Special thanks to Asheville on Bikes for bringing
focus to the AVL Riverfront during its 2014 Strive Not To Drive Community
Leadership Ride… below you can read the 14 point recommendations made by
Transit guru, Gil Penalosa, on how St. Paul (substitute Asheville NC) can join
the ranks of Paris, Vancouver and Melbourne, Australia, as one of the world's
top cities!
14. Make St. Paul great
for 8- and 80-year-olds
The young and the old -- along with the poor --
are the "indicator species" in an urban environment because they are
the most vulnerable. Redesign our city to keep them safe, healthy and happy,
and we'll have a place that works well for everyone.
13. Develop a sense of
urgency to make Things better
One of the Twin Cities' biggest problems,
Penalosa pointed out, is that things have been pretty good here for a long
time. That spawns complacency, which is a serious hindrance in a highly
competitive age where change happens fast.
12. Put pedestrians
first
"Walking adds the spice to a city, and we
don't like a spice-less city any more than we like pasta without sauce."
Every trip begins and ends with walking -- we are all pedestrians.
11. Make biking and
walking utterly normal
"We need to think of walking and biking as a
basic human right," which should be safe, easy and pleasurable for
everyone. Start by lowering traffic speeds, giving walkers/bikers a 5-second
head start at traffic lights and building crosswalks with "safety
islands" in the middle of the street. Let more people bike by building a
network of protected bikeways, separated from auto traffic.
10. No traffic deaths
by 2025
"In the U.S., 100,000 people are hit by cars
every year and 4,000 die." For too long traffic deaths of all kinds have
been accepted as inevitable, but now Chicago and New York City are leading the
push for zero deaths by taking serious steps to make streets safer.
9. Remember that
planning for transportation and land use are the same thing
"Plan a city around cars and you get more
cars. Plan a city around people and you get more health and happiness."
8. Focus on making St.
Paul great in everything you do
The world's leading authorities on St. Paul are
the people who live here -- local leaders should draw upon their expertise
about how to make the city great in everything that happens around town.
"But remember if you wait for 100 percent approval, you'll never get
anything done," Penalosa reminds.
7. Embrace winter
But don't use it an excuse for why things can't
be better. "You have 15 horrible days a year and another 30 that are
pretty bad. But you have 200 good days. Plan to make the most of those days and
the bad days won't be so bad."
6. Become more inclusive
Penalosa admitted that after a number of visits
to the Twin Cities, he sometimes thinks he's in Scandinavia. "Every one is
blond and blue-eyed at some of the meetings. Then I go to Central High School
or the Lake Street light rail station and I see many blacks and other visible
minorities." It's crucial that more people are involved in the
conversation about making a better future, he says.
5. Attract the
Millennial Generation
Penalosa warned that our future is in peril
because more Millennials are leaving the Twin Cities than are coming here.
"A great city needs to attract and keep the best young people -- the best
doctors, the best carpenters, the best musicians, the best in all fields. You
should wake up every day thinking up ways to do that." He noted that
building more highways and shopping malls will not do the job -- this
generation is far less likely to have drivers' licenses or own cars than
previous ones.
4. Keep Baby Boomers
here
Older adults today are healthier, wealthier, and
better educated than at any time in history, and have much to offer our
communities. But we must take their needs into account in designing our
cities. "Not everyone is 30 and athletic."
3. Shift your
aspirations from "good enough" to great
The cities that will lead the world in the future
are not making small plans today. "Copenhagen has 38 percent bicyclists
but are aiming for 50 percent. Seoul, Korea, covered up a river to build a
double-deck freeway but then tore it down to create a park. Vancouver vows to
the be world's most sustainable city -- not the best in Canada, or in North
America but in the world."
2. Compare yourself to
the world's best
It's not outlandish that St. Paul and Minneapolis
could be seen as two of the great cities around the globe. "Transformation
often happens very fast. Thirty years ago no one would have ranked Melbourne,
Australia, as one of the top 400 cities in the world," Penalosa explains.
"Even the local newspaper described its downtown as an 'empty, useless
city center.' Now many of us think it's one of the top four or five
cities." What happened? A concerted effort across the community to enliven
the downtown, add more parks and more public spaces.
1. Tackle a big goal
Mayor Coleman is taking Penalosa's advice to
heart. For too long we've thought of ourselves as "pretty darn good
here," Coleman says -- it's time to make a bolder statement about who we
are and where we are going.
