Tag: PPPM University of Oregon

A Clearer Parking Picture for Ashland

Posted on by Julia Havens

CPW Community Planning Workshop Ashland Sustainable TransportationMy Community Planning Workshop (CPW) team will be working on a variety of issues relating to parking, transportation, and the downtown area for the City of Ashland. There are a number of important aspects to the project, including data collection, analysis and public engagement.

A parking and transportation inventory has already been conducted for downtown Ashland over Labor Day weekend to determine the amount of parking spaces available, as well as turnover (the rate at which different cars park in the same spot). To compliment data collection efforts, we will visit Ashland on April 9 to conduct another parking monitoring session. The study will focus on occupancy analysis, meaning percent of the day the parking spaces are occupied. We will walk around the downtown area taking note of occupancy, and come back every two hours to note changes. Analyzing this parking data will provide a clearer picture for the parking problems in Ashland.

In terms of public engagement, the CPW group will be meeting monthly with a project advisory committee (PAC), as well as engaging the community through online surveys. The first survey was made available to the Ashland community in January and was kept open until mid-February. Perceptions about transportation, parking, downtown biking and pedestrian facilities, and the characteristics of the respondents were all gathered in the first survey. My team will create the second survey, which will focus on policy options for problems identified in the first survey. The purpose of the surveys is to gauge perceptions towards parking and transportation issues, and begin brainstorming policy options.

Once all data has been collected and analyzed, and the feedback incorporated, we will create a series of policy recommendations. These recommendations will range from short, mid, to long-term options. They will then be presented to the PAC for further evaluation.

The completion of this project will provide us in-depth experience in the planning field, while also letting us creating a product of professional quality.

 

Nestor Luis Guevara Delgado CPW Community Planning Workshop Ashland Sustainable Transportation About the Author: Originally from Puerto Rico, Nestor Luis Guevara Delgado moved to Pennsylvania for school and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Geography from Pennsylvania State University in December 2012. He is currently a first year student in the Community and Regional Planning graduate program with an interest in Economic Development.

Meet CPW GTF: Jay Breslow

Posted on by Julia Havens

Jay Breslow GTF CPW Community Planning Workshop Connected Lane County AspirationsWhat is your name? Jay Zuelke Breslow

Favorite word? My favorite word is onomatopoeia (it just took me three tries to spell it correctly though).

Where were you born and where do you call home? I was born in Bend, Oregon, grew up as a small child in Red Bank, New Jersey and spent my other formative years in Hillsboro, Oregon. Currently Eugene is my home as I recently realized that I have lived here for more of my life than any other place.

Something fun you like to do? During the Summer I am a Whitewater Rafting Guide. I got into rafting during graduate school in 2005. I was working on a Master’s degree in School Counseling and it seemed like a good idea to have something to do with my summer times. I have been guiding and running rivers ever since.

In which graduate program are you enrolled? I am currently enrolled in a Doctoral program in Education Studies. I am in the Critical and Sociocultural Studies in Education program specializing in Creativity Studies.

What project are you working on for the Community Planning Workshop? As a GTF with the Community Planning Workshop, I am currently coordinating the Middle-High Bridge listening session project. Our client is a group called Connected Lane County. I am coordinating and facilitating a series of listening sessions with middle school aged youth regarding their post-secondary aspirations. (Connected Lane County Aspirations Project)

What are some of the project outcomes you hope to gain that will assist you professionally? I hope to become a more skilled facilitator, specifically in designing and facilitating discussions that are engaging and productive both for the youth and for the adults charged with their education and care. I hope to learn from the youth of their aspirations whether those are to go to college or towards some other goal. The information gathered from this work will help inform the way schools structure their support for students as they progress towards graduation.

How does your involvement with the Community Planning Workshop relate to or inform your education? I have been lucky to be a part of the CSC. As a departmental outsider I have gained valuable experience as a student in project-based learning environments. In my time in the Community Planning Workshop, I gained valuable experience as a member of a student-directed team, working on a project that I had very little experience in (that being good stewardship of the McKenzie River). As a teacher, I have been part of structuring project-based learning opportunities for my students but I had never participated in one as a student. This perspective in valuable in that I came to understand various approaches to leadership, the power of a steep learning curve, and the importance of group communication.

What is your favorite quote?  “An optimist isn’t necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places–and there are so many–where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.”   — Howard Zinn

What advice would you give to your ‘younger’ self just beginning as a graduate student? I would tell myself to hold the goals that I have for myself in mind as I work through the program. It is easy to get lost in the academic shuffle and lose focus of your original intent. Every book or article you read and every paper you write should bring you towards a more complete understanding of what and how you want to be as a professional.