As cars and trucks droned by outside, citizens streamed into a former auto parts store at the corner of DeRenne Avenue and Montgomery Street. The purpose of the gathering tonight was the launch of a week-long design charrette focused on the DeRenne Avenue corridor, arguably one of the most important yet troubled streets in the city. Factor in its use by commuters from outlying areas and its importance and troubles become regional in scope and severity.

Facilitators from Kimley-Horn and Associates described the work they had done in Phase One of the project and outlined the goals for Phase Two and, in particular, the schedule for the charrette. Before the presentations and during breaks, participants browsed maps and visual representations of the streets, buildings and other components of the DeRenne Avenue corridor.

In his remarks, KHA’s Stephen Stansbery repeated a mantra that came from the project advisory committee: “Doing nothing,” about the current state of DeRenne Avenue, “is just not acceptable.” Further, he suggested the widening of DeRenne, which has been floated as a cure for traffic congestion, is not the easy solution some imagine it to be. “Adding lanes,” he said. “is rarely the solution in an urban context.” Still, the audience was cautioned, moving automobile traffic must be a central part of the final product.

But what is to be done about DeRenne? Stansbery issued a challenge of sorts, referencing Savannah’s world famous streets, which attract millions of visitors from around the globe. “Why can’t we build a street today that’s great today and will be great 100 years from now?” He said doing so would take courage and vision.

As part of that vision, charrette attendees were given small sheets of paper and asked to complete two phrases:

Right now I think DeRenne Avenue is …

and

In the future, I visualize DeRenne Avenue as…

How would you answer each question? Respond in the comments section.

For more information and a complete schedule of the week’s events, visit the Project DeRenne Web site.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

The photos above were taken on a rainy Sunday morning in January 2008. I took my camera to Savannah’s DeRenne Avenue to see what it looked like, without the cars. In the public imagination, DeRenne is perpetually clogged with traffic. But, as these photos show, there are times when the street’s six (and sometimes seven) lanes are entirely vacant.

It’s difficult to imagine a streetscape more forlorn. The awfulness of DeRenne Avenue is amplified by the fact that it is a “gateway” to the city and its proximity to residential neighborhoods. In it’s current state, it’s understandable that motorists would want to speed through it as quickly as possible. Of course, the quest to shorten commutes to the western suburbs is the very thing that produced the current sorry state of affairs.

But we, as a community, can and should do better. We could have a street that is safe for all users — including pedestrians, cyclists, transit riders and motorists — instead of one that endangers them. We could have an attractive boulevard lined with prosperous businesses, instead of a street that’s blighted by vacant and poorly maintained commercial structures. We could have a civic amenity of which we can be proud, instead of a dreary urban limbo that people try to escape as soon as possible. We could have a DeRenne that unites Savannah instead of one that divides it in two.

A vision of what DeRenne could be will be on display at a week-long design charrette from Nov. 2-6 at a former NAPA auto parts store at 131 W. DeRenne Ave. More information is available on the Project DeRenne Web site.

Now let’s take these poachers and transplant them from our state’s waterways and forests into our city. Instead of stealing wildlife, the urban poacher takes public space “that belongs to you and all other Savannahians.” While these poachers are not technically “stealing” sidewalks and bike lanes by using them to store their cars and trucks, while doing so they exclude the intended users of these spaces. This happens all over the city of Savannah every day, rarely attracting attention from law enforcement or other government officials.

In the photo above, the Isuzu Rodeo’s (or is it a Honda Passport?) rear end blocks the sidewalk adjacent to a busy street. Its owner could not pull it any farther into the driveway because that space is occupied by another car that’s sleeping in an “auto cocoon,” much like the one Lane Meyer’s dad complained about in a popular teen comedy from the 1980s. Thus, making room for an apparently immobile automobile comes at the expense of pedestrian mobility. The owner of the Chevrolet truck has, for whatever reason, concluded that the sidewalk is a better place than the street to park. His choice forces pedestrians to walk in the street.

When I set out to capture images of sidewalks being used for parking, I knew exactly where to go. That’s because “sidewalk poachers” are terrifically dependable. Once they start using part or all of a sidewalk to store part or all of a car, it becomes routine. I suppose pedestrians who regularly encounter these vehicles simply get used to walking around them. Or perhaps they start taking a different route. They shouldn’t be forced to do either.

Another fascinating phenomenon about the poaching of public space is how quickly contagious it becomes. The photo above depicts a car parked — against traffic — in the Habersham Street bike lane yesterday morning. It was among many left in the city’s only north/south pavement marked bike route, while its owner shopped at a garage sale. Once one person decided to park in the bike lane, a dozen more followed suit. Eventually a Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department officer stopped to clear the lane. Yet shoppers continued to arrive and park in the bike lane, seemingly unfazed by her presence and her cruiser’s flashing lights.

The phrase “complete streets” is being uttered with increasing frequency within the Metropolitan Planning Commission’s Mendonsa hearing room. That’s very good news. As we move toward this worthy goal of making our thoroughfares safe and accommodating for all users, why not also focus on reclaiming the sidewalks and bike lanes we already have?

I ride my bike past Scott TV repair just about every workday. Sometimes there are television carcasses sitting out front on the sidewalk. Sometimes I can see people moving around inside. Sometimes it’s open. More often it’s not.

A bigger mystery than Scott TV’s business hours is this: Who takes a television in for repair anymore? And perhaps an even more important question: Can a modern television set even be repaired by a local shop?

When ride past Scott TV, I usually think of Mr. Jalopy, who I wrote about last year on my other blog. A leader in the “Makers Movement,” and creator of the “Maker’s Bill of Rights,” Mr. Jalopy has become the standard-bearer for a new generation of workshop tinkerers and inventors. There’s one passage in the Maker’s Bill of Rights that speaks to everyone, even those of us who can’t read a schematic or turn a wrench or use a soldering iron without making a subsequent trip the to the ER. This is it:

“Ease of repair shall be a design ideal, not an afterthought.”

That means even if I’m not capable of repairing something I buy — if Mr. Jalopy’s standard is followed by product designers — there’s a chance someone in my neighborhood probably could. And this presents business opportunities for local folks, who have the skill and equipment to repair consumer products. I think it’s much better than the alternative, which is fretting about how to recycle unrepairable (at least locally) consumer products.

What if these items were designed and manufactured to be serviceable and even upgradable, instead of disposable? What if a slight malfunction meant a trip to a local repair shop instead of a trip to the landfill? Clearly there are many high technology items that cannot be serviced outside of very exacting environments. But there are many others that could be, if they were designed with serviceability in mind.

Knowing that a product could remain functional and useful with locally sourced repair and maintenance would allow consumers to follow another of Mr. Jalopy’s maxims: “Buy your first to be your last.”

Monday: A walking tour of downtown Savannah was led by staff from the City of Savannah and Metropolitan Planning Commission, along with volunteers from Pedestrian Advocates of the Coastal Empire. On the tour were attendees of the Governors Highway Safety Association convention including Tom Vanderbilt, who’s done critical work to help America understand Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us). Vanderbilt wrote about his experience in Savannah here. Also on the Tour was Dan Burden, the nation’s leading expert on walkable communities.

Tuesday: Burden met with a group of City of Savannah staff representing a range of bureaus from the fire department to Park and Tree. Later, Burden and neighborhood association members visited areas of the Southside that have been seriously degraded by automobile traffic volume and speed that are incompatible with neighborhood streets. Burden explained how traffic calming could address these problems and suggested ways to modify poor street design that stands in the way of greater walkability. The neighborhood visits were covered in the media here and here.

Wednesday: At a public forum, Burden presented a program on traffic calming to about 150 citizens at Armstrong Atlantic State University. Burden used photographs taken earlier in the week to demonstrate problems and solutions, such as on-street bicycle parking.

Thursday: Burden conducted a workshop for members of the city’s new Traffic Calming Committee, which is made up of neighborhood association leaders and facilitated by the Citizens Liaison Office. They were joined by personnel from the Savannah Chatham Metropolitan Police Department, Parking and Mobility Services and other city departments.

Friday: Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson led the September edition of the Savannah Bicycle Campaign’s 2 Wheels 2 Work monthly bicycle commuting convoy. He spoke at a press conference in Johnson Square, emphasizing how bicycles fit into the city’s Thrive and Healthy Savannah initiatives.  A new public service announcement, aimed at educating motorists on how to share the streets with cyclists, was screened at the press conference. Bicycle-friendly businesses Jittery Joe’s and Blue Goose Cafe provided coffee and breakfast for bicycle commuters.

Saturday: More than 400 cyclists turned out for the Savannah Bicycle Campaign’s Midnight Garden Ride. It’s always thrilling to see bicycles greatly outnumbering cars on Savannah’s streets, if only for a couple moments. Even bikes at rest provided an important visual clue about how increased bicycling can help Savannah. At the Distillery, where the ride began and ended, hundreds of bicycles were parked in the space required to store only a dozen or so cars.

Sunday: The Savannah Morning News was full of stories on walking and bicycling. City Talk Columnist Bill Dawers wrote an insightful column on Burden’s visit. Adam Van Brimmer wrote about the link between walkability and higher property values and Arek Sarkissian covered the Midnight Garden Ride.

Still, in order to get more citizens out of their cars and on their feet and bikes, we need an environment that is safe and friendly. Other news, this week, of a pedestrian injured and a cyclist killed underscores how far we have to go. Progress toward more livable streets can help reduce the frequency of these troubling and tragic occurrences. Does this week represent the beginning of Savannah’s new era of livable Streets?

I have news for these folks: There’s never going to be enough parking to satisfy them. Never. Unless we are willing to destroy the very thing that makes Savannah a destination that’s worth the drive.

We’ve spent half a century and mountains of money trying to undo Gen. Oglethorpe’s masterful city plan and it make more convenient for cars. In the process we’ve come very close to turning the Historic District into a place that few people would go out of their way to visit, even with plentiful parking.

I generally agree with Dawers, who has a keen understanding of what makes cities work. His is an important and informed voice on critical community issues. However, I could not disagree with him more when he writes this:

“The reluctance to use garages is one of many reasons I’ve long advocated maximizing the number of on-street parking spaces.”

Let me get this straight. We spend millions and millions of public dollars and tear great big holes in the urban fabric to build parking garages, yet we should devote even more of our precious public space to accommodate people who refuse to use them? Talk about rewarding bad behavior.

Instead of making more room on the street for idle cars, we should be making room for more people. We should reclaim space  to stroll, shop, sit and socialize. For instance, imagine what would happen if we doubled the width of the sidewalks in front of Gallery Espresso or Six Pence Pub, where there’s usually vigorous competition for seats at sidewalk tables. Imagine how many people could use the space required to store just one automobile. Imagine how much money they would spend. On Sept. 8, people all over the world will demonstrate the possibilities. I hope someone will do so here.

Next, Dawers offers a misguided idea from a reader:

“Yet another reader suggested that a dramatic reduction or even elimination of downtown parking fees would ultimately lead to vast increases in economic activity.”

For this reader I prescribe Chapter One of “The High Cost of Free Parking,” by UCLA economist Donald Shoup. It can be downloaded (for free) in .pdf format here. Dawers characterizes this free parking scheme as “out-of-the-box thinking” and I suppose I’d have to agree. Suggesting that the cure for parking scarcity lies in encouraging more people to drive downtown (and thus increasing demand for parking) certainly represents an unorthodox approach.

Late in his column, Dawers makes this observation:

“In all this talk of transit and parking, it’s interesting that I did not hear any suggestions related to public buses or trolleys, bicycles, or any other alternate modes of transportation that could allow greater access to downtown.”

While Dawers finds it “interesting,” I think “tragic” is a better word. Our unrelenting fixation on cheap and easy driving has blinded us from recognizing this simple fact: More than five decades spent adding capacity is proof that increasing the parking supply will not solve the problem. We have to decrease demand.

Finally, Dawers acknowledges the difficulty of transportation planning and laments the fact that driving is the only easy option for many:

“I think such considerations are vital for the long-term, but in the short run we’re still dealing with a simple reality. Many area residents simply have no way of getting downtown easily other than their cars.”

While this is undoubtedly true, I would offer a trio of responses:

1. While there are residents who have no way of getting downtown easily other than by car, there are plenty of others who have other options. They just choose not to use them. Why should we incentivize the choice to drive by providing more and cheaper parking?

2. Many area residents have economic, medical or other issues that prevent them from driving downtown or anywhere else. While we’ve spent significant time and treasure making driving easier, we’ve failed to provide adequate transit and infrastructure for those who can’t drive. These are the people who deserve our sympathy and support. In the case of pedestrians and cyclists, our neglect of their needs has too often produced deadly results.

3. Dawers suggests that encouraging transit use, walking and bicycling are “vital for the long-term” and I agree. However, every moment and every penny we spend in the “short run” trying to sustain the unsustainable are minutes and money we will never get back. That’s the simple reality that confronts us. Short-term fixes that keep us car dependent move us further away from the long-term goal of viable transportation options.

Unfortunately we’ve come to regard suburban retail developments, with their acres of parking lots, as the norm. As a result, we insist that a convenient parking place should be waiting for us at the end of every car trip. How much longer will we try to satisfy such an unrealistic expectation? How much are we willing to sacrifice to perpetuate this fantasy? When will we realize how much we’ve already lost in this foolish pursuit?

A recent story on National Public Radio, Not All Communities Welcome Urban Gardening, covered the controversy caused when a Wisconsin family decided to plant vegetables in the strip of soil between the sidewalk and the street. In the strange dialect spoken by inhabitants of Wisconsin, this piece of real estate is called a parkway. Around these parts, they are called tree lawns and they’ve been in the news recently, too.

Last month the city announced that tree lawn upkeep would become the responsibility of residents. According to this Savannah Morning News story, city crews were pulled off tree lawn detail because of budget cuts. Tree lawns around town are already looking a little shaggy.

It is true that some residents—especially in the National Landmark Historic District—took responsibility for tree lawns long ago with pleasing results. Elsewhere however, residents may be unsure what to do as the grass and weeds, no longer harassed by city mowers and trimmers, grow higher and higher. With tree lawn maintenance now back in the hands of residents, I wondered if a Wisconsin-style parkway poblano pepper patch would get a homeowner in hot water here. I turned to the City of Savannah’s Web site and found this:

Prior to planting, pick up a copy of the Tree Lawn Brochure from Park and Tree. The brochure outlines the necessary steps. Then contact the City’s Landscape Architect to discuss proposed plantings prior to submittal of a sketch plan for review and approval.

That sounded like an awful lot of picking up, contacting, discussing, sketching and submitting just to find out if tomatoes are allowed near sidewalks, so I called Park and Tree and asked
“the vegetable question.” I was promptly transferred to the streets maintenance department, where a helpful and friendly gentleman admitted he’d never been asked that question. I suggested others probably heard the NPR story and might be calling. Rosco Philbrick, street maintenance supervisor, was identified as the guy who’d have the answer. I left a message for him. He called back within five minutes and was just as friendly and helpful as the first guy.

The verdict: Tree lawn vegetable gardens are not allowed. Yet, there is good news. Philbrick was quick to add that planting herbs is OK, provided they are less than 36 inches tall.

So there you have it. Rosemary is an acceptable street-side crop, rutabagas not so much. Of course, you could always decide to go guerrilla on the tree lawn.

“The Midnight Garden Ride is a non-competitive, nighttime charity bike ride through Historic Downtown Savannah. Six and 12 mile options will wind through historic Savannah under the live oak canopy and a full moon.”

The event also includes a party and costume contest. Proceeds support the Savannah Bicycle Campaign’s advocacy and education efforts. Registration and other information is available on the Midnight Garden Ride Web site.

Read all about it HERE and HERE

First, Dawers’ accurately describes the recently reduced jaywalking fines for what they are: a distraction from the main issue. Yes, the original fines were exorbitant, but the idea that the crackdown is an effective public safety measure remains unchallenged by almost everyone in the local media (except Dawers) and even by citizens who organized a Facebook group and a petition drive.

Will an enforcement campaign, directed almost entirely against pedestrians, reduce injuries and fatalities? Dawers knows the crackdown is unlikely to produce that result because it ignores a critical point:

“The core problem of drivers who are ignorant of the law and who drive recklessly through downtown will not be addressed by going after jaywalkers who are making perfectly safe decisions for themselves.”

Next, Dawers tackles another popular local legend, which holds that pedestrians routinely leap out of azalea bushes and fling themselves into the paths of innocent motorists.

“Never once have I had a pedestrian step in front of me in a way that forced me to slam on my brakes. Tap them? Sure. It’s been mildly annoying a few times, but hardly hazardous. For the most part, I’d say that drivers who routinely complain about having to make drastic maneuvers are going too fast, not paying attention to conditions in front of them, or simply exaggerating the circumstances.”

This reminds me of a recent item in the Savannah Morning News’ Vox Populi comment section, in which a reader reported being “so tired of rude, arrogant and selfish pedestrians deliberately stepping in front of my vehicle.” Another claimed the presence of pedestrians made Oglethorpe Avenue “one of the scarier streets in Savannah to drive down” and complained about the indignity of having to “drive below the speed limit.”

As Dawers mentioned in a previous column, the sense of entitlement held by these drivers has no doubt been reinforced by the jaywalking crackdown. At the same time, motorists are free to impede pedestrian traffic — not for just moments — but hours or days at a time without fear of police intervention. On Saturday I made the 2.5 mile trip from my home to my office and counted five cars parked on or otherwise blocking sidewalks or crosswalks along the way.

While having to walk around a car parked on a sidewalk or in a crosswalk may be a minor inconvenience for pedestrians (perhaps on par with a motorist having to tap the brakes to allow a pedestrian to cross the street) for citizens with mobility or visual impairments, it’s a different story. Motorists create dangerous situations and impassible obstacles when they choose to park where people need to walk.

And it’s the need to walk that ties together the two topics of Dawers’ column this week. He leads with an appreciation of the star of the Savannah-based reality TV show, “Ruby,” noting she is an “inspirational figure” for many people struggling with “the ups and downs of dieting.” A TIME magazine story from this week entitled “Why are Southerners so Fat?” acknowledges the role of deep-fried diets, but also points to physical inactivity, due to poor infrastructure, as a cause. The story’s author notes that many Southern states have “a surprising lack of sidewalks” and this discourages “even the most eager pedestrians.” Add insufficient or nonexistent public transportation and the result is “for most people, the best way to get around is by car.”

Here in Savannah (or at least the parts of town developed before World War II) we are lucky to have plenty of sidewalks. Still, by vilifying pedestrians and failing to hold motorists accountable, we have come up with new ways to discourage “even the most eager pedestrians.” Continuing down this road could bring serious public safety and public health consequences. At the very least, it will convince could people that “the best way to get around is by car,” even when it isn’t.