Lawlessness on Baltimore’s Streets
By Klaus Philipsen
Baltimore’s Sun Paper did an investigation in Baltimore’s many speed cameras and found much lacking, including proper measurements in some instances. The paper milked the story over weeks and, naturally, government haters are out in full force fretting about the freedom of motorists. Yet, I would locate the real problem on the opposite end of this spectrum: the general lawlessness on our city streets. If the paper is so interested in measurements, it should measure the top speeds people travel on urban streets where kids walk to school. The paper should videotape how many seconds after a light turns yellow cars still race through intersections, how impossible it is to cross on a marked crosswalk (try North Avenue between the two parts of the Coppin campus or in front of the BMA), or how many pedestrians downtown walk blindly across the street no matter what the signal says. Or how at any given downtown intersection cars block it when their lane is congested and create gridlock. Or what percentage of drivers have their hands on phones and texting devices right in front of your eyes, no matter that Maryland law prohibits it.
Essentially we have a culture of anything goes and the police never do a thing about it, presumably “because they have more important things to do”. Given over 200 murders a year (about half of what all of New York City has which is twelve times as large), this sounds plausible. And, of course, the police don’t yield to peds themselves, drive around with broken headlights, their phone on their ears or drive way above the speed limit without lights or sirens being activated.
My take on this is, and this is where it becomes almost an “urban design” topic, that the “broken windows theory” can also be applied to traffic lawlessness. If small things don’t get enforced, then big things start to slide as well. And yes, I know, we need to make sure that enforcement is fair and doesn’t just harass black teens or drag even more people into jail. But if nothing is done, it is difficult to convince people that Baltimore is oh so charming. If it isn’t even safe to drive and walk, let alone bike in the city because ruthless drivers will cut you off, knock you over, incessantly show you the finger and cuss you out, we can’t even begin to talk about violent crime.
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https://archplanbaltimore.blogspot.com/2013/01/lawlessness-on-baltimore-streets.html?spref=fb
County Asks For Input On Loch Raven Watershed Protection
A meeting will be held in Glen Arm on Jan. 23.
By Nick Gestido, Patch
Baltimore County is looking for input from the public as they launch an effort to improve the Loch Raven watershed along the east side of the reservoir.
A meeting will be held from 6:30-8 p.m. Jan. 23 at St. John’s Lutheran Church (13300 Manor Road) to share information about and hear public contributions to a new Small Watershed Action Plan.
The plan is being introduced by the Baltimore County Department of Environmental Protection and Sustainablility and the Gunpowder Valley Conservancy, a local nonprofit.
Upcoming restoration efforts, including those aimed at restoring the health of streams and improving the quality of drinking water, will be guided by the Small Watershed Action Plan, according to a news release from the county.
The planning area encompasses the east side of Loch Raven Reservoir north to Jacksonville and Phoenix and east to Manor Road, the release states.
For more information, call Erin Wisnieski at 410-887-5683.
Continue reading “County Asks For Input On Loch Raven Watershed Protection”
SeeClickFix’s Best Year Yet! Kudos Howard County
One of the frustrations of being a cyclist in a car centric world is trying to get road hazards fixed. Supposed you found a hazard in the shoulder and reported it, the crew inspects it and thinks to themselves “I don’t see how this is a hazard to motor vehicles.” so resolves the repair order without doing a darn thing.
Storm grates can be another issue as some Public Works engineers have been taught that hazardous grates for cyclists are the best “for hydraulic flow”.
In short flagging a request as a cycling issue which goes to a person in government who understands cycling issues would be very helpful. To that end I’ll highlight how will this works in Howard County https://seeclickfix.com/issues/220714?utm_source=activity_notice&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=pois
Wouldn’t be nice if more counties joined the SeeClickfix system? I think so. I’ll note the system is stet up with geographical boundaries for each of the counties so it’s easy to set up. From SeeClickfix newsletter:
What we built with you and your government:
The SeeClickFix Dashboard is now being used by 135 City Clients and includes a boatload of new features including the ability to assign and re-categorize issues, create work orders and generate beautiful reports.
We have whitelabeled our marketplace mobile applications for a number of cities and one State so that the app is searchable under their brand and keywords. This month we also released the ability to add additional information pages to your custom application dynamically through our easy to use content management system.
We have started to test a knowledge base and question and answer platform in select cities to help citizens and governments learn from each other in a scalable way that saves money and easy to implement. Two cities have already signed on for early launch and we’re still accepting early adopters at a discounted rate.
We are also starting to experiment with crowdfunding and have helped to successfully fund a few projects in New Haven.
Some Partner City Highlights
The Cities of Minneapolis and Oakland have been longtime users of SeeClickFix and this year both Cities launched deeper integrations with the platform and became clients. In Minneapolis we launched marketplace mobile applications for the city and in Oakland we integrated with their CityWorks Work order system. Richmond, VA, Surrey British Columbia and a number of other towns also became clients of our CityWorks connect offering. Washington DC also launched their marketplace mobile applications with SeeClickFix and have done a tremendous job marketing the apps on subway posters and parking meter stickers. We also launched connections with Chicago 311 and Toronto 311 and assisted many small towns and FEMA during Hurricane Sandy. As a result of the Toronto 311 connection we also launched our largest media partner the Toronto Star who just listed SeeClickFix as the best
thing they’ve done all year. All in all 15 Million new citizens were affected by these new relationships around the globe.
The new year will start off with a bang as well as we launch marketplace mobile applications and integrate with Houston’s CRM Kana, an integration with Oracle in Albuquerque and with 35 towns in Massachusetts through the Commonwealth Connect application that we have built for the State. There also were a number of deals signed at the end of 2012 from California to North Carolina that we have not let the cat out of the bag yet on. Stay tuned for those!
User Highlights
5 years on the job and still my favorite part of working at SeeClickFix is witnessing the anecdotal evidence that SeeClickFix is enabling collaboration between citizens and governments. Each of the resolved 200,000 issues are a little neighborhood victory, and they all deserve to be celebrated. A few of our favorites fixes from 2012:
The Long Awaited Left Turn: A persistent Mom improved the safety of an intersection near a school after a year of work.
Giving a Hoot: An owl family was saved thanks to a diligent Park Ranger.
Spring Cleaning with SeeClickFix: A town in Canada uses SeeClickFix to
coordinate its yearly clean up efforts.
As the first full-time employee at SeeClickFix the most remarkable thing for me has been watching the growth of the team to fifteen full-time employees. Those 15 folks are dedicating their lives to helping you make your neighborhoods better. If you want to help them we’d love it if you would introduce SeeClickFix to your neighbors or your local government. If you are in local government we’d love to show you all that has been built in the last year. We think you’ll like it. You can email me or contact the team at contact@seeclickfix.com.
Happy Holidays and here’s to collaboratively improving neighborhoods in 2013!
Enforcing Laws for Bicyclists [video]
From US DOT NHTSA
Hit-And-Run Deaths Increase, But Culprits Hard To Capture
Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities are increasing nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Los Angeles and New York City have the highest rates of those deaths.
In Los Angeles, where the car is the major mode of transportation, hit and runs involving pedestrians occur almost daily. But these crimes can be the most difficult for law enforcement to investigate and solve.
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https://www.npr.org/2013/01/03/168545915/hit-and-run-deaths-increase-but-culprits-hard-to-capture
Suburban sprawl could destroy up to 34 million acres of forests, says new study
Scientists at the US Forest Service and partners at universities, non-profits and other agencies predict that urban and developed land areas in the US will increase 41 percent by 2060. Forested areas will be most impacted by this expansion, with losses ranging from 16 to 34 million acres in the lower 48 states. The agency highlighted the results of a new study in a press release issued last month.
The researchers also concluded that, over the long-term, climate change could have significant effects on water availability, making the US potentially more vulnerable to water shortages, especially in the Southwest and Great Plains. Population growth in more arid regions will require more drinking water. Recent trends in agricultural irrigation and landscaping techniques also will boost water demands.
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https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/suburban_sprawl_could_destroy.html
Governor O’Malley announces funding for Bicycle Safety Education in City of Baltimore
[Another a bit old piece of news]
August 7, 2012
Baltimore Department of Transportation Joins Forces with Bike Maryland to Spread Awareness of Bicycling Safety
Baltimore, MD – Supporting safe bicycle access throughout the state, Governor Martin O’Malley today announces $44,500 as funding support for the City of Baltimore’s Bicycle Safety Education Program. The Department of Transportation will partner with Bike Maryland’s “Bike Minded Program” to communicate safety awareness throughout the city.
“Whether for tourism, recreation, exercise or commuting, our message is that Maryland roadways welcome bicyclists,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “Our State is evolving to include bicycling as a more environmentally beneficial and healthy way of commuting, and to continue those efforts we need bicyclists and drivers to know and follow the basic rules of the road for everyone’s safety.”
The project includes updating, publishing and distributing “Bike Baltimore” maps, which will be available in English and Spanish, hosting workshops on bicycle safety, and organizing outreach by law enforcement. These efforts will not only communicate safety rules to cyclists, but will also alert motorists to the need to drive with caution and share the road. The City of Baltimore will contribute the remaining funding for the $96,800 project.
“Year after year, Baltimore is becoming a more bike friendly city,” said Baltimore Mayor Rawlings-Blake. “We are grateful for Governor O’Malley’s continued support of our efforts to increase bicycle use and safety, which supports our goal of making Baltimore a more attractive city for families.”
Over the past two years, Baltimore has seen a 40 percent increase in the number of bike commuters. The opening of five new bike shops in the past four years also signals the growth in bicycling popularity. With Charm City Bikeshare scheduled to launch in September 2012 and the Jones Falls Trail opening in 2013, Baltimore can expect even more cyclists on local roads.
The Bicycle Safety Education Program enhancements are funded through the Transportation Enhancement Program (TEP), which funds non-traditional, community-based transportation-related projects. This year Maryland awarded six TEP projects totaling more than $4.1 million. The Governor determines which projects qualify for funding based on need and potential benefit to the public. The Maryland Department of Transportation’s State Highway Administration oversees the federal program, which has awarded more than $206 million for 270 projects in Maryland since the TEP program began in 1991.
Continue reading “Governor O’Malley announces funding for Bicycle Safety Education in City of Baltimore”
Free-Range Parenting Fails of 2012
One of the reasons why I promote bicycling… so it becomes normal for people to be outside, including kids. Sample heading from the article "Officer, hurry! Some children are playing!"
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/lenore-skenazy/free-range-parenting-2012_b_2375456.html
Public Transit is Boring. Why Not Make It Fun?
From Deron Lovaas’s Blog
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Unfortunately, it’s generally hard to describe taking transit as "fun." As a co-worker says, a big reason to ride it is that traffic is even less enjoyable. But why shouldn’t transit riders get a kick out of the experience?
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Nordahl says auto designers "get" this, since their job is to "guarantee cars remain cool, chic and fun for the masses." I see this in my new car, which looks gorgeous on the outside while inside I get seat-warmers, satellite radio, GPS, a hookup for my iPod, settings for fuel-sipping "ecodrive" or a boost of speed for passing, and other features that make it fun to drive.
Transit should be such fun, so we feel attached to it emotionally as well as rationally. Now, to be clear as Nordahl is at the outset, you can’t have "fun" without "funding." Transit needs, and deserves, more investment from municipalities, states and the feds. While money is necessary, however, it’s not sufficient for transit to compete. And Nordahl points out that design can help with funding since "public transit alternatives that truly excite the public…tug our heartstrings while loosening our pursestrings."
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The bottom line? It’s high time we made public transportation as fun as driving.
https://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/dlovaas/transit_is_boring.html