Auto-friendly policy runs roughshod over Fairview

By REP. ALLEN KEMPLEN

The Policy Committee of AMATS, the transportation planning organization that controls the spending of federal ISTEA dollars, is meeting this week to determine the fate of 15th Avenue. The decision they make will either support the efforts of the Fairview residents to revitalize their neighborhood or sacrifice them on the altar of the suburban cummuter.

We have for many years discussed how to create a more livable winter city. We know by now that winter cities are pedestrian-friendly and built with children, elderly and the disabled as a top priority. It may not be possible for Anchorage to create such a design throughout the metro area. However, we can do it in the older compact parts of town that are built around people. We can establish the urban center as truly a healthy and vibrant heart of our community.

It begins with implementing a design strongly supported by the neighborhood community councils, the 15th Avenue Citizens Advisory Committee and the Planning and Zoning Commission. The design follows the example set by Spenard Road with its pedestrian-friendly atmosphere. This public investment spurred economic develpment along the street. The technical analysis done by the consultant says the recommended design for 15th will work. This is the choice favored by citizens.

A Committee of AMATS technocrats met recently and changed the design recommendation developed with lengthy public participation. The AMATS technocrats decided that enhancements would be constructed in the upscale neighborhood of South Addition. Fairview, however, gets nothing. A neighborhood filled with hard working residents striving to restore a sense of personal safety and community is denied fair treatment. After playing by the rules, the Fairview neighborhood is to be sacrificed again to the growing appetite of commuter traffic.

We must recognize that the automobile can be a powerful deterrent to socially responsive streets, a sense of neighborhood and the creation of livable winter cities. Cars isolate people. Commuter roads have become two-dimensional channels with no other purpose than to move as many vehicles as quickly as possible. Little concern is left over for the way the road looks, feels or fits into a community, who will pay to operate and maintain them in the northern environment, and little attention is focused on providing safe, efficient access for those without a car.

We need a broader perspective on the part of decision-makers and particularly transportation engineers. The real opportunities for the urban neighborhoods of our winter city will come when we appropriately deal with cars, reduce speeds, revise road standards and design streets for people.

If we had to pay attention to the environments through which we drive and if we truly had to respect the people who live, work or walk on those streets, we might not drive so speedily. One way to increase our attention span is to convert streets in the urban center to serve the needs of elderly people and children, who cannot drive. Converted streets also would benefit tourists along busy streets and who would enjoy quiter days, cleaner air and safer foot travel - in short, a healthier environment.

There are distinct parts of town, such as Fairview, that are well-established and have a lot of pedistrian traffic. If the technocrats have their way, the well-off neighborhoods will get amenities and enhancements while the regular people get nothing. An auto-oriented policy applied to Fairview does, and will increasingly, degrade public safety and quality of life.

We still have an opportunity to take control over our future and create a more livable winter city. The policy committee of AMATS can exercise visionary leadership. They can help citizens build a city that is sustainable over the long term; a city built around traditional neighborhoods, not suburbs and commuter traffic, and for people, not automobiles; a city built to be accessible by everyone and affordable for all; a city where even the poorer neighborhoods get a fair deal.

Published Thursday, February 27, 1997 Anchorage Daily News