Perhaps there’s no type of building that better signifies suburban sprawl than the strip mall. Well, maybe a McMansion would do, but the strip mall has been with us longer and its very form and purpose transmits the essence of sprawl. The buildings are low and long, surrounded by parking lots and, in most cases, reachable safely only by car. Whitemarsh Plaza is a smaller specimen, but it’s location along a multi-lane high speed roadway is common for this variety of commercial development.

Whitemarsh Plaza became the focus of SCAD graduate students. And things continued from there, as SCAD professor Scott Boylston describes on the Emergent Structures blog:

Almost 10 weeks ago, a graduate Sustainable Practices in Design class at SCAD visited a generic strip mall on Whitemarsh Island. We went to visit Wendy Armstrong of Thrive Take Out Cafe to talk about the possibility of creating an outdoor eating area made from building materials reclaimed from Savannah Gardens. You could say that conversation…and those that followed it…wandered a bit.

What began as an idea to create outdoor seating from reclaimed materials expanded to include other ideas, such as green roofs. Mary Landers describes some of the possibilities in her Savannah Morning News story, which features this excellent quote from Boylston:

“You go to this generic mall in suburbia and try to start showing people who are skeptical or unaware that this sustainability idea is not this hippie dippie thing,” he said. “It can be a strong, pragmatic set of solutions.”

Today from 3 until 7 p.m., a reception will feature live music, food and presentations framing the students’ ideas for the shopping center. A vacant storefront will house “videos, conceptual drawings, interactive displays” that provide a vision of what Whitemarsh Plaza could be. Click here to download a flier for the event.

The image above reflects the Savannah Morning News website as it appeared yesterday morning. Look at the headlines on the right side. Is there a common thread?

The individual descriptions of death and injury just wash over us as we read journalists’ accounts of automobile “accidents.” But consider how we would react to these stories if they reported the spread of a deadly infectious disease, which could be prevented in many cases. I imagine there would be public outcry and demand for swift and comprehensive action to reduce and death and suffering.

Yet, we accept the stream of awful news from our streets and roadways as the price of doing business, the cost of maintaining our freedom to drive everywhere we go and get there as fast as we can. This freedom is of course illusory. We are trapped behind the wheel, numbed to the tremendous sacrifices our automobile-centric lifestyles demand. We seem resigned to the kind of human suffering that makes headlines. And we are often completely unaware of the kind that takes its toll over time. Some of us are suspicious of the very things that would help us escape from our rolling cages and into communities that are healthier, safer, more livable, more sustainable and more economically vibrant.

Yesterday’s news wasn’t all bad, though. Here’s the story behind the headline, “No texting while driving law making impact.”

Tom Barton wrote about the new Food Lion supermarket, slated for construction on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, in his Savannah Morning News Column yesterday and reveals it was his first encounter with the concept of a food desert, which he describes as “an area where residents must travel vast distances to do their grocery shopping.” Perhaps a better name for this neighborhood and others like it is a food swamp, “a geographic area where the overabundance of high-energy foods (for example, caloric snacks sold at convenience stores) inundate healthy food options.”

Whatever the term, studies have linked the preponderance of unhealthy food in poorer urban (and rural) neighborhoods as a contributing factor in all sorts of health issues. Still, while Barton laments “the pitiful selection of produce” available at the Choose Market located near the site of the new store, it’s worth noting that some of the healthiest produce to be found anywhere in the region can be purchased just a couple blocks east.  The Forsyth Farmers Market is open every Saturday through Nov. 20. A program called Wholesome Wave, “doubles the value of Federal Food Stamps, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” when used at the market.

Barton does make a good point, though, that the new Food Lion’s impact will go beyond nutrition, writing, “In terms of re-energizing this struggling corridor south of the I-16 flyover, this project isn’t just big. It’s humongous.” He’s also correct in has assessment of the store as a “big plus” for folks without cars.

What four words would you use to describe a community that is ideal for bicycling? What four words would you use to describe a community that is ideal for walking (or using a wheelchair)? You can provide the answers to these questions and others designed to solicit input for the Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Non-motorized Transportation Plan. What in the world is that?

Non-motorized transportation includes walking or using a wheelchair, bicycling, skating, and using pedicabs. The Non-motorized Transportation Plan, as part of the Total Mobility Plan, will serve as an update to the MPO’s Bikeway Plan of 2000 and as well as providing a plan now to address the needs of pedestrians, and other self-powered travelers. The Plan will be developed by:

•    Identifying needed improvements for the non-motorized modes;

•    Identifying areas for amenities to help create a human-scaled environment that encourages use of physically active modes;

•    Prioritizing improvements and identifying funding opportunities

A pedestrian survey and a bicycle survey are now available on the MPO Non-motorized Transportation Plan page. But July 22 is the last day to take the surveys, so hop to it. Also available is an interactive map that allows citizens to “report problem areas” or highlight “preferred routes and frequent destinations.”

Supplies are needed to aid in Gulf Coast clean-up  operations and may be dropped off at Blowing Smoke BBQ parking lot (514 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd) Saturday, June 12 from noon to 5 p.m. or at the Coastal Pet Rescue Pet-a-Palooza event on Saturday, June 19 from noon to 8 p.m. at Molly McGuire’s on Wilmington Island. Catnip N Biscuits on Skidaway will also accept items all week long from 9 am to noon and 2 – 6 p.m. until June 28.

Needed items include:

• Heating pads (w/o auto shut off if possible)


• Large Rubbermaid containers with lids


• Heating lamps


• Large backyard portable pools like found at Wal-Mart


• Disposable Towels


• Plastic Trash Bags


• Plastic Trash Cans


• Newspaper


• Linens


• Sheets


• Toothbrushes


• Heavy Duty Rubber Gloves


• Kennels (Small to X-Large)


• Adhesive Bandages


• Shovels


• Rakes


• Stand by fire extinguishers


• Bottled water


• Detergent – (Biodegradable)

The supply drive will end June 30, at which time Green Lifespace will deliver the collected items to Apalachacola River Keeper in Franklin County, FL and St. Vincent National Wildlife Refuge. “I believe strongly in the power of people coming together for a common cause,” said Maria Castro, President and Founder of Green Lifespace. “As an avid animal lover and environmentalist in Savannah Georgia, I felt it was my responsibility to step up and take action and invite others to do the same in support of our precious wildlife being affected.”

In addition to the supply drive, Castro will attend training on cleaning oil spill by PEC (Petrolium Education Council) so that she may volunteer her efforts while in Florida. Businesses or individuals interested in contributing toward the supply drive and travel expenses may contact Maria Castro at mfcastro@greenlifespace.com or (912) 844-3184.

In recent days, I’ve heard a lot about boycotting BP to punish it for the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Boycotts against companies have in many ways become the default American reaction against behavior we don’t like. Perhaps we have become resigned to idea that our main role in our economy and society is to consume. American consumers (formerly known as American citizens) vote with our wallets. And, we are told, we should vote against BP by withholding our business. Seems straight forward enough.

The problem is our dependence on oil is bigger than the Gulf of Mexico and bigger than BP. Deepwater Horizon is arguably the largest and most publicized example of our tragic addiction to oil, but it is no way the first. Our national failure to consider more sustainable ways to live, work and get from place to place will continue to cause us increasingly severe and eventually debilitating environmental, military, political, financial and human rights headaches. And as we move on down the right hand side of the Peak Oil curve, these problems will become more numerous and difficult to solve.

Boycotting BP, then, is kind of like switching from Marlboros to Camels to spite Phillip Morris, while continuing to smoke two packs a day. We might feel vindicated in the short term and RJ Reynolds will be happy to take our money, but we’ll suffer the same terrible consequences in the end.

While our addiction to oil has shown up only at the margins of the national debate of how to best punish BP, some interesting things are happening in the background. As summarized by Richard Florida in The Great Car Reset: “Younger people today – in fact, people of all ages – no longer see the car as a necessary expense or a source of personal freedom.” If fewer young people falling in love with automobile culture, for whom are we continuing to build automobile infrastructure? In a cruel twist of fate, we may be creating it for people now (including our families and ourselves), who will become imprisoned by it later. The question is how much more money and effort we will devote to building an automobile-centric transportation system that future generations will not need and that will work against the interests of the people who are currently demanding it? How many more disasters will we tolerate to feed our demand for oil?

A local trend of note was reported yesterday by the Savannah Bicycle Campaign. A recently completed bicycle census finds that bicycle use in Savannah has increased dramatically, or at least was seriously underestimated in the past. Either way, there is more excellent news about who is riding in Savannah. As described here, “Women are considered an ‘indicator species’ for bike-friendly cities”:

“If you want to know if an urban environment supports cycling, you can forget about all the detailed ‘bikeability indexes’—just measure the proportion of cyclists who are female,” says Jan Garrard, a senior lecturer at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, and author of several studies on biking and gender differences.

Savannah saw a 33 percent increase in the proportion of women cyclists over the 2009 census number. That’s even more reason to provide additional bicycle infrastructure. It also offers cause to pause before spending mountains of money on road projects that will keep us hooked on driving in the short term.

In the early days of the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe, some local media reported the Gulf Coast’s loss could be the Atlantic Coast’s gain, in the form of tourists reconfiguring their summer vacation destinations. These stories usually included mandatory expressions of sympathy for the region dealing with the environmental catastrophe. Still, the disaster was down there. The major consequence for us would be more difficulty finding space to plant our chairs and umbrellas on the more crowded beaches of Tybee Island, right? Interviews were conducted just to make sure we were in the clear. But now the story may be changing. Yesterday, the New York Times’ Dot Earth blog published a horrifying animation that illustrates where the oil might eventually go if the damaged well continues to flow.

Will the realization that it could come here lead to any action besides the emotionally satisfying, but ultimately useless, railing against BP and the government that has been our only response to the spill? Will the possibility of oil slicks from Miami to Maine cause us to comprehend our role in this cataclysm? Will it help us to finally understand that it’s our unrelenting demand for cheap oil that made deep water drilling a viable business proposition? Will it prompt us to take a hard look at how we have built our communities and the way we choose to travel in our daily lives?

Here’s an excellent list of 10 ways cities and towns can kick the offshore-oil habit. How many of these are we doing locally? Aside from the wonderful expansion of on-street bicycle parking, spearheaded by Sean Brandon of the City of Savannah’s Parking and Mobility Services department, the sad answer is not much. In fact, some of the ideas mentioned in the list, including increased density and reduced automobile parking, are fighting words around here! Having been shown the consequences of our oil dependency via television coverage from the Gulf of Mexico, can we now talk seriously about our problems and begin to make responsible decisions about how to make our communities sustainable and livable? Or will it take oil drifting into Wassaw Sound to get our attention?

Over the last several years, I’ve had the opportunity to talk with elected officials, community groups and individuals aboutthe tremendous benefits the city could accrue from encouraging more citizens and visitors to take to our streets on bicycles. While I think most people can get their heads around the general idea, there’s a disconnect for some who can’t imagine riding a bike to work, to the store or to school. It doesn’t compute for them. They nod and smile, but in the back of there minds, I can tell they are thinking, “Wouldn’t it be easier to drive?”

It’s important to remember that some people don’t have that option. Because of financial, health or other reasons, bicycles are not alternative transportation, but transportation plain and simple. The rest of us, who do have the option to drive, may be curious about the beneficial aspects of riding a bike to work. If there’s one day to give it a try, it’s this Friday. National Bike-to-Work Day will be observed in Savannah with a 2Wheels 2Work bicycle convoy, sponsored by the Savannah Bicycle Campaign, The City of Savannah and the Chatham Environmental Forum. Bicycle commuters will enjoy free coffee from Jittery Joe’s and the company of other cyclists. Full details are available on the Savannah Bicycle Campaign Web site.

Local media outlets, over the last several years, have published and aired scores of stories about the dangers faced by pedestrians on our streets. These accounts usually follow the death or injury of a pedestrian and almost always include quotes from law enforcement officials warning pedestrians to use crosswalks, even when doing so would require a pedestrian to walk miles out of his or her way. Even when there’s no compelling evidence a pedestrian would have been safer in a crosswalk. Local journalists have seemed unable to make the connection between pedestrian casualties and streets that are dangerous by design. Until now.

In yesterday’s Savannah Morning News, Eric Curl included the words “street design” in his story “Parents, officials decry speeders at Montgomery Crossroad school zone.” As far as I can tell, this is the first time a local news story has used these words and made the connection between the design of the street and the danger it presents to pedestrians. To be sure, other local media personnel — City Talk columnist Bill Dawers being chief among them — have argued that a Complete Streets approach will make streets safer. However, Curl’s may be the first story about pedestrian safety to suggest automobile-centric street design makes streets dangerous.

Curl begins to zero in on the problem with this passage:

Those familiar with the problem say enforcement is only one component to solving it. Signage, street design and education also play a role.

Yes! He actually wrote the words “street design.” Now we are getting somewhere. Here’s a passage that describes potential solutions:

Many would like to see signs and lights added over the road so that they would be easier to see. In addition, the brush needs to be trimmed back in some areas where it obscures the signs, Stewart said. Road markers are another option being considered.

OK. Now we are talking about things next to the street, above the street and painted on the street. But what about the street itself? Is there something about it that makes it inherently dangerous for pedestrians? Could it be that it is five (and in some places, six) lanes wide and designed to maximize motor vehicle speed? We almost get there. But not quite. Here are some thoughts from two police officers:

“I am not an expert in traffic engineering so will yield to their expertise,” he said. Police Capt. Scott Simpkins said the problem is not unique to St. James. “It’s a continuing problem with the multilane roadways,” Simpkins said. “We’re doing what we can.”

Astute readers will note that yielding to the expertise of traffic engineers is exactly what produced the current dangerous situation. Afterall, Montgomery Crossroad isn’t a natural occurrence. It isn’t a path worn away over the eons by tidal creeks. It was designed by traffic engineers. Its design encourages speeding. Its design makes the street deadly for pedestrians. Without addressing these core issues, it will continue to be dangerous no matter how much enforcement attention is focused on it.

Still, Simpkins defines the scope of the situation and connect the dots between local streets that claim the lives of people who walk. Abercorn Street Extension. Ogeechee Road. Montgomery Crossroad. Mall Boulevard. Hodgson Memorial. All are multilane. All have pedestrian crossings spaced widely apart. All were designed to maximize car capacity and speed. All are dangerous by design.

Healthy Savannah is sponsoring a community forum on April 29 at 6 p.m. at the Savannah Civic Center. The forum takes an important, but not often examined (at least locally) angle on community health. Instead of focusing entirely on personal nutrition and exercise, the forum will examine the health impacts of infrastructure — specifically related to transportation — along with physical activity, nutrition and smoking.

A press release describes the goal of the forum “is to help people understand what factors have the greatest impact on our health in Savannah. Keynote speaker Dr. Evelyn Lewis will provide an opportunity for citizens to learn about how their health is affected by factors like public policy and the environment in which we live. Participants will also engage in active dialogue around actions we can take to improve our health individually and within the communities where we live.”

Healthy Savannah — coalition of businesses, nonprofits, healthcare agencies, governments, schools and neighborhoods — is an initiative of City of Savannah Mayor Otis Johnson formed in 2007.  It is a public/private collaboration of over 65 community organizations and growing. The community forum is sponsored by the Junior League of Savannah, The 100 Black Men of Savannah, The City of Savannah, St. Joseph’s/Candler Health System, Memorial Medical Center, GeoVista Credit Union, Savannah State University and the A Phillip Randolph Institute.

Thee vent is free and open to the public. For more information, visit the Healthy Savannah Web site or call Kimberly Pannell at (912) 658-8769.