“A page has been turned, clearly there is no doubt: the future will hold many more large scale street openings…”
— Livable streets advocate and filmmaker Clarence Eckerson
On Saturday, New York City tested the Ciclovia waters with their first of three Summer Streets events planned for this month.
From the looks of a fantastic video and report by Clarence Eckerson of Streetfilms (watch below), it was nothing short of a watershed (or as Mr. Eckerson called it, “transformational”) moment for New York City.
Parkways last June.
(Photos © J. Maus)
I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of envy while watching the video, not simply because it looked like an amazing time (and feelings from our event are still fresh in my mind), but also because New York City residents — like folks from most other cities that have planned similar events — have two more of them to look forward to.
City planners in the Big Apple took heed of advice from the Godfather of Ciclovias, Gil Penalosa, and decided from the start to plan three successive events. But unfortunatetly, here in Portland, where our Sunday Parkways was every bit as successful as Summer Streets, we unfortunately have to wait until next year before doing it again.
At first I held out hope that somehow we could schedule a few more this year and capitalize on the groundswell of momentum created back in June. But alas, that’s not to be.
As of now, the plan is to have four successive events in Portland — next summer.
on next year’s plans.
City of Portland staffers are already working on next year’s Sunday Parkways plans. Linda Ginenthal, in the Transportation Options division of PDOT, and the point person for the event, says they’re busy putting together sponsorship packets and searching for private partnerships to make next year’s event even better.
I met with her several weeks ago to look over the budget and to understand why more Sunday Parkways this year are not possible.
According to Ginenthal’s numbers, Sunday Parkways was a “revenue neutral” event. The total expense was $150,000 (not the widely reported $200,000) and the event brought in $108,000 (in the form of grants and donations). The difference in those two numbers was staff time that was already budgeted for the event.
It turns out that the mistake was planning for only one event from the start and the logistical realities of doing more this year cannot be overcome. Ginenthal says there’s simply not enough lead time to hire staff, notify neighborhoods, and get all the bureaucratic ducks in a row. Also hanging over Ginenthal’s head is a new wrinkle in the City’s Safe Routes to Schools contract that has added that task onto her already full plate.
So for now, we’ll have to suffice with our newly-carfree Last Thursday on Alberta, or live vicariously through coverage of upcoming events in New York City, Chicago, and elsewhere.
On that note, sit back and enjoy this great video from New York City’s Summer Streets event (and consider for a moment the national importance of having America’s largest and most well-known city succeed with an event like this):