Planning & Transportation
I haven't seen it in any of the papers, but I noticed this tidbit on the Town of Chapel Hill website today:
Town Manager Cal Horton announced today that the general manager for the Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority, K. Stephen Spade, has accepted a position as transportation director for the Town of Chapel Hill. Spade will begin in April...
Spade has worked for the Des Moines Metropolitan Transit Authority for 31 years. The MTA is an independent governmental agency providing public transit service to seven cities and Polk County, Iowa. The transit system provides fixed route, express, commuter and paratransit service throughout Polk County. MTA also provides vanpool services in 14 counties surrounding Polk County.
- Town of Chapel Hill - Town Manager Announces New Transit Director, 2/17/06
Anyone have experience on the Des Moine transit system?
Local blogger Crazy John pledged last Thursday night to not drive for one week. He's documenting each day on his blog.
Day 1: John becomes increasingly aware of the world around him.
Day 2: John takes the bus, enjoys seeing friends and sometimes getting rides from them.
Day 3: John's resolve is weakened when he realizes that the buses don't run on Sunday and his feet are killing him. "I walked to Carrboro and back in my foot-unfriendly Chuck Taylor's. I can't believe those shoes were worn in the NBA for decades."
What will happen next? Will John's feet make it through the week?
Have you gone car-free, readers? How do you make it work? What can local governments do to make it easier?
Thanks to dent (The Independent Weekly's excellent politics blog) for pointing to a new web site that articulates the plans and the need for serious regional transit in the Triangle.
TransitTime.com highlights the current proposal for a rail line from downtown Raleigh, through Cary and RTP, ending in downtown Durham. It has the first credible explanation I've seen for why the airport is not in phase one, and it shows all the great additional lines that can extend the system in the future, including ones from Chapel Hill to Durham and from Chapel Hill to RTP.
The site even includes a handy form to e-mail a whole bunch of elected officials whose support is crucial to the project.
I know sometimes things that sound the same mean different things in different parts of Orange County. Could this "strategic growth plan" be an effort to slow and manage growth, which by most accounts has been pretty out of control in and around Hillsborough? It certainly has potential to be a good thing. Maybe some of you north of I-40 readers could help out.
The [Hillsborough Town] Board authorized Town Manager Eric Peterson to negotiate a contract with Chapel Hill-based Clarion Associates to develop a strategic growth plan. The town and Orange County are jointly creating the plan. The town will be recruiting town residents to serve on the steering committee, which will start meeting Jan. 22.
- newsobserver.com | Orange County, 12/15/05
...And former Chapel Hill Planning Director Roger Waldon continues to do well in his second career as a consultant with Clarion.
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