#city changes

[ladyflavanews]

Life|65|My Home, Seattle, WA

🌻 Seattle, My Home Today, as I sit in the quiet of my tower, I find myself reflecting on Seattle — my true home. The years I spent living in Las Vegas gave me a new appreciation for this place. I always spoke about Seattle’s beauty: the green trees, the water that surrounds us, the way the city feels alive. Even with new developments rising all over, I still find my city beautiful. 🌿 The…

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[ahelpfulliving-blog]

Political Change

🏰Okay, making small changes in the home is all well and good, but now you’ve done that. You’re taking down your own CO2 emmissions and other pollutants, now what about everyone else? What about your city? Let me ask you, when you walk outside, go to work, ride to school, would you describe your city as green? Both metaphorically and physically. If not, it might be time to talk to your local government. Info on how your city is tackling global warming can usually be found on its website, so this is a good place to see what has been done so far. If you have any suggestions, feel free to contact your local authorities and say what’s on your mind. Here are some helpful suggestions to really help knock the problem out.🏰 🏗️Renewable Energy: Everyday on your morning commute, you’re likely to see a new building pop up or a construction site. They seem to come overnight and it’s never quite clear what the building is for. Cities are absolutley chock full of buildings, destroying habitats and adding more pollution. The least we can do is make sure they’re powered by 100% renewable energy, like solar panels.🏗️ ⛽Divest from Fossil Fuels: There are over 500 institutes that have already done so. Show big companies that ruin our Earth that we won’t stand for it by having your city sell investments in such places and put that money to something better and greener!⛽ ⚡Energy Efficiency: If you’re city isn’t promoting energy efficient practices in all its buisnesses and buildings, this might be one of the things to concern yourself about. By having a wide variety of places using less energy, your city could have a much smaller CO2 output. Less energy means less greenhouse gases!⚡ 🚌Public Transport: Make sure your city is promoting and making smarter modes of transportation for the masses. With less people out in their cars, not only would traffic improve, but less greenhouse gases would be emitted.  Some cities like Bogota have even bought all electric buses, that create zero emissions!🚌 🌞Mitigation and Adaptation: Last but not least, your city needs to adapt to our changing and worsening environment.  By beginning to install green roofs and solar roofs your home town can really be doing its part, for citizens and the Earth.  Green roofs and solar roofs take a previously unused area and turn it for the environment. Green roofs, or living roofs, are roofs filled with vegetation. They not only absorb air pollution, but last longer than conventional roofs, help insulate your home better and decrease water runoff. Green streets are another addition to your city, these help control stormwater to reduce pollution, get rid of CO2 and cool the surrounding area! This means you’ll even have a lower heating bill.🌞 🌹Do you see how beautiful your city could be? If you’d like to see any of these changes in your town and for your planet, I suggest picking up a phone and contacting your local government. Gather a group of people to join you and really make a change for our climate!🌹 https://www.climaterealityproject.org/blog/five-ways-cities-are-acting-climate http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/green-rooftop.htm

[seeclickfix]

Watch a Public Space Evolve in Real Time with SeeClickFix

Since 2009, an unnerving pedestrian crossing in New Haven has become the standard example of how residents and governments can expand the intended use of SeeClickFix in positive ways. 

Hundreds of residents have expressed their concerns about this location, in the comment threads of three different reports. 

"I’ve been risking life and limb for years crossing Whitney Ave at Audubon Street. I need to get across there to an office, so going all the way to the end of the block to a crosswalk isn’t viable. In fact I’ve seen MANY New Haven cops cross here, not to mention families going to CAW, ACES, and NMS. This intersection needs a crosswalk at minimum, an extra stoplight would help, and most of all, NO MORE DOUBLE PARKING on Whitney Ave."

You can view the reports here, here, and here. 

While many residents simply voiced their concerns, others shared historical photos of the space, suggested ideas for the future of the space, and documented pedestrian accidents as they occurred. 

Last year, the city officials notified residents on SeeClickFix that they would be taking action to calm traffic at this location with a raised crossing, bump-outs to eliminate parking, and the addition of outdoor seating. Today, the city announced that it would use SeeClickFix to post updates to the project, including traffic closures and other construction updates that might effect residents' schedules. 

It has been wonderful to see the evolution of this public project. The City of New Haven continues to be a beacon for open public space planning and serves as an excellent example of a government that uses the public web to inform and listen.

You can follow along for updates on the project here.