Grimes County is facing growth pressures due to the expansion of Highway 249 and the proposed high speed rail. This plan articulates community priorities and values, presents case studies, and reveals existing conditions–current road functional classification hierarchy, paving surface types, traffic accidents, traffic volumes, a land suitability analysis, and analysis of Highway 249. Based on […]
Focus Area: Equity
Infrastructure for Sustainable Commuting at Hartnell College and CSUMB
For the Salinas Sustainable City Year project, we are interested in modeling how a road diet would affect pedestrian safety and traffic along crosswalks on the Hartnell side of West Alisal Street. We have a rough idea that the main stakeholders involved would be students and staff from Hartnell College and W. Alisal St. residents. […]
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Salinas Road Diet – W. Alisal
For the Salinas Sustainable City Year Project, we believe that converting the road into two one-way lanes with bike lanes on each side would positively influence alternative modes of transportation such as using the bus, riding a bike, or carpooling. The main stakeholders would be students and staff from Hartnell College along with residents on […]
Booth-Kelly Mixed-Use District
Graduate and undergraduate architecture students in Professor Brook Muller’s terminal studio during winter and spring terms of 2012 examined potential redevelopment scenarios for the Booth-Kelly site, located in downtown Springfield. The city anticipated redevelopment concepts and guidelines developed as part of the studio could potentially be adopted into the Downtown Refinement Plan and implemented in […]
Exploring Homelessness and Housing Insecurity – Sociological Research Methods
Graduate sociology students study the issue of homelessness and housing insecurity in the city of Chelsea through a literature review, series of interviews with service providers, an ethnographic study, and Census data analysis. Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner. MetroBridge Projects Contact Info University Faculty Contact Jessica Simes Sociology simes@bu.edu […]
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Public Administration Capstone
Graduate students are designing and implementing the process of gathering and analyzing data related to the temporary redesign of Court Street to assess pedestrian and bicycle usage. Read the final student report delivered to the local gov/community partner. Vital Communities Initiative Contact Info University Faculty Contact Shannon Orr Corrdinator, MPA Local Government / Community Contact […]
Food Truck Program
Food trucks have become increasingly popular in recent years and can be complicated from a regulatory standpoint (vehicles and food services establishments). The city is interested in evaluating and developing citywide food truck best practices. This program would include any nuanced differences between centers (Downtown, Crossroads, Factoria) as well as special events. Development of best […]
Environmental Benefits of Implementing Rain Barrels in Seaside, California
For our project, we hoped to educate the public on the environmental and economical advantages of installing rain barrels in their homes. We aimed to do this by contacting employees from the City of Seaside in order to receive feedback and guidance for our project. We initially contacted Rick Riedl, Seaside’s Public Works Director and […]
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Preventable Causes of Structure Fire Awareness & Education
Focus awareness and education efforts to preclude fires that are easily preventable, focusing on the most effective methods that capture citizens’ attention and prompt them to take action. Review of our data about structure fires and identify the preventable causes and focus education and awareness efforts, based on cause and locations. Also identify the most […]
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Addressing Food Deserts in Green County
Food and nutrition insecurity impact people across the world, including populations in both urban and rural areas of the United States. Food insecurity and its dimensions – access, availability, utilization and stability – often impact low-income, minority, or geographically isolated populations. Yet the issue remains invisible due to the distance many people have from this […]