Monday, August 31, 2009
News Mayoral candidates to discuss 'green' transportation solutions
Posted by Thomas Wheatley @thomaswheatley on Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 7:27 PM
Tuesday's looking to be one of those days just jam-packed with forums.
While Georgia STAND-UP hosts its City Council candidate forum in Southwest Atlanta, a coalition of transportation advocates will be grilling Mayoral candidates about their stances on transit, bicycles and pedestrian friendly streets — and how mobility options other than automobiles could improve Atlanta's quality of life and economic potential.
Citizens for Progressive Transit, the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition and PEDS are hosting the 6:30 p.m. forum at the Atlanta Regional Commission. Mayoral candidates Lisa Borders, Mary Norwood, Kasim Reed, Jesse Spikes and Glenn Thomas will give their take on the issues. Longtime business columnist and smart-growth advocate Maria Saporta will moderate the discussion.
For more information about the forum, visit the coalition's website. For directions, click here. You can also try CfPT's online transit trip planner. The ARC is convenient to three MARTA stations and Five Points bus transfer center. The coalition's advocacy team will provide free bicycle valet parking.
Comments (8)
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I understand the mayoral candidate forum is co-sponsored by PEDS and the ABC, but really... Who seriously believes that Atlanta's traffic problems can even be touched (let alone solved) by getting folks onto bikes? On the other hand, check out McDonald's Cycle Centers in places like Chicago and DC. They help banish any BO related to your daily bike in to work.
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Jill, I don't think anyone would assume that a single transportation mode has the potential to solve Atlanta's traffic problems. However, I also don't think anyone would argue with the fact that the city's transportation system is currently geared toward only a single mode: the car. A smart combination of investments in alternative modes could significantly reduce the load on city streets while simultaneously providing people who either cannot (or choose not to) drive with viable alternatives. Plus, it makes the city a better place to live, which benefits us all.
Solving Atlanta's traffic problems and discussing smart transit alternatives (or compliments) are two different things. Bicycles as THE answer to Atlanta's transportation woes? That's a little too pie-in-the-sky, even for devotees. That's why the forum's co-hosted by CfPT and PEDS. Comprehensive planning and multiple methods will improve transportation (again: transportation is the focus, not traffic). Census and survey figures say a low percentage of residents of Portland, Ore., the Olympus of American bicycle transportation, cite bicycles as their primary transportation: only 8 percent. Ten percent claim it as secondary transportation. Those figures may be inaccurate due to methodology and response options, but the city bristles with bicycles; it has been a huge boost to its local economy and its international identity. We would love people to get out from behind the steering wheel and onto two wheels, but we also like trains and ped-friendly neighborhoods.
When you say "Atlanta's transportation woes" I believe you are referring to the suburbs' transportation woes. The transportation situation for residents who live inside the perimeter is not perfect, but it certainly is not awful. The city of Atlanta has amazing potential for bicycle transit and MARTA transit (particularly on the east side of town with its relatively high population density, proximity to downtown/midtown, and decent MARTA service). The suburbs have minimal potential for alternative transit. The powers that be could implement numerous changes to improve conditions for cycling and walking at relatively low cost (such as bike lanes, bike paths, sidewalks, other traffic calming measures, and advocacy). I hope the forum addresses practical intown improvements and not just expensive rail projects that may very well never happen.
To add a bit to Kyle's comment, the 8% figure in Portland is for the city as a whole. When it's broken down by neighborhood, close to 30% of residents in certain neighborhoods report using a bicycle as a either a primary or secondary mode of transportation to work. For instance, in inner NE Portland, the split is 13%/16% primary/secondary mode. In inner SE, it's 13%/13%. (http://bikeportland.org/2008/12/09/city-auditors-survey-less-cars-more-bikes-and-safer-streets/). These neighborhoods are roughly equivalent to the midtown/Ansley Park/SE Atlanta neighborhoods and that represents a lot of cars that never even leave the driveway every day. There's nothing fundamentally different between people living in Portland and people living in Atlanta. It just comes down to facilities. And bike/ped facilities are damn cheap, at least compared to adding or even maintaining auto capacity.
'And bike/ped facilities are damn cheap, at least compared to adding or even maintaining auto capacity' Amen. It's just a matter of finding the political willpower in this city.
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