Excellent post, Russ! Just the kind of perspective us city slickers need to be reminded of from you folks in the sticks;) There is a Reclaim The Streets movement, which, I believe, started in England. It is the whole DIY idea, and has an additional Minneapolis manifestation in the Critical Mass rides. The Strib did 2-3 write ups on Minneapolis Critical Mass rides last Summer (where the mpls cops harassed the heck out of the riders who would "reclaim the streets" every fourth Friday (I believe) around evening rush hour). The idea is that bikes have legal rights on the road, that they should be considered as normal traffic, and city planners need to create city designs that are not auto-centric. The Reclaim The Streets movement has many quite radical "reclaimings" where they will simulate traffic accidents and have a party in the midst of the stilled downtown traffic; they have been known to drill into roadways and plant trees in the middle of the street or highway; in addition to the many low-key and subtle happenings more akin to the variety Russ mentioned. This is definately something worth spending some time thinking about, talking about, and doing! Jon Kelland Bryant (with RTS juices flowing!) --- Russell W Peterson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > There is a book out called, I think, Street > Reclaiming. I > think written by an Australian author. His > underlying > theory is that people need to claim the street in > such a way > that cars believe it is a pedestrian environment > that they > are driving through as opposed to a car thoroughfare > that > people walk across. Some if his ideas including > taking out > a street parking spot to put in table and chairs - > kind of > extending the cafe into the street or visually > narrowing the > street. Or painting large murals in the street or > narrowing > the perception of the street with pedestrian items. > Now > that I live in "no sidewalk land," I completely > appreciate > what "kids playing in the street" does to the > environment. > Because there are no sidewalks (nature paths galore > although) people use and kids play in the street all > the > time. This has an amazing impact on cars. They > move slowly > and carefully through this entire area. > > I worked for a couple of years on speeding in our > south > Minneapolis neighborhood, but the requirements of > the city > are pretty strict, not very creative and quite > onerous. > Even if you are able to get funding to make more > extensive > improvements like speed humps or curb changes, > getting the > overwhelming neighborhood to agree on a specific > solution is > quite a different thing. This is something that I > think is > going to take some real City Council leadership in > order to > change the philosophy of street safety/environments > and help > move solutions along more quickly to create better > streets > in the city. > > Russ Peterson > former Standish > now St. Michael > > > > Russell W. Peterson, RA, CID > Founder > ________________________________________ > R U S S E L L P E T E R S O N D E S I G N > Architecture / Interior Design / Strategic Planning > > "You can only fly if you stretch your wings." > > Metro Minneapolis - Saint Michael > > ________________________________________ > 13715 Forty-Seventh Street Northeast > Saint Michael, Minnesota 55376 > > (763) 497-1003 phone & fax > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ________________________________________ > > _______________________________________________ > Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy > Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email at your own domain with Yahoo! Mail. http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ _______________________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - Minnesota E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
