Channel 1 Networks
Aaron is the webmaster of Channel 1 Networks and video editor/camera man for most all produced media content.
Homepage: http://c1n.tv
Posts by Channel 1 Networks
City of Boulder Public Works summer construction projects
Jun 3rd
For the next six months, construction crews will be working to resurface city streets, restore utilities infrastructure and improve transit options for all modes of transportation. The major summer construction projects with traffic impacts are outlined below. All active projects and related traffic impacts are updated weekly on www.boulderconezones.net.
2011 Street Resurfacing Program
The City of Boulder’s annual street resurfacing projects have begun, and are scheduled to continue through the summer and into the fall. About 50 city streets are targeted for chip sealing, resurfacing (overlay) or replacement in 2011 (See all streets planned for resurfacing). In general, these operations will have daytime traffic impacts with intermittent lane/road closures and parking restrictions. Budget and scheduling issues may prevent the city from finishing all of the resurfacing projects currently being considered.
Sidewalk Improvements Program
This project completes repairs to damaged sidewalk and installs or improves pedestrian curb access ramps in a particular neighborhood area each year. This year’s program begins on Tuesday, June 7. Crews will be making improvements to the area bounded by 4th and 9th streets, Alpine and Iris avenues. There will be periodic daytime lane closures associated with this work, as well as short-term impacts to sidewalks and bicycle lanes. This project is expected to be completed by early fall 2011.
Arapahoe Avenue Multimodal Improvements Project
This project will begin in late summer, with traffic impacts expected to last for three months. The purpose of the project is to upgrade Arapahoe Avenue, from Folsom to 30th streets, to include amenities and facilities for all transportation modes. Generally, lane closures will occur during off-peak hours with occasional 24-hour closures as needed. There will also be impacts to sidewalks and transit stops. Detailed weekly traffic impacts will be posted on the Cone Zones website when the work begins.
Broadway (Euclid to 18th) Transportation Improvements Project
Intersection improvements at Broadway and 18th Street (part of the larger improvement project) will begin on Monday, June 6. During construction:
Broadway will be reduced to one lane in each direction, 24 hours a day;
Turn lanes at 18th Street, to and from Broadway, will be closed at times, and detour signage will be in place; and
There will also be occasional closures of the Broadway multi-use path, with bicycle and pedestrian detours in place.
Improvements are expected to take about two months to complete. Work should be done by mid-August, prior to students’ return to campus for move-in week. Construction of the underpass work has been rescheduled to start in late 2011 or early 2012, with the work taking approximately one year to complete.
2011 Sanitary Sewer Rehabilitation Project
This project began in May, and involves the rehabilitation of sanitary sewer lines at various sites throughout the city. In general, motorists can expect intermittent daytime lane closures and parking restrictions where posted. Individual work sites and times will be scheduled on a weekly basis. The project is scheduled for completion by mid-July.
2011 South Boulder Waterline Replacement Project
These projects will begin in mid-June, with traffic impacts expected to last until the end of November. The project involves the replacement of waterlines on:
33rd Street, from Fisher Drive to Walnut Street;
3rd and 4th streets, at Evergreen and Forest avenues;
Chippewa Drive, from Inca Parkway to Mohawk Drive;
Hillsdale Way, from Howard Place to Table Mesa Drive;
Lipan Way, from Inca Parkway to Eutaw Drive; and
Ottawa Place.
Crews will also be installing 1,300 linear feet of new waterlines in Arapahoe Avenue, between 28th and 30th streets. Construction will begin in July and is expected to take approximately a month to complete. The replacement of waterlines will greatly improve the water distribution system and water quality in South Boulder.
For the most up-to-date information on all construction impacts, visit the Cone Zones webpage or follow Cone Zone Man on Twitter at www.twitter.com/boulderconezone for real-time traffic updates.
CU STUDENT INSTALLATIONS TO HELP ENGAGE COMMUNITY IN UNIVERSITY HILL DEVELOPMENT
Jun 1st
The temporary installations will serve as the basis of a community charrette, an intense planning and design collaboration, from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. on June 3. The event is part of the International Town & Gown Association conference and is cosponsored by the city of Boulder.
“We take great pride in partnering with the city to provide opportunities for students to solve real-world problems,” said Frank Bruno, vice chancellor for administration. “The ability of our students to connect and engage the University Hill community through this interdisciplinary project is truly remarkable and can result in progress for the neighborhood.”
Charrette participants will explore revitalization ideas for University Hill that encompass the education, research and community service resources of CU-Boulder and the vibrant culture of the area as a commercial and residential district, according to organizers.
The project stems from a CU-Boulder Maymester course called Finding Ground. The student works include two interactive survey boards, two tables and 25 hammocks, all for public use.
“The installations are meant to bring people together to explore ideas for community connectedness and the overall use of public space,” said Finding Ground student Richard Mapes, a senior in architecture. “It’s amazing to see so many groups working to positively change the course of University Hill.”
Students carried out mapping exercises, interviews, precedent studies and presentations. They also conceptualized, designed and built the installations.
“We are excited about the close collaboration we’ve had with the university in preparing for this event, and look forward to learning more about the students’ work and their creative ideas during Friday’s charrette,” said David Driskell, executive director of Community Planning and Sustainability for the city of Boulder. “University Hill is a unique Boulder neighborhood, where the university and community literally come together. This course and Friday’s activities are just one example of how we can work together to make the Hill a vibrant and successful place that is welcoming for everybody.”
Students also maintained a group blog and developed a quick response code, which is displayed on three project information signs located on University Hill. It also will be stenciled in chalk on University Hill sidewalks. Visitors with the appropriate cellular phone technology can scan the QR code to be linked to the project website for more information.
V
MAJORITY OF CU-BOULDER STUDENTS REPORT POSITIVE CAMPUS EXPERIENCE, ACCORDING TO SOCIAL CLIMATE SURVEY
Jun 1st
The survey, done in fall 2010, was the latest edition of CU-Boulder’s Social Climate Survey, conducted about every four years since 1994 by the university’s Office of Planning, Budget and Analysis, or PBA. The online survey was sent to 29,926 degree-seeking undergraduate and graduate students, and completed by 7,777, or 26 percent.
The favorable view of CU-Boulder’s social climate was generally shared by all subgroups studied — men and women, undergraduate and graduate students, students in all of the university’s schools and colleges, politically liberal and conservative students, students in fraternities and sororities, students who are the first in their family to attend college, gay and straight students, students from all socioeconomic backgrounds, students of different races and ethnicities, students with physical or psychological disabilities, nontraditional-age students, students who entered as freshmen and transfers, international students, students affiliated with the military, and students with different religious affiliations, including Catholics, other Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and nonbelievers. Membership in these self-identified subgroups was determined using survey responses provided by the students.
Overall, students described the campus as friendly and welcoming, with 80 percent of both undergraduate and graduate students reporting feeling welcome and accepted either often or very often. Eighty-eight percent said they feel comfortable in their classes, and 80 percent reported feeling intellectually stimulated. Large majorities described CU-Boulder as “accepting of diverse perspectives” in the classroom, 81 percent, and outside the classroom, 63 percent.
On a broad measure of feeling welcome and comfortable on campus and in the Boulder community, students who self-identified in diverse subgroups generally reported a positive experience — averaging about 4 on the 5-point scale. Although the positive assessment of the campus’s social climate was shared across all subgroups, two subgroups of at least 100 respondents did rate it slightly lower — around 3.5 — African-American students and students who characterized themselves as having a psychological or psychiatric disability such as depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. Their ratings were, however, still above the scale midpoint of 3.0. There was also a tendency for slightly less positive evaluations of the campus social climate by GLBT students, nontraditional-age students, students of lower socioeconomic status, very liberal students, very conservative students, students not affiliated with a fraternity or sorority, transfer students, and students affiliated with the Buddhist and Muslim faiths. Their ratings were, nevertheless, well above the neutral point on the scale.
Comprising 149 scaled questions, plus another six open-ended questions, the survey collected a massive amount of information — over a million responses to the ratings, and nearly 23,000 written comments, amounting to half a million words. The thousands of student comments include praise for particular classes that addressed diversity issues, suggestions to increase enrollment of international students and to make tuition more affordable for low-income students, reports of uncomfortable situations involving derogatory comments about women or gays or people of color, descriptions of personal experiences with religious or political prejudice, and accounts of situations that led to better understanding between people of different backgrounds. One student wrote, “Thanks for continuing to educate people on these issues, I feel like a much bigger and better person since I came to CU.”
Differences in survey results across 2001, 2006 and 2010 indicate an overall trend of small but consistent and wide-ranging improvements in the social climate on the CU-Boulder campus. For example, students’ level of comfort taking part in campus social life was higher in 2010, as were the average levels of feeling welcome, accepted, supported and intellectually stimulated at CU-Boulder. In all three surveys, African-American undergraduate students perceived the climate at CU-Boulder somewhat less favorably than did undergraduates of other races/ethnicities. Compared with 2001 and 2006, however, African-American undergraduates in 2010 reported feeling more welcome on the Boulder campus and more comfortable participating in campus social life and life on the Hill. Other students also reported feeling more welcome and comfortable in 2010.
A campus advisory board representing a wide range of campus units helped guide the survey and data analysis, including the assistant vice chancellor for diversity, equity and community engagement, the associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education, faculty, and representatives from student government, Disability Services, the GLBT Resource Center, Religious Campus Organizations, Wardenburg Health Center, the Office of Orientation, the Center for Multicultural Affairs and the Women’s Resource Center.
The survey’s findings are used primarily to evaluate, revise and develop programs and policies that promote student success by helping all students feel like valued members of the university community. PBA and members of the survey’s advisory board have been working together to distribute the results and encourage their use throughout the university community.
“For several years, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Community Engagement has worked with several campus community committees to assess and maintain the social climate for all students, especially as it impacts learning in and outside the classroom, as well as staff and faculty,” said Alphonse Keasley, assistant vice chancellor for diversity and equity. “The results of the latest survey will be most instructive in the ways that various Chancellor Advisory Committees can continue to recommend diversity and inclusion needs to ODECE and senior level administrators that are central to the campus’s mission and purpose.”
The results will also be used by academic affairs. “The Office of Undergraduate Education will be using specific results of this campus climate survey to fine tune or modify specific programs which have a significant focus on improving the welcoming climate we want for our students,” said Michael Grant, associate vice chancellor for undergraduate education. “For example, our McNeil, Daniels, Ethnic Living and Learning and Academic Excellence programs, among others, all work with students who may find understanding and fitting into a research university environment a particular challenge for it is often a really new and different cultural environment. This is also the case for many international students.”