Our Streetscape Design Master Plan is guided by eight design principles that we’ve been discussing in periodic blog posts. The sixth of our eight design principles for the Colfax Ave Business Improvement District (BID) is to Enhance Safety.
This is a rather complex topic that includes some obvious and other less intuitive strategies. In Part One we discussed the concept of safety in numbers. In today’s Part Two we’ll focus on how the design can affect real and perceived safety. The BID’s approach to improving safety is akin to well-crafted “recipe” in which safety is baked into the overall Streetscape Design Master Plan.
The design
Part One of this blog showed how a 24-hour block strategy — a smart mix of businesses that will attract people to the block all times of day and night increases “eyes on the street” and our strength in numbers. This helps get to a place of greater security without “militarizing” the area.
But to get large numbers of people active on the streets getting coffee, food, groceries, a gift of live music for their cousin, and to end the night at a bar, then in addition to there being enough businesses providing what the people want, the “design” of the area needs to give people the feeling of security.
As an example, imagine yourself in two different environments. One is your home that you are intimately familiar with, and the other is a cluttered porcelain doll store with only the lighting of the moon. Clearly, it will be less stressful to move around a familiar place like your home than a poorly lit area.
We want the design of the streetscape to resemble the familiar and well-lit home. The Colfax Ave BID has made sure that the street is well lit with pedestrian lighting in addition to the street lights and we’ll be putting up some more lights real soon.
Illuminating dark areas, keeping storefront windows clear of posters and signage that reduce the ability of people inside to see what is going on outside, and vice-versa, is important for the same reasons. Increasing transparency and visibility will eliminate “blind spots” that contribute to unwanted surprises.
We need to be honest about the fact that there is a small minority on Colfax who are committing crimes. They choose areas to do their illegal business where few will bother them and where they have multiple paths for escaping the police. In addition to eliminating the dark areas of the street with better lighting, some property owners have closed off paths behind their buildings that have given the criminals more escape routes. According to the police, this simple fencing addition has been very effective.
There is some good scholarship about Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, or CPTED, that the police, City planning staff, and The BID are familiar with and happy to work with business and property owners on options. This year the BID is in the process of establishing a matching grant fund for property owners to help cover the costs of security improvements. All of the details are not yet in place and we’ll make an announcement in our newsletter and on our social media outlets when we are ready to accept applications.
If you have any questions or ideas on this topic, please contact Frank. With more businesses providing the services people want and need 24 hours a day, and with a well-designed street that includes sufficient lighting, we’ll continue to make Colfax a safer and friendlier place.