trymahjong Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Attended the Neartown Meeting-- Metro & COH spoke concerning University Line then the agenda stated this: Urban planner, Zacq Lockrem will discuss "Better Blocks / Complete Streets." Is Houston ready to put pedestrians, bicyclists and transit users on equal footing with drivers and promote a vision of streets which are safe, attractive and conducive to active transportation, local businesses and a higher quality of life. What would you do to make Houston’s streets more livable, safe and accessible? In 2003, a coalition of national advocates coined the phrase "Complete Streets" as a way to better communicate about streets that are designed and operated to enable safe access for all users: pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities. Today, the movement has grown more powerful than just the accommodation of bicycles and has been adopted in more than 200 Complete Streets policies across the U.S, including several Texas cities! Better Block Houston is a diverse coalition of local organizations who have joined together to bring a “living charette” to Houston. Part festival and part engineering feat, Better Block will be a glimpse of what Houston’s streets can become Wish the picture was better. On April 9 a "wish list" of what it takes to have pedistrian friendly streets will be set up on LaBranch & Holman going up to Elgin towards Chenevert. This group got City permits but where this was done in Dallas (OakClif) -- apparently it was guerilla style, the full size trees,planters, cafe tables, bike racks, ice cream vendors and galleries etc---just appeared. It was interesting to see reaction of Metro guys when the idea of building streets "from outside in" (first decide what the needs of the pedistrian are then needs of car lanes etc) was presented. The whole presentation was remarkable, and used the example of NYC when part of Broadway near Time Square was set up as a "Complete Street". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchtastic Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 Good info and I like what they're trying to do. May I suggest changing the thread title? 'Charette' is pretty obscure jargon if you're not an urban planning academic. I have a large vocabulary and had to look it up, and almost didn't click on the thread because I was unfamiliar with the term. It does beg the question... is there such a thing as a 'dead charette'? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted March 23, 2011 Share Posted March 23, 2011 What would you do to make Houston’s streets more livable, safe and accessible?They should re-pave a 5000-foot length of a straight and wide street so that it is smooth, and then remove or bury aerial obstructions so that it can be closed down momentarily and safely landed on by small planes, ultralight aircraft, and gyrocopters. And then they should have a multi-level hangar off to the side. The FAA probably wouldn't like it, but ____'em. It's more important than being reasonable that we not discriminate between all the various means of transportation.We also need a water taxi serving each of the bayou corridors. And supporting it, we need a downtown marina. Its all a furtherance of the objective, which is intermodality.Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Options! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trymahjong Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 I guess a different title could be used--I used "charette" since I used that term when I posted about the intersection of Westheimer and Montrose having a community "charette". I found these---www.facebook.com/betterblockhouston www.completestreets.org/webdocs/factsheets/cs-disabilities.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted March 24, 2011 Share Posted March 24, 2011 I guess a different title could be used--I used "charette" since I used that term when I posted about the intersection of Westheimer and Montrose having a community "charette". I found these--- www.facebook.com/betterblockhouston www.completestreets.org/webdocs/factsheets/cs-disabilities.pdf This is an increasingly popular term, replacing "a series of community meetings", "brain-storming" or "gripe sessions." It's a useful word. I hope charettes can help prevent some of the silliness which thoughtless development produces - telephone poles in the middle of sidewalks, pedestrian crossing buttons (for activating traffic lights) which are several feet away from crosswalks, drainage issues, etc. Thanks for the info. edit: seems that ("itch-sessions" is not an appropriate term. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20thStDad Posted March 25, 2011 Share Posted March 25, 2011 I just figured charette was what was left behind after burning a witch.p.s. Firefox doesn't agree that it's a word yet, must not be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trymahjong Posted April 4, 2011 Author Share Posted April 4, 2011 I saw that Lisa Gray wrote about the Better Block Houston Event in today's Chronicle. She gave a lot more details of what was done in Dallas. I drove on the proposed street--LaBranch--it looked like it was under severe street repair, I wonder how that will affect the plans for the event? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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