MUST LISTEN - Today's High Noon in Lake Worth show with Jeff Speck - City Planner and Urban Designer

Note: 2/28 - No live show today. Instead, I encourage you to listen to this show from December of 2013. Mr. Speck is an urban planner and walkability specialist that has since been hired to do more work for downtown West Palm Beach. We talked about many issues, including the one-way pair of streets that Lake Worth has as its downtown main streets. We will be back with a live show next week.

Jeff Speck, who has given a TED talk on walkability and has a book out on the same topic, was my guest on today's show. He was also brought in recently by the City of West Palm Beach for advice on the walkability of their urban area and will apparently be back in the future to consult with them. Why you must listen to the show, and the reason Mr. Speck took time out of his busy schedule, is that while considering whether or not to do the show, he looked at Lake Worth through the eyes of Google Maps. In doing so, he discovered that we have a pair of one-way streets through the downtown. It was then that he decided to be on the show. He had something he thought important to share with us.

I started out by wanting to talk about Dixie Hwy, my experience with PalmTran's route #1 yesterday and how we can make Dixie Hwy a more walkable, enjoyable experience. He acknowledged that was a challenge, but then quickly focused on the fact that we have a pair of one-way roads in our downtown. He strongly suggested that is likely making our downtown easier to drive through than to walk in or less likely to attract people. And he cited many real-world examples of why this might be the case. That is the reason to listen to this show (click title for link to the archived version).

I explained that this is counter to the conventional wisdom people have here: This one-way pair is one of the things that ISN'T broken in Lake Worth. I also mentioned how FDOT came through fifteen years ago and got rid of one of the three lanes in each direction and added parking on both sides. We also don't have bike lanes on either street. And I also told him about the issue with FDOT right-of-way and getting our sidewalk seating to comply with those requirements.

He was fairly adamant that turning those one-way streets back to two-way would encourage retail and pedestrian activity in our downtown. We talked about how Clematis was turned from a one-way to a two-way flow about 20 years ago and how that started that street's turn-around. Mr. Speck has worked with Raphael Clemente of the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority and is also a former High Noon in Lake Worth guest.

So, it is worth a listen to be sure. Should we add this to our list of improvements as part of the Lake Worth 2020 Plan? He made it seem like the switch might not break the bank. He also didn't have much good to say about FDOT, period. However, things may be improving there too.