Kokomo community advocates look to increase walkability, connectivity through program

As a co-chair of the Mayor’s Advisory Council for Disability Issues, Gabriel confronts the challenges faced by handicapped citizens on a daily basis, listening to and promoting ideas on how to make Kokomo more accessible.

It’s not an easy task, she admits, but it’s one Gabriel tackles with vigor. And it’s certainly one she is committed to doing more efficiently.  

“Although we cannot do it by ourselves because we are not city leaders, we are trying our best to draft proposals or bring evidence to our city leaders to make changes,” she said, noting the council is working on an accessibility guide for local businesses.

“I would love for people to make Kokomo a lifelong city if they so choose. … I would love for people to pick their dream house and be able to live there as long as they live, so they have a permanent place to call home and they don’t have to worry about when they’re 60 and can no longer walk up stairs.”

To both hone her skills and promote awareness among local officials, Gabriel joined a group of Kokomo residents, named Advocates of Livable Communities, to learn the ins and outs of how to champion causes like equal access and public safety, mostly through public discourse.

During a five-day class funded by the Governor’s Council on Disability and taught by faculty from Indiana University and the University of Indianapolis, the Advocates, comprising handicapped and elderly residents, were given a crash course on city planning and the oversights often found within private or public development.

The goal of the program, which held its graduation Wednesday, is to teach those often without a voice how to be heard, said Sharon Baggett, an associate professor of aging studies at the University of Indianapolis.  

Tactics discussed included speaking at community meetings and writing letters to local newspapers. But most important was direct one-on-one communication with community leaders that may simply be unaware of certain residential challenges.   

As Baggett made clear, recognition of the problem is only the first step. Communicating potential solutions is where the real challenge presents itself.

With any number of issues facing certain segments of the population, a strong focus was placed on teaching residents a comprehensive set of skills and knowledge, she explained.

“They know connectivity, they know walkability, and they’ve learned all the best practices about park redesign, and trails, and sidewalks, and complete streets. We really fill them with a lot of content about what is livability,” said Baggett.

“And then they get those skills about how to translate to having those conversations with community leaders to help that happen.”

One example involved community equity, an issue Baggett said can be observed by examining city parks.

“If you live in Indian Heights, your park is in really bad shape,” she said. “It’s not lit, has no paths. [The Advocates] actually did a redesign of that park.

"One of the people that lives there did a redesign she is hoping to take to the parks department and ask, ‘Would this be possible, and how could our neighborhood potentially come together to help you make that happen?’”

As Baggett explained, possibly the most important tactic with such requests is compromise.

Maybe residents could collect trash three times a week, anything to help the city find the funding and manpower needed to improve residential areas, she said.

“We are not always asking for the city to do anything, but how do we raise awareness that it is great the downtown is getting better, but how do you make sure there is equitable development and renovation and reconnection?” she asked.

Presenting the city’s point of view during the graduation at the YMCA was Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight, who has publicly embraced many of the ideas involving walkability and city connectivity promoted by the Advocates.

It’s a philosophy supported by author Jeff Speck in his book “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time.” Speck is a city planner and urban designer who, through writing, lectures, and built work, advocates internationally for smart growth and sustainable design.

It would be fair to call Goodnight, and each of the Advocates, a diehard fan.

As Goodnight noted, there are 10 steps of walkability Speck promotes, including “let transit work” and “protect the pedestrian.” Each of these are things Goodnight has tried to incorporate into the community.

“There are so many things facing not just our state or our community, but our country, that are tied to these topics, whether it is the obesity rates in this country,” he said, also noting the population losses experienced by many Indiana counties.

“Everything we are trying to do tries to make our city more walkable, more pedestrian friendly, more handicap accessible, and keep people connected through bus systems, trails, but also through neighborhoods.”

As he explained, Goodnight has tried to move the city away from suburban sprawl, instead keeping housing projects as close together as possible.

It is also important, he noted, to avoid ground-level parking lots, which Goodnight said is considered community blight and creates a space limiting pedestrians.

Another example he used to explain the connectivity Kokomo works to achieve was the four-story, 105-unit assisted living facility at 410 S. Washington St.

“First of all, we cleaned up a blighted piece of property that was there and turned what was a liability into an asset, also making sure there was a place to congregate,” he said.

“But we also wanted it connected, so that if somebody that’s living in that senior housing project is having a good day, they can walk maybe half-a-block, a block, five blocks, whatever they feel like that day, and be able to go out and interact and be a part of the community, as opposed to building an apartment complex in an empty cornfield that is disconnected,” he continued later.

Goodnight also referenced the city’s decision to not place a “gerbil tunnel” between the parking garage and the new YMCA, which he said would have stunted the growth of downtown Kokomo by limiting the number of pedestrians.

“We want them out on the street, experiencing people to see, activity and vibrancy in our community,” he said. “That way it’s not a one and done. Maybe, maybe they’ll just decide to go and walk over [somewhere].”

While their focus isn’t on economics, it’s those same ideas the Advocates are working to promote, decisions that will lead to “eyes on the street” and accessible street-level connectivity like crosswalks and curb cutouts.

It’s their goal, said Kokomo resident Tim Middlekauff, to move into a community that works for everyone.

“If you’re 20, 30, 40, 50 years old and you’re highly mobile, there are so many things you don’t notice,” he said. “As you get older and you run into people that are handicapped, you start seeing things and you say, ‘This isn’t right.’ I’m just hoping to help make it right for everybody in this town.”