You Are Traffic
Our latest featured post from the member blogroll comes to us from Paul Fritz’s blog, Small Town Urbanism. This piece was inspired by a conversation Paul had with Strong Towns founder, Chuck Marohn, after a recent event in Santa Rosa, CA.
Speaking of California, we just announced two upcoming events in the southern part of the state (LA and Pasadena). Check us out if you’re in the area!
Chuck Marohn of Strong Towns was in Santa Rosa last week. During one of our conversations he told me about this meme and I had to share it. I have been feeling this way for years. One of the biggest complaints about the state of our town is traffic and it drives me crazy.
Traffic is far down the list of my concerns. Partly because the times when there is traffic are relatively limited. Also, because I generally avoid driving during times when I know there will be traffic. If I have to drive during the morning or afternoon commute times, then I expect I will encounter traffic and plan accordingly. Most of the time I transport myself around town on foot or on bike. So traffic is a non-issue for me.
The most common time I find myself in traffic is when I pick up my daughter from high school in Santa Rosa. That was a choice we made and because of that choice she needs to be driven to school. When driving back to town from Santa Rosa there is often a backup before you get to downtown Sebastopol. There are probably quite a few people in that backup because their kid(s) go to school in Santa Rosa, or because they live in Santa Rosa and are picking their kid up from school in Sebastopol. Open enrollment schools are responsible for a lot of the traffic we experience around here. Sitting in the backup at 3:30, I am traffic and I don’t have anyone to blame but myself.
Sebastopol is a crossroads town. There are 40,000+ people that live in the ‘country’ to the south, west and north of town. Many of those people must pass through Sebastopol to get to work or shopping. Not much we in Sebastopol can do about it. This creates some traffic, at limited, and mostly predictable, times during the day.
The people that complain about traffic drive. And as Morpheus says in the meme ‘ You are traffic.’ Get over it. You think you are the only person that wants to be on the road at 5:00? You’re not. The larger problem in my mind is that there is a serious lack of traffic downtown at 7:00 in the evening. The streets are empty which has an impact on Sebastopol’s vitality, or lack thereof. This is the problem we need to be addressing.
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About the Author
Paul Fritz is an architect with a strong interest in urban design issues. He runs his own architecture practice, Paul Fritz Architecture/Planning. He is interested in creating pedestrian-oriented urban environments that allow us to reduce our dependency on the automobile. He lives and work in the small town of, Sebastopol, California, and writes for his blog, Small Town Urbanism.