m-bike.org

Author: Todd Scott

  • Distracted driver kills bicyclist in Sterling Heights

    On Wednesday at 54-year old male cyclist was hit and killed by a motorist when she drove off the road in Michigan’s “safest city”, Sterling Heights.

    Fox 2 News reports:

    Police say Julia Werth was traveling eastbound on 18 Mile between Mound and Ryan when she dropped something in her car. When she went to pick it up, she allegedly veered off the road and struck a 54-year-old man, who happened to be riding his bike on the gravel shoulder just a few feet ahead.

    FOX 2 has learned Werth, the woman accused in this fatal accident, is 20 years old. We found out she has twelve points on her driving record for two alcohol violations, two speeding tickets and a car accident.

    It is not clear if Werth will face any criminal charges.

    The Macomb Daily is reporting that charges have not been filed as of today.

    No, 18 Mile is not a Complete Street though facilities such as bike lanes don’t prevent bad drivers from killing others. In this case, the victim was apparently riding on the gravel shoulder. Complete Streets can make bicyclists more visible to drivers, but whether that would have helped in this case is merely speculation

    One frustrating sideline to this story? Sterling Heights Police Lt. Dale Dwojakowski told the  the Detroit Free Press:

    “A bicycle can ride on the roadway and they do have all the rights a car would have,” he said. “Unfortunately, he wasn’t on the roadway, he was on a gravel shoulder. And even more unfortunate, there was a brand new sidewalk just installed about 15 feet from where he was riding.”

    Perhaps it wasn’t the Lieutenant’s intent but it sounds like he would like to see cyclists on sidewalks. Fox 2 News echoed his comment as well.

    At least they didn’t say it was “even more unfortunate” that he couldn’t afford a car.

    The bottom line focus needs to be on the driver, who had a very poor driving record at a young age and apparently hadn’t learned from prior mistakes.

    There is a Prosecute Julia Werth page on Facebook that has now grown to 203 people. UPDATE 12/6/2010: Facebook removed the original page. The replacement page is Justice for Jim Sawicki.

    And if you have any tips regarding this crash, please call the Sterling Heights police at (586) 446-2892.

    This is not the first bicyclist to be killed in Sterling Heights this year. This summer two motorists hit and killed a cyclist. The first motorist fled the crash scene.

    In 2009 a cyclist was killed in Sterling Heights , as were two more in 2006.

    From 2004 through 2009, there Sterling Heights averaged 0.40 bicyclist fatalities per 100,000 residents. These 2010 deaths will raise that rate significantly, making it much more than double the entire state of Michigan’s rate of 0.23 bicyclist fatalities per 100,000 residents. (The city of Detroit rate is 0.27.)

    Clearly Sterling Heights isn’t Michigan’s safest city for bicycling — and that is most unfortunate.

  • Major Detroit trail and park grants get the nod

    The Dequindre Trail abuts the historic Globe Building

    Yesterday was likely the biggest day in Michigan history for greenspace grant decisions largely due to a recent windfall in gas and oil leases on state land.

    The Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund (MNRTF) Board of Trustees today recommended to Governor Jennifer M. Granholm that 117 recreation projects and land acquisitions totaling $102,098,400 be funded in 2011. The board this year had considered 165 applications for development and acquisition projects totaling $140.4 million, which were competitively evaluated based on scoring criteria developed by the MNRTF board.

    “Michigan’s remarkable natural resources help to make our state more appealing to residents and visitors alike,” said Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. “The important work of the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund makes it possible to acquire and safeguard some of our most beautiful natural and recreational areas for the enjoyment of current and future generations.”

    Of course these grant decisions are not final and are subject to a review by the Governor before the Michigan legislature actually appropriates the money sometime next year.

    So, how’d this area do?

    City of Detroit

    Clearly the biggest winner was the Detroit RiverWalk, Milliken State Park, and Dequindre Cut. These three projects were recommended for a whopping $34.4 million for land acquisition.

    Here’s how that funding breaks down. Note the the DNRE was the applicant for the first three, while Detroit applied for the Dequindre Cut expansion.

    • William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor (Wayne County) – $20 million. This funding will be used to acquire three to six large private inholding parcels and trail easements along the Detroit Riverfront as additions to the William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor in downtown Detroit.
    • Globe Building Adventure and Discovery Center Acquisition (Wayne County) – $9 million. This funding would be used by the DNRE to acquire 48,000 square feet of built-out space in the Globe Building for the William G. Milliken State Park and Harbor Adventure and Discovery Center in downtown Detroit.
    • Detroit Riverfront Easements and Acquisitions (Wayne County) – $5 million. These funds would be used by the DNRE to acquire public use easements and land acquisitions along the Detroit River from the Ambassador Bridge to the MacArthur Bridge as part of a 5-mile-long public greenway.
    • Dequindre Cut Expansion, City of Detroit (Wayne County) – $375,000. These funds would be used to acquire a 0.7-mile section of abandoned rail corridor in downtown Detroit that continues the Dequindre Cut north, connecting the Detroit Riverfront to the historic Eastern Market.

    A million dollars in Detroit Recreational Department projects were also recommended, both of which include trails. These grants  along with the Dequindre Cut grant would not have been possible without the city’s recreation plan being approved earlier this year — a basic requirement for this funding source.

    • City of Detroit (Wayne County) is recommended to receive $500,000 to develop the Balduck Park In-Town Youth Camp and Family Picnic Area. This will include restrooms, picnic shelter, play area, nature trail, walking path, camp activity areas, pathways and interpretive signs.
    • City of Detroit (Wayne County) is recommended to receive $500,000 for improvements to Patton Park, including construction of two softball diamonds, lighting, comfort station, picnic shelter, parking lot improvements, connecting pathways, and an asphalt trail linking the Greenway to the sidewalks.

    Wayne County

    Four other projects in Wayne County were recommended:

    • Northville Township (Wayne County) – $3,053,700. These funds would be used for Phase II acquisition of 51.01 acres to create a linear park connecting the former Northville State Hospital property with the Wayne County Hines Parkway system and also preserve 200-year-old growth forest and link to the Southeast Michigan Greenways Network.
    • Wayne County is recommended to receive $500,000 to develop the Refuge Gateway Boat Dock/Fishing Pier for the Great Lakes Schoolship and associated recreational features.
    • City of Flat Rock (Wayne County) is recommended to receive $447,900 for the Flat Rock-Oakwood Metro Park Connector. This project will develop 1.93 miles of trail linking the Flat Rock Greenway to the Oakwood Metro Park Greenway to create a contiguous 23-mile greenway system in southeast Michigan.
    • City of Inkster (Wayne County) is recommended to receive $408,000 to develop a 4.5-mile Inkster Park Greenway Trail through the city along Wayne County parkland adjacent to the Lower Rouge River.

    Oakland County

    Five projects in Oakland County were recommended, but perhaps the biggest news was the one that wasn’t, the Wixom, Commerce, Walled Lake rail-trail, part of the Michigan Air Line. It was rejected last year due to a lack of matching funds. This year the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) spoke against it since the original plan would have negatLively impacted a local rail customer. That plan had been updated to remove that impact but MEDC was apparently unaware of it and no one was at the meeting to address the update. This is very unfortunate given the large amount of funding available this year.

    • West Bloomfield Township (Oakland County) is recommended to receive $500,000 to develop a 2.5-mile, 10-foot wide aggregate path; road crossings; benches; interpretive signs; native seeding along the West Bloomfield Trail, which is part of the Michigan Airline Trail system.
    • City of Novi (Oakland County) is recommended to receive $437,500 to develop a trailhead for Landings Park for the existing and future non-motorized regional pathway system within the 11-acre Landings parkland, with an accessible waterfront park with 835 feet of naturalized shoreline.
    • Oakland County is recommended to receive $308,000 to develop universally accessible amenities at Highland Oaks, Lyon Oaks, Red Oaks and Rose Oaks parks.
    • Oakland Township (Oakland County) is recommended to receive $154,900 for the improvements at the Lost Lake Nature Park, including renovation of existing residence for nature center use, a fishing dock, non-motorized boating, nature observation/education, accessibility improvements to parking lot, pedestrian routes, interpretative signage and storm water buffers.
    • Village of Leonard (Oakland County) – $22,500. This funding would be used to acquire 0.28 acres of property adjacent to the Polly Ann Trail.

    Macomb County

    Only one project was recommended in Macomb County. The county had submitted a grant request for the Lake St. Clair Shoreline Trail between Selfridge AFB and the lake. That was rejected since the land was already in public ownership. The case was being made that although it was in public ownership, it hadn’t been open to the public. Apparently that argument didn’t win out.

    • Macomb County is recommended to receive $205,000 to develop the Nicholson Nature Center, including a restroom facility, classrooms, boardwalk, trails, stream crossings, wetlands enhancement and signage.

    Link: Complete list of all funding recommendations

  • Stokes to lead new DNR

    Married. Divorced. Re-married. Divorced. That’s the continuing saga of Michigan’s Natural Resources (DNR) and Environmental Quality (DEQ) Departments.

    Governor-elect Rick Snyder announced his intention to re-separate the two departments after  Governor Granholm brought them back together last year.

    How does this affect us? Perhaps not much. There was a concern about combining the two departments and losing some focus on natural resources.

    The DNR, DEQ, and Department of Agriculture will now report to Quality of Life group executive Dan Wyant, a former director of the Michigan Department of Agriculture .

    Snyder said, “I’m bringing in a business model approach that is much more effective and efficient.”

    This management model is similar to the one Detroit Mayor Dave Bing implemented last year.

    New DNR Director

    Perhaps what will affect us more than this re-structuring is  Snyder’s naming of Rodney Stokes as DNR Director.

    Stokes has been with the DNR for many years and filled many roles, including director of state parks from 1996 to 2002. He is currently chief of the DNRE Office of Science and Policy.

    He even retired from the state at one point and worked as the deputy director for the Detroit Recreation Department before returning to the DNR.

    Stokes was also a member of the East Riverfront Study Group in 2002 which helped get us to the Detroit RiverWalk we have today.

    He is well aware of the importance of trails and urban parks — and we think that’s a very good thing.

  • Transportation Bonanza 2

    There is a very informative transportation conference in Lansing next week called the Transportation Bonanza 2 — Creating healthy, mobile, and livable communities through innovative planning, design, and construction.

    THE MICHIGAN ASSOCIATION OF PLANNING’S second annual Transportation Bonanza (TB2) is the most comprehensive, multidisciplinary training program this year and provides the curriculum necessary to integrate our land use and transportation planning policies with health and mobility agendas.

    WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

    Professional planners | Citizen planners and elected officials | School officials from principals, to administrators, to teachers | Community health professionals | Transportation planners and engineers | State agency employees with a stake in transforming the built environment (DEQ, MDOT, DELEG, MSHDA, MDA, MDE, and others) | Design professionals like landscape architects and architects | Representatives from the development community

    December 8, 2010 Lansing Center
    8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

    A full day of national experts and local perspectives

    Day 1 highlights the emerging connections between planning, health, education, engineering, and design, and provides everything you need to know about integrated, multimodal transportation systems from philosophy to planning to practice.

    December 9, 2010 Radisson Hotel Lansing
    8:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

    High level ITE manual training with national and state authorities

    Day 2 provides “how to” technical information from new ITE/CNU national engineering standards that authoritatively support walkable, bikable, community supportive streets.

    The event brochure contains many more specifics.

  • Detroit RiverWalk expansion and nudging the HCMA

    We just received copies of minutes from last month’s Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund meeting. Typically these minutes contain discussions on Trust Find grant requests from around the state.

    These minutes in particular contain discussions on three DNRE grant applications for the RiverWalk. (The city of Detroit has four additional grant requests, including one for extending the Dequindre Cut north to Mack.)

    Mr. Yauk outlined the Detroit Riverfront applications that have been submitted. These are all Tier 1 acquisitions. The following acquisition projects were outlined:

    10-159. Milliken State Park Acquisition (Wayne County) – Acquisition of Detroit Riverfront parcels – Atwater parcel is scheduled for housing or high-end development; Chene West parcel was a former concrete facility which is now a razed site; and Chene East parcel. Request: $20 million.

    Chairperson Muchmore asked what the plans were for the Atwater parcel. Mr. Yauk responded that the plan is for high-end condos with zero lot line. If the property is successfully acquired, the DNRE plans another phased development of the open corridor on the Detroit waterfront for the park. Chairperson Muchmore wondered how much potential there was that the condominium development would actually take place. Mr. Yauk responded that Detroit is focusing on the waterfront for development. The DNRE wants to obtain these properties and capture the waterfront for future generations. It is critical for what the DNRE wants to do for downtown Detroit.

    Mr. Yauk further responded that the park is 21 acres at the present time and acquiring these acquisitions would be a great improvement. There are over two million visitors to the park each year.

    Chairperson Muchmore asked who owns the property. Director Humphries responded the City of Detroit, Economic Development, and they will not donate the property to the DNRE. The DNRE attempted to negotiate for this parcel at the conception of the park, but were not successful, as the city thought they could develop it.

    Chairperson Muchmore was apprehensive about the city, when the DNRE is spending a lot of money to develop parks and the city has not contributed in the costs. The property values are being held up, which are less desirable properties that the city cannot do anything with.

    Mr. Charters asked if the Board would be provided with a breakdown of the estimated cost of properties. Mr. Yauk responded yes, but the appraisals have not been started.

    10-128, Globe Building Adventure and Discovery Center Acquisition (Wane County) – Acquisition of 10,000+ feet for an urban outdoor learning center. This would provide hands-on outdoor education opportunities. Request: $2 million.

    Chairperson Muchmore asked if this would work as opposed to the Belle Isle Aquarium. Mr. Yauk responded that the Belle Isle Aquarium is a great project, but Milliken State Park gets two million visitors a year.

    10-130, Detroit Riverfront Easements and Acquisitions (Wayne County) – Acquisitions to consolidate the existing Detroit Riverfront easements – 3.5 to 4 miles from Ambassador Bridge to MacArthur Bridge. Request: $5 million.

    The Trust Fund makes their grant decision next month, but as we mentioned before, they have an unusually large amount of money to spend this year. That greatly increases the odds that the RiverWalk projects will be funded to some extent.

    These grant requests certainly highlight the DNRE’s commitment to the RiverWalk and building greenspace in Detroit.

    Metroparks investment in Detroit

    Also at this meeting, the Huron-Clinton Metropolitan Authority (HCMA) made a pitch for a trails project in their Hudson Mills Metropark.

    That elicited this interesting discussion from Trust Fund board member Bob Garner regarding the HCMA’s relative lack of commitment to Detroit.

    Mr. Garner mentioned that there was no presence of HCMA facilities in the City of Detroit. He wondered if there was any chance of redirecting HCMA support and funding for the Detroit Riverfront. Mr. Moilanen responded that HCMA is actively researching ways that HCMA can be more active within the City of Detroit. A couple members of HCMA sit on the board of the Detroit Riverfront Conservancy. HCMA did have a presence around Belle Isle with the Detroit Zoo for five years. That relationship has ended, but over the years has pursued a number of ways to be involved.

    Mr. Garner feels that HCMA should have a presence in the city. He wondered if perhaps HCMA could assist in acquiring and developing one of the properties being proposed for acquisition to Milliken State Park. Mr. Moilanen responded that HCMA was very interested in acquiring the operation and ownership of Belle Isle (in early 1970s). Earlier this year, HCMA’s Board has again voiced this interest, and has researched ways to become more actively involved.

    Chairperson Muchmore stated that the DNRE is looking for a partner in acquiring the Globe Building property.

    It’s great to see this awareness among the Trust Fund. They’re basically telling the HCMA that they want to see some grant requests for Detroit projects. Ideas for HCMA investments have been floated in the past, including Belle Isle, Fort Wayne, the State Fairgrounds, and some Detroit greenways.

    They should be investing in the state’s largest city. Detroiters are paying that HCMA millage, too.