A complete street in Charlotte, NC

Your tax dollars paid for it so you deserve a report. (I stayed with relatives and biked and bussed to the conference to save taxpayer money.)

Things I learned (you can see I chose a transportation heavy workshop track):

- At a complete streets workshop I learned that according to AARP over half of seniors say intersections where they live are not safe to cross and they would like to see their city adopt a complete streets policy. As the populations ages a huge demographic shift is coming and “engineers are not prepared for it” according to a presenter I heard. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the week where a few District 2 Neighborhood Council meetings overlap. I wish I could attend each one. They are a crucial forum for a discussion of issues in the neighborhood and the more citizen participation, the better.

-February 8th Monday 6:00pm City Council Legislative Meeting, City Council Chamber, Lower Level, City Hall.

-February 9th Tuesday 4:30pm Chase Youth Commission, City Council Briefing Center, Lower Level, City Hall.

-February 9th Tuesday 6:00pm Community Assembly Pedestrian, Transportation & Traffic Meeting, West Central Community Center, 1603 N. Belt.
Read the rest of this entry »

Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood.

I’m attending the 9th Annual New Partners for Smart Growth Conference in Seattle and last night both Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood and HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan addressed the conference to unveil a groundbreaking new interagency partnership between their respective agencies and the EPA called Partnership for Sustainable Communities. You can read a complete description of the program in the Seattle Times here. I think this is great news. What’s it mean to Spokane? The silos of housing, transportation, and the environment are being breached at the federal level and new money is going to be made available to cities that work hard to consider how all these three aspects interact when developing new projects. Cities that are able to connect new housing, transportation, and environmental benefits will have the best shot and receiving competitive federal grants. That means wholistic planning will be rewarded. That means Spokane has a lot work to do. But this means the federal government wants to lead, not follow, on sustainable economic development. I find this pretty exciting. Read the rest of this entry »

The Council had a light legislative agenda last night; just one action taken to consolidate a clerk position at a community center. But the non-legislative agenda was quite full. Not only did we get a nice performance by the Spokane Youth Orchestra along with a proclamation, but there were also mayoral proclamations on preventing tooth decay in children, celebrating a season of non-violent action, and one regarding the local Coaches Vs. Cancer fundraising event which was received by Marcy Few. Read the rest of this entry »

To keep residents updated on upcoming events, every Friday I will post happenings around District 2. I’ll list city meetings, community events, and information that I hope you find of interest.

-February 1st Monday 6:00pm City Council Legislative Meeting, City Council Chamber, Lower Level, City Hall.

-February 2nd Tuesday 4:30pm Chase Youth Commission, City Council Briefing Center, Lower Level, City Hall.

-February 2nd Tuesday 6:00-9:00pm Organic Vegetable Gardening, Corbin Art Center, 507 W. 7th

-February 2nd Tuesday 7:00pm Rockwood Neighborhood Council Meeting Hutton Elementary 908 E. 24th Ave.
Read the rest of this entry »