- [Narrator] Live from your public media studios, WVIA presents "Keystone Edition Business", a public affairs program that goes beyond the headlines to address issues in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania.

This is "Keystone Edition Business".

And now, moderator Steve Stumbris.

- Hi, I'm Steve Stumbris.

Think about what you can easily access within walking distance from your home or place of work.

In some places, there might not be much there or it may be difficult to get there on foot.

Now, imagine if you could safely stroll down the street to shop or go grab a bite to eat without ever getting in your car.

More and more communities are trying to become more walkable and bikeable.

We're going to discuss how those changes positively impact people, places, and businesses.

If you have questions, you can email us at keystoneatwvi.org or tag us on social with #keystonebusiness.

But first, Sarah Scinto explains a little bit more about walkability.

(shape swooshing) - [Sarah] Increasing a community's walkability can improve its health, safety, aesthetics, and economy.

Studies show businesses thrive in places where it's easy and safe for people to walk around.

Narrower streets encourage drivers to slow down, which makes it safer for people to walk and cross streets.

Safe sidewalks, bike paths, and shade trees are all key parts of the walkability equation.

Walkable communities boost businesses by drawing in more customers.

And studies show these customers stay longer, which leads to them spending more.

Here are some ways businesses can do their part to contribute to walkability.

Create outdoor seating, green spaces, and inviting aesthetic and bike racks to encourage people to get there in an alternative way and spend some time.

Take part in community events that promote walking like street fairs and markets.

And make sure the sidewalk is well kept and well lit.

Easy access means more people passing by, which increases their awareness of a business and their likelihood to stop by.

This is just the beginning of the walkability conversation.

There's more information on wvi.org.

For "Keystone Edition Business", I'm Sarah Scinto, WVIA News.

(shape swooshing) (bright music) - I'd like to introduce our panelists who are here to share their perspectives on walkability.

First, Derek Williams has been instrumental in Honesdale's walkability efforts as that community's mayor.

Next, Sam Pearson joins us from the Pennsylvania Downtown Center where she leads the Pennsylvania WalkWorks program.

And Leslie Collins is here from Scranton Tomorrow, where a recent walkability study is guiding new initiatives.

Thank you for joining us, Derek, Sam, Leslie.

I'm really looking forward to this conversation.

Have really enjoyed getting to know you and hearing a little bit about what's happening in each of your communities.

So, Sam, with you having the broadest perspective throughout the state in your role with Pennsylvania WalkWorks, we understand the program's goal is to increase walkability, bikeability, and other forms of access in communities.

Why are those things so important?

What are the benefits?

- Well, so interestingly, the WalkWorks program is actually funded by the Department of Health.

The State Department of Health is surprisingly for some interested in people being able to walk, bike, use a wheelchair, access transit in order to get to everyday destinations because that is a way of improving public health.

It can reduce injuries and death from crashes, and it can also reduce the incidents of chronic conditions that arise from sedentary lifestyles.

So, you know, it may sound surprising for some, but it's really all about health.

- That's an amazing collaboration.

How did that come about?

A community facing community development organization partnering with a health organization?

How did those...

They seem naturally that they do go hand in hand, but perhaps didn't initially.

How did that come about?

- That is exactly right.

It was a great opportunity for the Pennsylvania Downtown Center.

The WalkWorks program started out as a collaboration between Department of Health and the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health.

And for several years, they worked together, but they realized in some of their projects that they really were running into issues that had more to do with infrastructure and community design and land use.

And so it really became a natural fit.

When Pitt was not able to continue with that particular opportunity, they turned to the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, and we were thrilled.

So we started working on it a little under three years ago.

- Okay.

And we saw it in the introduction from Sarah and some of the images on screen, some glimpses of downtowns.

What in your mind and what in the work of the Pennsylvania Downtown Center, what are some key characteristics of walkable, bikeable downtown community?

- Well, I mean, they really hit on a number of them.

There's not one recipe, but you're really looking for what we all want to see, what will make us feel safe, what will be accessible to people, especially in wheelchairs or using mobility aids.

What will be inviting, what will make you want to walk?

What will make it more desirable than choosing a different mode?

And we need those sort of characteristics and then we also need connected networks.

We can't just be little isolated sidewalks that are beautiful with street trees.

We need like a network that connects places that we need to go on a regular basis where we go to work, where we go to school, our homes.

Not every home, not every destination has to be connected, but we need to have somewhere to go.

- Leslie, let's talk about how some of the ideas and some of the work that that Sam is referring to are being implemented in Scranton.

We know that Scranton Tomorrow, your organization, and many other community members recently embarked on a walkability study resulting in a plan.

What are some of the biggest things that you learned from that study?

And how did they translate into a plan and what kind of things are happening in Scranton?

- Sure.

So just a little background, back in 2018, Scranton Tomorrow brought Jeff Speck, who is a national, very well recognized urban planner for a lecture at the University of Scranton.

And we anticipated maybe having 50 people at that seminar.

And we were just astounded by the fact that we had, standing room only, 150 people in the audience, and what we anticipated to be urban planners, architects, engineers, you know, governmental leaders, really we did have those individuals, but it was much more of the community.

It was downtown residents.

It was neighborhood individuals, so residents of our adjacent neighborhoods.

And it was small business owners, it was big corporate, you know, CEOs and presidents and staff members.

So we're astounded that really the community was very interested in this concept of walkability.

And so sometimes, you know, maybe years ago, you would think of walkability of just crossing the street.

How can I get across the street safely?

You know, are the crosswalks working?

Are the signals working?

But now, it's a much broader conversation.

So the City of Scranton, which grew out of the meeting that we brought Jeff Speck into, contracted Jeff Speck, and he just released a comprehensive plan for the city of Scranton.

And there are some great issues of addressing barriers, which are things like... And some of our barriers are our greatest assets, quite honestly, where we do have streets that are four lanes.

And now we're talking about bringing them to two lanes, one going each direction.

Making bike lanes and buffered areas where you would have different parking situation, outdoor dining.

So we're seeing a lot of that coming out of the plan.

People are very excited about that.

We're also looking at how you address traffic calming.

And by doing that, you increase economic vitality in your downtown.

You have people that are actually, you know, looking at what is in your downtown and really taking that in rather than going at a high rate of speed through your downtown.

So there are a number of initiatives in the process of really those traffic calming ideas, - Traffic calming.

Talk a little bit more about that, that term, and what kind of benefit a downtown business.

Why should a downtown business have interests in seeing traffic slow down?

- Right.

So I think in years past, we look at, you know, our thorough fares through downtown as more of a speedway.

How do we move vehicles through our downtown at a higher rate of speed?

So we have a number of thoroughfares main streets through our downtown that are four lanes, two going both ways.

So when that happens, you have cars that are competing for speed and competing for parking, and they're really passing by the greatest assets of your downtown, which is your small business community.

So they don't get recognized and you don't really see the street scape elements and all of the great things that are taking place in your downtown.

- Yeah, I'd like to just point out Leslie is exactly right.

There's actually a physiological challenge for a driver and seeing things that are coming at them, depending on the speed that they're driving.

If you're driving between 15 and 20 miles an hour, you can see the street trees, you can see the pedestrians, you can see the businesses, you can see the signs, you know what's going on.

As you go faster, you literally stop being able to see this can be a matter of life and death for the pedestrians who get told they came out of nowhere if they do try to cross the street in front of someone going 30 miles an hour.

But it's also a matter of life and death for businesses who also disappear into nowhere for those same drivers.

So we want the drivers to be part of the town, be sort of welcomed, and maybe think to stop and stay a while.

- Stop.

Let's stay a while.

Derek, I'd like to hear a little bit about your community.

And you used a really evocative phrase when you were running for public office.

Instead you use the term walking for mayor.

Tell us a little bit about that and a little bit about how walking in Honesdale really is important and resonates for you.

- Sure.

Yeah.

So for me, the walking for mayor experience was one of slowing down and being able to talk to people.

The running just didn't quite resonate with me for that speed highway perspective.

And in Honesdale, walkability is an important topic of interest because we've had a lot of great work done in recent years and we're kind of coming off of an investment from a auto-centric design choice made a decade plus ago when our Main Street was turned into one way.

And at that moment, kind of everything changed.

The whole vibe was different, I say.

I've seen some studies of what it was like prior to that where the noted speed limit was in the single digits.

And I just wish we were dealing with that right now because when you have that type of arrangement, it just kinda feels like a highway.

And as we're talking about, you know, traffic calming and redesigns, those things kinda fall right in place.

And we're working on some of that stuff right now with some streets scapes improvements that are coming out of a Downtown Honesdale revitalization plan that the borough's working on with the Greater Honesdale Partnership.

- That revitalization plan, what's in it for... Or tell us about what kind of impacts or changes it hopes to have for residents and for business owners.

How do those go hand in hand in a small community?

- Sure.

Yeah.

Well, you know, I'll piggyback a little bit on something Jeff Speck said in one of his books.

I think he says something like every trip begins and ends with a walk.

So whether you're driving somewhere or not, you gotta walk to get into your vehicle and then you gotta walk to get out of it.

So anything we're talking about downtown affects everybody in that same kinda way.

And then you can kinda work through the different categories of public health, let's say.

You know, we've had, unfortunately, people get hit and killed in town, and we've had a lot of near misses, and we've had people get hit and thankfully survive.

And those basic public safety standards aren't always met, and to the same degree, they are for drivers.

You know, a lot of times, you'll see the onus of safety being on the pedestrian.

You know, you gotta push a button across the street and you gotta be more mindful and you're encouraged to make eye contact with drivers.

And, you know, if you were driving, had to push a button every time you wanted the green light to go, I think it would be a whole different conversation with a lot of folks.

- That actually exists in the Netherlands.

I'm not advocating it everywhere, but, yeah, just look it up.

There are places where there's just such a flow of traffic of people, biking for the most part, and then the drivers come up and press a button, get a chance to cross.

- You've had experience visiting there or?

- Yes.

- And inspiration from some of the transportation modes?

- Indeed.

I have visited the Netherlands.

I've also traveled in other parts of Europe.

And not necessarily always biked but definitely walked.

Walked all over Paris and Germany and Italy.

But the Netherlands is a sort of very special place for biking.

That said, I biked today in Pittston.

I'm in town.

We're working with the city of Pittston right now.

And I was wanting to get a little bit more familiar and so I took advantage of...

It was cold, chilly, but it was a nice day and I got to sort of explore and I also walked, but I got to definitely cover more ground because I was biking - Now.

Go ahead, Leslie.

- So I was going to say there is an interesting concept in Jeff's plan for the city of Scranton regarding pedestrian safety as well as traffic calming.

And what he recommends is removing streetlights and putting four-way stop signs as you would normally have in your neighborhoods where they seem to work very well from his point of view and from the recommendations in his study.

But there has been a lot of discussion on specific streets in downtown that we would be able to assist the city in removing those lights and implementing a four-way stop sign.

- So Derek, I wanna hear more about Honesdale, but I also wanna share something that WVIA did.

They visited another small town and spoke with the mayor there, and the concept of walkability is nothing new to Milford, Pennsylvania.

The mayor of that community in Pike County shares what's happening there and what it means to the people who live there.

(shape swooshing) (bright music) - Walkability is important to a community because it improves the quality of life.

It's safer.

It's good for the commercial district.

It feels almost 19th century but in a wonderful, healthy way.

I'm Sean Strub.

I'm the mayor of Milford, Pennsylvania.

We're a small town and like a lot of small towns, we struggle to maintain a viable commercial center.

And so our thought was if we really enhanced the street scapes and made it more walkable, that it would encourage visitation and support our retail shops.

- My name is Melissa LeFebvre and I am the manager at Cafe Wren.

I was drawn to Cafe Wren because I really wanted to be a part of this community.

I've worked here for a long time and I know a lot of people here and I wanted to have everyone gather in the same space and get to know each other and enjoy a common space.

- [Sean] The major improvements to enhanced Milford's walkability are putting sidewalks where there weren't any.

There was just blacktop putting in curbs where there weren't any.

Making intersections in the sidewalks accessible.

Putting benches around town, you know.

If you have encouraged people to walk, you gotta have somewhere for them to sit down once in a while.

- I think making Milford pedestrian-friendly has been a huge benefit for businesses throughout Milford.

And the addition of, you know, better and new sidewalks or more sidewalks has been a huge help.

- [Sean] It's also improved property values, you know, in the commercial district where we've done a lot of these improvements but also in the residential areas.

And I think resulted in more people who live in the borough just walking around.

- [Melissa] Improvements that I would like to see would be continuing to maintain and upkeep the current sidewalks.

And it's been great.

You know, it's nice.

They're nice and wide and accessible to everyone.

- I measure my quality of life sometimes and how many days I can go without getting into a vehicle.

You walk to the cheese store and walk to the grocery, the post office, you know, wherever it's in town.

And that's a real gift, you know, living in town and being able to walk to things.

(brights music ends) - We just heard from Mayor Strub about not going a number of days without walking.

Before the episode, Sam, you mentioned a challenge or an experience for public officials about walking in their communities.

- So there's a new sort of initiative in the last couple of years.

It originated out of the state of Washington and disability advocates there, but has been taken up by the national organization, America Walks.

And they're promoting what's called Week Without Driving.

And I believe it was the first full week in October.

So also maybe the same week.

Yeah, it was the first full week in October.

So the same week as... You'll also see Walk to School Day and things like that.

And the idea is that they really want to encourage elected officials to think about what would it be like, what would it entail for them to go for an entire week without driving.

And a lot of people in Pennsylvania will be...

I mean, I know Leslie shared she couldn't possibly know.

But think about it, what would it be like if you could not drive?

And there are certainly many people in our communities that cannot drive, whether they are too young, too old, have a disability that prevents them from driving, don't have access to a car or a license, or simply would rather not drive all the time.

What do they resort to?

Are there alternatives?

Are there opportunities for them to still get around?

And I think it sounds like Mayor Strub is already doing this.

It's great.

- It sounds like an amazing way for elected officials to understand the perspectives and the experiences of the people that they represent and serve, - Right, 'cause that number of people that don't drive, we often think, oh, everyone drives, but if you add up the people who don't, it's anywhere from 25 to 40% of the population depending on where you are.

And so how is it we're providing a transportation system that only works for, you know, 60 to 75% of people.

- Examples of that from Honesdale or your own experience of, well, going without driving for some period of time.

- Yeah, yeah.

Well, I spend most of my time not in the car.

The exception of the lovely trip over here to see you all tonight.

(host and panel chuckling) The really great point though to kind of that challenge aspect, so to speak.

You know, had a really great experience last August where I was able to work with a group of teenagers in a summer work program and we did some walking audits about town.

And having that be the focus of the walk was an excellent way to just kind of share the neighborhoods and get a different perspective out of these kids.

And when you're focusing on something like walking, it opens up a whole new aspect.

You know, we were marking off cracks in the sidewalks and things that we thought were obstructions and then we sat for a moment and saw people trying to get by with a stroller or a wheelchair and what we thought wasn't an obstruction was for somebody else.

So that extra perspective, you kinda have to be out there as a first step, just walking around and talk about the existing conditions to really start making some changes.

- It seems like it can be daunting for communities.

They a plan that may have activities and initiatives and goals over many years.

Where do you start?

- Yeah.

- Sounds like that's a way to identify this is happening like right in front of my business or right in front of where I live.

We can start there.

- Having it be personal is an excellent way to start.

And going out from there is kind of something that's helpful to work on from every bit of the spectrum 'cause it is such a daunting problem, like we were talking about earlier to solve.

And in Honesdale, we had a really great planning effort and that came off the back of, you know, 10 years of talking about things like zoning and minimum parking requirements and trying to reimagine how we can leave work in play in our downtowns.

And then when you have a plan, that can lead to identified projects.

Projects can lead the grants.

And now, we're looking at grant funded Riverfront Trail access that's finally starting to swing back around to Main Street in Honesdale.

- So a plan takes funding to implement.

Sam, can you talk about that?

How does a community take those steps and fund those projects?

- Sure.

So I mean there are lots of avenues for funding.

WalkWorks is one of them for funding active transportation plans specifically.

You can also apply.

Some communities just, you know, use existing funds for, you know, municipal, you know, just regular part of their budget going towards planning.

But WalkWorks currently is funding, we are funding actually nine different communities this year to do active transportation plans in different parts of the state.

We're giving them between 20 and $35,000 each.

That, you know, goes a different distance depending on where you are and how much you wanna do.

And some of them are bringing additional funding to that, some are getting funding from their counties, some are getting funding from...

I think some are using ARPA funds, American Rescue Plan funds.

Some are using funding from other health department, like there's a county health department out in Allegheny County that is providing some funding.

And putting together a good package to address what they need.

If you don't mind, I would share where we're working with.

As I mentioned, Pittston, so right here.

We're also working on this side of the state with Easton, Palmer Township just outside of Easton, South Whitehall Township, which is just outside of Allentown.

And then in more or less closer to the western part of the state, we'll be in Southmont Borough outside of Johnstown, Greensburg, the city of Greensburg.

And then all in the Pittsburgh area.

We're working with Churchill Borough, Bethel Park, a municipality outside of Pittsburgh, and South Fayette Township.

So you can see we're not just working with boroughs, we're not just working with cities.

We also work with townships.

We work with suburban areas.

We work with rural areas.

We really wanna see any community, you know, just start taking this on.

Everyone has transportation needs.

Everyone has active transportation needs.

- What an amazing reach you and your program and your colleagues have.

Thanks for sharing that.

And great resources.

Of course, reminder for viewers, wvi.org, "Keystone Edition Business" has links and has more resources for you to dig into.

Leslie, let's talk a little bit about at a larger community in the city of Scranton.

What are some examples that are currently underway?

Are there particular projects, particular neighborhoods, things that you're proud of or excited that they're on the cusp of happening?

- Sure.

So related to the walkability, Scranton Tomorrow in partnership with the city of Scranton and Lackawanna County are near completion of a Pocket Park And that is in the middle of our downtown.

It's near a gateway and it has been a very underutilized area.

So it's a beautiful green space.

We're inches away from it being complete.

It's been a long process, but we're hoping that that really will also help to the walkability factor, the health and wellness factor as well.

And that we'll have programming for health and wellness.

And that that will get people moving and connecting in a different way in the downtown.

Another project that's very exciting in the downtown that's been taking place and really expanding over the last few years is downtown residential living.

So we are becoming a downtown neighborhood.

And so there's a lot of changes that go along with that and what are the amenities.

So we're doing some feasibility studies right now on what are the amenities that are needed to sustain downtown living and to expand upon that.

And that also enters into that whole conversation of pedestrian walking and how do they connect with other people within the community and into their, you know, adjacent neighborhoods and bring people into now what they call their neighborhood.

So there's a lot of exciting projects.

And then there's gateways into the city.

United Neighborhood Centers is currently working on what we call the Pine Brook section, which there's really no delineation between downtown and this area, but we're calling it an adjacent neighborhood.

And they are doing an entire revitalization through the Elm Street program.

And so there's a lot of synergy and connectivity and how do we bring those people from their neighborhood into the downtown neighborhood.

- Thank you very much, Leslie, and thank you, Sam.

Thank you, Derek, for being panelists today.

Really appreciate all that you shared and the resources that you are bringing to your communities and throughout the Commonwealth.

For more information on this topic, walkability and bikeability, and improve transportation access to our communities, please visit wvia.org/keystonebusiness.

And remember, you can re-watch this episode on demand anytime online or on the WVIA app.

For "Keystone Edition", I'm Steve Stumbris.

Thanks for watching.

(gentle upbeat music)