Getting There
Sidewalk Turf Wars
There has always been competition for public rights of way, whether among horses, carriages, streetcars, people on foot, bicyclists, motorcycles or vehicles. Now the competition has heated up for the sidewalk portion of that right of way.
Sidewalks are a scarce and valuable public resource, a safe haven in the urban jungle. Yet the list of people and things vying for sidewalk space is long: pedestrians (including those with disabilities and wheelchairs), vendors, bicyclists, bike racks, skateboarders, strollers, homeless people, dogs (and their waste), parked cars, trash bins, utility and light poles, bollards, street and business signs, news racks, bus shelters, tree wells, construction scaffolding, etc.
Big Apple Bite
New York is unlike any other city in the United States. New Yorkers get around differently, with the country’s highest level of public transit use. More than half the households don’t own a car. In Manhattan, the non-ownership rate is 75 percent.
A recent trip to the Big Apple exposed me to an eclectic variety of ways to get around: walking, subways, buses, bike share, commuter rail, private auto and ferries. My wife and I passed through the nation’s two busiest rail stations, Grand Central and Penn Station. We saw the stunning Oculus, the World Trade Center terminal station for rail lines serving New Jersey.
Shut Up and Drive
April was Distracted Driving Month. Missed it? Maybe you were on your cellphone.
Distracted driving was in the news locally in April. Nicholas Worrell, a guru at the National Transportation Safety Board, spoke at a Sacramento State University kickoff event. He urged California to ban hands-free cellphone use while driving.
No state has passed such legislation, but California could lead the way as it has on many other issues. NTSB first recommended prohibiting hands-free cellphone conversations by drivers in 2011.
Time to Unplug I-5
People crave to be where water caresses land. But in our putative River City, it’s hard to enjoy, or even glimpse, the Sacramento River. We can’t satisfy the human urge to cozy up to the river because it’s cut off by Interstate 5. The massive freeway makes it difficult to economically capitalize on our proximity to Sacramento’s namesake river and the city’s birthplace.
The City Council has embarked on an ambitious $47 million plan to revitalize the waterfront in Old Sacramento. The hope is that tourist-oriented shops could be transformed by the addition of a grassy park, concert venue, second-story wine bar or other amenities, enticing residents to come, linger, spend money and enjoy the riverfront.
Time To Ride
“May is Bike Month” is Sacramento’s annual campaign to promote riding a bike. May is the ideal time, and our beautiful neighborhoods are the ideal places, to enjoy spring and have the pleasure of getting somewhere under your own power.
It’s also an opportune time to evaluate how the city is doing in providing citizens a safe, comfortable and convenient environment in which to ride.
Congestion Relief
Several U.S. cities are toying with the idea of congestion pricing. It’s a solution to excessive traffic that’s been touted by economists for some time. Congestion pricing reduces traffic by increasing the cost of driving at peak hours or in clogged traffic zones. For example, cities could use license plate reading technology to add charges for vehicles crossing a line into central business districts, or add tolls and restrict use of freeway lanes to those who pay.
