Tag Archives: ideas

Day 217: Anthony Foxx, Secretary of Transportation

Posted on August 5, 2015 | Leave a comment
Google's Doodle of the Day for August 5, 2015.

Google’s Doodle of the Day for August 5, 2015.

Good morning! If you search for something on Google today, you’ll seee their Doodle above which is paying tribute to the 101st anniversary of the first electric traffic light in the U.S. It got me thinking about something that has been bothering me for some time. Nobody likes a critique who doesn’t offer a solution, so I thought I would do just that and send a suggestion to our Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx. It might just make the roads a whole lot safer.

Day 217

Dear Mr. Secretary, 

101 years ago today the American Traffic Signal Company installed the U.S.’s first electric traffic signal system on the corner of East 105th Street and Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio. The anniversary of this event inspired me to write to you today.

stoplight

Photo: LATimes.com

I’m colorblind and struggle deciphering traffic signals when it is dark and I can’t see the order of the lights. There seems to be a simple solution to this: create unique shapes for each color. Red could be a square, yellow a triangle and green a circle.

I know that some cities outside of the U.S. are experimenting with this (Quebec for example) – why don’t we start rolling this out as we replace signal lights? It just might save some lives.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
Reed Sandridge

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Sunday Notes & Letters for Week 18

Posted on April 26, 2015 | 1 comment

Sometimes a handwritten letter can make things seem better. A note from our grandmother or a long letter from a friend living overseas, they tend to lift our spirits and connect us with the person who sent it to us – if even for just a few moments.

Photo: Garance Nelson

Myles with his letter from Vice President Biden as well as note from Rep. Gwen Moore for sharing his idea to make the world safer. Photo: Garance Nelson

I ran across a story this morning about a 7-year-old boy named Myles Nelson from Milwaukee who made my day a little brighter. Little Myles was affected by all of the gun violence he hears about and started to think of ways to make the world a safer place. Finally it came to him. He had an idea and decided he should share it with the White House and other government officials.

The Wisconsin youngster sat down and wrote out some letters. He wrote that he thought that “guns should shoot out chocolate bullets. Then no one will get killed and no one will be sad.” It took a while, but he got a handwritten response from none other than Vice President Joe Biden.

Here’s a shot of Biden’s letter to the young problem solver.

Photo: Huffingtonpost.com

Photo: Huffingtonpost.com

I like the way Myles thinks…I’m expecting big things from this kid when he grows up. And I’m hoping that Hershey’s or MARS picked up on this story and sent him a serious care-package of chocolate!

 

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Day 68: Toma Bedolla, House of Genius

Posted on March 9, 2015 | Leave a comment


On Sunday I participated in a very cool workshop designed to help entrepreneurs further their business. Sitting at tables configured into a horseshoe shape in the beautiful Meridian building on 16th Street, I sat amongst a dozen or so other participants as we listened to three entrepreneurs pitch their companies and be vulnerable about where they needed help.

Each of us, experts in different areas, offered ideas. The unique element to this is that nobody can talk about who they are, what experience they have, or even use their last name. This unique format helps the entrepreneurs hear everyone’s feedback and suggestions at face value instead of tagging each comment with a filter based on that person’s established credentials. Maybe it’s a brain surgeon that offers up an idea on how to fix your online storefront distribution problem – but his advice is sound and could have just as easily come from Jeff Bezos of Amazon.

Only at the end of the session are participant’s identity revealed. It’s a cool process and this was the first one in Washington, DC. Thanks to Meridian International for hosting this collaborative workshop. You can find out more about House of Genius here.

My letter today is to Toma, a cofounder of House of Genius who was at the event.

Day 68-2

Toma,

We didn’t get a chance to meet during the House of Genius DC, but I wanted to congratulate you on an excellent event. DC is thirsty for the kind of entrepreneurial environment that you foster and I look forward to being a part of future sessions.

Reed

PS. I’ve connected with Jonathan – in fact in turns out he’s a neighbor of my brother so I’m sure we’ll stay in touch.

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