Tuesday, March 29, 2011

City Asks for Ideas on Downtown Mobility Study

This past week the City began to shop the Central Salem Mobility Study and solicit key study locations. They took it to the Downtown Advisory Board and will bring it to the Vision 2020 Bike/Ped Group and a few other entities.

On paper the project looks promising, offering the prospect of distinct improvements.

It asks:
  • What should the balance be between: Vehicular capacity, parking (on-street), bicycle, and pedestrian travel?
  • How can downtown become a more appealing place to live, work, shop, and play while continuing to move people and goods?
  • What would enhance circulation, mobility, and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit users to and through downtown?
These are good questions, and we can only hope that the City asks with an open mind, seriously entertaining the possibility that the old answers strike a balance that is wrong, harmful, or no longer useful.

People travel in multiple ways, and want to feel they have a menu of choices for "how to get there." Hopefully the study will look at the whole system and honor the fact that people and their mobility choices are not monolithic, and that for downtown, it matters less how they get there and more that lots of people get there and find it easy to get there.

The existing system instead tends to enforce travel by drive-alone car trip - most people don't feel they really have a choice. If the Eugene downtown pedestrian mall was one kind of failed monoculture, the ways Salem's downtown is too much like an auto mall is another kind of failed monoculture.

The mobility study needs to be people-focused, not engine-focused, with a recognition that robust mobility choice is central for a lively, diverse downtown.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Legislative Update - Week 8 - Baseball is Back

I suppose we're in Giants territory a little here, but the Ms count, too. One of the great stories in spring training is Tom Wilhelmsen:
Now back in the game at age 27 and making a run at a bullpen spot for the Mariners, Wilhelmsen pedals to the club's training complex several miles each day on a bicycle.

"I ride whenever I can," the free-spirited reliever said. "Save the earth, save my body, save some money."
Lots of committee and lobby activity this week!What's new?

The personal car-sharing bill passed the House and a couple of hearings are scheduled for this week.

On the 14th, Salem City Council also referred HB 3150 back to the Legislative Committee (see minutes). Originally the Committee had opposed it. The reconsideration is welcome!

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. No change.

Senate Bill 415 would expand penalties for harming a vulnerable user of the road. Hearing and worksession scheduled for Wednesday, the 29th. It's an early one!
Tuesday-March 29
8:30 A.M.
Room: 343
Senate Bill 604 will be a gut-n-stuff. No change.

Senate Bill 660 would decrease the fines for stop sign violations on bike. No change.

Senate Bill 846 would regulate standards for bicycle trailers. Public hearing and possible worksession scheduled for Thursday, March 31st.
Thursday-March 31
3:00 P.M.
Room: HR B

Sunday, March 27, 2011

City Council, March 28th - Lords of Dogtown and the 50+ Center

Apparently the Senior Center has a skateboarding problem, and that's the most transpo-relevant agenda item on this week's Council meeting.

Tony Hawk's still in his 40s, but the Lords of Dogtown and the Z-Boys would be eligible to use the 50+ Center. Ha!

Presumably, though, the problem is with the younger set.

It's not difficult to imagine that skating inside on the center grounds is inappropriate. Nobody needs a broken hip.

But would the proposed ordinance impact transportation in front of the Senior Center? And what message does it send about active transportation? Remember Octavio, who still bikes at 103?!

The ordinance language isn't obviously clear, but the staff report is less ambiguous:
4. Skateboarders also utilize the sidewalks along the front of the building and the surrounding handicapped parking spots. This places both seniors and disabled patrons at risk of being hit and injured by skateboarders.
This suggests that the ordinance might also prohibit skating on the sidewalks along the Senior Center.

If you skate or know someone who does, the ordinance and process might be worth poking into.

While it is certainly true that it may not be appropriate to skate in certain places, in general the solution should be to encourage more skating and more polite skating - not to marginalize it further.

When the City decides active transportation is inappropriate somewhere, it should give thought to encouraging it elsewhere - fair and balanced!

The "I love me" heart-logo, after all, looks a lot like a hand plant. Just sayin'...

(Image: Thrasher Magazine)

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Breakfast on Bikes this Friday

B on B is back on! Last month we had a surprising freeze, but it's spring now, and weather for the moment anyway seems calmly normal.

We will be at 12th & Chemeketa on the Promenade just east of the railroad tracks on Friday, March 25th. We'll have free coffee, pastries, and fruit for people who bike between 7am and 9am.

Please support our generous sponsors!
Cascade Baking Company
LifeSource Natural Foods
Governor's Cup Coffee Roasters
Salem Bicycle Club
Willamette University.

Mechanics from Santiam Bicycle will also be available for quick check derailleur adjustment, lube, and tire inflation!

With this B on B, we say good-bye to the Coffee House Cafe. As you have doubtless read, the cafe is closing this month. Salem will miss Lari and the crew badly, and we thank them for their support over three years of B on B!

With change we welcome the Governor's Cup on board as the new B on B coffee sponsor. The Cloyd family is devoted to Salem. They have have bike racers, the waffle cart, and the coffee shop in a little archipelago of Salem goodness. Thanks and welcome aboard!


View Larger Map

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

ODOT Announces TE Long-List with Three Local Projects

Last week ODOT released the long-list of finalists for the current round of Transportation Enhancement funding, and 3/4 of the local priority list made it. They are (order is the SKATS priority, not any ranking by ODOT):

1. Delaney Road in Turner
2. Hayesville Drive in unincorporated Marion County
4. Brush College Road in West Salem

According to ODOT
On April 4, 2011 the TE Commitee will meet to select projects and make a funding recommendation. Final approval by the Oregon Transportation Commission is expected in May 2011.
In December the SKATS Policy Committee had announced their priorities for the Transportation Enhancement candidate projects. The one project that didn't make the cut was the Wheatland Road improvements in Keizer

The other three, all unprioritized projects, also fell off the list:
  • Railroad quiet zone improvements on Hines SE
  • Brown Road NE north of Sunnyview NE in Salem
  • Brooklake Road NE at Portland Road in Marion County

Monday, March 21, 2011

"I Love Me" Campaign is Opportunity for Marion County to Love Bicycling Too

On the Capitol steps tomorrow at 11:30am, Senator Jackie Winters' "I Love Me" campaign kicks off, according to the Statesman. The project coincides with the American Diabetes Association Alert Day, and ME = Move more, Eat right.
Dr. James Lace, a committee member in I Love Me, is a pediatrician with the Childhood Health Associates of Salem. During his 34-year career in Salem, he has seen the number of overweight and obese children increase, he said.

Sixty percent of children in Marion County are overweight and 30 percent are obese, Lace said.
Bicycling and other forms of active transportation are a perfect way to include regular, daily exercise into a healthy lifestyle.

Legislative Update - Week 7

What's new?

Things seems to be slowing down some, so not much to report: A couple of hearings and a "do-pass" recommendation.

The Oregon Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meets next Monday - but that's not really related to the Legislative session.

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. No change.

Senate Bill 604 will be a gut-n-stuff. No change.

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Downtown Court Street Offers Possibilities in 2012 Rebuild

With the bike racing on State and Court streets today, it seemed like a good time to toss out an idea that's rattled around some.

Court and State Streets are scheduled to be rebuilt and restriped in 2012, and current conditions make it possible to consider making Church Street two-lanes in the downtown core and reallocating space more generously to share with all road users.

For the length between Church and Front Streets, State Street has three lanes, the third of which, on the right or north side, cannot really be used. The temporary bus mall uses it now between Church and High; between High and Liberty it is a right turn only; between Liberty and Commercial it is orphaned and cannot be entered directly because of the preceding turn lane; and between Commercial and Front State is two-way.

Here's a detail of the intersection at Liberty and Church.

It appears here that traffic volumes do not require three full through-lanes of auto traffic.

There's an opportunity here to rethink creatively the road surface, lane assignments, and striping plan. Sidewalk expansion? Cycletrack? Pocket park? Even if you don't touch car parking, there are lots of possibilities! Let's get creative.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Bike Racing Returns to Capitol on Saturday

The Capitol Cup is this weekend!

Racing starts at 2pm on Saturday, and goes through the afteroon. College racing may start earlier. (This poster is last year's, do note! This year's schedule is here.)

Head on down and cheer on the racers, many of whom are Willamette students and residents!

In the most recent Historic Landmarks Commission newsletter, commissioner Ellen Miller blurbed the race and showed an old picture of the Willson Park track!

Miller is one of the more interesting bikey personalities in town. On weekends you'll find her racing - sometimes even on Team Devo racing a single-speed balloon-tire cruiser!

During the week, she's the mild-mannered Executive Director of the GEM Children's Foundation. She also sits on the board of the Salem Trail Alliance and is a member of the Salem Historic Landmarks Commission.

It was great to read the blurb and see her spread the word.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Man, 103, Still Rides to Long Beach Farmers Market

Just some cheery and inspiring news from elsewhere.
Nearly every day, he toddles from his third-floor condo to the garage where he keeps his red Torker tricycle. On it, he pedals around the neighborhood — to the park, the beach and the farmers market — in a ritual honed over nearly 40 years.
How great is that!

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Bike and Walk Update Meeting Materials



Tonight the Stakeholder Advisory Committee meets to look at maps and to discuss the first public draft of the Pedestrian Plan Concepts (35pp, 4mb).

There are also 5 maps of areas for special attention, with biking concerns in green, walking in brown, and both in green.

The downtown map is at top. The others are:
West Salem
South Salem
Southeast Salem
Northeast Salem

I don't know how useful it would be to drill in to detail just now - but I recommend you look at the memo and maps and see what you think!

Legislative Update - Week 6

What's new?

No new bills, but House Bill 3150 passed the House and the City of Salem will likely oppose it.

Bills Specifically about Bicycling

Senate Bill 130 for bicycle traffic lights. No action.

Senate Bill 604 will be a gut-n-stuff. No action. But the City of Salem will oppose it, as currently written.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

City to Oppose 20 mph Residential Speed Limit

At City Council Monday night, Council will look at its legislative committee's recommendations. One in particular is especially troubling, and may perhaps be based on an incomplete understanding of the reasons behind the bill.

One of the most interesting and promising legislative concepts this year is in House Bill 3150 and Senate Bill 344. It would permit cities to calm traffic and enact a residential speed limit 5 mph lower than currently posted. The goal is to create a 20 mph zone on certain residential streets.

We do this already, for example, with school zones, going from 25 mph to 20 mph.

The Federal Highway Administration notes that fatalities among people walking and struck by a car go from 40% to 5% when auto speed goes from 30 mph to 20 mph. 20 is a lot safer!

The City proposes to oppose the bills, nevertheless, and its reasons don't seem very public-spirited.
Passage of this bill would allow the City of Salem to set its own speed limits. However that would potentially create pressure on City staff and the City Council to set speeds based on citizen perception and not necessarily what the appropriate speed limit should be for a certain street. It could result in instances of "spot" speed zones or inconsistent application of speed limits within the City. In addition, it would create a potentially heavy workload for City traffic engineering staff and could involve a considerable amount of City Council time and energy in order to consider each speed limit ordinance. Staff recommends that the City oppose this bill, despite that it might give the City more authority, in order to sustain the objective and deliberate system in place currently.[italics added]
With neighborhood associations looking for traffic calming, and with the updates to the City's walking and biking plans, this would seem to be an especially useful tool, and it's not clear why the City does not welcome it.

(For the rest of Council items, see here.)

City Council, March 14th - Parks, CIP, the Leg

This week at council some of the most interesting items are in the Legislative Committee Report. (One bill will get a separate note.) The City also published the preliminary Capital Improvement Plan. And a couple of parks developments look promising.

The city proposes to apply for $425,000 to develop Kale Park and seeks to approve plans for a walking trail at Wallace Marine Park.



See the legislative committee's positions as well as a closer look a the Capital Improvement Plan after the jump.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

In a Disaster, Bicycles Offer Flexible Mobility

Building codes and emergency preparedness in Japan might be second to none. And yet the earthquake's devastation is shocking and enormous.

Oregon is also on a subduction zone, and we are due for a large earthquake ourselves.

According to the Japan Times,
Bicycles sold like hotcakes at supermarkets and bike shops after Friday's megaquake shut down train services in the Tokyo metropolitan area, attracting local residents — and people from farther afield — who wanted to cycle home instead of facing the prospect of walking for several hours.
Having a bike, knowing how to ride and maintain it, knowing how to haul cargo with it, having large numbers of bicycles available around the city - these can be important parts of disaster readiness. Another good reason to support bicycling today.

More at Cyclicious.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Home Builder Study Forgets Bridge, other Road Projects

It's obvious that bikes work best for short trips. Consequently, bicycling is easiest in compact cities and walkable neighborhoods, and is more difficult amidst widely distributed, car-dependent suburban landscapes. Because of this, it is difficult to talk bikes without also talking wonky about land use, zoning, and development.

In the Statesman yesterday, Michael Rose wrote about an industry-sponsored study of the benefits of home building. Notably, the study appears to omit the costs of key current and planned road projects, and consequently significantly understates the overall cost to serve most new development.

More generally, as you might expect from a piece commissioned to buttress a particular case, the study is much stronger on benefits than costs.*

Rose writes
During boom years, housing subdivisions have mushroomed across Salem. Neighbors, worried about traffic problems and crowded schools, often have raised concerns about growth.
But the home builders study (benefits) and part 2 on costs suggests that Salem residents "should be thanking the building industry" for generating tax revenues and paying fees that help fund city services, [study author Elliot] Eisenberg said.

The economic study looks at the impact of the home building in three phases: the construction phase, the ripple effect and the occupancy phase. It then compared costs of services to support new development, such as education, fire, police, parks and roads.
Here's a $500 million project, designed to support new development and other growth, that wouldn't be paid for by tax revenues or fees on new construction.

This is a terrific example of an externalized cost. As new housing is built farther from the city center, requiring longer commutes to employment and longer trips to essential retail, the costs to service those trips are shifted from the new construction, and those who choose to live in it, and spread around regionally for everyone to subsidize. New construction does not capture and incorporate these costs; rather, it externalizes these costs.

Rose cites the City of Salem in defense of the growth:
Growth is a break-even proposition for the city's budget, according to city officials. Increases in property taxes and fees paid by developers are roughly on par with the cost of providing additional city services, they said.
But it is difficult to understand how this could be true. The study didn't include the proposed third bridge. Nor did it include the $100 million "Keep Salem Moving" road bond, many of whose projects are not merely inner city maintenance, but rather are substantial road expansion projects designed to support new development on the city's edges.

If all growth was "a break-even proposition," new construction alone would fund the bulk of projects like these.

Not all construction is equal. By itself, new construction and growth can be good or bad. There's smart growth and there's unsustainable and ugly growth. Readers will know I'm a fan of Waterplace and Broadway Commons, for example. Significantly, these are infill and redevelopment projects. (They may also take advantage of urban development subsidies - but that's another topic.)

The Home Builder study is focused on first-time development on the edges of the city. While construction is a central part of the economy and housing starts remains a key index of economic health, centrifugal development on the outer edges of cities is neither sustainable nor a "break-even" proposition.

* Readers with a stronger economics background may have other observations and criticism. In table 1 on the cost side, the report includes: Education, police, fire, prison, water and sewer, health, recreation, general government, electric, and transit. No cost amount for road infrastructure to serve new development. That alone is a significant omission.

Next Bike & Walk Salem Meeting on Tuesday - Walking's the Focus

The next committee meeting for the update to Salem's walking and biking plans is on Tuesday at Pringle Community Hall at 6:30pm.

It will focus on walking.

Here's the agenda:

Visit the Bike & Walk Salem website for draft memos and additional information.

(I don't know if I'll post a note specifically about this round of memos and maps, as they will focus on walking rather than biking.)

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Bicycling Puts Cash in Your Pocket!

Though this is an ad from a Portland shop, its message is timeless!

If you have friends who are looking to save money - oh yeah, and improve health! - point them towards a Salem area bike shop! There's hardly any better investment.

Urban Bikeway Design Guide and Advocacy Resources Announced at Summit

At the National Bike Summit yesterday, folks announced a couple of resources. You should check them out and add them to your reference library and arsenal!

With New York City's transportation head Janette Sadik-Khan, the National Association of City Transportation Officials announced their Urban Bikeway Design Guide. It's intended to help fill in where existing national standards, principally AASHTO standards and the MUTCD, lag behind or have an insufficient urban - indeed, urbane - emphasis.

Advocacy Advance is a collaboration between the Alliance for Biking and Walking and the League of American Bicyclists. It offers research reports and monetary assistance in direct grants, scholarships and technical assistance to advocates for walking and biking.

You can always find links to them and to other resources at the Breakfast Blog Reference Library.

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

LAB Names SAIF a Bicycle Friendly Business

Today at the National Bike Summit, the League of American Bicyclists announced SAIF Corporation was an honorable mention Bicycle Friendly Business. The League announced 55 other businesses as well as 20 universities with designations from bronze to platinum. Stanford University and New Belgium Brewing both attained platinum. The University of Oregon and Portland State University also attained silver.

SAIF is the first Salem-area business or university to be recognized.
SAIF is a not-for-profit, state-chartered public corporation created by an act of the Oregon legislature in 1913. Our income, earned exclusively from policyholder premiums and investment returns, pays our operating expenses and supports the financial health of the Industrial Accident Fund (the fund from which SAIF's operating expenses and claim costs are paid).

SAIF offers coverage to public and private employers in the state of Oregon and has nearly 48,000 policyholders who employ more than half a million Oregonians. Approximately one in three Oregon workers is employed by a SAIF-insured policyholder.
The recognition is part of SAIF's corporate social responsibility:
SAIF knows that being an industry leader means doing our best to tread lightly and not taking the environment for granted. We have adopted Governor Ted Kulongoski's aggressive goals for reduction of greenhouse gases, and we are working to reduce our carbon footprint along with other public agencies. By 2015, we plan to reduce our energy consumption to a level that is 20 percent below our consumption in the year 2000, as well as to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
SAIF has many campuses across the state, including locations in Salem, Portland, Bend, and Eugene.

The League says
The Bicycle Friendly Business (BFB) program recognizes employers’ efforts to encourage a more bicycle friendly atmosphere for employees and customers. The program honors innovative bike-friendly efforts and provides technical assistance and information to help companies and organizations become even better for bicyclists. This new initiative complements the League’s Bicycle Friendly Community (BFC) program, which has been recognizing cities and towns for their bicycle friendliness since 2003.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Salem Area Trail Alliance Launches Trail Vision through Eola Hills

Neck and neck with the bike plan update, the other most exciting development in the Salem bike world is the brand-new Salem Area Trail Alliance project.

If you've been around racing at all in the past few years, you'll know Jeff McNamee from the Buy Local series of cross and short-track events. Jeff is also on the faculty of Linfield, where he teaches physical education and studies ways to improve teaching of PE.

Jeff also has a vision, and it's a grand one.
SATA’s primary focus will be to develop the Salem Greenway Trail (SGT). The SGT is a continuous multi use recreational trail designed for non-motorized recreational travel that will connect Salem to local green corridors and businesses. The SGT aims to provide health enhancing recreational opportunities for all trail users while preserving and improving our local green spaces.
Jeff envisions a trail all through the Eola Hills vineyards and farms!

The first piece is a soft trails project in Spring Valley State Park.

Here's a detail from the Willamette Water Trail.

Though it can be accessed from a driveway opposite Western Mennonite, the park is at present mainly undeveloped, primarily just a landing, with a pit toilet and campsite, and Jeff plans to make trails for the land-lubbers!

Along with Black Rock, this will make Salem a must-see stop for off-road bicycling!

Jeff is joined on the board by Ellen Miller, Don Hutchison, Mike Peterson, and Marcey Keefer Hutchison.

Today he'll be in Washington, DC, for the National Bike Summit. Stay tuned!

Monday, March 7, 2011

Legislative Update - Week 5

What's new?

In an address to the Portland City Club last week, the Governor suggested he'd focus on prevention in health care...maybe more focus on active transportation? Or just build more bridges...

The list of bills after the break. Generally not much action on them.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Third Bridge Pictures - It's a Highway!

The Salem Rivercrossing Oversight Committee and Task Force met on Wednesday to hear a status update (7.5mb). Included in the update were preliminary renderings of the proposed alignments.

Here's a detail from Alternative 2B. Imagine the view off the Union Street Railroad Bridge.

After the jump are full slides of most of the alternatives. Click on the images to enlarge them. Each is about 500k. Sorry for the size, but they deserve to be looked at.

The impacts to West Salem, Wallace Marine Park, the Union Street Railroad Bridge, and the Highland neighborhood would be considerable.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Youth Racing: El Grupo Tuscon Visits Boys and Girls Club

Marcos from El Grupo Tuscon is biking through town and will give a talk tonight at the Boys and Girls Club, home of the Salem's own youth cycling team, the Flow Riders.
El Grupo is a non-profit youth cycling team in Tucson, Arizona that affords the opportunities of cycling to local teens who otherwise would not get the chance.

Our mission is to empower youth through bicycles. We aim to instill traits such as courage, integrity and good sportsmanship through riding and racing bicycles. By maintaining a clubhouse and by coaching five group rides a week, we provide a consistent, safe, family environment so these youth may grow up mentally, emotionally, and physically healthy. We embrace all forms of cycling, from road and mountain bike racing to bicycle touring and daily commuting. Our goal is to educate and inspire youth to overcome obstacles. We specifically target at-risk youth from low-income, underserved populations.
Marcos will be at the Boys & Girls Club HQ, 1395 Summer Street NE at 6pm.

Yesterday he was in Portland and talked on the KBOO Bike show and last year Heidi Swift wrote about the team in the Oregonian.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Sternwheeler for Sale: $160K

I'm pretty sure this is not the Willamette Queen.

But Craigslist has a sternwheeler for sale for $160,000.

The difference between a high bridge and low bridge is around $5 million.

Surely this does not require advanced math!

(h/t the Merc)

Vision 2020 Meeting Canceled for March; Preview for April

The Vision 2020 Bike/Ped Workgroup has been quiet this winter. Much of the activity is focused on the Sustainable Cities initiatives and the Bike/Ped plan updates. So today's March meeting is canceled.

But April is on and it looks interesting.

A couple of weeks ago, City Council approved a downtown circulation study. It has its origins partially in a TGM grant proposal from back in 2009. That didn't happen and it morphed into the study that was ratified as part of the Downtown Strategic Action Plan.

On the agenda for the April Vision 2020 Bike/Ped Workgroup will be a discussion of the scope for the study:
The Central Salem Circulation, Access, and Mobility Study is intended to evaluate a wide range of transportation issues affecting Downtown Salem, including vehicular circulation, street design, bicycle and pedestrian circulation, sidewalk connectivity, use of alleyways, transit circulation, and other issues. This study will consider these issues in an area roughly bounded by Market Street on the north, 14th Street to the east, Mission Street to the south and the Willamette River to the west. Traffic counts to support this study are being collected in April. We are seeking your input to refine the questions that the study will address.
There's lots of potential here. The thing I'm most excited about is double-edged: It's a general traffic study.

On the one hand, people on bikes are still a very small proportion of total downtown traffic, and with counts in April, an already small number of people will be undercounted. If we want to know about "peak volumes" the summer would be better. Even so, as a total percent of traffic the difference will pretty much round to zero, because downtown is generally so forbidding to people on bikes. The proportion is small, no matter how you slice it. Either way, people on bikes could get ignored.

So why am I excited? Because I am persuaded that traffic, like most things, is a complex system, an ecosystem of sorts, and that when we simplify it too much, rely too much on theory, we get bad traffic models and bad road engineering; we get single-use urban renewal that empties at 5pm and is desolate on weekends. Theory tends to simplicity. Simplicity looks good on paper, but in life the too-simple is usually dead. Life is often gloriously messy and requires complexity.

By not carving out a separate study for people on bike and on foot, there's a chance, not a certainty of course, but a chance that non-drive-alone mobility will be considered as a vital ingredient to downtown and not merely as optional icing on the cake - or worse, lipstick on a pig. Instead of creating a parkway, and then shoehorning mobility for people on foot and on bike into it, maybe an organic approach to complete streets will prevail. Instead of focusing on parking and cars - focusing on machines and dead space - we can focus on the mobility of people, who want to use different ways, including cars, but not exclusively cars, to get around.

So there's an opportunity here!

Also interesting is the map, which appears to show a continuous connection along State Street to the Carousel! Maybe they'll ditch the idea of closing State Street at the tracks!