Whew, what a week!
Share Omaha’s Do Good Days is all wrapped up and in the bag for another year.
We spent the week sharing all the good that can come when people in Omaha can get around safely on sidewalks, with clean spaces, and how much communities gain when we reimagine roads.
We had several chances to share that message too:
It started with Mode Shift Omaha’s Board Chair Liz Veazey chatting with 3 News Now on Mutual of Omaha’s move downtown and the streetcar that’s coming along with it.
Mode Shift Omaha board chair on streetcar
Then FOX 42 News previewed Mode Shift Omaha’s ‘Walk with Us’ event in Blackstone
FOX 42 News previews Mode Shift ‘Walk with Us’ in Blackstone
Three stations overall covered Mode Shift Omaha’s efforts to highlight the pedestrian infrastructure changes in Blackstone. Construction on those got started the day before our walk, so a lot of it was basically paint on the ground, but things certainly looked promising when we walked the area.
WOWT talks with Mode Shift Omaha on new pedestrian changes in Blackstone
Unfortunately, the city also chose to close both sides of the sidewalk for two different construction projects. People had no choice but to walk into the street in order to get around the orange cones and taped off space.
Someone who relies on a wheelchair or otherwise has difficulty stepping onto a curb might have to walk into the street for half a block before they can get back onto the sidewalk.
KETV speaks with Mode Shift Omaha about accessibility issues in Blackstone during construction
By Thursday, our chair, Liz, was back on KETV, this time to talk about our mission and partnership with our friends over at the Blue Bucket Project for Volun-Thursday.
With a pack of volunteers, we picked up SO. MUCH. TRASH.
We focused on the bus stops over near 72nd and Pine.
A lot of people jump off there to head to that Walmart or even the nearby college campus.
If you’ve ever been in that area, you know how messy it can get.
We hope our cleanup can help people have a nicer experience while hopping on and off Metro buses.
Hang with me here, we’re not quite done– I did say we had a busy week.
Come Saturday, we hosted a Parklet in Little Bohemia during a community market with our friends over at Family of Things.
Our goal is to show people the kind of good a community can feel when even one parking space is used for something else.
So, we set up our benches, rolled out the welcome rug, and shared some sparkling beverages with our friends (anyone who walks by is a friend).
SHARE Omaha’s Do Good Days is all wrapped up now, but you can still donate to Mode Shift Omaha to help us keep pushing for transportation equity in Omaha.
Help Mode Shift Omaha keep up the work
Even after all that, we’re still going this upcoming week.
Join us and Mode Shift Omaha member Michael Kolakowski Wednesday, June 1st at 6:30 for a screening of a series of videos from Not Just Bikes.
We’ll have a discussion in between each video and learn about a number of things to help Omaha evolve to the next level:
* City design
* Pedestrian Safety
* Affordable Housing
* Cycling and Pedestrian Infrastructure
It should be a fun event with good people and good discussion.
Details with more information on location are in the facebook event page.