Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Help create a new vision for Clark Street along Lincoln Park

by Michelle Stenzel

Do you walk, bike or drive on Clark Street between North Avenue and Armitage? If so, you may have noticed a need to make the street safer for everyone on it. Well, now you have a chance to speak up: We're very excited to announce that Bike Walk Lincoln Park will be co-hosting a community workshop on how to improve this very stretch of Clark Street! 
Crossing Clark Street at Menomonee is a stressful experience. (Photo: Bike Walk Lincoln Park)
Together with Alderman Michele Smith and Active Transportation Alliance, we invite you to participate in the event on August 20. Led by Brenna Conway of ATA, we'll walk along the street to observe, discuss, and brainstorm ideas that can then be shaped into initial recommendations.  -->


You may have read Bike Walk Lincoln Park blog posts with our thoughts on ways to improve the street because we feel that there needs to be better accommodation for people crossing Clark Street and riding bikes on it.  However, Alderman Smith, Active Transportation Alliance and Bike Walk Lincoln Park all want to hear more from YOU. We'll also be reaching out to residents, commuters, neighborhood groups, businesses, schools, cultural institutions and more to encourage them to participate so we can work together to make this part of our city better.

The Chicago Department of Transportation staff will receive the resulting initial recommendations from the community workshop, and will likely be very receptive to continuing the improvement process with all of us, given their commitment to implementing a Complete Streets policy for all our streets.


Streetsblog Chicago has posted information about the (high) average speeds of drivers on this part of Clark Street, including a video clip of one driver exceeding the speed limit by 20 mph.

Mark your calendars now, and we hope to see you on August 20th!

DETAILS:

What: Community workshop on how to improve Clark Street
Where: Meet the Green City Market site — approximately 1791 N. Clark
When: Tuesday, August 20, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Contact: Brenna Conway Brenna@activetrans.org   312-427-3325 x 392

Following the workshop, join us for an Active Transportation Alliance happy hour at the J. Parker rooftop lounge in Hotel Lincoln! (Cash bar)

Here's a PDF of the flyer below.

Follow us on Twitter @BikeWalkLP  or e-mail BikeWalkLincolnPark@gmail.com



4 comments:

  1. Pet peeve #1: few drivers seem to understand that there is a law that they should stop for pedestrians in cross walks. If the city ever puts those traffic cams on crosswalks in Lincoln Park they would make a fortune in ticketing revenue.

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    1. The law requiring drivers to stop is now three years old, but you're right, few drivers seem to know about it. Greater enforcement efforts would help, as would a large scale education campaign by Illinois Department of Transportation, in the same fashion as their "Click It or Ticket" campaign. -- MS

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  2. Brenna, Michelle, and Alderman Smith: thank you for organizing this meeting. It really was educational for me to stand on a corner watching the traffic and listening to everyone's ideas about how to fix it. If this section of Clark were a complete street, I think it could really be one of the most welcoming (and safest) places in the city.

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    1. Thanks for the support and for attending the workshop, Scott! -- MS

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