Latest news with #StrongTowns
CTV News
29-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Community group takes over Mayfair Theatre marquee to promote Bank Street bus lane pitch
The marquee at the Mayfair Theatre included a message about supporting bus lanes on Bank Street by the community group Strong Towns Ottawa. May 29, 2025. (Dave Charbonneau/CTV News Ottawa) The marquee at the Mayfair Theatre on Bank Street was not showing a movie Thursday morning, but instead a message about bus lanes. A local community group is raising awareness about their demand for dedicated bus lanes on the busy street through a campaign that includes the sign on the marquee and ads that play before movies at the local cinema. Strong Towns Ottawa says none of the options the City of Ottawa is considering for the future of Bank Street are adequate. The city is exploring ways to improve transit and active transportation on a busy corridor of Bank between the Rideau Canal and Highway 417 but says full time bus-only lanes and removing all on-street vehicle parking have been eliminated as options. Instead, the city is proposing having dedicated bus lanes only during peak traffic periods in the morning and afternoon. 'A simple change could make for a much better Bank Street: instead of only having bus lanes for 2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the evening, let's have them 24/7! The on-street parking should be moved to the plethora of options available surrounding Bank Street,' a statement on Strong Towns Ottawa's website says. Derrick Simpson, a volunteer with Strong Towns Ottawa, who also serves as the transportation board chair at the Centretown Community Association, says it's been one year since the City of Ottawa spoke to the community about the Bank Street plan. 'We were really excited by that, and we haven't heard anything since,' Simpson told CTV News Ottawa. 'We figured this was a good way to get some attention and make sure that people are still thinking about this.' The city held a public open house on its plans for Bank Street in June 2024. A second public open house is planned for June 2025, according to the city's website, but the exact date and details have not yet been announced. The plan is slated to go before the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee and Council in September. Simpson said he was disappointed by the city's rejection of 24/7 bus lanes. 'We especially think that for event days, it's very important. There's only about 1,000 parking spaces in Lansdowne and the Redblacks' stadium seats around 20,000. We need other ways for people to get there and we believe the bus is the best option,' he said. 'We know OC Transpo has been struggling a lot with reliability and we think this would help get people to work faster, get people home faster, help them get to school on time, so we really think this is about reliability. It's making sure the bus shows up on time and gets you where you need to be on time.' Two routes serve Bank Street, the 6 and the 7. The 6 has frequently dealt with cancelled trips, according to statistics provided to the transit committee. On-street parking issue Strong Towns Ottawa says on-street parking is one of the main things contributing to delays on Bank Street. 'It takes up 2 full lanes, 6.6m of the 12.6m (over 50%), road. This space could much better serve those moving through, as well as those staying in the area,' the group says on its website. Simpson said this affects buses as well. 'We've had buses stuck in traffic, we've had buses waiting behind parked cars, and we think this is a great way to make sure people can arrive on time,' he said. According to data from the City of Ottawa, parking on Bank Street accounts for seven per cent of the total supply in the area. There are 143 spaces on the street out of a total supply of 2,000 spaces, including parking garages. There are 971 parking spaces at Lansdowne and another 139 in the Second Avenue garage. Parking utilization is higher in the evenings and on weekends. According to a City of Ottawa survey, nearly a third of respondents (32 per cent) said bus lanes were the most important feature for a redesign of Bank Street, while 13 per cent cited on-street parking as their most important feature. Forty-five per cent of respondents who drive to Bank Street said they'd be willing to walk between five and 10 minutes after parking to reach a destination, and 15 per cent said they'd be fine with a longer walk. Simpson says Strong Towns Ottawa volunteers will be out near the entrance to the Second Avenue parking garage between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday to meet with community members and raise awareness about the issue. The ads at the Mayfair Theatre will run until June 15. 'The community response so far has been really, really good,' said Simpson. 'We raised the funds for this in less than two hours, so we were blown away by the community response.' Details on the Bank Street Active Transportation and Transit Priority Feasibility Study can be found on Engage Ottawa.
Yahoo
15-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Marion named nation's Strongest Town
MARION, Ohio (WCMH) — It's been an exciting few days for the city of Marion since the community found out it won the Strongest Towns Contest. 'Everyone is thrilled over the moon and the town is electric right now,' said James Walker, part of the Marion County Regional Planning Commission. The non-profit Strong Towns organized the contest which is open to communities across the United States and Canada. Walker was born and raised in Marion and put together the city's application for the competition. Watch: JD Vance fumbles Buckeyes' national championship trophy 'Really a lot of the strength from this town comes from the collaborative efforts, it just comes from a determination to make something of this place that we've all decided to call home,' he said. A 'strong town' is not perfect but prioritizes progress in transportation, housing, and fiscal resilience, according to the contest's website. Others heavily involved with the community said Marion battling through big employers leaving town and the opioid epidemic, along with the help of local revitalization efforts, have made the city what it is today. 'It's been a long effort step by step,' said Ken Lengieza, who was the planning director from 1981 to 2018 and still works for the Marion County Regional Planning Commission. Steve Estep, lead pastor of MarionNaz, said when he announced the win at the Sunday service, there was an eruption of cheering. Questions surround Columbus council candidate's campaign mailers 'It makes an impact on not only how outsiders see Marion but how people from Marion see themselves, so I think it's been kind of a big boost to our collective sense of identity and community self-esteem that, 'Hey, there's something good happening here that's not happening everywhere.'' Walker said about 50 communities entered the competition with 16 making it into the bracket. Marion won with what Walker said was a combination of public voting and Strong Towns membership voting. 'It's been a long road,' he said. 'It took a lot of work, not just in this contest but just in this town over decades to get us to where we are.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
18-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Frackville seeks funding for sidewalks, curbs
FRACKVILLE — Funding is being sought for new sidewalks and curbs on a block of Lehigh Avenue, part of the borough's long-awaited streetscape revitalization project. At the Frackville Borough Council's monthly meeting March 12, the council approved a motion for its engineering firm, Entech Engineering, to apply for the state Department of Community and Economic Development's Multimodal grant program. The grant would bring additional funding to replace sidewalks and curbing along the block from Spring to Frack streets, near the Frackville Free Public Library. The decision marks an early step in the borough's ongoing project to reconstruct and beautify the main thoroughfare. Led by the volunteer group Frackville Downtown, the project aims to increase safety on the street and make it more pedestrian-friendly and visually appealing. Last year, the borough was awarded a Multimodal grant to install lighting along the block. Also at the meeting, an update was given on a previously proposed park at Lehigh and Oak streets. Patti Domalakes, president of Frackville Downtown, said it appeared plans had fallen through for what was to be called Heritage Park, a small park on an empty plot of land owned by the borough. After consulting with Strong Towns, a nonprofit dedicated to improving communities across the country, the group realized the cost for such a park would be exorbitant, even with grant money, Domalakes said. 'We're rethinking what to do with that plot,' she said. Edward Erfurt, a representative of Strong Towns, suggested establishing a business in the lot and suggested the borough work with a group called Incremental Development Alliance to design the space, according to Domalakes. Erfurt also said that an empty lot next to the library would be better suited for a park, Domalakes said.
