So far in 2013, AMATS has hosted two successful Bike-N-Brainstorm rides – one in Kent in April and another in Green in June. The agency’s Bike-N-Brainstorms are an innovative way that the agency uses to gain public insight as to what should be done to improve biking in the Greater Akron area. A Bike-N-Brainstorm is a group bike ride along key corridors so that cyclists may experience firsthand what it’s like to bike there. At the end of their ride, group members participate in a brainstorming session with agency personnel to share their ideas as to what can be done to improve bike travel within the area. The Kent Bike-N-Brainstorm began April 20 at the new Kent Central Gateway in downtown Kent. Sixty-two attendees braved morning snow showers to travel a 5-mile route through various parts of Kent. The ride highlighted future bike projects in the city, such as the addition of…
AMATS
What are you doing April 30, May 1 or May 2? Creating NEO’s Future Depends on You? Speak up and voice your opinions about OUR home! What brought you to Northeast Ohio? What keeps you here? What do you value most about Northeast Ohio? What will keep you and your family here in the future? The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium (NEOSCC) will be hosting a series of workshops to create a vision for a Vibrant NEO in the year 2040. Workshops will be two hours long and will be held at various locations throughout the region. Please feel free to pick the time and location that is most convenient for you, regardless of your county of residence. Your help is needed to help NEOSCC focus the workshops on issues that are most important to YOU – today and in the future! CLICK ON THE BLUE LINKS BELOW TO REGISTER! ALL WORKSHOPS…
What are Vibrant NEO 2040 and Scenario Planning? VibrantNEO 2040’s scenarios will tell stories about our possible futures, based on where Northeast Ohio is today and the choices we might make about how we use our land and how we invest our resources. Once we create these scenarios, we will be able to compare how successful they are at achieving our common goals for the region, judge which choices would be best for Northeast Ohio’s future, and create a shared vision and framework for the future around those choices. You are invited to attend an upcoming workshop to share your voice in the conversation. We have selected six city locations throughout the region for your convenience. Pick a date and location that works for you! April 30: Oberlin (Lorain, Medina, and western Cuyahoga) Warren (Mahoning, Trumbull and Ashtabula) May 1: Cleveland (Central Cuyahoga and inner-ring suburbs) Canton (Wayne and Stark)…
The neighborhood development group University Park Alliance has been awarded nearly $8 million to continue building Akron’s urban core. University Park Alliance is a non-profit community development corporation dedicated to the importance of ‘place-making’. University Park Alliance describes their Vision: We envision University Park as an exciting opportunity to return to a traditional urban neighborhood where interesting people live, great ideas thrive and community is key. And we see a clear path for getting there. Our strategy is to capitalize on the economic synergy of the great institutions already anchored throughout this geography—including a major university, three excellent hospitals, a bio-tech institute, three brand new schools—and develop a dense, walkable neighborhood with diverse cultural offerings, great healthcare, quality education and plenty of recreational and leisure opportunities. In essence, our mission is to build a ‘sense of place’ between these strong anchors. To do so, University Park Alliance has created a…
As a conclusion to the first half of our 12 Counties in 12 Months program, NEOSCC will be taking our board meeting to Summit County on Tuesday, November 27. This will cap a six month tour of Mahoning, Lorain, Stark, Cuyahoga, Ashtabula and Summit. To avoid potential weather difficulties in the winter months, we will be restarting the tour in April with the remaining six counties. NEOSCC counts many organizations as part of our board member organizations: the City of Akron, Summit County, Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS), Akron Metropolitan Housing Authority, Akron Urban League, Summit County Health District and NEFCO. Prior to the meeting, Summit County leaders will introduce NEOSCC board members to local assets and successful projects via a bus tour. While traveling around the county, the group will discuss the Summit Lake Community Center, Bridgestone, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company, the University Park Alliance, The Austen BioInnovation…
AMATS, the Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study, is one of the four Metropolitan Planning Organizations involved in Vibrant NEO 2040 that we discussed in our post last week. One of their many initiatives is the Connecting Communities program which “is designed to provide communities with funding to develop transportation plans that will lead to the identification of projects eligible for AMATS funds.” The Connecting Communities grant program was a recommendation from AMATS’s Connecting Communities Planning Initiative (link is to a large pdf file) in 2010. The purpose of Connecting Communities – A Guide to Integrating Land Use and Transportation is to promote a region that balances environmental, social and economic concerns by improving coordination between land use and transportation. Connecting Communities utilizes a regional planning process to explore strategies to increase transportation choices and accessibility, help communities make collaborative, informed decisions to coordinate development, reduce environmental impacts and improve regional connectivity….
A significant component of NEOSCC’s leadership are the four Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Northeast Ohio. What is a Metropolitan Planning Organization? You can find out in the following presentation – NEOSCC_Overview_101_What is an MPO. Here is some quick background: NEOSCC and the Vibrant NEO 2040 planning process includes the following MPO’s and their county jurisdictions: Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study (AMATS) – Portage and Summit Counties Eastgate Regional Council of Governments – Mahoning and Trumbull Counties Northeast Ohio Area Coordinating Area (NOACA) – Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, and Medina Counties Stark County Regional Planning Commission and the Stark County Area Transportation Study (SCATS) – Stark County The two other counties Ashtabula and Wayne County that are part of the Vibrant NEO 2040 effort are covered through Councils of Governments. This is a topic that will be covered soon in the Vibrant Daily. As part of their planning process, the MPO’s…