Developing Redmond Park, avoiding type ii error

A group of residents in the Wellington Heights neighborhood, led by my friend and fellow urbanist Phillip Platz, have ambitions for Redmond Park, which occupies a half-block-sized triangle of land (1.22 acres) along 3rd Avenue, Park Avenue and 16th Street SE. It has a playground, splash pad, and picnic tables. When I studied park access five summers ago (cited below), I noted afternoon use by adults and children. I noted "Both days small groups of adults used the park as a picnic ground or meeting place." The park also serves as a path from surrounding residences to the Hy-Vee Food Store across 1st Avenue.

Could a more attractive Redmond Park serve as more of a community gathering place? The group describes its goal as "leveraging innovative programming and the arts to improve the safety, livability, and potential of the Wellington Heights neighborhood" (Redmond Park 2019). They're hitting the ground running this summer with "Stop the Violence" picnics on the last Sunday of each month, and a Back to Summer Party celebrating the end of the school year. I want to see anything that anyone can dream of, happening, Phillip told CBS2 News. But I know we gotta start small... and I know we have to start with what's the right fit (Anderson 2019).

Source: redmondpark.org

The racial and economic mix around Redmond Park provides both obstacles and opportunities. Redmond Park is located in  CR census tract 17, which is also more-or-less triangular, bounded on the east by Forest Drive, and on the south by Mt. Vernon Road; its northwest boundary is a diagonal going roughly from McKinley Middle School to Washington High School. Data from this census tract mask a huge range of socio-economic status--the eastern half, above 19th Street, is very different from the western half where the park is located--but here goes:

• Its roughly one square mile area holds 5806 residents; at 5519 people per square mile it is unusually dense for Cedar Rapids. It lost 627 residents and 178 housing units between 2010 and 2016. It is 22 percent nonwhite, roughly divided between black and mixed-race, high for Cedar Rapids and especially high for Iowa. 
• The unemployment rate is 7.6 percent; the poverty rate is 15.7 percent. Its median annual household income is $63472, low for the area but at about the national median. 
• 80.8 percent of homes are single-family detached, 76.1 percent of residents live in homes they own, 75.1 percent drive to work alone; these figures are also low for CR but closer to the national median. The median age of housing units is an amazing 80 years (i.e. construction in 1939). 

Bottom line: the area directly around Redmond Park is a working class neighborhood with cells of poverty, but with upper-middle-class neighborhoods close by.

DJing the Stop the Violence party Sunday 5/26

Redmond Park is accessible by car or bus. 3rd Avenue SE is currently one-way out of downtown, with a 2017 average daily traffic count of 3260, down from 3750 in 2013. 2nd Avenue averages 2060; this may redistribute when 3rd Avenue becomes two-way later this year. At least traffic speeds should decrease at that time to a neigborly level, which will improve pedestrian access. Cedar Rapids bus line #3 runs by the park on its outbound run; routes #2 (4th/5th Aves) and #5 (1st Ave) are nearby.

Those in the neighborhood seem more interested in developing the park as a gathering space rather than a city destination, which is fine. Here are a couple ways urbanism can help. First, draw on the experiences and wishes of everyone in the neighborhood, white and black, newcomers and long-term residents. The community and economic benefits of a successful park (Cox and Streeter 2019, Florida 2019) only accrue to the whole community if the whole community is included. In a neighborhood where change is being driven by newer white residents, the thoughts of Pete Saunders (cited below) on the broader conundrum of gentrification are pertinent:

The essential ingredient [in gentrification management] is engagement. Residents in potentially gentrifying communities can no longer afford to simply pass each other by. If newcomers seek to retain the authentic character of the community that attracted them, and longtime residents are to obtain the amenities they desire to become a complete community once again, dialogue is a necessity.

(Some time ago I read, I forget where, about a neighborhood in another town that worked to get the city to build a play area in a local park for their many dogs. Then they noticed that only white residents were using it. Someone asked a black person walking a dog across the street whether they ever used the park, and she said, "Oh no, that's the white people's park.")

Secondly, successful parks depend as much on what's around the park as on what's in it. Jane Jacobs recommends a mixed-use neighborhood that "directly produces for the park a mixture of users who enter and leave the park at different times" (1961: 125). Are there opportunities for commercial development near the park that could create synergies, like Jacobs's hypothetical cafe across the street from the skating pond, or the Washington market cited by Cox and Streeter? I'm not suggesting knocking down any of the houses around the park, but what about allowing or even encouraging in-home businesses? What about making better use of nearby open space a block away at Park Court and 2nd Avenue, as well as at 16th and Washington? Johnson School is only a block away, too, though obviously its basketball hoops and playground equipment are going to be spoken for a good bit of the time.

It may seem uncontroversial to wish for a better, more vibrant park; doing what it takes will require a lot of tough conversations. At the Wellington Heights Neighborhood Association meeting earlier this month, there was considerable interest in park development. At the same time, there was concern about people who might cause problems: youth with guns, the homeless, car traffic speeding down residential streets. (Park Avenue SE is currently one-way west along the south end of the park; when the city announced plans to make it two-way, there was sufficient outcry from residents that those plans were cancelled. Quite a few people at the meeting seemed to think this was a good outcome.)

In an ideal world, enhancing Redmond Park would attract more and more of the "right" people, and none of the "wrong" people. In the real world, though, we usually have to choose between Type I and Type II error. You choose the error you most want to avoid, with the understanding that it will increase the chance of making the other kind of error. Features and activities that make the park more attractive to the "right" people will inevitaby draw some of the "wrong" crowd (Type I error). Tactics to keep the "wrong" people away will make the park less welcoming to the "right" people (Type II error), and then so much for building community. I'm not saying they should put up a banner saying "Welcome Gang Members and Drunks." I'm saying if that keeping undesirables away becomes the primary concern, the chance to make Redmond Park a gathering space for the neighborhood will be missed.

SOURCES:
Daniel Cox and Ryan Streeter, "Having a Library or Cafe Down the Block Could Change Your Life," CityLab, 20 May 2019
Richard Florida, "The Beauty Premium: How Urban Beauty Affects Cities' Economic Growth," CityLab, 15 May 2019
Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (Random House, 1961)
Chantelle Navarro, "Block Party Aims to Show Kids Early On There's More to Life Than Gun Violence," KCRG, 26 May 2019
Pete Saunders, "CSY Repost: The Gentrification Management System," Corner Side Yard, 10 May 2019

OLDER POSTS:
"Role of Parks: Cedar Rapids," 30 August 2018
"Is 3rd Avenue a Barrier to Redmond Park?" 25 June 2014

Bike to Work Week diary 2019

Mayor Brad Hart looking sharp in the must-have shirt of the year

It's time for Bike to Work Week, an annual celebration-promotion of bicycle commuting! As the week begins, two news items remind us why we're doing this.

The Planetizen blog reports the Oregon legislature has passed a law declaring that bike lanes continue through an intersection whether or not they are marked. This is true most places for crosswalks, and the logic seems to apply to bike lanes, too. Even so, The Oregonian says judges had been loath to prosecute drivers for hitting cyclists where right-of-way is not clarified. Remember, America's streets and roads were built for cars, and most drivers are not used to sharing.

Strong Towns last weekend re-Tweeted a piece from Curbed reporting that widening I-405 through the Sepulveda Valley in metropolitan Los Angeles has not resulted in shorter commuting times. At some parts of the day commuting times are actually longer. This is consistent with experience in other major metropolitan areas. Private cars simply do not scale up. Bikes can do this. So can public transportation.

Bike to Work Week officially began Saturday with the annual MPO Ride sponsored by the Corridor Metropolitan Planning Organization and AARP. The route included Marion's Uptown Artway Project, Squaw Creek Regional Park, and both new and planned sections of the Grant Wood Trail. I had to skip the ride due to Commencement Weekend at Coe College, but was there at the gathering point in New Bo.

Reports were good, despite the chilly temperatures and off-and-on rain.

Monday, May 13

Bike to Work Week began early on this chilly morning. It was 41°F (5°C) when Mayor Brad Hart read the official proclamation, but thanks to the wind and my inadequate preparation it felt more like 5°F. But nothing, and I mean nothing, can dampen the joy that is Bike to Work Week.

Mayor Hart being interviewed by a TV news crew

We gathered for the proclamation at the usual place, though Red's Public House has become Jimmy Z's.

This is the second Bike to Work Week proclamation of the Hart administration, and though someone who was possibly me tried to start a rumor that he was going to go rogue and declare biking to be evil and make this Drive to Work Week instead, he called it straight. The proclamation hit the usual notes about traffic congestion, the environment, and physical fitness.

The route for the ensuing group ride changed last year. We rode down 3rd Street to 16th Avenue in New Bo, around the block, and back.

1300 block of 2nd St SE

There were, despite the festive occasion, more drivers than bikers. BTWW is more like celebrating Ramadan (at least in America) than Christmas. There were a few surprised drivers behind our group, but no surliness. Bike infrastructure like the lanes on 3rd Street...

...means there's room for everyone. Also, a grid street pattern means a driver can quickly identify an alternate route.

There were complimentary bacon and eggs at Jimmy Z's after the ride.

Jimmy, a former radio personality in town, took care that we tipped the bartender and cook, who were working on their days off to make the celebration happen. He also wanted to commend the lunch menu, which includes sandwiches named for local celebrities, and I am happy to cooperate. Their normal hours are 11 a.m.-2 a.m.

The City of Cedar Rapids officially began their bike share program Monday night in Green Square. The bikes were all there...

...soon to be dispersed around the center of town:

After a series of speeches from city officials, participating sponsor Wellmark Foundation, and the vendor Veoride...

...attendees were invited to give the new electronic-assist bikes a try.

Riders reported they could instantly tell the difference, with comments like "Wow!" This surprised me because the streets around the park are flat. A few blocks away, 5th Street goes up a steep hill, but apparently you didn't need to go up that steep hill to notice the electronic assistance. Abby Huff, director of the Czech Village/New Bohemia Main Street District, reported Tuesday, "The assist ride is awesome! I took one from Czech Village to New Bo this morning, and will probably take one back after work." The one rider who told me he didn't see much difference was riding on the sidewalk, for which he was quickly admonished by the city officials. (More on the bike share program in this Gazette article by B.A. Morelli.)

Veoride will have a representative in town, a car-free cycling enthusiast I met last week, so they will be regularly monitoring the bikes, swapping out the batteries and avoiding this...

Ofo bike in a Washington DC alley, April 2018

...or this...

Ofo is no longer in business

Good luck to them!

There were piles of swag at the kickoff...

...including some delightful t-shirts imprinted with the map of the city. But I had to be somewhere else, so I neither tried the bikes nor garnered a t-shirt. Will that change, or am I doomed to wander swaglessly about the Earth? Stay tuned!!

Tuesday, May 14

How we incorporate cyclists and pedestrians into our auto-centric streets is an issue everywhere. This morning John Beattie on BBC Radio Scotland had a long segment in which bike advocates and opponents traded barbs. I utilize all three forms of transportation, as well as occasionally taking the bus, so I see the problem not as one homogeneously evil group harming everybody else, but as aggressive (or erratic) behavior in general. In an auto-centric society with auto-centric streets, cycling is different enough to be remarkable, and cyclists are easily identifiable as "the other" in a way that auto drivers, such as the three cars I saw blowing stop signs in one day last week, are not. Otherness is a cheap card to play, but it accomplishes nothing towards a common life or a sustainable community.

This morning two young men from Wells Fargo Bank were staffing the pit stop where the Cedar River Trail crosses 1st Avenue.

It's an interesting crossing, to put it mildly. 1st Avenue is the main street on the east side through downtown, as well as being State Route 922. Passing between the white posts triggers flashing lights which are supposed to signal drivers to stop. Most do. A fair number of cyclists and pedestrians crossed the street while I was there. At least one pedestrian was confident enough to talk on her phone as she crossed. The guys at the pit stop told me that one cyclist earlier had hit the crosswalk at full speed and had nearly been hit. But I bet he's a prize as a driver, too.

It was still chilly, but 49° is on the right track! The pit stop had bananas, granola bars, and utensil kits, but... no t-shirts! The banana I had was good not to mention potassium-rich, so I'm already doing better than Charlie Brown, even though I have as yet not scored a t-shirt.

This afternoon I finally gave the e-assist bikes a spin. I rode up the Cedar River Trail to McLeod Run Park, where I thought there was another pop-up pit stop. (Turns out I didn't go far enough... it was another mile on, near New Pioneer Co-op.) On my way back I noticed Sierra Drive NE...

...whose steep grade would surely challenge the bike. Then I turned onto Linnmar Drive, which has an even steeper grade. My legs certainly felt the effort of the climb, but probably not as much as I would have felt on my own bike. And I probably went faster, too.

When I returned the bike, the cost for my 45-minute ride was $7.75. That's a pretty expensive bike ride. The bike also staggered in 3rd gear, which I found later was a maintenance issue with the specific equipment and shouldn't be an issue next time. I might see myself checking out a bike for a quick run across downtown, but not regularly and not for any length of time.

Wednesday, May 15

Joyous near-summerlike weather surrounded Bike to Lunch Business Challenge, with celebrants gathering from their various workplaces at New Bo City Market. We were joined by some colleagues from Coe, which was holding a faculty workshop across the street. The luncheon festivities included more e-assist bike demonstrations. Herewith Wes from The Full Bowl returns triumphant from his test ride.

I never found out what the Business Challenge was. I also did not see any t-shirts. Still unclothed and unfulfilled.

Thursday, May 16

I missed the annual Ride of Silence last night because of a schedule conflict. The toll of deaths and injuries inflicted by auto drivers on anyone else using the streets--not to mention each other--is a sobering reminder that we have a long way to go before streets are truly open to all users. We can argue about education, or cultural differences, but a lot comes down to paying attention. Yesterday the news group in the neighborhood where I lived in Washington last spring heard from David Wyman, who had survived a scary encounter that day:

My morning commute was more eventful than I had hoped. I was traveling westbound, coming out of the K St NE tunnel under the train tracks. The rear passenger of a vehicle opened their door into traffic as I was passing. The door stopped my bike and I continued over the handlebars.
I’m fine other than some stinging bumps and deep bruises. Had I fallen differently, the injury could have meant something more severe, possibly even my life.
Bikes and cars don’t know where each other should be. Vision Zero has been a lot of talk and disproportionate progress. K St, Florida Ave, Maryland Ave to name a few just in our back yard. I applaud [Ward 6 City Council member Charles] Allen for introducing the Vision Zero Omnibus Act. But when are we going to SEE comprehensive implementation on our roads for cyclist safety.
I filed a police report and am now another statistic. I only hope that - along with this story - helps move our mission forward faster and with more urgency.

Here in Cedar Rapids, a fellow BTWW participant reported nearly being hit in a protected bike lane by a car which was parallel parking. Maybe the best that can be hoped that a greater daily presence of bicycles and pedestrians, and events like this week to draw attention to them, will improve awareness.

Today Goldfinch Cyclery sponsored a pit stop at New Bo City Market.

When the wind came up, a bicycle served to hold the tent down.

No t-shirts, but I scored a pair of sunglasses, a can of LaCroix brand sparkling water, and a koozie. What? Do I not have a drawer full of koozies? I do not have a koozie that looks like this:

Or rather, I didn't use to have such a koozie, but now I have one.

I'm a model, you know what I mean...

Nearby Marion hosted a BTWW event this evening, the Pedal Marion Ride. We gathered at City Square Park.

City planner Kesha Billings got the ride underway...

...but first we were asked to give our consent to be photographed for the city website. Of course, we all signed. The column under which our names went was headed "Name of Model." My talent has been discovered!

We models headed east from downtown, and joined the newly-extended Grant Wood Trail.

The trail tunnels under State Route 13.

We turned around at Waldo's Rock...

...and returned downtown (which in Marion is called "Uptown"), where I enjoyed a beer in the company of Corridor MPO bike guru Brandon Whyte and his family. The Art Alley is an amazing gathering space, like a little slice o' Europe... probably a subject for another post.

Friday, May 17

Bike to Work Week  continued, but I didn't... hit the road to Minnesota to see No. 2 son's college graduation. 

SEE ALSO:
"Bike to Work Day 2018," 20 May 2018
"Bike to Work Week Diary 2017," 15-19 May 2017
"Where's the Sleet? MPO Ride 2017," 15 May 2017
Mark Dent, "Can Car-Crazy Dallas Learn to Love Bikes?" City Lab, 16 May 2019