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Light Rail Test, January 5, 2013
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THE TRAINS ARE COMING!!!
Test of Light Rail Train Crossing
at 13th Ave & Carr Street (8,400 W)
in Lakewood, Colorado 80214
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THE BACK FENCE NEWSLETTER
The Newsletter Featuring Livable Community Items That Readers Value and Highlights of Happenings Along the West Corridor on the RTD West Rail Line Serving Golden, Lakewood & Denver. |
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The "W" Line Opens in:
106 Days.
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Hi Everyone! This is Bill Spriggs and I have found several news articles, links and blogs that I wanted to share along THE BACK FENCE & beyond in the Weekly Edition, January 10, 2013. |
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West Corridor, Denver & Region
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West Corridor Progress - Wadsworth Station
By Ryan Mulligan, Jan 09 2013
Time to get back to our West Corridor updates in preparation for its opening on April 26 (only 106 days away)! An archive of past updates can be found here.
READ MORE...
TheDenverPost
Commerce City Shaping Plan for Development Near RTD Rail Station
By Monte Whaley, Jan 10 2013
A year-long study on how to best use a planned commuter rail station to boost a depressed part of the city started Wednesday night with a community workshop to gather ideas.
READ MORE...
TheDenverPost
Loveland-Based McWhinney Joins Development Team for Union Station
By John Mossman, Jan 09 2013
Loveland-based McWhinney, a real estate investment and development company, has joined Union Station Alliance, a team of redevelopers that is transforming Denver's historic train station.
READ MORE...
TheDenverPost
Grant Funds RTD Express Bus From LoDo Denver to Commerce City
By Yesenia Robles, Jan 08 2013
After three years of looking for ways to bring public transportation to northern Commerce City, city officials have landed a grant to fund a new RTD bus route for at least the next three years.
READ MORE...
Blog.WalkScore
9 Highly Walkable Ski Towns in North America
Telluride: #1 Vail #4 Aspen #5
By Jocelyn Milici Ceder, Jan 03 2013
Skiing is a heavily car-dependent winter activity. But in the spirit of healthy living and driving less, carpool-friendly or shuttle-bus-traveled trips with friends and family to ski resorts is just what urbanites sometimes need. The more you walk, the more in shape you'll be when your feet are strapped to skis or snowboards careening down the slopes, right?
READ MORE...
GristDotOrg
Energy Localism Update: Boulder, Colo., Wants to Take Control of its Own Power
By Dave Roberts, Jan 08 2013
One of the more fascinating and under reported stories in U.S. energy right now is the budding movement toward localism.
READ MORE...
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TheAtlanticCities
3 Keys for Drawing Drivers to Mass Transit
By Eric Jaffe, Jan 07 2013
A strong mass transit system needs frequent and reliable service to maintain its ridership, and the ability to reach job centers across a metro area helps too. But even systems that meet these requirements struggle to attract new riders in cities with high levels of car ownership. After all, a car offers frequency, reliability, and job access too.
TheAtlanticCities
How the Federal Government Dramatically Skews the U.S. Real Estate Market
By Emily Badger, Jan 08 2013
One of most persistent canards about American communities is the idea that they've been built entirely by demand. People live in the suburbs because they want to. Drivers commute on highways by choice. The market long demanded single-family homes and strip malls, and so that's what the invisible hand delivered.
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities The Best U.S. Cities for Losing Weight
By Jed Koloko, Jan 09 2013 It's been a long holiday season of sugared bacon and brown-butter cookies. Now begins the January push to lose weight...Weight loss isn't only about willpower; your environment matters too: cheap food, suburban sprawl, and long commutes all contribute to America's obesity problem. Which metros give you a fighting chance to get back into fighting shape? Instead of doing crunches at the gym, we've been sitting at our desks crunching the numbers to figure it out.
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
Sprawl Could Kill Off 34 Million Acres of American Forest by 2060
Kaid Benfield, Jan 08 2013
Scientists at the U.S. Forest Service and partners at universities, non-profits and other agencies predict that urban and developed land areas in the US will increase 41 percent by 2060. Forested areas will be most impacted by this expansion, with losses ranging from 16 to 34 million acres in the lower 48 states. The agency highlighted the results of a new study in a press release issued last month.
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GristDotOrg
Solar Mosaic: Kind of a Big Deal for Clean Energy
By Bill McKibben, Jan 07 2013
You know what's fun? What's fun is watching young people figure out how to change the world they've inherited
READ MORE...
StreetsBlogDotNet
What Is the Anti-Density Crowd Really Afraid Of?
By Angie Schmitt, Jan 08 2013
Yesterday, we mentioned that some people in Washington, DC, are up in arms over a zoning rule designed to let more people move in to some residential areas. Linda Schmitt, leader of a group that goes by the name "Neighbors for Neighborhoods," is organizing against a measure that would allow people to live in existing buildings in alleyways. It was a curious complaint, because, as David Alpert at Greater Greater Washington noted, what they were all worked up over amounted to a few "cute, clean little brick house[s]."
TheAtlanticCities The Case for Walkability as an Economic Development Tool
By Kaid Benfield, Jan 04 2013 A terrific street redesign is assisting economic development in a southern California community that has suffered from changing economic conditions but is nevertheless seeing significant population growth. This is a story of municipal foresight, excellent recent planning, and green ambition.
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TheAtlanticCities Toward the Walkable City
By Richard Florida, Jan 07 2013
Walkable City, the new book by Jeff Speck, has been lauded by the Los Angeles Times as nothing less than a primer on "pedestrianism as a baseline for urban life." Planetizen recently named it one of their 10 best planning books of 2013.
READ MORE...
TheHill
DOT Wants Electric Cars to Make More Noise
By Keith Laing, Jan 07 2013
The Department of Transportation is proposing new regulations that would require hybrid and electric cars to make more noise when their engines are running.
READ MORE..
TheAtanticCities
Mapping Urban Agriculture From the Sky
By Emily Badger, Jan 08 2013 Our best estimates of the scale of urban agriculture typically come from self-reported lists and non-profit groups trying to keep tabs on shared community gardens. These lists are, like the gardens themselves, informal. One frequent estimate floating around Chicago for several years figured there were maybe 700 food-producing plots in the city.
READ MORE...
BetterCities&Towns
Crime Rises in Suburbs, Falls in Cities
by Robert Steuteville, Jan 03 2013
During the first decade of this century the US suburban homicide rate rose 16.9 percent while declining 16.7 percent in cities, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Overall, crime dropped sharply in the US from 2000-2010. "The decline in homicides nationally has overshadowed a countertrend: rising murders in the suburbs, the communities that ring cities and have long been promoted as havens from violent crime"...
READ MORE...
DC.StreetsBlog
Study: Shorter Blocks May Be the Key to Cutting Traffic in Small Cities
By Tanya Snyder, Jan 07 2013
It's well-established that density and mixed-use development reduce driving. Right? But strategies like those don't work the same way everywhere, according to new research published in the Journal of Transport and Land Use. While in major cities, denser development is linked to lower rates of driving, researchers found that in smaller cities it might not have much effect at all. The research suggests that for smaller cities, a focus on reducing block sizes and improving street connectivity may be the most effective way to cut down on driving, though the authors caution that more research is needed to draw universal conclusions.
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
Resilience Is About Relationships, Not Just Infrastructure
By Sarah Goodyear, Jan 03 2013 When dealing with severe weather events, the type that climate change is making more common, improved infrastructure is important. But the social ties of a neighborhood - the kind of relationships that are nurtured by trips to the corner coffee shop and chats on the sidewalk - might prove equally important when it comes to saving lives.
READ MORE...
GristDotOrg
A 'Fusion' of Good News: Solar Stocks are 'Hot' Thanks to Warren Buffett's 'Flare'
By Philip Bump, Jan 04 2013
It's generally a good sign when Warren Buffett starts investing in your company/industry/country. Known as the "Wizard of Omaha" due to his ability to send little girls back to Kansas, Buffett is the second most famous representative of investment powerhouse Berkshire Hathaway. (His heavily taxed secretary is the most famous.) And when Berkshire Hathaway makes an investment, markets move.
READ MORE...
TheAtlanticCities
7 Uses for Failing Shopping Malls
By Amanda Erickson, Jan 08 2013
If the American-style shopping mall is dying, we could easily be left with an awfully big pile of useless real estate. What should become of these empty retail shells?
READ MORE...
GristDotOrg
Green Car Sales Were up in 2012, and Expected up in 2013
By Lisa Hymas, Jan 07 2013
Green cars account for just a teeny, tiny fraction of U.S. auto sales - 3.3 percent in 2012. But that teeny, tiny fraction is growing fast!
READ MORE...
Status of US Bikesharing Systems, 2012
By Dan Malouff, Jan 04 2013 2012 turned out to be an unexpectedly quiet year for bikesharing. New York and Chicago were expected to launch the largest systems in the country, but delays have pushed them to 2013. Washington, Minneapolis, and others did expand, but it wasn't the banner year that was anticipated.
READ MORE....
TheAtlanticCities
'My Brooklyn' Tells a Story of Gentrification and Loss
By Sarah Goodyear, Jan 07 2013
The word 'zoning' may be one of the least sexy in the urban planner's vocabulary, usually eliciting polite but blank stares from members of the general public. Even the sound of it is snooze-inducing. Wake up to reality: Zoning is one of the most powerful tools that government has to shape places and the lives of people who live there, for better and worse.
READ MORE...
[Note to below: This is perhaps the first article I have ever read that linked architecture to evolutionary psychology (the basis of all human behavior). A bit scholarly, but a very interesting read if you have the time]. MetropolisMag
A New Humanism: Part 5 [architecture]
By Robert Lamb Hart, Jan 07 2013
In a study he calls The Origins of Architectural Pleasure, architecture Professor Grant Hildebrand analyzes how specific responses to architecture, including aesthetic experience, could well have originated in evolved behavior. The details of the research and reasoning he assembles seem to me a clear, persuasive foundation for a more rigorous, more effective humanism. READ MORE...
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International (when available)
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China to Boost Urban Transport as City Congestion Worsens
By Tian Ying, January 06 201 China pledged measures to ease traffic congestion with a goal of public transport accounting for 60 percent of all motor vehicle use in towns and cities. The government will support the development of environmentally friendly urban transport systems and offer tax breaks and fuel subsidies for mass transit vehicles, according to a statement by the State Council, or cabinet...
READ MORE...
NextCity
Parched Empire: The Water Mafia in Booming Bangalore
By Mark Bergen, January 2013
...Bangalore as a whole is one of the only megacities on the planet without a body of water running through it. To make up for the scarce supply, residents turn to tankers operated by private water companies - or, as they're known colloquially, "water mafias."
READ MORE...
TheGlobeAndMail
Rise of the Incredible Shrinking Home
By Frances Bula, Jan 03 2013As the economy and changing mortgage rules squeeze Vancouver buyers, developers - and the municipalities that regulate them - are responding with shrinking homes.
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Weekly Film (when available)
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EPA's 2012 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement: Blvd Transformation Project, Lancaster, CA
Nov 30 2012
The redesign of Lancaster Boulevard helped transform downtown Lancaster into a thriving residential and commercial district through investments in new streetscape design, public facilities, affordable homes, and local businesses. Completed after eight months of construction, the project demonstrates how redesigning a corridor guided by a strategic vision can spark new life in a community. The project has generated almost $300 million in economic output and nearly 2,000 jobs.
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EPA's 2012 National Award for Smart Growth Achievement: Blvd Transformation Project, Lancaster, CA
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Things you need to know along the West Corridor
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RTD US 6th Ave Bridge Lighting Ceremony!
January 23rd, 6pm -7pm
In the parking lot of:
Lakewood Fordland
11595 West 6th Ave 80215
(NE corner of US 6th Ave and Simms St)
On January 23, 2013, RTD will host a ceremonial lighting of the 6th Avenue Bridge. Join them for this exciting event as the switch is pulled and the bridge is illuminated for the first time. The ceremony marks the end of construction activities and signifies the start of testing and countdown to the Grand Opening on April 26, 2013.
[Note to below: I'm enclosing the full text of one section from a Friday Report from the City of Lakewood because it involves an important built environment connectivity change along the West Corridor adjacent to the West Rail Line.]
Preparing for a roundabout
The City received funding, including a $1 million grant from the state, to build a roundabout at the intersection of Lamar Street and West 14th Avenue and to add a section of sidewalk and bicycle lanes. The work will improve safety at the intersection and provide better access for pedestrians and bicyclists to the upcoming Lamar Station for the West Rail Line. This intersection has an unusually high rate of accidents, and they are some of the most dangerous kind, which are collisions at a right angle. The roundabout will eliminate these kinds of accidents and slow vehicles in the intersection. Properly designing the improvements to match the surrounding area will require collecting land survey information along 14th for 400 feet east and west of Lamar and along Lamar for 400 feet north of 14th to south of West 13th Avenue. The City needs residents' help by allowing surveyors to collect information on their property. Residents with concerns can contact Ken Nyhoff, Lakewood's engineer for the project, at (303) 987-7939/kennyh@lakewood.orgAdded Information. See the short video below
How to use a roundabout Michagan DOT Aug 10 2011  | |
How to use a roundabout
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Denver Union Station
Construction Cam
Wish You Could Find an Apartment/Condo near a Light Rail Station? As part of TBF's continuing efforts to bring TOD's to the West Corridor & elsewhere, this link from Walk Score.com will now be a permanent feature. Thanks.
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Commercial Real Estate Assemblages, Land or Buildings Available on The West Corridor
Please note: TBF does not
own or sell any real property.
Prices displayed may not be correct.
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>4917 West 11th Ave Assemblage [sold]
Sold, See Press Release
>10th Avenue Light Rail Assemblage
>1010 Sheridan Blvd TOD Site
>5310 West 10th Ave TOD opportunity
>13th Ave & Newland, Ideal TOD property
>5830 West Colfax Ave
>1025 Ammons Complex
>6990 West Colfax Ave Pad Site
THE BACK FENCE supports a corridor wide, regional vision, with individual nodes of unique "places" within that corridor. We hope that the listing of commercial properties available will help to speed this vision to fruition sooner. Learn more about this vision below from the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.
West Corridor Vision
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Residential Real Estate Agents
who get the "big picture" of
transit-oriented living of
walkable, sustainable
neighborhoods.
JIM SMITH REALTOR, GOLDEN
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Things You Need to Know Around the Region
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The Transit Alliance Citizens' Academy is now Accepting Applications for the Spring 2013 Class!
Please note that the Academy application process is competitive as they only have 50 slots available and usually have 100 applicants or more. Please be sure to answer all questions thoughtfully and thoroughly as the selection committee selects participants primarily upon application responses. The Spring 2013 Citizens' Academy will be held on Wednesday evenings for seven weeks beginning on March 6th and ending on April 17th. Classes will be held at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce from 6:00 PM - 9:00 PM each week.
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| The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of William A. Spriggs and no one else. |
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