Concord Monitor:
Editorial: The road to safe bicycling in the city
My Turn: Downtown parking not good for cyclists
My Turn: Not too late to 'change' the change on Main Street
WHNH FM:
Ivy Vann and Arnie Arnesen talk about RaisingNH.org: Building Loveable Places, a September 26th, 2015 conference in Peterborough on the Friday Edition of "The Attitude" at Noon to 1pm, 7/17/15 on WHNH FM 94.7 in Concord, NH
Listen to my conversation with Arnie Arnesen in the first half of the Friday Edition of "The Attitude" at Noon to 1pm, 7/10/15 on WHNH FM 94.7 in Concord, NH
Letter to Council:
Angle markings for parking paint 7/8/15. The contractor for the Concord Main Street Complete Streets Improvement Project has applied the final coating of pavement and is preparing to paint markings for parking on the street. I was compelled to write the following letter to my City Council member early Tuesday morning. I cc'd the Mayor, the At Large Councilors as well as the rest of City Council.Jan McClure and I have spoken at length regarding the Complete Streets promise that was made to the community and she has shown leadership on this issue.
Not one response was offered to my letter to our City Leadership. Not even an acknowledgement from anyone on City Council. Will they address this safety issue or sit on their hands? To fulfil the promise we were made for a Complete Streets Implementation on Main Street the Council must act at their Monday July 13th, 2015 meeting. We should not have to wait until someone is injured before this is addressed!
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| The WRONG Angle 7/9/15 Painted! |
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| Thermal Plastic Paint Vehicles 7/9/15. |
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| 1924 State House |
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| 15 - 23 South Main Street (now Capitol Commons) in 1920s |
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Subject: Head Out Angle Parking - The Safest Parking! Council Should Act Now for Complete Streets and "Stay" the Painting Of Angle Parking!
Date: Tue, 07 Jul 2015 00:53:13 -0400Dear Jan McClure, Concord, NH City Councilor,
As you know the $4.71M TIGER Grant was awarded to Concord, NH to
provide a Complete Streets implementation on Main Street. The name
of the project itself confirms this. Complete Streets is about
providing access to all transportation modes for users of all ages
and abilities. This week of July 6th, 2015 the project is wrapping
up the first 1/4 phase and with that the paint for angle parking is
about to be placed with thermal plastic on new asphalt. There is an
opportunity for Council to implement the safest angle parking, Head
Out, and fulfill the promise to the community for a Complete Streets
implementation, or not. Council must act if we are to achieve the
promise of the TIGER Grant and the Application for the Grant.
In the many conversations I have had in the last few weeks there
seems to be an acknowledgement that, yes, parking Head Out could be
a challenge, but that it would be worth the effort for the
community. The conversation I had Today at 8am at the Post Office
with a 72 year old woman exemplifies the opportunity. She was
encouraged by the possibility that the safer Head-Out parking could
be implemented on Main Street. She cycles in Florida but not here -
in part for a lack of local bicycle but also because of the
infrastructure. She asked what she could do and I asked her to
contact her Councilor, the Mayor and the At-Large Councilors. She
said she would.
To visualize what can occur with people focused Complete Streets
implementation to a car centric culture please take a look at
Commonwealth Avenue in Charlotte, NC. at
http://cyclemainstreet.blogspot.com/2015/07/charlotte-nc-transformational-parking.html
. The visual transformation is striking and illustrates how a
restaurant replaced a parking lot with outdoor seating and how Head
Out angle parking and other Complete Streets elements impacts
livability on a street. A list of communities exploring and
implementing Head Out, the safest angle parking is available at
http://cyclemainstreet.blogspot.com/2015/06/references-and-communities-head-out.html
At the July 6th, 2015 TPAC-Bike-Ped sub-committee meeting Yesterday
we discussed the possibility of painting the parking stripes on Main
Street for Head Out angle parking. The consensus of the
sub-committee seemed to be that Head-Out or Back-In parking is the
safest options and that Council should give this consideration.
Given the schedule for the paint to go down this week as early as
perhaps Wednesday or Thursday it was not clear how a "Stay" could
occur such that HEAD-IN (BACK-OUT) angle parking is NOT implemented
by painting the parking stripes in the WRONG direction.
The suggestion from the Chair of TPAC (Dick Lemieux) was that City
Council could refer the issue, not to TPAC, but instead to
Engineering. The reasons for this are twofold: TPAC has already
endorsed Head Out (Back In) angle parking and there is little need
to revisit that point; By referring this to Engineering the best
practices can be addressed directly and with better timing, given
the planned painting this week.
Are there actions that can be taken to "Stay" the painting of
parking lines until Council can act? Let us work together to see if
we can Stay this!
If this change can be implemented now, I am confident the benefits
to the community will be profoundly positive in the near future!
There is considerable evidence that Complete Streets, safety and
cyclist wallets are no small matter. See:
http://cyclemainstreet.blogspot.com/2013/05/a-concord-main-street-for-21st-century.html
This is a golden opportunity to put Concord, NH on the world map as
a place with forward looking vision for the 21st Century; A place
people will want to travel to, explore and even call home. This one
simple implementation of the safest angle parking [is] a golden ring and
we should grasp it now! Future generations are counting on us.
If you would like to have a conversation regarding this I should be
at home Tomorrow afternoon.
Thank you for your efforts and consideration on this important
issue,
Robert
The opinions expressed in this email are my own and do not
reflect endorsement by TPAC-Bike-Ped to which I am a member.
-- Robert Baker Concord, NH Transportation cycling advocate and Editor of: http://cyclemainstreet.blogspot.com http://mainstreetparking.blogspot.com/ “When people ride bikes, great things happen.” ~ Tim Blumenthal
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Head Out Angle Parking - it is not a new concept in Concord
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| Back-in angle parking in the 1920 at the State House and where Capitol Commons is Today |