Settle Down: Part 2

I published the first part of this series about two years ago. I wish that I could report that my goal to settle down was closer to being achieved. At least I now live in a city where I can afford to purchase my first home, which I plan to do later this year or in 2025. I had envisioned making this purchase with a partner, but dreams do not always come true.

While the below Dense City podcast did not make me feel more hopeful about achieving this goal, I wanted to share it because I think it covers some of the barriers that I am encountering as I struggle to settle down anywhere in the United States. I am concerned that changing what people, especially my dates, think about my car-free lifestyle and their travel behavior is very tough and slow. I doubt these changes will happen fast enough for me to settle down. I should clarify that I am hoping that American society shifts how it views car dependency and the need to own and drive a car to be attractive to a potential partner.

I think trying to change my future girlfriend’s desire to date a man who owns and drives a car would be a red flag for her. Due to how stressful this would be for me, I also see this as a red flag for me. I have resisted when my dates have tried to change my car-free lifestyle, so I feel it would be unfair to expect my date to change for me. What do you think it will take for American society to shift how it views car dependency and the need to own and drive a car to be attractive to a potential partner? When do you think this shift will happen?

Future Blog Post

Hopefully, the third part in this series will be more promising. While I keep feeling pressure from my family and many friends to buy a car and start driving, I know even these people are pressuring me because they want me to settle down with a loving wife. Since I am not getting any younger, I am honestly feeling closer to succumbing to the pressure than at any other point in my life. I may have to decide between continuing my car-free lifestyle and buying a car to attract my future wife. I sometimes wish that I had been born before the car was invented because I would not have had to make this tough decision.

Will The New Normal Start In 2022?

Today is the last day of 2021. I am trying to be hopeful about what will happen in 2022. I never thought I would experience what happened in March 2020. While some of the COVID restrictions have been lifted, I cannot believe we are still living through COVID restrictions almost two years later. Due to how political the issue of keeping or lifting the COVID restrictions has been, I need to be clear that I am focusing this post on how these restrictions are impacting my life and work. I am not advocating for the restrictions to be lifted. Yes, I would love for the restrictions to be lifted but I recognize that the pandemic is not over. I have close friends who have tested positive for COVID and they are currently fighting for their lives. I am thankful that I have not caught COVID. Hopefully, the vaccine and booster shots will prevent me from dying if I test positive someday.

Please do not replace in-person meetings with Zoom meetings in the new normal

I am disheartened by this thread. Five student teams pushed forward on capstone plans this quarter. They had to push all engagement online. They lost almost all communities of colors. It sounds more like ppl aren’t empowered to manage public mtgs. https://t.co/QWj1vS1wz1

— Some Woke PSU Professor (@DrMarisaZapata1) June 11, 2020

I wrote two blog posts (this 2020 post and this 2021 post) regarding how I am concerned about how many planning processes during COVID have depended solely on Zoom meetings to conduct public engagement. Before I share my thoughts about discussions during meetings, I want to be clear that the meetings were open to the public so I am not sharing information from sensitive internal discussions. I have been involved with many new normal planning meetings over the past several months. Despite the organizations (purposefully not naming the organizations) having an adopted Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan, they have not changed their plans when I urge them to consider the harmful impact of depending solely on Zoom meetings to conduct public engagement. They keep saying that Zoom meetings will allow more people to participate, especially because people will not need to travel a far distance to participate in an in-person meeting. What about the people who do not have a reliable computer or internet access?

As an extrovert and someone who feels dehumanized by Zoom meetings and events, I miss spending time with friends and coworkers during in-person meetings and events. I also miss walking and biking to and during meetings and events. This has hurt my mental and physical health. Since I am usually in shape from walking and biking, it feels weird to create a new year’s resolution to get back in shape. The easiest way for me to achieve this is by walking and biking to and during in-person meetings and events. Will in-person meetings and events restart again in 2022?

Opportunity to encourage healthy travel behavior in the new normal

I am also thinking about big-picture changes in the new normal. I have found it fascinating how people are stumped when I ask them what they think the new normal means. The basic answer has been a hybrid work future where they can continue working from home and only commute to their office when they need to do in-person work. I have been trying to encourage people to think about big-picture changes. Pandemic-induced travel behavior may only happen one time in our lifetime. I see this as an opportunity to encourage healthy travel behavior before many in-person workers, who are currently still working from home, return to driving alone to work. What do people really mean when they get excited about the new normal?

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Future Blog Post

I may have finally decided how to celebrate passing the AICP exam! I learned about Tucson’s 131-mile The Loop when researching the longest urban trails in the US. I still have to decide when, how long to visit, and where to stay in Tucson. Since I have never been to Arizona before besides having a layover in Phoenix, which does not count as visiting Arizona, I have been asking friends for help with planning my vacation. While I am still nervous about whether I will enjoy biking in Tucson more than doing an international vacation, my friends are excited to help me plan my Tucson vacation. I have been texting with a University of Arizona MD-PhD student, who I met when we were both students and bike advocates at Portland State University. I have also been texting with a University of Arizona MPH alum and Tucson high school graduate, who I met when we were both students at UNC Charlotte.

Engaging Historically Marginalized Communities During COVID-19

I am concerned about how many planning processes during COVID-19 have depended solely on Zoom meetings to conduct public engagement. While I realize the threat of COVID-19 and the associated restrictions make conducting on-the-ground public engagement challenging, I want to encourage fellow planners to think more creatively. I will admit that I struggled to think creatively when I first heard that Clackamas Community College (CCC) would continue having mostly online classes in Spring Term 2021. CCC has had mostly online classes since the end of Winter Term 2020 when COVID-19 first started impacting Oregon. CCC’s decision about Spring Term 2021 became more stressful when Clackamas County staff told me that public outreach for their new shuttles could not be delayed until next summer.

Thankfully, I started thinking creatively about how I could conduct on-the-ground public engagement after I calmed down. Since historically marginalized communities are already being disproportionally impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, I am frustrated to see these communities also negatively impacted by the lack of on-the-ground public engagement. While I have attended webinars and read articles about how to more effectively conduct virtual public engagement, I believe it is impossible to use Zoom to engage people who do not own a computer or have internet access.

Oregon has a huge digital divide, especially between urban and rural areas. COVID-19 has exacerbated this digital divide because people likely accessed a computer and internet access before COVID-19 at the public library. Due to computer labs in the public library being closed during COVID-19, I doubt these people can access a computer or internet access anywhere else. Yes, Clackamas County has created free public hot spots but people still need to have computer access to participate in Zoom meetings. As this below video shows, CCC has been providing students with Chromebooks so they can access their online classes.

While providing students with Chromebooks is great for accessing online classes, Clackamas County’s shuttle projects are in specific geographic areas so I would need to make sure all students in these areas have computer access. Since I believe this approach is not feasible for conducting public outreach, I am preparing to conduct on-the-ground public engagement. I hope fellow planners use the below case study to conduct on-the-ground public engagement in their historically marginalized communities during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Case Study: Philadelphia’s On-The-Ground Public Engagement

It was easier to find this case study because I actually worked on launching Philadelphia’s bikeshare system when I was a Transportation Planning Intern at Toole Design Group in 2014. While I did not work on public engagement for this project because I was hired to work on GIS analysis, I was aware of Philadelphia’s public engagement process. As the below photo from this article shows, Philadelphia used sidewalk decals and an embedded texting survey to engage the public about where to install 85 bikeshare stations. I plan to use similar sidewalk decals and an embedded texting survey to engage the public about where to route and add stops for new shuttles in Clackamas County. Since I believe Zoom and other online meeting formats have been overused during COVID, I am excited to try this new on-the-ground tool.

“We’re the first bike-share system in the country to take this approach to public outreach,” said Andrew Stober, chief of staff at the Mayor’s Office of Transportation and Utilities. “We really wanted to do this in a way that would be much more active in … engaging the public.”

“We really can bridge these income, age, and ethnic divides in a way that public meetings don’t currently do and even online participation struggles with,” said Textizen cofounder Michelle Lee, who will be collecting feedback over the next four weeks.

“This is a first for bike-share,” she added. “It’s a really good fit, because … so much of bike-share’s success or failure hinges on placement of stations.”

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Source: West Philly Local

Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

On-The-Ground Public Engagement for Clackamas County Shuttle Planning

Planning the route and stops for the Milwaukie Industrial Area Shuttle is my top priority because I have until next spring to decide which route and stops will benefit CCC students the most. Assuming my first attempt at using the sidewalk decals and embedded texting survey is successful, I plan to use a similar approach next summer to prioritize stops for the new Oregon City and Clackamas Industrial Area Shuttles, which are launching in early 2021. These shuttles will start service with no designated stops in residential areas, so I am partnering with Clackamas County staff to prioritize where designated stops should be created in residential areas. As the below map shows, many CCC students live in areas with limited or no transit service. The new shuttles will improve transit access for these students.

Since I am the only full-time employee in CCC’s Transportation Office, I applied to host at least one University of Oregon student through the new Student Recovery Corps program next summer to help me with the shuttle planning projects. I should find out in December 2020 or January 2021 whether I will be hosting at least one University of Oregon student next summer.

Southern Oregon City currently lacks transit access. Source: CCC and Remix

Since I cannot improve transit access for all CCC students at the same time, I am using an equity lens to prioritize where to improve transit access first. I do not have demographic data for all students (many students decline to provide this data), so Metro’s below map provides me with the most accurate approach to identifying historically marginalized communities in the Portland region. All of my shuttle planning areas have at least one census track with a historically marginalized community, which Metro defines as exceeding regional rates for low-income, people of color or limited English proficiency (LEP), or exceeding regional rates for under 18 and over 65 years of age.

Source: https://www.oregonmetro.gov/sites/default/files/2017/05/25/03a-HMC_20170421_binary.pdf

I look forward to updating you in a future post on my progress to use on-the-ground public engagement for Clackamas County shuttle planning. Hopefully, COVID-19 and the associated restrictions will be over soon so people feel safe enough to ride transit again. I miss doing in-person student engagement and talking with students on the CCC Xpress Shuttle about their transportation needs. I also miss seeing my friends in person, so I hope it is safe enough to visit friends again in 2021. The end to COVID-19 and the associated restrictions cannot come soon enough!

Opportunity to Encourage Healthy Travel Behavior in Post-Coronavirus World

As a transportation demand management (TDM) professional, I have been preparing for the new normal. The below illustration captures the current situation in the middle and two potential choices for the new normal. Since most non-essential workers are working from home instead of driving, the new normal will be the perfect opportunity to encourage these workers to try healthy modes of transportation. I do not want to return to the old normal where most people drive alone. What would happen if we went forward instead of going back to the old normal?

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Transit and Driving by Returning to Old Normal in the New Normal

Due to continued physical distancing (purposely not using social distancing) after stay-at-home orders are lifted and likely safety concerns about riding transit that will prevent “choice” riders from returning to transit, the new normal where most Americans return to driving alone will likely have more traffic congestion than during the old normal. Since most stay-at-home orders in the US have not been lifted, I decided to review Chinese data to understand what could happen in the US. Yes, I realize China had a lockdown and the US never had a lockdown (stay-at-home order is not lockdown).

While I have not seen post-lockdown data from China yet, the below graphs show that private car usage has dramatically increased during the lockdown. The top graph, which comes from this Institute for Transportation and Development Policy article, shows that many bus and subway riders before the lockdown started using a private car during the lockdown. I am concerned that few of these motorists will decide to return to riding the bus or subway after the lockdown ends. This could result in China’s air quality being even worse after the lockdown than before the lockdown.

Source: https://www.itdp.org/2020/03/26/post-pandemic-chinese-cities-gradually-reopen-transport-networks/

Source: https://report.amap.com/share.do?id=8b3056bb717c2c250171862b71b4102a

Unfortunately, transit may not have enough space or frequency to allow these motorists to ride transit again. As the below figure from this International Transport Forum’s COVID-19 Transport Brief shows, physical distancing will limit the passenger capacity of transit for the foreseeable future.

Source: https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/respacing-cities-resilience-covid-19.pdf

While transit agencies say the recent service cuts are only temporary, I am concerned that the service cuts will become permanent as the budgets for transit agencies do not quickly return to pre-coronavirus funding levels. Since Oregon transit agencies depend on payroll taxes, I am especially concerned about their budgets because of record unemployment claims. I keep hearing transit agencies compare the current situation to how they cut service during the Great Recession. As the below graph shows, 2020 has had more weekly unemployment claims already than any week during the Great Recession!

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/business/economy/coronavirus-unemployment-claims.html

Walking and Biking in the New Normal

Since this post is getting long and I need to eat dinner before an evening event, I plan to stop writing for today and move this section to a new post. Thanks for reading my blog!

Which Certification(s) Should I Pursue?

I have missed blogging over the past nearly three months. Since you may be thinking that I exhausted all my ideas to blog about, I want you to know that I have thoughts to share. I felt the need to stop blogging because I needed to concentrate on studying for the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Certification Exam, which I took and barely failed on November 10. In case you are curious about how comprehensive the 170-question (only 150 questions are scored) exam is, it covers the following five major topic areas:

Fundamental Planning Knowledge (25% of exam content)
Plan Making and Implementation (30% of exam content)
Areas of Practice (30% of exam content)
Leadership, Administration and Management (5% of exam content)
AICP Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct (10% of exam content)

While I thought Planning Prep’s free practice exams and questions would help me prepare for the exam, I learned the hard way that the exam questions were very different from the practice questions on Planning Prep. This website was created in 2001 and the exam has changed several times with the most recent change occurring in 2017, so I am not too surprised that Planning Prep has not been able to keep up with the exam changes. I learned helpful planning knowledge while using Planning Prep, so I see a silver lining. Hopefully, Planetizen’s $255 AICP Exam Preparation Class will better prepare me for the exam. Since I do not want to forget what I studied for the past two months and want to stop stressing about the exam as soon as possible, I plan to retake it in May 2020. I will have to keep putting my blog on hold so I can prioritize studying again.

As the title of this post shows, my decision about whether to keep pursuing the AICP was not an easy decision. This decision has become harder over the years because I have learned that other planning-related certifications exist. I was only focused on the AICP when I was evaluating where to attend grad school. Even though there are other planning-related certifications, Portland State University’s Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) program only promotes the AICP on its website. I graduated from PSU’s MURP program in June 2016.

Since I thought it was automatically assumed that all MURP alumni would pursue the AICP like I believe all engineers pursue the Professional Engineer (PE), I have been surprised to learn that many MURP alumni do not plan to pursue the AICP. While I still plan to pursue the AICP, I wanted to share other certifications that I may pursue in the future.

My job involves working on Transportation Demand Management (TDM) projects. The Association for Commuter Transportation is launching the TDM-Certified Professional (TDM-CP) in Spring 2020. Since many TDM professionals are planning to pursue or have the AICP, will our profession consider the TDM-CP as prestigious as the AICP?

Another planning-related certification is the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)’s CNU-Accredited (CNU-A). My review of comments on Cyburbia comparing CNU-A to AICP shows that many planners view the CNU-A as a scam and the AICP as credible. Since both certifications have similar processes, it appears the main reason why the CNU-A is viewed as a scam is it was launched after the AICP.

Since I manage public engagement projects, I am considering the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2)’s Certified Public Participation Professional (CP3) or Master Certified Public Participation Professional (MCP3). These certifications are also pursued by planners that have the AICP.

Michigan State University’s National Charrette Institute has a Charrette Certificate Program that looks similar to the IAP2’s certification program. As you may remember, I helped manage the planning, execution, and follow-up for a five-day intensive community planning charrette for the City of Alexandria, VA. Since my dad graduated from The Ohio State University (alumni really do emphasize “The”) and my maternal grandma watches OSU sports when I visit her, I doubt they would enjoy me going through a Michigan State University program. I guess it could be worse. The program could be through the University of Michigan, which is OSU’s archrival.

While I do not use GIS as much as I used to during previous jobs, I have thought about pursuing the Geographic Information Systems Professional (GISP) someday. Since I do not have four years of full-time GIS experience yet, I do not qualify to apply for the GISP yet.

Before I started studying for the AICP this year, I took three project management courses at Clackamas Community College. My teacher has been encouraging me to keep taking courses after I pass the AICP. He has been persuading me to pursue Project Management Institute’s Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

I am exhausted just thinking about all of these certifications! Most of them require an exam and the application processes are not cheap. Since it appears most planners see the AICP as the most prestigious planning-related certification, I plan to start with this certification. Do you think I should pursue other certifications after I get the AICP or is one certification enough?

Reflecting on my 1st year at Clackamas Community College and 2nd-year goals

I was planning to write this post on June 11, which was the day I started working at Clackamas Community College (CCC) in 2018. This was my first-ever full-time work anniversary. I moved back to Oregon to start this job so this also means that I have been back in Oregon for a year. Since I have been busier than usual and was involved with leading my first request for proposal (RFP) process, I had to postpone writing this post. I am going to use this 2018 post to help me write the below post. I want to share the below photo before diving into how these people helped me this academic year.

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Successes

I spent most of the 2018-19 academic year applying for two grants. Since I received a $150,000 grant from Oregon Metro, my job is secure through June 2022. I also helped the City of Oregon City apply for and receive a $150,000 grant to build upon their 2017 Transportation Demand Management (TDM) Plan. The City asked me to serve as the Transportation Advisory Committee’s representative on the Downtown Oregon City TDM Implementation Working Group. The Oregon Metro grant will help fund this group’s work.

The other large grant I applied for and received was a $273,083.25 Oregon DOT grant. This grant funds the expansion of the CCC Xpress Shuttle through June 2021. Thankfully, the grant will be available again in 2021 so I can pursue the grant again to continue the expansion indefinitely. The shuttle expansion includes summer term service for the first time ever and extended evening service year-round when school is in session. As a result of the RFP process, which selected WeDriveU as the new shuttle operator, I have been able to improve the shuttle service. WeDriveU works with Tripshot, which provides the shuttle service with real-time ETAs. The shuttle service previously only used paper schedules and General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data.

I want to thank Amy Cannata, who is the Grants Administrator, for helping me apply for the grants.

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Struggles

While I had many successes during my first year, my reflection process also needs to include things that could be improved. I have been struggling to plan and fund an on-demand shuttle from rural Clackamas County to Oregon City. Even though I tried to convince Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) teams from Portland State University (PSU) to select my workshop project proposal, no team selected my proposal to create a Rural Access Plan for how to improve access from rural Clackamas County to Oregon City.

I also did not receive a $50,000 Transportation Options Innovation Grant from ODOT to fund the on-demand shuttle. This grant required a plan for guaranteed long-term funding when the short-term grant funding was exhausted. Unfortunately, I was unable to guarantee this long-term funding so ODOT was unwilling to provide short-term funding for the on-demand shuttle.

While I did not receive the Transportation Options Innovation Grant, ODOT provided me with a silver lining. Since I manage the CCC Xpress Shuttle, ODOT was able to provide me with free access to Remix. This includes free training and customer support. With help from Remix, I am self-teaching myself on how to use Remix for a variety of transportation planning.

My 2nd-Year Goals at CCC

I am constantly asked about providing transportation options to reach the Wilsonville campus and from rural Clackamas County. These are my top 2nd-year goals. Thankfully, Wilsonville’s SMART received a grant to subsidize vanpools to and from Wilsonville. We are planning to launch vanpools this fall between the Wilsonville campus and the other two campuses in Oregon City and Milwaukie.

In order to plan and fund the on-demand shuttle from rural Clackamas County to Oregon City, I am realizing that I need to take a different approach. Since the shuttle needs long-term operation funding, short-term grant funders will keep asking me to provide proof that I have a plan for guaranteed long-term funding. One way to show this proof could be to show that the shuttle is in adopted transit plans. The shuttle is not in any adopted transit plans so I have started the processes to include it in as many plans as possible. These plans will be used to decide what transit projects are eligible to receive long-term funding.

A work-related personal goal is achieving my American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) certification. Since I have a master’s degree in planning from a Planning Accreditation Board-accredited program and two years of full-time professional planning experience, I am eligible to apply to take the AICP Certification Exam in November. I applied before the Early Bird Deadline, so I should know by August 5 whether or not my application was approved.

Future Blog Post

Since my North Carolina-based family is planning a July 4-14 vacation with me to visit my grandmas, other relatives, and friends in Ohio and Pennsylvania, I plan to write a post about this. I will be in Philadelphia for my first time from July 4-6. In addition to celebrating Independence Day in Philadelphia, I plan to check out Indego because I helped plan where to install the bikeshare stations during my 2014 internship at Toole Design Group.

After I take Greyhound from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, my family will pick me up in Pittsburgh to take me to Erie, which is where Grandma Atkinson lives. My family will then visit the Cleveland area, which is where Grandma Stoodt and my other Stoodt relatives live. Since Columbus won the USDOT’s 2016 Smart City Challenge, I asked my family to visit Columbus so I could meet with City officials working on making Columbus a smart city. I fly back to Portland in the evening on July 13 and return to work on July 15.

Doris Day Parking in Kannapolis

What is Doris Day Parking? Start watching this clip at 0:59 to understand what Doris Day Parking is. Almost all, if not all, buildings in Kannapolis have Doris Day automobile parking. Before I start discussing the automobile and bicycle parking situations on the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), I need to mention that the NCRC is not fully built out yet. However, I feel this is not an excuse for the oversupply of automobile parking on the NCRC. Since there are many Transportation Demand Management (TDM) strategies that the City of Kannapolis and NCRC can pursue instead of adding more automobile parking, I believe there is already too much automobile parking for the fully built out NCRC. While there are TDM strategies being pursued, I believe the strategies aren’t strong enough. This is evident in how there is an oversupply of automobile parking, especially Doris Day automobile parking. Doris Day automobile parking continues to be built for every single building while only a few bike racks are being built. This is only one example of how weak the TDM strategies are in Kannapolis. My goal with writing this post is to discuss the extreme contrast between the oversupply of Doris Day automobile parking and undersupply of safe and convenient bicycle parking at UNC Chapel Hill’s Building on the NCRC.

I want to fully disclose that I graduated from UNC Charlotte, which competes with UNC Chapel Hill. The reason for writing this post does not involve this competition so please remember this as you read and comment on this post. As the below photo shows, the motorist was able to park only a few feet from the entrance to the building. Since Kannapolis provides so much Doris Day automobile parking, it encourages driving an automobile for every trip.

Doris Day automobile parking at the UNC Chapel Hill Building on the North Carolina Research Campus

Here is a closer view of the surface parking area. This is Doris Day Parking because the stairs to the building entrance, which can be seen on the right side of the photo, are only a few feet from the parking spaces so motorists only have to walk a few feet to enter the building. In case you are wondering, it is free to park here. Before the next photo is shown, notice the six story parking deck in the background.

Dorris Day Parking at the UNC Chapel Hill Building on the North Carolina Research Campus

Even though there are six stories, only the bottom two floors were partially used when I took the below photo around noon on a work day. Considering the fact that the NCRC isn’t fully built out yet, do you see the potential for all six floors being full someday?

I would prefer the NCRC pursue a different route. This route could reduce the likelihood of all six floors being used and prevent having the need to build another parking deck or surface lot on the NCRC. In order to achieve this route, the NCRC and City of Kannapolis would have to implement TDM strategies that encourage use of sustainable modes of transportation instead of encouraging the use of the automobile for every trip. Given the fact that Kannapolis is very dependent on the automobile, do you see the potential for Kannapolis to implement strong enough TDM strategies that would encourage enough people to shift from driving their automobile to using a sustainable mode of transportation?

6 story parking deck on the North Carolina Research Campus

Not only do motorists have a six story parking deck that is barely used, they also have wayfinding signage to direct them to the parking deck. While this wayfinding signage helps to reduce vehicle miles traveled (VMT) because motorists can more quickly find where to park, there is no wayfinding signage to help bicyclists find where to park their bike.

Wayfinding signage to direct motorists to the parking deck

Since I was determined to find where I was supposed to park my bicycle, which I struggled to park illegally to the sign below, I walked around the entire building. I struggled to park my bicycle because I had to lift it high enough for my U-lock to fit around the sign. While holding my bicycle high enough, I also had to maneuver the U-lock through the front wheel and frame. It took me at least a minute to lock my bicycle!

Location where I parked my bicycle

To my amazement, there was actually some bicycle parking located on the right side of the building and more located on the rear of the building. However, none of the bicycle parking was Dorris Day Parking like it was for automobile parking. I find it ironic that the UNC Chapel Hill Nutrition Research Institute, which is located inside this building, is researching how to “prevent or treat diseases like obesity, diabetes and cancer.” One simple and inexpensive way to work towards this goal is to install Dorris Day bicycle parking so people can feel encouraged to bike to the building instead of drive an automobile.

Bicycle parking at the UNC Chapel Hill Building on the North Carolina Research Campus

To make matters worse, the bicycle parking that has been provided is the same poorly designed and installed bicycle parking that was installed at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s NCRC Building. Even though UNC Chapel Hill and/or the NCRC probably received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) points for installing wheel bender bike racks, I cannot safely use the poorly designed wheel bender bike racks. As the below photo shows, the wheel bender bike rack is poorly designed because the person who owns the bike cannot lock the bike rack with the front wheel and frame using a U-lock. Instead, the person is forced to use a wire lock, which can easily be cut.

Unfortunately, the issue goes beyond the infrastructure that is installed. Education is also needed to educate cyclists on how to properly lock their bike. This issue can be seen in how the wire lock in the below photo was only locked to the frame and not to the frame and front wheel. Since the front wheel is quick release, the front wheel can easily be stolen so a U-lock needs to be used to lock the front wheel and frame to the bike rack. The wheel bender bike racks cannot reach the frame so a safer type of bike rack is needed.

Wire lock is only locked to the frame so front wheel, which is quick release, can be stolen

In addition, the wheel bender bike racks are poorly installed because the side entrance door to the building is locked so visitors have to walk around to the front of the building to enter. The poorly designed and installed bicycle parking does not promote bicycle use to the building. Since there isn’t correctly designed and installed bicycle parking, I am forced to risk getting a ticket for parking my bicycle illegally. I value the safety of my bike more than using an inferior product. Will UNC Chapel Hill or the NCRC install safe bike racks to replace the wheel bender bike racks?

Inconveniently located and poorly designed bicycle parking

The below photo shows one potential location for inverted U bike racks to be installed. I chose this location because it provides cyclists with convenient access to the front door, which is open for visitors. Through providing people with convenient bike parking, it encourages them to bike to the building instead of drive an automobile.

Location for Inverted U Bike Racks (Photoshop: Keihly Moore/Lawrence Group)

One way to encourage people to bike to the building even more is to provide covered bike racks so bikes aren’t exposed to the elements.

Location for Covered Inverted U Bike Racks (Photoshop: Keihly Moore/Lawrence Group)

I have discussed the extreme contrast between the oversupply of Doris Day automobile parking and undersupply of safe and convenient bicycle parking. Since I move to Silver Spring, MD on June 29, I only have time to write two more blog posts before I leave. My next post should be about my proposed redesign of a difficult bicycle connection between where the proposed buffered bike lanes on Loop Road end and the proposed bike lanes on Mooresville Road end. Following this post, I plan to discuss my expectations of living car-free in Silver Spring, MD and the Washington, DC region. After I arrive in Silver Spring, MD, I plan to discuss whether or not my expectations came true and what challenges and benefits I am experiencing from living car-free in Silver Spring, MD and the Washington, DC region.