Exploring a changing Fort Collins
Meg has been writing about urban development issues in Fort Collins since 2015. Learn more…
Meg also writes about local history at NorthernColoradoHistory.com.
I’m hoping to add a recommended reading section here soon.
Ginger & Baker: a Delight to the Senses
Materials, patterns, textures, and colors shape our lasting impressions of a place as profoundly as does its overall formal organization and composition. -- Sarah Williams Goldhagen I had the privilege of eating lunch at Ginger and Baker last week, followed by a tour...
Auto Idolatry
America's car culture is a form of national idolatry. The United States has prostrated itself to the automobile. Even if you don't believe there is a God, I invite you to bear with me as I use this spiritual analogy to make a point about what our vehicle use, built...
Walk & Wheel Skills Hub – Fun with a Purpose
Oh, to be a kid again. I used to play all sorts of games of pretend when I was young. When I was in elementary school, we lived in a small town just outside of metro Boston and I spent a lot of time exploring, imagining, and riding my bike. There's something about...
What is a subsidy?
In talking about affordable housing, transportation, development and other issues related to urban growth, the term "subsidy" often pops up. It's generally used pejoratively and seems to refer to such a large variety of situations that the meaning can start to get a...
The Technology That Goes Into Electric Bikes
Congestion on northern Colorado roads is an increasing problem, consuming both our time and patience. The bus works well for some, but with several routes running only once or twice an hour, and other parts of town receiving no bus service at all, it remains an...
Preserving Bikeability and Walkability by Preserving Historic Buildings
By redesigning our world for cars, we have damaged the walkability and bikeability of our communities. Before the introduction of the automobile, cities and towns were naturally built on a human scale. It simply wasn't feasible to do otherwise. But as cars grew in...
Resource File – A Collection of Articles on Transportation Issues
As I come across articles that I think address an issue particularly well, I'll add them to this resource file. I'm going to try to organize these topically, although I suspect many will overlap. There's a directory at top with links to each subject area. Jump to a...
Infrastructure Infill
"Development is an endurance exercise with incremental improvements." - Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Minister of Finance of Indonesia For pedestrians and bicyclists, many improvements come slowly and in small ways. And this can be frustrating. But as long as they're coming...
Visit to Tulsa: View From the Sidewalk
With twin daughters that are seniors in high school this year, we've spent a lot of time visiting colleges. Our most recent trip took us to the University of Tulsa, which has a beautiful campus a couple miles east of downtown. Our travels have also provided me with an...
A New Treatment at Cherry and Mason
The pedestrian crossing at Cherry and Mason is difficult and scary. The coincidence of distracted motorists who don't notice the crosswalk signs, families with kids heading to the museum, tourists who are unfamiliar with the area, a train line, and a connection to a...
The world is full of screw-ups, but only some are truly dangerous
In the past few weeks, I've witnessed an alarming number of people flagrantly ignoring the rules of the road. I watched a person in a sedan run a red light at Horsetooth and Mason. And I don't mean that they entered the intersection on a yellow and left when it was...
Take a Walk Around a Fort Collins Block
In the book, Walkable City, Jeff Speck states that "the cities with the smallest blocks are the ones best known for walkability, while those with the largest blocks are known as places without street life...." While there's certainly more involved in getting people...