Spring is Sprung Group Ride! A Tour of OC’s Community Gardens

We’re excited to present the Spring is Sprung group ride, May 23rd, and showcase five of the incredible gardens/urban farms setup by the Community Gardens of Oak Cliff. We’ll be starting this ride in the Bishop Arts District, and stops will include tours of the gardens, presentations about composting, bees, and other great stuff. It’s a family friendly ride, so all are welcome.

To rsvp via Facebook, click here, and the ride map is located here.

Ride Date:  Sunday, May 23, 2010

Start Location:  Eno’s Pizza Tavern, Bishop Arts District

Start Time:  1:00 pm (times are approximations based on amount of time at each stop and travel time)

1. Community Garden of Cliff Temple 1:15pm
2. Methodist Hospital System Garden:  1:50pm
3. St. Cecilia’s Community Garden 2:50pm
4. Jefferson Median Project 3:20pm
5. Urban Acres Farm Store 3:50pm
6. Eno’s Pizza Tavern 4:30pm

Oak Cliff People Coverage of Ninjas vs. Pirates

(photo from Oak Cliff People)

Click here to view the Oak Cliff People photo gallery of the Ninjas vs. Pirates ride.

DMN Posted video of the Ninjas vs. Pirates ride

Thanks to everyone who came out for the Pirates vs. Ninjas ride. Great turnout, great weather, and great times.

Path Less Pedaled

Just got word from our friend Myles, at Rat Trap Press, that Laura Crawford and Russ Roca of Path Less Pedaled fame, will be in Fort Worth to give a presentation at Trinity Bicycles at 7:30 PM (207 S. Main Street). For those unfamiliar with the couple, this is from their website:

The Path Less Pedaled is an exploration of what it means to live outside the lines. In March 2009, Laura Crawford and Russ Roca made the decision to drop out of the status quo and find others around the world who have done the same. Paring down their lives to just what will fit on two bicycles, Laura and Russ embarked on an extended bike tour throughout the US and beyond – with the goal of connecting with and collecting the stories of people who followed a calling to live their lives in unique ways, while revitalizing the model of the traveling artisan and inspiring others to travel by bicycle. Through photos, interviews, presentations, and an extensive web presence, Laura (an art jewelry maker) and Russ (a photographer) are compiling examples of lives less ordinary and sharing their experiences with the world.

Guerilla Urbanism: North Oak Cliff residents create their own Complete Street

The block heard round the world.

Go Oak Cliff finally wrapped-up the video outlining the Better Block event and posted to their site. View it to see how the new non-profit along with residents and members of BFOC took a street that was dominated by cars, and converted it to a place for pedestrians, bicyclists, and cafes. Since the corner lacked development due to its pre-war form being stripped in the 1970′s to a car-only design, activists created a temporary coffee shop, gift/flower market, and kids art studio to show the type of community based businesses that could develop if people were given adequate walkable/bikeable access from the surrounding neighborhoods.

We’ve just gotten word that the event is starting to go viral nationally with Transit Miami picking up the story yesterday.

And how exactly successful was the Better Block? Immediately after the project, Dallas transportation staff have begun looking at making many of the changes permanent, Go Oak Cliff is being asked to recreate the Better Block in two other cities in Texas to help showcase the potential for revitalizing their respective areas, and Congress for New Urbanism will feature the event at their 18th annual exposition in Atlanta.

More press surrounding the event can be found here:

http://oakcliffblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2010/04/looking-to-build-on-success-of.html#comments

More videos posted by the Advocate

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2010/04/what_made_a_better_block_oh_ju.php#comments

http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2010/04/12/leading-off-41310-%e2%80%93-youtube-edition/

http://www.dallasobserver.com/slideshow/the-art-crawl-and-better-block-project-in-oak-cliff-29654196/2/

http://www.carfreeinbigd.com/2010/04/emergent-urbanism-in-oak-cliff.html

Riverfront: The wrong way to build a Complete Street

Just reviewed the plans for the new Riverfront “Complete Street”, and the attempt put forth is hardly worthy of critique. It’s being billed as a 21st Century Main Street, which would be accurate if you enjoyed Main Streets that contained no life. For those unfamiliar with the term, a “Complete Street” is one that takes in consideration multiple modes of transit and give equal treatment to each. There’s nothing equal in the Riverfront renderings. It’s a 6 lanes + 2 turn lanes street with glorified sidewalks being developed as “cycle tracks” for shared bicycle and pedestrian use. In other words, its form is:

Pedestrian/Bicycle, Car, Car, Car, Car, Car, Car, Car, Car, Bicycle/Pedestrian

There are multiple reasons to develop a complete street including lessening CO2 emissions, allowing for/enabling multiple transit options, enlivening an area with pedestrians, and greater economic development potential. Problems with our current streetscapes are that there is far too much weight given to one mode of transit which lessens the likelihood of use for any other. What are we trying to enable? Pedestrianization of an area, or automotive through-way? When it’s far easier to drive than it is to walk or bicycle, why attempt another mode? And who exactly would want to walk, or dine, or bicycle beside a 6 lane arterial? When cities like New York are removing cars completely from major roadways, it’s odd that we’d take the opposite stance and shove more vehicles into an area that we’re trying to bill as people-friendly.

View the video below to see Copenhagen’s planner, Jan Gehl, discuss implementing a true “Complete Street” and note how they’re taking 6 lane roads and converting them to two vehicle lanes only. This is a city with far greater density than Dallas, yet it’s removing vehicle lanes. If we want a 21st Century Main Street, we have to move away from the fear that “Dallas can’t” change from auto-only use. We proved during the Better Block, that if you gave people a different option for a street, they would embrace it and come out with their families. Imagine a place that has a more equal road treatment, like McKinney Avenue between Maple and Allen (sidewalk, car, car, trolley, sidewalk)…now imagine putting a 6+2 lane arterial road down the center. Does it still seem inviting?

In Praise of Our Founding Farmers Markets and Budding Urban Agriculture

At BFOC, we like nothing more than to ride our bicycles to a local neighborhood or farmers market and buy local.  So, we have been following the discussions of the Transportation and Environment Committee, which is considering new City-wide policies for regulating both community gardens and neighborhood farmers markets.

One anti-farmers market talking point is summarized in the phrase “The Farmers Market.”  On Monday, April 12, we heard this talking point in several different refrains: “We need to protect our investment at The Farmers Market” or “I won’t support anything that will harm The Farmers Market.”  Underneath all of the blatant protectionism and favoritism, rests an important assumption that should be challenged.

Is it normal or even healthy to have a single farmers market in a large city?  What does the farmers market side of a healthy urban agricultural environment look like anyway?  Let’s take a look:

Location	Number of Farmers Markets
Manhattan	39
King County (Including Seattle)	39
Brooklyn	29
Philadelphia Area	22
Los Angles	19
Suburbs of Portland (Excluding Portland)	19
Atlanta Area	17
Albany County	17
Portland	12
Cleveland	12
San Francisco	11 (with 100+ in Bay Area)
Tulsa Area	11
Austin	10
Dallas	7

Admittedly, this is only observation and certainly not scientific as the reporting sources consulted vary on the definition of a farmers market.  The numbers do provide a certain clarity and direction, however.  Cities of any size and worth have many farmers markets and a city the size of Dallas should certainly have more than seven:  Central Business District (The Farmers Market), Bolsa, Celebration Market, Milestone, Mockingbird Station, North Haven Gardens, and White Rock Lake.

First, we should all praise this small founding population of urban farmers markets.  Urban agriculture is more than a single, centralized farmers market.  It is the integration of sustainable food production and distribution throughout our built environment.  We must understand, whether we are discussing community gardens or farmers markets, that urban agriculture in Dallas is just taking hold and we should be grateful for the opportunities presented.

Second, we should be encouraging our farmers markets to thrive.  In fact, instead of spending countless hours studying how to regulate the existing farmers markets, our time would be better spent understanding what will make this small founding population survive and multiply.

Our goals must be loftier than passing new regulations and generating $16,500+ in permit fees per year.  Lest we forget a fundamental lesson of nature:  small populations are subject to a higher chance of extinction because they are more vulnerable to fate in each of its cruel forms: disease, drought, plague, misguided city regulation, etc.

Dallas’ First Complete Street a Success!

This weekend, BFOC and Go Oak Cliff combined efforts to install Dallas’ first complete street for two days only. Taking up two blocks from Seventh Street to Eighth Street, along Tyler, we converted a 43′, 3 lane car-only road, to a street that included a bike lane (cycle track) with outside parking creating a dedicated barrier for cyclists, a single lane for car travel, and extended the sidewalk into the street to allow for outdoor cafe seating. The results: traffic immediately slowed when entering the area, children and families comfortably walked and bicycled across the streets, people sat outside drinking coffee and perusing the shops that typically receive little foot traffic due to its inhospitable form. The Cliff Notes bookstore, which has held shop on the block since early last year, had their best sales ever. Not only did the psychology of the street change when we gave equal treatment to all modes of transit, but the economics of the street began working as well. With vehicle speeds slowing, all modes of transit were safer and residents that have lived in Oak Cliff for 50 years, began asking how we could make the changes permanent.

All in all, it was an amazing project, and city council members, city staff, and urban planners were on hand to witness the amazing transformation. Moving forward, we’ll begin working with Councilmember Delia Jasso, to make the changes permanent, and truly enliven this block for all modes of transit.

We’ll be posting several videos and images throughout the week spotlighting the project, so stay tuned!

Video on the Elements Needed for a Better Block in Oak Cliff

Check out our latest video where we discuss the elements of a better block, including the concepts of “complete streets”, and the missing pieces that create a livable place.

Go Oak Cliff presents the “THINK small” campaign

Leading up to the Oak Cliff Art Crawl, and Better Block Project, BFOC/Go Oak Cliff members are unveiling the “THINK small” campaign, which is developed as a response to the sophistical “Live Large, Think Big” campaign lead by Dallas CVB. It’s the “Think BIG” campaigns which brought us underground mall-tunnels, giant inhospitable concrete plazas in front of City Hall, multi-million dollar signature bridges, and half-billion dollar hotels, that do nothing to create a sense of community, and a neighborhood which people value and want to live, work, and play in. Dallas deserves more than simply having a skyline that looks great in an airport snowglobe. We recognize that $125 Million dollars is being spent to get us a great looking suspension bridge, while little over $2 Million Dollars was spent in 2000 to create the infrastructure improvements to the small Bishop Arts District block in North Oak Cliff, which has truly created a sense of place and driven real economic change in the area. You could say the exact same for the Katy Trail in Uptown…it’s cost was exponentially less than the Cityplace project built nearby (which promised the creation of a “lively neighborhood”). The money spent on a single mile of highway could create 10 Bishop Arts Districts. That’s the key to “THINK small”, and the reality to creating a city worth living in.

(Bishop Arts District, Oak Cliff)