At long last, a local coffee shop is headed to Magnolia Avenue in the Near Southside.  The former Sundance Scooters building at Magnolia & 6th will soon be home to Avoca Coffee, a new indie coffee shop by owners Jimmy Story and Garold LaRue.  For context, the site is across the street from Magnolia from Spiral Diner, Lili’s, and Panther City Bicycles, a block east of Nonna Tata and The Usual, and a block west of the Chat Room.

Avoca hopes to be far enough along to host artists during Arts Goggle on October 2nd, and they’re shooting for a November grand opening.  The building will serve double duty, with the eastern half (on the left) serving as the roasting facility (yes, they’re roasting their own beans), while the western half on the right will function as the actual coffee shop.  Haven’t heard too many details of the renovations yet, but I’ve heard some talk of bringing the western end of the building out closer to Magnolia, as well as an outdoor patio on the Magnolia frontage.

A local coffee shop has been a missing piece of the Magnolia puzzle for a long time, so this is a great development.  Increasing the variety of businesses on Magnolia, and giving people places to do more than just come in and dine, will help with Magnolia’s pedestrian and bike activity as well, since people will spend more time if there’s more than just restaurants.  Can’t wait to see how Avoca turns out.

Related posts:

1. New Coffee Shop Headed For Downtown
2. Palermo's No More? Mamma Mia Opening On Magnolia?
3. Gallery Art Cafe Closing

20′s Penty For Us from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Streetfilms has a new video out exploring the rising demand for urban streets to be reset at 20 mile per hour speed limits.

Earlier this month, the New York City Department of Transportation announced plans to experiment with 20 mph zones — replacing the city’s default 30 mph speed limit in one pilot neighborhood. Whoever gets the first 20 mph treatment will see benefits that residents of British cities and towns have become increasingly familiar with in recent years.

In the UK, some 3 million people live in areas with 20 mph speed limits. The experience there shows that not only do slower speeds save lives, but lowering the limit to 20 mph improves the way local streets function in more ways than one. According to the 20′s Plenty for Us campaign, the change has produced wide-ranging benefits, including less traffic, increased walking and biking, greater independence for children, the elderly and infirm, better health, and calmer driving conditions for motorists.

The mission of 20′s Plenty For Us is to establish 20 mph as the default speed limit on all residential roads in the UK. I recently met up with the campaign’s founder, Rod King, as well as other advocates in the towns of Warrington and York, to understand how the idea of slowing down traffic has spread so fast throughout the country.

I’d add that besides changing the limit via signage and such, street designs themselves should reinforce the slower speeds through traffic calming, narrowing, and other design methods (as seen in several examples in the video).

Related posts:

1. Streetfilms – Copenhagen’s Public Spaces, Car-Free Areas, and Slow-Speed Zones
2. The Need For Speed
3. Oak Cliff’s Guerilla Complete Streets Event, “The Better Block”

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1. Vote for Spiral Diner – Best Vegan Restaurant
2. Spiral Diner Turns Seven
3. Spiral Diner Specials Update

Things are progressing steadily on Phase One of the Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan, a joint venture between us here at Fort Worthology, Fort Worth South, Inc., and Trinity Bicycles.  I thought I’d give everybody an update as to how things are going.

For those not familiar with the project, the Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan was born from Fort Worth South’s desire to make the Near Southside a model of bike friendliness in Fort Worth.  This has already led to projects like the Magnolia Avenue bike lanes, and there are more bike lane projects in the pipeline.  Bike lanes are just one component of bike friendliness, though, and it’s also very important to have safe, secure, and easy-to-use parking for bikes at destinations across the district.  There were some racks already in place, but they were the city’s own “Texas Star” lollipop-style racks, which suffered from a couple of flaws:  one, there’s very few of them (something like ten or twelve in the entire district), and two, they don’t immediately look like bike racks, instead resembling some kind of old-timey Texas heritage street art.

Clearly, there was room for improvement, so Fort Worth South got with us at Fort Worthology and the guys at Trinity Bicycles to come up with a plan to make things better for bikes in the Near Southside.  Together, we identified numerous destinations across the district, concentrating for Phase One on Magnolia Avenue (a designated Urban Village and home of the district’s most celebrated collection of destinations), Jennings Avenue (a designated Bike Route, potential location of new bike lanes, and an important connector with Downtown Fort Worth) and South Main Street (another important connector, as well as a designated Urban Village in the beginnings of revitalization).  The plan was to use a simple, easy-to-use, and instantly identifiable rack design (the classic “staple” rack, seen in the photo above), and provide multiple racks at each location to give plenty of bike parking at popular stops and redeveloping sites, supporting the Near Southside’s existing bike culture as well as encouraging more people to get out on two wheels and explore the district.

With funding in place from the Near Southside TIF District, things have been progressing steadily.  We recently walked all the locations with our contractor, AUI Contractors, and marked out the final physical locations of all the racks, one of the last steps before installation can begin.  During the course of setting the locations of the racks, it was discovered that we actually had more room in several spots than expected, so we are happy to announce that we’ve picked up an additional ten rack installations, with the expected final count for Phase One now running just over 80 new racks.  These will be grouped to provide parking for multiple bikes at each location.  The lowest-demand locations will get two racks (parking for four bikes), most locations will get three racks (parking for six bikes), and a few high-demand locations will get at least five racks (parking for ten bikes) up to seven racks (parking for fourteen bikes).

Further, Saris Racks, the company we’re ordering the racks through, is so excited about the project that they’ve given us an upgrade from powder-coated to galvanized racks.  This will means that the Near Southside racks will be incredibly durable and weather-resistant.  (All the racks will be black.)

The first batch of racks should be in within a few weeks, so it won’t be much longer before you start to see some pretty dramatic bike parking improvements happening in the Near Southside.

Related posts:

1. Near Southside Bike Parking Improvement Plan Progress
2. Major New Near Southside Bike Parking Improvements on the Way
3. Portland Addendum: Business Loves Bike Parking

Related posts:

1. Water Gardens reopening Sunday!
2. Agricultural Urbanism – Integrating Farming With The Built Environment
3. Urban Agriculture Comes to Fort Worth – Fairmount Community Garden & New Public Market

Related posts:

1. National News: High-Speed Rail Money Awarded
2. Magnolia Complete Streets Re-Striping Approved By TIF
3. Remaking Magnolia – Meeting Tomorrow Night

The third event of Fort Worth’s reborn Critical Mass group bike ride is tonight. As usual, participants will meet up at Burnett Park in Downtown Fort Worth at 7:00 PM for a laid-back, friendly group bike ride around the central city to spread good bike cheer and let Fort Worth see our burgeoning bike culture.  Tonight’s ride will go around Downtown before heading into the Near Southside, then onward to the TCU/Bluebonnet Circle area before returning back through the Near Southside to Downtown.

Related posts:

1. Critical Mass Ride Tonight
2. Three Bits of Bike News and Events – Trinity Trail Chicanes, Critical Mass, Group Ride to Burger’s Lake
3. Critical Mass Returns to Fort Worth

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1. Fort Worth’s Remaining Single-Screen Theaters
2. Historic Reilly-Lehane House On Samuels In Danger Of Demolition
3. Bass family to sell City Center towers

The first of three towers at the Stayton retirement condo development in So7 has topped out, and the building’s distinctive swooping roof is going up.  It also appears that they’re getting closer to having some facade work underway.  Towers 2 and 3 aren’t far behind – the development’s already making a pretty noticeable addition to the Cultural District.

If you’d like to get a sneak preview of the Stayton, check out our in-depth look at the project from last year.

As an aside, can I point out a problem with the new So7 sidewalks?

The width’s pretty good, but the arrangement of the lamps and trees is awkward.  You’ll be weaving your way between the two when you encounter them together, and when just passing trees their location inboard towards development means pedestrians will be out on the edge by the curb, next to traffic.  From a pedestrian standpoint, it’s better to have all the objects like lamps and trees in the area of the sidewalk next to the curb, to provide a physical and psychological barrier between pedestrian walking space and traffic.  (Picture all the trees lined up on the same side as those lamps, and you’ll get the idea.)  Minor?  Perhaps, but I wanted to point it out all the same.

Related posts:

1. Stayton Construction Progress
2. Stayton Progress
3. Stayton Construction Progress

Additionally, I’ve received word from sources close to the situation that Mayor Moncrief and Councilman Jungus Jordan were, in fact, intending to kill the resolution completely.  It looks like it was Councilman Joel Burns who was able to get the continuance instead of the outright defeat.  So, while it’s not exactly in a healthy condition, the resolution’s not dead – thanks to Burns, it’s at least still on life support.  Thank Councilman Burns the next time you see him.

———-

UPDATE 2: Some words from the council members and the mayor prior to the vote.  These are all paraphrased:

Carter Burdette:  Doesn’t want to express any support without the HDR study.  (My opinion:  wants to kill it through endless studies.)  Made some reference to developers and, if I’m not mistaken, Councilman Burns (didn’t say Joel outright, but it was obvious and weird) for “pushing” streetcar system (so, numerous studies in one form or another since the ’70s is “pushing,” now, apparently).

Jungus Jordan:  Says he supports better circulation, but seems to be wanting to just do more buses.  Highlights “natural gas powered” buses – of course.  Wants to withdraw resolution, says we were “premature” in asking for it.

Sal Espino:  Supports streetcar.  Feels we can’t keep building more and more concrete to solve our development and traffic problems.

Danny Scarth:  Says more roads, along with traffic light timing, will solve our traffic problems.  (Because putting more cars on the road always makes traffic better?  Sigh.)  Against resolution.

Zim Zimmerman is against, unsurprisingly.  (Maybe if we could build a Bank of America branch in each streetcar, he’d come around?)

Kathleen Hicks:  Generally positive, goes off on another of her rants about it being only in downtown (it’s not, and she should know that by now) and wanting it in her district (hey Kathleen, South Main is in your district!).

Frank Moss:  We need to move forward with resolution.  Streetcars are development catalysts, and we need to be encouraging for economy.

Joel Burns:  Says NCTCOG has addressed all the concerns the council is feeling.  We need to encourage development in the central city, which creates jobs and funding for things like libraries and pools.  We must send strong message to FTA thanking them for the grant.

Mayor Moncrief:  Blames himself for encouraging streetcar, says Tower 55 is top priority (good grief), after than commuter rail, and after that streetcar.  Moves to table the resolution, says Tower 55 must come first.

Motion is passed, resolution is tabled.

———-

At the City Council meeting this morning at 10:00 AM, a resolution will be put before the council on the subject of the modern streetcar project and other rail projects.  Various planners and officials have repeatedly stressed that we have a “three-legged stool” of rail projects of equal importance – Tower 55, SW2NE commuter rail, and the streetcar.  The resolution reads as follows:

A RESOLUTION REAFFIRMING SUPPORT FOR TOWER 55 AT-GRADE IMPROVEMENTS, SOUTHWEST-TO-NORTHEAST COMMUTER RAIL, AND A MODERN STREETCAR SYSTEM, AND IDENTIFYING NON-COMPETING FUNDING SOURCES FOR SAID PROJECTS

WHEREAS on March 9, 2010, the City Council approved Resolution No. 3867 adopting the City of Fort Worth’s Amended 2010 Federal Legislative Program, which expressed support for funding for Tower 55 at-grade improvements, Southwest-to-Northeast commuter rail, and a modern streetcar system; and

WHEREAS the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has awarded $24.99 million in Urban Circulator grant funds for a modern streetcar starter project in Fort Worth; and

WHEREAS the FTA is seeking clarification on the City’s commitment to the modern streetcar project and its ability to provide the local match; and

WHEREAS the Mayor’s Rail Funding Strategies Committee has identified non-competing funding sources for the three important rail projects (Exhibit A); and

WHEREAS the Mayor’s Rail Funding Strategies Committee has recommended the allocation of $1 million for Tower 55 at-grade improvements; and

WHEREAS City of Fort Worth staff has determined that existing tax increment finance (TIF) districts will generate sufficient revenue to provide local matching funds for the FTA grant in a manner that will result in no competition for federal, state, or local funding among the City’s high-priority rail projects; and

WHEREAS the Fort Worth Transportation Authority has committed up to $2 million per year for the annual operating costs of a modern streetcar starter project and is capable of operating a modern streetcar system; and

WHEREAS the City Council will receive a business plan for a modern streetcar starter project in November 2010 from HDR Engineering, Inc. and the Modern Streetcar Task Force, as communicated to FTA in May 2010;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH THAT:

The City of Fort Worth reaffirms its support for Tower 55 at-grade improvements, Southwest-to-Northeast commuter rail, and a modern streetcar system; and

The City of Fort Worth intends to consider certain non-competing funding sources for these rail projects, as set forth in Exhibit A; and

The City of Fort Worth pledges $1 million in certificates of obligation for Tower 55 at-grade improvements in connection with the Texas Department of Transportation application for federal TIGER II Discretionary Grant funds; and

Upon receipt of an acceptable business plan in November 2010, the City of Fort Worth will seek to secure TIF funds as local match for the FTA Urban Circulator grant for a modern streetcar starter project that provides Downtown circulation and connectivity between the Intermodal Transportation Center, employment centers and nearby mixed-use urban neighborhoods.

In essence, saying that Tower 55, SW2NE, and the streetcar are all very important projects, and with non-competing funding sources for all projects identified and pending the arrival of a workable business plan from HDR for the modern streetcar, the city will then seek to get funds from the various TIF districts involved to move ahead with the modern streetcar project.  This resolution is important, because due to the city’s waffling on the project since the Federal Transit Administration awarded Fort Worth a grant for $25 million for the streetcar, the FTA has been wanting clarification of the city’s stance towards the project.  FTA wants real projects that expect to turn dirt.

Without this resolution, it’s quite likely the FTA may wind up pulling the $25 million grant from Fort Worth, harming not only the streetcar project but our interactions with federal transportation officials for other projects as well.

My take is that the council itself is likely to be split 4-4, with Joel Burns, Kathleen Hicks, Sal Espino, and Frank Moss voting for the resolution, and Jungus Jordan, Zim Zimmerman, Carter Burdette, and Danny Scarth voting against it, making Mayor Moncrief’s vote crucial one way or another.  Moncrief has been waffling, and this morning it appears likely that he will vote against the resolution as well, harming the streetcar project he has been a supporter of thus far as well as putting other transportation projects seeking federal dollars into harm’s way.  See update above.

The resolution isn’t tying Fort Worth’s hands – it’s something to keep the FTA happy so that we can get our study finished with HDR and then, pending a workable business plan from HDR, then decide to move forward on the streetcar project with access to the important $25 million grant.  To vote against this resolution, despite the fact that the streetcar doesn’t compete with Tower 55 or SW2NE Rail, strikes me as extremely short-sighted of the city government.  In my opinion, there have been some very real efforts from a small group of powerful folks to confuse the streetcar funding issue and kill the project at any cost, and this strikes me as the latest effort in that game.

Streetcar supporters are urged to head to the 10:00 AM council meeting and fill out speaker cards to voice their support for the resolution and the project.  It also wouldn’t hurt to contact Mayor Moncrief:

Mayor – Mike Moncrief – 817-392-6118 –mike.moncrief@fortworthgov.org

Or, for that matter, the council:

Mayor Pro Tem – District 4 – Danny Scarth – 817-392-6187 –District4@fortworthgov.org
District 2 – Sal Espino –  817-392-8802 –District2@fortworthgov.org
District 3 – Zim Zimmerman – 817-392-8803 -District3@fortworthgov.org
District 5 – Frank Moss – 817-392-8805 –District5@fortworthgov.org
District 6 – Jungus Jordan – 817-392-8806 –District6@fortworthgov.org
District 7 – Carter Burdette – 817-392-8807 –District7@fortworthgov.org
District 8 – Kathleen Hicks – 817-392-8808 –District8@fortworthgov.org
District 9 – Joel Burns – 817-392-8809 – District9@fortworthgov.org

Related posts:

1. Streetcar Support & Council Meeting
2. City Council Expected To Pass Streetcar Vote Tomorrow
3. Federal Transit Administration Awards $ 25 Million for Fort Worth Streetcar