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Downtown Moves - Nov 1-3 Twitter archive

Below is the raw extract of tweets hashtagged #dottmo

Context: Ottawa.ca - Downtown Moves (Downtown Ottawa Mobility Overlay Study)

Most of them are from the Ken Greenberg talk, I have separated out earlier ones at the top.
These are in oldest first order.
(In case you're wondering how I did this, I took the Excel version of the Twitter archive I made, and sorted by ascending TweetID. then copied the text.)
Where the tweets are in order, just from me and the date is the same, I have removed my Twitter handle (@rakerman) and the time stamp.

Tweets from before Ken Greenberg's talk

@rakerman
2011-11-01T11:15:54-04:00
questions: how Centretown Design #ccdp2011 Mobility relates to Downtown Moves #dottmo & Sidewalk Summit #ssdh http://t.co/OE8p55rY #ottcity

I'm proposing #dottmo for Downtown Moves (hashtag = Downtown OTTawa MObility/MOves/Mobility Overlay) #ottcity

@rakerman
2011-11-02T20:29:26-04:00
@OTWPolitics I suggested hashtag #dottmo

@rakerman
2011-11-03T06:02:53-04:00
I will be using hashtag #dottmo for Downtown Moves / Mobility Overlay #ottcity

#dottmo MT @OTWPolitics: For those who can't make it to City Hall tonight, Ken Greenberg's talking urban rejuvenation on @CBCOttawa

@Centretowner
2011-11-03T08:19:33-04:00
RT @rakerman: I will be using hashtag #dottmo for Downtown Moves / Mobility Overlay #ottcity

@Centretowner
2011-11-03T09:10:47-04:00
Anyone else tweeting from Downtown Moves talk by Andrew Wiley-Schwartz? #Ottcity #dottmo #ottbike

@Centretowner
2011-11-03T09:12:44-04:00
Coun. @marianne4kanata talking about making our roads safer, and @JimWatsonOttawa signing Int'l walking charter #dottmo

@JimWatsonOttawa
2011-11-03T09:24:34-04:00
RT @Centretowner: Coun. @marianne4kanata talking about making our roads safer, and @JimWatsonOttawa signing Int'l walking charter #dottmo

@lana_stewart
2011-11-03T09:35:37-04:00
@Centretowner @rakerman They talk the talk... but will they walk the walk?? #ottcity #dottmo

@Centretowner
2011-11-03T09:39:06-04:00
AWS's #dottmo talk about what NYC did at Times Square reminds me of what #Ottcity did in the '60s with Sparks St

Ken Greenberg spoke November 3, 2011 at 7pm at City Hall.
Context: Ottawa.ca - Downtown Moves - Public Lecture Program

Ken Greenberg's talk

@rakerman
2011-11-03T19:01:15-04:00
#dottmo just opening - Ken Greenberg talking about book

#dottmo "we were swept up in a euphoria around the potential of the automobile"

#dottmo 1939 World's Fair - GM exhibit - "it seemed like a good idea at the time"

#dottmo "the hubris of that era... The automobile was at the heart of it"

#dottmo Disney Magic Highway USA 1958

#dottmo the summary of the Disney film is people were out of their minds (about cars) in the 1950s

#dottmo from walkable cities to car-oriented cities

#dottmo Jane Jacobs vs Robert Moses

#dottmo as walkability becomes the most desired, poor are pushed out of city centers into suburbs

#dottmo (car-centic design) producing a pattern of living that is not sustainable

#dottmo massive financial drag on economy related to congestion, long car travel times

#dottmo website: dead malls (symptom of car-oriented design failing)

#dottmo "the best way to solve mobility is through land use"

#dottmo need mixed use buildings

#dottmo Bank Street Ottawa transformation

#dottmo how to handle new immigrants - they are now ending up in suburbs - disconnected, difficult to get around

#dottmo (me: in part this is about the Arrival City idea)

#dottmo showing transformation of NYC Times Square

#dottmo Madrid has buried city-centre highways

#dottmo new ways to get around - bike share, car share, phone as access/payment for all forms of transportation

#dottmo showing a Complete Streets design

#dottmo if kids can bike to school, that's a good indicator

#dottmo urban design to percentage of pedestrians using the space - temporary or permanent pedestrianization of roadways

#dottmo Hammarby Sjostad  http://t.co/vRFX82t5

#dottmo the next big challenge: retrofitting suburbia

#dottmo #ottcity is there a link for the Bank Street redesign Ken is talking about?

#dottmo restructuring around subway stops coming to York U

#dottmo Mississauga "looks like a city... But on the ground it's auto-oriented"

#dottmo "at the heart of a sustainable future is gracefully making this transition" to a pedestrian/cyclist/transit city

#dottmo civil society needs to support these changes

#dottmo iterate solutions with teams of experts to solve complex urban design problems

#dottmo big turnout, mailing list I can sign up for, but not at all clear how people can participate, not just receive broadcasts #ottcity

#dottmo I guess Ken Greenberg was talking about: Bank Street Community Design Plan http://t.co/u38bi6xL 1st I've heard of it. #ottcity

#dottmo Here's the Disney Magic Highway video that Ken showed, demonstrating how crazy people were over cars in 1958 http://t.co/ZMSDVvWj

Further Reading

I think this is what the Mayor signed: The International Charter for Walking

RandomHouse.ca - Ken Greenberg - Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder

LibraryThing - Walking Home: The Life and Lessons of a City Builder  

Wired 15.12 - The Original Futurama [GM 1939 World's Fair exhibit]

Wikipedia - Jane Jacobs - The Death and Life of Great American Cities

RandomHouse.com - Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City

LibraryThing - Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City

Arrival City: The Final Migration and the Next World

US National Complete Streets Coalition

Complete Streets Canada

I would point you to a fantastic video of Jan Gehl talking in Ottawa about urban design, but the NCC reorganised their site and it has now disappeared.  You can see his slidedeck but it's almost useless without his (very funny) narration.  You can also follow the thread of blog postings back from Jan Gehl presentation about urban planning in Ottawa - October 6, 2010 but many of the links are now broken.

Contact

There is a general contact address: downtownmoves@ottawa.ca
and the specific project manager is Nelson Edwards: nelson.edwards@ottawa.ca

There was a mailing list you could sign up for at the event; you can probably get on it by emailing them.

Nelson said on the afternoon of the 3rd there was a 40-person discussion / working group, but I don't know who the members were or how the results will be presented.

Also Greenberg's presentation was recorded in some form - I think video - there was mention of a "podcast" of it being posted.

Previously:
November 1, 2011  questions about downtown mobility [now with answers]

Labels: centretown, dottmo, downtown mobility, downtown moves, links to presentations, ottawa, presentation notes

posted by Richard at 07:06 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)

City of Ottawa policy on walking

It is ridiculously difficult to follow a trail of decision-making on the ottawa.ca site - in fact there is no trail, as nothing is hyperlinked, so you have to navigate full-text document after full-text document, figuring out the connections yourself.

In any case, my trail ended up a City Council September 8, 2010

8. taking steps towards a cycle friendly city - MOTION
MESURES POUR RENDRE LA VILLE PLUS CONVIVIALE POUR LES CYCLISTES - MOTION

Committee Recommendations AS AMENDED

1. That Council approve the following recommendations from the attached report:

a. That best practices be deployed for marking, signage and signalization to ensure safety and to accommodate cyclists at intersections with segregated lanes.

b. That Ottawa’s Official Plan be implemented so as to reflect and respect the following guiding principle and accompanying objective, to wit – “A Green and Environmentally-Sensitive City - A Focus on Walking, Cycling and Transit - Ottawa implements policies that favour walking, cycling and public transit over the use of private motor vehicles, thereby facilitating the use of modes of transportation that are socially accessible, environmentally healthy and economically feasible.”

c. That Ottawa’s Official Plan be amended to require that the design of new sub-divisions incorporate cycle-friendly ‘short-cuts’ as part of the residential street and path network.

d. That the design of all new rapid transit stations consider the best means of accommodating the needs of cyclists who will be using the rapid transit system for a portion of their journey.

e. That, in addition to the cycling integration with road re-construction programs, an additional $5M be allocated each year, subject to budget approval, to stand-alone cycling projects to complete the missing links in the network.

f. That Finance re-categorize the Cycling Facilities Programme from Strategic Initiatives to Growth.

2. That Council refer the following recommendations from the attached report to the appropriate policy planning work, including the Official Plan, the Transportation Master Plan, the Cycling Plan, the Downtown Mobility Overlay study, and the East-West Segregated Bike Lane Pilot Project:

a. That the City of Ottawa undertake the establishment of a network of segregated lanes for cyclists crossing the downtown core in both East-West and North-South directions, even where such facilities require changes to existing parking or travel lanes.

b. That the “Copenhagen model” for segregated lanes, wherein parked cars protect the cycling lanes from regular traffic rather than have the cycling lanes protect the parked vehicles, be adopted as the standard in Ottawa on streets where cars, parked cars, segregated lanes as well as sidewalks are proposed.

c. That new roads and re-construction projects with urban cross-sections include segregated cycling facilities and budget for them accordingly.

d. That the City’s Transportation Master Plan and the Ottawa Cycling Plan be amended to reflect a revised 8% modal share target for cycling within the Greenbelt, and 5% for the city as a whole, to be achieved by 2021 (currently the target is set at 3% city-wide to be achieved by 2031).

And that staff report back with an update in Q1 2011, including plans to address concerns raised by the BIAs with respect to business impacts and potential loss of parking.

CARRIED

from http://ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/occ/2010/09-08/englishminutes96.htm

This follows on from a motion carried at Transportation Committee on September 1, 2010: http://www.ottawa.ca/calendar/ottawa/citycouncil/trc/2010/09-01/disposition44eng.htm

@centretowner tells me this should not be interpreted as a priority list e.g. it's not

1. walking
2. cycling
3. public transit
4. private car

it's

1. walking, cycling, public transit
2. private vehicle

The Mid-Centretown Community Design Plan consultation has a bunch of ideas about how to implement these stated priorities in downtown Ottawa, see their presentation (PowerPoint, 11MB) starting at slide 28 (from November 30, 2010). Also see their draft mobility position paper (PDF).

Apparently the city is going to do a Downtown Mobility Overlay study, but there doesn't seem to be any info online yet.

Labels: downtown mobility, ottawa, pedestrians, urban planning, walking

posted by Richard at 12:58 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)