Tag Archive for 'Downtown'
Evidenced by the articles below - our work with various groups (like the BAC) has already led to minor additions and improvements for Miami’s Bicycling Community. Now, with the Coral Way Bike Lanes underway, we turn our attention to another city project that could benefit from some public input. The city of Miami is working to redesign N Bayshor Drive north of the Venetian Causeway and initial plans omitted bicycle lanes. This project is critical. The addition of Bicycle lanes would provide a much needed outlet for cyclists crossing the Venetian Causeway’s bicycle lanes. It would provide a northern safe route to the Edgwater district (hopefully extending later into the design district) and Margaret Pace Park.
Send us letters in support of the addition of Bicycle lanes to this project and we’ll forward them along to the City’s planning and public works departments.
This next segment is the beginning of a new series here on Transit Miami where we will look at certain actions or policies that will invariably counteract true urban progress.
This might be the ultimate mistake in zoning history; constructing a ½ billion-dollar opera/ballet house and later allowing a Wal-Mart to settle in next door. On the way to the ballet, you can pick up some cheap shit foreign made goods, contribute to the massive trade deficit, and support the public financial burden caused by an employer who perennially underpays employees. A Wal-Mart in the urban core continues the suburbanization mentality of building we have seen here in Miami – that is, tall, dense structures only accessible by car. In a sense: Urban from far, but far from urban.
Now, it is not just the zoning that is the issue; imagine spending another billion dollars to rid the downtown of the majority of port-bound truck traffic, only to allow a retailer that will generate hundreds of weekly truck trips to nestle in that very same downtown core. Seems a bit counterproductive, if you ask me, but then again this is Miami, why should we be surprised?
From the beginning, we were not against a mixed-use retail center rising alongside the performing arts center. We viewed the complex, coupled with the PAC, as a formidable component to a thriving media-arts district, filled with nightlife, restaurants, hotels, and well, worthy destinations, not big-box retail. A Wal-Mart anywhere in the downtown region automatically negates that key phrase every Miami politician loves to toss around wildly. You know the one, it goes a little something like: “This _____ will put Miami on the map, this going to a real “world-class” _____.” I guess you can fill in the blanks with Wal-Mart if there is such thing as a “world-class” Wal-Mart, perhaps third world class…
Commissioner Marc Sarnoff recently said it best:
“I thought the idea for that neighborhood was to create a walking neighborhood and not a big box for the Beach,”
Frankly, we envisioned something similar to Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz, nothing revolutionary, just a proper mixed-use development complete with theaters (imax too), restaurants, hotels, and corporate businesses (DB HQ, Price Waterhouse offices, Sony, etc.) From wikipedia:
…The rebuilt Potsdamer Platz now attracts around 70,000 visitors a day, rising to 100,000 at weekends, and some critics have been surprised by the success of the new quarter. Fears that the streets would be dead after 6pm have proven false. At almost any time of the day, the place is alive with people. It is a particularly popular attraction for visitors: the “Arkaden” shopping mall contains around 150 shops and restaurants on three levels, the lowest (basement) level being a food floor; there are also four major hotels, and Europe’s largest casino (the “Spielbank Berlin”)…
Note: in this last image the two large buildings on the bottom right is the home of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. The situational resemblance is uncanny.
After a recent Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting I agreed to help Miami-Dade County MPO Bike/ped coordinator, Dave Henderson, count bicyclists. Dave has been doing his annual bicycle count all around downtown Miami recently and I decided to help him out with the Venetian Causeway portion.
The task was simple: find out how many bicyclists are using the Venetian Causeway between 7am and 9am on weekday mornings. By tallying these users on an annual basis the County will better understand how and where bicyclists are riding, especially as it relates to commuting. I conducted my survey last Tuesday.
Certainly no single day bicyclist count can determine average daily use numbers. Nonetheless, randomly tallying users on any given day provides us with an idea of how often bicyclists are using the streets and/or the few existing bicycle facilities that do exist. While counting I did my best to not double count. That is, to not include those bicycling past me east bound, only to whiz by me 20 minutes later heading west bound. This happened frequently, demonstrating that many people use the Venetian Causeway for exercise, not one-way morning commutes.
What I discovered is instructive. Overall, I counted 90 bicyclists. Interestingly, I saw no children, kids, or teens. About 60% of the riders were headed east, while another 40% were heading west. Those readily identifiable as recreational bicyclists were doing loops, while the rest, with their backpacks, saddle bags, and lack of spandex, were probably on their way to or from work.
Men outnumbered women by 40%, which says something about users, safety and preference.
As it relates to bicycle behavior, 100% of users were using the on-street bicycle lanes, opting to stay away from the sidewalks. What is more, 100% of bicyclists were riding with traffic. Almost anywhere else in Miami these impressive percentages would surely diminish. Indeed, when I bicycle downtown, west on SW 7th Street, Eastward on calle ocho, or all over the Grove, I typically see 50% of riders on the sidewalks or going against traffic in the wrong direction.
One can only attribute these virtuous behaviors to the presence of a bicycle lane (despite its shortcomings) clear and consistent signage, directional on-pavement arrows, and an ingrained bicyclist culture where riders know what is expected of them on the Causeway. To be sure, I do see bicyclists along the Venetian exhibiting less than safe behavior. Nonetheless, they are few and far between. What is worrisome, however, is that 46% of bicyclists were not wearing helmets. One must remember that a bicycle lane does not always mean you are safe.
Overall, the corridor is very active and relatively safe. It is just unfortunate that so many recreational bicyclists do not carry on into the the City of Miami. This is probably because the bicycle lane simply stops on the Miami side of the Causeway. Further more, it seems the general perception of downtown Miami and many of its inner neighborhoods is that of an unsafe and unattractive place for recreation. Sometime in the future the baywalk may coax recreational bicyclists further into the city, but for now efforts should concentrate on street facilities that help non-commuting or non-expert riders explore their city safely and without being isolated inside a hulking metal carapace.
I was fortunate enough to have been invited to attend part of the Mayor’s Hemispheric Forum by Miami Mayor Manny Diaz. The hemispheric forum occurred prior to the US conference of Mayors, also here in Miami, which officially began yesterday. Mayor Diaz is being inducted as the President of the Mayors Conference. I’ll cover this critical event in some more detail next week.
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It’s been a rough week with the site being down, but we’re glad to be finally back up and running and can’t wait to dive back into action. We’ll be working out the kinks over the next few days or so…
Let’s end the week on a lighthearted note, with images of Sony’s recent “Spring Cleaning” of Downtown Miami:
Via A Welsh View
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