a place where homeless individuals congregate to ask for change. Every now and then a special event utilizes the space (such as the Tower of Song festival or the Sidewalk Art Festival, but the park is usually inactive.

So since there is a group already looking at ways to improve the park I decided not to dedicate a whole post to my thoughts on the matter, until I was passing by the other day and noticed that the concrete planting pots along Congress Street had been recently retrofitted with people-deterrents. As you can see in this photo, it appears that it would be uncomfortable to sit on these, but it is still possible:

There is a sunken plaza to the left of this photo with some steps suitable for sitting on and two or three (at the most) old benches in the middle of the park but I would think that if we are not allowing people to sit on these planters then perhaps a few more benches could be added in this area. As I said, I didn't get the chance to attend the redesign group's meeting and am not able to tell you what improvements they thought of, but I do hope that there are some more useful improvements planned other than attempting to keep people from sitting down for a bit.

Shopping Carts and Urban Living

As recently reported at TheCityFix.com, a site about sustainable urban mobility, the Sydney, Australia city council recently denied an urban supermarket the ability to provide it's customers with shopping carts (or as they call them: trolleys).

From this article from down under, the city council "...approved a development application last September for a small local supermarket with no trolleys, but six months later the developer wanted to change it to include trolleys." The city council denied this request and the market will remain trolley-free. Apparently part of what the city council was aiming for when they approved this urban supermarket was to provide a place to shop for city dwellers without increasing the amount of automobile traffic in the already congested area. Similar to how markets used to work in cities before cars, I believe the idea was that people would make a quick stop by the local market on foot a few times a week to pick up the goods they needed for just the next few days. Here's a quote from article:

"Labor councillor Dr Meredith Burgmann says the decision was based on maintaining traffic levels in the area.

She says she has never received so many emails and letters from residents concerned about the impact of trolleys.

"It does have to remain a local drop-in-as-you're-walking-along-the-street supermarket," she said."

The Sydney Morning Herald also reported on this, prior to the city council's decision upholding the trolley ban:

"The Friends of Erskineville [the village where the supermarket is] warns that trolleys are a gateway conveyance that will hook shoppers on the car habit. ''Without wanting to sound like the League of Gentlemen, no trolleys restricts the amount of people who will drive so it's only local people, on foot, not people driving to the site,'' the group's spokesman, Brett Mason, said."

These Friends of Erskineville seem to be a pretty dedicated bunch of individuals, interested in promoting livability and sustainability in their own neighborhood. The stance against shopping carts is rather interesting and I'm not sure if this issue has ever been discussed in America. I'm not advocating that shopping carts be banned or the use of them curtailed, but it's worthwhile to think about the connection between our current infrastructure and our lifestyle. Banning shopping carts at the IGA in Erskineville is a small act, but it is a solution that make sense and seems to be popular with the people it affects on a daily basis.

What's in a name? From Arterial to Street

I can't find the official documentation of this, but someday soon the signs saying Franklin Arterial will say Franklin Street. I'm sure this is a minor victory as far as the Franklin Reclamation Authority is concerned, but it's a step in the right direction by the city. As you know, where the Franklin Arterial (Oops, I mean Street) is was once an urban street and not the mini highway that it is today. A look at official city maps reveals that the actual name of the thoroughfare has actually always been Franklin Street, so it's interesting that it became to be known as Franklin Arterial and the street signs even said so. Either way, this is a good move and I look forward to further discussions concerning the future of this street.

Fix This: Deering Oaks Benches

These benches along High Street have always baffled me. I have never once seen anyone using them, not even to sleep on. These pictures sum up the problem with this bench placement pretty well:

It would probably make more sense to put these benches somewhere with a scenic view, rather than a view of a somewhat high-speed one way street with a park somewhere beyond. The area right around the Deering Oaks Pond lacks benches, so I would propose a quick fix of moving some of these, if not all of them, over there.

*Update - Someone is seen sitting on one of these benches on Google streetview. What are the odds?

Bayside Trail - April 2010

Here are a few shots of the Bayside Trail under construction as of last weekend. Coming along nicely!

2010 Great Portland Bike-Swap

The annual bike swap at USM's Sullivan Gym is this Sunday, April 24th. It starts at 10am, so if you want to have a wide variety of purchasing choices, you should be sure to arrive a lot earlier than that. I attended last year, and it was an interesting event.

Some local bicycling related links:

Bike Maine

Portland Bike Commuting

Portland Green Streets

Vote MilNeil - District 119

If you live in Maine's District 119 (Bayside and Parkside neighborhoods of Portland), please consider supporting Christian MilNeil, author of Rights of Way and Vigorous North, in his bid for a seat in Maine's State House. The current representative is leaving, so it's a great opportunity to get some new blood in the system and Christian is a strong candidate and people who read this blog will agree with a lot of his views. Read more about his bid here, and donate to his clean election fund if you live in the district.

Bridges over Waters

In the not-too-distant future Portland will have two new/reconstructed bridges on opposite sides of the peninsula. To the north, the Martin's Point Bridge that carries Route 1 traffic from Portland to Falmouth is to be reconstructed starting in 2014. To the south, the Veteran's Memorial Bridge which also carries Route 1 but from Portland to South Portland, will be rebuilt starting this summer.

I wasn't around when either of these bridges were built initially, but I doubt that there was as much public participation in the design and planning process back then as there is these days. There have been workshops for the public concerning the new Veteran's Memorial Bridge (I unfortunately wasn't able to attend due to work/school) and the city is looking for members of the public to join a committee for the Martin's Point Bridge reconstruction project.

The Martin's Point Bridge is currently the more pedestrian/bike friendly route, and both bridges promise to be much more accommodating to non-vehicular traffic when they are completed. Maybe it's just the optimistic spring weather getting to me, but I felt like writing a positive post today. I urge everyone to get involved with the design process of these and other infrastructure projects around town.