At our May Grow Smart CLT event, attendees were focused on air quality, and what they can do to improve the air we all breathe. We were excited to have staff from Mecklenburg County Air Quality Division at the event, collecting public input on the Division’s priorities for air quality. During the networking time before the program, attendees were able to provide input by dropping marbles into glass jars, each labelled with a different potential priority. The potential focus areas included transit expansion, complete streets, airport shuttle electrification, and much more. Air Quality Division will take that input and use it to help inform the initiatives they pursue next to improve our air quality.

We were also thrilled to have Sun Raised Farms at the event, handing out delicious food samples! Huge thanks to all the staff and owners for being part of the event!

Help your City go the last mile to fund critical transportation programs!

On Monday, May 7, City Manager Marcus Jones presented the preliminary budget for Fiscal Year 2019 to City Council.  Read the document, executive summary, and presentation here!

After continued advocacy in partnership with many concerned citizens, we are thrilled to announce that the Fiscal Year 2019 proposed budget positions Charlotte to take a huge step to advance active transportation!

Are you a Senior? Want to improve transportation options in our community? Please take our survey and share it with other seniors! We'll use the results to help inform our work to empower neighborhoods and senior residents to address the challenges they're seeing in the community.

The last week to complete the survey is the week of June 25-30th, so please share with your friends, family, and networks.

We hope you were one of the 30,000 people who came out to support Open Streets 704 on Sunday, April 29th!  The route extended four miles from Plaza Midwood all the way to up to NoDA.  

Sustain Charlotte is proud of our increased involvement in the Open Streets 704 program.  Our Bicycle Program Manager Kate Cavazza served as the demonstration project manager for the recent event. We organized and hosted three projects on the route.  We successfully advocated for a partial protected bike lane on Parkwood Avenue that provided a safe connection between Brevard Street to Davidson Street. We also placed several public engagement boards at bus stops and gathered important information on how better to improve the experience for riders.

People walked and biked through the streets of NoDA during Open Streets 704.

At the April 23rd Charlotte City Council Transportation and Planning Committee meeting, Ed McKinney from the Planning Department provided an overview of the South End Vision Plan. You can watch a stream of the meeting here. The plan is scheduled to be finalized in early May, after which it will again go before the Transportation and Planning Committee with a goal of full council adoption by the end of May.

Photo credit: https://historicsouthend.com

Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to the more than 50 people who responded to our action alert by emailing or calling their Charlotte City Council members to voice support for a complete sidewalk network.

Together, we did it! At last night's meeting, Council voted 9-2 in support of two amendments to the sidewalk ordinance that close critical loopholes. The amendments will ensure that quality sidewalks are built when re-development occurs on high-traffic streets.

Quality sidewalks support all street users! (photo from Charlotte WALKS Plan)

UPDATE: The agenda for the April 23 Council meeting is now posted with this issue as Agenda Item #19. View the amendment language here. Want to speak to Council about the amendments immediately prior to the vote? Register to speak here. 

We sent the following action alert to our members on Monday, April 16:

On Monday, April 23, the Charlotte City Council will vote on amendments to the sidewalk ordinance that would ensure quality sidewalks are built when land is redeveloped.

Twenty-seven pedestrians were killed walking along and trying to cross City streets in 2017. This is the highest number ever in Charlotte. We simply can’t afford to continue to build without sidewalks!

I urge you to contact your Charlotte City Council members today to affirm your support for closing two critical loopholes that allow redevelopment to occur without quality sidewalks being built.

Ask a resident of Greater Charlotte what issues they see within our region, and you’ll likely get traffic or transportation as a top answer. Last week we brought together a panel of transportation experts from local government and the private sector to discuss the mobility challenges we face, and some potential solutions.

Sign the statement of support asking Charlotte and Mecklenburg County leaders to invest in transportation choices!

Update: CATS has extended the public comment period for Envision My Ride through May 4th.

As the Charlotte Area Transit System (CATS) public comment period on the proposed map for the Envision My Ride bus network redesign draws to a close this Friday, April 6th (get your comments in!), we're taking a closer look at why cities around the country are making major changes to their bus networks and the results they're seeing. 

Why the CATS bus network is overdue for a redesign

Some CATS bus routes have remained virtually unchanged for decades. Over that time period, patterns of housing, employment, and travel have changed dramatically. CATS is using the following standards to determine what constitutes an optimal bus route: density, linearity, walkability, and proximity.

CATS' criteria for a good bus route (image by CATS; click to view full pdf)