Posted December 9, 200816 yr Students pitch ways to better city Tuesday, December 9, 2008 3:05 AM By Elizabeth Gibson THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Parking spots reserved for fuel-efficient cars, a text-messaging system that would tell riders when their bus should arrive and a sandy public beach on the banks of the Scioto River. None of these exist, but Ohio State University urban-planning students said they could and should in a presentation to the mayor's office yesterday. Several ideas from yesterday's proposals will be presented to Mayor Michael B. Coleman today, said Mike Brown, a policy adviser to the mayor who met with the students. Here's what Brown said seemed most realistic and exciting: • Seasonal beach: Greg Grippa suggested setting up a sandy retreat at North Bank Park for a month every summer. Boat rentals and a pool could accompany the beach. • Bus alerts: COTA already posts live information on the Internet about where buses are, but it also could send text messages to let riders know how soon the bus will arrive, Annie Abell said. • Car-free N. High Street: It's bolder than the mayor's streetcar proposal, but cities such as Denver have taken major shopping districts and labeled them bus-, bicycle- and pedestrian-only. Brown said that pedestrian shoppers might enjoy it, but it might give traffic engineers nightmares. • Recycle art: Betsy Pandora recommended adding a 1-cent tax for beverage containers. Drinkers could get the cash back when they recycle or choose to donate the money to fund public art. Full story at http://dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/12/09/desirable_city.ART_ART_12-09-08_B3_19C68AJ.html?sid=101
December 9, 200816 yr wow, a car free north high street is bold idea. not sure about that one for high st, but good thinking. say a dedicated bike lane might be an idea for the wider northernmost stretches of high st. it could always be pushed southward if it's popular. its new here in nyc, but i notice immediately that it calms traffic, even if it isn't well used yet.
December 10, 200816 yr Great! "You don't just walk into a bar and mix it up by calling a girl fat" - buildingcincinnati speaking about new forumers
December 10, 200816 yr LOL @ sandy beaches at North Bank Park. Apparently these urban planning students aren't aware of the city's sewage overflow system which dumps waste water into the river after heavy rains. You couldn't pay me to swim in that water.
December 10, 200816 yr I hate bottle bills, especially Michigan's, as a whole. If you make the city/county/state collect and process them it is adding extra cost to an already strained budget unless it was contracted out. To put the burden on private enterprises would not be business friendly in the least bit and in harsh economic times we need to be as business friendly as possible. A few years ago, I did an analysis of the eleven states with bottle bills. If I recall correctly, in all of those states, the burden for collection falls upon the retailer with the bottler responsible for processing and cleaning. I distinctly remember that about 20% of bottles are never returned and thus the extra $0.05, 0.10, etc is pure profit for the bottler. In dire economic times, you'd think businesses would be interested in means of more resource efficient... IMHO, a bottle bill similar to OR/CA/MI could be beneficial to our state in terms of reducing the amount of trash that clogs our highway medians. Consider how much ODOT spends to clean those areas each year...
December 15, 200816 yr If I was a student, NONE of those things would be on my list. Mine would be.... - Improved and expanded parks in inner city neighborhoods - Street improvements - recreational facility improvements - Streetcar system - Light Rail System to the Burbs - More Downtown housing
December 15, 200816 yr Recycle art: Betsy Pandora recommended adding a 1-cent tax for beverage containers. Drinkers could get the cash back when they recycle or choose to donate the money to fund public art. Oh gee wilikers...where can I recycle this can and get my penny back? Darn it! I'm out an entire penny! A car-free N. High St. would never happen. It would probably kill business all along the corridor. It's just too wide and busy for that to make sense. If it were Front/Park St. I might have different feelings.
Create an account or sign in to comment