Monday Mailing
Year 22 • Issue 28 04 April 2016 1. City of Coos Bay Installs First Tsunami Blue Line 2. Benchmarks: Places On The Move Measure Up 3. Stalled Out: How Empty Parking Spaces Diminish Neighborhood Affordability 4. PSU Transportation Seminar: The Myth of Oregon’s “Freight Dependent” Economy – April 8th, 2016 5. Cities to Untangle Traffic Snarls, With Help From Alphabet Unit 6. Is Face to Face Community Engagement Dying Out? 7. Racist Names To Be Scrubbed From Washington Maps 8. HOPES Conference – April 7-9, University of Oregon 9. Webinar: Planning For Success – April 15, 10am-11am. PST 10. Connecting the Dots Between Health and Transportation: Mark Fenton 11. Free Farm Law Webinar Recordings Available - 8 Different Topics! 1. City of Coos Bay Installs First Tsunami Blue Line COOS BAY — On Tuesday, Coos Bay residents got the first of five Tsunami Blue Lines installed; a thin blue reminder of an all but inevitable threat looming over the region. Tectonically active coastal communities are at an elevated risk for tsunamis, and Coos Bay — perched on top of the Cascadia Subduction Zone — is no exception to that rule. To that end, Coos Bay Fire Department Chief Mark Anderson on Tuesday presided over the installation of the first Tsunami Blue Line, which points in the direction of safety when, not if, the tsunami finally comes. To access the full story, click here. Quote of the Week: “Everything that is made beautiful and fair and lovely is made for the eye of the one who sees.” ~Rumi Oregon Fast Fact: The State of Oregon is approximately 350 miles from east to west. Also, from north to south, which is from Washington to California, it is between 250 and 300 miles.
2. Benchmarks: Places On The Move Measure Up As spring tempts us to pick up the pace of our outdoor activities, it’s clear that not all places have equal footing. Those well-positioned to draw us out into health-boosting active transportation are enjoying all sorts of benefits. City planners across North America are trying hard to even the playing field. The 2016 Benchmarking Report for Bicycling and Walking in the United States came out earlier this month, and if you haven’t taken the time to read it yet, here are some of the important highlights in this biennial review published by the Alliance for Biking & Walking. Safety It’s getting safer to walk and cycle in the United States. Active transportation is on the rise, with bicycling up 71 percent from 2007 to 2016 in large U.S. cities. To access the full story, click here. 3. Stalled Out: How Empty Parking Spaces Diminish Neighborhood Affordability Stalled Out: How Empty Parking Spaces Diminish Neighborhood Affordability explores the relationship between unused parking and Page 1 of 5
neighborhood affordability. Many cities, including Chicago, mandate the minimum number of parking spaces new developments need to build. As the report points out, however, these minimum requirements don’t always reflect real demand. For this study, we interviewed multifamily developers in Chicago and went to the parking lots and garages of 40 apartment buildings, both market-rate and subsidized, to see how much parking was being used. Researchers went at 4:00 a.m., when most tenants have parked their cars and are asleep in bed. Consistent with our findings in the San Francisco Bay Area; Washington, D.C. (link is external); and King County, Washington, the study found that:
The supply of parking exceeds demand. Buildings offered two spots for every three units. According to our analysis, they only used one for every three. As parking supply goes up, much of it sits empty. Apartments with fewer spaces saw a greater percentage of their parking used. Apartment buildings near frequent transit need less parking. Buildings within ten minutes of a Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) train stop provided one spot for every two units. Even then, one-third of the spots sat empty.
To access the full report, click here. 4. PSU Transportation Seminar: The Myth of Oregon’s “Freight Dependent” Economy – April 8th, 2016 Although it is widely claimed that Oregon's economy is dependent on freight movement, economic activity in Oregon has decoupled from physical goods movement. Truck traffic per unit of gross state product has fallen, and even the loss of regular container service to Portland has had no measurable effect on the region's economy. Oregon's economy has shifted away from freight intensive industries and now depends on knowledge driven sectors (e.g. electronics, software, athletic apparel and footwear professional services) that move very small amounts of freight. In addition freight costs for most output is so small—and declining—that it is a negligible factor in industry profitability and location decisions. Seminar Speaker: Joe Cortright, President, Impreza Consulting Event Date: Friday, April 8, 2016, 12:00pm to 13:00pm PDT Joe Cortright is the director of City Observatory and president and principal economist of Impresa, Inc. He is also a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, senior policy advisor for CEOs for Cities, a national organization of urban leaders, and the chair of the Oregon Governor’s Council of Economic Advisors. As an advisor to state and local governments, private businesses, foundations and advocacy groups in more than a dozen states, Canada and Europe, Joe’s work casts a light on the role of knowledge-based industries in shaping regional economies. If you are viewing the seminar live and wish to ask a question, send an email to psuseminar@yahoo.com during the broadcast. To register for the webinar, click here. 5. Cities to Untangle Traffic Snarls, With Help From Alphabet Unit MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — In a world where taxi rides are summoned with a button and where people have become reliant on mapping applications to get around town, a paradox has emerged: Technology companies know a lot more about a city’s traffic patterns than the city officials trying to solve the problem. Page 2 of 5
On Thursday, the federal Department of Transportation announced a partnership with Sidewalk Labs, a unit of Alphabet, the same technology conglomerate that owns Google, that aims to funnel transit data to city officials in hopes of making traffic more bearable and figuring out newer, smarter ways of moving people and goods around the country’s urban areas. The announcement is part of an continuing “Smart City” competition in which the Transportation Department is dangling $40 million in grant money in front of cities to prod them into using more technology. As part of the deal, Sidewalk will work with seven finalists to develop a traffic management system that will be one of the company’s core software products. To access the full story, click here. 6. Is Face to Face Community Engagement Dying Out? Since launching the Fiasco Files two weeks ago, readers have been flooding me with stories of angry groups disrupting public meetings. It seems that when tensions are high, community engagement is most likely to come to a head at a public meeting. With the rapid proliferation of online engagement tools over the past few years, is face to face community engagement destined to die out? It's inevitable that in every planning process, some people will be upset. Oftentimes is a small and very vocal group of stakeholders but as we have seen in cases like the one described in "What I Learned When an Angry Group Destroyed My Public Meeting," an angry group can dismantle a public meeting with relative ease. While there are facilitation and design techniques that can help, these are often not enough to guarantee a successful outcome. It would be a shame to respond by cancelling all face-to-face engagement opportunities. There is a magic that only happens when people get together face to face with neighbors and project leaders. Despite the ability of online engagement to provide a safe and easy way for more people to become involved, it is naïve to think that online can ever completely replace face-to-face community engagement. To access the full story, click here. 7. Racist Names To Be Scrubbed From Washington Maps Washington State is home to 19 Squaws, six Coons, five Negros, three Jim Crows, two Redmen, and a Chinaman. What is the source of this offensive list? The state map. Racially and ethnically objectionable place names are commonplace in the United States, especially in the South and far West. Over the years, attempts to modernize the map have been made, changing names here and there. For example, late last year the federal government finally agreed to change the name of a lake in the North Cascades from Coon Lake to Howard Lake, commemorating an African American prospector who first settled there with his name rather than a racial epithet. That came after a series of stories on Crosscut. Spurred by that success, which she championed, state Sen. Pramila Jayapal – a Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress this year – is proposing to tackle the larger problem in the state head-on. Working with the Washington Department of Natural Resources, she has identified 36 racially offensive names of geographic features around the state. Now, she’s kicking-off a coordinated effort to change them. To access the full story, click here.
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8. HOPES Conference – April 7-9, University of Oregon The Holistic Options for Planet Earth Sustainability (HOPES) conference is an annual event, held every April by the Ecological Design Center, a student group at the University of Oregon. Inaugurated in 1994, the conference is an opportunity for students, faculty, community members, and visiting scholars to discuss the relationship between ecology and design, and how this connection can produce sustainable buildings. The conference usually consists of a combination of panels, keynote speakers, professional showcases and workshops. Past topics addressed during the conference include: environmental literacy, food sustainability issues, religion and the environment, product innovation, and sustainability in art. Over the past ten years, the conference has brought such luminaries as Shigeru Ban, Sim Van der Ryn, Samuel Mockbee, James Hubbel, Angela Danadijieva, Michael Pyatok, Steve Badanes, Richard Register, David Orr, John Schaeffer, Stephen Kellert, and Clare Cooper Marcus to the University of Oregon campus. This year’s theme: Access to information is rapidly becoming a global standard for the first time in history. This super-connected network of minds is accelerating the speed of human innovation. Nevertheless, changing environmental conditions are reaching a crisis point, and even large scale responses can take years to have any effect. The decisions we make now will have lasting repercussions. How do we respond? For more information about this FREE conference, click here. 9. Webinar: Planning For Success – April 15, 10am-11am. PST Strategic planning is an important tool to help set clearer goals for your downtown revitalization effort and develop a road map for achieving those goals. This webinar will help you learn the process to develop a strategic action for your main street organization. Learn some of tips to guarantee your success! Who: The webinar will be presented by Sheri Stuart, Coordinator, Oregon Main Street. When: Friday, April 15, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. The line will be open to log in at 9:30 a.m. with the webinar beginning at 10:00 a.m. Please register for Planning for Success at: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3299136689812094978 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. 10. Connecting the Dots Between Health and Transportation: Mark Fenton In December 2015, national walkability expert Mark Fenton toured several Oregon communities to talk about connecting the dots between health and transportation. The visit was sponsored by Oregon's Transportation and Growth Management Program, in partnership with local and regional governments and the Oregon Health Authority. Watch his Linn and Benton County talk in full, or view (and share!) key excerpts.
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The clips: - Mark Fenton's complete talk, "Connecting the Dots between Health and Transportation" (85 minutes), given at LaSells Stewart Center in Corvallis - Three Key Numbers: 30, 20, 365 (10 minutes) - About Lane Safety Re-alignments, aka "road diets" (2 minutes) - America's Inactivity and Poor Nutrition Epidemic (4 minutes) - Basics of Healthy Community Design (1:30 minute version) - Basics of Healthy Community Design (3 minute version) - Basics of Healthy Community Design (9:30 minute version) - How Street Designs Impact Travel Choice, illustrated by Corvallis' SW 3rd (1 minute) To access this series of clips, click here. 11. Free Farm Law Webinar Recordings Available - 8 Different Topics! Farm Commons has just wrapped up our Winter Farm Law Education Series. We had a great season, hosting eight free webinars to help farmers take targeted action towards building stronger farm businesses and a resilient local food system. If you missed any of the events, the recordings are all available for viewing at www.FarmCommons.org, free of charge.
Topics include: Introduction to Sustainable Farm Law Insurance for the Farm: Policies and Principles to Efficiently Manage Risk The What, Why and How of Choosing and Organizing a Business Entity for the Farm Building a Legally-Sound Intern and Volunteer Program for Farm Work Food Safety Liability and Regulations: FSMA and Beyond Sales 1: Availability, Invoicing and Dispute Resolution with Food Buyers Sales 2: Contracts for Planning Ahead of Production State-specific employment law tutorials for MN, WI, IL, IA, OH and MI
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