Good Works Columbus: February 5, 2024
Safe streets, Complete Streets, Solidarity with KYC and UA Library workers
Intro
Hi everyone, happy Monday! After what felt like a January that wouldn’t end we have finally made it to February. There are quite a few actions today ranging from safe streets to solidarity with local workers fighting to form a union. I’ll also provide a brief explainer on the MORPC Complete Streets policy and provide recommendations to make it better.
If you have an upcoming event or a link you’d like to share for the newsletter, feel free to send suggestions. Please let me know if I missed something!
Things you can do in person
(URGENT - CALL TO ACTION) Transit Columbus and Yay Bikes! are asking bicycle advocates to attend the Columbus City Council meeting tonight, Monday February 5th. The meeting begins at 5 pm and will be held at 90 W. Broad Street, Columbus OH 43215. Please bring an Ohio ID for entry and bring a bike helmet to wear inside.
Last week City Council released this statement after three recent pedestrian/bicycle related deaths in the past month. We are calling for safer streets TODAY, not just in the future.
Things you can do online
Upper Arlington Public Library workers and Kaleidoscope Youth Center workers are forming a union. Tell KYC to recognize their union! Tell the UA Library board to recognize their union!
Donate a set of bike lights! If you’ve already donated, thank you! Advocates are 49 away from their goal of 300 sets. Lights will arrive and be distributed to people that need lights in the spring.
MORPC Complete Streets
What are Complete Streets? From Smart Growth America:
“Complete Streets are streets for everyone. Complete Streets is an approach to planning, designing, building, operating, and maintaining streets that enables safe access for all people who need to use them, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities.”
The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) is a metropolitan planning organization (MPO). You can find out more about that here. Complete Streets policies set a vision and requirements for all new road projects and repairs. MORPC’s policy only applies to projects funded through MORPC.
How is MORPC’s Complete Streets draft plan? Smart Growth America provides a framework of 10 different elements for a Complete Streets plan and also provides a scoring rubric based on those elements. I went through the scoring guide with MORPC’s policy and ended up grading it with a 43 (out of 100). Ohio’s average is 36. You can see some of my notes on that assessment here. (Note: this is not an Official Score but provides a framework for improvement. I used my best judgement when scoring the plan.)
What makes a good policy? You can check out the link above detailing the 10 different elements of a CS plan. One of the more important things is having a vision and commitment (using “shall” and “must” language making the policy a requirement instead of a suggestion) and MORPC actually does well in this regard.
Where can MORPC improve? While MORPC mentions equity in its vision and defines it later in the policy, there is no “prioritization” for underserved and underinvested communities. The policy also does not provide an accountable, measurable definition for priority groups or places.
The policy also does not establish a method for measuring progress. Measure 8 from the Smart Growth America framework: “Establishes specific performance measures that match the goals of the broader vision, incorporate equity considerations, and are regularly reported to the public.” Examples of specific measures could be decrease of vehicle miles traveled (VMT), increase of non-car miles, decrease of pedestrian/bicycle crashes.
There are more areas for improvement, but the final area I want to highlight is that there is no clear public comment period for exemptions to the CS plan. Projects can submit exemptions and those can be approved/disallowed by MORPC, but there are no clear plans for engaging the public in this process.
What can I do? MORPC is currently seeking public comment on their Complete Streets draft plan. Go to the following link and tell MORPC we need a plan that is measurable and one that has a better focus on equity.
“The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) is currently seeking public comment and review on drafts of two critical regional transportation funding policies: the Policies for Managing MORPC-Attributable Transportation Funding and the MORPC Complete Streets Policy. Public comments on both policy drafts will be accepted through Friday, February 23, 2024…For more information or to review the draft policies and provide comments, visit www.morpc.org/funding. Comments may be submitted via email to tip@morpc.org or in writing to Nick Gill, Transportation Study Director, 111 Liberty Street, Suite 100, Columbus, OH, 43215, by 5 p.m. on Friday, February 23, 2024”
Save the Date
Transit Columbus February meeting (2/13 7pm-8:30pm at Columbus Main Library - auditorium)
In Case You Missed It
Give feedback on the Eastland Community Plan.
"Creating an inclusive and equitable new chapter for Eastland requires a bold, long-term vision. This consists of a framework that centers around people, places, and opportunity. It is critical to identify the needs, challenges, and opportunities for all the stakeholders within the Eastland community, from housing to education to employment to history and culture.
To create a community-driven vision, this planning process will engage Eastland area stakeholders who live, work, worship, play, and learn in the community. This will ensure the Eastland Community Plan will be a successful roadmap to a bright future for everyone.”
Take a survey to give feedback to the city of Columbus on its zoning update. The survey will ask you about building and housing preferences along the city’s main corridors as well as thoughts on parking minimums.
Mark up the Vision Zero Columbus map. Have a close call walking, biking, or getting around town? Do you know a dangerous intersection that can be improved? Help identify these spots on the Vision Zero map.
Have a great day everyone, hopefully I’ll see some of you tonight at the council meeting.