Photo Credit: BetterBlock.org

Photo Credit: Steve Shay

Urban Sparks’ Community Greenways and Trails Project is an education and funding project to help educate the public and powers-that-be about greenways, trails and active transportation as well as help fund physical projects.  Physical projects may include associated public amenities like bike racks and covered seating. 

Using funding methods available only to a 501(c)(3), we’ll facilitate the excellent work being done by the various Greenways project leaders around the city.  If you or your foundation would like to make large tax-deductible or employer-matched gifts to support a particular Greenway or Trail project, please contact us.  If you’d like to support the broader education movement, we’re doing that too.

Here are a few links to plug you into the Seattle Greenways Movement:

• FAQ -  Frequently Asked Questions
• University Greenways
• Beacon B.I.K.E.S. Better Infrastructure Keeping Everyone Safe
• Seattle Neighborhood Greenways
• Wallingford Greenway
• Alta Planning and Design
• Seattle Councilmember Sally Bagshaw

Urban Sparks supports active transportation.  We were the fiscal sponsor for the Neighbors of the Troll traffic mitigation project.  We believe in functional crosswalks with clearly painted stop lines and in crossing islands.  In 2004, we proposed a commuter trail under the shelter of I-5 betweenEastlake and REI.  We’ve encouraged neighborhoods to identify high-yield low-cost trails in places like street ends and across public properties where pedestrians and cyclists could easily and safely cut through.  We conceived of a street marking program where text-free colored dots mark safer north-south and east-west streets as alternatives to arterials.  In the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy we helped boost the Opportunity Fund to $15M, up from $10M in the Pro Parks Levy.  We were hoping that neighborhoods would apply for those funds to create neighborhood improvements so that more people could walk or bike for daily transportation. 

Access-quisition – In order for trails to get to schools, libraries, markets, jobs, etc, they must cross property lines and jurisdictions.  That’s why during the Levy definition meetings, we invented the word “access-quisition.”  We hoped that with enough warning, city departments would study how they could grant access for trails, without requiring land or easements to be purchased (acquired).  In a 6-year levy the long acquisition process would kill most projects for lack of access to publicly-owned lands that happen to be owned by the wrong city department.  

We’re big believers in immediate low-cost projects that get people moving in less than 2 years.

Image from King County Parks

Seattle is full of staircases.  They go places that cars cannot go which makes them important to the web of active transportation - lower traffic routes that people can walk and bike – Greenways.  Besides providing healthy transportation, they can be fun. 

Does a staircase near you need a bicycle runnel?  Contact us.

See how our stair climbing friends are celebrating staircases and places to walk.  Links below:

Susan Ott: “Seattle All Stairs” website – she walked and mapped all 650 public stairs in Seattle!
 http://seattlestairs.home.comcast.net/~seattlestairs/

Jake and Cathy: “Seattle Stairway Walks” blog http://seattlestairways.blogspot.com/

Linnea Westerlind: “Year of Seattle Parks” blog and other urban hiking blogs http://yearofseattleparks.blogspot.com/ 

Doug Beyerlein: “PublicStairs.com” website – discovering and documenting major stairways world-wide; also produced map of all Seattle stairways with more than 100 steps http://www.publicstairs.com/

Troy Heerwagen: “Walking in Seattle” blog of various pedestrian related topics, including urban hikes, at  http://walkinginSeattle.troyh.us/

We’re excited about the various groups working together to make is easier to get around under one’s own power.  Options are essential to getting people out of their cars.  Walking, biking and skating all can reduce obesity, increase general health and reduce carbon emissions.  That’s a triple win! 

What are Others’ Projects?  Projects we admire and find inspiring.

_

The idea for Service House grew from recognizing Seattle’s reliance on a vibrant nonprofit workforce. Seattle depends on more than 440 AmeriCorps members and many other participants in similar service programs to meet basic needs and create healthy communities for all of its residents.  Tours of service demand much from the young people who commit to these programs.  We believe in honoring that responsibility with opportunity — opportunities for support, for mentorship, and for a deepening of the entire nonprofit world.

Read More

Marra farm is a large ongoing project of Solid Ground and Lettuce Link.  Urban Sparks was the Fiscal Sponsor for these Marra Farm Projects:

Race and Social Justice Outreach Grant, NMF
This project in South Park, Seattle reached out to local organizations and the Spanish Speaking Community to establish an active neighborhood-led advisory board for Marra Farm, representing the diversity of South Park.

Multi-Purpose Tool Shed, Small and Simple Grant, NMF
Using a Department of Neighborhoods Small and Simple Grant, the Marra Farm Coalition built a small tool shed with an outside teaching wall, harvesting station & gathering place. It facilitates community building and increases farm functionality.

Starbucks Neighborhood Parks Program Grant
This Marra Farm Community Project built three welcoming entry signs with bilingual signage and two new vegetable wash stations and purchased two picnic tables, an apple cider press and a portable barbeque. These elements create a dynamic and engaging neighborhood hub for gathering, learning and playing.

Formerly Beacon Hill Family Bike and Pedestrian Plan Committee (BHFBPPC),
this group morphed to become Beacon BIKES (Better Infrastructure Keeping Everyone Safe)
with a simple mission:  “We crave safe, family-friendly walking and cycling paths that link our neighborhood hotspots. For more information, please visit our Mission page.”

This was a wonderful project where a neighborhood refused to wait to see what a might trickle from a city-wide plan down to them.  Instead they brought their neighbors together to think about what they actually needed, while using professional planners to write it up.  They also thought about how to get parts of the plan as soon as possible and to prioritize what bear waiting.

Alta Planning + Design produced their beautiful plan.  This is an excellent example of how a neighborhood can begin the process of establishing Greenways.  For more info, visit their website: Beacon B.I.K.E.S.

* We were their fiscal sponsor for their D.O.N. Matching Fund Grant.
For more on Greenways, see our Community Greenways and Trails Project.

After three years of twists and turns in a bad economy, the Shelterhouse is completed!  From a pile of lumber to a bright-and-beautiful space, the project was a great success.  Completed March 2010!  Visit the park at NE 120^thand 14^thAve NE. 

The Friends of Pinehurst Shelterhouse asked us to be fiscal sponsor for their project to fully remodel a boarded-up Parks’ structure in a well-used park to make it a welcoming community space and teen center.  We were especially happy to help since Lorena has been leading neighborhood projects for at least 12 years and helped Jack conceive of Fremont Peak Park, the inspiration for Urban Sparks.  It was our opportunity to give back. 

Lorena, Garth and Ron powered through this very tricky project.  For their Department of Neighborhoods Large Project Matching Fund Grant, they had to generate a detailed budget for a project that couldn’t go to bid until they had grants.  To guess at the costs of things and then bring the project in on budget 3 years later required an enormous amount of work.  In the end, we lost the glass front doors because the supplier went bankrupt after the doors were ordered and paid for.  Parks and the Friends would be very appreciative of anyone who can help with the finishing touch of replacing old dark wood with sunny glass.

Local Leadership:       
     Lorena Mrachek, Friends of Pinehurst Shelterhouse
     Garth Ferber, Pinehurst Community Council
     Ron B. Reed, Architect
 
Partners:
     Pinehurst Community Council 
     Emily Fuller, Department of Parks & Recreation 
     Allynn Ruth, Department of Neighborhoods
     Norcliffe Foundation 
     The Seattle Foundation

Undriving is an innovative program designed to reduce carbon emissions and oil dependency, ease congestion and parking, and encourage community connections. By increasing awareness of personal transportation options and eliciting individualized car-trip-reduction pledges, Undriver Licensing playfully engages people to make more informed and empowered transportation choices. Undriving is changing how people think about getting around.

Everyone’s an Undriver or potential Undriver – whether they drive 100 miles a day or don’t own a car. To get licensed, people make a pledge (big or small) to experiment with walking, busing, biking, or carpooling for a specific activity in the coming month, and see what they discover. Car-free Undrivers can pledge to encourage or make it easier for others to Undrive more – by helping a friend learn the bus system or find a safe bike route to work, encouraging telecommuting, lobbying for a pedestrian-only street, or teaching an adult to ride a bike. Undrivers receive a customized Undriver License with their own photo and signature, as well as Undriving resources and free bus tickets courtesy of King County METRO.

In our follow-up surveys, over 70% of Undrivers report that their Undriving pledge led to a new transportation habit or pattern. They consistently discover one or more of the benefits of Undriving, some of them unexpected: less stress, more exercise, saving money, increased sense of community, more connection with the elements, no parking hassles, and even more time. The license itself also serves as an outreach tool: Undrivers report they enjoy showing their license to others and using it as a non-confrontational conversation-starter about the possibilities for reducing car use. “You gave us permission to raise the issue with others,” reported one Undriver. Yes!

Undriving was invented in 2007 within Sustainable Ballard, an innovative neighborhood-based sustainability group. The Undriver Licensing Station made its debut at the 4th Annual Sustainable Ballard Festival in September, 2007. Since then we have licensed thousands of Undrivers around Seattle and beyond, at Seattle’s Green Festival 2009, numerous neighborhood festivals, Loyal Heights Elementary School, and the 2008 International “Towards Carfree Cities” Conference. We are creating an Undriving movement! Our plans include developing an Online Undriver Licensing Station and a “kit” so that other groups can carry out this program. If you are interested in bringing Undriving to your event, school, or workplace, please contact us.

Make a donation to support Undriving.

For more information on Undriving, visit our website at www.undriving.org or email julia@undriving.org.