The Providential Gardener

Rhode Island ~ The Denmark/Sweden of the Northeast?

Recently I spent about two weeks in Denmark and Sweden. It's inspiring to see what can be done differently regarding environmental policy implementation.

I think someone should arrange to send every Rhode Islander, and especially our political leaders, to Copenhagen or Stockholm or Malmo to live for a few days with residents and Danish/Swedish planners and civic leaders. We would learn a lot by discovering firsthand how they set up their infrastructures and provide public services. Visitors can't help noticing millions of bikes and wide, separate bike lanes raised a bit from the auto lanes; frequent on-time buses; no overhead wires! buried utility wires except for street lights; compact cities and farms everywhere else, it seems; cows grazing just outside the Copenhagen airport; wind turbines lined up along the Copenhagen shore and near the Oresund bridge....  Take a look at this fabulous Flickr image of the bridge and turbines. This is within sight of Copenhagen and Malmo, Sweden.

Click on photos to enlarge.

The first photo shows, from the left, a Copenhagen sidewalk, separate bike lane (atypically empty but there is a bike with front cart coming along), parked car lane and auto lanes, with minimal overhead wires needed only for street lights. The second photo, taken not far from the Little Mermaid's spot (she is at the World's Fair in China at the moment ~ Shanghai'd so to speak), shows the Copenhagen skyline toward the harbor with some wind turbines just offshore.

Denmark and Sweden are world leaders in environmental matters. Of course they have much smaller land areas and populations than the United States. However, they can be models for Rhode Island if we take a closer look at them. Both the Copenhagen and Stockholm urban areas have populations about the same or double that of Rhode Island, and like Rhode Island, they have significant waterfront and water features -- notably canals all over Copenhagen, and islands -- 24,000 of them -- in the Stockholm archipelago. It's worth exploring the similarities and differences between Rhode Island and Scandinavia as we work toward restoring Rhode Island's economy by incorporating environmental industries and sustainable ways of life.

Until this recent Great Recession, Denmark had extremely low unemployment and a robust economy. It still is one of the strongest economies in the European Union. Sweden has had a similarly strong economy but is experiencing more strain from the recession. I heard more than once that many young Swedes are going to work in Norway, where jobs are more plentiful and the pay is better.

Nevertheless, these nations were able to reach substantial internal consensus years ago on transportation and energy policy, recognizing the importance of self-sufficiency and the need to collaborate and cooperate for the public good. Why can't we learn some things from them? Once you see Copenhagen and Stockholm, you'll see it's obviously possible to implement sustainable environmental policies AND maintain a robust economy. Can't Rhode Islanders find the willpower to create our own sustainable and robust economy?

Rhode Island Floods ~ March 2010

We Rhode Islanders are experiencing the worst flooding in memory this week, with record rainfalls of 8-9 inches in two days and many of our rivers not only at flood stage but at record levels that have broken records set barely two weeks ago. And we're painfully experiencing what "WATERSHED" can mean when too much water has to drain in too little time.

A watershed is essentially a natural, intricate system for draining water from the land. The EPA describes watersheds this way:

"We all live in a watershed -- the area that drains to a common waterway, such as a stream, lake, estuary, wetland, aquifer, or even the ocean -- and our individual actions can directly affect it. Working together using a watershed approach will help protect our nation's water resources."

"John Wesley Powell, scientist geographer, put it best when he said that a watershed is:

'that area of land, a bounded hydrologic system, within which all living things are inextricably linked by their common water course and where, as humans settled, simple logic demanded that they become part of a community.'"

Source: EPA Watershed Website

The Providence Journal published a good description of How a river floods: Rainfall just the beginning, (by C. Eugene Emery Jr., Journal Staff Writer on March 30, 2010. I think I'd reword the title, though, to be "How a river floods: An extraordinary rainfall can be the last straw." The article highlights that even though the rainfall has ended, the flooding will still increase for a while before subsiding. But how we work and plan together to manage our local watersheds BEFORE the rainy days can make things better or worse than they might have been.

This rainfall is so extraordinary that no matter how well we had prepared, Rhode Island would be in an emergency. Many Rhode Islanders work hard to manage our watersheds year in and year out, among them The Friends of the Pawtuxet. I'm sure that a lot of folks don't think the Pawtuxet is their friend today as the river's waters flood their homes and streets, destroying their belongings. But our rivers will continue to need all of us to be Friends, to speak up in public meetings and reasonably deal with the issues involved in development and water management.

The worst flooding is along the Pawtuxet River. Here is the Pawtuxet River Watershed Authority description of this watershed comprised of 64 ponds, 93 brooks, 7 tributary rivers, and 18 dams:

"The Pawtuxet River watershed, located in central-western Rhode Island, is the largest watershed in the state. The river flows generally from west to east. Its headwaters are in the hills of western Rhode Island. Its mouth is in historic Pawtuxet Village between the cities of Warwick and Cranston, the state's second and third largest cities. The watershed encompasses all or portions of the following communities: Coventry, Cranston, East Greenwich, Exeter, Foster, Glocester, Johnston, Providence, Scituate, Warwick, West Greenwich, and West Warwick. The Pawtuxet River watershed comprises the Scituate Reservoir and its tributaries, the North Branch of the Pawtuxet, the Pocasset River, the Big River and its tributaries, the Flat River Reservoir and its tributaries. the South Branch of the Pawtuxet, and the main stem of the Pawtuxet."

Gene Emery's article in the Projo points out some of the factors involved in the buildup of the rivers' waters. I've elaborated a little more on the March 29 PREFLOOD factors:

• A complex river system with several large tributaries and ponds. The Pawtuxet takes the natural runoff from all the smaller streams and rivers listed above that drain into it.
• Land use practices that prevent water from soaking into the ground.
• Development that does not incorporate systems for preventing runoff from roofs and parking lots, such as green roofs, water barrels, rain gardens, catchment basins. 
• Urban sprawl that increases the paved surfaces on our land, and often along our rivers. 
• Pressure to develop wetlands that would absorb extreme amounts of water. 
• Impervious pavement (water can't go through it, so it runs off from paved surface to paved surface eventually going directly into the storm drains). Parking lots can be paved with materials that let the water through, and perhaps damaged pavements could be replaced with this kind of material.
• Weak dams that we have not repaired, maintained well enough, or removed because of cost-cutting, pressures to fund other projects, the economy.... Ongoing proper management of the dams in Rhode Island is critically important on March 31, 2010, although most days it does not seem so. The care of dams requires ongoing voter support for enough DEM staff (which has been seriously cut in the last few years) and for funds for these projects, among other things.
• Acquisition of development rights to land in flood zones to control flooding when it occurs. Rhode Islanders have been champion supporters of open space acquisition bonds. We must continue to support the funding of floodplain projects also.
• Previously saturated ground from earlier rains. The ground was still coping with the record rains of two weeks ago when this latest storm came through March 29-30, 2010. We weren't sitting ducks, but rather we were floating ducks on March 29.

What can we do now? We just got the Perfect Storm. The rivers are doing what they do ~ drain the land ~ and they will subside eventually. But meanwhile....., and then in the coming months and years, what makes sense to do?

This video is from March 8 (!), WEEKS BEFORE BOTH record-breaking storms we've suffered since mid-March, about buying up development rights to land along the Pocasset and Pawtuxet Rivers to help control flooding.

This video was from March 15, so you can imagine how saturated the land is by March 29:

This video is also from March 15 on Perkins Ave in Cranston. An evacuated homeowner says in it, "...we're going to lose everything again, it's the second time in five years. ... They should just condemn this street and let the river take it. Get rid of all the houses because everyone's in jeopardy."

This is truly an extraordinary situation. We can't do anything about how much rain falls in a day. There will always be flooding now and then. But there are some sensible long-term responses we can make. Anyone can explore YouTube for videos of the latest flood pictures, and local news programs such as the Rhode Show have collections of photos and videos that may raise other issues and give us ideas for future action.

Our watersheds bring Rhode Islanders into a community, and we need to help out our neighbors who have been flooded in the short term. In the long term, we can also learn more about a "watershed approach" and work together to minimize the effects of future floods.

Open Space Conservation Bonds Approved

The Providential Gardener is pleased to publish this report from the Rhode Island Land Trust:

2008 Election Results:
 
Rhode Island Voters Approve Open Space Conservation Bonds!
 
With 97% of the votes counted, 68% approve Question 2 providing the state with 
$2.5 million in bond funding for farmland protection and open space conservation. 
 
Voters in urban communities were especially strong supporters:
79.1 % City of Providence - 2nd highest approval rate after Block Island
73.8 % Central Falls
78.9% Newport
The Highest voter approval was 82.4 % in New Shoreham.
 
Local Land Conservation Bonds  were also Approved
Middletown $2 million passed by  68%
Glocester $500,000  passed by 53.8%

The 2008 $2.5 Million Open Space Bonds Question ~ Yes, it's a Bad Economy, But Vote YES Anyway

 Of course the Providential Gardener supports the Open Space and Recreational bonds issue, even though our economy is in a bad way. It's not possible for me to oppose it!  I hope you'll join me in voting YES on Question 2 next week.

On November 4, 2008, Rhode Islanders will vote on two statewide questions ~

#1 is Transportation funding and #2 is for Open Space and Recreational Development funding. The Providence Journal endorsed the first and opposed the second in an editorial on October 16. The reason Projo gave for supporting the $87 million transportation bonds issue was that it enables Rhode Island to get matching funds, and they felt that the additional $2.5 million open space issue was more than Rhode Island could afford given the current economic situation. Apparently the Projo editors didn't realize that if the $2.5 million for open space and recreational development bonds is not approved, Rhode Island would also lose matching federal and private funds.

The RI Secretary of State website gives background and information about the two bond issues. I'm mainly concerned with the second one (although there is more than $3.6 million for public transit busses in the transportation bond issue) Here's what #2 will do:

Approval and issuance of these bonds will provide funds to the Department of Environmental Management to purchase, or otherwise permanently protect through the purchase of title to, development rights, conservation easements and public recreation easements, greenways and other open space, recreation lands, agriculture lands, forested lands and state parks.

The $2.5 million will be spent between July 2009 and June 2011, and the value to the state, the "useful life" will be "in perpetuity," or as we mortals say, forever, longer than any of us will live to see.

The background on this bond issue is that during the spring 2008 legislative session, the governor originally proposed $5 million, and land trusts and other conservation groups lobbied hard for upping the bond issue to $15 million. For a while in June, it seemed that the open space bond issue was dead, but at the last moment, the legislature approved $2.5 million to put the question on the November ballot and to continue the conservation program rather than ending this effort all together. The importance of this bond issued was outlined on May 7, 2008, in a post on our sister website, What Grows On in Rhode Island News Blog.

The Providential Gardener supports the Open Space Bond this November 4, and joins many other Rhode Islanders in urging you to vote YES. Rhode Islanders have a long history of supporting land conservation bonds ~ more than 70% of us supported open space bonds in 2000 and 2004. The main argument against it this year is the economy and our desire to see that every Rhode Islander has enough to eat, a safe, warm home, and a job, but $2.5 milllion is an investment in our future with everlasting consequences. Remember, though, that it's hard to make money by farming. We love our farmers' markets, we're enthusiastically supporting local agriculture, and we love our beautiful state. We're already sacrificing the other $2.5 million to $12.5 million that we would have approved if we were in a thriving economy and if the legislature had not cut the governor's original proposal and resisted the pleas of conservation groups to increase the governor's proposal. This is the least we can do, to approve this $2.5 million, especially when the transportation bond issue is more than 35 times its size and is also needed for our badly deteriorating bridges and infrastructure ($80 mil), commuter rail ($3.57 mil), and busses ($3.67mil).

The bonds bring in many millions of matching funds and it's short-sighted not to pass them no matter what our current economic problems are.

For more comments on this issue see a recent Forbes article about Rhode Island, an article in the South County Independent, and The Nature Conservancy website.

Voice Your Views at the Providence Waterfront Charrette

Some day they will complete the I-Way construction project, and India Point Park will be more accessible again. But what will the view be at the waterfront when the dust settles?

Friends of India Point Park urge all interested Providence residents and Rhode Islanders to voice their views at some or all of the waterfront charrette sessions being held at Johnson & Wales University June 9-12, 2008. The sessions are also listed in What Grows On in Rhode Island, the state's most comprehensive environmental calendar. FIPP writes:

Next week's citywide waterfront charette is a crucial chance to speak out about waterfront public space and the future of the city's greatest natural asset. PLEASE COME!

WHEN:    Mon-Thurs, June 9-12, day & evening sessions.

[Final Schedule Waterfront Charrette, June 9-12, 2008]

Most important session: TUES, June 10, 2-4pm on waterfront public use.

Other workshops important for public space issues:
      -- evening sessions, 6-9pm, on consultant's four scenarios for the waterfront
      -- Tues, 11:30-1:30: examples of waterfront mixed uses in other cities
      -- Wed, 2-4: revenues from the waterfront

WHERE:  Johnson & Wales Harborside Campus, 265 Harborside Blvd in Fields Point. [Directions]

WHY:  Broad public support is essential to creating a public Gateway at the head of the Bay.

WHO:  All interested citizens are welcome. Pick & choose sessions you want to attend.

THE VISION:  The Shooters site offers a golden opportunity to create a public destination that will benefit the city and region for generations to come. Its unique advantages include:

• Geographic: the intersection of interstate highways, major bike paths, and riverfront greenways at a deepwater port half a mile from the Jewelry District and downtown Providence.
• Historic: Our city's 300-year maritime tradition can be revitalized with a recreational boating center, in tandem with keeping the working waterfront on Allens Avenue.
• Economic: A Bay-front destination will encourage tourism and full use of India Point Park for festivals, concerts, and regattas that bring millions of dollars to other mid-size cities.
• Scenic: Sweeping views down the Bay attract visitors and residents, and generate real estate values as far into the city as views of the Bay can be seen.

PUBLIC SUPPORT:  Two indications of broad public support for our vision: 

1 The priorities_charts filled out by participants at the Fox Pt neighborhood charrette, May 8. The item with the most dots reads, "Encourage the development of the former Shooters site for public use."

The two items with the next highest number of dots call for 1) keeping any development of the Brown warehouses next to the Radisson Hotel low enough to preserve water views from I-195, and 2) connecting a pedestrian way from Blackstone Park around India Point to the Providence River.

2 - PROJO ARTICLE excerpt about turnout urging public use of the Shooters site at the charrette, May 7.

Sustainable Sakonnet

Happy New Year!

I love starting fresh at the beginning of the year, and The Providential Gardener has high hopes for the future of the garden called Rhode Island that we all share and tend. There's a lot of work to do, but each year there are more people pitching in.

One example is a blog that began in February 2007 called Sustainable Sakonnet: "Bringing the citizens of Tiverton and Little Compton, Rhode Island, together to create a more environmentally sustainable community for today and tomorrow." I've added Sustainable Sakonnet to my blogroll.

The author, Bill Gerlach, has a background in marketing and communications. And he has a vision for his community and his neighbors, challenging them to think what  Sakonnet towns need to be truly sustainable. He says,

...it is up to individuals and communities to take the lead in shaping a better future. We cannot wait for others to lead; it is up to us to take up that helm with gusto and determination.

Couldn't agree more. I don't think there can be enough blogs and citizens proactively speaking up and taking initiative however they can to bring some sense to our out-of-whack world. Some people can work most effectively on the local level: it would be great to see more bloggers focused on environmental/ecological/sustainable issues particular to each town ~ or for the larger towns and cities, individual neighborhoods. This requires complementing by more general sites, some of which cover particular aspects of importance to the whole state, and others of which focus on different types of information. The more the better in my view. There are so many entry points into the vital issues of caring for our state's natural resources. Different people approach things differently, and no one website can possibly fill all the needs.

You might want to see these and other posts in Sustainable Sakonnet:

• Sustainable Energy Takes the First Step
• Green Building: Where is Our Planner Now?
• Tube For Tuesday: Saving the Landfill One Diaper at a Time
• Greening Our Schools
• Protected Farmland + ? = Secure Local Food System
• Help Set the Environmental Agenda at the State House
• Planning for the Future

Big Box Evaluator Website and Tool

I recently received a press release from the Orton Family Foundation via RI-RESTORATION listserv announcing a new planning tool. Rhode Islanders have dealt with proposals for new major retail stores in several communities in the last few years, and I'm sure this will continue. So efforts to provide perspective on the full impact of this kind of development is welcome.

If (should I say, When[?]) big box development is an issue in your community, explore this resource. Better yet, check it out now for future reference. The Orton Family Foundation's website has other tools, several case studies, one of which is about Block Island. Their Web Resource Directory is also worth browsing.

Here is their press release:

The Big Box Evaluator Website and Tool

   "The tool that helps you learn about the impacts of big box retail stores"

Middlebury, VT -- The Orton Family Foundation enthusiastically announced its release of the Big Box Evaluator tool, designed to help communities and individuals learn about the impacts of big box retail stores.  The unbiased tool is designed not to take a stand on big box development, but to help citizens make informed decisions based on each community's specific characteristics and values.

Available free to the public at www.bigboxevaluator.org, the web-based interface allows users to learn about commercial and retail development in general, but also to input specific information from their communities and receive customized reports on economics, values, planning and municpal services, and ways to improve the development process.

Citizens in communities facing proposals for big box development can select the type of town that most closely resembles their own, and the type of development proposed (neighborhood store to large "supercenter").  Users can then enter specific information and personal values in four categories (Economy, Environment, Society, and Visual), ranging from expected tax revenues to amount of signalized intersection work required, runoff mitigation requirements to the importance of community character.

The Big Box Evaluator creates a customized report for each user based on the specific inputs, with information like projected municipal costs and revenues, change in average wages, and annual price savings for family.  Users are also given a list of action items based on the input values,which store developers can consider in order to help meet the community's concerns.

The Orton Family Foundation is a Colorado- and Vermont-based operating foundation supported by profits from the Vermont Country Store.

For more information contact:  The Orton Family Foundation

   802.388.6336
   PO Box 111
   Middlebury, VT 05753

   

bigboxevaluator@orton.org
   www.orton.org

News from The Rhode Island Land Trust Council

The Rhode Island Land Trust Council has a newsletter you might be interested in receiving. To subscribe, send an email request to rfriday@tnc.org

I have just finished putting all the meeting announcements in What Grows On in Rhode Island and in The Providential Gardener Calendar, but there is much more in it I want to pass along to everybody.

Here are the meetings they listed. Some are useful nonprofit organizational workshops for environmental groups and some are specifically for land trusts or bay/waterfront groups:

• Multiply Yourself: Growing the Conservation Community ~ November 17, 2007
• Nonprofit Workout Conference: The Ways We Lead, Building Adaptive, Inclusive Organizations ~ November 9, 2007
• Communication & Negotiation Skills: Collaborating Better with Multiple Partners
• What your Land Trust Needs to Know About the IRS, RIDBR and other Regulators
• Sea Grant Symposium: Creating Vibrant Waterfronts in Rhode Island
• Bioneers by the Bay: Connecting for Change ~ October 19-22, 2007
• Passing Municipal Bonds for Land Protection ~ October 24, 2007
• Trail Planning & Design Workshop ~ October 13, 2007
• Federal Conservation CostShare Program Workshops ~ October 9, 10, 11, 2007
• Volunteer Center of RI Workshop ~ Grant Writing II - Advanced ~ October 11, 2007

Publication:

Amending Conservation Easements: Evolving Principles and Practices New Land Trust Alliance (LTA) publication available free for LTA members

News:

Land Trust Accreditation Lottery Update from Land Trust Accreditation Commission

The lottery for 2008 applications closed with over 80 participants.  The Commission announced that it will be able to accommodate all organizations that participated in the lottery in one of three application rounds next year. Land trust interest in the program matches the Commission’s projections for the number of applications it will review 2008.

The Commission will still be evaluating its pilot program in 2008 so it will not yet be at full operations. We expect the number of applications that can be reviewed to grow after 2008. Next year, the Commission will also evaluate the lottery for 2008 applications and determine how it will accept applications in future years.

Funding/Grant Opportunities

Temper of the Times Foundation Grants ~ advertising for the environment

Ever wish you could find funding to support your advertising needs? Temper of the Times Foundation, is a private grant foundation that supports increased environmental awareness through media campaigns.

It was created by the board of directors of The Moneypaper, Inc., in 1997. Since public opinion is often influenced by marketing efforts, The Moneypaper, Inc. decided to create a foundation that would promote the use of standard marketing concepts to increase environmental awareness. Recognizing that organizations working to protect the environment in general have limited access to paid media, the Foundation provides funds to underwrite advertising designed to promote the conservation and restoration of native wildlife, plants, and ecosystems in the United States. Beginning in 2001, the Foundation has also supported earned income media campaigns. Grants are typically between $5,000 and $15,000 and should be used to fund the production of print, radio, or television ads, to pay for advertising space or airtime, or to produce or distribute pamphlets, books, videos, or press packets.

Information & grant applications: http://www.temperfund.org/index.html

Deadline October 15 via email

Environmental Education

Deadline: October 15

The Environment Council of Rhode Island Education Fund (ECRI Ed Fund) is opening the application process for the 2nd Annual Loraine Tisdale Environmental Education Fund awards.
ECRI offers 3 grants of $250 to teachers or environmental organizations for support of projects that:

• Have student participation
• Lead to measurable improvement in an environmental condition
• Involve the community beyond a school in some way

Awards will be made in January 2008 for projects to be undertaken in the Spring of 2008.

Information & Applications: 621-8048 ~ environmentcouncil@earthlink.net

Coastal & Estuarine Habitat Restoration Trust Fund

Deadline: October 17

The Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) is seeking pre-proposals for habitat restoration project funding

The fund was established to facilitate the design, planning, construction and monitoring of coastal and estuarine restoration projects as well as to increase opportunities for outreach and education related to coastal habitat restoration.

Municipalities, committees, boards or commissions chartered by a municipality,nonprofit organizations, civic groups, educational institutions and state agencies are eligible to apply.

To submit a pre-proposal, please download a pre-proposal form at http://www.crmc.ri.gov/projects/habitats.html

fill out the form and return it to:

Coastal Resources Management Council
Oliver H. Stedman Government Center
4808 Tower Hill Road;Wakefield,RI 02879-1900

Caitlin Chaffee: 783-7198

Information: http://www.crmc.ri.gov/news/2007_0901_habrest.html

Fund for Wild Nature Grants Program

Deadline: November 2

The Fund for Wild Nature provides "small grants to small groups who get things done." The fund provides money for campaigns to save and restore native species and wild ecosystems, including actions to defend wilderness and biological diversity.

The fund supports advocacy, litigation, public policy work, development of citizen science, and similar endeavors. The fund does not support basic scientific research, private land acquisition, individual action or study, or conferences. The fund will only support media projects that have a clear strategic value and a concrete plan for dissemination of the final product.

The fund gives special attention to ecological issues not currently receiving sufficient public attention and funding. The fund seeks proposals with visionary and yet realistic goals to create tangible change. All proposals must be highly cost effective.

The fund rarely supports proposals from organizations with annual budgets greater than $250,000. The fund makes grants for projects only in the United States,Canada, and Mexico.

Visit the Fund for Wild Nature Web site for complete program guidelines and application procedures.

Information: www.fundwildnature.org

Complete Streets for Rhode Island

Last week I went to the Providence charette session about North Main Street, which is struggling to regain its economic prosperity and perhaps become a "destination" for people other than those who need Pepboys and a pawn shop. We talked about a walkable workforce and the possibility of housing for The Miriam Hospital's 2200 employees ~ how to get higher density, mixed use, residential presence, restaurants and retail into the area. Among the street's problems is that it is on an edge of a neighborhood rather than in the middle. Very few people live to the west of North Main ~ instead there are Route I-95, the train tracks, and the long border of North Burial Ground, which we hope to make much more parklike, on the model of Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, MA.

Which brings me to an article in the September 2007 AARP Bulletin, Street Smart. It's worth reading to get a jolting perspective on what we too often take for granted: we are sure that streets are for cars, but walkers, bikers, and the disabled must use the streets, too. Note the videos that explain "Complete Streets." Let's rearrange our thinking to a Kirkland, Washington, point of view:

We consider walking and biking forms of transportation....

The "Complete Streets" movement aims to have autos, pedestrians, bike riders, and public transit users share the road safely. Only 52 ~ 52 of more than 30,000 [!] ~ U.S. cities and towns, six counties and 10 regional governments require that "roads are routinely designed or redesigned for all modes of travel." Well, that's not very many places in this great United States. Surely some of Rhode Island's towns and cities can be among them soon! You may note that Rhode Island is listed as one of the states with "complete street" plans, but I cannot find the term on our DOT website today. I think RI is probably noted because of the Greenways and bikeways folks, rather than extensive state government policy at this point, but I could be wrong! If you know about this, please add a comment!

I don't see the list of "ideas that work" for creating Complete Streets in the online article, so here they are:

• Resting places, benches
• Ramps to crosswalks
• Pedestrian-friendly medians
• Visible signs
• Recessed bus stops
• Raised crosswalks
• Advanced stop lines
• Bike lanes
• On-street parking
• Wide, raised sidewalks

I'll also repeat the Complete Streets links so you can easily find more information:

• www.completestreets.org
• www.activelivingresources.org
• communityexchange.aarp.org/rate.php (for rating your neighborhood's streets)
• www.walkscore.com (for how walkable your neighborhood is)

Walkscore is fun to use, but they need to keep working on the algorithm. I think my neighborhood in Providence is more walkable than Walkscore indicates. Both Melrose Street in Elmwood and of course Wayland Square (scores 86) do better. I tried the address of where I once lived in Connecticut, and it didn't score as low as I think it should. I know you really have to walk more than a mile to get even a loaf of bread, so people who live there almost always drive to do errands. It's on a tidal river and next to a wetland, and Walkscore was counting places on the other side of the river in its calculation!

A pedestrian was killed a couple of blocks from here recently. This is serious. And think of the weight we could lose and how healthy we'd be if we simply walked more!

Rhode Island Urban Coastal Greenways Design Manual

From RI Coastal Resources Management Council:

Folks: The CRMC in collaboration with the URI Coastal Resources Center/RI Sea Grant has just posted the Urban Coastal Greenways (UCG) design manual on the web at:
http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/metrosamp/ucg_manual/index.html
<http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/metrosamp/ucg_manual/index.html>
The manual should be used by applicants to meet the requirements of the CRMC UCG policy available at:
http://www.crmc.ri.gov/samp/metrobay.html
<http://www.crmc.ri.gov/samp/metrobay.html> . The design manual will be made available in both hard copy and on CDs soon. We'll send notice on how to obtain copies as soon as they're available. In the interim, please visit the website noted above and download a copy for your use.

James Boyd
Coastal Policy Analyst
RI Coastal Resources Management Council
Voice: 401.783.3370
Fax: 401.783.3767
Email: jboyd@crmc.ri.gov <mailto:jboyd@crmc.ri.gov.>
Web: www.crmc.ri.gov <http://www.crmc.ri.gov/>