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Rochester Subway : $510 Million No One Seems To Care About

I hope no one is offended, but I’ve lifted this entire article from RochesterSubway.com.

Our friends at GTC are presenting again Wednesday morning.  We should be there.

Rochester Subway : $510 Million No One Seems To Care About



$510 Million No One Seems To Care About

March 14th, 2010

This is the Mortimer St. design for a transit center that was part of the Renaissance Square project. RGRTA still wants to build this portion of the project on Mortimer St.
Last Tuesday I attended a public presentation by the Genesee Transportation Council (GTC) to review their Draft 2011-2014 Transportation Improvement Program Project List external link. It contains over $500 million in new transportation spending for our region over the next few years. And I don’t mind pointing out that I was the only one in attendance. I don’t mean the only one from RochesterSubway.com… or the only one from my neighborhood… I mean THE ONLY PERSON in the entire city of Rochester and 7 county region in attendance. No one from the community, no one from the press, no raging activists… no one. It was literally me and about 5 or 6 representatives from GTC.
I’m more than a little perplexed by the lack of interest. Especially given the amount of money on the table and the shear number of proposed projects and purchases. For example, $6 million for work on the Aqueduct/Broad Street Bridge and subway tunnel, nearly $50 million for new transit buses, and over $45 million for a new RTS Transit Center. These are not small potatoes—there are over 200 other projects and purchases in this draft proposal—and if you wanted to speak your mind about any of it you may have just missed the boat. Don’t blame me, I posted the meeting on theRochesterSubway.com Facebook page external link and pleaded with our 460+ fans to come out. You can’t even blame GTC—the meetings are posted on their site and the Democrat & Chronicle announced them last Sunday.

A Second Chance To Give A Damn…

I can hear reading this and saying to yourself, $510 million is a lot of money and you’d like to bitch and complain about how MY MONEY is being spent! Okay, you know what? This is your lucky week. GTC is holding 2 more public meetings this Wednesday (3/17) in Henrietta and Ogden. See the times and locations here external link. And if you really really REALLY can’t make be bothered to show up in person, you can write, fax, or email your comments and concerns to GTC until March 26.
RGRTA is on target to build their bus terminal on this Mortimer St. parking lot.I don’t have nearly enough time to get into all the projects that are on this list so you’ll have to download the PDF external link and thumb thru it on your own. But I will touch on the one that you may have heard of before. Item #144 on the list is $45.7 million in federal, state, and local funding for a Downtown Transit Center—formerly Renaissance Square. Looks like we can forget any dreams of a real intermodal transit station. RGRTA is moving ahead with it’s plan to build a slightly scaled down version of it’s bus terminal on Mortimer St. and Clinton Ave.
RGRTA is on target to build their bus terminal on this Mortimer St. parking lot.RGRTA CEO Mark Aesch says, “We picked this site and worked on it for 10 years for a reason. Mortimer Street is the right location to build a transit center. It’s environmentally approved. We’ve spent millions of dollars getting the design to where it is today. That’s the right place to build this project. We’re hopeful that’s where it’s going to be.”
According to Aesch the terminal will cost in the mid to high $40 million range. If the GTC’s Draft Project List becomes reality, and I’d judge by the lack of public interest that it will, Aesch will have his $45.7 million and we’ll have a bus garage downtown very soon. Goodie.
Item #69 on GTC's list of transportation projects has $6 million marked for the east end of the Broad Street Tunnel and Aqueduct. More on this later...I’ll save my comments on line #69, Broad St. Tunnel & Aqueduct, for a future post. I’m awaiting comments from the City on this one. Though I’d say it reeks pretty heavily of the canal re-watering plan external link. Stay tuned.Share this on Facebook

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Rochester Subway : $510 Million No One Seems To Care About

I hope no one is offended, but I’ve lifted this entire article from RochesterSubway.com.

Our friends at GTC are presenting again Wednesday morning.  We should be there.

Rochester Subway : $510 Million No One Seems To Care About



$510 Million No One Seems To Care About

March 14th, 2010

This is the Mortimer St. design for a transit center that was part of the Renaissance Square project. RGRTA still wants to build this portion of the project on Mortimer St.
Last Tuesday I attended a public presentation by the Genesee Transportation Council (GTC) to review their Draft 2011-2014 Transportation Improvement Program Project List external link. It contains over $500 million in new transportation spending for our region over the next few years. And I don’t mind pointing out that I was the only one in attendance. I don’t mean the only one from RochesterSubway.com… or the only one from my neighborhood… I mean THE ONLY PERSON in the entire city of Rochester and 7 county region in attendance. No one from the community, no one from the press, no raging activists… no one. It was literally me and about 5 or 6 representatives from GTC.
I’m more than a little perplexed by the lack of interest. Especially given the amount of money on the table and the shear number of proposed projects and purchases. For example, $6 million for work on the Aqueduct/Broad Street Bridge and subway tunnel, nearly $50 million for new transit buses, and over $45 million for a new RTS Transit Center. These are not small potatoes—there are over 200 other projects and purchases in this draft proposal—and if you wanted to speak your mind about any of it you may have just missed the boat. Don’t blame me, I posted the meeting on theRochesterSubway.com Facebook page external link and pleaded with our 460+ fans to come out. You can’t even blame GTC—the meetings are posted on their site and the Democrat & Chronicle announced them last Sunday.

A Second Chance To Give A Damn…

I can hear reading this and saying to yourself, $510 million is a lot of money and you’d like to bitch and complain about how MY MONEY is being spent! Okay, you know what? This is your lucky week. GTC is holding 2 more public meetings this Wednesday (3/17) in Henrietta and Ogden. See the times and locations here external link. And if you really really REALLY can’t make be bothered to show up in person, you can write, fax, or email your comments and concerns to GTC until March 26.
RGRTA is on target to build their bus terminal on this Mortimer St. parking lot.I don’t have nearly enough time to get into all the projects that are on this list so you’ll have to download the PDF external link and thumb thru it on your own. But I will touch on the one that you may have heard of before. Item #144 on the list is $45.7 million in federal, state, and local funding for a Downtown Transit Center—formerly Renaissance Square. Looks like we can forget any dreams of a real intermodal transit station. RGRTA is moving ahead with it’s plan to build a slightly scaled down version of it’s bus terminal on Mortimer St. and Clinton Ave.
RGRTA is on target to build their bus terminal on this Mortimer St. parking lot.RGRTA CEO Mark Aesch says, “We picked this site and worked on it for 10 years for a reason. Mortimer Street is the right location to build a transit center. It’s environmentally approved. We’ve spent millions of dollars getting the design to where it is today. That’s the right place to build this project. We’re hopeful that’s where it’s going to be.”
According to Aesch the terminal will cost in the mid to high $40 million range. If the GTC’s Draft Project List becomes reality, and I’d judge by the lack of public interest that it will, Aesch will have his $45.7 million and we’ll have a bus garage downtown very soon. Goodie.
Item #69 on GTC's list of transportation projects has $6 million marked for the east end of the Broad Street Tunnel and Aqueduct. More on this later...I’ll save my comments on line #69, Broad St. Tunnel & Aqueduct, for a future post. I’m awaiting comments from the City on this one. Though I’d say it reeks pretty heavily of the canal re-watering plan external link. Stay tuned.Share this on Facebook

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National Bike Summit & Alliance for Biking and Walking Top 10 Suggestions

Andrew Dollard, Jon Schull and I attend the National Bike Summit on Weds, March 10th and Jon went to advocate on March 11th with members of congress. It was a terrific conference and we all learned a great deal which will come in very handy.
I attended 3 break out sessions. The first one was held by The Alliance for Biking and Walking which was intended for advocacy communities that were just getting started and talked about the grants program ($15 K) they have to get communities started as well as the regional trainings they have for starting communities. I’ve attatched the “Top 10 Tips” the give for starting organizations. This includes the need to start a 501(c) (3) which I think we need to innitiate soon since it takes at least 3 months to get. I also caught the tail end of a Progressive Cities Session which featured Tom Miller who is Portland Mayor Sam Adam’s Chief of Staff and the person who convinced Sam Adams that a bike friendly policy is the way to go. He was impressive and is a potential speaker for our upcoming bike summit.
The second session covered the health benefits and I met with the President of the American Public Health Asscociation and Ken Rose of Tranporation Policy Director of CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health both of were very informative and helpful. They were both willing to share their slides which may come in handy.
The third session was on Madison Wisc. and the mayor, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz gave a great talk. When I asked him about the snow problem, he was a bit perplexed, since he didn’t view it as too big a problem since they have a policy that the bike trails get plowed preferrably before 7am. and that seems to work out. He is also a potential speaker for the bike summit.
Included is the the “Top 10 ” list from the Alliance for Biking and Walking — Scott
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National Bike Summit & Alliance for Biking and Walking Top 10 Suggestions

Andrew Dollard, Jon Schull and I attend the National Bike Summit on Weds, March 10th and Jon went to advocate on March 11th with members of congress. It was a terrific conference and we all learned a great deal which will come in very handy.
I attended 3 break out sessions. The first one was held by The Alliance for Biking and Walking which was intended for advocacy communities that were just getting started and talked about the grants program ($15 K) they have to get communities started as well as the regional trainings they have for starting communities. I’ve attatched the “Top 10 Tips” the give for starting organizations. This includes the need to start a 501(c) (3) which I think we need to innitiate soon since it takes at least 3 months to get. I also caught the tail end of a Progressive Cities Session which featured Tom Miller who is Portland Mayor Sam Adam’s Chief of Staff and the person who convinced Sam Adams that a bike friendly policy is the way to go. He was impressive and is a potential speaker for our upcoming bike summit.
The second session covered the health benefits and I met with the President of the American Public Health Asscociation and Ken Rose of Tranporation Policy Director of CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health both of were very informative and helpful. They were both willing to share their slides which may come in handy.
The third session was on Madison Wisc. and the mayor, Mayor Dave Cieslewicz gave a great talk. When I asked him about the snow problem, he was a bit perplexed, since he didn’t view it as too big a problem since they have a policy that the bike trails get plowed preferrably before 7am. and that seems to work out. He is also a potential speaker for the bike summit.
Included is the the “Top 10 ” list from the Alliance for Biking and Walking — Scott
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Writing Women Back into Bicycling – Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals

Writing Women Back into Bicycling – Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals


3/31/2010

When: Wednesday, March 31
3:00 to 4:00 p.m. EDT

Registration Information
Online registration is available until: 3/31/2010
Details
Some say that transportation culture will change when more women are cycling. What’s the key to making that change happen? Hear all about it during APBP’s free webinar, Writing Women Back into Bicycling: Changing Transportation Culture to Encourage More Women to Cycle. This presentation is linked to the encouragement recommendations of the International Scan. Consider hosting a site and inviting your colleagues to attend.
This webinar is made possible by a generous contribution from the Family of Mrs. Neil L. Miller (1938-2005) Barry University HPLS Faculty.

« Go to Upcoming Event List

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Writing Women Back into Bicycling – Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals

Writing Women Back into Bicycling – Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals


3/31/2010

When: Wednesday, March 31
3:00 to 4:00 p.m. EDT

Registration Information
Online registration is available until: 3/31/2010
Details
Some say that transportation culture will change when more women are cycling. What’s the key to making that change happen? Hear all about it during APBP’s free webinar, Writing Women Back into Bicycling: Changing Transportation Culture to Encourage More Women to Cycle. This presentation is linked to the encouragement recommendations of the International Scan. Consider hosting a site and inviting your colleagues to attend.
This webinar is made possible by a generous contribution from the Family of Mrs. Neil L. Miller (1938-2005) Barry University HPLS Faculty.

« Go to Upcoming Event List

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BIKE WEEK VOLUNTEERS

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

The RCA Events Committee will be holding their first volunteer recruitment meeting at the Genesee Waterways Center today (Wednesday, March 10th) from 7PM – 9PM.

Directions to the site can be found here: http://geneseewaterways.org/directions_gwc.htm.
GWC Boathouse Address:
149 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, New York 14611

Please spread the word to all those who may be interested and post this message to your Facebook and Twitter accounts (if possible). The meeting will focus on explaining our overall events and strategies for bike week in order to recruit volunteers. Bike week will help RCA fulfill its mission to create better cycling infrastructure and a stronger voice for cyclists in Rochester, NY.

Thanks for your support!
Jason Hammel and the RCA Events Committee

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BIKE WEEK VOLUNTEERS

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED!

The RCA Events Committee will be holding their first volunteer recruitment meeting at the Genesee Waterways Center today (Wednesday, March 10th) from 7PM – 9PM.

Directions to the site can be found here: http://geneseewaterways.org/directions_gwc.htm.
GWC Boathouse Address:
149 Elmwood Avenue
Rochester, New York 14611

Please spread the word to all those who may be interested and post this message to your Facebook and Twitter accounts (if possible). The meeting will focus on explaining our overall events and strategies for bike week in order to recruit volunteers. Bike week will help RCA fulfill its mission to create better cycling infrastructure and a stronger voice for cyclists in Rochester, NY.

Thanks for your support!
Jason Hammel and the RCA Events Committee

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New Bicycle/Pedestrian bridge

Was anyone able to attend last night’s meeting about the possible new bicycle/pedestrian bridge over the Genesee? I was not able to attend, but am interested in what was discussed. Please leave any info in comments below, or e-mail me at alamedajunk@yahoo.com .

Thanks!

-Bill Collins

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New Bicycle/Pedestrian bridge

Was anyone able to attend last night’s meeting about the possible new bicycle/pedestrian bridge over the Genesee? I was not able to attend, but am interested in what was discussed. Please leave any info in comments below, or e-mail me at alamedajunk@yahoo.com .

Thanks!

-Bill Collins

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Act now to get Congress to enact the ACT Act

rails to trails conservancy
Dear Jon,
Read about yesterday’s historic milestone for trails, walking and bicycling, and take action now!

Yesterday, H.R. 4722, the“Active Community Transportation Act of 2010”was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives!

Now, your voice is needed to ensure that this legislation becomes reality.
Please act now!

For years, you have been speaking up for active transportation. Through both critical victories and short-term setbacks, your phone calls, e-mails, and support have persisted.

And finally, we have the most tangible result yet that our calls for more active transportation will be answered.

Late yesterday, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) introduced H.R. 4722, the “Active Community Transportation Act of 2010” (ACT Act), on the floor of the House of Representatives!

The ACT Act is the direct result of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s (RTC)Campaign for Active Transportation. The Act would create a $2 billion program to fund dozens of communities around the country to improve their trail, walking and biking networks. Your community could ultimately receive some of these funds, better allowing you and your neighbors to walk and bike to the places you live, work, play, shop and learn.

Across the country, Americans have made clear that we want more transportation options, and the ACT Act goes a long way toward making such safe and convenient options a reality. Research clearly shows that funding active transportation is a wise investment, saving our nation substantially over time.

Now that Rep. Blumenauer has introduced the legislation in the House, we need to ensure that other representatives support the bill’s passage.
Encourage your representative to co-sponsor this very important legislation now.
This push for co-sponsors is the first step of a larger strategy to ensure that we get the strongest possible congressional support. Next Thursday, hundreds of advocates from around the country will gather in Washington, D.C., for the League of American Bicyclists’ annual Bike Summit, to lobby for the ACT Act.That same day, Thursday, March 11, we’ll ask you to join a national call-in day in support of the ACT Act. Please stay tuned.
Thank you,
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
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Act now to get Congress to enact the ACT Act

rails to trails conservancy
Dear Jon,
Read about yesterday’s historic milestone for trails, walking and bicycling, and take action now!

Yesterday, H.R. 4722, the“Active Community Transportation Act of 2010”was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives!

Now, your voice is needed to ensure that this legislation becomes reality.
Please act now!

For years, you have been speaking up for active transportation. Through both critical victories and short-term setbacks, your phone calls, e-mails, and support have persisted.

And finally, we have the most tangible result yet that our calls for more active transportation will be answered.

Late yesterday, U.S. Representative Earl Blumenauer (Ore.) introduced H.R. 4722, the “Active Community Transportation Act of 2010” (ACT Act), on the floor of the House of Representatives!

The ACT Act is the direct result of Rails-to-Trails Conservancy’s (RTC)Campaign for Active Transportation. The Act would create a $2 billion program to fund dozens of communities around the country to improve their trail, walking and biking networks. Your community could ultimately receive some of these funds, better allowing you and your neighbors to walk and bike to the places you live, work, play, shop and learn.

Across the country, Americans have made clear that we want more transportation options, and the ACT Act goes a long way toward making such safe and convenient options a reality. Research clearly shows that funding active transportation is a wise investment, saving our nation substantially over time.

Now that Rep. Blumenauer has introduced the legislation in the House, we need to ensure that other representatives support the bill’s passage.
Encourage your representative to co-sponsor this very important legislation now.
This push for co-sponsors is the first step of a larger strategy to ensure that we get the strongest possible congressional support. Next Thursday, hundreds of advocates from around the country will gather in Washington, D.C., for the League of American Bicyclists’ annual Bike Summit, to lobby for the ACT Act.That same day, Thursday, March 11, we’ll ask you to join a national call-in day in support of the ACT Act. Please stay tuned.
Thank you,
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy
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Upper Monroe Bicycle Boulevards

Upper Monroe Bicycle Boulevards

In order to adopt a city-wide system of bicycle boulevards, they must be coordinated across many neighborhoods. UMNA stepped up to the plate and became the first neighborhood in our city to endorse the City of Rochester’s decision to include bicycle boulevards in its Bicycle Masterplan. Eventually, we want to provide the Rochester community with an example of bicycle boulevards designed to connect neighborhoods with the city-wide trail system and to encourage bicycle use by casual bike riders to nearby destinations.

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Upper Monroe Bicycle Boulevards

Upper Monroe Bicycle Boulevards

In order to adopt a city-wide system of bicycle boulevards, they must be coordinated across many neighborhoods. UMNA stepped up to the plate and became the first neighborhood in our city to endorse the City of Rochester’s decision to include bicycle boulevards in its Bicycle Masterplan. Eventually, we want to provide the Rochester community with an example of bicycle boulevards designed to connect neighborhoods with the city-wide trail system and to encourage bicycle use by casual bike riders to nearby destinations.

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Dewey Avenue Reconstruction

The City of Rochester engineers will re-present their plan for repaving of Dewey Avenue at the meeting of the Maplewood Neighborhood Association tomorrow, March 3, at 7:00 PM at the Aquinas HS cafeteria. It’s looking like they feel that bike lanes are OK from Driving Park to Flower City Park, but want 4 lanes of traffic from Flower City Park north to Ridge, without bike lanes.

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Dewey Avenue Reconstruction

The City of Rochester engineers will re-present their plan for repaving of Dewey Avenue at the meeting of the Maplewood Neighborhood Association tomorrow, March 3, at 7:00 PM at the Aquinas HS cafeteria. It’s looking like they feel that bike lanes are OK from Driving Park to Flower City Park, but want 4 lanes of traffic from Flower City Park north to Ridge, without bike lanes.