Tro Creideamh

Michigan Representatives this past week introduced a brace of bills requiring Complete Streets policies to be adopted by local governments (”Complete Streets Legislation Introduced in Michigan House;” May 7, 2010). HB 6151 would link transportation appropriations to state and local policies that streets accommodate a diversity of users, young and old, able and disabled. HB 6152 would amend the Michigan Planning Enabling Act (33 PA 2008) to require that master plans include consideration of complete street networks. Both bills have been referred to the House Transportation Committee for further review.

The thinking behind Complete Streets is that our transportation networks should focus on more than just cars and trucks. A generation ago, schoolchildren rode their bicycles to neighborhood schools and grandparents took mid-morning walks to the local park. Today, sidewalks to suburban schools are either unsafe or non-existent and seniors with vision or mobility impairments stay home rather than battle streets hostile to pedestrians.

Fifty years of auto-centric transportation and development policy, at all levels of government, has resulted in streets that largely ignore pedestrians, bicyclists, wheelchair and stroller users, the elderly, children, public transit riders, and anyone else who doesn’t (by choice or by necessity) drive a private automobile.

Planning magazine described Complete Streets back in 2005 as:

policies [that] differ from typical bicycle and pedestrian plans in that they are not limited to roads that are part of designated bicycle or pedestrian networks, but [which] cover all roads, or at least all major roads, in the system. The idea is that multimodal corridors would become the default mode – and justification must be given when they are not.

That thinking is incorporated in HB 6151, which allows project-specific exemptions from a complete streets policy, but only after sufficient justification.

Three of every four trips in urban areas cover short distances easily walked or bicycled, if adequate facilities exist. With few options for safe, non-motorized transportation, inactive Americans suffer rising rates of obesity, heart disease, and diabetes. Adopting local policies requiring complete streets can improve public health and safety while fostering a more inclusive community and providing tangible environmental benefits. Driving less and walking more can also lead to cleaner air and water and lower personal transportation costs.

I think that local economies also suffer from reliance on the automobile, as patrons and employees without cars are barred from suburban commercial strips and office parks. Complete streets can support economic revitalization through increased street activity and property values. Coupled with up-to-date development policies that allow for compact, mixed-use development, complete streets could lead to a renaissance of the traditional downtown, with workers, residents, and patrons supporting each other in the local economy.

Complete streets provide equal access and equal mobility for all persons, no matter their ability. I, for one, have already sent a note of thanks and encouragement to my State Representative (who also happens to be a co-sponsor of the two bills and the chair of the Transportation Committee). Won’t you consider taking a couple minutes to do likewise?

I must preface this post by stating that I am in no way an expert on manga; I probably don’t even qualify as an aficionado. I’ve read very little manga in my time, and while I am interested in the medium from a visual standpoint, most manga storylines hold little interest for me.

A few weeks back, an article on the Gospel-as-comic-book came across my feed reader. Basic summary of the article from Christian Today: Manga Messiah is a 300-page retelling of the Gospels from Jesus’ birth to His resurrection. During this past Christmas season, copies of MM were distributed around Japan – a sadly unevangelized nation.

To my limited understanding, manga is a wildly-popular medium throughout Japan, with adults and children alike regularly reading the books. We Americans think of comic books as primarily the domain of children and teens, but I get the impression that manga is to the Japanese as sitcoms or reality shows are to Americans: much of the popular culture is disseminated through the medium and they form the basis of much “water cooler” discussion. I occasionally enjoy Western-style graphic novels (I particularly recall a comic-book Macbeth that I found in the University library while I was in high school), but I’ve not had a chance to see a copy of Manga Messiah.

When looking for more information on Manga Messiah, I came across a review by Manga Life, a seemingly general-purpose site discussing manga of all types. In their review, Manga Life encouragingly suggests that MM is a “very faithful adapation of the four Gospels” but that some of the artistic choices (including the extensive use of color) would likely turn off regular manga readers, relegating the publication to an audience of Christian teens who are already familiar with the Gospel from Sunday School.

While I must reiterate that I have very little understanding of manga culture in Japan, the Manga Life review seems to me very dismissively Western in its approach. In my opinion, they suffer from a lack of vision – while Western audiences may not connect with MM, might this be a way to crack into the decidedly non-Christian culture of Japan? I don’t know how accurately the Gospel message of salvation through Christ is presented in MM, but anything that can penetrate the popular culture of such a lost and globally-influential society as Japan must certainly result in some good.

I am reminded of Paul’s statement in 1 Corinthians 9:22b – “I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.” The Gospel presented as manga is certainly becoming all things to the Japanese people; if by that means the people behind Manga Messiah can save some, I rejoice at the harvest. Now if we could just encourage more television and movies to present Christ…

A recent article published in Newsweek highlighted a phenomenon noted around the world by wildlife researchers: as trophy animals (the ideal specimens of a type) are hunted for sport or food, those that remain are the “weak and scrawny.” Essentially, the observation is that Darwin’s ’survival of the fittest’ gets perverted when a more cunning power (i.e., man) is added to the equation. Decades of “selective hunting – picking out individuals with the best horns or antlers” are resulting in changes to the species, as the less genetically-superior animals are left to propagate future generations. The worst danger is that the “losers tend not to be very good breeders, meaning that this demographic shift ultimately threatens the viability of a species.”

I can see a parallel to the Christian life here. Someone told me once that if Satan is attacking you, you know you’re doing something right. Satan is a cunning hunter, roving about in search of trophies, and he won’t waste his time on a “weak and scrawny” specimen of a ‘Christian’. (Besides, it’s typically easier to round up and overcome the weak ones after the robust individuals are out of the way).

Are we losing our viability for future generations through the strong and mighty succumbing to the tactics of the Devil? Is our culture of tolerance and acceptance, coupled with the wearying effects of an increasingly busy life, resulting in strong Christians becoming easy fodder for Satan’s hunting parties? Are Christians today “weak and scrawny” as a result of our paragons being attacked by Satan?

The call to you today is 1 Peter 5:8-9: “Be sober! Be on the alert! Your adversary the Devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour. Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are being experienced by your brothers in the world.” Stand up and become a target of the Devil, resisting him with all the armor of God and proving a strong example for future generations. We will prevail in the end; our God is bigger than any of the weapons of Satan.

Don’t court the Devil, but be such a strong force for the right side that his resources can’t help but to be diverted away from your weaker brothers and sisters; perhaps that will be just the respite they need to re-fasten their own armor and step up alongside you in the fight for the souls of the world.

Kudu photo by Arno & Louise via Flickr – CC:BY-NC

I was asked yesterday about my philosophy of ‘good planning’. For so long in my professional career, good planning has been a moving target based on whatever an individual client had expressed through their needs and desires. Consulting is a service industry — while we are expected to contribute our professional expertise, ultimately the client pays and the client receives what is paid for.

That said, I’ve not given much thought to my own personal philosophy of what makes for good planning since sometime early on in grad school. The difficulty I find now is separating the basic concept from applications of that concept. To state that I follow the tenets of, say, Smart Growth or New Urbanism is to muddy the waters, I think (especially since applications of planning theory engender strong opinions).

I responded with something along the lines of the following:

Good planning means balancing the activities of daily life (living, working, recreating, shopping) with protection of the natural environment that allows a high quality of life to be maintained.

I’ll revisit this more in the future. What do you think good planning means?