Tag: Alex Page

Meet CPW GTF: Alex Page

Posted on by Julia Havens

Name:  James Alexander PageJames Alexander Page Community Planning Workshop GTF University of Oregon
Alias:  Alex

Where were you born and where do you call home?
I was born in Santa Cruz, CA. I still call Santa Cruz my home—much of my family still lives there. But I lived in San Francisco for years, so it’s sort of easier and truer to myself to say the Bay Area.

What would I find in your refrigerator right now?
Tortillas, pickled jalapenos, a big block of cheddar and leftover cranberry-
horseradish relish. 

In which graduate program are you enrolled? Area of concentration? 
I’m earning a master’s degree in Community and Regional Planning. My focus is on sustainable transportation.

What Community Service Center program(s) are you working with?  
I’m working with the Community Planning Workshop (CPW) to monitor parking and transportation mode splits for the Matthew Knight Arena. It’s part of a conditional use permit to evaluate the impacts of games and events on the neighborhood. I’m also assessing consumption and demand for locally-produced foods for the Willamette Food and Farm Coalition. We’re developing indicators and acquiring the metrics to understand if local food consumption is rising, and to get a clear picture of why. 

What are some of the outcomes you hope to gain when your project ends?
I hope that working with the Matthew Knight Arena will give me some transferable skills around transportation planning and to better understand the habits, incentives, and politics around sustainable transportation options.

How does your involvement with the Community Service Center relate to or inform your education?
How doesn’t it? I believe that transportation and land use are intertwined and that increasing density can make cities more livable for urban populations. I want to see more transportation options for communities because the current paradigm of automotive culture is killing us, socially and physically. My work with the Matthew Knight Arena studies these ideas and should help inform me about behaviors and barriers in regard to sustainable transportation.

What advice would you give to your younger self just beginning the CSC program?
Advice will only get you so far. Experience is worth its weight in gold, so strap in and learn through your successes and failures.

Sleep in or get up early? 
Well that depends on a lot of factors, and I’m not about to get into the specifics. But generally, I burn the candle at both ends.

Riparian Ordinances by Alex Page

Posted on by Admin

Riparian Ordinances by Alex Page

Through my team’s project in the Community Planning Workshop, we have been exploring options for small communities in Oregon to meet the state and federal water quality standards. When a waterway is declared “impaired” by the Environmental Protection Agency, each watershed basin creates a plan to reduce the pollution in that waterway. The simple, effective solution is a riparian ordinance, which many towns have implemented, such as Medford, Eugene, Albany, Harrisburg, Lebanon, and Sweet Home. Misperceptions of this approach can often make it politically volatile though.

So, what is a riparian ordinance, really? Well, it’s a regulatory approach at the local level to limit future development along the waterway. The purpose of a riparian ordinance can vary, but most are designed to protect and restore the natural ecology, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, improve filtration of pollution runoff, increase property values, and meet the goals of state and federal regulatory agencies. But an ordinance allows for hardship variances, grandfathers in development, and does not take property from private individuals.

Water is a crucial resource. While we are slowly learning that we cannot control nature, community planners must work with our environment to reduce our impacts and build sustainable communities, not for us, but for our grandchildren. Riparian ordinances are an excellent tool to use when feasible.

More about the Community Planning Workshop(CPW)