Dallas Fort Worth Urban Forum

First off, I want to say that I hope everyone is staying safe out there during this time, and I hope for a speedy recovery for all those that are affected by this!

I realize this is an 'urban development' forum and I realize that there is enough COVID-19 talk going on everywhere else in the world, but it seems that there hasn't been much in the way of discussion in the past week or so (understandbly so given everything else that is going on). I've also noticed that some COVID-19 discussion is slowly creeping its way into other threads on this site, so I figured it would make sense to just create this topic and keep all the discussion contained here, instead.

I think one of the questions people are wondering is when will the world, the country, and Dallas "re-open" again, and what the recovery process will look like. I do feel like Dallas did a decent job at trying to 'nip' this in the bud when we shut down at midnight on the 16th. I guess time will tell how well we acted, but the fact that we acted early, and also the fact that we are not quite as dense/urban as some other major cities might mean that we will fare decently well through this pandemic. One thing working against us is the fact that our airport is an international hub and a lot of travelers from all over the world arrive and pass through our airport.

In a few years, I feel we will look back at these posts and giggle. That said, a few years is a LONG way out, and unfortunately I don't feel this is something that will be forgotten in a few months. Our lives/behaviors will be changed significantly for quite some time... Even when things begin to open back up, most will be cautious before returning to normal. I assume we will go out, but less often. Which means we will spend less, and many of those who 'weather the storm' may not make it six months from now.
There will also likely be a bit of a resurgence in the fall. Hopefully not enough to the extent that we have to shut everything down, but I'm sure there will be some degree of limits put in place, and caution will again put our local economy in a hurt. I don't see us really recovering from this funk until perhaps the end of next year. We really do need a widely adapted vaccine sooner, rather than later. Until then, it just won't be the same.
That said, I think this will also open opportunities for new players, new opportunities, and better perspective. I've always joked internally that so many of our perceived problems lately have been manufactured as a result of us not having any significant challenges in our way. I think COVID-19 got us out of that funk, and hopefully let us focus on true quality of life improvements instead of inventing hashtags for non-problems.
We'll see...

A video: https://www.facebook.com/chriscalhoon/p ... 8809351600

Maybe this will be a new trend in other cities...

Emeryville announces plan to eliminate 'beg buttons' at crosswalks in response to COVID-19

“You no longer need to press pedestrian push buttons,” O’Connell said, explaining that the buttons would be automatically activated when the traffic light changed. “We’re doing this as a COVID-19 response to help mitigate the spread of the virus.”

Link: https://www.sfgate.com/travel/resources ... 192701.php

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See the map of Oakland's 74 miles of closed streets

The new program Oakland Slow Streets launching Saturday will close 74 miles of streets to through traffic to give Oakland residents more space to safely walk, run and cycle during the coronavirus shelter-in-place order.

The new program Oakland Slow Streets launching Saturday will close 74 miles of streets to through traffic to give Oakland residents more space to safely walk, run and cycle during the coronavirus shelter-in-place order.

Link: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/ ... 192719.php

Yes, thanks for sharing!!

The elimination of 'beg buttons' seems to be a no-brainer for me. I've honestly never understood why we needed to have a button to begin with.

Yes indeed. The beg button is getting squashed all around from what I've seen in various municipalities. Although, I haven't had to push one in the city center here, it is a thing.

Side note: https://twitter.com/CTroyMathis/status/ ... 9161481217

CTroyMathis wrote:Side note: https://twitter.com/CTroyMathis/status/ ... 9161481217

This is awesome. Is this your video? Looks like this happened last night?

Oops, sorry for the delay. My friends/co-workers live there and his wife took the videos and sent them to me since she does zero social media and he barely uses his insta. She had myself and a couple of others up on the laptop off to the side on a barstool using BlueJeans video conf. They do that every night and actually for a much longer duration. Pretty cool stuff.

This city in Lithuania is allowing restaurants to reopen with only outdoor seating. Good seasonal idea to relocate dining to the city's plazas, streets, and parks.

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/outd ... index.html

Hai ... I from Slovenia, we have a good situation now with COVID -- also Luka Doncic , i can say OUR and also YOUR man is doing JUST FINE during those days ... Check out )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtjTW5HX_PI&feature=emb_title

DPatel304 wrote:Yes, thanks for sharing!!
The elimination of 'beg buttons' seems to be a no-brainer for me. I've honestly never understood why we needed to have a button to begin with.

Beg buttons for signal lights for pedestrians are located outside, usually exposed to the sun for most of the day. Covid-19 has a half-life around two minutes in sunlight. In 5 half-lifes, around 10 minutes, 99% of it on the button is dead.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technolo ... r-BB12Qql7
Whether or not beg buttons should be eliminated or not should not rely upon the status of Covid-19 on them, imho.