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| Batkid nydailynews.com |
Hello Everyone:
Before I launch into part II of Things My City Did Best in 2013, I just wanted to mention that we are well on our way to 10,000 page views by April 1. I want to give a special shout out to Norway, loud curling outfits and all. Thanks for all your support and I love your Olympic Curling team's outfit. That wins a gold medal in my book. Let's keep up the good work and I feel confident that we can do 10,000 page views by April 1. Now onto the next ten great things cities did in 2013.
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| French Quarter New Orleans, Louisiana forbes.com |
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| New York City Subway station en.wikipedia.com |
New York Rebuilt Its Subway System After Sandy: From one devastating storm to the next, in this case, Super storm Sandy. One of the hardest hit neighborhoods was the Rockaways, an eleven mile peninsula in the southern part of Queens. Atlantic Cities contributor and Next City writer Sarah Goodyear reports, "The storm dealt a paralyzing blow to transit here. The tracks of the A train-the sole subway connection to this remote part of the city, carrying 30,000 passengers on a typical weekday-were washed out..." No sooner did the flood waters recede, the New York City Metropolitan Transit Authority began rebuilding and strengthening the A train crossing. Seven months after the storm destroyed the crossing, the first train-a 1930s era model, in honor of the occasion-ran from the Howard Beach station back across the water toward the Rockaways. The tracks were protected by a two-mile long, 40-foot-high seawall made of marine steel, sunk 30 feet into the soft ground under the bay. Historically, the Rockaways have been a long isolated and neglected part of New York. However, in a crucial moment, New York City wasn't going to let them go underwater.
Philadelphia Lowered Crime and Established a Land Bank: "Philly did two incredible things this year: it created a land bank and reduced its homicide levels to the lowest the city has seen in almost 50 years...," says Diana Lind, Editor of Next City. The land bank will have authority over more than 40,000 vacant properties throughout the city. The goal is to move these properties into better uses which will improver the quality of life in the neighborhoods, increase property values and restore the city's tax base, "...creating a virtuous cycle for a stronger city." The drop in the crime rate is amazing in itself. Ms. Lind cites the empowerment of police officers to take over crime-ridden corners, mapping crime to prevent from the start, a few changes in leadership paid off in a very big way. In previous years, all the good news coming out of Philadelphia was culturally related (not that this a bad thing) but it's also fantastic to read about new urban initiatives such as a land bank and improved policing that will better the quality of life for the 25% of the city's population that lives in poverty.
Phoenix got Serious About Fostering a Residential Downtown: Lately, it seems that all the news coming out of the state of Arizona is centered around hard-core Republican party policies, SB1040, for example. R.J. Price, vice-President of Marketing and Communications Downtown Phoenix Partnership shares, "After 20-plus years spent obsessing over skyscrapers, civic plazas, sport arenas, hotels and mixed-used developments, i 2013 downtown Phoenix got serious about something much more integral to its urban health, a neighborhood..." Civic planners and official approved a program of affordable residential communities to meet the increased demand from the growing academic population. Further, the city embraced non-auto mobility through pedestrian-oriented streetscape enhancements, increased bike paths, a bike share program (similar to Chicago's), and a number of of activation initiatives such as pop-up parks and public art installations. "...It began to listening to its most passionate residents in an effort to better understand what kind o f downtown they want."
Pittsburgh Got a Giant Floating Duck: Yes, that's a giant rubber duck you're looking at. I keep looking for a bar of soap. "There's a lot to say about Pittsburgh in 2013, but the one thing that brought our community together this was the giant rubber duck that made its home on the Allegheny River..." This rubber ducky is the work of Florentijin Hofman and made its North American debut courtesy of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Ducky had hundreds of thousands of Pittsburghers quaking up by the downtown waterfront, making headlines in the newspapers and morning chat shows. Cell phones a plenty were going off, no doubt keeping instagram busy, documenting what an interesting and exciting city Pittsburgh is.
Portland, Oregon Got a Bunch of New Sidewalks: "The best thing Portland did this year was reinstating funding to install sidewalks on southeast 136th Street between Powell Rd and Division in East Portland," says Taz Loomans, Editor-in-Chief of The Blooming Rock Blog. At the beginning of 2013, the city diverted funds from sidewalk repair towards road maintenance. However, after a five-year-old girl was killed crossing the street, community advocates demanded that civic officials deal with the terrible walking conditions in East Portland. In April, Mayor Charlie Hales announced the reinstatement of the $1.2 million funding needed for sidewalks on this dangerous road. Interesting how it always takes a tragedy to spur action from civic leaders. Even though it's only a two-mile stretch of road, this street improvement is hopefully a sign of "...Portland's commitment to improve the outer areas of Portland that have of Portland that have been neglected during its inner-city revitalization."
Providence Tried to Change How Poor Parents Talk to Their Kids: Talking to one's children, regardless of the subject, is never easy. However, just the act of parents talking to their children has the ability to increase a child's vocabulary. Aaron M. Renn, the author of The Urbanophile shares, "In March 2013 Providence was awarded the Grand Prize of $5 million in the Bloomberg Philanthropy Mayor's Challenge..." The monetary award was given for a program that went beyond the traditional pre-Kindergarten educational program, aimed specifically at improvements in early childhood vocabulary. This program will not only measure vocabulary, but also provide tutoring and teaching tools to assist parents in closing the 'word gap' in low-income homes. Mr. Renn enthuses, "Not only will this be amazing for the kids, it shows Providence can compete and win in elite-level competitions.
San Francisco Embraced the Bike: it seems strange that a city so compact as San Francisco would take so long to embrace the bicycle. However, Allison Arieff, Content Strategist at SPUR reports, "One of the best things San Francisco did this was 'embrace the bike'" The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency recently release a study, "2013 Bicycle Count Report," which shows that the number of people using bicycle transportation has increased a dramatic 96 percent since 2006. Additionally, the "...Bay Area Bikeshare was launched, hundreds of new bikes lanes were added, bike are now allowed on BART trains and several folks have elevate the art of the bike rack into an art."
Vancouver Figured Out How to Fix the Suburban Mall: Brent Toderian, consultant with TODERIAN UrbanWORKS, declares, "2013 has been a banner year across the region in hyper-charging this rethinking and rebuilding, all based on the transformative power of public transit..." What Mr. Toderian is saying is the City has begun the process of urbanizing the car-oriented malls and seventies-era town centers, turning them into streets and new public places. It isn't about creating a Disney-esque "main street" or a "better suburb," this is about creating a real urban condition with a dense combination of housing and employment opportunities, great transit access, and a pedestrian oriented design.
Washington D.C., Built a Better Zoning Code: Zoning codes are a good thing. Really, trust me. You want zoning codes because no one wants to live next to a slaughter house or work next to a garbage dump site. Harriet Tregoning, director of the D.C, Office of Planning reports, "There are several improvement Washington made this year, from the esoteric to the more sublime. One was getting an update of the 1958 zoning code after hundreds and hundreds of revisions..." The Washington D.C, Office of Planning temporarily experimented with activating under-used spaces to re-animate the most common type of space in the American capitol-the lobby. The City has also begun a bike-sharing program-which they continued to expand in the city. Ms. Tregoning reports, "Now we have 38 percent of households car-free and 83 percent with just one or fewer cars, according to the American Community Survey."
These are just of twenty great things that cities did in 2013. Hopefully 2014 will bring more wonderful things to the urban environment.
Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen
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| Downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania flickriver.com |
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| Phoenix skyline Phoenix, Arizona en.wikipedia.com |
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| Floating Duck Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania wapc.mlb.com |
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| Multnomah Village Portland, Oregon portlandground.com |
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| Providence, Rhode Island en.wikipedia.com |
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| Union Square San Francisco, California sanfrancisco.about.com |
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| Granville Island Public Market Granville Island, Vancouver BC, Canada moblog.net |
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| Penn Quarter Washington D.C. urbanigloo.com |
These are just of twenty great things that cities did in 2013. Hopefully 2014 will bring more wonderful things to the urban environment.
Like me on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/lenorelowen
Follow me on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/glamavon and on Pinterest http://www.pinterest.com/glamtroy
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