Active Living Hennepin County - Brooklyn Center Initiative November 17, 2014 - Meeting of Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth 5:00 p.m - 7:00 p.m, Brookdale Library Present: Youth Council members including Tamira, Arianna, Roanna, Jessie, Dannie (U of M), Ray, Martha, Doo, Barron, Alec, Joan, Lua, Terrin and Anthony; Kelsey Schuster - Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth, Bryan - Anoka Hennepin School District; Jim - City of Brooklyn Center; Sam - Brooklyn Center Police Department; Audrey - University of Minnesota; Lin - Brooklyn Center City Council and Rich - Brooklyn Center City Council, and Project Team members Andrew Hogg - Brooklyn Center Engineering; DJ Forbes- Hennepin County; Antonio Rosell, Sierra Saunders - Community Design Group (CDG). Overview The Brooklyn Center Active Living Project Team was invited to participate in a conversation with members of the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance for Youth (http://brooklynsallianceforyouth.org/) at their regular meeting of November 17, 2014. The meeting took place at the Hennepin County Brookdale Library, located in Brooklyn Center. A brief presentation was followed by an interactive conversation facilitated by the Project Team. Approximately twenty student members of the Youth Council were present and offered many comments and ideas responding to their experiences residing and traveling in and around the city. Approximately one hour was available for the activities. Notes Introduction to the Project Andrew Hogg provided a brief project introduction. Antonio Rosell provided an overview of: Project partners, including Cycles For Change Description of the project Pilot projects for Active Living - descriptions included: Park(ing) Day Open Streets - no students had attended Open Streets Paint the Pavement Chalk painted cycletrack on Payne Avenue in Saint Paul Pop-Up protected lane - the group was not familiar with the idea of protected bike lanes, they are familiar with on-street bike lanes Traffic Circles - several students were familiar with traffic circles Brooklyn Center Active Living Project Page 1 of 5
Facilitated conversation Questions for the Brooklyn Bridge Alliance Youth Council Five main questions were presented to participants as part of the facilitated conversation. Additional followup questions were included in the course of discussion. Responses to the main questions and the followup questions are included in the narrative provided below. The five main questions were: 1) How do you get around Brooklyn Center today? 2) Is it easy or difficult? Can you conveniently get to the places you want to go? 3) How do you wish things were in the city? What would you change? What would you make different? 4) What would be a first step for improving Brooklyn Center that you would recommend? 5) How would you like to be involved in that first improvement? Q1: How do you get around Brooklyn Center and Brooklyn Park today? By city bus - and use mobile phone to access schedules (1 student) How many students drive? Eight students said that driving a car was their primary form of transportation. Why do you drive? Because of weather and the distance between destinations. Others said they walked and rollerbladed in summer. Bike: wide spaces. There feels like there is enough space between cars and walking (on sidewalk / on shoulder (unspecified)) Bike to meet friends and go to school, but not during winter months. Another student: walks to school and around the neighborhood, and parent drives them during winter. Q2: Is it easy or difficult? Can you conveniently get to places you want to go? Thoughts on driving: Negative aspects: cost, and concerns when it s icy. Positive aspects: convenient, and feels safe. Thoughts on transit: Negative aspects: it s hard, is often late, if you don t know where you re going it s difficult and there are concerns about crime and safety. Many people have experienced crime at the transit center and on the bus. Bus lines that feel unsafe are the 5M (often packed), the 724 and the 9. Thoughts on biking: Positive aspects: feels safe, there are many ways to get places. It s fun. You can take the parkway or the streets. There are many destinations. Lots of parks near each other. There are choices for routes. Lots of people bike during summer. Thoughts on walking: Brooklyn Center Active Living Project Page 2 of 5
One is more likely to drive if they are traveling out of the city and walk if traveling within Brooklyn Center. What is the experience walking? One participant shared: Walk to work at the library (live on 85th). Cars stop for you ( I jaywalk ). Feel pretty safe. Not too long of a wait (have to wait 1 or 2 lights). Generally walk through summer or fall (except after a stabbing, then I got a ride - many others changed their behavior after that too). In the summer it feels safe to walk together to meet friends. People meet at school, the firehouse and parks. Perception of safety depends on the area. South of 85th not as safe, Regent not a great area. Zane feels safer near Central Park. Quick Stop not a good place to be in BP. How about in the winter? Options are limited. You go fewer places, do less. Have to find rides, and it s harder to find rides too. You can go places, but you don t enjoy the go. Q3: How do you wish things were in the city? What would you change? What would you make different? Brooklyn Boulevard - Why can t all streets be this nice? The street looks polished, has green medians, and the lights look nice. Other business hubs don t feel as nice. The streets. In the summer it s hard. There s lots of potholes - the roads are bumpy and it limits the route options on rollerblades. On the edges of the city there are no curbs or sidewalk, and the roads tend to be less maintained. Side streets in the neighborhoods are the trouble. The Brookdale Drive sidewalk zig-zags so you have to repeatedly cross the street to stay on the sidewalk and jaywalk to reach sidewalk continuation. Camden Street doesn t have sidewalks, and people run there a lot. Named streets don t have sidewalks, but numbered streets do (in some areas). Trail amenities - drinking fountains are old, look/feel gross and don t work. There are some stores that are family friendly, and then there s Quick Stop. Can go to Walgreens and Dairy Queen. Crossing to Dairy Queen is hard. Quick Stop is a place to avoid. Someone got hit there. People don t use the crosswalks - they just run. I d put more plants outside, flowers and trees. Speaking as a driver: it is frustrating when bicyclists ride in the street when there are obvious trails nearby. Q4: What would be a first step for improving Brooklyn Center that you would recommend? Brooklyn Center Active Living Project Page 3 of 5
More stuff to do so that we actually have places to go within Brooklyn Center. Then it would be closer and easier to walk or bike to our destinations. Destinations in Brooklyn Center are fast food restaurants. To attract youth: Evergreen Park used to feel really exciting. Now it feels like people don t care about it. It feels like it needs to be redone or edited. There is a basketball court, and all kinds of facilities that could attract families and people outside to the park. The grass is dying, the swings are old. It need to be improved and have activities. There aren t destinations nearby to entice people to stay here. People go to the Rosedale Mall, MOA, and others. What would you do to improve the transit center? There are a lot of bystanders to crime. Cameras Anonymous tip line (would have to be anonymous) Cops assigned there Q5: How would you like to be involved in the first improvement? Volunteering to tell people about events Pass out pamphlets Planting greenery Students have required volunteer hours Advertising, make it a community event We could try an Open Streets on Zane Avenue 75th and Xerxes is a busy intersection. Do something at that intersection to calm it down. Gather group of youth (larger group) to figure out what they want so that we aren t just building a solution based on what we think people want, but from what we know people want. Reach out to youth on a broader scale - Another student: we already did that with the DATA survey Data Survey results [what young people in Brooklyn Center / Brooklyn Park want]: Music Community sports Community leagues Presentation team (within Youth League) could share information I like the broad questions we re being asked Any questions for the Project Team? Where did you get the funding to do this project? Funding is from the State of MN through the MN Department of Health (SHIP). Brooklyn Center Active Living Project Page 4 of 5
From a student: If end up partnering, we could bring the idea to Youth Day at the Capitol and say this is what we did with this money and talk to legislatures about funding more options. ### Brooklyn Center Active Living Project Page 5 of 5