One Street News
Fall 2021
Vol. 14, Issue 3
- Donor Enables Trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Bosnian Project Phase II Celebrations
- Resources – Learning from a Polish Cycling Network
- Resources – Free Parking Is Killing Cities
- Hot Topics – Tapping the Power of Commitment
Donor Enables Trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia
By: Sue Knaup, Executive Director
One Street donors are special because they appreciate that we stay in the background so that the organizations we assist always get the credit they deserve. One of these special donors has been with us for over a decade contributing, via his family foundation, every time I presented him with a project in need. From our work in Uganda to our Bike Shift Lever project to our trainings in eastern Ukraine to our Bosnian project, he has always been there for us.
So, a few months ago when I found an envelope from him at the post office I was puzzled. I had not discussed a donation with him. When I opened it, I nearly fell over. At One Street, surprise donations just don’t happen. When I called to thank him he explained that he was closing the foundation and made sure that One Street received part of the final distribution.
His donation has now enabled my trip to Ljubljana, Slovenia in June 2022 where I will attend the international Velo-city conference, which otherwise I could not have attended. After discussing his donation with the One Street board, we all decided this was clearly the best use of the majority of the funds. At the conference I will reconnect with our Bosnian colleagues to discuss the next phase of the project. And with them, I look forward to presenting the great success of our project to inspire other activists in the Balkans and around the world.
If you are planning to attend the Velo-city conference in June 2022 please let me know so we can be sure to connect.
Bosnian Project Phase II Celebrations
By: Sue Knaup, Executive Director
Following the excellent results from our Bosnian campaign trainees, which I wrote about in our last newsletter, each campaign continues to amaze me. The activists keep exceeding their campaign goals and building their organizations around their successes.
In Teslić, the greenway trail is finished and being expanded beyond the Sport Club’s campaign goal.
In Bugojno, the multiple intersection redesign campaign led by Parents for Parents, has brought in a group of local young people as additional designers (and new advocates!).
The Goražde trash bin campaign led by Eko Habitat, has already installed over 100 beautiful bins citywide and expanded into river cleanup.
The intersection campaign by Most in Gradiška has been completed and is inspiring advocates and officials to improve more streets and intersection in their city. Click the image of the article to see the full article.
Giro’s bike rack campaign in Sarajevo has shifted to ensure proper policies will protect the racks. And in Banja Luka with Center for Environment, not only has the new park land been established, new trees were planted there by the city several weeks ago.
I was invited to discuss the project on the podcast The Cookie Jar, which gave me the opportunity to describe the successes of these activists in more detail. Give it a listen if you get a chance.
The leaders of each of these campaigns have much to celebrate and I am celebrating right along with them, so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such talented activists.
Resources – Learning from a Polish Cycling Network
Advocating for and finally seeing one bikeway created can take many years. So the creation of an 800km cycling network in West Pomerania in Poland in five years is truly astonishing. Read here about the steps they took to connect this network and the steps they are taking to refine and expand it.
Resources – Free Parking Is Killing Cities
Donald Shoup has been pointing out the harm of free parking for 50 years and his research is finally causing change. Read this recent article about him and his followers to learn some of the ways land can be better used than storing cars for free.
Hot Topics – Tapping the Power of Commitment
By: Sue Knaup, Executive Director
Imagine being asked to place a large, ugly, obtrusive billboard with the wording "drive carefully" on your front lawn. When a researcher posing as a volunteer made precisely this request, numerous residents in a Californian neighborhood flatly declined. That they refused is hardly surprising, especially since they were shown a picture of the billboard almost completely obscuring the view of another house. However, what is surprising is that fully 76% of another group of residents in this study agreed to have the sign placed on their lawn.
That’s the start of a recent newsletter from Doug McKenzie-Mohr. I enjoy his weekly email newsletter about causing behavior change to improve communities. But this one reminded me of my discovery, years ago, of his book, Fostering Sustainable Behavior, which I highly recommend.
So I captured his newsletter article in this blog post in our Cures for Ailing Organizations blog. It’s a nice overview of some of the topics he covers in his book.