Sunday May 19, I packed my two kids in the car and drove two and half hours to participate in Viva! Streets Austin. The event closed one and a half miles of 6th Street to automobiles and opened it to pedestrians, cyclists, and other non-motorized vehicles. My daughter and I joked, "We sure are driving a long way to take a walk!" The trip was well worth the effort. I had hoped to learn lessons from Austin that could be applied to Houston's effort to create an Open Street or Ciclovia. A petition inspired by a post on OffCite about a pedestrian promenade in Tamaulipas has helped create some momentum for something to happen here.
We arrived at about 11 am and parked without difficulty on a side street. At first, the planned programs for Viva! Streets Austin had not yet begun. The street was empty and the few people there seemed afraid of its openness. My kids and I tried to break the ice by dancing and running in giant circles.
My daughter was the first one on the climbing wall sponsored by REI and she topped it twice. Security and police drove their little vehicles rather fast up and down the road, somewhat undermining the openness of the street. I couldn't let my son run around without my hovering over him.
Viva! Streets Austin had a few hydration stations set up along the route. It was hot and the free water was a wonderful relief.
The grocery store chain HEB appeared to be a major sponsor and source of volunteers. They provided a bouncy thing, which my children enjoyed.
One healthcare company gave away jump ropes. Another shared hula hoops. The ciclovia and open street movements in South and North America are very much centered on health. The sponsors and tables all promoted some aspect of healthy living.
The corporate "health fair" atmosphere was balanced out by Austin countercultures.
Real Texas Rollergirls, made famous by Drew Barrymoore's film Whip It, spoke with me briefly while lacing up. Olivia Shootin' John told me she loved the event but wished they were held more regularly. This was only the second Viva! Streets Austin event, the other one having been held one year earlier.
An online start-up called Mifft, which provides private feedback to businesses from consumers, parked their art bus at a corner and entertained passersby with juggling. They let me join in the fun. I threw some pins up and traded some balls.
The street eventually became active with a variety of users. The crowd was relatively diverse but could have been more so.
Port-o-potties were plentiful and clean. I was even struck by their odd modular beauty with those repeating primary colors.
The highlight of the whole event for me was a spot where the Waller Creek Conservancy handed out water, educated the public about their efforts to improve trails along the creek, and provided free yoga lessons taught by a vegan and vegetarian chef-in-training. My daughter held snake and frog poses in a shaded spot by the creek. We walked down some steps and hopped on some large concrete steps that cross the creek's shallow waters. We were all awed by the tunnels under the streets and detected small bat colonies from their squeaky sounds and distinctive smell.
The highlight for my son was, no doubt, the fire department's program. They did a great job activating the space underneath Interstate 35 with a fire hose pull, a gleaming truck kids could climb in, and coloring books.
The sidewalk was also used for some free expression. The makers of Above All Else, a feature documentary film that tells the story of a group of landowners and activists who tried to stop construction of the Keystone XL pipeline in East Texas, had drawn an illustration on a sidewalk under the freeway and set up an information table under its shade.
By one o'clock, the temperature had risen to what must have been the 90s. Though police offered some help in crossing the feeder lanes, which were not closed to traffic, we were exhausted and the interstate proved to be the psychic barrier that marked the end of our walk. We did not experience the remaining mile and a half of open street. I had planned to take my children to a restaurant along 6th Street to support a local business and give my children a chance to refresh themselves. However, the businesses there are almost all exclusively oriented to adults, as in 21-and-over bars. My son fell asleep in the car and we drove back home full of ideas for what we could do in Houston. Most of the lessons we learned from Austin were very positive. What we think should not be replicated is planning an event that risks the brutal mid-day Texas heat that often begins in May and does not end until late September. On the whole, Viva! Streets Austin was a truly wonderful event.
