Matthew,
Thank you for your reply and support. In the many discussions I've had with different groups and leaders about this topic, the DOH control of city streets seems always to come up as a concern. We're aware of that one in particular and sensitive to permits only being granted for 2-3 hour spans for state controlled streets and roads. I believe it's feasible to accommodate routes that are managed by the city and extend timeframes for an event well beyond a 2-3 hour window.
Additionally, the Atlanta Streets Alive events that I referenced is a good example of community unity where different neighborhoods host the event in rotation. In other words, we might approach the neighborhood associations of neighborhoods adjacent to downtown to hold events on their streets and would likely have less restrictions than with the DOH example for downtown streets. That said, I am volunteering myself to be work with DOH to establish routes that would take over state controlled streets.
If there is an upcoming Pedestrian Safety board meeting we could use 15 mins to discuss this with the board and public, that would be wonderful. I've also received a similar invitation by the Health and Wellness Commission on Aug 13 which I plan to attend and present.
Ella,
Thank you! I love this idea as anchors for a route. I'm compiling some notes and responses today around the overall open streets proposal, and would like to reach out for more details if you have time. We may be able to combine this with similar feedback received for specific pedestrian route proposals that are being drafted.
Sincerely,
Jesse
(404) 314-9787
On Mon, Jul 30, 2018 at 9:25 AM, Ella Belling ella@montrails.org wrote:
I will just throw out a possible date and event-
International PARK(ing) Day
When:September 21, 2018 Location:worldwide Around the globe, people are celebrating the international PARK(ing) Day, an initiative to promote re-thinking of public space. It always takes place the 3rd friday of september. The idea is to transform parking lots into parks, playgrounds, BBQ parties, gardens...Grey parking places are beeing transformed into a liveable and creative space.
Ella Belling Executive Director Mon River Trails Conservancy P.O. Box 282 Morgantown, WV 26507 http://montrails.org 304-692-6782
On Jul 30, 2018, at 1:56 AM, matthew crossnyc@hotmail.com wrote:
Greetings, Matthew Cross of the Morgantown Pedestrian Safety Board here. Thank you Jesse for volunteering towards this effort. With attempts in the past the biggest hurdle is WVDOH control of the primary downtown streets. They have been reluctant to close off vehicular traffic. But we can come up with another attempt or different plans entirely as we have some great creative minds to work with. I have a flexible schedule so just let me know of any meeting plans. The Ped Board could also host you at one of our meetings to get things started.
*From:* Jesse Heady jesse@heady.name *Sent:* Friday, July 27, 2018 10:16 AM *To:* traci.knabenshue@mail.wvu.edu; Vicki.Hoover@mail.wvu.edu; clement.solomon@mail.wvu.edu; mwiles@boparc.org; ella@montrails.org; kellyrwilliams@msn.com; jessicaharmening@gmail.com; cabildso@yahoo.com; Stanley.Cohen@mail.wvu.edu; frn@unitedwaympc.org; daniel.shook@hsc.wvu.edu ; crossnyc@hotmail.com; billregernash@gmail.com; wellwvu@mail.wvu.edu; barb@downtownmorgantown.com *Cc:* Jonathan Rosenbaum; Drew Gatlin; J.D. Gatlin; rwallace@morgantownwv. gov; Bill; Bicycle Board *Subject:* Help bring Open Streets festivals to Morgantown
Hello,
I’ve recently met with the Morgantown Bicycle Board at their July 12 meeting regarding promotion and advocacy for Open Streets style of events in and around the Morgantown area. We had a very positive discussion about the potential we have in Morgantown for recurring events focused on bicycle and other pedestrian traffic in downtown and surrounding neighborhood streets. We also covered a number of previous discussions and individuals who have been instrumental to bringing this topic up in the past and understand this is not a new concept, and would like to work together to build a broader coalition.
I've been collaborating with Jonathan Rosenbaum of Positive Spin in the interim and your name or your group has come up as a potential partner and advocate for a broader coalition in the Morgantown area. We need your help to build support and organize a formal working group to bring an Open Streets event series to Morgantown and surrounding neighborhoods.
We have a very vibrant, strong, and growing community in Morgantown. Open street style events have the potential be great attractions for local and regional participants of every age group and interest for all pedestrian traffic on open streets. They also reinforce other working group efforts to bring unity between communities through arts, small business, and community collaboration while highlighting individual neighborhoods and commerce downtown.
These points are the focus for discussion with you and/or your group at your next regular meeting, or a time where we can all meet to discuss as a group:
- Develop a plan for community-based, organized and executed bicycle
and foot traffic public events mirroring larger city events like Atlanta Streets Alive and Open Streets Pittsburgh to include:
encourages pedestrian foot traffic, bicycling, and skating with vendors and businesses on city streets and neighborhoods
- Daytime, multi-part community rotating street festival that
interaction, connection of neighborhoods, artistic expression and movement, and light-based decoration of bicycles and other creative lanterns or devices -- rail trail is an obvious and non-intrusive option
- Evening time pedestrian course with emphasis on community
http://www.atlantastreetsalive.com/, Atlanta Moon Ride http://atlantamoonride.com/, and OpenStreetsPGH http://openstreetspgh.org/
- Examples of inspiration: Atlanta Streets Alive
http://openstreetsproject.org/
- Project framework: Open Streets Project
- Develop strategies to over come challenges in permitting/budget
and other area, align to existing events and working groups, sponsorships through leading entities in our region, promotion and advocacy partnerships, and understand how and what is possible to achieve these events on a regular cadence
In the examples linked above, these types of events are proven to draw crowds and attention, and bring interconnected communities closer together. Now is the time for Morgantown to adopt more of these events, to compliment and expand upon the success of events such as Kids Day downtown. Events like these also reinforce the positive message of being green through cycling, reinforcing pedestrian traffic in high volume vehicle areas, and highlight the need for pedestrian safety in a positive and interactive setting. This last point is especially important given deadly accidents involving pedestrians in the last couple of years in Morgantown.
We are working to carry the same message to other board meeting(s), groups, and leaders to solicit a broader coalition of stakeholders. I'm offering my time as a volunteer citizen interested in reinforcing positive and deliberate progress for this and other initiatives in Morgantown through organization, advocacy, writing, web development, and any other way I can be of service. I hope we can count on your own passion and advocacy to join our initiative to make this vision a reality for Morgantown.
I also ask that you please freely share this message with your colleagues as we work to further expand education, understanding, and support for this initiative. There may be individuals or groups that were missed in this initial phase of communication; this was not intentional and we want to ensure every group who wants to contribute, or who may be an invaluable partner, to know they are welcome and encouraged to participate.
Thank you! I very much appreciate your time and attention to these items in this unsolicited and lengthy email, and I very much look forward to your feedback, and meeting with you to organize and bring this shared vision to a reality. Our next steps are scheduling time to meet and discuss the items above in more detail. Thank you in advance for your reply with your availability to meet.
Sincerely,
Jesse Heady
jesse@heady.name (404) 314-9787