City of Eugene 2012 Eugene Sunday Streets Final Report 2012 Eugene Sunday Streets City of Eugene, 2012 Eugene Sunday Streets Team Hannah Crum, Eugene Sunday Streets Intern, Transportation Planning Team Lindsay Selser, Transportation Options Coordinator, Transportation Planning Team Moorea Strueby, Eugene Sunday Streets Volunteer Coordinator Intern, Transportation Planning Team Larisa Varela, Eugene Sunday Streets Coordinator, Transportation Planning Team Prepared By: Eugene Sunday Streets Team Public Works - Engineering City of Eugene 99 E. Broadway, Suite 400 Eugene, OR 97402 (541)682-5094 [email protected] eugenesundaystreets.org Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Background ................................................................................................................................................... 4 Program Activities and Outcomes ................................................................................................................ 5 Sunday Streets Participants ...................................................................................................................... 5 Community Outreach and Media ............................................................................................................. 5 Physical Activities ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Community Organizing ............................................................................................................................. 7 Business Outreach .................................................................................................................................... 9 Staffing ...................................................................................................................................................... 9 Volunteer Recruitment and Management................................................................................................ 9 Sponsorship and Fundraising .................................................................................................................. 11 Evaluation ................................................................................................................................................... 12 Participant Counts ................................................................................................................................... 12 Post Event Surveys .................................................................................................................................. 12 Survey Results ......................................................................................................................................... 13 Improvements for Next Year .................................................................................................................. 15 Appendices .................................................................................................................................................. 16 2012 Sunday Streets Budget ................................................................................................................... 16 2012 Sunday Streets Poster .................................................................................................................... 16 2012 Sunday Streets Route Map & Activity Schedule ............................................................................ 16 2012 Sunday Streets Door hanger .......................................................................................................... 16 2012 Sunday Streets Print Ad Examples ................................................................................................. 16 1 Introduction Eugene Sunday Streets promotes healthy, active living through a free, annual community event that opens Eugene’s largest public space – its streets – for residents and visitors to bike, walk or roll, experiencing active transportation on a beautiful, sunny, summer day in Oregon. Eugene Sunday Streets is not about taking away streets from cars – the event is about opening streets, showcasing Eugene’s unique neighborhoods while connecting community members, including bicyclists, walkers, runners, seniors, adults and children of all ages enjoying healthy, physical activities on Eugene’s streets and beautiful City parks. Eugene Sunday Streets features different neighborhoods every year on a two-way route of almost three miles, with no start or finish. Eugene Sunday Streets builds community, stimulates the local economy, and represents neighborhoods, business and government investments in Eugene’s vitality, livability and diversity. Eugene has one of the highest bicycle commute mode shares in the country, as well as a number of residents who walk to school or work. There are thriving local business nodes, active neighborhood and business organizations. The City utilizes the opportunity to highlight all of these “Thank you so much for organizing assets during a safe, fun, and increasingly popular this! It is so important for our kids to community event, Eugene Sunday Streets. see people in the community walking, biking and gathering.” Over 3,035 estimated people participated in the 2012 –Anonymous Survey Participant Eugene Sunday Streets - walking, biking and rolling around. In 2011, Eugene joined the national movement to hold Open Streets events across the nation. Eugene Sunday Streets is modeled after Bogata, Columbia’s Ciclovias held every Sunday on 70 miles of streets. There are dozens of Latin American cities that also use their streets for active recreation on Sunday mornings. Eugene Sunday Streets staff have worked with University graduate student researchers and other towns interested in learning more about how to start and implement an Open Streets event in their community. The long term transportation, health and community benefits of Eugene Sunday Streets cannot be overstated. When residents discover how much fun it is to walk, bike, roll, and skate and 2 how easy it is to be physically active at Eugene Sunday Streets, they make a shift in their behavior and are choosing to create the Eugene Sunday Streets experience every day, whether it be walking to a restaurant, riding with their young kids, and/or exercising in the park. In fact, 50% of participants surveyed at the event said they would increase their bicycling or walking activity because of Eugene Sunday Streets. The City of Eugene expanded and improved the 2012 Eugene Sunday Streets in several ways: ● Bike Expo - A Bicycle Expo was added as an activity center along the Sunday Streets route. The bicycle expo featured many of the bicycle-related businesses in the community. Many of these businesses were also sponsors of the event. Focus on Food Businesses on the Sunday Streets Route - The Eugene Sunday Streets activity schedule/event map had a back side that featured the many food-based businesses along the route including restaurants and markets. There are over 16 food service businesses along the 2012 route. Participants were encouraged to support these businesses during the Sunday Streets event. Only one food cart, Crepe Cyclette, was a food cart vendor at the event compared to 5 in 2011. ● Physical Activity Classes – More FREE physical activity classes were added to the event schedule. These classes were provided by a number of local businesses (i.e. dance, yoga, and gymnastics studios) in the community. These classes were well attended, especially yoga. The City of Eugene Transportation Planning Office has organized Eugene Sunday Streets since 2011 with growing participation and reliable media coverage. In 2012, nine articles and blog stories circulated about the 2012 Eugene Sunday Streets event (earned media). Media outlets included the Register Guard, Eugene Weekly, most local television stations, radio stations, area blogs and web postings from constituencies, including Eugene Bicyclist and Eugene A Go-Go. In all, Eugene Sunday Streets purchased 8 ads and attracted at least 8 earned media impressions for the 2012 event. Many more stories in neighborhood and community newsletters are not captured in this accounting. 3 Eugene Sunday Streets was funded this year in large part by business sponsorships and mini- grants. Sponsors include the Oregon Department of Transportation, SELCO Community Credit Union, Eugene Coffee Company and PeaceHealth Hospital. The City of Eugene contributes staff time to organize and implement Eugene Sunday Streets. Background The Open Streets concept is a perfect match for Eugene. It highlights Eugene as a bikeable and walkable city. Small and medium sized cities around the country look to Eugene as an innovative leader experimenting with new ideas. Eugene Sunday Streets is becoming Eugene’s signature walking and biking event of the summer. Active transportation, community spirit, environmentalism, outdoor recreation, public health, and safety interests all benefit the strong partnerships needed to implement the event. Eugene Sunday Streets is described as a “soft” street closure where residents along the route have access to their homes (with a volunteer escort), but all others “My favorite part about Eugene are restricted from driving on the street. This creates a reasonably Sunday Streets was seeing less car-free environment where