Four ballot initiatives I watched

1.  Adding transit sales taxes to support Caltrain and other transit systems in the San Francisco Bay area called the "Regional Transit Measure" and a companion measure, Proposition H for MUNI, in San Francisco proper ("Big win for Bay Area transit as voters approve regional measure and S.F. Muni tax," San Francisco Chronicle).

The MUNI system has electric trolley buses (electric power works best on steep hills), light rail on the surface and underground Downtown, historic streetcars, historic cable cars, and regular buses.

Both passed.  Pre-election coverage said systems would shrink vastly if the measure failed ("A Bay Area transit ‘death spiral’ could double Bay Bridge delays, report says," San Francisco Chronicle, Bumper to Bumper: How potential transit service cuts could affect Bay Area traffic, affordability, and carbon emissions, SPUR).

People attend a rally against Proposition 40 on Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. Los Angeles Times.

2.  Also in California, a tax on billionaires.  It failed ("Billionaire tax ballot measure trails; California voters reject voter ID," Los Angeles Times) and a companion measure forbidding repeat referenda on such a tax passed. 

Of course, billionaires poured hundreds of millions of dollars into fighting the measure ("California’s Wealth Tax Vote Too Close To Call—But Billionaires’ Historic Opposition Campaign Appears To Be Working," Forbes).  From the article:

Less than three dozen of the roughly 260 billionaires who would be impacted by the wealth tax in California, Prop. 40, individually contributed $293 million to stop the proposal from becoming law as of mid October, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who first moved to California in 1993, spent $102 million (less than 1% of his estimated tax bill) as the far-and-away highest contributor, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt came in second at $40.2 million. Kleiner Perkins chair John Doerr donated $40 million and Stripe co-founder and CEO Patrick Collison spent $33 million opposing Prop. 40, per the Times.

Billionaire Chris Larsen, Vinod Khosla, Michael Moritz, Kavitark Ram Shriram, Frank Slootman and Stewart Resnick all donated between $4.5 million and $17.5 million each.

3. Property tax reduction in Florida.  Passed ("Florida Voters Approve Sweeping Property-Tax Cuts," Wall Street Journal). 

To me this will be a disaster ("Efforts to exempt owner occupied houses from taxes in Florida and California").  Florida doesn't have an income tax.  Local governments rely on property taxes for operations (along with sales taxes, other fees, government payments).

Schools, emergency services, libraries, roads, etc.  From the article:

Florida voters approved the most consequential overhaul of a state property-tax system in the country, sharply reducing the tax bill for many homeowners while slashing the funding stream for local governments.

The constitutional amendment—which the Associated Press called as vote tallies showed a roughly 62%-38% margin of support, above Florida’s 60% approval threshold—was the most closely watched ballot measure in Florida. Rising home prices and other costs have fueled an affordability crunch.

The Florida measure is part of the biggest nationwide property-tax revolt since the 1970s as voters in several other states also decide whether to roll back or restrain the housing-related taxes.

The Florida amendment goes into effect Jan. 1 and poses a big challenge for local governments that rely on property taxes to fund services such as fire rescue and road maintenance. Many were already paring spending in preparation and now face potential cuts in property-tax revenue of nearly $5 billion statewide in the 2027-28 fiscal year, according to one analysis.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who championed the amendment, has said it would provide direct relief to homeowners and prevent local governments from undertaking wasteful spending on nonessential functions.

Ironically, economists compared the impact of the billionaires tax in California versus reversing Proposition 13, a 1970s measure that significantly reduced property taxes by 60% and significantly reduced the legal percentage of future increases.

Cutting--an initiative of the crazy Republicans in Florida--I think will be comparable to Sam Brownback's supply side income tax cut orgasm in Kansas ("‘The Kansas experiment’ should be a warning to Republicans touting Trump’s big, beautiful bill," Boston Globe, "The Tax Experiment that Failed, Independent Lens/PBS, "Kansas abandons massive tax cuts that provided model for Trump's plan," Guardian).

The cuts wrecked the Kansas state budget, had to be reversed, and led to the election of a Democratic Governor, removal of many of the Republican supporters in the State Legislature, and even perhaps, contributed to yesterday's win of a Senate seat by Adam Hamilton ("Former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback steps into US Senate campaign to endorse Roger Marshall," Kansas Reflector).

4.  An pro-abortion measure in Idaho, which aimed to reverse the draconian anti-abortion law already passed, which has has severely restricted the provision of OB/GYN care in the state ("Doctors left Idaho after abortion ban, study confirms," Idaho Capital Sun, "Change in Number of OB/GYN Physicians Practicing Obstetrics After the Dobbs Decision," JAMA, "When Idaho Banned Abortion, OB-GYNs Fled. The Doctors Who Stayed Are Cracking," New York Times).  

It failed ("Idaho voters reject ballot measure on abortion, preserving the state’s ban, NBC News projects," NBC).  

(One of our neighbors is a fetal medicine doctor who used to have to go up to Idaho Falls once day per week to provide services.  The ban completely changed the practice.)

I thought it was interesting because the Mormon Church donated $1 million to the referendum campaign ("LDS Church donates $1 million to fight abortion initiative on November ballot," Boise State NPR).  

How can it be legal for a church/501(c)3 to actually make political donations--although I'm sure they have a 501(c)4 lying around for such a purpose.

It's a bit murky:

Under federal tax law, churches and Section 501(c)(3) religious organizations are prohibited from directly or indirectly contributing money, resources, or financial support to political campaigns, candidates, or political action committees (PACs).

Apparently this is interpreted only in terms of candidates, not ballot measures ("Why the LDS Church can wade into abortion politics — and even donate money — without risking its tax-exempt status," Salt Lake Tribune).  To me a donation in support or opposition to a voter referendum is a "political campaign."  This interpretation needs to be challenged legally.

Of course, they still had the option of using a c(4) which can donate to campaigns, but the donations to the organization paying for it aren't tax deductible it seems illegal to me.  And again, seems counter to the Church and State separation clause.

Except for the Republican Administration and Republican Supreme Court's continued privileging of religious institutions relative to what was seen as settled law.  Such as endorsing candidates ("IRS says churches can now endorse political candidates," NPR).

The workaround is the Republican AG in Idaho ruled that it's legal ("LDS Church makes $1 million donation to anti-Prop 1 PAC ahead of Idaho’s general election," Idaho Capital Sun).  I think it should be challenged at the federal level.  Although with this Supreme Court, they'd let it slide.

Most significant micromobility transportation event in 2026: Pedestrianizing Oxford Street in London

Reddit photo.

Last year in January I wrote the most significant transportation happening of the year 2025 was the imposition of congestion charging in New York City ("The most momentous transportation story of 2025 has already occurred: imposition of NYC's congestion zone," "Big transit/sustainable mobility stories of 2025").

After years of trying starting in 2017 ("London’s Oxford Street to be pedestrianised by the end of 2018 under plans by Mayor Sadiq Khan," CityAM), Mayor Sadik Khan of London, with new authority given to his position, was able to put into place Oxford Street pedestrianization, despite years of push back from the Borough of the City of Westminster.

-- Oxford Street area works, Transport for London
-- "Oxford Street pedestrianization is coming to London" (2018/2026).

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Well, maybe just wrt micromobility.  Spain's continued crashing of high speed rail trains on a line that hasn't installed advanced signaling could be considered a top issue.  

I'd say the most momentous decision was going into the Iran War, the subsequent "seizure" of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran, the reduction of oil and other shipping through the Strait, constraining supplies, abetted by Iran attacks on oil and gas infrastructure elsewhere in the Mideast, and the subsequent rise in oil and gas prices in the US and around the world.

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This pedestrian scramble intersection on Oxford Street was an early attempt at rebalancing favor towards pedestrians. 

Cities like Paris, London, Montreal, Thessalonki have city-wide mayors with specific powers, but at the same time the city is organized into sub-city districts with mayors and councils and more significant powers when it comes to local affairs.  And Westminster has been against for some time.

Mayor Khan's main power has been control of transit, Transport for London, and with a Labour Government after years of the Conservatives, he has more national support for this function.

Oxford Street attracts more than 500,000 visitors each day. Taxis make up around 1/3 of the traffic on the street, but only account for 2% of the people throughput (10,000 people).  Most people walk or use the subway.  

The closure was implemented overnight on October 26th.  Reddit photo.

Making this a reality took a change in national law.  Mayor Khan's authority didn't extend to roadways and to overturn Westminster Borough said no ("Banning cars in city centres has worked around the world. Why isn’t London’s Oxford Street pedestrianised yet?," Guardian).

But it required action by the national government to do so.  From "Oxford Street transformation – the state of play as 2026 gets underway":

On 17 September 2024, he revealed that the then brand new Labour government was backing his desire to bring “the nation’s high street” under his command.

BBC photo.

One of the justifications of the change is the now not so new Elizabeth Line adds more transit-based footfall to the district.  

Another is the decline of retail and the belief that more purposeful activation of the street can help revive it.  With the change, buses are shifted to other streets.  

And it seems to be having positive effect already ("How is Oxford Street one week into pedestrianisation?," BBC, "London’s Oxford Street Gets Spending Boost After Going Car-Free," Bloomberg).  From Bloomberg:

The number of transactions in stores jumped 19% in the seven days starting Oct. 26 compared with the prior week and from a year earlier, according to data from technology company Adyen. Overall spending value also reflected the surge in visitors, rising 28% from a year earlier and 12% on the previous week.

The figures, from 40 stores on Oxford Street, provide an early test of whether banning traffic can boost an area struggling to regain its pre-pandemic pulling power, where spending is recovering more slowly than across the wider West End district.

One problem is cyclists riding through, rather than walking their bikes.  

Even though I am a staunch cyclist, I believe mixing cycle riders with pedestrianized streets is a problem and shouldn't be allowed because cyclists tend to travel much faster than walking speed.

In short, not every micromobility intervention is designed to be primary for every mode.  Just like bike lanes aren't for walking nor cars.

Lessons

Paris was the first city to introduce wide scale dock based bicycle sharing.

World class cities. I have a line about how "world class cities don't just take, they give" in that their introduction of innovation in turn allows other cities that aren't "world class" to experiment similarly ("World class cities and the development of new transportation technologies: Paris and electric cars," 2011, "How Paris beat the car," 2026).

London has plenty of pedestrian districts already, so do so many cities throughout Europe.  But like bike share--Paris wasn't the first, but it was the first city to implement bike sharing at a major scale--this is a highly visible change that over time will have impact on US cities, even "world cities" like New York.

Lots of pedestrian activity in the Financial District.  MIT graphic.

Like in NYC there is talk about more pro-pedestrian interventions like multiple blocks in the Financial District ("Data Show Why Mamdani Must Pedestrianize the Financial District," StreetsblogNYC) but no action.

The same went for congestion charging.  London wasn't first, but it was more visible than Stockholm or Singapore, and it led to "diffusion of the idea" in the US, to the point where NYC, after years of back and forth, implemented it to great success.

Tokyo's Shibuya District has foot traffic equal to Oxford Street but still cars are privileged.

Density and a shopping core are key to success.  But most Western cities don't have a street section less than a mile in length with 500,000 daily users on foot.  Oxford Street has 120 million visitors each year and 85% arrive by transit.  

Similarly, Asian cities like Tokyo's Shibuya district, Hong Kong, and so many in China do have that kind of foot traffic, and could pedestrianize similarly. Also see the Bloomberg article "London's Oxford Street Has a Message for the UK."

These days cities in the US no longer have shopping cores dominated by multiple different department stores.  If they have one, usually a Macy's, it's a big deal.

Better to take it slow if your city isn't super dense.  Start with one block in an area where it can be very successful and go from there ("Extending the "Signature Streets" concept to "Signature Streets and Spaces"").

Mayoral development corporations as implementers.  The second Bloomberg article makes the point that what we would call in the US "community development corporations" ("Ah, the H Street Community Development Corporation") are a way to cut through opposition, red tape and fear and make change happen.

Scary pumpkin carved for Halloween, "Bike lanes" for people who oppose them

From the BikeLA Reddit.

Yesterday's Election

I saw this yard sign yesterday, while out doing errands.

WRT the Election results ("Angry Voters Usher in Beginning of the End to the Trump Era," New York Times), it wasn't because of this kind of thinking, but it'd be nice to think so.

-- Country First website

I'll take what I can get...

I'm not going to say this is a reset.  I will say though that if the Democratic Party in some of these surprising wins (Texas, Iowa, Kansas, some South Carolina, etc.) continues to organize and develop the "ground game" then some of these "miraculous reversals" can become more permanent.

In Salt Lake, I participate on the community whining site Nextdoor, and while the State is very Republican, Salt Lake City and to a lesser extent the County are strongly Democratic.

That means the County Attorney and Sheriff positions are Democrat and they've been in office a long time.  One strongly Republican participant on Nextdoor kept pushing their Republican opponents as an alternative, saying "it's time for a change."

New Yorker Magazine cartoon by Ben Chase.

I jokingly responded, "why is it in all those Republican House and Senate districts across the state, that have been electing Republicans all this time, they aren't saying 'it's time for change, why don't we vote Democratic for once'?"

Well, in this election it seems like many did ("North Carolina Republicans might have had the worst night of all," Washington Post, "Florida Republicans narrowly avoid blue wave but feel impact," South Florida Sun-Sentinel), even in Utah, a bunch of hard core Republicans seem to be on their way to losing--some really bad ones, like the landlord lawyer writing tenant legislation ("As Utah continues counting votes, Democrats are on the path to flip seats in GOP-dominated Legislature," Salt Lake Tribune).

Anti-James Talerico mailers sent to a Reddit member in Texas.  

We'll see if these trends hold up through the full ballot count--Utah is/was a leader in mail in voting, although they're dialing it back because of the Trump sycophants. A lot of early ballots in Utah are Republican.

Free transit (and bike) rides to the polls on election day

The US Supreme Court continues to support voter suppression by declaring sections of the Voting Rights Act Unconstitutional ("Whites Only," Mother Jones).

Many transit systems like Nashville, the systems in Los Angeles County, Wichita, San Antonio and many others offer free rides on election day, with the goal and objective that people can get to polling sites without having to pay.

Lincoln, Nebraska takes this a step further, adding the local bike sharing program, BikeLNK, to free election day service ("Free rides to the polls: Lincoln waives bus, bike fares Nov. 3," Lincoln Journal-Star).

It turns out that while the BikeLnk offer is rare, Metro Bikes in LA County are offering free rides too.

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Francis Silva on a BikeLNK bike.  A senior membership is half off, $50 per year.

One of the things I say bike share systems need to do is trainings and group events, tours etc., for promotion.  BikeLnk has such a program targeting seniors ("Aging Partners, BikeLNK bikeshare learning sessions begin Monday," Journal-Star), "Educating Older Adults on Bike Share," Better Bike Share Partnership).

European Prize for Urban Public Space

Zuidpark is the conversion of a multi-block parking lot into a park with climate change elements.  Before that it was a section of shipping docks supporting Antwerp's port.  Photos: Isabelle Pateer Photography.

An annual competition sponsored by the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, the 2026 winner of the European Prize for Urban Public Space is Zuidpark, a public park in Antwerp, Belgium. 

-- Architect's write up of the project

  There were 25 finalists

The organization has a number of publications, of the biennial competition, and lessons learned.  Some are published books, and hard to get in the US.  The report for each biennial competition is downloadable as a pdf. 

October is National Community Planning Month: A program for Citizen Involvement

I never did get a PhD in planning (a big regret) but I wanted to do my dissertation on better citizen involvement processes, because outside of families with children in local schools, land use issues were the ones most likely to get the average citizen involved in local civic affairs.

I've been busy travelling or being sick or tired, so I haven't been writing.  I try to write pieces based on a theme, like National Public Lands Day in late September, or National Community Planning Month in October.

The American Planning Association webpage has some resources.  Next year's conference is in Houston in the Spring.  

They used to have a membership tier for community representatives on planning commissions and similar public bodies with review responsibility for planning and zoning issues that was individually based.  Now the planning organization joins, and individuals join under the group.  I don't know if planning groups at the sub-city scale qualify for this type of membership.

While I can be very voluble, I joke that I follow the lyric from the Talking Heads song, Psychokiller, "When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.  Say something once why say it again?"

Yes I joke I write the same stuff over and over, albeit with redos and expansions and even reversals over the years, because mostly my insights are the same.  And sometimes I have to change my mind, based on new information and experiences, which I try to do as well.

A public planning meeting in Montgomery County, Maryland.

The necessity of capacity building.  My biggest take away from 25 years involvement with a citizen advocacy perspective is that cities don't invest in capacity building and training to help citizens be better at involvement.  

To me it's damning that with each additional planning engagement they participate in, they don't become more knowledgeable, creative, and "better."  I have written about this a lot, and this is as good a sum up as any. 

-- "National Community Planning Month | Civic Involvement" (2025)

A few cities, notably Minneapolis with a program that doesn't exist anymore, Seattle, and Calgary, Alberta, are quite good at it, many aren't.  (In parks, the City Parks Foundation in NYC has a workshop and training program for park-involved citizens.)

Some communities have citizen academies, but I'll call that an idiosyncratic approach, because it's individually focused, not individually and organizationally.  Organizations as a whole need capacity development and the ability to pass on programs and best practice even as older members leave and are replaced by younger ones.

Plus groups tend to be somewhat hermetic and that needs to be addressed as well.  

Of course, the Internet is a great source of information on urban issues.  Urban Land Magazine is published by the main real estate development trade association and is a good way to begin to understand how developers think.

Libraries can be a way to organize and deliver such training, and create special collections of books, periodicals, and other resources on all aspects of urban planning.  Dallas offers the Grants Information Center and the Urban Information Center as part of the Government documents section, as a resource along these lines.

Originally established to strengthen the informational foundation for community development and urban revitalization efforts, the center provides tools, specialized resources, and subject guides tailored for researchers, city planners, and local residents

Money for travel/training.  Off site training is usually criticized as junkets.  People don't seem to have much respect for it.  When DC's Main Street program started out, they provided some funding to attend the Main Street conference.  But not anymore.  

My going to various conferences, on my own dime, like National Trust for Historic Preservation, Congress for the New Urbanism, APA and American Society of Landscape Architects when they cycled through DC, of course the Main Street conference, Urban Land Institute meetings, and other trainings lwas invaluable.  It accelerated my learning greatly, especially doing field trips as part of the conference.  

NRPA Exhibit floor at a past conference.

Oh and many such conferences come with exhibit halls and exhibitors and you can learn a lot from what you see there as well.  I just sent back over 50 pounds of literature I picked up at the National Recreation and Parks Association meeting in Philadelphia.

Maybe it has to be done through philanthropy and creating an endowment, but involved citizens in recognized groups should be able to get at least some financial support to go to such meetings, with requirements to do "after action reports" to share the learning with others.

Placemaking workshop as a training platform.  I don't think Project for Public Spaces does this workshop, "How to Turn A Place Around" anymore.  

They used to do one every year in NYC and then out in the field when asked to do so as consultants--I participated in one for Scenic America in DC in like 2004 ("write up").

I think every city should do a workshop like this every year, moving it around the city.  

Obviously, it would be held at a particular project or site, or more generally in a specific neighborhood, with groups in that neighborhood being co-sponsors and the lead participants, but also have the workshop open as a training bed, to other interested citizens, organizations, and city/county staff as informed participant-observers.  

One thing I found is that having a mix of people with deep local knowledge, and less local knowledge but more technical knowledge is that the "new people" help the long time neighborhood residents in seeing a place differently, with possibilities, rather than the "same old, same old."

The workshop is great for helping to develop a consensus about community priorities and initiatives, but not so detailed as a full blown neighborhood plan.

Together Bay Area conference.

Annual community conference.  Some parks friends organizations like Park Pride in Atlanta have an annual conference.  It's more for professionals but interested members/residents are welcome.  Friends of the Parks in Chicago includes community awards for people and programs, so there is a celebratory element.  The Together Bay Area open space group's annual conference sometimes includes advocacy activities as well as field visits.

At the state level, most bike advocacy, historic preservation, and commercial district revitalization programs (Main Street) have conferences too, and these can be particularly good.

Past entries on Community Planning Month.  Rather than write something new, past entries related to the month are still fully relevant and worth (re)reading.  Here goes:

-- "National Community Planning Month | Civic Involvement continued, Orange County Register's Be the Change" (2025)
-- "National Community Planning Month | A Planner's Bookshelf" (2025)
-- "National Community Planning Month | Citizen advocates matter" (2025)
-- "National Community Planning Month | Civic Involvement -- Sometimes you lose" (2025)

-- "National Community Planning Month: Resource | Planning Whole Communities Toolkit, Puget Sound Regional Council" (2022)
-- "National Community Planning Month: Schools as community anchors" (2022)
-- "Community Planning Month and transportation" (2022)
-- "October is National Community Planning Month" (2022)
-- "Planning books to read for National Community Planning Month" (2020) [to the public safety section I would add Peter Moskos Back from the Brink, an oral history of the implementation of Broken Windows policing theory in NYC, blog entry]

-- "Community planning, capitalism, and housing/real estate development" (2020)
-- "October as National Community Planning Month (and "defund the police")" (2020)

Hourcar: Minneapolis-St. Paul nonprofit car share to shut down

Hourcar is a nonprofit car share organization serving Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.  Since 2005-21 years--it has been a rare non profit organization in the field that has survived

Most of the initial firms sold themselves to for profit providers around the time that they needed to raise funds for the first wholesale replacement of the original fleet of cars as they aged.

But now, faced with significant increases in repair costs, insurance, and recission of federal grants to the organization as well as to government partners led to a triple whammy--a $1.1 million deficit that the board was not able to raise funds for and cover ("HourCar calls it quits, Evie electric carshare ends Oct. 15," St. Paul Pioneer-Press).  From the article:

To maintain and expand operations over the years, the car-sharing service — which allows members to book a fuel-efficient car for hourly use via an app — has relied heavily on financial support from St. Paul, Minneapolis, Xcel Energy and other public, private and philanthropic partners, as well as federal grants.

LaGrange said the board convened Tuesday night and determined that while they had made headway on a $1.1 million budget gap, some $625,000 remained to be raised to complete a $5 million budget and keep the organization afloat. With most fundraising avenues already exhausted and cities, counties and fellow nonprofits expressing alarm about their own finances, finding the extra cash seemed unlikely.

So now it's going to shut down. From the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal ("Hourcar, facing budget gap, will end car-sharing service"):

HourCar was launched in 2005 by Neighborhood Energy Connection (now the Center for Energy and Environment). It outlasted some early rivals, such as Car2Go (which left the market in 2016) and expanded with partners including Xcel Energy Inc. 

According to a 2025 Community Impact Report, the service was used for 196,220 trips the past year. Most of the users responding to a survey in March 2026 said the used the service for entertainment reasons and for household tasks like grocery shopping. Forty-one percent said they used the service to get to medical appointments.

One of the problems with transportation demand management systems is that it's comprised of a mix of private, government and nonprofit providers.  US government actors aren't prepared to step in to cover losses, even if the service is worthwhile.

The Veo Trike ("Is the Electric Trike the Next Big Thing in Shared Micromobility?," Wired Magazine).

-- "Further updates to the Sustainable Mobility Platform Framework" (2018) [this entry needs an update compilation within the framework, like Veo trikes]

Maybe not in Minneapolis-St. Paul, but I know in DC, another problem is that car share is seen not so much as a mobility resource and as a way to reduce parking demand, but a profit center to be charged high rates for the use of public spaces.  And taxes.  In DC, a car share trip costs more in taxes than a trip on Uber or Lyft.

It's possible in a place like Hamburg or Berlin, where the city government is the main actor through a transit subsidiary, that agencies there could step in if there are problems, seeing the value of continuing the service.  But it's not guaranteed.

Similar problems have come up with bike share, as the way it usually works is that systems serving multiple cities are really set up behind the scenes, city by city, and this can lead to sub-optimal outcomes.

And the dockless systems, which pay cities a license fee.  But aren't always sustainable.  Also with the White's Ferry in Montgomery County, Maryland.

-- "Another example of the need to reconfigure transpo planning and operations at the metropolitan scale: Boston is seizing dockless bike share bikes, which compete with their dock-based system" (2018)
-- "New Jersey still has private transit carriers providing "public transit"" (2023)
-- "Revisiting the need for comprehensive transportation planning at the metropolitan and regional scales | For profit services, and White's Ferry, Montgomery and Loudoun Counties" (2022)

Scenario planning, like what I recommend for parks master planning in jurisdictions with parks operated by multiple agencies, is absolutely necessary in maintaining and improving the sustainable mobility platform/MobilityAsAService (MaaS).  DC was and somewhat is a leader, but it's not planned (this piece needs an update too).

-- "DC is a market leader in Mobility as a Service (MaaS)" (2018)

That way they are prepared for changing circumstances.  Ideally, in a system with various profits and losses, profits in one area could subsidize losses, with the aim of maintaining the ideal system.

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Berlin's integrated transit app: integrated apps as an element of brand leadership.  In Berlin, they've created a mobility app that integrates transit modes provided by the transport association and non-transit modes offered by private firms ("Berlin's new transit app Jelbi connects all modes in one place," Fast Company).

The app, Jelbi ... connects services that currently each have apps of their own, making it difficult to plan a trip or buy tickets given the number of choices. “We have eight bikesharing companies in the market, alone,” says Christof Schminke, the managing director in Germany for Trafi, the tech company that built the platform for BVG, Berlin’s public transport company. “I think it’s a good sign that Berlin has all the mobility options, but for every service you need a separate app on your smartphone.”

BVG, which runs the city’s subways, trams, buses, and ferries, wanted to become a broader mobility provider for Berlin. “They also saw a competitive threat, because there are also other players, like automotive companies or the Ubers of the world, that are also starting to integrate other modes of mobility… they didn’t want to leave it to private players to [take on] this integrator role,” Schminke says. Other companies, like the startups offering bikes and scooters, saw the benefits of connecting with a public transit platform and getting more riders.

Jelbi shifts, adds mobility hubs.  Photo: IMAGO/Funke Photo Services

The thing for me, is that while transport associations need to organize as systems, I don't think it matters as much to users.  They don't need an app with every possible option.  Instead, they are content to have apps for the services that they regularly use, which is a small subset of the total. 

But in Berlin, the transport association takes a more direct role in coordinating private services ("BVG keeps Berlin mobile – with a pleasing year-end result ," BerlinLive).

Parks Week... I give up

 I will write more pieces.  But I'm too tired to stay up and write and illustrate after long days.

Parks Week #2: Gaps in Parks Master Planning

Parks Week.  I am calling this "Parks Week" because for the first time I will be attending the National Recreation and Parks Association national conference, in Philadelphia.  I hope to learn a lot and write some posts too.

Looking southeast across Sugar House Pond.

Based on my experience as a board member of Sugar House Park, a park in Salt Lake City that is jointly owned by the city and county, and overseen by a proto-land trust ("the board") I wrote a ten part series on "gaps in parks master planning."

Not every park master plan has these gaps, but enough do, or the way that they address one of the gaps may be inadequate, hence the list.

-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part One | Levels of Service"

-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Two | Utilizing Academic Research as Guidance"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Three | Planning for Climate Change/Environment"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Four | Planning for Seasonality and Activation"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Five | Planning for Public Art as an element of park facilities"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning, Part Six | Art(s) in the Park(s) as a comprehensive program"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Seven | Park Architectural (and Landscape Design) History" 
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Eight | Civic Engagement"
-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Nine | Second stage planning for parks using the cultural landscape framework" 

-- "Gaps in Parks Master Planning: Part Ten | Park transportational access" (2025)

Children playing at the Parley's Creek Playground.

I have two more in (desultory) progress, one on park equity, the other on recreation center planning in downtowns.

The first piece is definitely out of my experiences both in DC and on the east coast, as well as the tricky intergrovernmental relationships in Salt Lake.

It's on "Levels of Service," the basic point is that urban parks have more needs for maintenance, perhaps programming, security, and other elements compared to most suburban parks.  This creates a problem with the County because most of their experience with parks is suburban.  E.g., they have limited problems with homelessness (so do we, but it's purely out of luck--geographical and topographical elements of the park make it not particularly attractive for the homeless).

The other thing is that as a well-situated urban park, it's used all year long, even in the winter the playgrounds are used.  And that we should have more staff in keeping with this demand.

Business districts address having greater needs than a city is prepared to provide by creating business improvement districts, which provide additional services, especially on "clean and safe issues" which is funded by a small tax on property in the defined geographical area of the district.

Parks can be funded similarly.  There is a property tax that helps to fund Bryant Park in NYC.  But a similar tax proposed for the High Line failed.  Not quite the same, SF has "green benefits districts" which fund public space improvements and maintenance.

What parks have as a form comparable to a BID is a conservancy, which raises money independent of the city and uses those funds to supplement funds that the city continues to provide for operations and capital improvements.  Generally, the conservancy is the lead on managing the park day to day.

The first entry goes into this in detail.

Tree climbing at Sugar House Park.

Other entries that are really specific to my experience are on using academic research and best practice to guide action on matters not covered by a master plan, planning art programs systematically, programming, including public art as a element of parks, using park architectural history as a way to guide building design issues, and managing the park as a cultural landscape:

e.g., Sugar House Park has six primary features defining the Park--what we call "Big Field" a large grassy bowl which abuts (2) Parley's Creek, (3) which in turn feeds Sugar House Pond, (4) the sledding hill, (5) the sledding hill on the east side of the park; together they illustrate that Sugar House Park is hilly compared to many other parks in the area, and (6) the view to the east of the Wasatch Front Mountains, although from some parts of the park the view to the west includes the Oquirrh Mountains.

The planning arts programs systematically entry is also very good.

Separately, I haven't written about it in the blog, but an article in the Washington Post, "Forget rest stops. Plan your road trip around playgrounds," gives us a lot to think about, especially because the park abuts I-80.  

It shapes the idea of having a visitor center on private property abutting the park--I wrote about that issue here, "Learnings from a recent zoning issue I've been involved in."

Land We Share Summit, Salt Lake City, Friday October 2nd

Given that this past Saturday was National Public Lands Day (blog entry), and the issues I wrote about concerning Utah, it's great timing that the second Land We Share Summit on public lands in the state of Utah is coming up later this week.

The sessions look amazing

--Morning Plenary: "Threats to the National Monuments"

-- Breakout: Rural organizing

-- Breakout: Economics of open space

-- Breakout: Wildland Fire, Wildlife and Watersheds

-- Breakout: Indigenous Co-Management

-- Lunch Plenary: "The State vs. The Environment"

-- Breakout: Running for Office

-- Breakout: Attacks on Public Landsiv>

-- Breakout: "Wild" Places in the 21st Century

-- Breakout: Your Brain Outside

-- Session: "Wild" Places in the 21st Century

-- Keynote from Winona LaDuke

-- Happy Hour and Networking

Unfortunately I will be out of town.