On New Year’s Eve 2011, I moved to a mixed-use neighborhood one-and-a-half miles from downtown Austin, Texas.
I was living car-free and got around by carpooling and walking. This was very different from Washington D.C., where I had previously lived and used the public transit system almost daily. I was excited by the move and, in typical fashion, I walked to get to know my new surroundings.
Very soon I found that Austin wasn’t as walkable as I remembered from my previous short-trip visits. I somehow overlooked the lack of infrastructure and ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) accessibility. It didn’t cross my mind until February 2012, when I began walking the one mile to and from work every day along West 5th Street, which has a freeway exit with heavy traffic, a bike lane, bus stops, unsafe intersections for pedestrians, and missing sidewalks. I decided to find out how I could make my walk more pedestrian-friendly as I too felt unsafe.
Why? I love the car-free lifestyle and wanted others to reap the benefits. In my five car-free years, I benefitted greatly from it, by losing 10 pounds, clearing my head with daily walks, an improved quality of life, and the financial rewards that accompany not having a car.
And so my quest began. Although I lacked working knowledge of transportation and had just moved to Austin, I was passionate and ambitious to take on the task of making the city more walkable and promoting the car-free lifestyle.
From February through August, I made a lot of traction by spending at least two hours a day either meeting community members or researching walkability, including contacting the City of Austin (CoA) Public Works Department, completing 3-1-1 service requests, and following up with the requests. I also found out if and when these requests would be worked on according to the City of Austin Sidewalk Master Plan. I learned that it wasn’t a high priority. My knowledge increased, and so too did my growing network of 100+ local stakeholders. By August, I came to know many CoA employees in planning, public works, and transportation.
One day, a CoA planning employee (who was also car-free) followed-up with me on a particular request and, as we chatted, I realized that World Carfree Day (WCFD) hadn’t yet been held in Austin. We thought it would be great to have one in 2012, but it was six weeks away from the official WCFD date – September 22nd – and seemed like a big undertaking.
The following day, I contacted friends in South Florida and Austin and, understandably, they hadn’t heard of WCFD either. I thought it would be fun to have WCFD and decided to organize it in Austin. I learned a great deal in a few weeks, including how to:
- manage a zero budget
- do successful social media
- help create a name and logo for CarFreeDayATX (see above artwork)
- help create a website
- put on a marketing campaign
- enlist a co-organizer
- partner with others
- get donations for car-free and car-lite pledgers
- achieve an Austin City Council Proclamation
- find a support team in Austin, and
- get D.C. support from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG).
We marked our calendars and said that we would organize another CFDATX in 2013. I was very proud of our efforts and the collaboration between multiple groups.
Fast forward to present day. I now live in D.C. and attend MWCOG steering committee meetings to familiarize myself with their planning efforts. MWCOG has been planning and budgeting for the Carfree Day DC metro website since 2008 and kept the agenda items online. This information makes it much easier for other U.S. cities to participate and organize – including Austin.
I would really like for Austin to participate again, so I began following up by email and tweeting Austin transit agency employees and others who helped me in 2012. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet confirmed that Austin’s government can lead and fund another WCFD.
I hope by writing this blog that more U.S. cities will participate and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) will lead the charge in Austin and Central Texas. I have helped organize and plan other unfunded grassroots efforts in Austin since then and will share more information about those with you in future blogs.
Helpful links: DC Metro area event re-cap from 2012, Carfree Day Steering Committee Past Documents, and MWCOG WCFD budget.
Photos by roaming-the-planet and Jessica Tunon