College of Business Administration

GROUP MEMBERS:

Karen Cipolla
Chris Clark
Kimberly McKeon
Scott Robinson
Jim Rondestvedt

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:

Overview of the Organization

The Uptown Partnership was established in March 1999 as a public benefit nonprofit corporation and is contracted by the City of San Diego to manage the Uptown Parking District. Through this contract the Uptown Partnership receives a portion of meter revenue collected in the urban neighborhoods of San Diego to address parking shortages, traffic congestion and pedestrian mobility in Bankers Hill, Hillcrest, Mission Hills, and Park West.

Since the Partnership started collecting meter revenue funds the organization has embarked on many different programs that aid in the renaissance of Uptown. One of those programs is Feet First, a pedestrian mobility program that promotes healthy aspects of walking and improvements to the pedestrian environment, as well as advocates for walkable communities and pedestrian safety in the Uptown area. The Feet First initiative is a collaboration of the Uptown Partnership and WalkSanDiego, a local pedestrian advocacy group. The Uptown Partnership wants to further develop their walkable communities by advocating for pedestrian safety and improvements to the pedestrian environment. Our ultimate goal is to make walking a desirable and reasonable alternative to using a vehicle for short distance traveling within urban neighborhoods. Our motto is “We’re walking Uptown – Just for the Health of It!”

Mission of the Project

The mission of our social change project was to work with Uptown Partnership in the Feet First campaign. Our main tasks included: (1) researching pedestrian activity, motorist/mass transit and the emotional level, (2) compiling the research and creating three different surveys, (3) surveying attendees of the First Annual “Feet First” Walking, Health and Fitness Fair, (4) compiling the results, and (5) making recommendations to increase the effectiveness of the “Feet First” campaign. The surveys accomplished the following objectives: (1) to determine the amount information that people know about pedestrian safety, (2) to determine what motivates or prevents a person to walk to their destination versus driving, and (3) to determine what changes need to take place to increase pedestrian activity and safety.

Result Conclusions and Recommendations

After assessing the data collected, several areas of recommendations were considered. First and foremost, it is obvious that there is a great potential to expand the ‘walkable” communities efforts to create pedestrian-safe neighborhoods. From the fifty-eight people surveyed, a total of twenty-four different locations were suggested as “favorite places to walk”. These locations varied from the Coast to East County. Unfortunately, it appears that overwhelming reasons for people to choose to drive instead of walk to a desired location is because of distance and time constraints. For a majority of San Diego County, walking cannot even be considered as an optional form of transportation. This factor should only increase the efforts to promote “walkable” communities in neighborhoods, such as the Uptown Communities, that are already easily accessible to pedestrians.

Other areas covered include: health and fitness/exercise aspects, attitude variations according to day and night factors, safety concerns of pedestrian crosswalks at traffic signals, awareness of pedestrian safety laws, statistics concerning pedestrian/motor vehicle related injuries and fatalities, and the implementation of state laws.

Overall recommendations include a definite expansion and continuation of our test surveys. The communities that were proven to have great potential to become pedestrian-friendly should be a priority and efforts centralized and concentrated on those members. However, it is essential for accurate and well-balanced test results to include those areas that are less likely to become “walkable communities” also. Test market demographics should be expanded to include a wider range of variables. It may be more influential to survey younger drivers now, earlier while they are still learning and adapting to the “Rules of the Road”. Encouraging and validating pedestrian safety now may influence them for when they are older and able to influence even younger generations.

Social and Ethical Implications

The Social Contract Theory states, “Morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept, for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others will follow those rules as well”. Pedestrians and motorists are expected to treat one another with respect according to the “Rules of the Road”. These rules are universally known and should not only be seen as legal obligations, but also recognized as a social responsibility.

The Land Ethic Theory states, “A thing is right when it tends to preserve the beauty, stability, and integrity of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise”. Aldo Leopold continues to support the theory by contending, “We are using resources at an incredible rate. We are taking from our children”. The ultimate goal of the Feet First Program, and our efforts as volunteers, is to make walking a desirable and reasonable alternative to using a vehicle for short distance traveling within urban neighborhoods. There are numerous environmental issues that are related to motor vehicles that could noticeably be addressed and reduced if all communities increased the amount of “walkablity” and promoted pedestrian-safe neighborhoods.

Deontology argues, “Actions are morally right or wrong independent of their consequences”. There are pre-existent rules that apply to all people at all times. We approached this project knowing that we were helping the community in promoting pedestrian awareness, and overall working towards our ultimate goal of creating a “walkable” community. Successful results from the Walking, Health and Fitness Fair and the surveys that we created are important to implementing a successful campaign. However, regardless of the outcomes we knew our intentions were morally correct.