26
\nNovember 2009<\/p>\n
\n
Report Prepared \nMike McQuestion, co-Chair, Sustainability Initiative \nPhil Spevak, President (pjspevak@gmail.com<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/span>)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \n \nRoland Park Civic League<\/p>\n \n Background<\/span><\/p>\n Through its Sunday Sunday Streets<\/i> The City’s City planners Supporters of On October 25, 2009, \n <\/p>\n Planning The Sunday Roland Park proposed In August 2009, RPCL At RPCL’s Reasons for the Dr. Spevak and Mr. The City permit RPCL volunteered to As it turned out, On 12 October, Dr. In the final two Councilwoman The permit was faxed \n Publicity<\/span><\/p>\n For four weeks prior Invitations to join On 28 September, Mr. \n The By 7AM on the The City No Parking By 9AM people were At 1PM the DoT team \n The At RPCL’s Reaction elsewhere It was clear that Determining the Research to date Outside funding and, As a next step in Looking forward to a \nReferences<\/p>\n \n Berkey CS, Rockett Hoehner C, Ramirez Journal of Sarmiento, Olga, \n \n oldId.20091130080841777<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 26 November 2009 Report on the 25 October 2009 Roland Avenue Sunday Streets pilot Prepared by Mike McQuestion, co-Chair, Sustainability Initiative (mike.mcquestion@gmail.com) Phil Spevak, President (pjspevak@gmail.com) Roland Park Civic League Background Through its Sunday Streets Program, the City of Baltimore proposes to close off selected streets to motorized traffic during Sunday mornings, making them available … <\/p>\n
\non the 25 October 2009 Roland Avenue <\/span>Sunday
\nStreets<\/i><\/span> pilot<\/span><\/p>\n
\nby<\/p>\n
\n(mike.mcquestion@gmail.com<\/span><\/span><\/a>)\n<\/p>\n
\nStreets Program<\/i>, the City of Baltimore proposes to close off
\nselected streets to motorized traffic during Sunday mornings, making
\nthem available for recreational use. Sunday Streets<\/i> is modeled
\non Bogota, Colombia’s ciclovia<\/span>.
\nEvery Sunday, from 8AM until 1PM, a network of normally busy Bogota
\nstreets is closed to motorists, allowing up to 1.7m residents to
\ntraverse the city on bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards or on foot.
\nBogota’s ciclovia<\/i> has operated weekly since the early
\n1980s, providing residents in 70% of the city’s neighborhoods
\nwith easily accessible recreational opportunities. The idea is
\ncatching on. European examples include Copenhagen and Paris. In
\nSwitzerland’s
\nSlow Up<\/a><\/span><\/span> Program, 35-50km segments of particularly
\nscenic roads are closed on consecutive Sundays during the summer
\nmonths for pedestrians, skaters and cyclists to use. At this
\nwriting, 38 cities in eleven countries have organized ciclovias<\/i>.
\n Routes range from 1 to 121 km in length. Duration of ciclovia<\/i>
\nevents ranges from 2 to 12 hours. The number of events ranges from 18
\nto 64 per year. Annual budgets range from US$45k to US$2.08m. In
\nSeattle WA, Cambridge MA, San Francisco CA and El Paso TX, ciclovias<\/i>
\nhappen at least every month during the cycling season. Ciclovia<\/i>
\nprograms are credited with improving physical fitness, engaging young
\npeople in constructive social activities and increasing neighborhood
\ncohesiveness (Sarmiento
\net al 2008<\/a><\/span><\/span>).\n<\/p>\n
\nis an integral part of Baltimore’s
\n2009 Sustainability Plan<\/a><\/span><\/span>.\n<\/p>\n
\nstreet network is particularly conducive to Sunday Streets.<\/i>
\n(For more on this, see Baltimore’s 2006
\nMaster Bicycle Plan<\/a><\/span><\/span>.\n<\/p>\n
\nprepared a detailed Sunday Streets<\/i> implementation plan nearly
\nthree years ago. The plan identifies specific streets and outlines
\nlogistic and security procedures for the Police and Transportation
\nDepartment to follow. However, it has never been implemented,
\nostensibly for budgetary reasons.<\/p>\n
\nBaltimore’s Sunday Streets Program<\/i> include the local
\nbicycling advocacy group One
\nLess Car<\/a><\/span><\/span>. In 2008, One Less Car developed a 5-mile
\nSunday Streets<\/i> pilot route which runs from Lake Montebello to
\nDruid Hill Park along 33rd<\/sup> Street. This “lake-to-lake<\/a><\/span><\/span>”
\npilot, proposed for August 2008, was not implemented, again for
\nbudgetary reasons (see below).<\/p>\n
\na modest, one-mile long Sunday Streets<\/i> pilot was carried out
\nsuccessfully on Roland Avenue, sponsored by the Roland
\nPark Civic League<\/a><\/span><\/span>. Details of that experience are
\ndescribed below. Most notably, the activity was successfully executed
\nfrom plan to completion in 8 weeks.\n<\/p>\n
\nthe Roland Park <\/span>Sunday
\nStreets<\/i><\/span> pilot<\/span><\/p>\n
\nStreets<\/i> pilot was conceived as a component of the RPCL‘s
\n2009-10
\nSustainability Initiative<\/a><\/span><\/span>. The Initiative aims to
\neducate residents about energy conservation, recycling, native
\necology and other aspects of environmentally sustainable lifestyles.
\nRoland Park is one of eight pilot neighborhoods participating in the
\nBaltimore
\nNeighborhood Energy Challenge<\/a><\/span><\/span> (BNEC). One day each
\nmonth the RPCL encourages residents to walk, ride bikes, use mass
\ntransit or carpool to school and work. RPCL sought to connect these
\nlocal efforts with the City’s Sunday Streets<\/i> initiative.<\/p>\n
\na Sunday Streets<\/i> pilot for three reasons. First, it made
\nsense- if even on a small scale- since the event would pull in a
\nwider audience that could then be motivated to take other
\nsustainability actions beyond the BNEC challenge. Second, the
\nsmall-scale pilot could be used to test whether a ciclovia<\/i>
\ncould be accomplished at a lower cost than had been previously
\nestimated by the City. Since the large City costs were for the
\npolice, the Civic League proposed that volunteers be used to
\nsupervise the route rather than paid City employees. Third, the
\nCivic League wanted to create a model that could be provided to other
\ncommunities that would want to organize their own event. The aim was
\nto prepare a “cookbook” of how to create a successful
\nevent, identifying problems encountered or mistakes made, and making
\nrecommendations so that other communities could avoid those same
\nroadblocks.\n<\/p>\n
\nPresident Phil Spevak and Sustainability co-Chairs Rita Walters and
\nMike McQuestion began planning Roland Park’s Sunday Streets<\/i>
\npilot event. Discussions with One Less Car led to the concept of
\njoining the proposed Roland Avenue pilot to the lake-to-lake route
\nvia University Parkway. This would involve neighborhoods in City
\nDistricts 6, 7 and 14.\n<\/p>\n
\nrequest, City Councilwomen Sharon Green Middleton (Dist. 6) and Mary
\nPat Clarke (Dist. 14) organized a planning meeting at City Hall. The
\nmeeting took place on 22 September 2009. Attending were twelve
\npersons, including City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke and her staff
\nperson Cindy Leahy; a representative of Councilwoman Middleton’s
\noffice (Ty Miller); three representatives of the Baltimore City
\nDepartment of Transportation (Nate Evans, Howard James, Sandra
\nButterfield); an officer from the Northern District of the Baltimore
\nPolice Department (Jon Walter); two representatives of the Office of
\nthe Mayor (Greg Hinchcliffe, Gary Letteron); the Executive Director
\nof the Knott Foundation (Greg Cantori, who is also a One Less Car
\nboard member); and RPCL (Phil Spevak, Mike McQuestion).\n<\/p>\n
\nfailure of the previously attempted lake-to-lake Sunday Streets<\/i>
\npilot were reviewed by Mr. Cantori. The principal reason was the
\nvery high cost of deploying dozens of City police and DoT workers
\nalong the proposed 5 mi. course. The original cost estimate was
\nabout $233,000 for four Sundays with the City providing $104k of that
\namount. Police-related expenses represented about two-thirds of the
\ncosts. In addition, local neighborhood organizations and
\nestablishments had not been engaged.<\/p>\n
\nMcQuestion then presented details of the proposed Roland Park Sunday
\nStreets<\/i> pilot event. While the original plan was to do it on
\nSaturday 24 October, it would be better, all agreed, to do the test
\non Sunday so as to minimize impacts on business. The proposed linkage
\nto 33rd<\/sup> Street was considered too ambitious by City
\nTransportation representatives. At their suggestion, it was further
\nagreed to close only the southbound side of Roland Avenue. The idea
\nof mobilizing local volunteers to help set up barriers and act as
\nsafety monitors, thereby reducing costs by reducing the number of
\npolice officers needed, was discussed but not endorsed. The group
\nagreed to explore whether traffic officers could be used in place of
\npolice officers as a means to reduce cost.<\/p>\n
\nstipulated that RPCL would not be selling food. Because the event
\nwould be short- from 8AM to 1PM- RPCL would not be obliged to arrange
\noutdoor toilets. Cindy Leahy of Councilwoman Clarkes’s office,
\nhad previously obtained an estimate of City costs: $4,293.50 to close
\nRoland Avenue from Northern Parkway south to Cold Spring Lane for
\nfive hours. The Police and DoT would handle the event using their
\nstandard procedures.<\/p>\n
\nundertake three additional actions. The first was to prepare a
\ndetailed traffic map, showing which intersections would be closed and
\nwhere motorists would be re-routed. The second action was to
\ncommunicate the street closing plan to all commercial establishments,
\nschools and churches along the route. Thirdly, RPCL would inform
\nhomeowners along the route and explain the implications of the street
\nclosure.\n<\/p>\n
\njust one institution, Roland Park Country School, objected to closing
\nsouthbound Roland Avenue. RPCL proposed, and the school accepted, a
\ncompromise that resulted in shortening the Sunday Streets<\/i>
\ncourse to the northernmost ingress to the RPCS campus, thereby
\npermitting cars to enter during the event. It was further agreed
\nthat the cars could leave together from a second egress, 100 yards
\nfurther to the south, late on Sunday morning. In the event, police
\nofficers escorted the cars to the corner of Roland and Deepdene
\nAvenues.\n<\/p>\n
\nSpevak and Mr. McQuestion met with Ms. Stephanie Yanovitz, Senior
\nTransportation Planner, Baltimore Metropolitan Council at the RPCL
\nOffice. Dr. Spevak and Ms. Yanovitz walked the Roland Avenue route
\nand discussed details of the event. Ms. Yanovitz subsequently
\nprepared a series of detailed maps of the proposed street closures
\nwhich RPCL provided to the City.<\/p>\n
\nweeks, the RPCL team was in frequent email and telephone contact. Two
\nconference calls were held to assure all contingencies were covered.
\nAttempts to engage City Police and DoT counterparts responsible for
\nstreet closings were not successful and there was confusion as to
\nwhich City officials to contact. The first City contact came on 16
\nOctober, when a DoT counterpart (Mr. Edward Lee) called Mr.
\nMcQuestion (whose name appears on the permit) to ask whether the
\nevent was still on. The following week, DoT officials surveyed
\nsouthbound Roland Avenue and placed temporary no parking signs along
\nthe route. Mr. McQuestion received two calls from the Baltimore
\nPolice Department Special Events Unit (Officer Alexis Brown) and
\nNorthern District Command (Maj. Ross Buzaro). Mr. McQuestion briefed
\neach counterpart. It became clear that the various City offices had
\nnot shared very much information about the event.\n<\/p>\n
\nMiddleton and her office solved this problem. On 21 October, a team
\nfrom the Baltimore Police Department (led by Lt. Milton Corbett), DoT
\n(Edward Lee) and RPCL President Phil Spevak walked the Roland Avenue
\nroute. Details of the police deployment were discussed. In the event,
\nfive police officers and six transit police officers would be
\ndeployed along with six DoT workers. Volunteers would be allowed to
\nparticipate, however Lt. Corbett stated that volunteers could not be
\nentrusted to maintain public safety.<\/p>\n
\nto Mr. McQuestion on Friday, 23 October. This short lead time is
\nnormal procedure, explained Cindy Leahy who had kindly followed up
\nthe permitting process on behalf of RPCL.\n<\/p>\n
\nto the event, the RPCL informed Roland Park residents about Sunday
\nStreets<\/i> (and other sustainability-related events planned for the
\n23-25 October weekend) through announcement and information on the
\nRPCL website. RPCL emailed press
\nreleases<\/a><\/span><\/span> on 30 September, 7 October and 19 October.
\nThe Baltimore Messenger<\/span> ran
\na story on 10 October announcing “Seven Generations Weekend”.
\nVolunteers dropped informational flyers door-to-door in each of the
\nsix Roland Park plats (n=1100 households).\n<\/p>\n
\nthe Sunday Streets<\/i> event were emailed to some twenty adjacent
\nneighborhood associations. Of these, follow-up telephone contacts
\nwere made with five: Wyndhurst Improvement Association, Chatham
\nNeighborhood Association, Mt. Washington Improvement Association,
\nNorth Roland Park Improvement Association, Greater Homewood Community
\nCorporation. Announcements were uploaded to the One Less Car,
\nBaltimore BikePed Beacon and Baltimore Bicycling Club blogs. The BBC
\nsubsequently organized two rides that passed through the Sunday
\nStreets<\/i> event. A password-protected workspace<\/a><\/span><\/span>
\nwas set up to help coordinate the action.\n<\/p>\n
\nMcQuestion received a call from the Mayor’s Office of Marketing
\nand Public Relations (Ms. Kimberly Manns), enquiring about the Sunday
\nStreets<\/i> event. There was no further contact with the Mayor’s
\nOffice following this telephone briefing.\n<\/p>\n
\nevent<\/span><\/p>\n
\nmorning of 25 October, the DoT team had distributed signs, barriers
\nand cones at each intersection along the route. By 8AM, the DoT team
\nhad blocked the intersections. A DoT spokesperson (Nate Evans) set up
\na table in front of the Roland Park Library displaying a map of the
\nfull Baltimore Sunday Streets plan, a signup sheet and a traffic
\ncounter. Four police officers and six transportation officers were
\ndeployed to guide northbound and cross-street traffic, particularly
\nat the intersections of Cold Spring, Wyndhurst, Deepdene and Northern
\nParkway. The DoT workers were not similarly deployed.\n<\/p>\n
\nsigns stated that parked cars would be towed that morning. RPCL
\nvolunteers observed about a dozen cars parked along southbound Roland
\nAvenue at 7AM. They knocked on doors to inform residents to move
\ntheir cars. All but four were at home and did so. Discussion with
\nthe commanding police officer (Sgt. Smith) determined that the four
\nremaining cars posed no real obstacle and that no towing would be
\nneeded.\n<\/p>\n
\nbeginning to fill southbound Roland Avenue. By prior arrangement,
\ntwo local bike shops (Princeton Sports, Joes Bike Shop) had set up
\nrepair stands along the course. On hand were City Councilwoman Mary
\nPart Clarke and Mr. Frank Pratka, a leader on a neighborhood
\nassociation near Lake Montebello. The crowd peaked at approximately
\n11:00 to noon. Discussions with the police officers revealed that all
\nwere enjoying the experience, including the officers. (For a more
\ndetailed account see:
\nhttps:\/\/rolandpark.org\/SevenGenWeekend<\/span><\/span><\/span>.)<\/p>\n
\nbegan collecting the barriers. Southbound Roland was reopened to
\nthrough traffic at about 1:30PM.\n<\/p>\n
\nway forward<\/span><\/p>\n
\nrequest, the lead DoT official (Edward Lee) and Police Dept.
\ncommander (Sgt. Smith) met at 1PM with Dr. Spevak and Mr. McQuestion
\nto review the morning’s experience and formulate
\nrecommendations for subsequent Sunday Streets<\/i> events. All
\nagreed the event was an unqualified success. The turnout was
\noutstanding, the community’s response was enthusiastic. A DoT
\nofficial (Nate Evans) later estimated that at least one thousand
\npeople participated. The event pulled participants from many
\ncommunities beyond Roland Park, manifesting the tremendous potential
\nsupport for a wider event. No injuries or untoward incidents
\noccurred. Only a few motorists expressed dismay at being
\ninconvenienced. It was apparent that volunteers could have replaced
\nmany of the City workers.\n<\/p>\n
\nin the City was positive. The Roland Park Sunday Streets<\/i> pilot
\nwas amply covered by local television, newspapers and blogs. At this
\nwriting, City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke is preparing to introduce
\na resolution calling on the Mayor’s Office to implement Sunday
\nStreets<\/i> Citywide.<\/p>\n
\nthere were some real limitations or problems in the event and its
\nplanning. First, the pilot plan failed to achieve its goal of using
\nvolunteers in route supervision though there was agreement after the
\nevent that, with proper training, volunteers could have been used.
\nSecond, it was difficult at the outset to identify the responsible
\nCity counterparts with whom to communicate. Only the direct
\ninvolvement of a City Council representative solved this problem.
\nThird, the cost remained prohibitively high. RPCL managed, through
\ndiscussion with the City, to reduce the cost from the prior City
\nestimate of $11,650\/mile to $4300\/mile. However, the expense remained
\nunreasonably high due to the requirement that paid City employees be
\nused where they were not needed. By RPCL estimates, effectively and
\nsafely using volunteers would have reduced the cost of the event to
\n$1500-2000\/mile. Fourth, RPCL did not allow sufficient time to plan
\nthe event. More lead time would have permitted better communication
\nwith businesses and schools and churches. They, in turn, might have
\nmade better accommodations and participated more actively in the
\nevent. Fourth, by having the event on Sunday, after having the other
\nsustainability events on Saturday, some necessary motor vehicle use
\n(eg, transporting the elderly and infirmed), may have been hindered.
\nIn the future, all events should take place on a single weekend day,
\nthus allowing individuals who need to drive to do so on the other
\nday.<\/p>\n
\nproper ratio of City officials to local volunteers will be an
\nempirical problem to be solved literally block by block, neighborhood
\nby neighborhood. On this stretch of Roland Avenue the ideal,
\nsustainable ratio might be 2-3 police and transportation police
\nofficers and 1-2 DoT workers to, say, 10-20 volunteers. Volunteers,
\nall agreed, could guard each intersection, explain options to
\nmotorists and erect and take down the traffic barriers. But the ratio
\nwould still need to be worked out separately for other segments of
\nfuture Sunday Streets<\/i> events.\n<\/p>\n
\nshows that only a few US Cities have figured out how to sustainably
\nfund Sunday ciclovias<\/span>.
\n(Among them are El Paso, TX and San Francisco, CA.) Baltimore may be
\nable to secure interim federal funding for Sunday Streets. In early
\nOctober, Mr. Cantori circulated an announcement from US CDC
\nrequesting proposals from states and cities for new obesity control
\nfunding (“Communities putting prevention to work”). The
\nproposed grant would complement the Baltimore City Health
\nDepartment’s “Blueprint
\nfor Healthy Outcomes in Children: Addressing Childhood Obesity<\/a><\/span><\/span>”,
\nan action plan to reduce childhood obesity in Baltimore. Sunday
\nStreets<\/i> would be a robust obesity-reduction strategy for children
\nand adults (Berkey et al 2003; Hoehner, Ramirez and Elliott 2005;
\nJournal of Adolescent Health 2009). A working group was quickly
\nformed with the City Health Department taking the lead. A conference
\ncall took place on 6 October and an online workspace has since been
\nconstructed (https:\/\/www.BaltimorePrevention.org<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span>).
\n RPCL is one of the collaborating agencies on this proposal. Besides
\nfederal funding, local businesses may be willing to sponsor Sunday
\nStreets<\/i>.\n<\/p>\n
\neventually, regular City funding, may be necessary conditions for
\nSunday Streets<\/i> to succeed. Sustained success will also require
\nbuilding Sunday Streets<\/i> from the ground up. Other neighborhood
\norganizations must be mobilized to take the responsibility to inform
\ntheir communities, organize volunteers and maintain liaison with City
\nofficials. A second issue is the official permitting procedure. Will
\neach neighborhood organization have to secure a permit or can the
\nCity dispense with the permit process altogether? The latter seems
\npreferable considering that Sunday Streets<\/i> is expected to be a
\nroutine, weekly occurrence. Finally, in some “low-crime areas”
\nthe City should consider using already assigned and working police
\nofficers to cover the route rather than hiring extra officer at
\novertime rates.<\/p>\n
\nthe development process, RPCL and One Less Car propose working
\ntogether to produce a Roland Ave + Lake-to-Lake Sunday Streets<\/i>
\nevent. The RPCL segment will run south on Roland Avenue from Lake
\nStreet to University Parkway, to 33rd<\/sup> Street where the two
\ncourses will join. RPCL and One Less Car will work through
\nCouncilwomen Middleton, Clarke and Conaway to plan the event. They
\nwill contact each neighborhood association along the proposed route
\nand elicit their active involvement. The tentative date will be Earth
\nDay, Sunday, 18 April 2010. RPCL will coordinate volunteer
\nrecruitment and training for this event. The current report is being
\ndistributed to all key contacts who participated in the 25 October
\nSunday Streets<\/i> pilot event. It should be made available to any
\nneighborhood group that wishes to participate in future Sunday
\nStreets<\/i> events.\n<\/p>\n
\nwider, Citywide Sunday Streets<\/i> event, one important question
\nremains: Who will take leadership?\n<\/p>\n
\nHR, Gillman MW, Colditz GA. 2003. One-year changes in activity and in
\ninactivity among 10- to 15-year-old boys and girls: relationship to
\nchange in body mass index. Pediatrics. 2003 Apr;111(4 Pt 1):836-43.<\/p>\n
\nL, Elliott M, et al. 2005. Perceived and Objective Environmental
\nMeasures and Physical Activity Among Urban Adults. American Journal
\nof Preventive Medicine, 28(2): 105–116.<\/p>\n
\nAdolescent Health. 2009. Adolescent Obesity: Towards Evidence-Based
\nPolicy and Environmental Solutions Journal of Adolescent Health 45
\n(2009) S1–S5.<\/p>\n
\nAndrea Torres, Enrique Jacoby, Michael Pratt, Thomas Schmid and
\nGonzalo Stierling. 2008. The Ciclovía-recreativa: a mass
\nrecreational program with public health potential. Unpublished
\nmanuscript. Available from:
\nhttps:\/\/new.paho.org\/hq\/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1435&Itemid=259<\/a><\/span><\/span>.<\/p>\n