Officer, you've got the wrong man. It wasn't me who got all symbolic with that one-way street sign.

Friday night or Saturday morning.

On second thought, maybe we're expecting rain, and there are no more stop signs to use as drain covers.

But seriously: Let's never forget that in 2011, then-candidate Jeff Gahan expressed support for two-way streets, only to spend his entire four-year term doing nothing to bring it about save the commissioning of a study by Jeff Speck, one currently collecting dust on a shelf adjacent to vintage unread Readers Digest Condensed Books.

From July, 2013 (two years ago) comes this post. It was a time when I still thought Gahan might follow through and do something.

The opportunity costs of Gahan's inaction are staggering, but it's okay. We'll get it done once I'm elected, beginning on January 1, 2016.

---

Mr. Mayor, tear down these signs. Perhaps the council will help you?

I'm the first to admit that during this busy (and at least not yet overbearingly hot) summer, I've been distracted by second-rate county health bureaucrats, to the exclusion of other perennial blog themes ... like getting to work right now on the task of rationalizing New Albany's street grid prior to the bridges project's dislocation/construction/destruction madness.

The essence of what we keep saying is to study principles elucidated and summarized (as a recent example) by Jeff Speck in his book, “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time,” and fit them into a program of action here in New Albany, because achieving a desired aim of walkability and garnering the benefits is brings to our ongoing revitalization requires making the same street grid changes needed to mitigate the onslaught of drivers seeking to escape the mess in Clark County by speeding through New Albany on one-way streets.

NASCAR is an entertainment option usually confined to racetracks, not streets in neighborhoods where people live and small businesses operate. It's way past time to correct the situation and to take possession of the city's streets for the benefit of humans, not solely their cars.

It's a city council meeting night, and there's a light agenda. It's been almost a month since the council's street grid committee (Diane Benedetti, Shirley Baird, John Gonder and Greg Phipps) met with John Rosenbarger to discuss this issue.

I am told the committee favors funding a feasibility study, enabling the city to "tap into 80/20 match funds from the Feds." One of the committee members was supposed to have met with Mayor Gahan, and a feasibility funding resolution was said to be forthcoming.

Baby steps are good, and perhaps necessary when it comes to politics, but this municipality needs to openly grasp forthwith that bridges chaos is happening now. The oligarchs' idiocy has started. Those who supported Eisenhower-era transportation boondoggles for future problems can have their show trials later, when there's time enough for scourging, but in the meantime, we must prepare the city's streets: First, to meet the coming traffic challenges, and second, to gain as much benefit as possible for New Albany from these years of lunacy to come.

Today's dollop of intellectual reinforcement is from California.

Simple Fix: turn downtown one-way streets into two-ways, by David Garcia (Stockton City Limits)

... To understand why one-way streets are such a bad idea, it’s important to reflect on why they are there in the first place. Some 50 to 60 years ago, cities began converting several two-way streets into one-ways in order to help commuters get into and out of downtown as quickly as possible. The proliferation of highways made it easy to live in the suburbs and work downtown, and one-way streets made it easier to funnel cars from off ramps to their offices, and vice versa. This change proved to be a boon for commuters who could speed through downtown without any of the inconveniences of a normal street grid layout. However, this trend also had unintended consequences, namely the demise of downtown retail areas ...

... It’s not just Speck who sings the praises of two-way streets, either. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is also a two-way street advocate, citing the findings of a 25-city survey where the elimination of one-ways lead to a decrease in vacancy rates. A Portland real estate consulting group concluded in 2007 that “In the case of a revitalizing urban corridor, the most important benefit afforded by the two-way street is the priority given to the pedestrian. Two-way streets tend to promote a sense of pedestrian dominance that contributes to the tax base, creates an environment that encourages urban residential development and contributes to a compact city form.”

NARBA was excluded from Boomtown, so I'll be there selling good books.

On Sunday, the second Boomtown Ball takes place in downtown New Albany. Last year for the inaugural, and at the city's behest, a small group of local food and drink purveyors put together the vending plan for alcoholic beverages. The intent was to devote a portion of the take to setting up the New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association ... and we've followed through with it.

Our Mission Statement
The New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association (NARBA) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit trade organization serving the independent restaurant, bar and on-premise food and drink industry in New Albany, Indiana. NARBA serves as the unified voice of its members on government and public relations issues. It also provides programs that offer educational and operational benefits for members. NARBA represents New Albany’s best known and most vibrant local independent business segment, and is dedicated to the advancement and preservation of New Albany as an urban community.

Charitable Initiatives
NARBA organizes and hosts annual fundraising events in order to give back to the community that has so generously supported its members.

NARBA is on Facebook, and still working through various legal details. If all goes as planned, there may be an event coming later in the year. It's fiendishly difficult getting insanely busy food and drink peeps together, but gradually, we're making progress.

Unfortunately, for reasons that never have been clearly explained to NARBA, the libations segment of this year's Boomtown was chartered without the association's participation. Either the city or Production Simple giveth, and also taketh away.

"Fundamentally" local?

Not Boomtown, which is Fundamentally Louisville, but what can a poor boy do, 'cept sing in a rock 'n' roll band ... and toss the occasional Molotov cocktail during intermission?

So, I've turned instead to Plan B. On Sunday, I've reserved space amid the Flea Off scrum, and will be selling books. That's right. Books. Here's what I'll be selling.

Come and see me.

They're still reviewing Jeff Speck's book. Maybe David Duggins finally should read it.

Then maybe he'd be willing to utter truths he currently dares not speak aloud, for fear of ... of ... what? Violating the gag rule against intellectual honesty?

Because how could a transformative plan so intimately connected with economic development in the present age have anything to do with the "way we've always done it," as digested while suckling at Kerry Stemler's teat?

Let's go through this again. The book reviewed was written by the guy who has told us how we might get it right: Jeff Speck's New Albany Downtown Street Networks.

Reviewed: Walkable City, by T. Caine (Intercongreen)

Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, by Jeff Speck

In One Line: From broad strokes to streetscape specifics, the author covers the deficiencies of modern street planning that hinder the pedestrian experience as well a coordinated attack to solve them.

... As a lover of data, the author did not disappoint me, always diligent in inserting sources that provide insightful research to strengthen his points–sometimes contrary to expectations. For instance, despite being a pro-pedestrian advocate, he would definitely not be accurately described as anti-car, promoting instead a proper balance between the transportation groups rather than our current deference to vehicular travel.

“Cars of the lifeblood of the American city. Even in our most successful walking and transit cities, they are everywhere, contributing activity and vitality to the streetscape. Past failures have taught us that banning them outright brings with it more risk than reward.”

A glance at Kokomo illustrates why it was such a mistake for New Albany to put all its eggs in one Main Street "improvement" basket.

Kokomo may be 25% larger than New Albany in terms of population, but the Indiana city north of Indianapolis is light years ahead of us when it comes to reading comprehension.

As Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight intelligently comments on various themes encapsulated by Jeff Speck's 10 steps of walkability, and his city moves aggressively to implement solutions, we're plunged into a despair borne of the sober realization that there is no historical evidence to indicate that New Albany's political class, or the DemoDixiecrat Party controlling it, has the requisite smarts or cojones to follow Kokomo's lead.

They're going to screw up Speck. We'll show how it's not done -- because that's who we are.

 Below are points 1 and 10, but don't neglect the other 8. Just be prepared to

The march to walkability: Kokomo's downtown revitalization influenced by Speck's 10-step plan, by Martin Slagter (Kokomo Tribune)

1. Put cars in their place

“The automobile is a servant that has become the master,” Speck writes in "Walkable City." “For 60 years, it has been the dominant factor in the shaping of our cities. Relegating the car to its proper role is essential to reclaiming our cities for pedestrians.”

This has been done by implementing complete streets, providing walking and bicycling trails and making the switch from one-way to two-way traffic. A complete street provides for many modes of transport - vehicular traffic, bicycles and pedestrians.

It started a few years back when the city switched its one-way streets to two-way streets for better traffic flow. This also created a safer environment for pedestrians.

“The changes weren’t so much for the people who live in Kokomo,” Goodnight said. “We all know how to navigate the city streets and get from here to there. It’s really for visitors and newcomers to our city, whether it be incoming students to Ivy Tech and IUK, or people that are moving here for business opportunities. That was one of the first steps.

“The whole idea was that you don’t want people having to time five or six lights and driving above speed limit to blow through any of your city,” he added. “The whole idea was to slow it down a little bit – not stop it – and put it on a safer scale.”

Goodnight said the response has been positive, especially among those who frequent the city’s downtown.

“We always look at each road project and look at what the traffic patterns are now,” he said. “We’ve taken out 35-plus traffic signals in the city. Most of them have been replaced with two- and four-way stops. I’ve gotten more compliments on taking out unnecessary traffic signals than almost anything.”

10. Pick your winners

While following all of these steps is essential in converting drivers into walkers, “following these steps everywhere would bankrupt most cities,” Speck writes.
That’s what makes spending the least amount of money to make the biggest difference key in creating walkability.

Kokomo’s efforts to create walkability while living within its means have caught the attention of urban affairs analyst Aaron Renn, author of the online publication The Urbanophile.

During a recent visit to Kokomo, Renn had a chance to examine some of the city’s revitalization efforts , undertaken with cost benefits in mind.

Renn said one thing that stood out about Kokomo’s progress is the attention to detail Goodnight and city leaders have displayed in completing projects that don’t carry huge price tags, but provide basic services that are beneficial to all of its citizens.

“A lot of what’s been done hasn’t been super expensive in the grand scheme of things,” he said. “Most of the focus has on the basics.

“I was very impressed with the attention to detail and the thought that has been put into the studies they’ve done,” he added. “The design standard is higher than you’ll see in a lot of other places around the Midwest. Their focus has been on spending money the right way and being good stewards of the public’s money.”

Benedetti: The toe bone is NOT connected to the foot bone.

Diana Benedetti's statement does not exactly inspire confidence that she's actually read Jeff Speck's Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.

A pertinent question for any council member to have asked since 2012 might have been: How does the placement of this latest public park project jibe with non-motorized means of access for those without cars, and what will it mean for the traffic flow overall?

That's right. The question was not asked.

With Speck's long-anticipated "you've got to be kidding me, New Albany" report due next month, for at least the past two months -- and maybe three -- it would be interesting to know how many elected officials and their appointees have found time to read the book since Speck came here in January. The mayor has. Who else?

Note that John "Rasputin of Redevelopment" Rosenbarger is excluded from this accounting. Using the pages of a book as toilet paper does not count ... although on second thought ...

Speck was here. All that matters now is whether political courage exists in New Albany.

(Update: Robert Landrum videotaped the entire presentation! View it at YouTube)

You're expecting a full report on Jeff Speck's appearance in New Albany yesterday, but I'll have to disappoint, at least until the weekend.

Of course, if you've been reading this blog for any amount of time, you've already been exposed to much of what Speck had to say. Merely searching for his name will uncover the gist of his presentation at the library. Even before Speck came to prominence through his book, Walkable City, his threads and themes were being considered in America. This, I believe, is a very important point.

Less than a year ago, when I began thrusting copies of the book at city officials, both elected and appointed, they generally looked back at me as though my beard were constructed of writhing snakes. Yesterday probably 100 persons listened to the book's author outline his general theory of walkability, and the attendance alone disproved City Hall's general theory of community disinterest.

At separate junctures, two of us heard Speck allude to a return visit. In a spirit of profound vindication, permit me just one wish: Hire Speck to do the damned study, not the same old engineering firm that customarily returns the same tired engineering verdicts.

A six-pack of Speck prior to his glimpse of Nawbony.

This blog's first-ever mention of Jeff Speck appears to have come in March of 2013. By last June, I'd read Speck's Walkable City book, all the while urging anyone with hearing distance that perhaps at this late date in the city's history, we might think to ... well, think.

ON THE AVENUES: Mr. Gahan -- plug in this clock.

Obviously, thinking wasn't on Bob Caesar's fauxcentennial agenda, but we'll take care of it in 2017. Meanwhile, it's going to be fascinating to see who turns up for Speck's visit to New Albany.

Jeff Speck in New Albany at noon on Thursday, January 16, courtesy of Mayor Gahan and Develop New Albany.

Does Speck know about the forthcoming dislocations of the tolling authority's Ohio River Bridges Project? Into what context must these be placed when considering street grid reform and walkability enhancement? Why is City Hall terrified of a backlash it otherwise insists doesn't exist? Does the local Democratic Party's barely discernible pulse play any role in this terror? What so god-damned difficult about taking back our streets and letting them function as designed, prior to Caesar mistaking his Pearl Street jewelry store for a Jared's outlet at a town center near Hurstbourne?

Who is John Galt?

Here's a six-pack of Speck at NAC, dating back to November, 2013, which I hope conclusively illustrates how very little I've contributed to this process.

See you tomorrow?

Six ideas from Jeff Speck that are as plain as the cost-benefit nose on a banker's face.

Duh: Slower street speeds and our urban quality of life go together like turkey and dressing.

Walkability, lingering auto-centric thinking and parking plans in Athens, Georgia.

A reminder: Jeff Speck's Walkable City as required reading for presumed "leaders."

Traffic congestion, traffic safety, and how NOT to be confused about them.

'Walkable' downtowns in demand in remainder of country. Here, we get a dog park to drive to.

Jeff Speck in New Albany at noon on Thursday, January 16, courtesy of Mayor Gahan and Develop New Albany.

Last year, when I first began toting Jeff Speck's book around town to meetings of various government bodies, there would be looks of pained incredulity, suggesting that overnight, I'd come to resemble Gregor Samsa's enlarged insect.

Among those who did not have this reaction, and understood the issues raised in Speck's book, was Joe LaRocca and Stefanie Griffith. In addition, Mayor Jeff Gahan has offered qualified support for certain tenets of walkability (including my own pet project, a two-way street grid) both publicly and privately. While such matters never move fast enough for me, and I'm not backing away one inch from the position that planners in a largely unplanned town owe us some explanations as to the direction of their decision-making, it would be churlish and short-sighted not to give the mayor credit for helping bring Speck to town, if only briefly.

Symbolically, it's huge. Naturally, thanks to Joe and Stefanie, too.

I'll be there at noon on the 16th. It's a workday ... but who can join me?

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Mayor Jeff Gahan, in conjunction with Develop New Albany, is pleased to bring Mr. Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, to New Albany for the first event in a series of public education sessions. Mr. Speck will be speaking at the Strassweg Auditorium in the New Albany-Floyd County Public Library on Thursday, January 16th at noon. This event is free of charge and open to the public.

Mr. Speck is a city planner and architectural designer who, through writing, lectures, and built work, advocates for smart growth and sustainable design. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, he oversaw the Mayors' Institute on City Design and created the Governors' Institute on Community Design, a federal program that helps state governors fight suburban sprawl. Prior to joining the Endowment, Mr. Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at Duany Plater-Zyberk and Co., a leading practitioner of the New Urbanism, where he led or managed more than forty of the firm's projects.

He is the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream as well as The Smart Growth Manual. He serves as a Contributing Editor to Metropolis Magazine, and on the Sustainability Task Force of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. His new book, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, is now available in print, digital, and audio format.

“I’m very excited to welcome this internationally acclaimed author to New Albany,” stated Mayor Gahan. “This is the perfect timing for Mr. Speck to visit as we evaluate our downtown street grid.” Joe LaRocca, Executive Director at the Floyd County YMCA branch said that, “Having personally read Mr. Speck’s Walkable City, I think that this public education session will be a great opportunity to look at and learn how we can improve New Albany’s walkability and bikeability."

“We are very pleased that we were able to partner with Mayor Gahan to bring Mr. Speck to New Albany,” stated Stefanie Griffith, President of Develop New Albany.

For more information on Jeff Speck, visit his website at www.jeffspeck.com

A reminder: Jeff Speck's Walkable City as required reading for presumed "leaders."

Let's have a show of hands.

How many of New Albany's elected officials -- mayor and council seat holders -- have taken my advice and read Jeff Speck's Walkable City?

Tsk, tsk. That's what I thought. My guess would be Greg Phipps and John Gonder, and that's all.

How many appointed city planners, redevelopment and board of works members have taken it on themselves to learn a bit about the future?

Wow, that's even more depressing.

How many of them still believe that the sole function of a city street is as expressed by the county dweller:

Top speed when driving on 'em is why we have 'em, so get us through New Albany as fast as humanly possible.

Really? They might as well believe in the Tooth Fairy, compassionate conservatism or sewage disposal by open-air, street-side ditch.

How many of them harbor the delusion that handling the future onslaught of toll-evading, pass-through suggests ignoring induced demand, increasing speeds and adding traffic lanes, so that people with no plans of stopping in New Albany can cause congestion for those who do, while compromising walkability for ever more?

You'd be surprised ... and depressed.

Give the gift of thinking to your elected official this holiday season. Give him or her a copy of this book, and lock 'em in their rooms until they actually read it.

Congestion Pricing: Walkable City, by Jeff Speck ... reviewed by Jeff Turrentine at On Earth

 ... Planners felt compelled to choose between the vibrant, pedestrian-scale cities we have been inhabiting for millennia and those that could accommodate heavy streams of automobile traffic. They chose cars.

Speck sorrowfully describes how traffic engineers have often inadvertently compounded the very problems they were trying to solve by basing their plans on specious theories that deny human nature. He cites, for example, the phenomenon of induced demand, in which "increasing the supply of roadways lowers the time cost of driving, causing more people to drive and obliterating any reductions in congestion." This, he says, explains why so many road expansion and improvement projects end up increasing traffic jams, commute times, and general human misery ...

 ... Walkable City synthesizes a number of ideas into a system with the potential to reshape our cities by reshaping our behavior. A century of top-down urban planning has brought us sprawl and desolate downtowns that no one wants to be in after work hours. Maybe it's time to turn citizens in a slightly new direction, and then let them vote -- this time with their feet.

Perhaps the most insightful book review of all time.

Review of "Walkable City." as tweeted by Jeff Speck -- who hasn't even been to New Albany.

Mr. Mayor, tear down these signs. Perhaps the council will help you?

(Photo credit: I forgot -- please refresh my memory)

I'm the first to admit that during this busy (and at least not yet overbearingly hot) summer, I've been distracted by second-rate county health bureaucrats, to the exclusion of other perennial blog themes ... like getting to work right now on the task of rationalizing New Albany's street grid prior to the bridges project's dislocation/construction/destruction madness.

The essence of what we keep saying is to study principles elucidated and summarized (as a recent example) by Jeff Speck in his book, “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time,” and fit them into a program of action here in New Albany, because achieving a desired aim of walkability and garnering the benefits is brings to our ongoing revitalization requires making the same street grid changes needed to mitigate the onslaught of drivers seeking to escape the mess in Clark County by speeding through New Albany on one-way streets.

NASCAR is an entertainment option usually confined to racetracks, not streets in neighborhoods where people live and small businesses operate. It's way past time to correct the situation and to take possession of the city's streets for the benefit of humans, not solely their cars.

It's a city council meeting night, and there's a light agenda. It's been almost a month since the council's street grid committee (Diane Benedetti, Shirley Baird, John Gonder and Greg Phipps) met with John Rosenbarger to discuss this issue.

I am told the committee favors funding a feasibility study, enabling the city to "tap into 80/20 match funds from the Feds." One of the committee members was supposed to have met with Mayor Gahan, and a feasibility funding resolution was said to be forthcoming.

Baby steps are good, and perhaps necessary when it comes to politics, but this municipality needs to openly grasp forthwith that bridges chaos is happening now. The oligarchs' idiocy has started. Those who supported Eisenhower-era transportation boondoggles for future problems can have their show trials later, when there's time enough for scourging, but in the meantime, we must prepare the city's streets: First, to meet the coming traffic challenges, and second, to gain as much benefit as possible for New Albany from these years of lunacy to come.

Today's dollop of intellectual reinforcement is from California.

Simple Fix: turn downtown one-way streets into two-ways, by David Garcia (Stockton City Limits)

... To understand why one-way streets are such a bad idea, it’s important to reflect on why they are there in the first place. Some 50 to 60 years ago, cities began converting several two-way streets into one-ways in order to help commuters get into and out of downtown as quickly as possible. The proliferation of highways made it easy to live in the suburbs and work downtown, and one-way streets made it easier to funnel cars from off ramps to their offices, and vice versa. This change proved to be a boon for commuters who could speed through downtown without any of the inconveniences of a normal street grid layout. However, this trend also had unintended consequences, namely the demise of downtown retail areas ...

... It’s not just Speck who sings the praises of two-way streets, either. The National Trust for Historic Preservation is also a two-way street advocate, citing the findings of a 25-city survey where the elimination of one-ways lead to a decrease in vacancy rates. A Portland real estate consulting group concluded in 2007 that “In the case of a revitalizing urban corridor, the most important benefit afforded by the two-way street is the priority given to the pedestrian. Two-way streets tend to promote a sense of pedestrian dominance that contributes to the tax base, creates an environment that encourages urban residential development and contributes to a compact city form.”

Merchant Mixer this Wednesday night, April 3.

Consider yourselves forewarned: For once, I've no scheduling conflicts, and I'm bringing my copy of "Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time" with me for show-and-tell.

The Merchant Mixer, a discussion setting for NA merchants, will meet this Wednesday at 5:15 in the room above the River City Winery. We will talk about issues that affect all of us. - Curt and Pam Peters

Jeff Speck on Walkability: "You have to separate downtown from other urban areas."

The interview is excellent, and touches on the high points of Specks' "Walkable City book, but notice in the introduction where the link leads: Straight to Amazon.

Jeff Speck on Walkability: The Livability Interview

The topic of walkability comes up quickly in most conversations about what makes a city a great place to live. While cars are often perceived as a freedom-producing device, having the freedom to get away from them, too, can be key. But what makes a city walkable? Jeff Speck, coauthor of the landmark bestseller Suburban Nation, is out with a new book entitled Walkable City. The book does a great job of outlining the necessary requirements for being a walkable city. You should read it, but I’ll give you a hint: It takes more than sidewalks. We spoke via phone about how walkability and livability relate and what other factors go into the livability equation. First off, he says, we need to fix the incentives. 

Livability: Are there places that aren’t walkable?

Mr. Speck: Most of sprawl is unfixable. Almost any city built before World War II, if it has any economic growth whatsoever, has a downtown that is ready to come back to life – if it hasn’t already. If we’re interested in growing into the 21st century in a sustainable way, our governments at every scale need to create programs that make it easier for people to move to those places and work instead of into sprawl.