One Street News

January-February 2019

Vol. 12, Issue 1

1. Campaign Planning Refinements for Special Partners
2. D.C. Metro Allows Bikes during Rush Hour
3. Resources – Results of Pontevedra’s Ban on Cars
4. Resources – Traffic Disappeared in Seattle after Highway Closure
5. Hot Topics – Worldwide Trend toward Banning Cars in City Centers

Campaign Planning Refinements for Special Partners

By: Sue Knaup, Executive Director

Campaign planning is a top priority for One Street because in order to cause positive change for bicycling, advocacy leaders need to understand how change occurs. We developed our training materials from proven historic models especially those that grew out of Saul Alinsky’s analysis of successful campaigns. In 2019, we continue this prioritization as we seek to refine our materials for the complexities of our partners.

Campaign planning is not easily understood. Even the first step, defining the problem, can take days or even weeks of focused research and discussions with stakeholders. What the advocates initially saw as the problem can change dramatically through this process.

The next steps can be just as complicated from solution development to asset assessment to message development, and finally tactics and budgeting. Simply creating a viable and winnable campaign plan is difficult at best. Then take this process to some of the most complex places in the world and the variations proliferate.

I have led campaign planning workshops for many years and in many different situations. This expertise has lately drawn extraordinary partners to One Street for comprehensive campaign planning projects. You can read about our work with partners in eastern Ukraine and in Bosnia and Herzegovina in previous newsletters. Potential partners from other distinct countries have recently shown interest in similar projects.

As I take One Street’s campaign planning process into these unique areas, I’ve found a need for dramatic adaptations to our materials. I enjoy the challenge of making these adjustments on the fly, but would prefer to have more of a selection of materials to pick from. With guidance from One Street’s board members, I’ve begun the search for new materials to add to our campaign planning toolbox. So far, I have not found any new organizations or efforts and have been dismayed by the number of activist and community organizing groups that have folded.

I have revisited the Industrial Areas Foundation, which grew out of Saul Alinsky’s work. They seem to be a good place to look for the latest materials. I’m even considering attending their weeklong training in July. I’ve also contacted Tides and the Center for Community Change, but no responses yet.

If you have feedback regarding any of these or can recommend sources for new, high-level campaign planning materials, please email me at sue{at}onestreet.org. Thanks in advance.

D.C. Metro Allows Bikes during Rush Hour

This should not be huge news, but it is. Until January, the Washington, D.C. Metro subway, like many other train systems around the world, had banned bicycles during busy times. This shows how disconnected transportation systems tend to be. If all the systems and agencies involved could work together, banning bikes from trains at busy times would seem ridiculous. Of course you want people to bicycle instead of drive at these times, and if they are going a long way they are going to need a train for part of their journey.

Fortunately, D.C. Metro recognized their mistake and have corrected it. Let’s hope they will inspire other train agencies to do the same. Read more in this recent article.

Resources – Results of Pontevedra’s Ban on Cars

In 1999, Pontevedra, Spain banned cars from their city center and removed all car parking along streets and in surface parking lots even beyond the center. On the periphery, they added traffic calming and dropped the speed limit to 30km per hour (18mph). Within ten years, traffic deaths had dropped to zero and CO2 emissions dropped by 70%. Now 75% of car trips have shifted to bicycling or walking. The city has also kept out big shopping centers in order to support locally owned business. Read more about the results of these courageous policies in this recent article.

Resources – Traffic Disappeared in Seattle after Highway Closure

In January, Seattle closed Highway 99, a massive elevated highway that looms over the city’s waterfront. It will be demolished and replaced by surface streets, parks, pathways, and access to the bay. Dire predictions of traffic jams caused by the highway closure never materialized. In fact, Seattle experienced what many other cities have enjoyed when they remove freeways – traffic simply disappeared. You can read more about this phenomena on One Street’s Traffic Evaporation page. Read more about Seattle’s experience in this recent article.

Hot Topics – Worldwide Trend toward Banning Cars in City Centers

It wasn’t long ago that simply mentioning the idea of banning cars from the center of a city was met by ridicule. Nowadays, bicycle and pedestrian advocates in many cities can discuss this concept with their officials with expectations for success. This recent article lists just some of the cities that are taking this bold (soon to be common) move.