Gratitude

Even though I live in a small town, I’m definitely an urbanist at heart. And I have to say that I’m extremely grateful that even though I do live in a small town, I am able to live an urban lifestyle. Which is the point of this blog. Small towns

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Sebastopol Walk Audit

There are many components of our built world that can support or detract from a place’s walkability. Much of the public realm has been designed with a primary focus on automobile travel with pedestrian needs often secondary or even a complete afterthought. A walk audit is a way to analyze

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(Lack of) Walking Infrastructure

I’m going a bit beyond the smalltownurbanism.com typical focus on small towns with this post and travelling south to San Diego. My daughter is a senior at UC San Diego. She’s had a great experience, even during the pandemic, and I’m happy for her education. The campus is in La

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Unnecessary Beg Button Conflicts

If you haven’t heard the name before, beg buttons are the push-buttons you have to activate in order to get a walk signal allowing a pedestrian to cross the street. There has been much written about them and how they really are one more instance of our circulation systems prioritizing

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Parklet Update

Since November of 2020 Sebastopol has had 3 parklets installed as a response to the pandemic to allow for more outdoor options for the public to congregate downtown. Because all 3 parklets are located on Caltrans right-of-way, an encroachment permit was required from Caltrans. And in order to expedite the

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Park(ing) Day 2021

Today is Park(ing) Day! Started in San Francisco in 2005, Park(ing) Day has turned into a global phenomenon to highlight the need for more people space in our communities by repurposing a parking space and turning it into a parklet for the day. These have become very popular during Covid

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Pedestrian Infrastructure ‘Improvements’

Downtown Sebastopol is bisected by two Caltrans controlled state highways. Highway 12 heads east from downtown toward Santa Rosa on Sebastopol Avenue. Highway 116 is north-south and uses two one-way roads, Main Street and Petaluma Avenue. Caltrans has recently made some ‘improvements’ to downtown intersections and some driveway curb cuts

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Disregard for Pedestrian Space

I am often troubled by the complete disregard many drivers have for pedestrians. A situation I encounter on a regular basis is vehicles parking on the sidewalk. On my route between home and work, I walk by The Grateful Bagle, a bagel shop on Main Street. Given the form of

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FRITZ ARCHITECTURE-URBANISM
small town urbanism

urban design thoughts through the filter of living in a small town

P.O. Box 1074
Sebastopol, CA 95473
707.975.6220
paul@fritzarchitecture.com
Paul Fritz in Sebastopol, CA on Houzz

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