Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Adopting a Customer-Centric Model ? Securing Your Long-Term Customer Relationships
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#WorkzoneFTW? City may require walking and biking routes around building sites
(Photo: M.Andersen/BikePortland)
A policy before the city council Wednesday would withhold city permits from builders that block sidewalks or bike lanes around their work sites without first considering reuse of parking and travel lanes.
The action comes after a months-long social media campaign from Oregon Walks and the Bicycle Transportation Alliance, which evolved out of a years-long behind-the-scenes effort by the BTA.
The city’s draft policy stops short of saying that walking, biking or traveling by mobility device are always higher priorities in work zones than traveling by car. Instead, it says that walking and biking routes should only be affected if no other option is “practicable.” That said, the language is relatively strong:
A temporary pedestrian route should be given priority over other facilities. A temporary pedestrian route should be given priority over vehicular traffic except when resulting in excessive delay to transit, excessive congestion in violation of mobility standards, or a pedestrian route that is less safe.
When sidewalks must be closed, the policy recommends merging bike and foot traffic in a bike lane or bike and car traffic in a general travel lane before restricting auto access to a travel lane.
Here’s the ordered list of contingencies for a sidewalk closure:
For whatever reason, there’s no mention of narrowing lanes in that list.
When bike lanes are effected, though, narrowing lanes does come up as an option. Here’s the contingency list for bike lane closures:
In that list, there’s no discussion of repurposing a parking lane.
In their proposal to the city, Oregon Walks and the BTA had specified “on-street parking or additional vehicle lanes” as possible places to find the space for continuous walking and biking routes.
In separate clauses, the city’s proposed policy says that “pedestrians should be separated from motor vehicular traffic and cycles” and that “cyclists should be separated from motor vehicle traffic and pedestrians.”
Throughout the proposed city policy, the word “should” refers to actions builders would take under “normal conditions.” City transportation staff would interpret this standard. The transportation director would have the right to revoke a permit for a site that’s failing to comply with the new policy or with the traffic control plans that builders will have to provide in advance.
A few other significant sentences from the policy proposal:
• “Pedestrian detours should not last more than 3 days in Pedestrian Districts & Pedestrian Walkways, or 1 week on a local service street.”
• “Both sidewalks on a block should not be closed simultaneously.”
• “If the work zone affects an accessible and ADA compliant pedestrian route, the accessibility and ADA compliant features along a temporary route shall be provided in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.”
Even if the various ambiguities here aren’t clarified, this policy would represent a significant victory for walking and biking advocates. Until now, there’s been no single point of reference for work zone plans that the city’s various bureaus, most of which report to different city commissioners, can consult. The result has been a range of designs from the excellent to the impassable.
In March, Oregon Walks and the BTA launched a campaign they called “WorkzoneWTF,” urging people to share terrible work zone designs on Instagram and Twitter. A few examples:
@OregonWalks SW First & Arthur. #WorkZoneWTF http://pic.twitter.com/3sQZBywZIS
— Johanna Steinmetz (@tanguerapdx) June 10, 2016
Double sided #workzoneWTF at SE 14th & Morrison, people with no option but to wander through traffic. http://pic.twitter.com/lonJUWKrwM
— Brendon Haggerty (@haggerbpdx) May 21, 2016
Gals in the bike lane apologized to me as I rode by, but an apology is owed to them for this #workzoneWTF http://pic.twitter.com/yZ4CRrj6zo
— Brendon Haggerty (@haggerbpdx) May 21, 2016
Sidewalk closed, on-street parking maintained at NE 10th and Multnomah. #WorkZoneWTF http://pic.twitter.com/EBYzeYDGaA
— Carl Larson (@LilBikesBigFun) May 19, 2016
SW Broadway at Madison near PSU: 3 car lanes, parking preserved; bike lane blocked #workzonewtf @PBOTinfo http://pic.twitter.com/AUHH6WmJe0
— Ms. Four (@msfour) June 2, 2016
But there have been good examples, too, which people sometimes labeled with the rearranged hashtag “WorkzoneFTW” — “for the win.”
A two way protected bike lane through a work zone at NW 13th & Jefferson. Not a #workzonewtf http://pic.twitter.com/DeW8BCpHCE
— Nick Falbo (@nickfalbo) May 19, 2016
It's taken too long, but @PBOTinfo finally getting serious about ped access #WorkZoneFTW http://pic.twitter.com/YIUtZFVdoD
— Iain (@maccoinnich) June 12, 2016
Wow! Check out this accessible, wide, fully covered ped walkway. Thx @HoffmanCorp! #workzoneFTW at SW Curry and Bond http://pic.twitter.com/LGrSHrDsoh
— Oregon Walks (@OregonWalks) June 10, 2016
Some people also shared examples from other cities:
Helsinki #workzoneFTW http://pic.twitter.com/O1zZdbCsHp
— Michael Andersen (@andersem) June 3, 2016
How they handle sidewalk closures in NYC #workzonewtf #workzoneftw @OregonWalks @PBOTinfo http://pic.twitter.com/MQz78o12Et
— Steve 911 (@Intersection911) June 23, 2016
Portland is growing up — that’s why most of these work zones are here, after all. As a city becomes denser and people don’t have to travel as far to reach things they need, traffic from walking (and, in some cases, biking) eventually reach the point where auto traffic will be disrupted with or without a plan. It’s good to see city leaders making efforts to start forcing these conversations before the conflicts happen rather than afterward.
— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org
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Face the Food! A Food Craft Project for the Littles
This post is brought to you by Curate Snacks
Our friends over at Curate Snacks just launched their delicious and nutritious snack bars made for kids and to help celebrate, today we’re sharing a fun arts and crafts project you can do with your littles! Inspired by our Face The Foliage projects, all of the sudden snack time becomes a creativity builder with healthy helpings of both snacks and imagination.
We’ve created four placemats with animal and human face outlines on them (free printable at the bottom of the post!). This will make it super simple to ‘fill in’ the lines to create the edible masterpieces! Just print out the placemats on 11X17 paper and laminate! (You can also get them laminated at your local copy shop…).
Once you have your placemats, put out bowls of fruits (sliced apples, kiwis, berries…) and things like nuts and raisins (anything can work — just get creative and use what’s in season). Many of our ingredients were inspired by the ingredients in the Curate Kids snacks — we had oats and chocolate chunks, apple slices and cinnamon sticks, and banana slices (which make great eyes!). Then let the kids go to town getting all creative making food faces!
How cute are these cinnamon stick beaver teeth??
I’m also a big fan of the kiwi monkey eyes…
Then, when snack time is over, you can wash the placemats and save for future food crafts!
We’re calling this a kid’s project but truth be told I had so much fun with the project that I could do this all day long. Similarly, we brought a bunch of the Curate Kid’s snacks on our trip to Europe and we all enjoyed them throughout the vacay (hello perfect train snack–the Chocolate-Banana is a family favorite). Below you can find the downloadable place mats (just click and download at full resolution)…We hope you enjoy getting all creative at snack time!
Photography by Danae Horst for The Jungalow
*Disclaimer: If your child has food allergies, please be sure to check out Curate nutritional label for ingredients and allergen information. Also, choose your snacks for the food craft project accordingly.
*This post was created in partnership with Curate, all opinions are my own. Woot Woot!
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Monday, June 27, 2016
Don’t Lock Your Dog in Your Car, Its Hot in there! | Mr. Locksmith Blog
Don’t Lock Your Dog in Your Car, Its Hot in there! | Mr. Locksmith Blog
On a hot summer day even in Vancouver leaving your dog in the car “just for a minute” can be a deathtrap. On a 26 C degree day the temperature inside a parked car can soar to between 40C and 50C degrees in just minutes, and on a 40-degree day, the interior temperature can reach as high as 50 degrees in less than 10 minutes.
Don’t Lock Your Dog in a Hot Car
At Mr. Locksmith we have very quick response to 24 Emergency lockouts but if your dog or any dog is locked in a car on a hot day we recommend you call the Fire Department, Police, 911 or safely break the car window.
When a dog is left in cars on warm days, animals can succumb to heatstroke in just minutes. Leaving your dog in your car is a death sentence for them.
Last years (2015) video from the BC Humane Society.
The post Don’t Lock Your Dog in Your Car, Its Hot in there! | Mr. Locksmith Blog appeared first on Mr Locksmith Vancouver.
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Customers and Friends join me again this year for Canada Day this Friday July 1st 2016 at Kitsilano Beach.
Customers and Friends, join me again this year for Canada Day this Friday July 1st 2016 at Kitsilano Beach. BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs (tofu burgers too but I don’t know why anybody would eat one) , all my friends invited 8am -8pm. Just look for the flags. Drop by anytime. See the Fireworks at 10pm.
Terry from Mr. Locksmith Vancouver Canada Day 2015.
Randy Bath Mr. Locksmith Automotive Canada Day 2015
Alan Mr. Locksmith Vancouver West Canada Day 2015
Yes, its a Welsh Flag. Mr. Locksmith Vancouver Canada Day 2015.
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The Monday Roundup: America’s sorriest bus stops, mechanical speed limits & more
(Image via Streetsblog)
Here are the bike-related links from around the world that caught our eyes this week:
Sorriest bus stops: Streetsblog wants your nominations.
Mechanical speed limits: The National Association of City Transportation Officials has a six-point agenda to making autonomous cars work for cities, not against them. No. 2: cap speeds at 25 mph.
Minneapolis biking: The Guardian interviews Minneapolis city councilor Lisa Bender, co-founder of the Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition, about the country’s second-best big city to bike in. (Some guy from Portland is quoted, too.)
Detroit bike lanes: They’re rapidly spreading across the city.
Kalamazoo crash: The collision that killed five Michiganders on June 7 wasn’t unpreventable just because it was in a rural area.
Unfunded vision: As Toronto moves toward a formal Vision Zero proposal to eliminate road deaths, even the program’s backers say the budget is inadequate to the task.
Google city: Sidewalk Labs, the Google sibling that’s trying to create tech for “smarter cities” in exchange for loads of data, is offering to manage variable-price parking and public transit via Uber in Columbus, Ohio.
Consolation prize: Other “Smart City Challenge” finalists, including Portland, might also be offered early access to some of the same technology.
Transit votes: San Diego, Los Angeles County and greater Seattle each moved to grab a share of November’s anticipated surge in liberal voters by putting tens of billions of dollars in transit funding on their ballots.
Bike share typology: The two basic types of bike share users navigate cities very differently.
Waze routing: The Google-owned wayfinding app is moving to reduce uncontrolled left turns onto busy streets, which are dangerous. This might cut driving on smaller streets.
Vancouver trail: The Columbian profiles a new segment along the west shore of Lake Vancouver.
Clinton on cities: The presumptive Democratic nominee seems to have little to say about cities that the current president hasn’t, so it’s hard to say how her national transportation policy would compare to his.
Holy helmet: Yes, that was the Dalai Lama in a Nutcase last week, reminiscing about biking in his youth.
If you come across a noteworthy bicycle story, send it in via email, Tweet @bikeportland, or whatever else and we’ll consider adding it to next Monday’s roundup.
— Michael Andersen, (503) 333-7824 – michael@bikeportland.org
Our work is supported by subscribers. Please become one today.
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