Truly livable streets...

[turil.livejournal.com]

For your consideration (and for those with nothing better to do, mockery), I offer you a vision of a better Somerville:

A human centered town.

and

Bringing a street to life, in NYC.

I don't imagine Somerville will be up for this sort of thing for a long time. We'll probably have to wait until Generation Circus comes into political power, locally, before the streets are reclaimed, more permanently, for joyful living. So for now, those of us who long for more truly livable streets, can just enjoy our one day of Art Beat, and be happy that we have sidewalks and tiny plazas here and there that let the humans be mostly free to live. :-)

Comments

[jimmyfergus.livejournal.com]

> enjoy our one day of Art Beat

You left out HonkFest.

HonkFest truly has seemed like a community/street phenomenon to me. I hope it flourishes.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Honkfest is indeed lovely!

However most of the streets are still full of cars during it, and the good stuff has to be squeezed onto the tiny sidewalks along Elm, while the cars take over most of the streetscape.

Do they shut down the streets for the parade? I've never made it to the parade, so I don't know...

[ron_newman]

It would be nice to close Elm Street between Day and Grove on warm-weather Sundays. Traffic could be diverted to Highland Avenue (use orange cones to make it two-way on those days).

[m00n.livejournal.com]

...and then if that works out, we could do it on Saturday too, and then maybe Friday nights, and then Thursday night...and then every weeknight...and then all the time!

How cool would it be to have all that space open for outdoor restaurant seating and concerts and such???

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I have to admit I was thinking about that town the whole time we were having that discussion about parking regulations and that new development at the corner of Summer and Cutler. :-)

It had never occurred to me before reading that article just how much cars take away from life in the city, especially when it comes to the fact that we pretty much can't let our kids run around freely outside in the city for the sole reason that they could get hit by a car. And that's to say nothing about all the extra noise and pollution they bring and the space they take up.

[pensivewombat.livejournal.com]

"We pretty much can't let our kids run around freely outside in the city for the sole reason that they could get hit by a car."

Oh yeah? WHAT ABOUT THIS GUY:


STRANGER DANGER AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, there are no more cars around here now than there were around when I was growing up in the DC area, and I still ran around and played in the streets.

[lizzielizzie.livejournal.com]

...the kids can't play in the yard and know not to go into the street? I'm confused.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

Kids down the street from me are outside playing hockey all the time in nice weather. One-way street, not a lot of traffic -- there are a lot of Somerville streets like that, and these kids (ranging in age from, say, 6 to 12) are plenty sensible enough to watch for traffic and get out of its way. I think the lack of kids playing on most streets says a lot more about adult paranoia than anything else.

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

It's slow in coming, but it's coming. This may be the only constructive aspect of the lousy driving around here; making people look forward to seeing an end to it.

[turil.livejournal.com]

:-) !

Indeed, it's always darkest before the dawn, right?

[boblothrope.livejournal.com]

Where would you rather live, Beacon Hill or Charles River Park? The former has streets where cars are allowed. The latter replaced the West End, which used to be like Beacon Hill, with a car-free superblock with a few massive parking garages.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

That depends: Would I be living on the part of Charles River Park that abuts Storrow Drive?

[turil.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen the Charles River Park, I don't think, so I can't answer that question, but my ideal would be a place that had a few streets that allowed motorized traffic, with a speed limit of about 20 (mostly done by using street reclaiming techniques such as the street mural in the link and other cool things like moving art bollards, pedestrians having the right of way, etc., with most of the streets being reserved for non-motorized traffic (walking, biking, skating, stiltwalking, etc.). So maybe Beacon Hill with most streets open to non-motorized traffic.

[fefie.livejournal.com]

When I was in Manhattan last week, it was awesome to see Broadway closed to traffic for several blocks in mid-town as it is being turned into a pedestrian plaza. Imagine lots of people sitting in lawn chairs out in the street in Times Sq -- it was an amazing sight!

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in the city (real dense cities, that is) it's easy to make human commerce a priority, but it takes more of an effort on the part of the planning departments for more suburban areas like Somerville, where we've mostly got giant swaths of residential areas removing people from the public commerce areas of business, schools, recreational stuff, and non-profit gathering places, rather than the mixed-use of real urban design.

But Davis Square does seem to have a pretty good set up for a more human friendly future.

[rethcir.livejournal.com]

Just hope it doesn't turn into Downtown Crossing at night!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Art Beat is my least favorite day of the year in Davis. It's easier for me to get from one place to another in Davis when there are cars on the roads, than when there are hordes of pedestrians clogging the place up.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, being in a hurry is the number one stressor for humans in the "modern" world. Our sympathetic nervous system sometimes has a difficult time discriminating between being in an overgrown jungle being chased by an angry panther, and wanting to go shopping or get to work.

[m00n.livejournal.com]

Ha. I think if people were able to bring that much commerce to the streets of Davis Square every single day of the year, or even the summer, you would hear very few complaints.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on. It is only one day. You should come down and enjoy it. Or maybe it is a good excuse for a nice weekend away.

[hikermtnbiker.livejournal.com]

Sounds truly idyllic. Imagine the quiet, save for the sound conversation and the click of free hubs. And benefits too numerous to list.

I wonder though, do we have the proper mix here of jobs, shopping, leisure, services and open space to make something like this work? Despite our density, our current mix of these items really reflects the post 50s automobile culture. Perhaps that would change in response to a change in our automobile policy but it would take a long time. In the short term maybe this works best in planned communities, as I think was described in the article. Makes me interested in learning more about Assembly Square.

Another challenge would be how to increase the economic diversity of residents in car free enclaves. Our current housing and business development along rapid transit lines overwhelming favors more affluent white collar workers. Not a reason to not do this but something that needs to be worked out.

I love your idea, Ron

[versonic.livejournal.com]

I saw that article about the town in Germany a few weeks ago and loved it! It's hard in practice, though, on any family with more than two children. Can you imagine how hard it would be to lug a week's worth of groceries for anyone with more than two children? Or really, I guess, any children? It's definitely the kind of community where people have to decide they want to move TO rather than have set up around them because it is such an extreme lifestyle for most people.

However, it would be great to see the streets immediately around Davis shut down to traffic, particularly Elm, like Ron suggests.

Also, I'm at work, so I can't listen to the audio on the video - but why couldn't Somerville take part in more street art? It's so benign but adds so much to a community. I would love to see some brightly colored streets or crocheted parking meters. And I think many others would feel the same way!

But, yes, great ideas.

art

[cthulhia]

perhaps take your suggestions to the arts council? (they may not have funds, but they'll help get you a civic nod for such things.)

Somerville is already pretty supportive of street art.

the streetlamp that got may-poled on the bike path is still intact.
the public garden has some big art pieces.
sonik doesn't do his signs anymore, and not many people have stepped up to replace him.

If you want to crochet a parking meter cozy, just make sure it doesn't interfere with the maintenance of the meter, and the RMV will probably leave it there. (*other people* might take it). Haptotrope did something like that for an artbeat, but, you could probably arrange a meet-up around getting people to do it again.

[ocschwar.livejournal.com]

"I saw that article about the town in Germany a few weeks ago and loved it! It's hard in practice, though, on any family with more than two children. Can you imagine how hard it would be to lug a week's worth of groceries for anyone with more than two children?"

Keep in mind that there are people all over Europe living this way. So you don't have to imagine anything, you just need to find out what they do. And the answer is that they do not lug a week's worth of groceries. Neighborhoods built this way all have grocery stores (not convenience stores) within walking distance. 3 blocks away at most, and you shop 3 times a week.