Tag: Vision 2020

Complete Streets Update: Mark Fenton & Vision 2020

Leave a comment

From the June 2011 Vision 2020 Champions In Action E-Newsletter

More than 400 business leaders, employee wellness managers, community members, students, and Champions participated in three days of events in May with public health advocate Mark Fenton. The three day series focused on the importance of “completing our streets” so that they are designed and maintained for walkers, bikers, public transit riders and motorists. Mark shared that “for the first time in our history, it is likely that today’s children will have a shorter life expectancy than that of their parents, due to sedentary lifestyles and poor nutrition”. To reverse this growing trend, it is imperative that we make significant behavior changes in our lives.  “Although many of these changes are simple and easy to do, they can only reach their full potential when they are instituted as a matter of public policy.”

At the end of the May events, many of the participants responded to a “call to action” and signed a pledge for the City of Keene to adopt a Complete Streets Resolution. The resolution was drafted by the Keene Young Professionals Network (KYPN) and has been endorsed by the Monadnock Region Transportation Management Association.  The resolution states that whenever a road is being built, changed, or updated, all four users need to be considered: pedestrians, bikers, transit users, and vehicles drivers. Instead of designing roads with the sole intention of drivers, it is important to consider each road as part of a larger system that impacts our overall safety, economic development, quality of life, the environment and public health. By supporting a Complete Streets Policy, it can help our own community consider all the impacts roads have on our lives and promote the design and maintenance of roads to maximize benefits. Click here to show your support of the Complete Streets policy being advocated for in Keene! Feel free to use the Resolution as a template to adopt a similar policy in your town. Any and all towns in Cheshire County could benefit from this.

If you would like to get involved with the Keene Young Professionals Network or the Complete Streets Resolution, contact fellow Champion Jen Risley at jen@hannahgrimes.com.

Complete the Streets in Keene Update

Leave a comment

Despite the rain and sleet at April’s Monadnock Earth Festival we had 20 more folks sign on as supporters of the Complete Streets in Keene Resolution (we have 50 supporters so far). We made new connections with individuals from Pathways for Keene & MRTMA.

KeeneYPN’s Chair Jessica O’Connor has been asked to give a short overview of KYPN at the May 4th Vision 2020 Complete Streets Event before the keynote speaker, Mark Fenton, speaks. Keene YPN has also been asked to facilitate a discussion at this event regarding the next steps for the Complete the Streets in Keene Project.

Frequently Asked Complete Streets Questions

Complete Streets: Maximizing Local Living Economies

Leave a comment

Instead of designing roads with the sole intention of getting a vehicle from place A to place B, why not consider each road as part of a larger system – a system that impacts our safety, economic development, quality of life, the environment and public health? (AKA: Our Local Living Economy.)  A Complete Streets Policy can help communities consider all the impacts roads have on our lives and promote the design and maintenance of roads to maximize benefits.

Who wants a Complete Streets Policy in Keene?  We do!  A Complete Streets Policy was identified as a priority in the 2010 Keene Comprehensive Master Plan: “Members of the community expressed a desire, as part of creating Keene’s walkable community, to strive for ‘complete streets.’ Keene should make it a consistent policy to design streets with all users in mind, including drivers, public transport riders, pedestrians, and bicyclists as well as older people, children, and those with disabilities.”

Who will make a Complete Streets Policy happen in Keene? We will! The Keene Young Professionals Network is organizing a community service project to support the adoption of a Complete Streets Policy in Keene.  Get involved by contacting jen@hannahgrimes.com.

Have questions and concerns about a Complete Streets Policy? Review some frequently asked questions at http://www.completestreets.org.  Find out more about Complete Streets at the Monadnock Earth Festival on April 23, 11 a.m. – 4p.m. and at the Council for a Healthier Community Vision 2020 How and Why to Have Complete Streets Event with built environment expert and consultant, Mark Fenton May 4, 2011 from 7:30 am – 10 am.

Help Bring More Complete Streets to Keene

Leave a comment

The Keene Young Professionals Network (KeeneYPN) is collaborating with Vision 2020 to help bring a Complete Streets Policy to our city.  Inspired by the Keene Community Master Plan Process and the community’s vision for Keene in 2028*, we chose this as the first KeeneYPN community service project.

Our goals are to increase the public’s awareness of why Keene needs a Complete Street Policy and promote an upcoming community event with Complete Streets Member and Transportation Consultant Mark Fenton.

You can get involved with this project in any or all of the following ways:

  • Review sample Complete Street Policies from other communities and help draft a policy for Keene
  • Create handouts and a display for our table at the Earth Day Festival
  • Design an activity at our table to engage Earth Day Festival goers
  • Volunteer to man/woman this table at the festival on April 23, 2011
  • Spread the word about this community project
  • Share other ideas to help make this happen

Contact the KeeneYPN Community Committee to learn more.

* Adoption of this policy is listed as a priority in the Keene Community Master Plan.

Keene, in 2028, is the best community in America. Our city is vibrant, dynamic, beautiful, and functional.

Our built environment consists of mixed-use development and appropriate density within the city limits; public gathering spaces that allow for interaction between people; well-designed, safe, and maintained neighborhoods with affordable housing and neighborhood amenities; clean and efficient public transportation that connects us to our community, the region, and beyond; pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure that is present throughout our community and that places import on people rather than automobiles; and a well-developed trail system that provides connections between neighborhoods, open spaces, and other communities while simultaneously supporting a healthy lifestyle. Full Keene 2008 Community Vision.

Who is Working Collaboratively?

Leave a comment

At the Spring 2010 Local Living Economy Event, we asked participants to brainstorm:

Who is working collaboratively in the Monadnock Region?

Here’s the initial list that was generated, now it’s your turn to add the missing organizations & businesses to this list:

Antioch University New England (Green MBA Program)
Cheshire County Conservation District
Monadnock Farm Community Connection
Cheshire Medical Center
Vision 2020
Clean Air Cool Planet
Cool Monadnock
Franklin Pierce College
Great Falls Food Hub
Green Jobs Forum
Hannah Grimes
Keene, City Council
Keene Downtown Group
Monadnock Buy Local
Keene State College
Monadnock Localvores
Monadnock Development Services
First Course/True Nut
Monadnock Sustainability Network
Monadnock Resource Partners
Monadnock Travel Council
Moosewood Ecological
Neighborhood Groups
Stonewall Farms
Southwest Community Services
Southwest Regional Planning Commission
Keene Transition Town Task Force
Working Families Win

2010 Event