FEATURED IN TROPIC MAGAZINE

PROUD TO CO-AUTHOR AN ADVOCACY PIECE FOR COMPLETE STREETS

PlusUrbia Design authored feature story on complete streets published by Tropic Magazine.

It's on Florida news stands now.

To read online, visit the website below and toggle to page 62:

http://tropicmagazine.uberflip.com/i/632751-tropic-feb16-emag

Please share with everyone you know who values pedestrian safety and better urban corridors that will take cars off the road with better transit, bike lanes and walkability.

WE ALL DESERVE A BETTER CALLE OCHO

MORE THAN 100 INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE AGREE THAT CALLE 8 SHOULD BE 2-WAY

MIAMI – More than 100 Little Havana stakeholders crowded into the Futurama gallery space to share a vision for a better Calle Ocho during an open forum Saturday Oct. 17. A diverse group of urban and transportation design experts worked interactively with the audience to empower the growing grass roots movement for calmed traffic and a better pedestrian experience on SW 7th and SW 8th streets.

FDOT will soon launch a $2 million study to redesign SW 8th and SW 7th streets, between SW 27th and Brickell avenues as well as their interchange with I‐95. The overwhelming opinion of those in attendance, inlcuding three elected officials, is that Calle Ocho and SW 7th must be Complete Streets
that serve pedestrians, cyclists and public transit equally with automobiles.

Residents, merchants, investors, artists, visitors and more came together to look and renderings that do away with the dangerous, three‐lane, one‐way traffic that exists on present day “Highway Ocho.”

Carlos Cruz‐Casas, PE, Transportation Strategic Planning Group, Miami‐Dade County Transit, spoke of a vision for “livable transportation” that serves pedestrians, bikes and transit – not soley autmobiles.

County Commissioners Bruno Barreiro and Xavier Suarez and City Commissioner Francis Suarez pledged to champion the cause of calmed traffic, wider sidewalks and economic prosperity for SW 7th‐8th streets.

“This meeting is an historic turning point for Calle Ocho and Little Havana. From elected leaders to artists to everyday residents, this brought together more than 100 people who will work with thousands of their neighborhoods to transform Calle Ocho and SW 7th into complete streets that are safe, vibrant and walkable,” Juan Mullerat, APA, AIA Assoc., Plus Urbia Design principal and resident of Shenandoah.

POLITICAL LEADERSHIP CAN CREATE A BETTER CALLE OCHO FOR ALL

MY CALLE 8

As Communications Manager for PlusUrbia Design, I had the pleasure of organizing an incredibly successful community forum to create a vision for Calle Ocho in the heart of Little Havana.

Several elected officials attended and spoke.  Others, who were traveling or had conflicting commitments, sent representatives and have pledged their support.

For far too long, Calle 8 has really been Highway Ocho, a dangerous, three-lane, one-way speedway into downtown Miami.  It serves commuters, not the neighborhood.  It acts as if there is nothing worth slowing down for to enjoy in Little Havana.  The defacto highway ignores all the adaptive re-use, all the great local shops, restaurants, bars, cultural centers and more.

Present day Calle Ocho, and its twin SW 7th Street with three lanes of dangerous one-way traffic westbound to the suburbs, favors cars over humans. Economic prosperity, despite all the authenticity that draws 3 million visitors per year, will not return to Calle 8 until it is redesigned as a complete street.

Tomorrow, I will post a press write up about the event.  We hope you can forward this to other people in greater Miami who want Calle 8 to be as calmed and fun to walk along as Miracle Mile.

It might require the City of Miami taking responsibility for the core SW 7th and SW 8th Streets from FDOT, once the state agency has designed and made pedestrian-featured improvements.

HELP US CREATE A BETTER CALLE OCHO

TOGETHER, WE CAN CREATE A VISION OF CALMED 2-WAY TRAFFIC, WIDE SIDEWALKS, SAFE CROSSINGS, BETTER TRANSIT LANES, BIKE LANES, VIBRANCY AND ECONOMIC PROSPERITY FOR LITTLE HAVANA'S MAIN STREET

A diverse group of urban and transportation design experts will make brief presentations, then the audience will have the opportunity to share its vision for calmed traffic and a better pedestrian experience on SW 7th and SW 8th streets.

Speakers include:
Bill Fuller, Barlington Group principal and founder of the Little Havana Merchants Alliance
Juan Mullerat, APA, AIA Assoc., Plus Urbia Design principal and resident of Shenandoah
Carlos Cruz-Casas, PE, Transportation Strategic Planning Group, Miami-Dade County Transit
Francisco Garcia, Director of the Planning and Zoning Department, City of Miami
Cesar Garcia-Pons, Leed AP, Associate Principal at Perkins+Will, will serve as moderator

FDOT will soon launch at $2 million study to redesign SW 8th and SW 7th streets, between SW 27th and Brickell avenues as well as their interchange with I-95. This inclusive forum gives a voice to residents, merchants and visitors.

We want to visualize complete streets that serve pedestrians, cyclists and public transit equally with automobiles.

SATURDAY OCTOBER 17, 10 A.M.-NOON
FUTURAMA - 1637 Calle Ocho, Little Havana

Light refreshments provided by Toasted Bagelry & Deli