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An Excellent Street Makeover in Downtown Aurora
Grid Chicago - Thu, 2016-02-18 17:56
Corner bump-outs with rain gardens shorten crossing distances. Image: Google Streetview
Before the makeover, Downer Place was a wide one-way street. Image: Google Street View
Here’s a cool project that was completed in 2013 in downtown Aurora on Stolp Island, a piece of
land in the middle of the Fox River that’s home to the Hollywood Casino. The Downer Place
streetscape project included corner bump-outs to shorten pedestrian crossing distances, storm
water-absorbing rain gardens, brick crosswalks, and attractive plantings.
As part of the project, Downer Place was converted from a two-lane, one-way street to a twoway thoroughfare. The streetscape was partly funded by a $70,000 Illinois Green Infrastructure
Grant Program from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Hat tip to Ted Villaire from
the Active Transportation Alliance for alerting me about this nifty street remix.
Categories: New Urbanism
Six Ways to Lead Your Cities Anyway
The Black Urbanist - Thu, 2016-02-18 17:26
What do you do to make sure you can create your city, as it is?
Last post, I wanted people who I’d worked with or tried to work with in the past to listen and
allow me the space to be myself and work in improving my home city.
While that message was needed, it forced me to examine myself and realize that nobody was
really chasing me away from my city but myself. I couldn’t handle the fact that some of the
powers-to-be or family and friends just didn’t like my ideas or that I often had to present a
dissenting view on boards and commissions, as well as in the press.
I really wanted to be liked and feted, but being liked and feted doesn’t always guarantee
progress, especially if you’re being liked and feted by people who are part of the status quo.
So, I’m writing this follow-up to encourage you (and ME) to take opportunities to create the city
that you need to create, wherever that is. Here are six things I think we have to do, if we choose
to remain on the ground and make change.
Keep protesting.
They may not want to listen, but it’s our first amendment right to make demands of the
government, as well as others such as developers , nonprofits and stores who claim to want to
serve other people. Truth is, many of them are listening and it’s guilt and their own maintenance
of the status quo (or financial reward) that keeps them from not wanting to do right by the
people.
Run a political campaign.
Go to the board of elections the next time there’s an election you want to affect and put your
name on the ballot.Yes, you may get smeared. But if done smartly, you won’t lose your job and
you’ll find out there are people in town that think exactly like you. Also, yard signs don’t cost
that much money. Some of the best political campaigns were not the ones where the people won,
but ones where people raised awareness and got the current leaders to change their minds.
Buy some property, any property.
Now there are not very many cities left, well, hip popular cities, where you can do this. But there
are plenty of smaller cities and small towns that have cool storefronts that will let you purchase
them and pilot your business and development ideas there. Again, there are plenty of people who
are like-minded and will support you if you have a good idea and motivation. This also goes for
vacant farmland and vacant homes, especially in cities like KC that are not offering them at a
discount. Just because you own property doesn’t make you have to behave like a douche.
Create multiple streams of income and multiple online and offline networks.
Don’t be bound by just one source of income and one set of people who have ideas. This is what
some of the developers have done. They started with an advantage, but they maintain that
advantage by networking and having multiple buildings and business ventures. This is why they
think they can bully people. DO NOT BECOME A BULLY. DO NOT BECOME A SNOB.
Use this to secure your future and create avenues for other voices and people in the community,
as well as have a place for your to just be yourself and laugh and enjoy things.
Don’t beat yourself up when the bullies and the powers to be do something stupid.
The ignorance of your leaders is not your fault. If you have people in your circle who believe
that, dump them. If you feel insecure because of the actions of other leaders, STOP. One thing
that elected officials and major landowners and the Academy and Grammys and even being in
jail hasn’t stopped is your ability to sing, dance, create and write out things you feel. In other
words, until you die, you are a human being on this planet, with value and no one can stop you
from being.
When you, yourself, after realizing that what you really want is to explore the world and
see other things, is to move on to a different place, move on.
Some of these people already have. Many are maintaining homes in other countries, if not other
cities. Yes, finances and having a family of your own may play a factor, but sometimes, moving
around and again, keeping multiple support networks and visiting other places is exactly what
you need to do.
While we should continue to speak out against global forced displacement and various other
violations of civil rights, we also have to remember that we’ve been given a gift as community
builders. Sometimes that gift is for our hometown and sometimes it’s for other towns, cities and
even countries. Ask for help, be resourceful and know that we all have issues. I support you and I
wish you great success as we continue to build better cities and towns together worldwide.
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Sign up for my email list, so you don’t miss future posts
like this.
Categories: New Urbanism
Six Ways to Lead Your Cities Anyway
Kristen Jeffers - Thu, 2016-02-18 17:26
What do you do to make sure you can create your city, as it is?
Last post, I wanted people who I’d worked with or tried to work with in the past to listen and
allow me the space to be myself and work in improving my home city.
While that message was needed, it forced me to examine myself and realize that nobody was
really chasing me away from my city but myself. I couldn’t handle the fact that some of the
powers-to-be or family and friends just didn’t like my ideas or that I often had to present a
dissenting view on boards and commissions, as well as in the press.
I really wanted to be liked and feted, but being liked and feted doesn’t always guarantee
progress, especially if you’re being liked and feted by people who are part of the status quo.
So, I’m writing this follow-up to encourage you (and ME) to take opportunities to create the city
that you need to create, wherever that is. Here are six things I think we have to do, if we choose
to remain on the ground and make change.
Keep protesting.
They may not want to listen, but it’s our first amendment right to make demands of the
government, as well as others such as developers , nonprofits and stores who claim to want to
serve other people. Truth is, many of them are listening and it’s guilt and their own maintenance
of the status quo (or financial reward) that keeps them from not wanting to do right by the
people.
Run a political campaign.
Go to the board of elections the next time there’s an election you want to affect and put your
name on the ballot.Yes, you may get smeared. But if done smartly, you won’t lose your job and
you’ll find out there are people in town that think exactly like you. Also, yard signs don’t cost
that much money. Some of the best political campaigns were not the ones where the people won,
but ones where people raised awareness and got the current leaders to change their minds.
Buy some property, any property.
Now there are not very many cities left, well, hip popular cities, where you can do this. But there
are plenty of smaller cities and small towns that have cool storefronts that will let you purchase
them and pilot your business and development ideas there. Again, there are plenty of people who
are like-minded and will support you if you have a good idea and motivation. This also goes for
vacant farmland and vacant homes, especially in cities like KC that are not offering them at a
discount. Just because you own property doesn’t make you have to behave like a douche.
Create multiple streams of income and multiple online and offline networks.
Don’t be bound by just one source of income and one set of people who have ideas. This is what
some of the developers have done. They started with an advantage, but they maintain that
advantage by networking and having multiple buildings and business ventures. This is why they
think they can bully people. DO NOT BECOME A BULLY. DO NOT BECOME A SNOB.
Use this to secure your future and create avenues for other voices and people in the community,
as well as have a place for your to just be yourself and laugh and enjoy things.
Don’t beat yourself up when the bullies and the powers to be do something stupid.
The ignorance of your leaders is not your fault. If you have people in your circle who believe
that, dump them. If you feel insecure because of the actions of other leaders, STOP. One thing
that elected officials and major landowners and the Academy and Grammys and even being in
jail hasn’t stopped is your ability to sing, dance, create and write out things you feel. In other
words, until you die, you are a human being on this planet, with value and no one can stop you
from being.
When you, yourself, after realizing that what you really want is to explore the world and
see other things, is to move on to a different place, move on.
Some of these people already have. Many are maintaining homes in other countries, if not other
cities. Yes, finances and having a family of your own may play a factor, but sometimes, moving
around and again, keeping multiple support networks and visiting other places is exactly what
you need to do.
While we should continue to speak out against global forced displacement and various other
violations of civil rights, we also have to remember that we’ve been given a gift as community
builders. Sometimes that gift is for our hometown and sometimes it’s for other towns, cities and
even countries. Ask for help, be resourceful and know that we all have issues. I support you and I
wish you great success as we continue to build better cities and towns together worldwide.
Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. Sign up for my email list, so you don’t miss future posts
like this.
Categories: CNU blogs, New Urbanism
H Street streetcar will carry passengers on February 27, says Bowser
BeyondDC - Thu, 2016-02-18 16:46
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser just announced the H Street streetcar will officially open to
passengers on Saturday, February 27. Of this year. Hallelujah!
Mayor Bowser’s announcement should mean the DC fire department has certified the streetcar as
safe to run and submitted its paperwork to the federal government, thus accomplishing the last
step before the streetcar can open. With that done, it’s ready to carry passengers.
The opening party and first passenger-carrying run will take place at 10:00 am on Saturday,
February 27, at the corner of H Street and 13th Street NE.
After that, streetcars will run between Union Station and Oklahoma Avenue every 15 minutes
the rest of the day. Rides will be free for everyone for the first few months.
The streetcar will close again Sunday the 28th; for now it’s only scheduled to run six days per
week. But passengers will be able to pick it up again on Monday the 29th, and every day
thereafter except Sundays.
Many of us will be there to enjoy the festivities, and we’ll try to all meet up to make a GGWash
contingent. Join us if you can! Or ride the streetcar to our 8th birthday party on March 8. Or
both!
Comment on this at the version cross-posted to Greater Greater Washington.
Categories: New Urbanism
Reforming Zoning in a Kludgeocracy
Market Urbanism - Thu, 2016-02-18 15:59
Beverly Hills High School, image via West Side Today
To market urbanists and many others, it’s clear that there is a positive relationship between high
housing costs and land-use restrictions and that liberalizing zoning would lower housing costs
relative to what they would be in a more regulated environment. Given this relationship,
reducing zoning would improve efficiency in the housing market by allowing consumer demand
to drive the amount of resources that are put into housing development. However, land-use
reform would also affect other policy areas such as public schools, transportation infrastructure,
and sewer and water provision. Predicting how a liberalizing reform in one policy area will affect
the complete public policy landscape is as impossible as predicting how one private sector
innovation will affect other markets.
Political scientist Steven Teles coined the term “kludgeocracy” to describe the complexity of
contemporary American policy. For example, zoning has become a tool to make high-performing
public schools exclusive, even though land-use policy and education policy are seemingly
unrelated areas governed by different agencies. Because providing zero-price quality education
to every child in the country may be impossible, zoning is a kludge that allows policymakers to
provide this service to their high-income and influential constituents. Teles describes this policy
complexity:
A “kludge” is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “an ill-assorted collection of parts
assembled to fulfill a particular purpose…a clumsy but temporarily effective solution to a
particular fault or problem.” The term comes out of the world of computer programming, where
a kludge is an inelegant patch put in place to solve an unexpected problem and designed to be
backward-compatible with the rest of an existing system. When you add up enough kludges, you
get a very complicated program that has no clear organizing principle, is exceedingly difficult to
understand, and is subject to crashes. Any user of Microsoft Windows will immediately grasp the
concept.
“Clumsy but temporarily effective” also describes much of American public policy today. To see
policy kludges in action, one need look no further than the mind-numbing complexity of the
health-care system (which even Obamacare’s champions must admit has only grown more
complicated under the new law, even if in their view the system is now also more just), or our
byzantine system of funding higher education, or our bewildering federal-state system of
governing everything from welfare to education to environmental regulation.
In even the simplest government, it’s impossible to forecast the effects of one policy reform due
the inherent difficult of predicting how humans will react to a change in rules. However, under
today’s kludgeocracy, policy analysis has grown ever more complex. Not only will a change in
the rules of the game change the outcomes of interaction on the market square, but a change in
one policy will also change the incentives that other policymakers face on the public square. For
example, a governor may attempt to implement policies that will create economic growth,
recognizing that growth would benefit from an elastic housing supply that readily allows new
people to enter his state. At the same time, school board officials who oversee an exclusive
school district in the state may wish to maintain the current demographics of their jurisdiction
without allowing any new residents in. If state policymakers implemented a policy to make it
easier to build new housing, such as a tax credit for homebuyers in the state, municipal
policymakers within the state might feel compelled to pass new rules to restrict housing supply at
the local level.
In their paper “Why Is Manhattan So Expensive?” Edward Glaeser, Joseph Gyourko, and Raven
Saks estimate what they call the “zoning tax” for 21 cities. This is the portion of housing costs
that they attribute to land-use regulation in each city. They find that San Francisco has the
highest zoning tax, with regulations accounting for over half of the cost of housing. Following
from the conclusion of Glaeser et. al., it’s easy to make the policy recommendation that
liberalizing land-use regulation would improve economic efficiency, making the country’s most
productive cities more accessible to more people. And it’s likely true that deregulating the
housing market would have the expected effect on house prices. However, it’s also true that
many other policies at the federal, state, and local levels would be affected by a change
in housing regulations. For example, municipally-provided services such as roads and sewers are
designed under current zoning rules. A change in land-use regulations would change the effects
of other municipal programs.
Federal programs such as the mortgage-interest tax deduction and affordable housing programs
also have complex interactions with locally implemented and enforced zoning rules. In many
cases, local and federal policymakers are not aware of all of the policies affecting housing supply
and demand, so they may not even be able to see the full scope of the kludgeocracy that they are
contributing to. Under the circumstances of a tightly wound knot of policies that affect a market,
it’s impossible to predict the effects of repealing or liberalizing a given rule. Permitting more
housing construction in San Francisco may reduce its zoning tax, but it would also result in many
other changes within the market and public squares that are unknown.
While studying economics often leads people to think about the ceteris paribus effect of a policy
change, in the real world, a policy will rarely be changed without resulting in domino effect of
other changes in other policies and market outcomes because land-use policy is entangled with
so many other policies. Teles writes, “While it might seem like an uphill climb, a simpler, less
kludgey government is an immensely attractive goal, and should appeal to Americans of all
parties and ideologies.” In this world, land-use reform would be much more likely because
zoning wouldn’t be serving as a kludge for so many other policy areas.
Categories: New Urbanism
Would Buyouts Be Good for Flood-Prone Mystic Island?
New Jersey Future - Thu, 2016-02-18 15:50
Public information session will discuss findings from a new assessment.
Representatives from New Jersey Future and Rutgers University are inviting all residents of
Little Egg Harbor Township to a public information session to learn about the findings and
recommendations from a health impact assessment (HIA) that evaluates the effects of buyout
strategies on personal and municipal health in the Mystic Island section of the township.
The project team will be available at 6:30 p.m. on Feb. 25, 2016, at the Little Egg Harbor
Township Building, 655 Radio Rd., to discuss the project prior to making a formal presentation
to the Township Council at 7:30 p.m. at its regularly scheduled meeting. Anyone who is
interested is invited to attend.
Intended primarily to remove people from harm’s way in flood-prone areas, a buyout is a
purchase of private property using government funds, with the condition that the structures on
the property are demolished and land is returned to open space.
The HIA focused on using a buyout program as an approach to reduce future flooding, storm and
rising sea-level vulnerability specifically in the Mystic Island area of the township. The HIA was
undertaken by the Planning Healthy Communities Initiative at Rutgers University in partnership
with New Jersey Future. Some of the findings that will be discussed include:
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How Hurricane Sandy affected the mental and physical health of Mystic Island residents,
and how it continues to play a role in community stress and anxiety in the aftermath of
the storm;
How buyouts could affect municipal and school tax revenues, and how that might affect
the levels of service the municipality and school district could provide;
How Hurricane Sandy and a concentrated buyout effort might affect neighborhood
cohesion and the social character of Mystic Island;
Whether and how buyouts can be used to create more extensive open space to enhance
buffer areas along Mystic Island’s natural shoreline and help mitigate wave and storm
surge impacts;
Whether and how purchased properties could provide opportunities for installing and
fortifying bulkheads and a sea wall to protect remaining areas from future storm damage;
What the potential health threats are from future storm damage, particularly to vulnerable
populations such as the elderly, the disabled and lower-income families.
This health impact assessment is supported by Rutgers University through a grant from the
Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew
Charitable Trusts. A health impact assessment is intended to help decision-makers identify
potential health effects of proposed policies, projects, and programs, and make recommendations
that enhance health benefits and minimize adverse effects and associated costs. The outcomes of
the HIA are also intended to benefit decision-makers and residents of similar coastal
communities in New Jersey and the U.S. that are plagued by chronic flooding and hurricanes.
Categories: CNU blogs
Huh? After Bailing Out Toll Road, Florida Wants to Expand It
Streetsblog Capitol Hill - Thu, 2016-02-18 15:06
Tampa’s Suncoast 2 toll road is guaranteed to be a financial loser. But that hasn’t stopped the
state from plowing ahead. Map: Suncoast2online.com
By any reasonable measure, the Suncoast Parkway in the Tampa Bay Area has been a complete
failure.
When it was first proposed, in 1992, consultants predicted the $507 million, 42-mile toll road
from Hillsborough to Hernando County would fill up with cars — thanks to the sprawl everyone
was sure would follow it. Consultants originally forecast $150 million in annual toll revenue.
Since then, according to an excellent summary from Tampa Times reporter Craig Pittman, that
forecast was downgraded — twice. But the highway still didn’t meet the revised projections. In
2014, the road brought in just $22 million in tolls. Today the state of Florida heavily subsidizes
the Suncoast Parkway with funds from other toll roads, Pittman reports.
But if you think that’s going to stop the state of Florida from expanding the highway 13 miles
further into rural lands — including a national forest — think again.
“Suncoast 2” is “moving ahead,” Pittman reports, despite strong public opposition. Governor
Rick Scott himself — who couldn’t tolerate the thought of cost overruns for high-speed rail —
has teed up $150 million for the $257 million expansion project. Suncoast 2 is expected to
generate just $3.8 in tolls in 2020 and only $14 million in 2049.
The project is set to break ground this year, the Times reports, and open in 2019.
Categories: New Urbanism
Eyes on the Street: Private Buses in the Loop Link BRT Lanes
Grid Chicago - Thu, 2016-02-18 14:45
It’s been about two months since the Loop Link bus rapid transit system launched, and the
system is still facing some growing pains. The city hopes the network of dedicated bus lanes
with platform stations will eventually double bus speeds along the corridor from the previous,
glacial, 3 mph rush hour average, but so far it doesn’t seem like that target has been reached.
One of the main reasons is the CTA’s current policy of requiring bus operators to approach the
platforms no faster than 3 mph to avoid striking passengers with mirrors. The agency plans to lift
this speed limit once the bus drivers and customers get more comfortable with the system.
The Loop Link lane on the Madison Street bridge. Photo: John Greenfield
Another issue that needs to be addressed is unauthorized vehicles using the bus lanes. Unlike
BRT systems in some other cities, the Loop Link lanes generally don’t have physical barriers to
discourage the drivers of other buses and cars from entering them, and they’re not photo
enforced.
So far, I haven’t witnessed or heard about major problems with car or taxi drivers in the Loop
Link lanes. But a Streetsblog reader, who wished to remain anonymous, tells me there’s a
recurring issue with non-CTA buses using the Loop Link lanes, especially on westbound
Madison Street during the evening rush.
The reader sent us the videos in this post, showing private buses on the Madison bridge around 5
p.m. on a weekday. Although it’s hard to tell in the videos, the bridge has a red lane marked
“CTA Bus Only,” delineated with flexible posts. Yes, the red paint on the bridge (unlike the red
concrete used for most of the Loop Link lanes) has been chipping badly — the Chicago
Department of Transportation says the contractor will be required to fix this.
It would be great if the city contacted the offending bus lines, The Free Enterprise System and
the Aon Center shuttle, and ask them to remind their drivers not to use the Loop Link lanes. If
that doesn’t work, the police department should do some ticketing stings.
As a staff member from the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy told me,
Chicagoans should try to be patient while the city works all the kinks out of the new system. But
that trouble-shooting should include addressing all the issues that are currently slowing down
CTA buses on the corridor, including unauthorized use of the lanes.
Categories: New Urbanism
We need a logo. What do you think of these designs?
Greater Greater Washington - Thu, 2016-02-18 13:45
by David Alpert
Greater Greater Washington hasn't updated our branding and visual look in years, and it's past
time. With amazing help from Peter Dovak, we've been thinking about logos and have a few
options to get your input on.
Here are eight logo ideas. Below them are a few general concepts for how some of them might
fit into a banner or block layout with our name and tagline, but those are only examples. Also,
these are in black and white, but the final logo may not be. We'll think about colors later.
We currently use the thing at the right for our Twitter icon, but it's got too much going on (two
symbols, a pencil sketch of a historical figure, and a map in the background). You might or
might not have noticed, but it's not even on our website anywhere, either.
In a survey last year, many said you didn't really like the George part in particular, so we started
experimenting with simpler logos that keep the "chevron" idea but lose the other stuff. One
option (the "no-build," in a sense) still keeps it, so you can tell us how you think these compare.
Please give your thoughts in the form below. We're not taking a formal vote here, but rather, we
want your overall feedback on these. The preponderance of ratings, good, bad, or mixed will be
helpful, but your comments also will be important to help us actually sort out these possibilities.
Thank you!
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Washington.
Categories: CNU blogs
Bravo Paleys!
Urban Portland - Thu, 2016-02-18 13:12
Last week we all heard the sad news that yet another Portland restaurant institution, The
Heathman will be closing at the end of March. But lets be honest, The Heathman has not been
the same since Philippe Boulot left for the MAC in 2012. The Heathman was once considered
the Portland gold standard for special event dining but slowly lost its edge to increased
competition, management changes and the quiet pronouncement that it was nationally chainowned and operated. Then we heard the great news from Karen Brooks at Portland Monthly this
week that Vitaly and Kimberly Paley have signed a ten year lease for a seafood themed
restaurant at the hotel named Headwaters to open later this summer. The Paley's, well known
for their James Beard quality and consistency at Paley's Place and their newest award winning
restaurant Imperial have again raised the bar in this food centric city and immortalized their
names as Portland's premier restaurateurs.
Now when is Vitaly going to open a Russian themed restaurant? Trying to get a seating for
DaNet is almost impossible...
Categories: New Urbanism
Green Infrastructure Taking Off in Paterson
New Jersey Future - Thu, 2016-02-18 13:05
Paterson SMART provides forum for coordination
The City of Paterson, or Silk City, is not only one of New Jersey’s most densely populated cities
but also home to 24 of 212 combined sewer overflows (CSOs) in New Jersey. These combined
sewer overflows can be overwhelmed during heavy rain events, dumping raw sewage into the
Passaic River watershed and creating a serious public and environmental health threat.
Fortunately, in Paterson there are many groups dedicated to reducing the amount of stormwater
that flows into the sewer system.
Paterson SMART The Collaborative
Paterson SMART is a partnership of about 21 members, created in January 2015 to address
flooding and new CSO permits from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
With meetings convened jointly by Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program
and phentermine 37.5 no prescription, member organizations of Paterson SMART identify
opportunities for tramadol overnight cod delivery that not only reduce stormwater flows but also
offer multiple community benefits.
“Paterson SMART provides a forum for community members and stakeholders to brainstorm
and implement targeted projects for the City of Paterson that will reduce flooding, combined
sewer overflow (CSO) events, and improve the quality of life for city residents,” said Sandra
Meola, communications and outreach associate at NY/NJ Baykeeper.
Green Streets Coming to Paterson
The location of the Passaic County Green Street Demonstration Project at the Haledon Avenue
and North Straight Street intersection. Image via http://www.njfuture.org/what-is-tramadol-hclused-for/.
Planned to break ground this year, Passaic County’s Green Street Demonstration Project is
enacting a vision for a more walkable and green corridor along Haledon Avenue in downtown
Paterson. The green-streets project was funded through a NJDEP grant, with funds matched by
Passaic County. Paterson SMART member Paterson Habitat for Humanity has joined the project
to coordinate community-engagement efforts that influence the county’s approach to the
corridor.
“By partnering with stakeholders on the Passaic County Green Street Demonstration Project the
county has been able to understand how the community uses these streets, allowing us to design
a safer and more environmentally friendly corridor,” remarks Jason Simmons, senior
environmental planner for Passaic County.
Currently, Paterson Habitat for Humanity has helped convene two community meetings resulting
in key partnerships between religious groups and other stakeholders. At one recent meeting, a
local church agreed to help maintain a tentative green-infrastructure installment along Haledon
avenue, which will reduce the operations and maintenance burden for the county. The next
meeting is a community open house on March 21 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Grace Chapel
Baptist Church.
Jerry Flach, chief community officer of Paterson Habitat for Humanity, says: “On the Green
Streets-Lower Haledon Avenue initiative and other projects, organizations are partnering to bring
to fruition innovative solutions that address both community and environmental needs.”
Green Infrastructure Development Intersects Education
A cistern was installed at a Paterson School by Paterson SMART partners Rutgers Cooperative
Extension Water Resources Program and Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission in May 2015 to
bring water to rain gardens.
Paterson SMART member Great Swamp Watershed Association has another project in the
pipeline. A proposal submitted to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Five Star & Urban
Waters Restoration Program earlier this month will, if approved, leverage the construction of
green infrastructure projects to offer an extensive related education program at three Paterson
schools. Construction of the green-infrastructure installments is being funded by a separate grant
from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, secured by Paterson SMART
member Rutgers Cooperative Extension Water Resources Program. Great Swamp Watershed
Association’s proposal will educate students about water in their community.
Sally Rubin, executive director of the Great Swamp Watershed Association, says that “through
intersecting green infrastructure and education, this proposal has brought together local
government, schools, utilities, nonprofits and universities. We are excited about this momentum
and its potential impact on stormwater reduction, green spaces and education in our community.”
Great Swamp Watershed Association is focusing in Paterson in order to reduce, and to educate
about, stormwater and pollutants coming from the upper Passaic River into the Great Swamp
Watershed and eventually out to the ocean through the Passaic River. Students will learn not
only from the planned bioretention areas but from field trips to study drinking water, wastewater
and stormwater. Tours to New Jersey American Water’s water treatment facility, Passaic Valley
Sewerage Commission’s wastewater treatment facility, and the Passaic River with the
Hackensack Riverkeeper will help students understand where the water in their pipes comes
from, and goes.
The Passaic County Green Streets Initiative and the Rutgers-Great Swamp Watershed
Association project are indicators of an energized and environmentally conscious Paterson. The
partnerships developed in these projects exemplify strong collaboration among residents,
government institutions and organizations. The value of collaborative initiatives like Paterson
SMART is tangible in partnerships and the targeted actions they can bring to municipalities.
Check out Paterson SMART on Facebook for updates on green infrastructure in the City of
Paterson.
Jersey Water Works is a cross-sector collaborative of individuals and organizations focused on
transforming New Jersey’s inadequate urban water infrastructure.
Categories: CNU blogs
Huh? After Bailing Out Toll Road, Florida Wants to Expand It
Grid Chicago - Thu, 2016-02-18 13:00
Tampa’s Suncoast 2 toll road is guaranteed to be a financial loser. But that hasn’t stopped the
state from plowing ahead. Map: Suncoast2online.com
By any reasonable measure, the Suncoast Parkway in the Tampa Bay Area has been a complete
failure.
When it was first proposed, in 1992, consultants predicted the $507 million, 42-mile toll road
from Hillsborough to Hernando County would fill up with cars — thanks to the sprawl everyone
was sure would follow it. Consultants originally forecast $150 million in annual toll revenue.
Since then, according to an excellent summary from Tampa Times reporter Craig Pittman, that
forecast was downgraded — twice. But the highway still didn’t meet the revised projections. In
2014, the road brought in just $22 million in tolls. Today the state of Florida heavily subsidizes
the Suncoast Parkway with funds from other toll roads, Pittman reports.
But if you think that’s going to stop the state of Florida from expanding the highway 13 miles
further into rural lands — including a national forest — think again.
“Suncoast 2” is “moving ahead,” Pittman reports, despite strong public opposition. Governor
Rick Scott himself — who couldn’t tolerate the thought of cost overruns for high-speed rail —
has teed up $150 million for the $257 million expansion project. Suncoast 2 is expected to
generate just $3.8 in tolls in 2020 and only $14 million in 2049.
The project is set to break ground this year, the Times reports, and open in 2019.
Categories: New Urbanism
H Street streetcar will carry passengers on February 27
Greater Greater Washington - Thu, 2016-02-18 12:34
by Dan Malouff
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser just announced the H Street streetcar will officially open to
passengers on Saturday, February 27. Of this year. Hallelujah!
Photo by the author.
Mayor Bowser's announcement should mean the DC fire department has certified the streetcar as
safe to run and submitted its paperwork to the federal government, thus accomplishing the last
step before the streetcar can open. With that done, it's ready to carry passengers.
The opening party and first passenger-carrying run will take place at 10:00 am on Saturday,
February 27, at the corner of H Street and 13th Street NE.
After that, streetcars will run between Union Station and Oklahoma Avenue every 15 minutes
the rest of the day. Rides will be free for everyone for the first few months.
The streetcar will close again Sunday the 28th; for now it's only scheduled to run six days per
week. But passengers will be able to pick it up again on Monday the 29th, and every day
thereafter except Sundays.
Many of us will be there to enjoy the festivities, and we'll try to all meet up to make a GGWash
contingent. Join us if you can! Or ride the streetcar to our 8th birthday party on March 8. Or
both!
68 comments
Did you enjoy this article? Greater Greater Washington is running a reader drive to raise funds
so we can keep editing and publishing great articles every day. Please help us be sustainable by
making a monthly, yearly, or one-time contribution today! Click here to support Greater Greater
Washington.
Categories: CNU blogs
Metro begins scrapping its oldest railcars
BeyondDC - Thu, 2016-02-18 12:16
Say goodbye to Metro railcar number 1013. Along with other 1973-vintage 1000-series railcars,
it’s headed to the scrapyard. More aren’t far behind.
Metro railcar 1013 at a scrap yard in Baltimore. Photo by MJofLakeland1 on Flickr.
As new 7000-series railcars enter Metro service, WMATA is now beginning to retire its oldest
railcars. So far the agency has scrapped four cars, with more scheduled to head out the door
beginning this March.
In the past if WMATA had to permanently take a railcar out of service, they’d either keep it for
parts or backup, or it would end up in any number of weird places. That happened rarely for most
of WMATA’s first four decades.
That’s now changing. With the impending mass retirement of 400 decades-old 1000-and-4000series cars, WMATA needed a process to handle getting rid of so many cars at once.
Since signing a scrapping contract late last year they now have that process, and railcars can
begin to head to the scrapyard.
When that happens, workers truck the old railcar to United Iron & Metal in Southwest Baltimore,
where they strip it of valuable materials.
It’s an inglorious end for these old workhorses, but I’m not too sorry to see them go; those new
car replacements are nice.
Comment on this at the version cross-posted to Greater Greater Washington.
Categories: New Urbanism
San Antonio Crowdfunds for “World-Class” Dog Park
Next City - Thu, 2016-02-18 12:14
San Antonio’s dogs may soon have a new place to hang out. (Photo by MarkScottAustinTX)
One of the oldest parks in northern San Antonio, gifted by and named after the man who
contributed the word “maverick” to the English language, could undergo a redesign that includes
what supporters say would be a “world-class” dog park.
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Three-acre Maverick Park is city-owned, but this isn’t a city project. Residents developed the
proposal, which has garnered support from local stakeholders, including developers of new
apartment buildings in the surrounding neighborhood of Irish Flats.
“A group of volunteers in the community had this idea because of all the growth San Antonio is
experiencing,” says Noah Almanza, president and CEO of San Antonio Parks Foundation, a
nonprofit dedicated to improving the city’s green spaces. The foundation is serving as a liaison
between volunteers and the city, and managing funding on the project’s behalf.
Historically industrial Irish Flats has seen a boom in residential construction over the past
decade, commiserate with the growth of San Antonio as a whole. Last year Forbes reported that
between 2010 and 2013 San Antonio saw the greatest increase of any U.S. city in its millennial
population. In 2015, the city ranked in a Forbes top 10 of population growth among U.S. cities
overall.
Larry Clark, principal at Bender Wells Clark Design, a landscape architecture firm that founded
the Friends of Maverick Park and created renderings for the redesign, says in addition to the
hundreds of new housing units bordering Maverick Park today, the neighborhood can expect to
add about 5,000 new units in the next 10 to 15 years.
“As a result of that, we know that we have a definite need for parks,” says Clark. “We know
there’s a need for better community spaces that promote public health. We can’t have just dogs
out everywhere, but we want healthy dogs and good neighbors who are less likely to create a
nuisance with their dogs.”
Many of those neighbors have been advocating for the new dog park, says Clark. “The bigger
challenge,” according to Almanza, “is having that public interest translate into actual giving.”
While San Antonio did approve an ordinance last month authorizing up to $50,000 from a tax
increment reinvestment zone to fund the park’s redesign, volunteers and the Parks Foundation
hope to raise the majority of the funding by alternate means.
Foundations, local apartment building companies and private donors have already contributed
$137,700, and about 10 percent was crowdfunded, according to Almanza.
“Ideally we’d like to show 50 percent of the project being crowd[funded],” says Almanza. “That
would create this testament to the idea that, hey, if you have a good idea the community can
make it happen. You don’t need to go through all these processes. You can work with local
agencies or entities to get a project in your neighborhood accomplished.”
The park still needs about $143,000 to start construction. If that happens, half of Maverick’s
three acres will become the dog park, which will feature separate areas for large and small dogs,
a terrain play area, a disc- or ball-throwing field, even agility equipment and a doggie shower.
Future improvements might include adult fitness equipment and a new playground.
Clark says the redesign would also enhance the park’s stormwater management capabilities,
adding bioswales and infiltration areas, butterfly- and pollinator-friendly plantings, and lowenergy lighting. Almanza estimates construction would take eight months, and could be
completed by the end of 2016.
Rendering of Maverick Park redesign by Bender Wells Clark Design
Though the project is being touted as a victory for community-driven improvement, not all of the
park’s frequenters feel they’ve been included in the process.
“Don’t get me wrong, I am a dog lover,” says Joan Cheever, founder of nonprofit Chow Train.
“We love dogs so much that when we serve the homeless, working for the city of San Antonio at
Maverick Park, we also serve the dogs.”
Every Tuesday night Cheever and the Chow Train feed homeless people at Maverick Park. Last
spring, after 10 years of preparing food in her licensed commercial mobile kitchen, Cheever
received a $2,000 citation for transporting the food in a different vehicle.
While the citation was ultimately dismissed, Cheever saw it as part of the city’s criminalization
of homelessness, and its attempts to push marginalized people out of public view. She cites the
2014 renovation of downtown Travis Park, also donated to the city by Samuel Maverick in the
late 1800s, a project Cheever feels was largely intended to discourage the homeless men and
women who spent time there from using the space.
“I have no problem with this dog park if the people that I serve on Tuesday nights are included
as members of the public,” says Cheever, who feels the public process so far has been less than
inclusive. “When someone donates land to members of the public, it means everyone in the city.”
Still, Cheever says she’s optimistic about the redesign, and intends to continue serving food at
Maverick during and after. She even wonders if the new dog park might create jobs for members
of the homeless community. “There could be dog walkers,” she says.
Categories: CNU blogs, New Urbanism
Oregon Gov Candidate: End Gridlock By Adding a Lane to Every Freeway
Streetsblog Capitol Hill - Thu, 2016-02-18 12:08
It’s not that unusual to see politicians approaching the problem of traffic congestion with a
childlike simplicity. But Oregon gubernatorial candidate Bud Pierce’s “solution” to eliminate
gridlock in the Portland area might be the most infantile of them all. Pierce wants to add a lane to
every major freeway in the region and “Presto!” — problem solved. (You can watch Pierce make
his pitch in the video at the bottom of this post.)
Bud Pierce, a candidate for Oregon governor, says he will widen every freeway in the Portland
area. Photo: Budpierce.com
Freeways are of course subject to “induced demand” — adding more lanes encourages more
driving and has little effect on congestion in the long run. But Michael Andersen at Bike
Portland decided to treat Pierce’s proposal as more than a sound bite and give it a serious
evaluation:
Just for the Portland area, let’s assume he’s talking about the four he mentions (Interstate 5 and
205, U.S. 26 and state Route 217) plus Interstate 84.
Using the Troutdale and Hillsboro city limits on the east and west, the Columbia River on the
north and the I-5/205 interchange on the south, that comes out to about 86 miles of freeway.
The Victoria Transport Policy Institute puts the cost of “urban highway capacity expansion”
at $8 million to $12 million per lane-mile including land, development and construction. It’s not
clear how that handles difficult points like the $350 million one at the Rose Quarter, but let’s say
$10 million per mile.
Let’s also assume that by “lanes” Pierce means “one new lane in each direction.” (Though
expanding capacity in one direction only might actually be a novel approach to traffic control.)
That brings the cost to $1.7 billion.
Pierce also mentions a new Columbia River Crossing. Let’s take the $2.75 billion projected cost
of that project as of 2013 and assume that Washington’s legislature would pay for half of it even
without light rail, as long as it also didn’t have tolls.
This gives us a very rough estimate of $2.7 billion to add one lane to every overland freeway in
the Portland metro area, plus a new Columbia River bridge.
This isn’t beyond the realm of possibility. The four-cent statewide gas tax hike proposed last
year would have brought in $103 million annually, and some of these freeway widenings could
probably get federal matching grants.
There are still a couple problems with this plan, though.
One is that it raises taxes on people everywhere in Oregon but only widens freeways in Portland.
Do all 308 miles of I-5 count as a “major freeway,” or all 371 miles of I-84? That’d at least
quadruple the cost of Pierce’s plan, so maybe not.
By contrast, Portland famously built an entire city-wide bike network for less than the cost of a
single mile of freeway. And today that network transports about 6 percent of city residents to
work.
Elsewhere on the Network today: Copenhagenize reports that the city is updating all its traffic
signals with “intelligent” technology that promises faster commutes for cyclists and transit
riders. Spacing‘s John Lorinc says he’ll get excited about Toronto’s ambitious transit expansion
proposal when he sees a plan to pay for it. And Twin Cities Sidewalks captures photos of people
sitting on things that aren’t chairs.
//
Categories: New Urbanism
Oregon Gov Candidate: End Gridlock By Adding a Lane to Every Freeway
Grid Chicago - Thu, 2016-02-18 12:00
It’s not that unusual to see politicians approaching the problem of traffic congestion with a
childlike simplicity. But Oregon gubernatorial candidate Bud Pierce’s “solution” to eliminate
gridlock in the Portland area might be the most infantile of them all. Pierce wants to add a lane to
every major freeway in the region and “Presto!” — problem solved. (You can watch Pierce make
his pitch in the video at the bottom of this post.)
Bud Pierce, a candidate for Oregon governor, says he will widen every freeway in the Portland
area. Photo: Budpierce.com
Freeways are of course subject to “induced demand” — adding more lanes encourages more
driving and has little effect on congestion in the long run. But Michael Andersen at Bike
Portland decided to treat Pierce’s proposal as more than a sound bite and give it a serious
evaluation:
Just for the Portland area, let’s assume he’s talking about the four he mentions (Interstate 5 and
205, U.S. 26 and state Route 217) plus Interstate 84.
Using the Troutdale and Hillsboro city limits on the east and west, the Columbia River on the
north and the I-5/205 interchange on the south, that comes out to about 86 miles of freeway.
The Victoria Transport Policy Institute puts the cost of “urban highway capacity expansion”
at $8 million to $12 million per lane-mile including land, development and construction. It’s not
clear how that handles difficult points like the $350 million one at the Rose Quarter, but let’s say
$10 million per mile.
Let’s also assume that by “lanes” Pierce means “one new lane in each direction.” (Though
expanding capacity in one direction only might actually be a novel approach to traffic control.)
That brings the cost to $1.7 billion.
Pierce also mentions a new Columbia River Crossing. Let’s take the $2.75 billion projected cost
of that project as of 2013 and assume that Washington’s legislature would pay for half of it even
without light rail, as long as it also didn’t have tolls.
This gives us a very rough estimate of $2.7 billion to add one lane to every overland freeway in
the Portland metro area, plus a new Columbia River bridge.
This isn’t beyond the realm of possibility. The four-cent statewide gas tax hike proposed last
year would have brought in $103 million annually, and some of these freeway widenings could
probably get federal matching grants.
There are still a couple problems with this plan, though.
One is that it raises taxes on people everywhere in Oregon but only widens freeways in Portland.
Do all 308 miles of I-5 count as a “major freeway,” or all 371 miles of I-84? That’d at least
quadruple the cost of Pierce’s plan, so maybe not.
By contrast, Portland famously built an entire city-wide bike network for less than the cost of a
single mile of freeway. And today that network transports about 6 percent of city residents to
work.
Elsewhere on the Network today: Copenhagenize reports that the city is updating all its traffic
signals with “intelligent” technology that promises faster commutes for cyclists and transit
riders. Spacing‘s John Lorinc says he’ll get excited about Toronto’s ambitious transit expansion
proposal when he sees a plan to pay for it. And Twin Cities Sidewalks captures photos of people
sitting on things that aren’t chairs.
//
Categories: New Urbanism
Costly misses on convention centers
City Observatory - Thu, 2016-02-18 11:12
Today’s guest post comes from our colleague Heywood Sanders, Professor at the University of
Texas San Antonio, and author of Convention Center Follies.
Lots of people make guesses about the future. So do cities. And cities often employ “expert”
consultants, who presumably have a wealth of knowledge and expertise to inform their guesses,
and provide more accurate and precise forecasts of the future.
But those forecasts don’t always prove accurate and effective. And consultants may be prone to
telling city leaders what they’d prefer to hear, sometimes leading to dire consequences for the
cities and their residents.
One cautionary tale took place in Austin, Texas. In the mid-1990s, Austin was considering
expanding its convention center, so it hired a consultant, Charles H. Johnson, to make two
separate reports forecasting the effects of such a project. Both studies depicted a glowing future
if the convention center expansion was built: double the convention events, double the
attendance, double the hotel room nights. The city, presumably at least partly thanks to these
figures, went ahead with it.
Credit: Earl McGehee, Flickr
Almost two decades later, the city wants to do it again—but their own analysis shows that Austin
has yet to see all the predicted benefits from the first round of expansions.
This year, Austin has once again contracted with Johnson to make a recommendation about
building an even bigger convention center. Not surprisingly, the 2015 report is rosy about the
expansion. But it also provides actual attendance figures for the first round of expansions,
allowing us to compare Johnson’s projections from the 1990s with what has actually happened.
The comparison is not flattering. Where the 1990s reports forecast 98 annual conventions and
trade shows, the center just managed to land 40 in 2013. Johnson had also forecast that
expansion would more than double attendance figures, from 150,000 to 329,00. But the
expanded Austin center housed 186,675 convention and trade show attendees in 2013, the most
recent year in the new report. Hotel room nights likewise fell far short of projections.
On top of that, it turns out that not only does history repeat, but so do dubious projections of the
future. The 2015 report suggests that in “Year 8” of the newly proposed convention center
expansion, there will be 311,000 hotel room nights—roughly what the 1990s analysis projected
for the first round of expansion.
Nor is Austin the only city to find itself in this position. Johnson himself also worked on a report
for a proposed Boston convention center, suggesting that it would produce 794,000 hotel room
nights by 2012. While the center that eventually was built was somewhat smaller than the one
Johnson analyzed (at 516,000 rather than 600,000 square feet), it generated only a fraction of the
business: just under 265,000 hotel room nights in 2014. And Dallas Magazine detailed some of
the projections and accounting shenanigans surrounding that city’s convention expansions earlier
this year.
You might think that someone in Austin—perhaps the Austin Convention Center director, the
city manager and staff, or the city’s mayor and council—would bother to check on the track
record of convention center projections, and those of Johnson in particular, before
commissioning a study. You might ask how Johnson came up with his projection for the
currently proposed expansion. And you might wonder how an “expert” consultant gets to be
considered “expert.”
There is clearly a danger of “selection bias” going on here. The municipalities that commission
economic impact studies and forecasts are looking for a justification to build these facilities.
Typically they are sponsored by convention and visitor bureaus, or other special purpose entities
with a strong vested interest. They choose the consultants to conduct the studies. Confronted
with a choice of consultants who invariably produce high numbers and go forward
recommendations and other consultants who are more pessimistic and cautious, it’s likely that
those commissioning the studies will choose the more optimistic firms. Over time, this will weed
out the pessimists, and only optimists will be left. This theory has some support in academic
research.
When cities commission feasibility studies, and especially when the results of those studies will
guide the use of millions of dollars of public money, there ought to be some reason to believe
that those reports will be accurate. Part of that is looking at the track record of similar studies by
the same authors and using the same methodology. Cities and voters should be able to evaluate
the people being hired both for their reliability—how close their projections are to observed
outcomes—and their bias, or whether their projections consistently over- or under-shoot actual
results.
Without some assurance of reasonable accuracy on these fronts, it’s hard to know why cities
should continue to base major economic development investment decisions on these often faulty
studies.
Categories: CNU blogs, New Urbanism
Metro begins scrapping its oldest railcars
Greater Greater Washington - Thu, 2016-02-18 11:12
by Dan Malouff
Say goodbye to Metro railcar number 1013. Along with other 1973-vintage 1000-series railcars,
it's headed to the scrapyard. More aren't far behind.
Metro railcar 1013 at a scrap yard in Baltimore. Photo by MJofLakeland1 on Flickr.
As new 7000-series railcars enter Metro service, WMATA is now beginning to retire its oldest
railcars. So far the agency has scrapped four cars, with more scheduled to head out the door
beginning this March.
In the past if WMATA had to permanently take a railcar out of service, they'd either keep it for
parts or backup, or it would end up in any number of weird places. That happened rarely for most
of WMATA's first four decades.
That's now changing. With the impending mass retirement of 400 decades-old 1000-and-4000series cars, WMATA needed a process to handle getting rid of so many cars at once.
Since signing a scrapping contract late last year they now have that process, and railcars can
begin to head to the scrapyard.
When that happens, workers truck the old railcar to United Iron & Metal in Southwest Baltimore,
where they strip it of valuable materials.
It's an inglorious end for these old workhorses, but I'm not too sorry to see them go; those new
car replacements are nice.
Cross-posted at BeyondDC.
37 comments
Did you enjoy this article? Greater Greater Washington is running a reader drive to raise funds
so we can keep editing and publishing great articles every day. Please help us be sustainable by
making a monthly, yearly, or one-time contribution today! Click here to support Greater Greater
Washington.
Categories: CNU blogs
Fight to Preserve Historic Preservation Tools for Cities
Next City - Thu, 2016-02-18 11:12
A fountain statue outside a pool house in the Boston-Edison Historic District of Detroit (AP
Photo/Paul Sancya)
Let’s not bury the lead: The proposal to revise Michigan’s historic district legislation is a terrible
idea.
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Republican lawmakers want to amend the state’s 1970 Local Historic Districts Act to require
two-thirds approval by property owners before any potential historic district is designated, and
then also put the designation up for a vote before the city or township. Local governments, rather
than state preservation boards, would navigate any appeals. And if a designation does make it
through, it would “sunset” after 10 years — and the cumbersome process would have to start all
over again if a historically significant block or neighborhood is to be spared whatever
development trend is fashionable at the moment.
This is a strategy that mirrors a recent change in Wisconsin historic preservation law and also
recently introduced legislation in Utah. It makes historic districts in at least 78 Michigan
communities vulnerable, including Grand Rapids’ Heritage Hill, Pontiac’s Seminole Hills,
Kalamazoo’s Stuart Neighborhood, Ann Arbor’s Old West Side and Cobblestone Farm, and over
130 districts in Detroit, such as Indian Village, Palmer Woods, Corktown, and the Mies van der
Rohe homes in Lafayette Park. Small Michigan cities have also rallied around their historic
neighborhoods. In total, about 20,000 Michigan homes are in historic districts.
Proponents argue that this reform is a property rights issue, a crucial tool for individual
homeowners to protect themselves from governmental polices that dictate what they can and
cannot do with the buildings they own. It’s meant to give property owners more freedom in their
construction and rehab decisions by not chaining them to costly guidelines. Others argue that
historic districts are an obstacle for affordable housing, a sort of bulwark of wealth that
effectively keeps cities economically segregated.
The Michigan Historic Preservation Network combats this by pointing out how historic districts
serve a public good by upholding beauty and memory as civic values. At the same time, historic
districts are a powerful economic engine that builds resident loyalty, entices new homeowners
and attracts tourists. There are precious few tools that communities have to protect their historic
places, and the attack on district designation, an MHPN statement says, “jeopardizes the efficient
and fair process for establishing local historic districts already in place” while at the same time
sidestepping nationwide best practices for decision-making. Local historic districts currently
abide by standards set by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior for rehabilitation guidelines, but the
proposed law would allow local commissions to use other standards.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but the proposed legislation seems purposefully designed to have
soft spots in it — like that sunset clause — that are a developer’s dream. While historic districts
have often functioned as the last best protection for a community to assert itself against moneyed
developers that want to, say, build a hockey arena in their neighborhood, the Michigan
legislation melts their defense down to a puddle. Real estate developers with impersonal interests
in the community can bet that something will slip in the every-10-year cycle where historic
districts have to once again show that two-thirds of the neighborhood approve, and once again
get a citywide vote to back them up. To be sure, they will pounce at any opportunity.
Under the new legislation, development can’t even be delayed for six months by putting a local
resource under study for historic designation, which MHPN says is a local body’s primary tool in
Michigan to act quickly against a development threat. Developers can make swift and permanent
change while the plodding new process lumbers along. The proposed law also introduces other
means for eliminating historic districts: A local city council can simply abolish a historic district
if it wishes, no matter how long its existed and how its residents feel about it.
Significantly, as MHPN points out, while the bill requires majority consent and a general
election vote to form a historic district, no such steps are required to dissolve one. The scales are
quite clearly tilted.
The power of a historic district is its consistency over time, despite the vagaries of local politics
and development trends. That’s what gives these communities their appeal and significance. To
put an endless series of expiration dates on their historic designation is to shadow these
communities with the profound uncertainty that the very concept of historic districts was meant
to mitigate in the first place. For all the talk from the GOP lawmakers about property rights, this
is a brutal blow to the residents of these communities, making it more difficult for them to plan
and destabilizing their property values.
Then there’s the question of context. To have a historic house here and there is nice. To have a
historic block or neighborhood is exponentially more precious. Each individual structure is more
radiant because of its context. The feeling is alive not only for those who live in historic districts
but also for those who pass through them on their daily commute or visit them while traveling. It
is well documented how heritage tourism is a powerful tool for urban revitalization.
And, let’s be clear about what we’re saying when we talk about historic districts in the Rust Belt
cities of Michigan. In underserved places like Detroit, Saginaw and Flint, we’ve come to a point
where targeted demolition is actually a tool for revival. In the 2010 Census, Michigan was the
only state in the nation that lost population, and it’s just incrementally grown since then. Historic
districts are a much-needed anchor in building the kind of Michigan cities that people want to
live in. They are the nexus of density, character, local pride and stability in cities that have faced
more than their fair share of tumult and disinvestment. Stories from the historic preservation
movements in Grand Rapids, Pontiac and Ypsilanti make this plain.
Meaningfully, the Detroit City Council issued a statement opposing the legislation. This is a city
where about 20 percent of the structures are unoccupied, many owned by absentee landlords,
speculators and corporations that are decidedly unresponsive to City Hall — making it
effectively impossible to execute the sort of majority-consent prior approval requirement of the
new legislation. This requirement “gives the interest of property owners, who may or may not be
Detroit residents, primacy over the interests of residents of proposed historic districts,” according
to the Council.
The prospect of holding a citywide referendum on each historic district every 10 years is a costly
and inefficient burden to put on any city, especially those that are under-resourced. It’s also a
slap in the face to the property owners who put significant personal investment into their historic
homes and neighborhoods, even in cities that others had abandoned.
The Green Lake Blue City blog also has a detailed response to the argument that historic districts
are a mechanism of economic segregation, pointing out the untenability of that idea in cities and
states that are “desperate for families to move back, regardless of socioeconomic background.”
The blog pointedly cites a Fannie Mae report that in Rust Belt cities, historic rehabilitation is the
most significant game in town: It makes up between 50 and 60 percent of all construction
activity in Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia, and nearly 80 percent of all
construction in St. Louis.
There are reasonable debates to be had on how, where and when to draw up historic districts. (As
others have pointed out, though, historic districts can be more precisely tailored to individual
communities than zoning laws, making them a more flexible and useful tool for the community.)
But to hollow out the designation so completely is a bizarre idea with upsides that are suspect
and downsides that are both serious and permanent. The point of historic districts is not only to
protect the communities of the past for the benefit of the present. It is the gift we offer to those
who come after us. For lawmakers to play so carelessly with our common wealth is egregious.
Categories: CNU blogs, New Urbanism
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