National Park Service reps from NO & Atlanta to meet with ABS on Greenways plan Tues, July 21, 9:30 am

Shreveport's Gilbert St waterway
Originally uploaded by trudeau

From Loren Demerath . . .
Hello All,

First, let me announce that Stacye Payne and Bill Lane of the National Park Service will be coming in from New Orleans and Atlanta, respectively, to meet with us about the Greenways plan on Tuesday. We'll meet at 9:30, after our regular meeting at 8:20. Anyone who'd like to attend is welcome.

Thanks to all who met this past Tuesday. In attendance: Jamie Johnson-Eddie, Mark Goadrich, Maurice Loridans, Feico Kempff, Ford Bevens, Robert Trudeau, and Loren Demerath.

The group continued it's work on submitting to the city a request for a committee to oversee the implementation of a bike-ped action plan, first by reviewing materials compiled by Jamie. Jamie distributed handouts printed from the League of American Bycyclists and Bicycling Info.org that showed ways of measuring and improving the degree to which bicycling and walking is encouraged in a community. A variety of cities--large to small--were rated. We discussed the materials and noted that in the course of reviewing them one can see there are questions we need to answer as a group, such as what we want the city to look like in 20 years, what we want our goals to be, is there a way to grow a network of bike routes. Maurice talked a bit about the debate over lanes, and the history of our bike trail in Shreveport, designed by Tim Wachtel, and how Tim has extended it in recent plans. We also discussed how the grassy area between Preston and bike trail is the goat head thorn zone where many a flat has occurred. Maurice said that Tim has said that if he can get funding he'll put in a path from Preston to the bike path. All agreed it was needed.

Returning to the discussion of the materials that can help with bike-ped action plans, we noted that sample action plans have good things to put in our request letter. One example is the League of Bicyclists' action plan.

Jamie encouraged everyone to look at the application to the League of Bicyclists' "Bicycle Friendly Community Program". To quote from the website: "The Bicycle Friendly Community Program provides incentives, hands-on assistance, and award recognition for communities that actively support bicycling." The audit asks questions that can help us sort out our personal feelings toward the goals we might have, and addresses everything from logistics and education to planning. The application can be found here.

The group also discussed why we would ever promote something like bike commuting in the first place, as ABetterShreverport.org. Loren pointed out the one premise of the group has been that it recommends things for the city based on research on what makes communities happy and healthy; that research is what helps us sort out our goals. For example, research shows that long commutes are not desirable, sedentary lifestyles are unhealthy, etc.

Jamie and Maurice mentioned how the safe routes to schools program can be used to help us, and that the League's campagn for Bike Friendly Communities can too. Ford and Feico mentioned how neighborhood schools such as Arthur Circle Elementary have already used it to have a bike/walk to school day. Jamie mentioned that Trek has 2 mile challenge it promotes, asking people to try biking two miles to work or school.

We then read Maurice's draft of an ordinance that would ensure the connectivity of residential subdevelopment (often a problem created by cul-de-saqs). He also mentioned how many of his favorite routes used to have public right-of-ways that were maintained, but were eventually abandoned by the city, and now are blocked by private owners' fences, so that one can no longer pass through. The group liked Maurice's ordinance, which is as follows:

"Where a subdivision developer seeks to permit a new subdivision development that is not connected to the neighboring subdivisions by secondary streets (cul de sac) there shall be included pathways, paved or unpaved, in each cardinal direction not connected by secondary streets or an arterial road, to allow pedestrian, wheelchair, and non motorized vehicular access to present or future residential or commercial developments in such direction."

Jamie noted that we've been focusing on us as cyclists, but we're not addressing lower income cyclists; do we want to develop cycling options for professionals, or improve safety education for others? The group discussed that and seemed to want to encourage both. Maurice talked about his personal efforts to educate people on saftey, often handing out pamphlets to other cyclists (who might have going the wrong way and heading right at the other cyclist) and he is always thanked for it. On the subtopic of proper bike behavior with regard to stop signs and such, Loren noted that road rules are made for motor vehicles, not cyclists, and all admitted to rolling through stop signs in residential neighborhoods when no bikes were present. All also agree though, that the ambassador rule is a good one: if motor vehicle drivers are present, behave yourself and obey the law.

The group then discussed the draft of the letter requesting that the Mayor appoint a committee to oversee the implementation of a bike-ped masterplan. Some suggestions were made, such as adding citations.

Mark Goadrich presented his research on bike route signage, and agreed to put together a proposal for signs that considers the constraints of reguations as well as the desires of the group. The group also discussed the benefits of route names vs. numbers, the former's meaning being clearer and the latter by code that only insiders would know. The group also discussed the need for bike racks around the city, and how there are newer better standards to follow; it would be unfortunate if the city decided to adopt the older, flawed standards.

The group then reviewed Ford Bevens' rough sketches of letterhead logos. Ford received complements from the group on the quality, and the group was enthusiastic about the potential for coming up with an appealing logo that communicated the general goals of the group. A logo that featured a downtown with pedestrians and cyclists would communicate the essence of smart growth and alternative transportation.

The group discussed how the bikeSB.org logo should perhaps be distinct, especially if we expect it to be maintained by people who have no connection to ABetterShreveport.org.

The group discussed breifly the coop center idea for food, building restoration, and bicycles. When it was mentioned that community ratings of bicycle friendliness are affected by such things as whether there are businesses that make showering available for employees, one person noted that a bike coop could have showers. Although it was noted that those showers would only serve businesses that are downtown, it was also noted that such a facility could attract more businesses to locate there.

Robert reported that the technology group was had a meeting and are working on a facebook presence and we are all encouraged to join twitter to use it as a link and promotional tool. John Christopher Martin wanted to start a database as a way to exchange goods and services, sort of like craigslist--which isn't used much in Shreveport, and was excited about helping ABS. He's a leader of the Peekers, and we're excited about him helping.

the rest of my notes:

need spiral ramp for texas st. bridge.

plenty of old pipe around to weld for bike racks.

color coding routes by difficulty/transportation uses as well as by routes

nonprofit: until you've got enough income to afford the accounting, better to piggy back; when we get to that step need board of directors and treasury... but if you don't have one we're less attractive to be sued; but we can be sued as partners in a venture. joining orgs like the league make it easier, but still a month of full time stuff to jump through hoops; the process is simple of having them insure you; regardless of insurance, you need the stuff that they'd ask for like certified instructors, accounts of incidents, etc. the league doesn't require followup paperwork. the association of american canoists destroyed our clinic cuz of the insurance...

jamie and maurice think we should never get into the event planning business ever.
event s are good for promoting bikeSB, and ABS could help organizations plan events... e.g., mountain bikers: LOCO that does LOOCOFEST if they wan to grow that... but they're masters of the technique of do it first and ask for forgiveness later. but were told by a ranger a couple of years ago to take them down.

Finally, we've just been asked if we'd consider writing a letter of support for a grant the city is applying for to the EPA to help fund the part of our Master Plan that would reduce carbon emissions. Seems like a no-brainer that we would. More on that on Tuesday.

Oh, and for those interested:
The next monthly meeting of the Red River Coalition of Community Gardeners (RRCCG) will be Monday, July 20th , 5:30 – 6:30 at the Caddo Extension Office located at 2408 E. 70th.

Phew! That's it folks!

Join us Tuesday morning at 8:20 for work on our proposal for an bike-ped action plan! Not to mention afterwards to meet with the Park Service folks, if you've a mind to!

Bike Route Network, Cycling events, Bickham-Dickson Park, Great Expectations City-wide Vision Forum; next meet Tues, July 14, 8:20 am

A Better Shreveport: Loren Demerath, Barbara Jarrell, Mark Goadrich, Jamie Johnson
Originally uploaded by trudeau

From Loren Demerath:

Thanks to all who attended the ABetterShreveport.org meeting Tuesday the 7th. In attendance: Jamie Johnson-Eddie, Mark Goadrich, Dan Marcalus, Ian Webb, Robert Trudeau, Feico Kempff, Jeff Welborn, Barbara Jarrel, Ford Bevins, David Nelson and Loren Demerath.

The meeting began to thin out after 9:30, but Ian, Mark, Jamie, and Loren stayed for two more hours (!) mainly discussing the bike network signage.

BIKE ROUTE NETWORK

On that note, thanks to all of you who registered your preferences for the various names. There was no runaway winner in e-mail responses, with HUB and BAHN tied in the lead, and BiRN coming in second. And that was without many viewing the options submitted by Dan Marcalus (I likeed "SPINR" personally, for ShrevePort Interconnected Neighborhood Routes).

HOWEVER, despite all the good suggestions we decided that an acronym would be less effective than a simple two or three word title to the map. People driving buy need to understand it and can't stop their cars to read what the acronym stands for. We tried simple titles then, and arrived at "Best Bike Routes".

Jamie suggested that beneath every route sign a web site could be shown where people can get the map, as well as educational cycling information. We settled on bikeSB.org, and I've just gone ahead and bought the domain for us. (We beat Santa Barbara! San Bernardino! And Stockholm and... whoever!)

We also settled on the idea that we would not have abbreviations for the routes, or logos for each route, but simply label the destination of a route given the direction and side of the street of the sign. The painted chevrons on the surface of the street would also not have have logos or destinations on them, just a bike image.

All that said, a number of wise people have said we shouldn't try to reinvent the wheel in all of this--forgive the pun--and should research what other cities have done in their efforts to publicize safe routes. Jamie Johnson said she would get phone numbers from Ian, and call people in national organizations such Bikes Belong and the Thunderhead Alliance to ask about that. Mark Goadrich said that he could conceivably design a cellphone application where people could bring up the network on their phones. After the meeting, Mark found a link to Austin's most recent bike plan from the city: http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/bicycle/update2008.htm. He doesn't know know if it has info on designing signs, but he said it looks comprehensive and might help us out.

We decided that our goal should be to spit and polish a specific proposal that we can all support and which we then invite Mike Strong to review. Mike Strong is head of the Department of Operational Services in the city and the main person in charge of things like painting streets. I had a very encouraging conversation with him last fall, and he said if we come up with a plan, they'll consider it.

INSURANCE FOR EVENTS

On other topics, it was mentioned that ABetterShreveport could help sponsor various events such as the velo dendrum tree tour Hallie Dozzier has been organizing for the fall, if we have a means of insuring participants. That would be assisted by our becoming a member of a national organization such as Bikes Belong, The League of American Bicyclists, or the Alliance for Walking and Biking (formerly the Thunderhead Alliance).

CITIZEN ADVISORY GROUP FOR MASTER PLAN

Earlier in the meeting Jeff Welborn informed the group that the flooding of Bickham-Dickson is intentional, and is done partly in order to study it. The park is supposed to flood, in other words, and it's part of the bargain that was struck to make it. (Do I have that about right?)

The group also discussed the Citizen Advisory Group caucuses and how members of our group should be part of them. Loren later reported on several underrepresented areas he learned about. It was suggested that a range of different people normally part of ABetterShreveport could still consider attempting to become part of the group.

PLEASE NOTE: If you want to apply to become a member of the citizen's advisory group and need information or an application, feel free to e-mail me.

If I missed anything, let me know, and I can ammend this summary as posted on the blog.

NEXT MEETING TUESDAY

Because we have momentum on projects this summer, we've decided those of us who can will meet weekly. So, we'll meet again this Tuesday at 8:20, and and we'll do the following:

* look over our draft of a letter requesting the Mayor's office to appoint a commission for establishing new construction standards that consider bike-ped needs
* look over some logo and type logo suggestions for our letterhead
* review what Jamie and Mark's research tells us about what other cities have done for recommending bike routes
* review what April, Robert, and Mike Harold have done in the technology group
* review what the downtown group has done and on what tasks it needs help.

Join us!

Tomorrows meeting: Logos and Lingos!

Tomorrow morning at 8:20 we'll discuss the logo for bike route network, possibly logos for the different routes themselves, and a logo for this very forum, ABetterShreveport.org.

We'll also try to settle on a name for the network.

As Steve Shelburne, our resident Shakespeare scholar would probably tell you, that guy didn't know much. For example, what's in a name? Everything!

A good name for our network of recommended bike routes could make more people use it. It would make it easier to talk about, remember, advertise, etc.

Some acronyms have been bandied about:
The "BAHN" Bicycle Access Highway Network (connoting Germany's Autobahn, and using a bicycle wheel as a logo)
The "BARN" Bicycle Access Road Network (and using a rough map of the city's network that would resemble a barn's profile)
The "BiRN" Bicycle Route Network (and billboard showing relaxed, smiling bicyclists just gliding with the slogan, "Feel the BiRN!" could promote it).

That's on the agenda for tomorrow. Join us! The coffee will be fresh!

Sharron Swanson suggests we request of the Mayor's Office a means to the ends, not just the ends...

As always, it's wonderful to have people contribute to our work even they can't make the meetings. In our last meeting summary we described two of the letters we're been working on:

1 - establishing road construction standards that would consider bike-ped needs

2 - establishing subdivision standards that allow connectivity.

In response, Sharron Swanson wrote the following in an e-mail to me:

I would suggest you that you combine letters 1 and 2 into one letter. I would suggest that you reference in your letter a desire for the city to adopt “Complete Streets” standards that address the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, children, the handicapped, etc. Regarding cul-de-sac’s and “connectivity”, the issue is slightly larger and should be addressed as such. Subdivision standards should be changed to require connectivity—including streets aligned with adjacent properties, elimination of cul-de-sac’s unless needed for environmental design reasons as well as elimination of gated communities. For existing cul-de-sac’s I believe it would be very difficult to create easements for bicycle/pedestrian ways because it would require property acquisition and you would be dealing with owner’s side yards versus rear yards as in your linear park concepts.

Your letters to the Mayor need to be clear and to the point. You need to know exactly how you want the Mayor to respond. Do you want the city to establish a committee to develop the new street standards or subdivision standards? Do you want them to simply pass your ideas along to the Master Plan group? Can work be done concurrently with the Master Plan effort?

Thanks for those helpful thoughts, Sharron. Personally, I'd think we'd want to request an appointed commission or committee to set the standards. I don't know if it can or should be done concurrently with Master Plan effort. Comments?

Adjustment: Bike logo and network meeting Thurs, July 9, 8:20 am

Bicycles, Centenary, Regions Bank
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Please excuse the adjustment in your calanders, but we have to move our ABetterShreveport meeting to Thursday, 8:20 a.m.

It should be a fun meeting, particular for those of us who like logos or slogans. We'll be trying to design the bike network logo, the schematic of the bike route network (what's makes a memorable map worthy of a street sign? hmmm) and the ABS letterhead.

REMEMBER: we could be designing the signs that would point Shreveporters to their network of recommended bike routes... for GENERATIONS!

We'll also be designing a name for the network as a whole. Just to get you thinking, how about the "BARN" i.e., Bicycle Access Route Network, "BiRN" Bicycle Road Nework, "NOBS" Network of Bike Streets (which implies streets should be off limits if they're not part of the network), or the "SPOKE" the "WHEEL" the "PEDEL" etc.

Our very own artist-in-residence Ford Bevens will be there to discuss ideas. Hope you can join us! (8:20 am, Centenary Square, across the street from Georges, room 206.)

Best,
Loren

A Better Shreveport: plan ahead for The Great Expectations Visioning Forum on Sat, Aug 22, at Shreveport Convention Center

A Better Shreveport
Originally uploaded by trudeau

Thanks to all who contributed to a productive meeting yesterday. In attendance were April Dahm, Feico Kempff, Marcus Morton, Jon Soul, Dan Marcalus, Maurice Loridans, David Nelson, Barbara Jarrell, Robert Trudeau and Loren Demerath.

First, let me announce that we decided yesterday to meet again next week, Tuesday at 8:20 a.m. as usual, to discuss our letterhead logo with local artist Ford Bevins. April and Feico will also be announcing another downtown lunch meeting at ArtSpace soon, so stay tuned for that.

By way of beginning the summary of yesterday's meeting, the reason we want to move ahead asap with the letterhead logo is that during our meeting we discussed three different letters that could be sent from our organization.
1. a letter asking city government to establish road building standards that will consider the needs of pedestrians and cyclists (already drafted by Barbara and Steve Shelburne).
2. a letter asking city government to make cul-de-saq throughways for pedestrians and cyclists mandatory (to be drafted by Maurice).
3. a letter asking the Red River Waterway Commission to address the flooding that it has caused at Bickham Dickson Park
4. a letter asking Goody-Clancy, the Metropolitan Planning Commission, and the Citizen Advisory Group, to consider incorporating the plan of a network of greenways that is being produced by us and the National Park Service into the city's comprehensive master plan .

One of the topics discussed was the upcoming "visioning" meeting on August 22nd, and how having members of our group there will allow us to voice our concerns and desires for the plan.

On the related subject of what we want for downtown, April and Feico reported on the last downtown meeting, how the issue of the cultural district--Texas Ave--and downtown retail--Texas STREET--can collapsed, for our purposes. Feico said he wanted to find out what the creative, tech oriented businesses in town would want and need to locate and live in the cultural district. Loren said he thought many of the needs would be what Don Shea said people want to live downtown generally: groceries, a sense of security, optimally an elementary school and child care. It was mentioned that the subjective sense of security is more the issue than actual security; the crime rates are reportedly low downtown.

The group also discussed how setting standards as part of the master plan would help assuage concerns about how inviting "big box" retail like Walmart or Best Buy would mean tearing down the architectural beauty that is one of the city's great resources.

Another topic discussed was how to recruit more people and interest into our group and its projects via a website, facebook groups, and twitter. April noted that she stumbled on an important group recently via twitter. About half the group admitted they weren't on facebook, but the organizational power provided by social networking sites was acknowledged by all, especially for younger people.

To better promote ABS, we agreed that our new name could be ABetterShreveport.org, and that using that name points people to a web presence and indicates the public interest mission of our group, not to mention a certain level of commitment and seriousness of purpose. Moreover, it was reported to grateful ears that Mike Herold had said he might be willing to improve our web site and blog's designs, and help administer them. Loren also expressed much thanks to Robert Trudeau for the photostream of the downtown meeting, and noted how effective photos are at giving a sense of what our meetings are like.

It was hoped that the group might be able to recruit student interns, perhaps paid if we can get the funding, to record our meetings, help submit material to the blogs and web site, report on city government work sessions, and any other tasks related to ongoing projects.

Turning to our bike route planning, Loren reported on how Ford Bevins was drawing up logos, signs, and maps in the hopes that streets would painted with logos of optimal routes, and signs posted indicating the routes with a map of the route system.

Marcus said it would be useful for us to look at what Santa Monica has done with their "Share the Road, It's the Law" program. Marcus also mentioned that one of the advantages Shreveport has that places like Santa Monica doesn't is a lack of development that can make people guarded about making any changes; change here would be welcomed.

Maurice reported that Texas and Lousiana both just passed bills giving 3 feet of clearence when motorists pass non-motorized persons, but while the Texas governor vetoed the bill, our own Governor Jindal signed ours.

The group also discussed the I-49 survey, the site I49shreveport.com, and whether or not the interstate should go up a different route than North Market. Some asked what would happen to North Market if the interstate took the route west of Market, and that it seemed a waste. Loren described Murray Lloyd's idea of a parkway that seemed a more efficient use of space, better for the North Market property owners that desperately need help, and would preserve the wildlife area to the west of Market.

That was about it. Come next week, ya'll, and get in on the talk, and help us push forward. We'll likley have letter drafts to review and approve. Plus, we'll put on our marketing and promotions hats as we give Ford ideas and feedback on an ABetterShreveport.org logo for letterhead and cards.

Meeting Agenda

Here's our agenda for Tuesday's meeting, along with some editorial comments at the end, just 'cuz it was irresistable:

• The Bike Route Network (map and signs to go on side of road; logo to be painted on road itself; I've got logo's etc. to show, thanks to Ford Bevins!)
• Texas Ave. cultural district (what have we learned about what it would take to have residents who are also business-owners move in? or just residents? hooray for our new downtown lunch meeting! what have April Kempf, Feico, and the others learned?)
• Cooperatives Center for Bikes, Food, and Building Restoration (what did Steve learn from his visit to the restoration cooperative(s) in Dallas? what space(s) would be available for a coop center that would also help downtown and therefore help create a more dense, more walkable, and less sprawled city?)
  
• Converting the bayous/drainage ditches to greenways (nature trail on hold til November while labor and plans are organized by Jon Soul; is it time to mow other sections? what does the National Park Service need in preparation for their next visit for making the plan?)
• Texas St. retail (what did Brady Blade learn at the shopping center convention? is there work we could do to create a vision of a downtown shopping destination that wouldn't depend on residents and wouldn't have to "follow the rooftops"? is there a coordination of property owners we could facilitate?

The rhetorical question that could motivate us:
If one person had control of Texas Street, would he or she have it as it exists now? Surely they'd take advantage of the Manhattan-like buildings and sidewalks.

The metaphor could be:
Every other shopping area in the city is like downhill ski slope, each built on a much small hill owned by one developer. Downtown is a huge mountain, a skier's dream, if developed, but the mountain is owned many different people. If they united behind their shared interests and built a ski resort, they'd beat every other resort in town. Alas, they're not united. Instead, they each rent out their individual properties for marginal profit, when the chance for the big take goes unfulfilled.

A controversial question in our meetings:
Should we invite local businesses to Texas Street, where the profits stay in town, the businesses are unique, and downtown serves as a greenhouse for growing our own major retail businesses? Or should we invite corporate retail Best Buy, Old Navy, Borders, Walmart, Target, etc., letting the outsiders take the spoils?

• small, local businesses need traffic and people like a greenhouse needs sunlight, and any downtown business would benefit from glow of a Walmart, Target, or the like. (provided they aren't competing against them directly; if they are, the writing is on the wal.)
  
• for that reason, local businesses have chosen to locate near big box retail
• further, local businesses have already seen downtown and have chosen not to occupy it.
• corporate retail hasn't made that choice because it hasn't seen downtown; it only sees large parcels of land near high traffic counts; because downtown is cut into many different parcels, they rarely see the equivalent offer of a corn field next to a highway intersection.
  

But would they come?

Our downtown has a highway, Market and Spring street, traffic roughly equivalent to that 70th and Youree. But a downtown site trumps a suburban one with aesthetics and energy. The architecture and the views up and down the street, river to church that invite sitting; the sidewalk spaciousness that invite socializing, and the diversity of people and purposes that invite people watching and waiting, all give any urban area that's filled a vibrance. An active downtown is not like your ordinary mall. It's a place where you want to be, shop, hang out, live!

They would come, because they'd know the people would come. Same price as the 'burbs, but with that extra appeal? They'd come.

Now, about that price....

First downtown meeting a success...

I just wanted to share what April Dahm wrote recently, after helping to how our first meeting about downtown that was... downtown!

I would first like to each and everyone one of you who was able to make the first A Better Shreveport meeting that focused on the revitalization of downtown Shreveport. We had a wonderful discussion and many ideas and suggestions came forth. In my email, I am attaching the short questionaire that only but a few people were able to complete during our meeting. Please try to complete the form as best as you can and return it to me via e-mail as soon as you can. I would like to compile all the information prior to our next meeting which will be sometime during the week of June 22nd. We will meet again at the lunchtime hour at the Cafe at Artspace as Michael Chisum has graciously offered to cater our working lunch.

If you can, please make a contact list of other people you feel that would contribute to our group. Please call them and invite them personally to our next meeting. I hope to have a meeting date by this Friday.

Again, thank you for your enthusiasm and interest in downtown Shreveport.

Best,

April Dahm

And if you'd like a copy of the aforementioned questionairre, email me at ldemerath gmail.