🤝 Meetup Next Week
Join 5th Square organizers and volunteers for an informal, in-person meet-up
Resurrection Philadelphia’s Annex
401 S 42nd St - West Philly
NEXT Thursday, July 6th at 6 PM
At this meetup, we welcome Nissim Leibovits, a Master's student in city planning at the University of Pennsylvania, who is using data to foster civic engagement and build more sustainable, inclusive cities. Most recently, he published an online mapping tool for residents to identify priority vacant lots for greening to reduce gun crime in our city.
🚘🚘🚘 I-95 Carmageddon Never Came
After the collapse of a section of I-95, many were predicting a summer of traffic nightmares... Carmageddon! However, in assessments by multiple / news / outlets, it never came! Why?
Monica Herndon / The Philadelphia Inquirer
Because our extremely overbuilt highway system create an induced demand for traffic. As City Observatory notes:
The lesson here is that traffic is not an inalterable and irreducible quantity dictated by nature, its actually very dynamic and elastic. People readily change their travel behavior in response to the availability of road capacity.
The repeated failure of these predicted “carmageddons” to ever occur is powerful evidence that the key tenet of highway planning is fundamentally flawed.... Widening roads in an effort to reduce congestion isn’t simply futile, its counterproductive. More capacity generates more travel, more sprawl, more pollution, and ultimately more congestion. It’s time to get off this treadmill.
"If you build it, they will come" is true with transportation infrastructure, and it's time we invest in alternatives to car travel for the sake of roadway safety, for our environment, and for equity.
🅿️ Conshohocken Doesn't Need More Parking
Showing up at last week's SEPTA board meeting were officials from Conshohocken Borough Council to scold SEPTA's reconsideration of it's multi-million dollar parking garage project for Conshohocken train station.
Conshohocken Council President Colleen Leonard went on to say, "The borough will not engage in any discussion regarding zoning amendments or variances that SEPTA would need to develop the property for multifamily residential in a future joint development scenario... The borough cannot sustain additional multifamily development in that area."
A parking deck would be an enormous waste of precious transit funding to subsidize suburban car ownership. What actually grows ridership is dense, walkable destinations -- a sprawling parking deck is antithetical to this.
Local blog, MoreThanTheCurve.com has a great editorial on this issue with reaction to the testimony.
We applaud SEPTA pausing this project and hope that they can come back with a plan to make this station an actual destination for people and not just cars.
5th Square in the News
🦺 DIY Urbanism
Asia Mieleszko of Strong Towns recently profiled 5th Square superstar member David Brindley in his unrelenting personal efforts to improve traffic safety through guerilla bike lanes.
You can meet David and other 5th Square organizers at our meetup next week!
🚇 Blvd Subway News
It's unanimous! All of Philadelphia City Council voted in support of hearings about a subway for Roosevelt Boulevard. This is a project that is a century overdue and is only more pressing in the wake of the recent collapse of I-95 which brought a renewed demand for transportation alternatives.
The best way to stay cool this summer is to rock our "Build the Roosevelt Blvd Subway" CROP TOP -- now in stock!
Looking to buy the T-Shirt? Click Here!
You can help us make a walkable, transit-friendly city for everyone. Become a 5th Square member today for $5 a month. New Member signups get a free Blvd Subway T-Shirt!
EVENTS
5th Square Strava Group
Not a specific event, but 5th Square recently started a Strava Club. Join with other Philly urbanists in seeing how far you can take your cargo bike! Or record how far you can run when your bus or trolley is ghosting you.
Wednesday Night Rides // June 28 // Gardens Galore
For this week's ride, our first ride of summer, we'll be touring community gardens (including Emily St & Iglesias Gardens), and murals about food and water justice (like this one on Bodine High School) in South & North Philly.
Start: Hawthorne Park, 12th & Catherine
Time: Meet at 7pm, roll at 7:10pm
End: Love City Brewing, 10th & Hamilton
[PARK(ing) DAY] 2023 Info Session
Jun 28, 2023 12:15 PM on Zoom
The number of parks throughout Philadelphia increases dramatically each year on the third Friday in September, when activists, artists, architects, and other citizens transform metered parking spaces into temporary public parks. Known as PARKing) Day, this annual event re-imagines the possibilities of 160 square feet of public space.
THE ENGINE INSIDE | Philadelphia Premiere (84 min) Hosted by Bicycle Film Festival & Philly Bike Expo
Thursday, June 29, 7:00PM
401 South Broad Street Philadelphia, PA 19102
The new documentary feature film, "The Engine Inside" tells the stories of six everyday people from all over the globe, who reveal the unique power of the bicycle to change lives and build a better world.
Washington Square West Civic Association Bike Day
July 16th 10am-1pm
Kahn Park - 11th and Pine Streets, Philadelphia
Join the WSWCA and other organizations for a day that celebrates cycling. Washington Square West has 4 bike lanes that traverse our neighborhood, and we want everyone to feel confident that they can use them safely! RSVP on Facebook or EventBrite!
WHAT WE'RE READING
🏙️ HOUSING & LAND USE
🌳 PUBLIC SPACE
🚌 TRANSIT
🚴 MOBILITY
SURVEYS
PennDOT District 6 Survey - Interstate 95 Girard Avenue Interchange Project Sections GR5 and GR6.
The project team is seeking feedback on potential designs of spaces under and adjacent to I-95 as a follow-up to information presented at recent Near Neighbors Meetings held in Northern Liberties and Old City. Meeting materials from these meetings can be found at 95revive.com. The survey will be open to the community until June 30.
GRANTS & OTHER OPPORTUNITIES
Community Design Collaborative and StreetBoxPHL Request for Parklet and Ped Plaza Proposals
The Collaborative and StreetBoxPHL are partnering to support transforming streets into public spaces across Philadelphia. Community Based Organizations (CBO's) considering, or currently developing, Parklets, Pedestrian Plazas, or other interventions in the Right Of Way (ROW) to debut in 2024, and looking for design support are encouraged to fill out the form below by August 4th 2023 to participate in the ROW Steward Services Initiative:
StreetBoxPHL - Right Of Way Roundtable
Are you a BID manager, RCO Board Member, or are you the one on your block who organizes block clean ups, block parties, or other gatherings in the street? Join StreetBoxPHL for the Right Of Way Roundtable (ROW Roundtable) a monthly on-line meeting this Fall 2023. If you take care of public spaces in city streets, or want to learn how to build them, sign up here.
StreetBoxPHL | Graduate Fellowship Opportunity 2023-2024
StreetBoxPHL (SBP) is seeking a highly-qualified (graduate) student Fellow to help launch its ROW Roundtable series, increase its communications and advocacy efforts, and support programmatic efforts to provide technical assistance to stewards of public spaces in the ROW, in collaboration with SBP’s partners. due 7/21
JOB OPPORTUNITIES
5th Square is Philadelphia's urbanist political action committee.
We're an all-volunteer grassroots organization advocating for safe and affordable transportation, abundant housing, and more and better public spaces. You’re receiving this email if you signed up via our website, attended one of our events, or supported one of our advocacy campaigns.
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