Monday, September 28, 2009

Final Reminder; Community Meeting With Mark Fenton Tommorrow

A reminder that there is a community meeting with famed 'pedestrian advocate' Mark Fenton tomorrow night. Mr. Fenton will address the ‘Complete Streets’ concept and how the average person can help make Spokane a more livable city.

The meeting is at the Lincoln Center, 1316 N. Lincoln Street, from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Community and neighborhood advocates, elected and appointed officials, business leaders, everyday citizens, and anyone who wants to make Spokane a better, safer, and more interesting place to walk and bike are encouraged to participate.

I have to say, I think this meeting will do anything but bore you. I spent the afternoon running after Mr. Fenton today, because the man not only doesn't hold still for long periods of time, but being a former racewalker, he's also very quick.

We walked and drove through downtown Spokane, the 395 area, north Spokane and the south hill today, and Mr. Fenton actually seemed pretty impressed. He said there are cities that would love to have the 'bones' that we have- a major river and park right in our downtown area, high density attractive neighborhoods like the south hill, and neighborhoods on the north side where many children live within walking distance of their school.

I'll be out of the office most of the day tomorrow for more Mark Fenton mania, but will post more when I get back on Wednesday.

2 comments:

vanillajane said...

So I'll ask what everyone is dying to ask....

WHAT IS A RACEWALKER??!!

Isn't that a runner? Or is there a line that one crosses from walking to trotting to running?

SRTC Staff said...

You know those people you always mock on public streets or trails who are walking super fast and throwing their hips and elbows into it? Yeah- those are racewalkers. Mark showed a picture of himself doing it way back in the early 80's and even ridiculed his own shorts so we wouldn't have to. I had forgot how short and tight men's shorts used to be :)


About SRTC

SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

SRTC offers services including transportation monitoring, transportation modeling, census information analysis, travel demand forecasting, historical traffic count analysis, geographic information systems, and trip generation rates.