What does a Colorado brewery have in common with T4 America?
September 2, 2009By Transportation for America
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| Bike Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
| New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins Colorado encourages their employees to bike to work by providing ample parking and other incentives. |
Why is a craft beer brewing company hosting a T4 America town hall meeting on transportation?
Because our fine partners at New Belgium Brewing Company in Fort Collins, Colorado believe strongly in sustainable, people-powered transportation. (Check out their statements regarding sustainability.) New Belgium has a long track record of supporting bicycling, whether it’s their annual Tour De Fat festival (which sends all profits to environmental and bicycle advocacy groups), their employee bike parking (closer to the brewery and more plentiful than car parking), or their commitment to provide a fat-tire cruiser bike to every employee on their one year employment anniversary.
Earlier this year, New Belgium signed onto the Transportation for America campaign as a partner, and on August 18th, they hosted a town hall meeting on the topic of transportation.
New Belgium is bucking the conventional wisdom for a business in some ways. It’s much easier for a business to keep quiet on controversial issues of policy, fearing a hard stance might alienate customers, but New Belgium wears their sustainable, bike-oriented message on their sleeve, making it a part of their identity — and also a cornerstone of their success.
Read on for a summary of the Fort Collins town hall meeting.
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| Stephanie Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
A brewery might not be the first place you’d expect to go to hear a lively, intellectual discussion between elected officials and their constituents about the future of transportation. But when the forum got cranked up, not even the Fat Tire Amber Ale, Mothership Wit Organic Wheat, or other unique brews being offered could divert the attendees’ focus from talking about the future of transportation in Northern Colorado and the rest of the state.
The broad interests represented by the event’s co-hosts — The Sonoran Institute, Colorado Environmental Coalition, Colorado Association of Transit Agencies, CoPIRG, LiveWell Colorado, New Belgium Brewery, and Transportation for America — blended a well-rounded, informative discussion.
Participants imagined what more efficient or high speed regional or national rail would do for Colorado’s economic competitiveness. Clear Creek County Commissioner Harry Dale referenced several feasibility studies to help participants envision connecting Wyoming and New Mexico via high-speed rail within Colorado’s I-25 corridor. State Representative Kefalas urged a more expansive vision to connect Colorado to a larger national system. He shared how his firsthand experience riding Germany’s expansive and efficient rail system helped him see the benefits of a regional — and national — network of rail.
The forum not only explored new transportation possibilities, but plans and legislation that are already underway. Participants were updated on the Mason Corridor, a five mile north-south dedicated byway exclusively for pedestrians, cyclists, and a bus rapid transit system (BRT) that will connect downtown Fort Collins with the thousands of people who attend or work at Colorado State University.
Carla Perez, Governor Bill Ritter’s transportation policy advisor, highlighted a recently-passed piece of legislation known as FASTER (Funding Advancements for Surface Transportation & Economic Recovery). FASTER is a funding plan that will generate approximately $250 million annually for transportation infrastructure and 10,000 jobs.
Kristin Kirkpatrick, a prevention specialist at the Coalition for Activity and Nutrition to Defeat Obesity, shared the startling statistic that while Colorado is one of the fittest states in the nation, it also has one of the fastest growing rates of obesity. She stressed the importance of making smart transportation investments that will help foster healthy lifestyles, echoed by State Representative Randy Fischer as he emphasized the link between transportation infrastructure and land use.
Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet’s district directors summarized the connections between Colorado’s state and federal policy agenda and gave some federal legislative updates.
At 8pm, when the forum officially ended, it was clear the event was a success. Captured by the discussion, most people, including several elected officials, stayed long after the forum concluded to continue exploring Colorado’s transportation future.
Our thanks to Sophie Glass from our partners at the Sonoran Institute for summarizing the event. Will Handsfield and Taylor Lavender from Transportation for America also contributed to this summary.
The importance of a complete transportation system
May 6, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
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| Glennis and the 20 Bus Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
This story is told by Transportation for America organizer Will Handsfield, from a recent trip to California for a town hall meeting.
After leaving the 21st Century Transportation for Los Angeles conference, I headed over to the Normandie Metro Rapid stop to pick up the 720 bus.
This is where I met Glennis.
Glennis was expected at work at 7:00. It was 6:25, and she had been waiting at the stop for 30 minutes when I showed up. Glennis told me that once she got off at Santa Monica Blvd, she would still have about one mile to walk to get to her job. Her chances of getting there on time were looking pretty slim at that moment, and I could see the worry mounting on her face.
Not everyone has a car to drive, and plenty of people choose not to drive for many different reasons. Millions of Americans just like Glennis rely on public transportation every day to get to their jobs, and thus to support themselves. If the buses are late (in this case, the rapid is supposed to show up every 3-8 minutes during rush hour), it threatens the job security of hard working people like Glennis.
One of the people I spoke to at Google two weeks ago put it succinctly, “you should have to know the transit routes, but never their schedules” — essentially saying that infrequent transit represents a poor system. The Rapid bus is supposed to solve this by coming frequently, but for whatever reason, today it didn’t.
I waited for another 16 minutes with Glennis, and waffled with her on deciding whether or not to settle for the slower number 20 bus (pictured), despite the fact it makes many more stops. We stuck it out and a bus headed to Westwood finally arrived, and I said farewell.
When she left, she had another 19 minutes to get to work, with at least 10 minutes more of bus riding. I hope Glennis was able to walk that mile in the 9 minutes left.
For Glennis’ sake — and for everyone else waiting for the bus or stuck in endless traffic — we need to do better on providing a safe, efficient, complete transportation system with options for everyone.
Thinking big: The Google Town Hall Meeting
April 23, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
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| Google Transit and T4 Originally uploaded by Transportation for America |
| Googlers Wayne Lin, left, and Jessica Wei hold a Transportation for America sign last week after the Google Town Hall Meeting. Jessica Wei works on Google Transit, the free service that integrates public transportation timetables and routes into their popular maps application. |
We want to amplify your voice, your vision for the future of transportation in America. So what should the future look like in your community? To help develop your community’s vision, we’re working to coordinate a series of town hall and house meetings all across the country.
And we want you to hold a meeting of your own.
One of the first stops on our cross-country town hall meeting tour was Google’s headquarters in California.
Last week, several of Google’s developers shared the latest in transit-tracking technology and real-time traffic mapping with our staff, and we got a chance to dig deep into the federal policy changes that could make our nation a more livable place for drivers, riders, and walkers.
Here’s a short summary of the meeting at Google from T4 Outreach Director Ilana Preuss:
Over the past year, I have spoken to many different crowds about transportation reform across the country. I asked people what they want to see from our federal government about transportation – what we fund and how we fund it.
But never before did I talk with an audience that said anything like this:
“Please figure out how to make transit authorities hand over their transit service information so that we can create a seamlessly integrated system of all transit services accessible through the web.“
And they know how to do it!
As I spoke with our crowd at the Google town hall, people offered their visions of our future transportation network. It’s clear that they were thinking big and visionary.
- A cell phone networked and safe ridesharing program for an entire region.
- A nation with increased access to transit service through more widespread service, but also through clear, thorough information shared about the services that already exist.
- Access to transit timetables and route information from all agencies nationwide so that developers like Google can make that data available to all users on their phone or web.
- An interstate rail highway that crisscrosses the nation, where the rails are publicly owned like our roads, and any company that has a train engine and car can use the system.
Every town hall meeting is a one-of-a kind. And Google certainly held true to that. Google staffers envisioned a future where every person with a cell phone or access to the web would be able to easily find a shared free ride or the fastest route with trains and buses to get to school, work or home.
So Google has had their say. What about your community?
We want to bring your voice, your vision for the future of transportation to Congress and President Obama. We want to tell them about the projects you want in your town, your goals for travel and living options, or your needs for getting employees and goods to your business.
To develop your community’s vision, hold a town hall or a simple house meeting in your community using a Transportation for America toolkit. Then, submit your community’s ideas to become part of the national vision for our new transportation in the 21st Century.
Find out more about holding a Town Hall or House meeting.
Webinars and town hall meetings: Deepen your engagement
March 26, 2009By Stephen Lee Davis
Congress will make significant investments in transportation this year — but where and how we choose to invest will have deep impacts on our housing and job markets, public health, energy needs, climate, economic competitiveness, and nearly every other pressing issue facing our country today.
To help explain these connections, we’re launching two initiatives — a series of webinars with top experts in the field and an ambitious national town hall program — to help you learn more about transportation’s effect on everyday issues and share your community’s vision for transportation with the campaign.
Town Hall Meetings
It’s time for a new, 21st-Century vision for transportation that will be safer, healthier, cleaner, more equitable and smarter so that our nation can compete and thrive in the future economy. It’s time to leave behind our current, 1950s-era federal transportation program.
But we need you and your community to help us tell Congress and President Obama what America needs. We want to bring your voice, your vision for the future of transportation to them. We want to tell them about the projects you want in your town, your goals for community’s travel and living options, or your needs for getting employees and goods to your business.
To develop your community’s vision, hold a town hall or a simple house meeting in your community. Afterward, you can submit your community’s ideas to become part of the national vision for our new transportation in the 21st Century. We want to hear your voice — tell us what you want.
Soon, we’ll be launching a new town hall page that will make it easier to find a meeting near you or hold a meeting of your own in your community. And after meetings conclude, we’ll be posting and chronicling the ideas and vision generated from your meetings around the country to paint the picture of what America wants for our 21st Century transportation system.
Learn more about town hall meetings
Webinars
The first webinar, on Transportation and Social Equity, happened earlier this week, but there are at least five more happening soon.
The upcoming webinar (April 2) on Climate Change and Energy Security should be one of the most popular, with an outstanding panel of experts discussing how various modes of transportation impact our environment and energy security, and how our land-use patterns affect how much we drive and our air quality.
If you miss a webinar but still want to explore the issue, you’ll be able to read a summary, listen to the full audio, and most important of all, download a policy brief that gives a solid overview of the issue, sprinkled with great facts and data to illustrate the connections to transportation.
Check back soon with the webinars page below or here on the campaign blog for those materials as they are posted.
Learn more and register for a webinar
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- Transit grants out the federal door, but what about the cuts?
March 8, 2010 - Transit riders in Atlanta face massive cuts, “wholesale restructuring” of service
March 5, 2010 - Opposition to Senate extension results in looming shutdown of federal transportation programs
February 26, 2010 - T4 jobs proposal would create nearly half a million jobs, according to Economic Policy Institute
February 17, 2010 - Obama’s 2011 budget gives a lift to livability and transportation
February 2, 2010
- Transit grants out the federal door, but what about the cuts?
The United States of Transit Cutbacks
Driving is down and transit ridership is at record highs. Yet transit agencies across the country are considering layoffs, service cuts and fare hikes. Find out more and learn what you can do to help at t4america.org/transitcuts
Transportation: In your eyes
Send us your transportation-related photos.
