47. sign the town on to the united nations urban environmental accords

In 2005, I was fortunate to help draft the United Nations Urban Environmental Accords.  At that year’s U.N. World Environment Day, 75 Mayors from around the globe met for the United Nations World Conference of Mayors. On behalf of the Village of New Paltz, I signed the original Accords, joining dozens of mayors from cities like London, Rome, Moscow, Kiev and Kampala, Uganda.

Here’s the text of the Accords:

• United Nations Urban Environmental Accords

and some related material:

• Urban Environmental Accords FAQ
• “The Power of Mayors, Multiplied” Utne Reader
• “Urban Environmental Accords: Greening Cities One Star At a Time”, Greenoptions
• “Mayors From Across the World to Mark World Environment Day”, United Nations Environment Program

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48. get new paltz to meet the highest standards of the united nations urban environmental Accords

Create a program for the Village and a program for the Town for both meet the Five-Star rating of the UN Urban Environmental Accords

49. narrow north chestnut street/route 32

Narrow Route 32 from downtown to where the speed limit hits 55. People drive exactly as fast as they feel safe driving; narrowing the street will slow down traffic better than the threat of speeding tickets. People will feel like they’re still driving fast, even at 30 miles per hour.

52. put living roofs on bus shelters

There are obvious benefits to this in terms of increasing biodiversity, retaining stormwater, and keeping the bus shelters cooler in the summer, but for the most part I just think they look cool.

53. make the bus look like a trolley

Replace the UCAT Loop bus with a replica of the old trolley that used to run down Main Street from Poughkeepsie to the mountians — it would help the tourist-drawing quaintess of New Paltz while eliminating some of the stigma of riding the bus.

a trolley bus from Sacramento, California

54. create a park-and-ride to the mountains bus loop

Create a bus loop from the Thruway Park-and-Ride(s) to the mountains on weekends so that tourists can get to Min-newaska, Mohonk and climbing routes while stopping in downtown New Paltz without having to drive or rent a car.

55. make the bus stops more convenient

Improve the New Paltz Loop bus with more fixed bus shelters

56. make the bus routes easier to understand

Create a NYC subway-like clean visual map of New Paltz Transit options, relying on the confusing, complex time-based literature only as a supplement

57. make the bus stops more convenient

Expand the bus system so that everyone in the Village and surrounding Town lives no more than a block or two from the nearest bus stop.

58. make the bus as frequent as possible

Increase the frequency of the buses so that a bus arrives at every stop no more than every 20 minutes.