The Johnny Appleseed of Walkable Streets Comes to Ventura
Recently, Dan Burden addressed a forum in the Community Meeting Room at City Hall which was also cablecast. Burden, who's known across the country as the "Johnny Appleseed of Walkable Streets" is a resource to the Mobility effort now under way called, "Ventura on the Move."
Burden, who's crisscrossed America diagnosing the way we've neglected pedestrian safety and amenities, outlined not only the what ails us, but how we can begin the cure. He spent two days walking four of our main corridors with local citizens and staff, analyzing what's wrong, what's right and what can be done.
A quick summary of his points is posted on the website explaining the City's Mobility planning effort at: http://cityofventura.net/mobility/
Prepared for a similar presentation in Chico, California, Burden applied those lessons to Ventura. They echo similar concerns that appeared in an Op-Ed by Nicole Kite in Sunday's Ventura County Star under the headline of Walking Ventura Not Easy: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/ 2008/mar/09/walking-ventura-not-easy/
Of course reversing half a century of favoring cars over pedestrians won't be easy. Last week, two pedestrians were struck by cars on Ventura's streets, one fatally. In both cases, the walkers were trying to cross streets where there were no crosswalks.
These are tough financial times for cities -- and our streets show it. Not only do we struggle to stretch our gas tax dollars to repair our current streets (the city's largest repaving effort in history is currently underway in Midtown) but we scrape to find funding for pedestrian improvements. As with most worthwhile goals, money is part of the answer. But the first step is making a priority of walkability -- and setting long-term goals for achieving it.
Burden, who's crisscrossed America diagnosing the way we've neglected pedestrian safety and amenities, outlined not only the what ails us, but how we can begin the cure. He spent two days walking four of our main corridors with local citizens and staff, analyzing what's wrong, what's right and what can be done.
A quick summary of his points is posted on the website explaining the City's Mobility planning effort at: http://cityofventura.net/mobility/
Prepared for a similar presentation in Chico, California, Burden applied those lessons to Ventura. They echo similar concerns that appeared in an Op-Ed by Nicole Kite in Sunday's Ventura County Star under the headline of Walking Ventura Not Easy: http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/ 2008/mar/09/walking-ventura-not-easy/
Of course reversing half a century of favoring cars over pedestrians won't be easy. Last week, two pedestrians were struck by cars on Ventura's streets, one fatally. In both cases, the walkers were trying to cross streets where there were no crosswalks.
These are tough financial times for cities -- and our streets show it. Not only do we struggle to stretch our gas tax dollars to repair our current streets (the city's largest repaving effort in history is currently underway in Midtown) but we scrape to find funding for pedestrian improvements. As with most worthwhile goals, money is part of the answer. But the first step is making a priority of walkability -- and setting long-term goals for achieving it.
posted by Rick Cole at
12:35 PM
3 Comments:
When considering the walkability of Ventura, remember its quite different from one location to the next. I think West Ventura near city hall, it is in fact quite walkable. However, the east end of the city towards east of Kimball on Telegraph or Telephone however becomes far less walkable. Its not that there are no sidewalks. The problem is that the streets are too wide and there are not enough shade trees. The shopping centers are designed for cars with large seas of parking lots in front. You may want to walk to the shops but once you get there, you'll feel completely out of place dodging cars.
I think the City of Ventura should try to help East Ventura recover from the blight of suburbanism. The 70s must have been the low point in American architecture so now we have to try and find a way to repair some of the wrongs of that period. Case in point, try walking across the Kimball/Telepgrah intersection. You'll see that it hs completely off the charts when it comes to car versus human scale.
In the plan for developments out in the East end, we should ensure that we do not develop along the same lines as before. Its far better to have smaller streets and more trees than the large ugly pavement we've seen in the last round of development out there.
Since Ventura is a true California Beach Town, possible the only one that does not utilize it's beautiful beach area. I believe it would be a greater use of resources to work more diligently on improving our beach area, allowing more retail use, moving some of the street fairs to the beach arcade and Ventura Ave, using the pier for art shows, etc. Rather than trying to make parts of our city "walkable" that don't really fit that definition. The only true walkable area of Ventura is the downtown and the Westend. The balance of the city has been laid out to favor the auto.
Don't sacrifice the East End to Suburban desperation. Walkability should be a goal throughout the City.
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