Saturday, August 17, 2019

PUBLIC COMMENT, AAATA BOARD 2019-08-15


Please consider with me the dangers of complacency, or "business as usual".

AA News, front page, August 1, 2019. "U-M's growth sets stage for traffic problems city admin says" referring to City Hall meeting July 29. "The average travel delay in Ann Arbor is projected to increase by about 30% by 2045. The truth is unless we really address alternate means and methods of getting around, congestion will be a bigger part of our lives," he said, arguing congestion leads to aggressive behavior. "We are operating in a zone where we've increased our crashes by roughly 17% over the last 10 years," he said. "During that time, the population of the city of Ann Arbor has increased 7% and ...commutes into Ann Arbor have also increased."

Possible solutions mentioned at the meeting included sidewalks, bike lanes, scooters, road diets, red light cameras, and speed limits. Public transit was NOT mentioned as possible solution. Why not?

Could it be because AAATA is not seen as moving toward real transportation solutions, simply carrying on "business as usual" with, perhaps, a few modest "band-aids" for Washtenaw Avenue?

In today's Board packet, on p.3 of the Service Committee report, we read, "Mr. Hewitt asked about schedule adjustments to address traffic realities at busier times of the day. Mr. Sanderson explained that schedule adjustments are  being studied but may be too expensive and too disruptive to the current pulse system."

I find that response very discouraging. In effect, AAATA is saying, "We're looking into it, but please don't expect us to come up with anything that might disrupt Business As Usual. And certainly don't expect us to suggest solutions that might require budget. We'll just continue our pulse system. We're comfortable with it. After all, it has worked for the last 50 years."

And it has worked. Sort-of. Sure, the published schedule is guaranteed to be inaccurate and misleading during the times when most people need to commute. Ridership figures, also released in the Board Packet, indicate passengers may not be "highly satisfied with public transportation services". (AAATA Ends 1.1.4.) The majority of people with access to a personal car apparently do not find public transit to be an attractive alternative. (Ends 1.1.3) Local leaders may not be aware of the contribution public transportation could make to the community (Ends 1.3.6).

But we're comfortable with the pulse system, just as it is. And don't bug us about it: the pulse system is an operational matter, so the Board is out of bounds to question it. Just let the experts continue to study the problem in comfort.

Thank you,

Laurence Krieg / Wake Up Washtenaw

Monday, August 5, 2019

This year, I'm turning my focus on a phenomenon that has sometimes been called "Edge Cities", though I'm using the term somewhat differently than what was popularized by Joel Garreau in 1991. Why this focus?

All cities that are growing prosperously, no matter where they are in the world, are experiencing a similar set of problems. The value of land in their core is increasing so much that service personnel are unable to afford housing near the core, and those who were housed there until recently are being forced out ("gentrification" is the term usually applied); as buildings grow taller in the core, the demand for access increases, but the cost of providing that access becomes more and more unaffordable to the governments responsible for providing it.

Affordable housing, commercial, and office space is needed "near" the core city. The problem is to achieve functional proximity at a reasonable cost. My focus has turned to a 21st Century version of the "edge city" concept as a possible solution.

If achieving functional proximity seems to be the key, what does it look like? How has it been achieved - if at all - in cities around the world? What are the major hurdles? What variations on the theme have proved more successful, and why? And how does one measure all the factors?

My travels in 2019 will take me to Vancouver Canada, Seattle and Sacramento USA, and in Japan to several cities including Tokyo, Osaka, Sendai, and Sapporo. All these are cities that appear to be growing prosperously while functioning reasonably well. The visit to Vancouver includes my fourth EcoCities World Summit, where I hope to share my questions and potential answers with others from even more cities around the world.

My goal is to lay the groundwork during August and September, including more detailed articulation of the issues and preliminary measurement of the parameters in each of the cities I mentioned - plus others I'm familiar with like Toronto, Denver, and of course Detroit. I hope you'll follow along with me on this quest for the 21st Century Edge City.