Do Not Miss this Deadline.
December 15.
http://www.smart-transportation.com
Complete the two page application. Submit by December 15. Create better -- walkable, bikable -- transportation in Berks County!
Go!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Monday, December 1, 2008
SIDEWALK WAIVER DENIED!
Go to: http://www.co.berks.pa.us/exeter/cwp/view.asp?a=1467&Q=493279
Select: Diamond Credit Union
Dear [Exeter Township] Board of Supervisors:
I want to sincerely thank you for the decision on November 24, 2008 to deny the waiver of the sidewalk ordinance for Diamond Credit Union. I want to directly thank you, Mr. Kennedy, for your statement that "If we think it's unsafe to walk along 422, wouldn't it be safer to have a sidewalk? and If we don't start somewhere, we'll never have sidewalks." I also greatly appreciate the comments from Michelle Kircher who said, "You have Sheetz across the street, you have Pineland Park down the road. Kevin's right, you have to start someplace. If you want to promote [walkability] in the township, then you just have to do it. This is a corner property."
I also appreciate that Mr. Wilson will pass along to the Planning Commissioners that "if sidewalks are to be there, we want them now." I am so pleased that the Planners and the Supervisors are working so closely together on this -- and so many other issues that impact our quality of life.
I do not know if you are aware, but that location (or at one of the corners of that very same intersection) is a designated school bus stop for elementary children in Exeter Township -- as I have been told. I am not only pleased with the decision for you to promote a walkable community, but I am also deeply grateful that you have made a decision that will directly protect the safety of the most vulnerable members of our township -- the children who stand at the intersection of 422 and Pineland Road waiting for their school bus every morning and afternoon. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Michele Barrett
Select: Diamond Credit Union
Dear [Exeter Township] Board of Supervisors:
I want to sincerely thank you for the decision on November 24, 2008 to deny the waiver of the sidewalk ordinance for Diamond Credit Union. I want to directly thank you, Mr. Kennedy, for your statement that "If we think it's unsafe to walk along 422, wouldn't it be safer to have a sidewalk? and If we don't start somewhere, we'll never have sidewalks." I also greatly appreciate the comments from Michelle Kircher who said, "You have Sheetz across the street, you have Pineland Park down the road. Kevin's right, you have to start someplace. If you want to promote [walkability] in the township, then you just have to do it. This is a corner property."
I also appreciate that Mr. Wilson will pass along to the Planning Commissioners that "if sidewalks are to be there, we want them now." I am so pleased that the Planners and the Supervisors are working so closely together on this -- and so many other issues that impact our quality of life.
I do not know if you are aware, but that location (or at one of the corners of that very same intersection) is a designated school bus stop for elementary children in Exeter Township -- as I have been told. I am not only pleased with the decision for you to promote a walkable community, but I am also deeply grateful that you have made a decision that will directly protect the safety of the most vulnerable members of our township -- the children who stand at the intersection of 422 and Pineland Road waiting for their school bus every morning and afternoon. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Michele Barrett
Scenes from 47th Street in Exeter
The intersection of Oak Parkway and 47th Street in Exeter Township is more than an access road to the Exeter Library and the new shopping center -- it is home to families, both young and old. We live and play here. We need to stand on the edge of our lawns to mow, to plant flowers and trees, to get our mail and greet our neighbors. We need to walk along and across 47th Street to walk our dogs, allow our children to play on a friend's swing set, or borrow a cup of sugar while we're baking holiday cookies. Young teens cross the street to visit our oldest residents to deliver mail or take in their newspapers. Older teens cross the street in the evenings to babysit, or they ride their bicycles from their homes to the library, the park, to their friends' to play ball, or to after school activities.
In Exeter -- our street -- this beautiful street filled with young and old, different colors and different cultures, all neighborly and caring -- our street has been compromised. The integrity of our small neighborhood community has been threatened. Our quality of life has been diminished. The safety of every single one of us is at risk.
See here where road takes priority over sidewalk -- where cars become more important than people. (*note -- there will be no sidewalk continued here -- the school bus stop for children.)
Now that the construction is complete and the road is open -- "Hallelujah," say all of you who are frustrated with waiting in stopped car traffic coming and going from work, school, or errands -- but FOUR LANES OF SPEEDING TRAFFIC now race up and down along the street we call home.
We still need to stand at our lawn's edge to wait for our children to get onto and off of their school buses. We still need to interact with our neighbors and our community. We still need to walk or bike across our street -- because we are not going to drive to simply cross the street.
47th Street needs pedestrian accommodations -- sidewalks and crosswalks, school bus stop signs, and speed limit enforcement. The new traffic pattern will need to be monitored and drivers will need time to learn how to safely travel on a widened roadway that still serves only residents -- this is a neighborhood.
See if you can find a safe passage for us in the pictures below.
In Exeter -- our street -- this beautiful street filled with young and old, different colors and different cultures, all neighborly and caring -- our street has been compromised. The integrity of our small neighborhood community has been threatened. Our quality of life has been diminished. The safety of every single one of us is at risk.
See here where road takes priority over sidewalk -- where cars become more important than people. (*note -- there will be no sidewalk continued here -- the school bus stop for children.)
Now that the construction is complete and the road is open -- "Hallelujah," say all of you who are frustrated with waiting in stopped car traffic coming and going from work, school, or errands -- but FOUR LANES OF SPEEDING TRAFFIC now race up and down along the street we call home.
We still need to stand at our lawn's edge to wait for our children to get onto and off of their school buses. We still need to interact with our neighbors and our community. We still need to walk or bike across our street -- because we are not going to drive to simply cross the street.
47th Street needs pedestrian accommodations -- sidewalks and crosswalks, school bus stop signs, and speed limit enforcement. The new traffic pattern will need to be monitored and drivers will need time to learn how to safely travel on a widened roadway that still serves only residents -- this is a neighborhood.
See if you can find a safe passage for us in the pictures below.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
T4 America
It’s time to tell President-Elect Barack Obama to follow through on his campaign promises—like increasing funding for biking and walking. Obama has a remarkable opportunity to use his mantle for change and willingness of Americans to be part of the solution. He can call on Americans to eliminate our dependence on foreign oil in a year or less by encouraging biking, walking, transit, carpooling and reducing our consumption of oil. With a call to the nation, Obama can provide some incentives and leadership, and show that when it comes to creating healthy communities, cleaning the air, and becoming self sufficient, with a little leadership....Yes We Can!
Please take a moment to sign onto this letter from Transportation for America asking President-Elect Obama to make building that 21st Century transportation system a priority in his first 100 days.
Sending your letter is easy online here.
(LINK TO http://action.smartgrowthamerica.org/t/3224/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=162)
Please take a moment to sign onto this letter from Transportation for America asking President-Elect Obama to make building that 21st Century transportation system a priority in his first 100 days.
Sending your letter is easy online here.
(LINK TO http://action.smartgrowthamerica.org/t/3224/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=162)
Sprawl and Walkability
What do you think? Do you agree that the new economy will encourage a new trend in transportation? Consider this:
Sprawl Puts Americans In "Double Bind" of Long Commutes, Home Value Losses
The current global financial crisis stems in no small measure from the American phenomenon "of sending people ever farther into the countryside to find houses that they (barely) qualified to purchase," with such buyers now finding themselves "in a double bind" of punishingly long and costly commutes and home value losses, writes Smart Growth America and Transportation for America Communication Director David Goldberg on the Seattle-based WorldChanging international media network's web page, quoting Australia's Curtin University Professor Peter Newman, who told The Sydney Morning Herald that "(t)he old economy of car dependence is over; with rising oil prices and climate change, people cannot afford to live in outer suburbs and drive to work."http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=6887&state=52
HEADLINES
Daily updates on smart growth issues can be found at www.smartgrowth.org/news/webnews.asp
Sprawl Puts Americans In "Double Bind" of Long Commutes, Home Value Losses
The current global financial crisis stems in no small measure from the American phenomenon "of sending people ever farther into the countryside to find houses that they (barely) qualified to purchase," with such buyers now finding themselves "in a double bind" of punishingly long and costly commutes and home value losses, writes Smart Growth America and Transportation for America Communication Director David Goldberg on the Seattle-based WorldChanging international media network's web page, quoting Australia's Curtin University Professor Peter Newman, who told The Sydney Morning Herald that "(t)he old economy of car dependence is over; with rising oil prices and climate change, people cannot afford to live in outer suburbs and drive to work."http://www.smartgrowth.org/news/article.asp?art=6887&state=52
HEADLINES
Daily updates on smart growth issues can be found at www.smartgrowth.org/news/webnews.asp
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Bike Donation to Salvation Army
Despite the rain -- WalkBikeBerks presented a Fuji Bike to the Salvation Army during their 2009 Red Kettle Kick Off on Friday, November 14 in the city of Reading. WalkBikeBerks would like to acknowledge Spokes Bike in Hamburg for providing the bike.
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
President-Elect Obama Supports Safe Routes To School!
READ MORE:
Please visit http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/mediacenter/6621/188598 to view the SRTS National Partnership’s November 2008 E-newsletter.
Best,
Brooke Driesse
Program Associate
Safe Routes to School National Partnership
______________________
http://www.saferoutespartnership.org
Please visit http://www.saferoutespartnership.org/mediacenter/6621/188598 to view the SRTS National Partnership’s November 2008 E-newsletter.
Best,
Brooke Driesse
Program Associate
Safe Routes to School National Partnership
______________________
http://www.saferoutespartnership.org
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