Ray Atkinson started this blog in 2014 when he moved from his childhood home in Kannapolis, NC (Walk Score of 0) to get his Master of Urban and Regional Planning degree from Portland State University (Walk Score of 100). He has never owned a car despite living in Memphis, TN. His email is gismap1@gmail.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/rayplans
I have been wanting to blog about happiness for a while. While I did not mention happiness in my new normal posts, I think discussing how to achieve a healthier lifestyle is close enough to discussing happiness. Did you know that today, March 20 is the International Day of Happiness?
International Happiness
The 2024 World Happiness Report was published today. I shared the video below for readers who do not want to read the report. Here is a summary version of the report. Since my blog frequently shows how the US could improve, I am not surprised to see that the US is declining. What do you think about the report’s findings?
Significantly, the United States of America (23rd) has fallen out of the top 20 for the first time since the World Happiness Report was first published in 2012, driven by a large drop in the wellbeing of Americans under 30.
World Happiness Report
Happy City
I recommend reading Charles Montgomery’s Happy City. You can get a taste of what Happy City is about through the video below. Since there are many ways to define happiness, do you agree with how Charles Montgomery approaches defining happiness? If not, how would you define a happy city?
I also recommend the below podcast episode about how to plan for happiness in cities. What do you think about Megan Oliver’s perspective?
Future Blog Post
I usually write longer posts during the weekend, but I did not want to wait until the weekend because I wanted to publish this post on the International Day of Happiness. Since I believe discussing happiness is important for Memphis to discuss as we create the Safe Streets and Roads for All Action Plan, I want to keep discussing happiness as I work on creating this plan. How do you think happiness relates to transportation safety?
“Memphis at Eye Level: Part 2” is a reference to “The City at Eye Level”. I finally volunteered with the bike riding portion of the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry‘s program, which happens on Wednesday evening and Saturday morning. Since I am not an early bird, I was struggling for weeks to motivate myself to wake up early enough to volunteer with the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry. The Saturday morning program starts with cooking at 7am and delivers the food at 7:30am. I previously helped to cook for the Wednesday evening program. I wanted to deliver the food, but I needed to prioritize eating my own dinner. The program is during dinner time on Wednesday evening. The program celebrated eleven years this weekend.
As someone who was raised (felt forced to attend) in Bethpage Presbyterian Church, which is located in North Carolina, and now attends the Unitarian Universalists church called Church of the River in Memphis as I continue to evaluate my religious beliefs as an agnostic in the South’s Bible Belt, I actually find the video below to capture my viewpoint on religion more accurately than any traditional church video. I prefer to be outside the church walls helping my community rather than stuck inside the church walls just talking about how I could help my community. I also love how the organizer accepts anyone from any religion to volunteer. This is what a welcoming church environment should mean. I get frustrated when I see churches say that they are welcoming to only find out that they are only welcoming to people who agree with their viewpoint. I strongly believe churches should be a place where people can discuss and argue about controversial topics. Unfortunately, churches are all too often places for groupthink. I believe groupthink is how some wars were started and why some current wars have no end in sight. I hate groupthink!
Source: Urban Bicycle Food Ministry
Ray’s Experience Volunteering
While I wish it did not take a special day to motivate me to get up early to volunteer with the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry, I finally motivated myself to wake up early when I felt the need to help veterans on Veterans Day. Unfortunately, veterans are more likely to be homeless than other Americans. I was impressed by the program’s operation. The homeless people and other struggling people that we encountered on Main Street were very aware of the program’s existence. They lined up to get a meal from me and the other volunteers. Since I was busy giving out the meals, I did not have time to get their permission to take photos. The organizers said I could take photos if I got permission from the people we were helping.
I may have broken this rule when taking the photo below. The kid got on the adult bike, and I did not have enough time to ask their parent for permission to take the photo before their kid got off the bike.
Involving Homeless People in Public Outreach Process
As I was volunteering, I kept thinking about how I rarely see homeless people in public outreach processes. While I will admit that I want biking and walking to be viewed as something that everyone does and not just low-income people, I realize that currently biking and walking for transportation in Memphis appears to be mostly done by low-income people. I should clarify that I specifically included “for transportation” because I have mostly seen wealthier people in Memphis bike and walk only for exercise. I usually see these people drive for transportation. I hope my work encourages these people to also bike and walk for transportation and view biking and walking as normal modes of transportation. I enjoyed seeing this when I studied abroad in Denmark and the Netherlands. Most people in these countries viewed biking and walking for transportation as normal parts of their culture.
As I try to change the walking and biking cultures in Memphis, I am concerned about how to get homeless people and others struggling on the street involved in my public outreach processes. Since they likely do not have computer or internet access, they likely are not aware of public outreach meetings. I likely will have to go to them instead of expecting them to come to a usual meeting room. Due to my limited budget, I am not suggesting that my program will always be able to do special engagement activities for people living on the street. I mostly wanted to share how this population is often excluded by typical public outreach approaches. Do you think that my program could partner with the Urban Bicycle Food Ministry to organize mobile public outreach activities?
Future Blog Post
I think a great opportunity to experiment with innovative public outreach approaches will be during the City of Memphis’ Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) Action Plan creation process, which kicks off this month. Since the USDOT website publicly shares the grant amount, I can share that this action plan has $800,000 worth of federal and local funds. I view the homeless population and other vulnerable low-income street users as critical people to be involved in this planning process. I doubt the typical email and snail mail notification approaches and public outreach strategies will be effective at involving this population, especially due to the fact that they do not have an email address or physical mail address. Have you seen innovative approaches to notify and engage homeless people in your planning process?
I was surprised to see that I have not published a “The City at Eye Level” post recently. The link to The City at Eye Level keeps changing, so you can longer download the free book in my previous posts. I will need to update the links. For laypeople reading my blog, I am hoping this post helps you to understand the connection between The City at Eye Level and my recent posts about the power of slowing down and its impact on creating robust in-person social networks. Does this connection make sense after reading this post?
Light Rain Cancels Bike Rental
I was planning to rent bikes from a Windsor bike shop to ride with a new friend who was raised in Windsor, which is an unincorporated town on the northern edge of the North Bay Area. This was my first time visiting Windsor. I have so many new places to explore just in Sonoma County let alone the rest of the Bay Area and California!
While my friend and I were prepared to bike in the light rain, the other renters canceled their rentals and bike tours due to the light rain. The bike shop ended up canceling all the rentals and closing for the day. I have never experienced a bike shop cancel rentals due to light rain. I guess this is a weird welcome to California!
Walk Through Windsor
My friend and I did not want the canceled bike rental to ruin our day. We decided to walk several miles through Windsor instead. Walking instead of driving allowed us to more easily see Windsor at eye level. As the below “MORE BIKES, LESS CARS” banner shows, Windsor is trying to reduce car usage and promote biking. I would include walking in with “MORE BIKES” because there is only so much space on the banner. Unfortunately, my friend and I had to walk single-file through downtown and many other parts of Windsor because the sidewalks are too narrow. Even when the sidewalk is wider, street trees and awning posts prevented us from walking side by side. I saw many people walk directly from their parked cars to their destinations. This does not encourage robust in-person outdoor social networking!
Source: Ray Atkinson
I should clarify that I do not want the street trees to be removed. As this Trees in the Curb Zone Pilot Project from the City of Portland shows, it is possible to replace on-street car parking spaces with trees. BikePortland also published this post about the City of Portland’s project. As my 2015 post from Rijswijk, Netherlands shows, I have been thinking about how to replace on-street car parking spaces with trees for several years. Since my Windsor friend said she does not want to lose car parking for her car and actually feels downtown needs more car parking, do you think rural towns like Windsor will ever have the public and political support to create a project like what Portland created?
Rembrandtkade in Rijswijk, Netherlands in August 2014. Source: Google
I wanted to share the below Spanish version of the above banner because I have never seen a banner with different languages on each side of the banner. I am still using Duolingo to improve my Spanish skills. I even bought a used Spanish textbook from the Windsor Public Library.
Source: Ray Atkinson
Another element that could improve Windsor’s eye-level walking experience and encourage the creation of robust outdoor in-person social networks is the planned SMART regional trail, which will someday connect all the way to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal that provides ferries to San Francisco. I would love to bike from Windsor to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal someday. The first signs of the planned trail and the associated Windsor SMART Station are in the below photo. The SMART Train does not currently serve Windsor, so I rode a Sonoma County bus from Santa Rosa to Windsor. I am excited to see the future of transit-oriented development (TOD) and trail-oriented development! Since trail-oriented development could also be shortened to TOD, I am curious to see what the acronym for trail-oriented development will be.
Source: Ray Atkinson
Future Blog Post
Do you understand the connection between The City at Eye Level and my recent posts about the power of slowing down and its impact on creating robust outdoor in-person social networks? If not, I will keep thinking about how to more clearly write about and show this connection in future blog posts. If so, what other topics do you want me to write about?
I would normally start my Thanksgiving post by writing “Happy Thanksgiving”. Since I frequently use my blog to promote education, I want to use this opportunity to encourage my readers to research the harmful history of Thanksgiving and how this harmful history is still impacting current decisions. While I do not remember questioning why Thanksgiving is celebrated when I grew up in North Carolina, my Native American friends and roommate have helped open my eyes over the last several years to whether Thanksgiving should be celebrated. It is amazing what is not taught in Southern tax-funded K-12 schools. This may have changed since I graduated high school in 2009. I would love to be corrected that Southern tax-funded K-12 schools actually do teach the harmful history of Thanksgiving and how this harmful history is still impacting current decisions.
I should clarify that I am not suggesting that Thanksgiving should not be celebrated. My roommate, who has some Cherokee blood, and I agreed to celebrate Thanksgiving as long as we recognize the harm that was and is still happening to Native Americans. In case this approach is not common for other Native Americans, I want to make the following post welcoming to all readers, including Native Americans who do not celebrate Thanksgiving. I believe this can be accomplished by recognizing the Native American tribes that still reside on the land that was stolen or taken (#Thankstaking appears to be trending as much as “stolen”) by the US government. Due to what I learned from this 2021 article, I also feel it is important to recognize the water that Native American tribes likely have a deep cultural connection to.
We Can Still Be Thankful Without Celebrating Thanksgiving
I believe we can still share what we are thankful for without celebrating Thanksgiving. I have three transportation and land use planning tours to be thankful for. One tour already happened. The other two tours are being planned. I am getting tired and need to be alert when making Thanksgiving dinner with my roommate, so I am going to share the below photos and hope that I return to write more later.
Completed First Tour of Berkeley and Oakland with Solomon Haile
Planning First Tour of Los Angeles with James Rojas
Source: Facebook post
Planning Amtrak Trip with Linn Davis
The second trip that I am planning is with Linn Davis, who lives in Portland, OR. Since we both enjoy riding trains, we are planning an Amtrak trip together sometime in 2023.
Future Blog Post
I have some ideas on how I could write about the two transportation and land use planning tours that I am planning. Since I could write about a range of topics, what would you enjoy reading?
One of the reasons why I accepted the City of Petaluma’s offer to be the Senior Transit Planner is because I feel strong commitment from the City staff to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. As a planner, I am used to goals gathering dust in a plan, leaders not being fully committed to achieving the goals, or the language of the goals being weakened. In case you notice, I have never published a post about climate change before. While I consider myself to be a lifelong learner, the main reason why I have not published on this topic before is I am not a climate change expert.
Thankfully, my knowledge of this topic is not as bad as my Spanish skills, which I am struggling to improve through Duolingo. Learning a language as an adult is tough! I wish I had focused more on learning Spanish and other languages when I was younger. I took French at Northwest Cabarrus High School, which is located in North Carolina, because all of the Spanish classes were full. I have forgotten most of what I learned because I have not used French recently. Selfishly, I wish most non-English speaking Petalumans would speak French because my French is still better than my Spanish.
Sorry for the tangent. I have been stressed about struggling to learn Spanish. Since most non-English speaking Petalumans speak Spanish, I guess this is not a tangent because being bilingual in Spanish would help me be able to do outreach to Spanish-speaking Petalumans.
Clackamas County (Oregon) Climate Action Plan Proposes 2050
I hate to embarrass Clackamas County, which is located in the Portland, OR region, but I feel the need to share what they are doing wrong in hopes that other government agencies will do better. While I represented Clackamas Community College (CCC) on the Community Advisory Task Force (CATF) for the Clackamas County Climate Action Plan, my personal perspective in this post does not represent CCC’s perspective. Since CCC never took a stance on the controversial I-205 Toll Project, which is a critical project when deciding how to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, I actually did not feel fully able to represent CCC on the CATF. The main reason why the I-205 Toll Project is a critical project is the transportation sector generates the largest share of greenhouse gas emissions. How can Clackamas County possibly achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 when it supports widening I-205 (whether or not to create a toll is another issue)?
While 2030 is not here yet, the energy (pun intended) I feel from my coworkers and City Council give me confidence that we will achieve carbon neutrality by 2030. The below photo and link are included in the City staff email signatures. Since the link informs the public about how they can help the City achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, I believe the “I’M READY” refers to every person in Petaluma being ready to work together towards achieving this goal.
Petaluma’s goal is ambitious because I believe cities usually just make sure their goal complies with the state’s goal. As the below background shows, California’s carbon neutrality goal is 2045. While the background states that the City of Petaluma committed the City to this same timeframe, the City Council adopted the more rigorous 2030 goal during its January 11, 2021, special meeting.
Source: Climate Emergency Framework
As the Senior Transit Planner, I am working with my coworkers to achieve the below Climate Emergency Framework goals. Due to how expensive converting Petaluma Transit’s fleet to non-combustion vehicles is, we have been applying for grants to purchase battery-electric buses. While this conversion process could take longer than 2030, we are hopeful that converting as much as possible of our fleet to battery-electric buses by 2030 will help us achieve the carbon neutrality goal.
Source: Climate Emergency Framework
In case you are wondering how the electricity is generated, Petaluma Transit’s hybrid electric buses are currently powered using Sonoma Clean Power’s EverGreen Program, which uses geothermal energy from geysers and solar energy from six local projects in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties. Surprisingly, Sonoma Clean Power is the only utility in California to provide the option of using 100% renewable, locally produced energy day AND night. While the power generation details are not final, EverGreen Program should be used for most or all of the power needed to operate the battery-electric buses.
As hopeful as I am about Petaluma achieving carbon neutrality by 2030, I believe converting to battery-electric buses will not be enough to achieve this goal. Many Petalumans will also need to shift from driving to walking, biking, and riding transit. One way the City of Petaluma is trying to encourage this shift is through projects like the Rainier Avenue Demonstration Project. Since this is a temporary project, I am curious to see whether the project becomes permanent. Due to many negative Nextdoor comments about this project from angry motorists, who do not like change in their neighborhood and believe no one bikes in Petaluma, I am concerned that the project may not become permanent when Rainier Avenue is repaved and restriped in 2023. While City staff and City Council feel energized to achieve carbon neutrality by 2030, are car-dependent Petalumans open to making a shift from driving to walking, biking, and riding transit? If not, can Petaluma still achieve carbon neutrality by 2030?
While I could write more, I am getting tired. It is almost midnight, so I should publish this post and go to bed. As I think about future blog posts, I could also write about my car-free trips in Petaluma and throughout the Bay Area. Since I keep getting sick (not bad enough to be hospitalized) and California just had a record-breaking heat wave, I have not traveled beyond Petaluma for several weeks. My 32nd birthday is on September 19, so I want to do something special for my birthday. This may give me something to blog about. I am open to suggestions. What do you want to read?
The surprise I have been patiently waiting to publicly share is that I accepted a new job as the Senior Transit Planner at the City of Petaluma, CA. The below map shows where Petaluma is located in California. Yes, I had to research where Petaluma is located when I applied for the job. I had never even visited Petaluma before applying for the job. Coincidentally, my Portland friend, Linn Davis, is working on this project in Petaluma for Healthy Democracy. He got me excited about accepting the job and moving to Petaluma.
My last day working at Clackamas Community College (CCC) was July 18. Even though I struggled with being asked to represent CCC and Clackamas County on regional transportation committees because I have never owned a car (most students and residents own a car), I frequently advocated for these regional committees to add more voices from Clackamas County. I enjoyed working with many on- and off-campus partners during my four years at CCC. I actually worked more time in the COVID restrictions than before these restrictions. These restrictions drastically changed my work environment and likely permanently changed the future of CCC’s transportation services. I hope CCC finds someone who enjoys working in this new work environment.
While getting COVID during my move to Petaluma forced me to work from home with my new roommate for over a week, I started working for the City of Petaluma on July 25. I plan to share more about my new job and Petaluma after I share my other surprise.
Remembering Grandma Atkinson
I actually have two surprises. Unfortunately, the second surprise is not exciting. While I knew my paternal 96-year-old Grandma Atkinson was at the age to die soon, I am still struggling with her July 16 death in a Concord, NC hospital. Thankfully, I was able to be with her during the last week of her life. My twin sister and I visited her daily in the hospital or assisted-living facility during my North Carolina vacation. Our dad frequently joined us for the daily visit. My mom and brother also visited. These visits helped me feel more at peace when my grandma died. Despite my minimal cooking skills, I want to preserve the time with my grandma by making zucchini bread, which she frequently made.
Visiting Grandma Atkinson in Concord, NC hospital with my dad and twin sister
More pleasant memory in Erie, PA
Due to how much pain my grandma felt in the hospital and my desire to focus on how active and connected she was in Erie, I wanted to share a more pleasant memory from this 2017 post. I cannot believe this post was published over five years ago! My grandma knew everyone by name at her Erie retirement complex. I have difficulty remembering new names, so I wish that I had her skill to remember names. She was excited to introduce me to everyone during chair yoga. She would stop to talk with everyone in the hallways. While I am trying to focus on positive thoughts, the COVID restrictions negatively impacted her ability to socialize with everyone in her retirement complex. Even though she did not have COVID, the restrictions forced her to be isolated in her room, which made her very lonely. I was very concerned that she would die during this isolation, so I called her more frequently to give her someone to talk to.
Since my grandma died two days before I flew to Oakland, I am still amazed that I was able to focus enough to finish moving to Petaluma. I have been debating about what to share first about my new job and Petaluma. As a planner who enjoys reading history, I think sharing Petaluma’s planning history is a good starting point. I took a similar approach when I started blogging about Kannapolis in 2014. I can cover other topics about Petaluma in future posts.
Construction Industry Association of Sonoma County v. City of Petaluma
While I did not know where Petaluma is located when I studied the 1976 US Supreme Court case Construction Industry Association of Sonoma County v. City of Petaluma for the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) exam, I believe this case is the most important case to impact Petaluma’s planning history. As this post from Petaluma historian John Patrick Sheehy shows, I can thank former Petaluma mayor Helen Putnam for taking the case all the way to the US Supreme Court in order to limit Petaluma’s sprawl in the 1970s. In addition to preventing sprawl in Petaluma, the court’s decision helped cities across the country prevent sprawl. Surprisingly, former Mayor Putnam did not envision herself as a torchbearer of the urban slow-growth movement (aka smart growth).
Another important piece in Petaluma’s planning history occurred when the city council approved the Environmental Design Plan in 1972. This plan limited new development to 500 units per year for the next five years; 250 on the east side and 250 on the west side. It also included an urban growth boundary around the city. Yes, Petaluma created an urban growth boundary before Portland created its boundary in 1979. The below map shows Petaluma’s current urban growth boundary. Since I thought this boundary would not expire, I was surprised to learn Petaluma’s urban growth boundary will expire in 2025, unless extended by the voters. I believe urban growth boundaries in Oregon do not expire.
The reason why I am focused on how former Mayor Putnam limited Petaluma’s sprawl in the 1970s is because my new job involves doing transit planning for Petaluma. Sprawling land uses are not conducive to providing good transit service. Petalumans would likely drive more than they currently do if Petaluma had not limited its growth in the 70s. While the below 2016 map does not show the current transit system, the current transit map does not have a basemap to provide context for the transit routes. As you can see from the changes that were made to the transit system, planners are still struggling to provide good transit service in Petaluma even with the urban growth boundary.
I could write more but this post is getting long. I am debating what to write about next. I could write about my new commute in Petaluma and how it could impact my goal to settle down. Since I am new to Petaluma and the Bay Area, I could write about my car-free trips in Petaluma and the Bay Area. I am open to suggestions. What do you want to read?
“Kannapolis is Changing at Eye Level” is a reference to “The City at EyeLevel”. As you may know, I was raised in Kannapolis, NC. I lived in Kannapolis from when I was born in 1990 to when I moved to Charlotte in 2009 to attend UNC Charlotte. I also lived in Kannapolis from 2013-14 between graduating from UNC Charlotte and starting my Transportation Planning Internship at Toole Design Group in the Washington, DC region. While I did not plan to visit Kannapolis in 2020, the coronavirus forced me to work remotely and only fly within the US. Since spas inside resorts were closed due to the coronavirus, I decided to visit Kannapolis during my 24-day workation.
As the below 2020 photo (right) shows, the reconstruction of West Avenue in Downtown Kannapolis was completed in time for me to check it out during my visit. While I wish Kannapolis planners had constructed back-in parking because it is safer for all road users than front-in parking, I am impressed with how Kannapolis planners revitalized the deteriorating West Avenue. Since I grew up in Kannapolis, I remember how West Avenue looked in the 2017 Google Street View, which is on the left in the below photos.
Before (2017) and after (2020) West Avenue in Kannapolis. Source: Google Street View (2017)
Many people are unfamiliar with what back-in parking is and the benefits of this parking for all road users. Due to this, I wanted to share how Charlotte, NC has been using back-in parking before I continue to share about the changes to West Avenue. For readers unfamiliar with where Kannapolis is located, Kannapolis is a suburb of Charlotte. While I realize the big city usually implements new things before the suburbs do, I was hopeful that Kannapolis would implement back-in parking when it redesigned West Avenue because Charlotte has been using back-in parking for several years.
Instructions for Back-In Parking in Charlotte, NC. Source: City of Charlotte, NC
Source: City of Charlotte, NC
Since my dad needs me to help him move things around the house before I fly from Charlotte to Minneapolis today, I am going to write the rest of this post later. I took about 50 photos of the West Avenue changes yesterday. I plan to share many of these photos when I have more time to finish this post. In case Kannapolis planners read my blog, I wanted to thank you for making the changes to West Avenue. While I wish back-in parking was constructed, I enjoyed most of the changes so great work on revitalizing Downtown Kannapolis!
I did not expect to write this post when 2020 started. This shows how quickly the coronavirus has impacted our lives. I wish I knew when the new normal would start so I could create some consistency in my life. While I am not sure how many months physical distancing will last, it appears that physical distancing will shape the new normal. Since I have struggled to maintain at least six feet from other people when walking and biking, how can tactical urbanism be used to quickly and cheaply create spaces that allow people to maintain at least six feet from other people when walking and biking?
What is the issue?
Before share how my question could be answered, I want to make sure you understand the issue that I have been experiencing. Spencer Boomhower at Toole Design Group created this video that shows the issue.
Source: Spencer Boomhower at Toole Design Group
While I do not live in Portland, I have experienced similar physical distancing issues when I visit Portland. Portland’s Safe Streets Report shows some of the major challenges that the Safe Streets Initiative is trying to resolve. The below four issues match four numbers on the below photo.
a need for additional space for walking
a need for wider sidewalks
transit stops without space to safely wait for the next bus
a need to reinforce physical distancing guidance to support local businesses
Source: Portland Safe Streets Report
I believe maps are also a great way to show the issue. I found sidewalk width maps for New York City and Washington, DC. I used to live in the DC region, so I am more familiar with the DC map. As the below map shows, many sidewalks in one of the most walkable cities in the US are too narrow for physical distancing.
While I thought about using Level of Traffic Stress (LTS) maps to show whether bike lanes and trails are also too narrow for physical distancing, LTS analysis is not limited to bike lane and trail width so the LTS maps would not have been accurate for showing whether more space is needed for physical distancing. Due to this, I decided to show the below graphic from this International Transport Forum COVID-19 Transport Brief. The red lane on the left shows the pre-coronavirus existing bike lane. The red lane on the right shows how much space is needed to provide people with enough space for physical distancing.
How can tactical urbanism be used to resolve the issue?
While a long-term solution could be widening sidewalks, the coronavirus is killing people today due to the lack of space to physically distance from other people. I believe quick, inexpensive tactical urbanism projects are needed to resolve this emergency issue. As the below graphic shows, Portland’s Safe Streets Initiative shows how tactical urbanism projects can be used to resolve the emergency issue. Hopefully, some of these short-term projects are converted to permanent projects.
Since I have not seen a Safe Streets Initiative in any Oregon suburbs, I hope Portland’s initiative will encourage other cities throughout the Portland region to create safe spaces for people to do physical distancing. I have been advocating for Oregon City, which is where I live and work, to create a Safe Streets Initiative so I can safely do physical distancing when I am walking, biking, and waiting for the bus. I have learned through my advocacy work that people in suburban cities frequently say “we are not Portland” or “we do not want to become Portland”. Due to this, do you know of any suburban cities that have implemented a Safe Streets Initiative?
Future Blog Post
The coronavirus is also impacting my vacation plans. I was hoping to visit South America for the first time on this two-week Colombia trip. Since the coronavirus forced Colombia to lockdown, I have not scheduled my Colombia vacation yet. Due to being furloughed every Friday until the end of July (extended to Labor Day if the laws get extended) because of the economic crisis created by the coronavirus, I actually have no summer vacation planned because I would be ineligible to receive unemployment benefits from the CARES Act and Oregon Work Share if I took a vacation. While I am nervous about doing my first workation, I plan to continue working remotely as I visit family and friends in Colorado, North Carolina, and Minnesota from after work on July 9-August 2. What would you like to see me write about during my workation?
I am excited to share that I completed my first plan as the project manager when the Clackamas Community College Shuttle Service and Access Plan was completed last week! My project proposal was selected in January 2020 through a competitive process by a six-person Master of Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) student team from Portland State University. I worked with this MURP team through last week to produce the below plan.
Since the plan gives you plenty to read, I am going to keep this post short. I presented at the 2020 Oregon Public Transportation Conference about how I used Remix to conduct public outreach for the plan. I started talking about Remix at about 16:30.
As the below tweet from one of the faculty advisors for my MURP team shows, the coronavirus forced all of the plan’s student engagement to be converted from in-person to online. The online engagement caused many historically marginalized communities to be left out of the plan’s engagement process. In order to include these communities in the plan implementation process, I need to do in-person engagement when most students are allowed to return to in-person classes again.
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 have not forgotten to write about what I discussed at the end of this post. I should have time in the next few weeks to write about walking and biking in the new normal. Even though most infrastructure in the US is not made for physical distancing, I hope everyone is finding ways to stay safe!
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.
Which certification(s) should I pursue?
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.
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?
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