tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74488987527023426852024-03-17T20:03:46.638-07:00PlannerDanExploring practical strategies for improving our citiesplannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-63461867738816887522023-01-05T15:01:00.002-08:002023-01-05T15:03:42.772-08:00Happy Birthday to Zack Urban Solutions!<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZugl5CHtpAHuUxNT_MFw6EI2YfdYtmTYkky2piQi5DGAedqJzBzzyfKes5R6iYBB1gbsL1BTbyAArhh_VuoIpmfz2ji0_N8Ldf0raNZLdjLTvU9Gk6JFZD2D7lbviwnn0X7yJkCOszIQB-yLB0CZ68wL6aelU8U2Ul5Rd_v3ZzSjIPqQn2fSdA6gDdg/s1015/ZUS_Logo_A_Clr.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="471" data-original-width="1015" height="148" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZugl5CHtpAHuUxNT_MFw6EI2YfdYtmTYkky2piQi5DGAedqJzBzzyfKes5R6iYBB1gbsL1BTbyAArhh_VuoIpmfz2ji0_N8Ldf0raNZLdjLTvU9Gk6JFZD2D7lbviwnn0X7yJkCOszIQB-yLB0CZ68wL6aelU8U2Ul5Rd_v3ZzSjIPqQn2fSdA6gDdg/s320/ZUS_Logo_A_Clr.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue";"><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;">Happy Birthday to Zack Urban Solutions! I can hardly believe it, but it has been exactly one year since I left local government and launched my consulting business. I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun!</div><div style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; text-align: left;"><br />I have been fortunate to work with 17 different clients on a wide range of great projects in my first year. For my very first contract I was a small part of the large and mighty team lead by the Central Valley Community Foundation that put together a successful grant application which will bring $65 million to the Central Valley to kick start an agriculture-related tech cluster, including the Innovation Center for Research and Entrepreneurship in Ag Food Technology & Engineering (iCREATE) which will hopefully be located in a restored Bank of Italy Building in Downtown Fresno. I’m also a sub-consultant to WRT on the update to the Tower District Specific Plan, which is gratifying because the Tower is my neighborhood and because I co-authored the design guidelines for the original specific plan 20 years ago. As a proud Shoupista (if you know, you know), I am very excited to be a sub-consultant to Eleven-X on the Commercial Corridor Performance Parking Plan for Arlington, VA. I will also be a sub-consultant on the team lead by Foster and Partners and ARUP, who will be designing the first four high-speed rail stations in the US in Merced, Fresno, Hanford, and Bakersfield. I’m also working on a few office projects, including a new headquarters building for a marketing firm that has an innovative vision for melding a traditional office with remote work and an expansion for a growing video production company.</div></span><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IF08ncokNbHbOUSgaMcEdDMojrt_ULZBOCbKPnuUFaqaf_1NNKBXpvKaQakaQCIb15XwSOlKW0TSJbiDAVfbjNEXE8mOub5pkfU5pTR-1O-AvgOTQjqRAE__oKNXr3fgwfkdQj9ZwlITHXBx_sA3FRfiejCjt70fMa4mQ4NAXNTvqMyLfsBpUM7vzw/s1388/P%2014%202.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="865" data-original-width="1388" height="199" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8IF08ncokNbHbOUSgaMcEdDMojrt_ULZBOCbKPnuUFaqaf_1NNKBXpvKaQakaQCIb15XwSOlKW0TSJbiDAVfbjNEXE8mOub5pkfU5pTR-1O-AvgOTQjqRAE__oKNXr3fgwfkdQj9ZwlITHXBx_sA3FRfiejCjt70fMa4mQ4NAXNTvqMyLfsBpUM7vzw/s320/P%2014%202.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Thus far, housing development has made up a majority of my work. My residential development clients are small to mid-size independent builders. They are flexible, creative, and all-around cool folks who believe in Fresno. I am thrilled to help them deliver the same kinds of projects that I championed while I worked in local government. I have been able to help them with everything from site selection, due diligence, visioning, alternatives analysis, site planning, entitlements, and general troubleshooting. In all, I am working on 10 residential/mixed-use infill projects in the Fresno area. Together these projects will deliver 731 units of housing to the market (363 market rate, 368 affordable). Most are promoting revitalization in Downtown, the Blackstone corridor, and West/Central Fresno, and a few small projects will provide appealing for-rent housing options in high-opportunity infill areas in north Fresno and Clovis. I also started as an instructor for the Incremental Development Alliance, teaching aspiring small developers across the US how to navigate their local zoning ordinances.</span><p></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH7I9uqdjegu8wQHG1JXzTiOGw-W7T8DlkHYqrJ_WZybVAaHqJ7HxP3Qmc0ROOra1ijgq8M_9HhoeZj_0GGratj2JKwdNyWMTt5KKiqU4m2JrCcbD0ZdHMYnmdbf5kV4wW2FZJDNzFsFpT5mNpbIm7zpu6Qqa72Rri-2hY0N-s8yK7cVbNCeUPqvqpOA/s1773/4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1180" data-original-width="1773" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgH7I9uqdjegu8wQHG1JXzTiOGw-W7T8DlkHYqrJ_WZybVAaHqJ7HxP3Qmc0ROOra1ijgq8M_9HhoeZj_0GGratj2JKwdNyWMTt5KKiqU4m2JrCcbD0ZdHMYnmdbf5kV4wW2FZJDNzFsFpT5mNpbIm7zpu6Qqa72Rri-2hY0N-s8yK7cVbNCeUPqvqpOA/s320/4.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial;">Want to see more about the things I am working on? Check out my current projects page on my website: <a href="https://zackurban.com/current-projects/"><span class="s1" style="color: #dca10d;">https://zackurban.com/<b>currentprojects</b>/</span></a></span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Although I am working on a lot of great projects, I still have some bandwidth—so if you want to partner on something cool, hit me up! If it promotes dense infill housing, walkability, bikeability, transit ridership, downtown and neighborhood revitalization, urbanization of commercial corridors, and the creation of fun and inclusive places then I am all over it.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I am beyond grateful that this launch was a success. Thank you to all of my clients and to everyone who has helped me with leads. Thank you also to all of my<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>friends with consulting experience who have offered sage advice—I couldn’t have done it without you! I am looking forward to all of the exciting and fulfilling work that 2023 will bring.</span></p></div>plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-57986493656552033192022-04-02T18:18:00.001-07:002022-04-27T09:22:13.485-07:00EcoNews Podcast<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRy_7g2a2ZOfJdmHBUqaXepd1wkgfzN8DvUsF9PaOHTicvUHzPw0qGo5870ys65eJ7Mjho5lgs_HgfSB-o9liueNu__j9j2EXr0fsKtb8h3afOZnla0HD6OlAlC8OUc6c8yGjxf9k135Pk7xxrPD6Sp-e1CXFqwB691sAHqcG58s9UcB3yncvXvFDYQ/s532/IMG_1235.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="532" data-original-width="529" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihRy_7g2a2ZOfJdmHBUqaXepd1wkgfzN8DvUsF9PaOHTicvUHzPw0qGo5870ys65eJ7Mjho5lgs_HgfSB-o9liueNu__j9j2EXr0fsKtb8h3afOZnla0HD6OlAlC8OUc6c8yGjxf9k135Pk7xxrPD6Sp-e1CXFqwB691sAHqcG58s9UcB3yncvXvFDYQ/s320/IMG_1235.jpeg" width="318" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"><p><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></p>I had so much fun with the last podcast, that I did another one! The kind and gracious folks at the EcoNews, Tom Wheeler and Colin Fiske, hosted me and I really enjoyed it. They run this podcast out of the great town of Arcata in Humboldt County, California, and we discussed the principles and practice of urbanism and how much it may or may not apply to their rural region of California. (Spoiler alert: Urbanism works everywhere!) </span><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;">If you wondering what I am all about, or what kind of things I do as a consultant, this is a really concise explanation. </span><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/understanding-urbanism/id1488275574?i=1000556042425" style="font-family: arial;">Listen to it here</a><span style="font-family: arial;">.</span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/understanding-urbanism/id1488275574?i=1000556042425" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="975" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3RWzOEG0pdYH0QLRlXLytlzbNgt_nWxtw0e3HechMFDWNmKQJOeslqVx5g54tGO3Ly-y3lSFAwL89sXtsv_6xIU7IdlX8u-hMhsf0dkA2hjqopNk4IY8aSRLvtrdfaGiv3_blz3ALWV8yQk_h-YsxHaXHv3G2rWxtXYDFL-2iKQoHVIoiET1HVqehIg/s320/NEWS%20copy.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p><br /></p></div>plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-81094851454891439592022-03-29T17:40:00.001-07:002022-04-26T19:40:43.579-07:00Fresno's Best Podcast<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisNL4ZhrsG8IwmTv89CLd6Zm6B14GePjJeLLC4UAHUOrobMDbtUbhdm3BC9XM_ZkZVhKotyr6tHLfmit0_WCMK6YJiy_GgDjxfDcBBm8T0JGxexTyAA8CxKhQE6_pSNJ0STuql7N6tzFp1ZWfVXHKkk66gnQ6Jl8N7L02iJTOB-xW8ergUz9ozfM4Y4A/s644/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-26%20at%205.41.47%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="602" data-original-width="644" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisNL4ZhrsG8IwmTv89CLd6Zm6B14GePjJeLLC4UAHUOrobMDbtUbhdm3BC9XM_ZkZVhKotyr6tHLfmit0_WCMK6YJiy_GgDjxfDcBBm8T0JGxexTyAA8CxKhQE6_pSNJ0STuql7N6tzFp1ZWfVXHKkk66gnQ6Jl8N7L02iJTOB-xW8ergUz9ozfM4Y4A/s320/Screen%20Shot%202022-04-26%20at%205.41.47%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;">Jordan Mattox recently interviewed me for his podcast, humbly named </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Fresno's Best Podcast</i><span style="font-family: arial;">. I had a lot of fun and I think we covered some really neat topics. He's a great host--he has segments like </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Favorite Place to Eat</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> and </span><i style="font-family: arial;">Overrated or Underrated</i><span style="font-family: arial;"> that took the conversation into interesting territory and forced me out of my standard stump speech. </span><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fresnos-best/id1495138106?i=1000555654536" style="font-family: arial;">Check it out!</a><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fresnos-best/id1495138106?i=1000555654536" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="591" data-original-width="904" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDi_Rvt9-LE6QbOuOKN_0GWXXxQMlNdY_50oOIa42ph2NMkF24m5KYSgbYtDfH4Rbl8fe9J84nCgQJkQCV814cl74kDhYCNEbF7Tw6E0-0kdpFEs3qTQjsyVr4COf0KLaoaMLhcn8uSR6nAnsD9jtEJVj7bdxluH9dg2hP1KXpiLsQ9MK0fc1hH0-gpQ/s320/Fresno's.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div><br /></div>plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-16313775622916907822022-02-07T11:07:00.004-08:002022-04-26T17:45:56.653-07:00Announcing My New Professional Adventure<p><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-size: 13px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5Dmly_a-7sOLT5JyLOPw5KUNbpBgMNwEtiFQTawUBcEYMmd7_RJJXWhWozKCSxewgPkFh4zisZ4IYeu_9pXG7vZrpA00hFynGNaQvtdmKneBHcybpK9k8D5FW3j3bPOjwRADYOyOQYTcREQtgiATs7PKfeTxfbXM710FPxozyUizaWi-sFYjtJ6sakg=s1089" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="527" data-original-width="1089" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh5Dmly_a-7sOLT5JyLOPw5KUNbpBgMNwEtiFQTawUBcEYMmd7_RJJXWhWozKCSxewgPkFh4zisZ4IYeu_9pXG7vZrpA00hFynGNaQvtdmKneBHcybpK9k8D5FW3j3bPOjwRADYOyOQYTcREQtgiATs7PKfeTxfbXM710FPxozyUizaWi-sFYjtJ6sakg=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Well, it’s a wrap! After 7.5 years with the City of Fresno and 23 years in local government, I have left my position as Assistant Director of Economic Development/Downtown Czar with the City of Fresno. On January 4 I entered Fresno City Hall as a public servant, and I left that evening as a private citizen. It felt scary and thrilling and weird.</span></p><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a>I worked with a lot of good people and we did some really great things along the way. It was hard at times, grueling and frustrating occasionally, but also a lot of fun. It is really gratifying to see a place come to life when you have helped to make it happen.<p></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Sure, there were some challenging folks, but I have worked with some great planners, engineers, elected officials, developers, and community advocates. They pushed me and made me better. They made me see parts of the picture that I was missing. Thanks to you all.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">After many years away, coming back in 2014 to work in my hometown was a thrill. We did a lot of good for this place. Fresno is full of good people and potential, but it is the ultimate underdog. There is still a lot to do, but the good work will continue—my city is in good hands.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">Even though I am a little sad to leave this phase of my career, I’m also really excited for what is coming next.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For years I have dreamed about starting my own consulting business, and I have finally done it! The time just seemed right. So, it is with great joy that I introduce you all to ZACK URBAN SOLUTIONS.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">As a consultant, I want to help folks create places that people LOVE. I’m going to offer a variety of urban planning services to municipalities and developers who want to create walkable, fun, and equitable places. My goal is to help clients develop a vision and make it a reality. Planning is awesome, but implementation of the plan is the key to making great urbanism, and implementation is my specialty.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I’m a dreamer, but I’m also pragmatic. I want to help clients create a vision that is bold and innovative and which can actually be built. I worked in local government for over 23 years—I know what it takes to create plans that won't look beautiful and then just sit on a shelf; I want to create programs for my clients that are actionable and that <i>work</i>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I will draw on my experience to ensure that my client’s projects—whether they consist of a development plan for a single building, a specific plan to guide the revitalization of a whole neighborhood, or a master plan for an entirely new town—contribute to the creation of sustainable, vibrant, prosperous, and fair communities that bring joy to EVERYONE who lives, works, and plays there.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For smaller projects I will work alone, and for bigger projects I am really excited to partner with some of the great firms that are working in this space. I know a lot of amazing consultants, both former colleagues in local government and fellow members of the Congress for the New Urbanism, and I can’t wait to team up with them.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">So who will be my clients and what services will I offer them? Well, want to work with both municipal governments and developers to create beautiful public spaces, abundant housing of every type, productive workplaces, convenient shopping, and exciting entertainment venues.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For municipal governments, I think my experience in that sector can be useful for a lot of projects; I know what is like to live with a plan and implement it day in and day out. I can help cities create many different planning documents, including revitalization plans for downtowns, commercial corridors, and neighborhoods; parking management plans; general plans, comprehensive plans, precise plans, specific plans, and other long-range plans; form-based codes and zoning updates; transit-oriented development (TOD) plans; conceptual urban design and site plans; development attraction strategies; walkability plans and walking audits; tactical urbanism plans; historic preservation strategies; and economic development strategies.</p><p class="p3" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px 0px 2px; min-height: 19px;"><b></b><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">For developers, I think I can offer a lot of help for certain kinds<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>projects. Developers get a bad rap, and sometimes that is not unwarranted, but we need good developers to build the housing, workplaces, and entertainment that our city plans envision, and some developers care about delivering attractive, sustainable, and equitable infill projects for their communities. I want to help that kind of developer make their idea come to life. I can help them deal with the unique challenges that come with infill development, envision the possibilities for unusual sites, and navigate mixed-use zoning codes, form-based codes, and entitlement processes.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">I believe that well-designed cities can improve our lives in dramatic ways. Good city planning can make it easy to drive shorter distances, or make some trips on foot or by bike, resulting in fewer miles driven per person, which reduces local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions and also results in fewer traffic deaths and injuries; it can make cities more economically robust, bringing more customers within easier access of businesses and yielding higher tax revenues per acre for local governments; it can enable a stronger sense of community by facilitating positive interactions between neighbors; it can promote healthy lifestyles with increased physical activity; it can enable cities to grow while consuming less farmland and wildlife habitat; it can promote safety by creating well-defined public spaces and activating them with pedestrians and other “eyes on the street;” and it can facilitate social equity by providing abundant housing for all needs and desires, by improving access to economic opportunities, and by providing the option to shed the high cost of car ownership from those who cannot (or would rather not) bear the cost. I think as a consultant I can help cities and developers accomplish these things, and I am excited to get to get started! If you think I can be of assistance and you want to collaborate, please reach out.</p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">The company website goes into all of this in greater detail, if you're interested: <a href="http://www.zackurban.com/"><span class="s1" style="color: #dca10d;">www.zackurban.com</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p><p class="p2" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><br /></p><p class="p1" style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue"; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">If you think I can be of assistance or if you want to collaborate, please reach out! <a href="mailto:info@zackurban.com"><span class="s1" style="color: #dca10d;">info@zackurban.com</span></a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-81675999597994572412015-05-17T13:48:00.005-07:002022-04-26T17:45:14.945-07:00Urban Retail: Towards a Balanced Approach<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pePO7-4WhFg/VVhAmcQuEZI/AAAAAAAABe4/DcpAHn8rC_w/s1600/IMG_8441.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pePO7-4WhFg/VVhAmcQuEZI/AAAAAAAABe4/DcpAHn8rC_w/s640/IMG_8441.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Historic mixed use buildings with ground floor retail in Port Townsend, Washington.</span></td></tr>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Mixed use downtowns were the hearts of our cities for centuries. Early 20th century reformers, emboldened by their successes in zoning dirty industrial uses away from residential areas, decided that commerce was also an unhealthful influence on neighborhoods and began to outlaw the mixing of uses in early zoning ordinances. As the auto age ramped up, commerce often came hand-in-hand cars and traffic, so the urge to separate retail from homes grew stronger. The mixing of retail and residential uses was prohibited in most urban areas for a long time, and it was one of the factors in the long decline of American downtowns. </span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Jane Jacobs broke with the conventional wisdom and advocated for mixed uses in the 1960s, but it took planners a while to listen. By the 1990s and 2000s urban revitalization professionals realized that mixed use development was something to be embraced. They saw that vibrant downtowns and urban neighborhoods had mixed uses, and that the most fun, active streets were the ones that had shops on the ground floors. Unfortunately, some cities went overboard</span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> and required ground floor retail <i>everywhere</i>. Many of the mandated retail spaces sat vacant, because the population of the area just couldn't support them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><br />We need a sensible approach to mixed use that reflects realities and limitations of retail, while also maintaining a commitment to vibrant streetlife. To be successful we need to redefine retail and deploy it in a very strategic way.</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b><span><a name='more'></a></span>STEP 1: REDEFINE RETAIL</b></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A <a href="https://twitter.com/RadiantFresno">colleague </a>of mine recently pointed out that every project rendering seems to show an Old Navy in it. We are obsessed with getting mall-style retail into our downtowns, and we need to get over it. Successful downtowns aren't always going to be places where you can do back to school shopping. <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/review-new-streetscape-for-burlingame.html">It's great when it happens</a>, but it is difficult and <a href="http://www.timesheraldonline.com/general-news/20150219/campbell-city-looking-to-boost-retail-in-restaurant-heavy-downtown">rare</a>. Generally, <a href="http://caps.fool.com/Blogs/the-united-states-has-too-many/212833">America is over-retailed</a>, and online shopping is shrinking the need for <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeremybogaisky/2014/02/12/retail-in-crisis-these-are-the-changes-brick-and-mortar-stores-must-make/">brick-and-mortar</a> shops. </span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Dining, entertainment, and personal services are areas in which downtowns and other walkable urban neighborhoods can thrive, and malls and the internet typically cannot. </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">We need to expand our definition of retail to include restaurants, bars, coffee houses, nightclubs, salons, theaters, live music venues, and similar uses. The focus should be on businesses that generate and benefit from high levels of foot traffic throughout the day and week. Until somebody comes up with something catchier, I suggest that we call this expanded concept <i>Retail+</i>. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AH3l2ZrMrYM/VVhiqtHvQgI/AAAAAAAABf8/wQlPADGthYI/s1600/Old-Navy-Park-Lane%2Bfrom%2Bucrdotcom.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="358" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AH3l2ZrMrYM/VVhiqtHvQgI/AAAAAAAABf8/wQlPADGthYI/s640/Old-Navy-Park-Lane%2Bfrom%2Bucrdotcom.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">This is the dream, apparently.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo source: ucr.com)</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VIOVG9qZLLA/UwgiM-EmxyI/AAAAAAAABJQ/utZCY1KFNkU/s1600/Housing%2B3.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VIOVG9qZLLA/UwgiM-EmxyI/AAAAAAAABJQ/utZCY1KFNkU/s640/Housing%2B3.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">I think this is pretty good, too.</span></td></tr>
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<b>STEP 2: SITE RETAIL STRATEGICALLY</b><br />
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When creating zoning codes for downtowns and walkable neighborhoods, we need to think like mall designers and retailers. We need to pull people through areas strategically based on the <a href="http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/general-news/20101226/retail-guru-robert-gibbs-advice-pays-off-for-santa-cruz-retailers">science of what motivates people to walk into some shops and not others</a>. Overall, our focus should be on lining sidewalks with active ground floor uses and avoiding dead blank walls.</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Here is my suggestion for how planners should code for retail. After <a href="http://patch.com/california/redwoodcity-woodside/office-space-downtown">struggling</a> for years with ground floor vacancies in Downtown Redwood City, we finally settled on a strategy similar to this, and <a href="http://www.mercurynews.com/peninsula/ci_28065182/classic-watering-hole-opens-downtown-redwood-city">it worked</a>. We need to think of ground floor uses in terms of three distinct zones:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><b>High Activity Zone:</b> Retail+ uses need to be clustered together in the most visible, accessible, central, and dense part of the neighborhood, which is where they can be most successful. We need to engineer the hustle and bustle that retail+ thrives on and that people love to see on their main streets.</span><br />
</span><ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><i><u>Location.</u></i> Traditionally, retail clustered on the busiest streets, because that's where the customers were. <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/09/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love.html">I think that's where we need to put it today</a>, too. Unless a retail area is already well-established on a side street, focus your efforts on major streets where the most paths cross. These are areas of pooled use as Jane Jacobs called them, and it is where retail+ will generally be most successful.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><i><u>Permitted Ground Floor Uses.</u></i> Retail+ uses as described above are the only uses that should be allowed on the ground floor in the High Activity Zone. The only exception should be lobbies for upstairs offices, apartments, and hotel rooms. I don't typically like to regulate land use too tightly, but allowing other uses to intrude into this zone will diminish its success.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><u><i>Size.</i></u> The size of this zone should be based on the existing and planned population of the area, their disposable income, and how much retail+ they can reasonably be expected to support. In most cases, this will probably only be one street, and it probably won't run for longer than 3 or 4 blocks. If it isn't clear what the right size is, then error on the side of being too small. If your little retail area is bursting at the seams in a few years, then you can expand it. That is much better than letting shops bleed out everywhere and never getting the critical mass that you need for success. There are recommendations on how much retail space a given number of people can support available from the <a href="http://www.icsc.org/uploads/research/general/US_CENTER_CLASSIFICATION.pdf">International Council of Shopping Centers</a> and consultants such as <a href="http://bettercities.net/article/primer-retail-types-and-urban-centers">Robert Gibbs</a>. Some of this research is based on suburban situations, but it is still helpful.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><u><i>Design Considerations.</i></u> Your retail+ businesses only need to be 20 to 50 feet deep to get the sidewalk hopping, and I wouldn't recommend mandating it for the entire depth of the lots and blocks. Non-retail+ uses such as parking, apartments, and offices can be located behind shallow retail+ uses if they don't need the space. Entrance frequency is important, though (more on that later). Try to make sure you have an entrance into a business every 25 to 35 feet along the sidewalk at the most. If you have a big use, such as a department store or a cinema, then set it back a bit and wrap it with liner shops so that your entrance frequency doesn't get too low. </span></li>
</ul>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QKZoh5M7xlM/VVgCcAjH_nI/AAAAAAAABdg/GXgW1ffsfQA/s1600/IMG_1756.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QKZoh5M7xlM/VVgCcAjH_nI/AAAAAAAABdg/GXgW1ffsfQA/s640/IMG_1756.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">This large Macy's is wrapped with small liner shops along a </span><br />
<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">shopping street in the River Park lifestyle center in Fresno.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IwT17nKJOEw/US6DxkqddqI/AAAAAAAAAn4/m5C7u0YPuUI/s1600/IMG_1832b.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IwT17nKJOEw/US6DxkqddqI/AAAAAAAAAn4/m5C7u0YPuUI/s640/IMG_1832b.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">This is an old trick, and the liner shops in Fresno's Warnor's Theater (1928) attest to that.</span></td></tr>
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<b>Moderate Activity Zone:</b> </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Too many urban streets are lined with dead blank walls. These repel pedestrians, hurt property values, and decrease safety. While we can't support retail everywhere, that doesn't mean that other areas can be allowed to be lifeless. We still need active frontages in these areas that put eyes on the street, than pull pedestrians through the block, and that generate coming and going activity at the sidewalk. </span><br />
</span><ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><i><u>Location.</u></i> This should be the treatment for everything outside of the heart of the neighborhood. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><i><u>Permitted Ground Floor Uses.</u></i> Active non-retail uses should be the only uses permitted on the ground floor in the Moderate Activity Zone. Apartments and offices should be the primary ground floor uses. Live/work units are also fantastic active non-retail uses and should be encouraged. Some small neighborhood serving retail can fit into these areas, but they should be limited to corners, and should be very small, perhaps under 1,000 square feet. A little deli that serves people living upstairs or a laundromat can be fine, but anything significant, especially if it will draw people from outside of the neighborhood, needs to be confined to the High Activity Zone. Retail+ uses can't be allowed to leak into this area, or you'll never establish a vibrant retail+ scene in the core of the district. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><u><i>Design Considerations.</i></u> </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ground floor apartments should each have their own entrance to the street, which should be accessed via a </span><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/02/balconies-patios-and-porches.html">stoop and/or porch frontage</a><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">. Ground floor residential doesn't necessarily need to be set back from the sidewalk, but it should be elevated by a few feet to provide some privacy. Ground floor offices should have </span><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/getting-small-storefront-buildings-right.html">storefronts</a><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> which resemble retail storefronts. Live/work units should typically be accessed by storefronts, although I have seen <a href="http://orencolivework.org/">some cool ones accessed by stoops</a>. </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It is still ideal to have an entrance into a business or apartment every 25 to 35 feet.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uNs7Jm0dw1Y/VVhJypPAGLI/AAAAAAAABfc/EpkCnzxi_5I/s1600/IMG_5721.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uNs7Jm0dw1Y/VVhJypPAGLI/AAAAAAAABfc/EpkCnzxi_5I/s640/IMG_5721.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Don't do this. Anywhere. Ever.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FRNhuKmmNNg/VVekSmBu_AI/AAAAAAAABcw/Z4iPIHmVZyg/s1600/IMG_6304.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FRNhuKmmNNg/VVekSmBu_AI/AAAAAAAABcw/Z4iPIHmVZyg/s640/IMG_6304.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Ground floor apartment with stoop and porch in San Diego. This is a great <i>active non-retail</i> use.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cmptW0HfBm0/VVelQ3rCSxI/AAAAAAAABdA/BH6mDp1n-YU/s1600/IMG_5709.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cmptW0HfBm0/VVelQ3rCSxI/AAAAAAAABdA/BH6mDp1n-YU/s640/IMG_5709.JPG" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Storefront office in Pasadena. Another good <i>active non-retail</i> use.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y10CXJE0gzw/VVfuTBGr0DI/AAAAAAAABdQ/7B5McJpufoI/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-05-16%2Bat%2B6.24.32%2BPM.png" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="374" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y10CXJE0gzw/VVfuTBGr0DI/AAAAAAAABdQ/7B5McJpufoI/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-05-16%2Bat%2B6.24.32%2BPM.png" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;">Ground floor live/work units with storefronts in Redwood City.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo Source: Raintree Partners)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><b>Flexible Zone: </b><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Here we can allow the market to experiment a bit. Retail+ and other uses can be allowed to mix in this zone, and as the heart of the </span><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">neighborhood gets going, this flexible zone is the ideal place for retail+ to expand into. </span><br />
</span><ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><i><u>Location.</u></i> The Flexible Zone should only extend a half a block or a block outside of the High Activity Zone. </span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><i><u>Permitted Ground Floor Uses.</u></i> Retail+ and active non-retail uses are both fine in the Flexible Zone.</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="font-family: arial;"><u><i>Design Considerations.</i></u> The design parameters for frontages and entrance frequency in the other zones apply here, too.</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Now, here's a look at how the three zones might look in a hypothetical downtown:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;"><span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A High Activity Zone should serve a walkable ped shed with a 1/4 to 1/2 mile radius. If your downtown or other urban district is larger than that, you should have a series of High Activity Zones spaced 1/2 to 1 mile apart, each of which serve the surrounding area that is within a 5 to 10 minute walk.</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">I'll wrap up this post with some thoughts about entrance frequency. It is sometimes difficult to keep entrances close together, but it really does matter. More entrances means more people are coming and going throughout the day, which means the street feels safer and more interesting. Retail experts say that most people won't venture past a gap of more than 50 feet or so between stores. When we were preparing the Downtown Redwood City Precise Plan, the consultant and staff team conducted an analysis of the existing entrance frequency in the area. It was pretty enlightening. </span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VXc586dM-fE/VVj-Z8UR2bI/AAAAAAAABgc/B-_3qqOqVzc/s1600/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-05-17%2Bat%2B1.52.12%2BAM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><img border="0" height="626" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VXc586dM-fE/VVj-Z8UR2bI/AAAAAAAABgc/B-_3qqOqVzc/s640/Screen%2BShot%2B2015-05-17%2Bat%2B1.52.12%2BAM.png" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">The yellow marks are residential and office entries, the red ones are retail+ uses. The blocks with tight clusters of entrances are the most fun and successful areas. The blocks with few or no entrances are shunned. </span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">When a cool business comes along that wants to take up 300 feet along the main drag, it can be really difficult to say no. However, it is essential to work with them and get them wrapped with liner shops. The neighborhood, and the cool new business in question, will all be more successful in the long run if you can get this right.</span><br />
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<span face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">A balanced approach to retail is critical to downtown and walkable neighborhood success. I hope this post and our experiences in Redwood City help to stimulate new thinking on the subject, and I look forward to continuing to learn from other cities who are making headway on creating vibrant urban retail and streetlife. </span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-84641244491885899052015-02-19T09:26:00.001-08:002015-05-17T20:19:50.697-07:00Greetings From Fresno!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4EebHLPgHXs/VNqg7TUXm3I/AAAAAAAABZ4/kpYUzc4RMiI/s1600/Downtown%2BFresno%2Bwith%2Bmountains%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bbackground.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4EebHLPgHXs/VNqg7TUXm3I/AAAAAAAABZ4/kpYUzc4RMiI/s1600/Downtown%2BFresno%2Bwith%2Bmountains%2Bin%2Bthe%2Bbackground.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Fresno Bee)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hello, Internet! I'm still alive! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you follow this blog, you may be wondering why I abruptly stopped writing. Well, after my last post on Downtown <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/review-new-streetscape-for-burlingame.html">Burlingame</a>, my life got really crazy. Someone made me a job offer that I couldn't refuse, so after 11 years of happily contributing to the creation of a great downtown in <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/06/the-new-urbanist-renaissance-of.html">Redwood City</a>, I left the Bay Area for California's wild interior. The last several months have been dominated by relocation-related activities that kept me away from <i>plannerdan.com</i>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where did I go? I am now in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresno,_California">Fresno</a>, California. With a population of 515,000, Fresno is the 5th largest city in California, and the 34th largest in the US. It is the heart of a very productive <a href="http://www.fcfb.org/Fresno-Ag/Fresno-Ag.php">agriculture</a> region, and industry related to farming and food processing fuels much of its economy. It is central California's primary hub of finance, health care, education, and culture. </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fresno is also a city that has had its share of struggles. The foreclosure crisis hit the city particularly hard, unemployment has always been higher than the state average, poverty is far too prevalent, air quality is poor, some neighborhoods are dotted with abandoned homes, the Downtown has stagnated for decades, and an over-reliance on low density suburban growth has spread the City's financial resources thin. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, Fresno is poised to make a big comeback. It</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> has significant assets, such as </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/csu-fresno-1147">great </a><a href="http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/fresno-pacific-university-1253">universities</a>, proximity to three <a href="http://www.nps.gov/seki/planyourvisit/images/region.gif">national parks</a>, a dramatic natural setting at the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, the biggest stock of <a href="http://historicfresno.org/">historic buildings</a> in central California, a growing population, and a <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2014/12/03/fresno-not-san-francisco-among-nations-strong-housing-markets-trulia-says/">strong housing market</a>. Bright and talented Millennials are <a href="http://www.radiantcityrevisited.com/2014/05/homecoming-few-sentimental-words-about.html">returning home</a>, hip <a href="http://downtownfresnoblog.com/2013/09/27/restaurant-of-the-week-peeves-public-house-and-local-market/">new pubs</a> and <a href="http://kvpr.org/post/fresno-tioga-sequoia-brews-both-beer-and-culture">breweries</a> are opening up, residents are taking an <a href="http://www.myplanmycity.org/">active role</a> in moving the city in a new direction, locals are getting excited about <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/480595388729339/667251846730358/?notif_t=group_activity">Fresno's history</a>, and people are reclaiming their <a href="http://lowellfresno.org/">neighborhoods</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fresno isn't renowned as a beautiful city, but it may surprise you to find out how much beauty does exist here. This town has good bones, as they say. I think it is going to be the next big thing.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GeKo5FEOqck/VNmW0aqhxDI/AAAAAAAABYU/gU7iB0EKV9I/s1600/Fresno%2BSkyline%2BSteinhauer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-GeKo5FEOqck/VNmW0aqhxDI/AAAAAAAABYU/gU7iB0EKV9I/s1600/Fresno%2BSkyline%2BSteinhauer.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Mark Steinhauer / Fresno's Past Facebook Group)</i></span></td></tr>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5NhZyUPDLMQ/VNZI8MOCmPI/AAAAAAAABXk/kUPjrY_dSy0/s1600/IMG_8184.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5NhZyUPDLMQ/VNZI8MOCmPI/AAAAAAAABXk/kUPjrY_dSy0/s1600/IMG_8184.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5ugxPSnuphc/VNmW1-5nlgI/AAAAAAAABYs/vK5GtZzzyJQ/s1600/IMG_8182.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5ugxPSnuphc/VNmW1-5nlgI/AAAAAAAABYs/vK5GtZzzyJQ/s1600/IMG_8182.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nLXfnuARutw/VNmW2fxYWjI/AAAAAAAABY8/fa0IuEdAakc/s1600/IMG_9101.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-nLXfnuARutw/VNmW2fxYWjI/AAAAAAAABY8/fa0IuEdAakc/s1600/IMG_9101.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-84SBhgCoSU4/VNmW2XIKQ9I/AAAAAAAABZQ/i602-6k2LR4/s1600/IMG_9091.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-84SBhgCoSU4/VNmW2XIKQ9I/AAAAAAAABZQ/i602-6k2LR4/s1600/IMG_9091.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4WJ3VF6an0I/VNrzWcw8l_I/AAAAAAAABaw/GFgsaqhKZAk/s1600/B9ieZi6IQAAm-mY.jpg-large.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4WJ3VF6an0I/VNrzWcw8l_I/AAAAAAAABaw/GFgsaqhKZAk/s1600/B9ieZi6IQAAm-mY.jpg-large.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td><a href="http://www.stjohnsfresno.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/St-Johns-Cathedral-25.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.stjohnsfresno.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/St-Johns-Cathedral-25.jpg" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Stjohnsfresno.org)</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://historicfresno.org/photo/holytrin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://historicfresno.org/photo/holytrin.jpg" height="552" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Historicfresno.org)</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQR6iT7ih10/VNqlxN6uyjI/AAAAAAAABag/E33uf3cPhbg/s1600/3398035_orig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="454" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-mQR6iT7ih10/VNqlxN6uyjI/AAAAAAAABag/E33uf3cPhbg/s1600/3398035_orig.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Fresnocatholic.com)</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/2009-0725-CA-FresnoSantaFeStation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8c/2009-0725-CA-FresnoSantaFeStation.jpg" height="444" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Wikipedia)</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://historicfresno.org/photo/fhs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://historicfresno.org/photo/fhs.jpg" height="394" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ej1mo6-_zaY/VNmW1qPQAWI/AAAAAAAABYo/hGFGsI5yStk/s1600/IMG_7480.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ej1mo6-_zaY/VNmW1qPQAWI/AAAAAAAABYo/hGFGsI5yStk/s1600/IMG_7480.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Historicfresno.org)</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4001/4227943797_52e733a9e4_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4001/4227943797_52e733a9e4_b.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Flickr)</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://activerain.trulia.com/image_store/uploads/4/1/3/8/4/ar119767015948314.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://activerain.trulia.com/image_store/uploads/4/1/3/8/4/ar119767015948314.jpg" height="420" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Randy "Lazarus" McAtee)</i></span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I-ZPYPYw-v0/VNmW1NeR44I/AAAAAAAABYc/dR0Ba9slM6s/s1600/IMG_7731.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="font-size: medium; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I-ZPYPYw-v0/VNmW1NeR44I/AAAAAAAABYc/dR0Ba9slM6s/s1600/IMG_7731.jpeg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uyoVM3qf-qQ/VNmW1TbutII/AAAAAAAABYg/iB5waJcxXls/s1600/IMG_8066.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-uyoVM3qf-qQ/VNmW1TbutII/AAAAAAAABYg/iB5waJcxXls/s1600/IMG_8066.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fl91b-yxzbI/VNmW2jJLSOI/AAAAAAAABY4/WNXIeyEgU14/s1600/IMG_9123.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="color: black;"><br /></span><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fl91b-yxzbI/VNmW2jJLSOI/AAAAAAAABY4/WNXIeyEgU14/s1600/IMG_9123.jpeg" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://historicfresno.org/photo/antrim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://historicfresno.org/photo/antrim.jpg" height="340" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Historic Fresno.org)</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://historicfresno.org/photo/EchoN1487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://historicfresno.org/photo/EchoN1487.jpg" height="396" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Historicfresno.org)</span></i></td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://historicfresno.org/photo/HomeE605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://historicfresno.org/photo/HomeE605.jpg" height="386" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Historicfresno.org)</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://historicfresno.org/photo/HomeE667.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://historicfresno.org/photo/HomeE667.jpg" height="308" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Historicfresno.org)</span></i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HGnX2p1UdgA/VNmW0CnevWI/AAAAAAAABYQ/i7mtWgb_hnw/s1600/074E2825.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HGnX2p1UdgA/VNmW0CnevWI/AAAAAAAABYQ/i7mtWgb_hnw/s1600/074E2825.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Mark Crosse)</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2do2CRWGje4/VNmW0b3UAGI/AAAAAAAABYY/a8rQ1S-QSAk/s1600/2CDB2855.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="428" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2do2CRWGje4/VNmW0b3UAGI/AAAAAAAABYY/a8rQ1S-QSAk/s1600/2CDB2855.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px; text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Mark Crosse)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm excited to be here at this particular moment. Fresno has strong leadership that is making important investments in the city's future and embracing good urban planning and design. Here are a few highlights:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>BRT.</b> A 19-mile </span><a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/03/15/3825270/editorial-revised-bus-rapid-transit.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bus Rapid Transit</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> system is under development, which will open for service in late 2016. It will begin near the River Park lifestyle center in north Fresno, proceed south on Blackstone Avenue, loop through Downtown, and then head east on Ventura Avenue / Kings Canyon Road to Clovis Avenue. Blackstone and Ventura/Kings Canyon will transform over time into mixed use corridors lined with transit-oriented development. While it has a few shortcomings, the system will be great, featuring 10-minute headways, slick new buses, signal prioritization, advanced fare collection, and bump-out stations that eliminate the need for the busses to swerve in and out of traffic.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Fulton Street Restoration.</b> Two years ago, before I had any inclination that I'd be coming to Fresno, I wrote about the unhappy fates of pedestrianized main streets around the US. Fresno's </span><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/02/thoughts-on-pedestrian-mall.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fulton Mall</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> was a particularly frustrating example for me, having witnessed its long, sad decline first hand. I'm happy to report that Fulton Street is finally being restored to a classic </span><a href="http://www.fresno.gov/Government/MayorsOffice/DowntownRevitalization/fultonmall.htm" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">urban main street</a>.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> It will allow just enough auto access to ensure retail viability, while maintaining a strong emphasis on pedestrian convenience and comfort. The beautiful <a href="http://downtownfresnoblog.com/2013/02/14/finding-fresno-my-quest-to-discover-all-the-things-ill-love-about-fresno/">public art</a> on the Mall is being restored and integrated into the sidewalks of the new street. It is an excellent solution to a problem that has vexed generations of leaders in this community, and it will be in place by late 2016.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>A Shift to Balanced Growth.</b> The new </span><a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2014/12/18/4292692/fresno-city-council-hears-publics.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">General Plan</a>,<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> which was adopted in December of 2014, aims to direct half of the city's growth into Downtown and existing neighborhoods. This is a groundbreaking goal for a city that has been a poster child for runaway outward growth for many years. Greenfield development will still happen, but it will now be balanced out with viable alternatives in the central city. A major focus is being placed on the improvement of long-neglected </span><a href="http://collegian.csufresno.edu/2013/10/31/students-faculty-help-develop-neighborhood-revitalization-plan/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">neighborhoods</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> a</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nd <a href="http://www.fresno.gov/Government/MayorsOffice/DowntownRevitalization/FresnoDowntownPlans/DevelopmentCode.htm">form-based codes</a> are being <a href="http://www.fresno.gov/code">created </a>which will attract infill development and sculpt it into vibrant, walkable urbanism. 500 units </span><a href="http://www.muraldistrict.com/ironbird.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of housing</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> have already been </span><a href="http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/01/27/4351541_housing-authority-opens-its-cityview.html?rh=1" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">built</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> in Downtown, with more in the works. </span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s_sdsK2asUo/VTA7ks3IL_I/AAAAAAAABcU/3Ob74aXMRrM/s1600/Fulton%2BStreet%2BRendering.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><img border="0" height="276" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-s_sdsK2asUo/VTA7ks3IL_I/AAAAAAAABcU/3Ob74aXMRrM/s1600/Fulton%2BStreet%2BRendering.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The well-intentioned but fatally flawed <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/02/thoughts-on-pedestrian-mall.html">Fulton Mall</a> will be replaced with a classic American main street.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ybKyv5JeZJk/VOYYQEaeunI/AAAAAAAABbY/G23sM6cHQak/s1600/CIty%2BView%2BCorner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="408" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ybKyv5JeZJk/VOYYQEaeunI/AAAAAAAABbY/G23sM6cHQak/s1600/CIty%2BView%2BCorner.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The City View apartments opened in January at the corner of Van Ness and Inyo.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was born here, but came into my own as a professional city planner in the Bay Area. Because of that history, this relocation has been like a warm homecoming and an excursion into a strange foreign land all at the same time. But I'm really enjoying getting reacquainted with my hometown, getting up to speed on good things happening here, and adding my voice to the local dialog. It isn't going to be easy to bring this town back, but we're on our way, and I think we are going to pull it off.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I still have deep ties in Redwood City, and will periodically update you on the <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/06/the-new-urbanist-renaissance-of.html">great things</a> that are happening there. In addition to the <a href="http://www.redwoodcity.org/phed/pdf/CD_Downtown_Project_Map_April14.pdf">housing boom</a> that has been happening <a href="http://www.201marshall.com/">for a while</a>, <a href="http://news.theregistrysf.com/developers-flood-redwood-city-downtown-office-proposals/">proposals for new office space</a> are exploding in response to the ease of developing good projects under the <a href="http://www.redwoodcity.org/preciseplan">Downtown Precise Plan</a>. It is great to see <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2014/09/16/box-wraps-up-deal-for-crossing-900-in-redwood-city.html?page=all">big tech companies moving in</a> to take advantage of the amenity-rich and walkable Downtown. Other cities are starting to take notice, and <a href="http://www.dailyrepublic.com/news/fairfield/at-a-booming-downtown-once-dormant-lessons-for-fairfield/">are learning from Redwood City's dramatic turnaround</a>. When I visited in October I was very pleased with how my former projects were progressing. Here are some images from that trip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(By the way Fresno folks, this is pretty representative of what I am trying to bring to Downtown Fresno. Wish me luck.)</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Crossing 900 is going up at breakneck speed and looks wonderful. It provides an awesome terminated vista for Theater Way. I fought hard for that brick, and I'm glad we got it.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-phhQKT5p0SM/VJ8VPDlTy3I/AAAAAAAABVY/TNqNsEmCl5E/s1600/IMG_9452.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I love the sight of tower cranes. There are two at Crossing 900.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GKS4Y9NPDgM/VJ8VPB2HM9I/AAAAAAAABVg/t2lHZSX3S-A/s1600/IMG_9454.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Two more cranes are at working away at 525 Middlefield.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Elan project on Franklin Street was really coming together nicely during my visit, and I hear they have now topped it off.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c3BG-4zWdys/VJ5T80fBoXI/AAAAAAAABU0/WJbN_XO9XLs/s1600/IMG_9772.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="640" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Lane project on El Camino Real is complete and I'm really happy with how it turned out. It is a good model for how post-WWII commercial highways can urbanize.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3uy0zDdJvXE/VN7oUA2FjDI/AAAAAAAABbA/bi9T9DsWAY0/s1600/IMG_7897.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3uy0zDdJvXE/VN7oUA2FjDI/AAAAAAAABbA/bi9T9DsWAY0/s1600/IMG_7897.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Radius apartments on Veterans Boulevard look great. I fought hard for these stoops. I'm glad we prevailed.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-16yXer-ZFqQ/VN7oe3ohtpI/AAAAAAAABbI/XKiF21Ypnc8/s1600/IMG_7882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-16yXer-ZFqQ/VN7oe3ohtpI/AAAAAAAABbI/XKiF21Ypnc8/s1600/IMG_7882.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">The Radius features a new street which breaks up a superblock and connects the project to the neighborhood. Another worthy struggle.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://tcaarchitects.com/wp-content/themes/tca/assets/images/portfolio-arch-projects/201-marshall/201-marshall-large-01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://tcaarchitects.com/wp-content/themes/tca/assets/images/portfolio-arch-projects/201-marshall/201-marshall-large-01.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">I didn't get a picture of it on my trip, but I'm really happy with the way the 201 Marshall turned out. It was the first project to be proposed under the Downtown Precise Plan. They took a risk on us, and I'm glad it paid off for them. (Photo Source: TCA Architects)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This blog has been quiet lately, but I still have a lot to say. Regular posting will resume soon. I have been Tweeting pretty often, so you can follow me on Twitter (@plannerdanzack) if you'd like more frequent city-pontificating. If you don't use Twitter, I have embedded my Twitter feed in the sidebar on the PC version of this site. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to continuing to explore practical strategies for improving our cities with you.</span></div>
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-87250194824496165642014-05-20T19:02:00.004-07:002015-02-19T09:32:42.960-08:00Review: A New Streetscape for Burlingame Avenue<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8-A1FooQKFc/U3fwMUeK7RI/AAAAAAAABNY/ZjYKm9ZAh8I/s1600/IMG_7167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8-A1FooQKFc/U3fwMUeK7RI/AAAAAAAABNY/ZjYKm9ZAh8I/s1600/IMG_7167.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></span></a><br />
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burlingame,_California" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Burlingame</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, California is a city south of San Francisco on the San Francisco Peninsula. It features a very nice downtown district which has, among other virtues, an unusually high quantity of </span><a href="http://map.burlingamedowntown.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">retailers</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. While great dining and entertainment has come to many revitalized downtowns, most just can't seem to nurture a good retail scene. Burlingame has managed to pull it off. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The City is in the process of giving a <a href="https://www.burlingame.org/index.aspx?page=1713">makeover</a> to Burlingame Avenue, their downtown's main street. I visited the area recently, and the central portion was completed and it looked gorgeous. The new design is a big improvement, and I think they are doing a wonderful job of making a great place greater. When completed, it may be one of the most beautiful streets in Northern California. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here's what I saw... </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sidewalks</span></b></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kjm3MtTCnM4/U3fxCcXD6LI/AAAAAAAABOs/W4Uq7HK8P50/s1600/IMG_7055.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kjm3MtTCnM4/U3fxCcXD6LI/AAAAAAAABOs/W4Uq7HK8P50/s1600/IMG_7055.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sidewalks are the highlight. I found them to be extremely comfortable and attractive. They made me want to walk around, socialize, hang out on a bench, grab a bite to eat, and shop. I could have stayed on those sidewalks all day. They are about 16 feet wide, which feels very generous in this day and age.</span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-51BaMMJr9wA/U3f6qXlgsxI/AAAAAAAABP0/bmu4nNpoiNM/s1600/IMG_7101_Fotor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-51BaMMJr9wA/U3f6qXlgsxI/AAAAAAAABP0/bmu4nNpoiNM/s1600/IMG_7101_Fotor.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pavers are attractive earth tones with a slightly glossy sealer. They are simple rectangles, arranged in a stretcher bond pattern. It is a style that is timeless and will look good for years into the future. There is just enough variation in color to provide texture and visual interest without being busy and distracting. Too many streetscapes feature pavers in bright colors, complex shapes, and intricate patterns (or colored and stamped concrete) that don't contribute much value and may even look outdated within a short period of time. This design avoids those pitfalls.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The sidewalk materials evoke the elegant simplicity of <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@48.851857,2.346746,3a,75y,334.55h,78.03t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sQnk_V4yxohFAqYnlz4a01Q!2e0!6m1!1e1">European streets</a>. It is true that if the proportions of the street width and height are right and the facades of the buildings are extremely attractive, you can get away with <a href="https://www.google.com/maps/@48.881527,2.299715,3a,37.5y,260.31h,83.49t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s6IEiGkC1gO-FTiI-E-II6Q!2e0">scant sidewalk materials</a>, but quality materials are a nice touch on particularly important streets, and I think Burlingame Avenue warrants it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The street trees are evenly spaced </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and form a straight line a few feet in from the curb, which is perfect. As is the case on the greatest streets, o</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">nly one species is used, which appears to be Chinese elm. That is an excellent choice. If they are limbed up as they mature, eventually they will provide a nice cathedral ceiling to the street at a level which is high enough to allow excellent visibility for retail signage. It will be visually dramatic and good for business. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At about 10 feet, the walkway is wide enough to accommodate leisurely strolling and more purposeful pedestrians. Conversations among pairs or groups can be had while allowing plenty of room for others to pass. The walkway hugs the buildings, as it should. While a few narrow tables with chairs occasionally sit against the buildings, the main furniture zone is out toward the curb where it belongs. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lamps, tree grates, and other furniture are a glossy black, which looks great. Black won't go out of style, and it looks clean and elegant. The upside-down double acorn lamps are nice.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tall street lights aren't necessary, but if you want to light the roadway, this type of pole is a good way to do it. It is ornamental, and includes a second lamp at the pedestrian scale. The design alternates between these tall poles and the shorter ones in the previous photo.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Even the tree grates are attractive. Not only do they add visual appeal, but they show that Burlingame cares about the details, which people appreciate. Not every street needs something this nice, but it is worthwhile to spend a little extra money on the main drag.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The intersections feature an elaborate circular pattern, which is attractive. However, I'm not personally a fan of such treatments. This is a part of the street where you can save some money and not hurt its overall beauty. I wouldn't have done this, but it doesn't hurt anything.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the upside, the tactile strips at the corner match the color palette and look good, and the corner radii are pretty tight, which will slow down cars that are making right turns. Also, no turn lanes were provided, which would have helped cars at go faster at the expense of parking and sidewalk space. It is a mistake that is made on many downtown main streets, but which Burlingame wisely avoided.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The crosswalks use the same pavers as the sidewalks. It looks good, but I prefer to keep crosswalks simple. <i><a href="http://www.groovetraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tumblr_m1irpwh5Gg1rqkia0.jpg">Continental</a></i><a href="http://www.groovetraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/tumblr_m1irpwh5Gg1rqkia0.jpg"> striping on asphalt</a>, made famous on the cover of the album Abbey Road by the Beatles, is very easy for motorists to see and is universally understood to denote pedestrian crossings. They are also inexpensive to build and easy to maintain. And, what could be cooler than looking like a Beatles album?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The bulbouts at the corners feature a system meant to absorb as much storm water into the ground as possible without putting it into the storm drain system. If you must do something to accommodate NPDES rules, then this isn't such a bad way to go. For my taste, though, I would prefer more pavers in this area, or maybe another parking space.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't measure the travel lanes, but cars were traveling slow, just as you would want them to on this kind of street. Prior to the makeover, the curb parking was diagonal, but it has been converted to parallel. This change probably caused a loss of parking stalls, but the extra space was seized for pedestrians, and it was a worthwhile swap. There are't any bike lanes, but I would argue that they are't necessary here. Many cyclists are comfortable on such slow streets without their own dedicated lane.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The pavers in the parking lane are nice, but I don't feel that they are necessary. Granted, the pavers and concrete band can serve to visually narrow the roadway, which slows down traffic and is worthwhile. However, when cars are parked you don't need this effect, because the cars do it better than paving ever could. I think asphalt would have been fine.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Other Thoughts</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One block of the old streetscape remains, at the eastern end near California Drive. It is hard to overstate how much of an improvement the new design is. Here, brick crosswalks were augmented with white stripes to improve visibility. Sidewalks are too narrow, and street trees are a low slung, irregularly spaced miss-mash of species which block business signage. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The old sidewalks are concrete with exposed aggregate. It looks very dated. This stretch also reminds us that we shouldn't use any paving that we aren't going to be willing or able to patch.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the other end of the street, near El Camino Real, work is ongoing. Making such dramatic improvements requires wholesale destruction of the street, and this can be quite traumatic for the area and its businesses. It is always a challenge to provide access to the businesses and to coax visitors into areas that look like this. Such problems are temporary, though, and dealing with them is usually worthwhile in the long run.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Bottom Line</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Overall, this new streetscape for Burlingame Avenue is a big improvement. A big tip of the hat to my compatriots to the north for having the guts to take this on and for going with a design that functions well right out of that gate and which will age well. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Next time you're in the Bay Area, you should definitely check it out.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="https://twitter.com/plannerdanzack/status/466626994932047873">Beauty is an economic development tool</a>, and I have no doubt that this project will pay for itself many times over by attracting ever greater numbers of people to the area. Retail sales will increase and new businesses will sprout up, resulting in more sales tax revenue for the City and more prosperity for merchants. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If this streetscape project is combined with a good land use plan then it will certainly attract high quality infill development, which could provide much need <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html">housing</a> for the region in a walkable, transit-connected location that would be <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/07/lessons-from-arlington-virginia.html">great for the environment and for the City's property tax rolls</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The most important benefit, however, is the civic pride that this will undoubtably bring to the citizens of Burlingame. This is definitely something that they should be proud of, and I hope they enjoy it for years to come. </span></div>
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-61095951888568310892014-05-10T12:15:00.000-07:002014-05-20T19:06:01.293-07:00Fonzie Flats<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ABIi92C4-cc/U25rudQ-erI/AAAAAAAABLE/PHadOkARDpY/s1600/Fonzie+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ABIi92C4-cc/U25rudQ-erI/AAAAAAAABLE/PHadOkARDpY/s1600/Fonzie+1.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fonzie with the Cunninghams in his accessory apartment above their garage.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(From the TV series <i>Happy Days.</i>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Accessory apartments are small secondary housing units which are built on a lot with a single-family house. They have been put in attics, basements, above garages, and in detached back yard cottage structures. They used to be very common, but were outlawed in many communities during the mid-twentieth century.<br /><br />They are often called granny flats or ADUs (accessory dwelling units), but let's forget all of that. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Granny Flats makes them sound old fashioned and out of date, and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ADU sounds like a disease or a boring bureaucratic mechanism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I propose that from this point forward we call them </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fonzie Flats.</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why Fonzie Flats? First of all, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonzie" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fonzie</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> lived in one. Secondly, it is catchy, fun, and is memorable. Most importantly, it helps to remind people that l</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ike Fonzie himself, Fonzie Flats are <i>cool</i>. They are cool for the person who finds an apartment that suits their needs, and they are cool for the homeowner who gets a revenue stream. They are cool for teenage offspring or elderly parents who want some independence and privacy but need to be near the family. They are a cool way to fulfill all of these needs without altering the visual character of the neighborhood. My current block has two, my previous block had a couple also, and I can tell you from experience that they're not a problem.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My old block. Can you see the Fonzie Flats? They're there.<br />
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo source: Google Maps)</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The New York Times recently did <a href="http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/garden/grandma-never-had-it-so-good.html?ref=garden&_r=1&referrer=">a nice article on them</a> that you should check out</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. In the classic book </span><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=aBNu7zLlcRcC&pg=PT78&lpg=PT78&dq=%22suburban+nation%22+granny+flat&source=bl&ots=SjAXQBC5Ln&sig=il1EO2JoRtZq4OZNUkEKUqFneM0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=R3duU9GvKoiBogSAsIDgAg&ved=0CDQQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=%22suburban%20nation%22%20granny%20flat&f=false" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suburban Nation</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, Duany, Plater-Zyberk, and Speck point out that having the homeowner on-site helps to keep the tenants on their best behavior, because very few homeowners will tolerate mischief happening literally in their back yard. Alan Durning of the Sightline Institute has also done a lot of great </span><a href="http://daily.sightline.org/2013/03/15/adus-and-donts/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">great writing on the subject</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, particularly on how to scale back regulations in ways that make Fonzie Flats easier to build. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I understand and respect that single-family neighborhoods are sensitive to any sort of change, but we should keep an open mind toward minimally invasive changes like Fonzie Flats that can bring big benefits to the entire community without much disruption.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Disclaimer: Just so we're clear, <a href="http://andc.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/WOTM%20JAN%202013.pdf">I'm not the first to use the term Fonzie Flat.</a> I'm just trying to help it catch on.</span></i></span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-74693472128212050152014-05-05T22:54:00.001-07:002015-05-29T22:57:45.461-07:00Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point - Part 4: Do We Need Affordable Housing or Affordable Living?<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RKeMh5c2Tts/U3BeNLhXSDI/AAAAAAAABLw/gIJDJXVA2WA/s1600/Budget.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RKeMh5c2Tts/U3BeNLhXSDI/AAAAAAAABLw/gIJDJXVA2WA/s1600/Budget.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo source: www.choosewhat.com)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Housing is too expensive in many of America's major metropolitan areas, and <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html">something must be done about it</a>. However, it would be a tragic mistake to focus only on the cost of rent, or the sales prices of homes. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As we work to bring down housing costs, we also need to make affordable options available in other aspects of people's lives which can offset high rent. There are two primary areas that we should focus on in order to promote <i>affordable living</i>: </span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1. Reduce Household Transportation Costs</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unaffordable housing is a serious problem, but the combined cost of housing and transportation is what really matters.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In regions with affordability problems, housing and transportation costs tend to be inversely related. As housing gets cheaper toward the metropolitan fringe, transportation costs increase, often erasing the benefit of the lower-cost housing. For example, someone living in New York's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenwich_Village">Greenwich Village</a> will undoubtably pay <a href="http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/fee/4404476801.html">exorbitant rent</a>, but due to the neighborhood's high walkability, abundance of amenities, and excellent transit access, their transportation costs can be <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._cities_with_most_households_without_a_car">nearly zero</a>. If the same person moves out to suburban New Jersey they can get a <a href="http://newyork.craigslist.org/jsy/abo/4439118546.html">cheaper house</a>, but their transportation costs will <a href="https://exchange.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Your-Driving-Costs-2013.pdf">skyrocket</a>.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NOvdbNJ_TEc/VWlQ6p_3RGI/AAAAAAAABhc/SNmd33WrYXc/s1600/NY-Vehicles-Per-Person.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="434" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NOvdbNJ_TEc/VWlQ6p_3RGI/AAAAAAAABhc/SNmd33WrYXc/s640/NY-Vehicles-Per-Person.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Car ownership in the New York region.<br />
<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo source: <a href="http://la.streetsblog.org/2010/12/13/density-car-ownership-and-what-it-means-for-the-future-of-los-angeles/">www.streetsblog.org</a>)</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Due to years of federal and state transportation funding being biased toward highways, and the proliferation of zoning laws which discouraged the construction of walkable urban development, the New Jersey scenario is much more common today than the Greenwich Village scenario. That's why <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304610404579401613007521066">50% of US household income goes to housing and transportation</a>. It doesn't have to be that way, though. A recent <a href="http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304610404579401613007521066">study</a> of 11 Asian nations found that housing and transportation combined consumed just 16% of household budgets in those countries. Even in the US, just 100 years ago transportation accounted for nearly nearly 0% of household budgets. Today, t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">he average American household drives about <a href="https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/policy/2010cpr/chap1.htm">20,000</a> miles per year, and spends over <a href="https://exchange.aaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Your-Driving-Costs-2013.pdf">$10,000</a> annually on driving costs. Through years of public policy, we have basically forced Americans to take on such financial burdens if they wish to participate in the economy. It is really difficult, if not impossible, to opt out.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DXxCuEFj4fg/U3BetfWvCEI/AAAAAAAABL0/RIOOUGLMh-U/s1600/Car+Jack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="430" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DXxCuEFj4fg/U3BetfWvCEI/AAAAAAAABL0/RIOOUGLMh-U/s1600/Car+Jack.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Get in that car and drive everywhere for everything, buddy!"<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo source: www.automotive-fleet.com)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Center for Neighborhood Technology has developed </span><a href="http://htaindex.cnt.org/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a calculator</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> to help people who are searching for a home understand this phenomenon. It is revealing. Below are screen grabs from three very different cities, which yield very different results. The scenarios on the left consider only housing costs, and the scenarios on the right consider housing and transportation cost together. As is common, CNT considers housing costs in excess of 30% of income to be unaffordable; for housing and transportation together, they consider costs exceeding 45% of income to be unaffordable. On the maps, yellow represents affordable areas, and blue areas are unaffordable. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nBZj5taAbiM/Uz5RuRLZ7dI/AAAAAAAABKg/M31Lh9ptNbY/s1600/housing+plus+trasp+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nBZj5taAbiM/Uz5RuRLZ7dI/AAAAAAAABKg/M31Lh9ptNbY/s1600/housing+plus+trasp+1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Modesto, CA</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tl0tbZzEjP4/Uz5RukVAYZI/AAAAAAAABKk/ttw4ONShlSc/s1600/housing+plus+trasp+2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tl0tbZzEjP4/Uz5RukVAYZI/AAAAAAAABKk/ttw4ONShlSc/s1600/housing+plus+trasp+2.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Portland, OR</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hQTjHxUqZdg/Uz5RuwlJDMI/AAAAAAAABKo/9b6FJ1b9ndI/s1600/housing+plus+trasp+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="234" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hQTjHxUqZdg/Uz5RuwlJDMI/AAAAAAAABKo/9b6FJ1b9ndI/s1600/housing+plus+trasp+3.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York, NY</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fortunately, it doesn't have to be this way. It won't be easy, but we can gradualy ease the burden of high transportation costs in a few key ways:</span></div>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Expand Transit. </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Driving is fun, but we have practically mandated it for people in a lot of areas. If you like driving then you should be able to do it, but people with other needs and desires should have convenient options available to them, too. Smart </span><a href="http://transportblog.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Public-Investment-Wasteful-Subsidy.jpg" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">investments in transit</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> are critical to expanding options and allowing some people to choose not to drive without sacrificing access to jobs, services, and amenities. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This doesn't necessarily mean that we need to break the bank; transit can be made to be improved and made to be more <a href="http://www.humantransit.org/2012/10/auckland-how-network-redesign-can-transform-a-citys-possibilities.html">cost-effective</a>, as system improvements in Auckland and other cities have shown. If you're really shrewd, transit can be a <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/09/the-unique-genius-of-hong-kongs-public-transportation-system/279528/">money-maker</a>, as can <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/07/lessons-from-arlington-virginia.html">transit-oriented development</a>.</span></li>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Build Walkability into Everything.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Every transit trip begins and ends on foot. Walking is also an excellent mode of transportation in its own right, and it is completely free. It also causes no pollution, <a href="http://streetswiki.wikispaces.com/Eyes+On+The+Street">discourages crime</a>, and is really easy on the municipal budget (since sneakers don't put much wear and tear on the sidewalks). The more walking, the better. To facilitate this, streets must have sufficiently wide sidewalks, and they must be well lit, shaded, <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/02/long-live-on-street-parking.html">protected</a>, lined with <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/getting-small-storefront-buildings-right.html">useful</a> and <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/02/balconies-patios-and-porches.html">interesting</a> buildings, and must form an <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/09/to-connect-or-not-to-connect.html#more">interconnected</a> network.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Facilitate Shorter Driving Trips.</b> We must adjust our land use plans so that eventually, so many people don't have to drive so far so often if they don't want to. Focusing new high density residential development on <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/09/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love.html">transportation corridors</a>, <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/07/lessons-from-arlington-virginia.html">near transit</a>, and near office and retail clusters is a key part of this. We should also promote the growth of a series of smaller mixed-use centers disbursed throughout the community (rather than just a few mega-centers) so that single-family home residents who prefer driving can get there with shorter car trips.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>2. Support Smaller Living Spaces</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The average American home has been getting bigger (and bigger, and bigger) <a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/us_home_size_preferences_final.html">for a long time</a>. In the 1950s the average home was only 980 square feet, but by the 2000s it was 2,300 square feet, despite the fact that the average household has fewer people now. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are a lot of perks to living in a large house, but there are also some downsides. Big homes take up more space, cost more to build, cost more to heat and cool, and cost more to furnish and equip. Inordinately large home can create serious financial strain for some households, especially in areas where rent and mortgage costs are exceptionally high.</span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VHsq4X2wELA/UxlqQyJhn0I/AAAAAAAABKE/mKhJjJa2zrs/s1600/WSJ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="368" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VHsq4X2wELA/UxlqQyJhn0I/AAAAAAAABKE/mKhJjJa2zrs/s1600/WSJ.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some of this growth in home size is due to prosperity, and there is no harm in that. Prosperity and rising standards of living are good! But some of it is due to necessity. As homes became detached from full-service neighborhoods, people needed to privatize open space, fitness, leisure, socializing, and transportation. As <a href="http://blog.tstc.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/100_1683-1024x768.jpg">the public realm was damaged</a> by a lack of investment and mass motoring, it was a rational response to retreat into the private realm. This compelled many people to seek bigger and bigger homes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regulations play a role, too. In many localities, local laws ban or discourage boarding houses, micro apartments, and other lean living arrangements. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To be fair, these types of housing have been done badly in the past. The horrors of 19th Century tenements in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New York</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> were famously exposed by </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_the_Other_Half_Lives" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jacob Riis</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, which led to a series of major housing reforms. There were real problems with terrible design (some units didn't have a single window or adequate emergency exiting), grossly inadequate facilities (one outdoor toilet serving an entire building, for example), and horrendous maintenance. Also, some folks that live in these types of buildings today have problems with mental illness, substance abuse, and crime. However, the correct response to these problems is to actually deal with these problems (with better building design, social services, and law enforcement), rather than banning legitimate housing types that some people really need access to.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/fasi/Riis%205%20cents%20a%20spot%20larger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://tigger.uic.edu/~pbhales/fasi/Riis%205%20cents%20a%20spot%20larger.jpg" height="512" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;">The crowded tenements of the 19th Century were pretty rotten, but we overreacted a bit.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Photo source: http://tigger.uic.edu)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Luckily, we can improve the situation. Here are some of the things we can do right now to help folks on a tight budget reduce the square footage that they need for their homes in the future:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Allow Micro Apartments. </b>I</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">f you can't get the cost per square foot down, then get the square footage down. Many cities have minimum unit sizes, but cities like <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/slideshow/2013-01-29/micro-apartments.html">New York</a> and <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/S-F-supervisors-back-micro-apartments-4055493.php">San Francisco</a> are easing these regulations to allow developers to experiment with smaller apartment types, often called <i>micro apartments</i>. One enterprising person even made a<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZSdrtEqcHU"> 90 square foot apartment</a> work, and that allowed her to live in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_West_Side">Upper West Side</a> of Manhattan for $700 per month. If someone wants to do that, and it helps them meet their needs, why not let them? </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Remove Obstacles to Group Living.</b> In his excellent book <i>Unlocking Home</i>, <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/07/sros_flophouses_microapartments_smart_cities_are_finally_allowing_the_right.html">Allan Durning makes a convincing case</a> that housing arrangements such as rooming houses should be allowed to return to our cities. These structures allow folks of limited means to rent small rooms with common bathroom and kitchen facilities. It is not exactly the American Dream, but some people need options like this at some times in their lives in order to makes ends meet, and cities should consider lifting restrictions on such facilities. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some cities even have strict regulations on roommates, prohibiting large homes from being occupied by more than </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a few unrelated people. This rules out affordable and viable options for many people, and Mr. Durning also strongly recommends lifting these rules. Empty bedrooms all across America could make a helpful contribution toward combating the housing crisis.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Create Walkable, Mixed-Use Downtowns and Neighborhood Centers.</b> Sticking micro apartments and rooming houses in the middle of auto-oriented single-family neighborhoods doesn't make a lot of sense. Not only will it upset the neighbors, but the tenants of these buildings will be isolated from transit, jobs, and services. To ensure that rent savings aren't eaten up by gasoline costs, and to make the shedding of in-home amenities practical for people, these housing types must be located in dense, walkable areas with a wide variety of goods and services available.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The detached single-family home and the conventional apartment are both really nice ways to live, but we need to broaden our thinking in order allow a wide range of Americans with diverse needs which vary throughout their lives to have a big menu of housing options to choose from so that they can live enjoy the benefits of affordable living.</span><br />
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is Part 4 in a 6 part series.</i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html">Intro:</a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html"> Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 1: </a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Home Is Where The Supply Is</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/01/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 2: </a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/01/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Fighting Gentrification (With Luxury Housing)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/02/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 3: </a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/02/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Housing Shortage or Urbanism Shortage?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> <span style="color: #999999;"> Part 4: </span></b><span style="color: #999999;">Do We Need Affordable Housing or Affordable Living?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b> Part 5: </b>Removing Snobbery From Codes</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Part 6: </b>How the Get the Right Types of Homes Built in the Right Places</span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-42471572173335425582014-02-19T16:07:00.000-08:002014-05-05T23:27:18.115-07:00Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point - Part 3: Housing Shortage or Urbanism Shortage?<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VIOVG9qZLLA/UwgiM-EmxyI/AAAAAAAABJQ/utZCY1KFNkU/s1600/Housing+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VIOVG9qZLLA/UwgiM-EmxyI/AAAAAAAABJQ/utZCY1KFNkU/s1600/Housing+3.jpg" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Greenwich Village, New York City. A lot of people enjoy this sort of thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.http://millefiorifavoriti.blogspot.com)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In case you hadn't yet noticed, urban living is pretty hot right now. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Preference surveys show </span><a href="http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/kbenfield/new_realtors_community_prefere.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">time</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and time again that a strong share of the overall American public would prefer to live in a walkable urban neighborhood than a suburban subdivision which caters only to the automobile. A majority still prefers suburban living, but the minority which craves city living is large and getting larger.</span></div>
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This trend is especially pronounced in younger people, indicating that it will probably be long-lasting. <i>Millennials</i>, the generation born between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, have <a href="http://www.planetizen.com/node/58927">markedly different preferences</a> than previous generations. By and large, they are much more inclined to gravitate toward city living and <a href="http://www.uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Transportation%20%26%20the%20New%20Generation%20vUS_0.pdf">away from automobiles</a> than their Baby Boomer parents. Many s</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ay they'd <a href="http://m.theatlanticcities.com/commute/2013/02/millennials-say-theyd-give-their-cars-their-computers-or-cell-phones/4841/">give up their cars</a> before their computers or cell phones.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The <i><a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/06/rise-creative-class-revisited/2220/">Creative Class</a> </i>as described by economist Richard Florida also tend to <a href="https://blog.siasto.com/the-new-urbanism-migration-the-creative-class-and-the-internet">prefer city living</a>. Artists, engineers, coders, musicians, designers, and other creative types are often more comfortable in the dense, stimulating, and sociable environment of urban neighborhoods. This is the primary reason for the fleets of <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/transit-and-urbanism-in-silicon-valley.html">private shuttles which transport thousands of tech workers </a>from their homes in urban San Francisco to their jobs in suburban Silicon Valley. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, there isn't enough good urbanism to go around. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his groundbreaking book </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Option-Urbanism-Investing-American/dp/1597261378">The Option of Urbanism</a></i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, real estate analyst Christopher Leinberger states that while 30% to 40% of market wants walkable urbanism, only 5% to 10% of the housing supply fits the bill. The gulf between the supply of urbanism and demand for urbanism is huge, and as a result healthy urban neighborhoods are generally insanely expensive.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hg6h6dXRdvM/Tc8ykU1obTI/AAAAAAAAIzQ/tfl9SV-smnE/s640/SchonianChicksTugOfWarWWorm11675.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hg6h6dXRdvM/Tc8ykU1obTI/AAAAAAAAIzQ/tfl9SV-smnE/s640/SchonianChicksTugOfWarWWorm11675.jpg" height="420" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There just isn't enough to go around. <br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: http://missgracieshouse.blogspot.com)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">People are so hungry for urbanism, that Andres Duany <a href="http://vimeo.com/75794881">says</a> (only half joking) that "i</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">f you put together three good blocks, you have a tourist attraction in America these days." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why isn't there enough urbanism for those who want it?</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prior to World War II, a great deal of wonderful urbanism was built. Not only were the big cities like New York, Chicago, and San Francisco full of it, but even small towns all across the nation had </span><a href="http://www.historygrandrapids.org/photo/1336/southeast-corner-of-monroe-and" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">vibrant downtown districts</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, </span><a href="http://historical.fresnobeehive.com/2010/05/fresno-street-cars/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">streetcar networks</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, and </span><a href="http://www.shorpy.com/node/13251" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bustling sidewalks</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sadly, many of these</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> great walkable urban places slipped into a terrible state of decay following the war due to <a href="http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1050.html">redlining</a>, industrial decline, suburban-style zoning, devastating road building projects, superblocks, and urban renewal clearance. Despite the dramatic renaissance that some of these places have experienced in recent years, many more are still in a state of decay. Some are even being <a href="http://cbp.arc.miami.edu/Publications/ResearchPDFs/Phil%20Langdon%20Report.pdf">demolished</a> due to widespread abandonment. Despite having a lot of potential, problems such as weak economies and terrible blight prevent these patches of distressed urbanism from helping to satisfy the demand for city living.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Technically this is urban, but it isn't currently satisfying any of the demand for urban living.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.changingmediagroup.com)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meanwhile, almost all of what we built following World War II was car-oriented suburbia. Although much of it was badly designed and unnecessarily subsidized, there was a big demand for that lifestyle and there's nothing wrong with people being able to choose it. By and large, we have enough of it now, though. The <a href="http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/kaid-benfield/20956/ten-things-planners-need-know-about-future-real-estate-market">hunger for suburban single-family housing is pretty well satiated</a>, and some areas there is a glut, as new subdivisions sit nearly <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/ghost-towns-housing-collapse-will-result-new-types-declining-cities-253017">empty</a>. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kU3QJVgdCQw/UPuify1MqyI/AAAAAAAAAEM/lNm7I_yBKs0/s1600/tower.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kU3QJVgdCQw/UPuify1MqyI/AAAAAAAAAEM/lNm7I_yBKs0/s1600/tower.JPG" height="428" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is nice. But we have enough of it.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Mark Crosse)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It seems like building quality urbanism for a badly underserved sector of the market would be a profitable venture... so why isn't more being built? Unfortunately, it is very difficult to catch up with this supply imbalance by creating more urbanism these days. Certainly, </span><a href="https://www.cnu.org/resources/projects" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">some is being created</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, but there many obstacles to urbanism being created in quantities large enough to satisfy the demand for it. The following are among the greatest challenges:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Zoning.</b> In much of the US, walkable urbanism is illegal. Strict regulations on building height, dwelling units per acre, floor area ratio, lot coverage, setbacks, and mixed uses make it difficult or impossible to get approval for a nice urban building. Even when local leaders are willing to consider good urban projects, hurdles such as variances, special exceptions, rezonings, comprehensive plan amendments, public hearings, and discretionary approvals must be overcome to move forward. This creates drawn out timelines, legal risk, and uncertainty that repel many developers.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Environmental Regulations.</b> Many of us want to be good stewards of the environment, but some of the regulations that are designed to serve that purpose are biased toward suburban patterns. Not only does this deprive a sector of the public from being able to attain the lifestyle of their choosing, but it doesn't benefit the environment. Examples include <a href="http://la.streetsblog.org/2013/09/11/ceqa-reform-update-is-this-the-end-for-los/">Level of Service</a> (LOS) thresholds for street intersections and <a href="http://pedshed.net/?p=270">stormwater management</a> policies which limit impervious surfaces on a lot-by-lot basis instead of a regional basis.</span></li>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Traffic Engineering Standards.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Public spaces are one of the most important elements of successful urban areas, and streets are their most important public spaces. While they serve an important transportation function, <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/09/how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love.html">they must also be nice places</a>. Unfortunately, some municipal public works departments and state highway departments aren't concerned with that second function. As a result many important streets are inhospitable places for pedestrians, making urban life along them an undesirable proposition.</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>NIMBYs.</b> We live in a democracy, and people certainly have a right to have a say in how their towns grow and change. However, after 60 years of bad changes people have grown weary, and some are reflexively <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/the-worst-nimby-ever.html">against everything</a>. This doesn't cause much trouble for suburban development, because on the outskirts of the city there aren't many folks around to protest. Most of the new walkable urbanism being created is within areas that are already inhabited, and the neighbors often oppose projects whether they are good or not.</span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/08/08/sports/HURDLES2/HURDLES2-articleLarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2012/08/08/sports/HURDLES2/HURDLES2-articleLarge.jpg" height="352" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Urbanism is the one in the red.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: New York Times)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, we have a housing shortage, <i>and</i> an urbanism shortage. They feed off of each other, and exacerbate each other. As soon as a nice new walkable urban area is created, or as soon as a troubled urban area is improved by <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=aBNu7zLlcRcC&lpg=PT199&ots=SjzTOAy7Pq&dq=kraus%20risk%20averse%20risk%20oblivious&pg=PT199#v=onepage&q=kraus%20risk%20averse%20risk%20oblivious&f=false">risk oblivious artists</a> or <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/06/the-new-urbanist-renaissance-of.html">savvy local governments</a>, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">people flock there and </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">it becomes unbearably expensive. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An amount of housing that might normally be adequate for such a neighborhood becomes inadequate, because these neighborhoods not only have to support their own "natural" housing demand, but they also need to supply urbanism for all of the people who can't get it in their home town. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Places like New York, Boston, Washington, and San Francisco suffer from this phenomenon. They provide quintessential urban living, and people from regions that only offer suburban living (which is to say most regions) must move there to live the way they want to live. This makes tight housing markets even tighter. Offering great urban living in places like Silicon Valley would not only help tech workers avoid long commutes, but would <a href="http://blog.sfgate.com/techchron/2013/12/12/could-the-key-to-sfs-affordability-crisis-lie-50-miles-south/">ease the pressure on San Francisco</a>, too. A vibrant downtown in Detroit would take some of the pressure off of New York.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Building more ranch houses on the outskirts of the metropolitan area won't help. We need the right type of housing (urbanism) in the right places (traditional downtowns and transportation corridors). </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have no interest in forcing people who prefer suburbia to live in urban areas, but it makes no sense that we are doing the reverse. People who live in urban areas walk more, drive less, use less energy, use less water, pollute less, require less infrastructure, and take up less space. Why would we want to block people who want to live that way? Let's expand consumer choice, protect the environment, and improve housing affordability by creating vibrant urban neighborhoods in every region of the country.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This is Part 3 in a 6 part series.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html">Intro:</a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html"> Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 1: </a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Home Is Where The Supply Is</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/01/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 2: </a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/01/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Fighting Gentrification (With Luxury Housing)</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> <span style="color: #cccccc;">Part 3: </span></b><span style="color: #cccccc;">Housing Shortage or Urbanism Shortage?</span></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 4: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Do We Need Affordable Housing or Affordable Living?</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Part 5: </b>Removing Snobbery From Codes</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Part 6: </b>How the Get the Right Types of Homes Built in the Right Places</span></div>
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-26171648435869983652014-01-10T23:19:00.002-08:002014-01-11T17:49:09.777-08:0010,000 Views!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm happy to announce that my humble little blog has hit a cool milestone. Right at the New Year I received my 10,000th page view. Some <a href="http://www.humantransit.org/2014/01/resolution-find-more-dimensions.html">urbanism blogs</a> get that in a week, but for my backwoods-of-the-internet website it is kind of a big deal to get that many hits just before one full year of posting. I'm happy that some folks are checking it out, and I hope it is half as useful to you as my favorite blogs are to me.</span><br>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cheers!</span><br>
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<br>plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-1990676612259795032014-01-07T23:56:00.000-08:002014-05-05T23:25:35.917-07:00Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point - Part 2: Fighting Gentrification (with Luxury Condos)<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r6tDQCuPnsw/UwgiMzTJQWI/AAAAAAAABJM/pAp4jYPH5II/s1600/Housing+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r6tDQCuPnsw/UwgiMzTJQWI/AAAAAAAABJM/pAp4jYPH5II/s1600/Housing+2.jpg" height="284" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Well this is just great. Now I'll never be able to afford a used Hyundai.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: www.cleantechnica.com)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gentrification is back as a hot topic. High income people of various stripes (in San Francisco it is </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/25/us/backlash-by-the-bay-tech-riches-alter-a-city.html?hp&_r=1&" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tech workers</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">, in New York it is </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/magazine/can-mom-and-pop-shops-survive-extreme-gentrification.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">bankers</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">) are ruining nice, bohemian neighborhoods by moving into the area and driving up the rents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At least, that's the word on the street.</span></div>
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7448898752702342685" name="more"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While it is understandable how people would interpret the situation this way, this idea is misguided and counterproductive.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Did you hear about the twenty-year-old used Geo Metro that just sold for $100,000 because of nearby wealthy people buying Ferraris?* You didn't hear about it because it didn't happen. It didn't happen because wealthy people buying Ferraris doesn't drive up the price of used Geo Metros. We all know this. Suggesting that the sale of luxury autos drives up the price of economy cars strikes most people as utterly ridiculous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yet when the same suggestion is made about housing, we tend to take it seriously. After the success of the recent referendum campaign to block the <a href="http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2013/11/06/tale-two-parties-was-8-washington-defeat-referendum-city-hall">8 Washington condo project</a> in San Francisco, Supervisor David Chiu said "</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tonight, San Francisco said we stand for affordable housing and not luxury condos.”**</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: San Francisco Examiner)</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Last month, <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/12/09/eviction_protesters_block_google_bus_in_san_francisco_fake_video_of_google.html">protesters</a> blockaded a Google bus in San Francisco, complaining of evictions, rising rents, and other problems supposedly brought about by an influx of high tech workers. (While most of the Bay Area's tech firms are located in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, a huge number of their employees prefer urban living and thus reside in San Francisco, and are <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/transit-and-urbanism-in-silicon-valley.html">shuttled to work</a> by private busses).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/bwPB3HIpOJdETu3D0mFivg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQyMTtweG9mZj01MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz03NDk-/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-12-10/8189a781-7f84-469e-b8d7-d9db2213c17a_google-bus2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/bwPB3HIpOJdETu3D0mFivg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQyMTtweG9mZj01MDtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz03NDk-/http://l.yimg.com/os/publish-images/news/2013-12-10/8189a781-7f84-469e-b8d7-d9db2213c17a_google-bus2.jpg" height="358" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Yahoo)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The 8 Washington opponents, Google bus protesters, and other anti-gentrification crusaders seem to be operating under three assumptions that are completely and utterly false: The presence of rich people inherently drives up prices; we can keep rich people out of good places by banning luxury condos and harassing them; it would be good to be rid of techies and other rich newcomers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pursuing these concepts will do nothing to achieve anti-gentrification activists' goals nor will it make better cities, and here is why.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>1. Shortages, Not Wealthy Tech Workers, Cause Out of Control Prices</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I don't want to sound as if I'm discounting the pain caused by skyrocketing housing prices. <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html">I get it.</a> However, we must accept the fact that if there is<a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html"> a sufficient supply of homes</a>, there is absolutely no reason why the presence luxury housing should drive up the price of other housing types any more than the sale of new luxury cars drives up the cost of economy cars. Sure, some blocks or neighborhoods will be ritzier than others, but entire sectors of cities, or entire metropolitan areas, should not be unattainable to people with average incomes. Luxury condos don't cause that kind of crisis, shortages caused by <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/12/10/housing_costs_it_s_the_zoning_stupid.html">restrictive zoning</a> and <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/the-worst-nimby-ever.html">anti-development NIMBYs</a> do. Bidding wars and waiting lists are the <i>real</i> enemies of affordability.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There has been a lot of talk lately about income inequality and low service worker wages, and how that affects people's ability to afford housing. Some have even suggested that <a href="http://nomy/2013/12/why-every-city-needs-its-own-minimum-wage/7801/">each city adopt its own minimum wage</a> to reflect the wide variation in housing costs from community to community. The merits of minimum wages aren't something that I will get into on this urban planning blog but I will concede that, all else being equal, higher pay makes it easier to afford housing. However, in reality the extra income only helps when there is <a href="http://citytank.org/2013/10/15/the-road-to-san-francisco-is-paved-with-housing-supply-suppression/">an adequate supply of housing</a>. When it is a seller's (or landlord's) market due to a scarce supply, prices will simply rise as people out bid each other until income gains are eaten away, leaving people no better off.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This isn't theoretical. <a href="http://bettercities.net/article/suburban-treadmill">We've seen it over the past 40 years.</a> While wages for individual workers have stagnated, household income has risen dramatically due to women entering the workforce in large numbers during that time. Yet these same households are having a harder time affording their housing than ever. Why? Because when bidding wars have resulted from low housing supplies, these higher household incomes (and easy credit) have simply been used to outbid competitors, driving prices higher and higher. The extra income only helps when there are no bidding wars. The bidding wars won't go away unless there is enough supply to satisfy the demand.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">2. You Can't Keep Wealthy People Out of Nice Places</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wealthy people tend to like nice things. Most of them are also risk averse, at least when choosing a place to live. They don't usually come to rough areas and make them nice. Rather, they come to areas that are already nice; either because they have <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper_East_Side">always been nice</a>, because <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/06/the-new-urbanist-renaissance-of.html">local government improvements</a> made them nice, or because <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=aBNu7zLlcRcC&lpg=PT199&ots=SjzTOAy7Pq&dq=kraus%20risk%20averse%20risk%20oblivious&pg=PT199#v=onepage&q=kraus%20risk%20averse%20risk%20oblivious&f=false">risk-oblivious</a> artists and others moved into a rough area and improved it. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Therefore, the only way to keep high income people away is to make the place <a href="http://www.zillow.com/blog/2013-08-02/whats-happening-in-the-detroit-housing-market/">undesirable</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly, this is not a viable strategy. We need to make our cities better, not worse.</span></div>
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Like it or not, wealthy people have the luxury of being able to live wherever they want. When they decide they want to be someplace, they can and will pay <i>whatever it takes</i> to get in there. Blocking luxury condos won't help. If they can't get new luxury condos, then they will buy up rowhouses and other older, smaller, more modestly equipped housing types which weren't designed for the wealthy and which ought to be affordable for average folks. If there are enough luxury units for high income people that want to live in an area, then you don't have to worry about them driving up the price of non-luxury housing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wealthy people don't necessarily prefer to overpay for housing, but if there is a bidding war for something that they want badly, then they will bid the price up until they win.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rich people bid up the price of things they want. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The rarer it is, the higher the bidding goes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sorry. That's just the way it is.</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">3. There Can and Should Be Room for Everyone</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hating rich techies for changing the bohemian character of a city is ridiculous. Every healthy city has a wide spectrum of people; bohemians, intellectuals, artists, craftsmen, bankers, rich, middle class, and poor. All of them should have a place in our cities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not plugging for the <a href="http://valleywag.gawker.com/happy-holidays-startup-ceo-complains-sf-is-full-of-hum-1481067192">rich</a> here, but having them in our cities and neighborhoods <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/business/billion_to_one/2013/11/billionaire_apartments_they_should_be_an_economic_boon_to_cities.html">isn't such a bad thing.</a> For one, they pay a lot of taxes, which can help provide public services and civic facilities for everyone. Wealthy neighbors have disposable income to eat in area restaurants and buy goods in local shops, which can support jobs for service workers and profits for small business owners. And, d</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ecry it as we may, rich folks have connections and know-how. Wherever they live, they will make sure that it is well-patrolled, well-cleaned, and well-maintained. They donate to campaigns and host fundraisers; whether you think it is right or wrong, they are sure to be taken care of. When they move into your neighborhood, it will be taken care of, too.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<i>This is Part 2 in a 6 part series.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html">Intro:</a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html"> Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point</a></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 1: </a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Home Is Where The Supply Is</a></span><br />
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<b> <span style="color: #999999;">Part 2: </span></b><span style="color: #999999;">Fighting Gentrification (With Luxury Housing)</span></span><br />
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<b> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/02/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 3: </a></b><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/02/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Housing Shortage or Urbanism Shortage?</a></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 4: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Do We Need Affordable Housing or Affordable Living?</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b> Part 5: </b>Removing Snobbery From Codes</span><br />
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<b> Part 6: </b>How the Get the Right Types of Homes Built in the Right Places</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>* Tip of the hat to <a href="http://www.slate.com/authors.matthew_yglesias.html">Matt Yglesias</a> for the car analogy.</i></span></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">** While the idea that blocking luxury housing would help affordable housing was erroneous, I should note that there were other aspects to the 8 Washington referendum that had some merit, specifically urban design issues of height at the waterfront and the nature of special exemptions from zoning rules.</span></i></span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-29094987412715399282013-12-07T10:56:00.002-08:002013-12-12T18:35:00.504-08:00Incremental Urbanism is the Key to California's Future<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Incremental Urbanism in Washington DC</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodward_&_Lothrop">Wikipedia</a>)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am a big proponent of <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/search/label/Incremental%20Urbanism">Incremental Urbanism</a>, which is the creation of great places on a lot-by-lot basis, by dozens or hundreds of land owners and developers over time. Many of our <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/01/the-evolution-of-city-block.html">favorite historic cities</a> were built this way, and they still work very well today.<br /><br />I just wrote a blog post for the <a href="http://www.cnucalifornia.org/">California Chapter of the Congress for the New Urbanism</a>. As you may know, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentlands">CNU is famous for large, beautiful, walkable, master-planned projects</a>. Things have changed, though, and these opportunities are dwindling in California. I believe that California's new frontier is on small, non-contiguous infill sites within our existing towns, cities, and metropolitan areas. Can we pivot and master this new realm? I propose that it is essential that we do, and in my CNU-CA blog post I explore how it can be done. Check it out <a href="http://www.cnucalifornia.org/blog/incremental-urbanism-key-californias-future">here</a>.</span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-66991886740496015572013-12-03T23:52:00.000-08:002014-05-05T23:24:27.245-07:00Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point - Part 1: Home Is Where the Supply Is<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Black Friday at WalMart? Zombie Apocalypse? Nope, just a San Francisco open house.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: www.creepmachine.com)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In most areas with out-of-control housing prices, it is due in large part to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supply_and_demand">supply of housing being far lower than the demand</a> for housing. My county is tens of thousands of units short of what is needed today, not to mention the homes that we will need to build to accommodate future needs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Only official deed-restricted Below Market Rate units feel satisfying to some housing advocates, but <i>BMR strategies alone will <b>never</b> fix the problem</i> in areas with such severe market imbalances. </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2013/11/the-bay-areas-real-estate-bubble-from-both-sides.html?mobify=0" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></a><br />
<a name='more'></a><a href="http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/currency/2013/11/the-bay-areas-real-estate-bubble-from-both-sides.html?mobify=0" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This must-read article from the New Yorker</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> shows how alarmingly desperate people are to get into any little scrap of housing that they can get their hands on, and how fierce the competition can be. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When one Cragislist ad for a small bedroom for $900 per month gets 45 desperate responses, you cannot expect rents to stabilize. The </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">price will keep going up until 44 people give up, and w</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">hoever can bear to pay the most will win out.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What if there were so many apartments available that the Craigslist ad only generated three responses? What if it took a week to hear from anybody? What would that do to prices?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Something tells me that this stuff is cheap...<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.businessinsider.com)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A savvy resident of the Bernal Heights neighborhood put it this way, in response to complaints that the neighborhood character was being tarnished by <a href="http://bernalwood.wordpress.com/2013/11/21/sf-chronicle-urban-design-critic-eschews-urbanism-succumbs-to-nostalgia/">wealthier newcomers</a>:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"SF has a serious dearth of housing, and until there’s a lot more infill of one form or another, there’s going to be someone offering you a lot of cash when it comes time to sell your place. (By the way, there’s no rule that says you have to accept the highest, all-cash offer, but people seem to forget that when it comes to accept an offer.)" </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> I read an <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/10/what-we-havent-figured-out-question-gentrification/7166/">interesting article in The Atlantic Cities</a> last month about housing in New York City. In it, the Planning Director of New York expressed exasperation that despite building about 30,000 homes per year for the past few years, prices hadn't dropped. She explained it thusly to a conference crowd:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"I had believed that if we kept building in that manner and increasing our housing supply … that prices would go down. We had every year almost 30,000 permits for housing, and we built a tremendous amount of housing, including affordable housing, either through incentives or through government funds. And the price of housing didn’t go down at all."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I hate to be dismissive, but it isn't that complicated. 30,000 units sounds like a lot (and kudos to them for issuing that many building permits), but it <i>just isn't enough</i>. Over the last several years, the US household growth rate has been about <a href="http://www.clevelandfed.org/research/commentary/2012/2012-12.cfm">1.3% per year</a>. Growth of 30,000 units per year is only a growth rate of 0.9% per year for New York City (<a href="http://www.housingnyc.com/downloads/research/pdf_reports/10HSR.pdf">which has about 3.3 million housing units</a>), much lower than the national average. And due to its strong economy, rich supply of amenities, and popular lifestyle, New York almost certainly needs much <i>more</i> than the national average, not <i>less</i>. Growing at the same rate as the national average would require more than 40,000 units per year. The real need is certainly far north of that. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gabriel Metcalf of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR) recently penned an <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/10/san-francisco-exodus/7205/">excellent article</a> highlighting the same problem as it is manifested in San Francisco. In it, he laments that all of his friends area leaving for Oakland, which has lower prices. San Francisco produces about 1,500 units per year, whereas if it was growing at the national rate it would need to produce nearly 5,000 per year. This means that every year the shortage grows by 3,500 (probably more, in reality) as more and more people try to find a way to access San Francisco's beauty, culture, history, recreational opportunities, walkable urban lifestyle, and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/25/us/backlash-by-the-bay-tech-riches-alter-a-city.html?hp&_r=1&">excellent jobs</a>.<br /><br />When supply is that far below demand, it is absolutely impossible to keep prices reasonable. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Has any desirable product ever been made affordable by constricting the supply? Ever?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Some housing advocates complain that the new units that are being produced are expensive. They cite this as if it is evidence that adding units doesn't help affordability. <i>Of course</i> shiny new homes in desirable areas are expensive. That doesn't mean that they aren't helping. In his excellent book "Unlocking Home," the Alan Durning puts it this way:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Will new mini-studios at $850 per month help people who can afford only half that amount? Actually, they may. In the short run, new units free up older units, which helps to free up still older units, and so on down the economic ladder in a process that housing economists call “filtering.” In the long run, new housing turns into used housing. Just as people with less money drive older cars, they also live in older buildings. So new units occupied by baristas and graduate students today may become old units occupied by immigrant dishwashers in a couple of decades. Old-school rooming houses served both upwardly mobile young people and middle-aged working-class singles. The new generation of this housing can, too.”</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When someone with a decent income badly needs or wants to live somewhere, and there aren't any nice new apartment buildings available, owners of old and poorly-equipped buildings can extract exorbitant rents out of them. There's no competition, so what are these prospective renters going to do? If they refuse to pay, they'll have to commute two hours each way from Tracy to their job in Santa Clara. There are probably 20 other people lined up behind them who are willing to pay the price in order to avoid that fate. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://livingindowntownsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Downtown-San-Diego-Real-Estate-Bidders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://livingindowntownsd.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Downtown-San-Diego-Real-Estate-Bidders.jpg" height="380" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">With all of these bidders, do you </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">really</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> think the winner is going to get a low price?</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.mvaquatics.org) </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, when the shiny new building opens up down the street, the game changes. Now, people have a choice. Sure, apartments in the new building will be pricy; it is clean, new, and well-equipped. If apartments in the new building are going for $3,000, what do you think prospective tenants are going to say to the owner of the old building when he tries to charge the same price? Reactions will vary, but they will all be something like this:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If tenants have options, prices on the older and less amenity-rich buildings will <i>have</i> to come down.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The mistake of assuming that expensive new housing units won't have a positive effect on overall affordability is quite common. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In response to rising rents and expensive new construction in Germany's three biggest cities, the national government is </span><a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/11/has-germany-figured-out-way-keep-rents-affordable/7639/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">tightening regulations</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> there in hopes of driving developers to other markets. This is a major mix up of cause and effect. New construction is not to blame for rising prices. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reality is precisely the reverse. Shortages cause rising prices, which then attracts developers. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Discouraging building in the face or shortages will only drive prices higher. In instances where housing has actually been overbuilt, prices have <i>collapsed</i> as a result (as seen recently in exurban locations, such as </span><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/03/the-next-slum/306653/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and </span><a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/ghost-towns-housing-collapse-will-result-new-types-declining-cities-253017" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">here</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">). The phenomenon is at work in </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Detroit due not to overbulding, but due to a tragic <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Detroit">loss of population</a>. Prices have steadily plummeted as a result, to the point that you can now get homes for as little as <a href="http://www.zillow.com/blog/2013-08-02/whats-happening-in-the-detroit-housing-market/">$5,000</a>. No BMR program can deliver that kind of affordability.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In his excellent book "The Rent is Too Damn High," Matthew Yglesias bluntly and succinctly drives home the point that we must build enough housing to meet the demand in order to fix the price problem:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">“Specifically, we need to acknowledge that there are only two sustainable ways to reduce the price of housing. One is to lower demand by making a given place a worse place to live. Detroit features high crime, low-quality public services, and a bleak job market. The rent in Detroit is not high. And, equivalently, if you’d like to buy a place to live in Detroit, you can do so quite cheaply; the median sale in the city as of September 2011 was about $95,000 and dropping—that is, half the national average. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The other way is to increase supply.”</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clearly, making expensive places <i>less nice</i> is not a viable strategy. We need to increase supply. Dramatically. Now.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>This is Part 1 in a 6 part series.</i></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html">Introduction:</a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/affordablehousing.html"> Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point</a></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #999999;"> Part 1: </span></b><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Home Is Where The Supply Is</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/01/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 2: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/01/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Fighting Gentrification (With Luxury Housing)</a></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/02/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 3: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/02/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Housing Shortage or Urbanism Shortage?</a></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 4: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Do We Need Affordable Housing or Affordable Living</a>?</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Part 5: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Removing Snobbery From Codes</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Part 6: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How the Get the Right Types of Homes Built in the Right Places</span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-39080492125301929822013-12-03T23:36:00.000-08:002014-05-07T09:12:29.384-07:00Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1fq2x5WbZkw/UwghY_kQNjI/AAAAAAAABI0/DVpprVRhAuY/s1600/Housing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1fq2x5WbZkw/UwghY_kQNjI/AAAAAAAABI0/DVpprVRhAuY/s1600/Housing.jpg" height="384" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Unknown)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite the ravages of the 2008 housing bubble burst, and the ensuing recession, affordable housing is a tremendous problem in many parts of the US. The problem is most acute in the big, prosperous metropolitan areas with vibrant urban cores and physical constraints on outward growth, particularly New York, Boston, Washington, and my region, the San Francisco Bay Area. However, it is also an issue in pockets of many other cities in the US, particularly areas that are amenity-rich, job-rich, walkable, and well-served by transit.</span><br />
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7448898752702342685" name="more"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is an understatement to say that this is a huge problem. People making low wages often have to skimp on food, heating, or clothing to cover the rent. Many people are not only subjected to discomfort, but danger as they cram into <a href="http://www.lohud.com/article/20131104/NEWS02/311040046/">illegal apartments</a> which are bootlegged into garages and sheds without complying with safety codes. Two incomes have become <a href="http://bettercities.net/article/suburban-treadmill">nearly mandatory</a>, precluding family arrangements where one parent can stay home with children when that is desired or necessary. Nearly everyone in high-price metros who wasn't fortunate enough to buy a home by the 1990s is affected; </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">many people who make a respectable wage are forced to live in cramped quarters,</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> needlessly adding stress and inconvenience to their lives.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XthFYa6OsX8/UnVgEvV02_I/AAAAAAAAAmU/b0OnTDmzVgs/s1600/96ef8d1199194a408ea568d4de4f7bbb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XthFYa6OsX8/UnVgEvV02_I/AAAAAAAAAmU/b0OnTDmzVgs/s640/96ef8d1199194a408ea568d4de4f7bbb.jpg" height="384" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This baby goes for $3,500 per month in the West Village.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.walkingwonder.blogspot.com)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Insanely high prices in centrally-located neighborhoods near jobs and services </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">hurt the economy by pulling inordinate amounts of money out of household budgets that could go into consumer spending, by keeping recession-weary workers away from parts of the country that are recovering the best, and by keeping talent away from job openings. It </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">pushes many people to live far from their jobs where housing is a little cheaper, adding to traffic and <a href="http://m.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2013/12/pushing-poor-people-suburbs-bad-environment-rich-urban-gentrification">pollution</a> and taking time away from spouses, children, and sleep. This also</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> breaks up neighborhood social ties, as young people and low earners leave their friends </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">and family behind and venture into the hinterlands to find accommodations that won't bankrupt them. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1eKfdOA6ezs/UXi8Q3K7lEI/AAAAAAAAh08/WDb2b0LUBxs/s400/Driver.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1eKfdOA6ezs/UXi8Q3K7lEI/AAAAAAAAh08/WDb2b0LUBxs/s640/Driver.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aaargh! I could be practicing the lute right now!<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.3.bp.blogspot.com)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many good people are focused on the issue, trying to find solutions. Some of them, unfortunately, focus exclusively on the need for subsidized units that have below market-rate (or "BMR" in planning jargon) rents. These units are often provided via by market-rate developers (often 10% to 15% of the units) as a condition of approval for higher-end apartment buildings which are built under "<a href="http://www.cp-dr.com/node/2401">inclusionary zoning</a>" rules. These programs have been criticized by many people as unfairly burdening landlords and with giving market-rate neighbors the duty of subsidizing those in need. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">These criticisms are interesting and may have some validity, but my problem with the hyper-focus on BMR units at the exclusion of all other solutions is this: BMR units are a woefully inadequate strategy for the magnitude of the problem. For every family that is helped by these programs, hundreds more are left out. There isn't enough gold in Fort Knox to supply subsidized BMR units for everyone who is struggling to afford a place to live. In places like San Francisco and Silicon Valley, lawyers and highly paid tech workers have a tough time finding a place that they can afford. Those at the low end of the income spectrum may always need some assistance, but when highly paid white collar professionals need help, something is seriously out of control.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has been getting out of hand for a while, and at this point it feels to some observers that it is lost cause. It is absolutely possible to rectify the situation, though, and we must begin<i> right now</i>. It is a moral and economic imperative. I propose that there are six key things that we can do at the local level (without dealing with dysfunctional Federal and State agencies) that would get us on track to be where we need to be. I'll explore them each in a series of posts over the coming weeks. </span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #666666;"> </span></b><span style="color: #999999;"><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Introduction:</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Housing Affordability at the Breaking Point</span></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 1: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/12/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Home Is Where The Supply Is</a></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/01/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 2: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/01/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Fighting Gentrification (With Luxury Housing)</a></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/02/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 3: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/02/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Housing Shortage or Urbanism Shortage?</a></span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Part 4: </a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2014/05/housing-affordability-at-breaking-point.html">Do We Need Affordable Housing or Affordable Living</a>?</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Part 5: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Removing Snobbery From Codes</span><br />
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<b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Part 6: </b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">How the Get the Right Types of Homes Built in the Right Places</span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-31896668150018233582013-12-02T23:31:00.000-08:002013-12-11T22:46:55.809-08:00The Worst NIMBY Ever?<div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GmfRheD2i6Q/UpPx1j3GEtI/AAAAAAAABII/_XXoFzoOT1w/s1600/selfish_Fotor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="468" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GmfRheD2i6Q/UpPx1j3GEtI/AAAAAAAABII/_XXoFzoOT1w/s640/selfish_Fotor.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.saveto76.blogspot.com)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every city planner knows the acronym NIMBY, which stands for <i>Not In My Back Yard</i>. It is used to reference people who are against projects. Typically, it is not used for all opponents, but those who are irrational in their opposition, and who are against not just bad projects, but <i>everything</i>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Having worked in local government for 15 years, I have heard a lot of NIMBY stories, but this one takes the cake...</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This tale comes from a close friend of mine who lives in an upper-middle class city in Northern California. The area has not produced much housing in recent decades, but is quite nice, and has a robust job market, so prices have risen significantly. It has gotten to the point that people who would have traditionally had no problem affording a home there are priced out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My friend happens to be acquainted with one of his City Council members. They recently had a chat, because my friend wants to get more involved in the community, perhaps by joining the Planning Commission. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then this happened:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">MY FRIEND: "What I think we need to do in this town is build more housing. The supply has not kept up with the demand, so prices are out of control. I want to find a way to create new housing in a way that satisfies the demand and stabilizes prices, without drastically changing the character of our community. I want my kids to be able to stay here when they grow up, and I just don't see how that can happen unless we get a lot of apartments and townhouses built."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">COUNCILMAN: "Oh, no. I told my kids not to even <i>think</i> about living here, because there is no way I am going to allow anything to be built that they would be able to afford. Forget it."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wow. Usually, NIMBY's don't think about who they are hurting, or they don't care because they consider the affected party to be a member of the dreaded <i>Other</i>. But this fellow is aware of the negative results of his stance and is aware that it hurts his own children... <i>and he doesn't care.</i></span></div>
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-61201524395247563172013-10-26T00:45:00.000-07:002013-12-12T18:33:37.134-08:00Understanding the Quirks of Incremental Urbanism<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rfZmKug-SE4/UkoswlmcW_I/AAAAAAAABD0/9f50EN0wUCo/s1600/NY+Rowouses+Under+Construction.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rfZmKug-SE4/UkoswlmcW_I/AAAAAAAABD0/9f50EN0wUCo/s640/NY+Rowouses+Under+Construction.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">New York, under construction lot-by-lot.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: New York Historical Society)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For the past 70 years or so, much of what we have built in the US has been of the large, "master planned" variety of development. Large areas of dozens, sometimes hundreds, of acres are all laid out and designed at once, and built out by a single builder or a handful of builders working off of a coordinated design. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once they are built out, these areas change very little over time. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the era of suburban expansion, residential subdivisions, garden apartments, office parks, and shopping malls all fit into the master planned category of development.</span><br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7448898752702342685" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When New Urbanism rose onto the scene, many of its early and iconic projects, such as Seaside and the Kentlands, were also large, master-planned developments. Unlike their sprawl counterparts they were walkable, compact, mixed-use, and awesome... but they were still large and master-planned. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This feels normal to our generation, but historically this is an anomaly. Prior to World War II, and going back for millennia, most development was not of the large-scale, master-planned variety. Rather, most cities and neighborhoods were built lot-by-lot, by dozens or hundreds of land owners and developers. Even when the street and lot pattern was laid out all at once by a city (as in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioners'_Plan_of_1811">New York's grid of 181</a>1) or a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_town#Role_In_Land_Speculation">railroad company</a>, the lots were auctioned off to individual parties who carry out the task of building on their own, one by one. In such urban settings, the development of the place is never complete, and many lots will be developed and redeveloped over the years to meet the changing needs of their owners and the market as I discussed in a previous post called <i><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/01/the-evolution-of-city-block.html">Small Lots and the Evolution of the City</a></i>. Some have referred to this kind of development as <i>Incremental Urbanism. </i>I like that term, and will use it on this blog.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YsdczBCFtZg/UkpiQozOd0I/AAAAAAAABEM/X-lLFb0iaGE/s1600/Incremental2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="184" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YsdczBCFtZg/UkpiQozOd0I/AAAAAAAABEM/X-lLFb0iaGE/s640/Incremental2.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Incremental Urbanism shaping a New York block.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 12px; text-align: right;">Zack von Schouwen)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each type of development has its advantages, b</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ut it is important to understand the difference. After 70 years, we've gotten used to the tidiness of master-planned development. In comparison, lot-by-lot development can look messy. Sometimes, buildings of dramatically different heights sprout up right next to each other. In addition to disliking the lack of consistency in height, some people dislike the blank firewalls that are visible on the taller building. Other times, materials or styles are very different from building to building, and this doesn't sit well with the aesthetic sensibilities of some people. In some instances, new buildings snake around the buildings of owners who wouldn't sell out, creating strange shaped sites. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ekr3Fh3s7UM/Umtmi6-IxGI/AAAAAAAABH0/AOfgBaBCyq4/s1600/Rockefeller+Holdout.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="354" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ekr3Fh3s7UM/Umtmi6-IxGI/AAAAAAAABH0/AOfgBaBCyq4/s640/Rockefeller+Holdout.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The owner of this charming little building didn't sell out to the developers of Rockefeller Plaza, <br />which snakes around it. This isn't tidy, but Is it hurting anything?<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: Google Earth)</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rmJc8RIR8PU/Umtm3MpT-hI/AAAAAAAABH8/kTU_CoDNhl4/s1600/SF+California+Street+1925.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="422" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rmJc8RIR8PU/Umtm3MpT-hI/AAAAAAAABH8/kTU_CoDNhl4/s640/SF+California+Street+1925.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This block in San Francisco features the mixed building heights that sometimes <br />comes with Incremental Urbanism.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: San Francisco Then and Now)</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to overcome these hangups, though. To <a href="http://www.brookings.edu/research/articles/2010/11/real-estate-leinberger">satisfy unmet consumer preferences</a>, <a href="http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/13/why-humanity-loves-and-needs-cities/">improve our economy</a>, <a href="http://www.theatlanticcities.com/housing/2013/10/san-francisco-exodus/7205/">reduce housing shortages</a>, and <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/opinion/11iht-edfoy.1.5230217.html?_r=0">reduce environmental damage</a> we need the majority of our growth to happen in areas with a lot of jobs, services, walkability, and transit. Most of these areas were initially developed long ago, and thus feature a fine-grained pattern of <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/01/the-evolution-of-city-block.html">small lots</a>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we don't learn how to do development on small lots, we're not going to get much built. There are a lot of obstacles to the assembly of large sites within urban areas. Sometimes, the neighbors just won't sell. As you can see in the photo above, the Rockefellers couldn't even get everyone to sell. Furthermore, some people don't have the resources to buy out their neighbors, but they should still have a right to develop their property. Some properties are next to great historic buildings, and folding them into the project isn't possible. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eminent domain? I wouldn't count on using it to assemble a lot of sites. In California, redevelopment agencies are gone, and they took their eminent domain powers for economic development projects with them. In the rest of the country, the post-<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London">Kelo</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London#Public_reaction">backlash</a> has resulted in political reluctance for such undertakings, and some states have expressly prohibited it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We need to accept, and embrace, the fact that much of our future development within existing cities will happen lot-by-lot, in small pieces. We need to learn to love Incremental Urbanism.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Good and Quirky Incremental Urbanism, or Bad Development?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently saw a <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/is-this-the-ugliest-addition-to-a-row-house-in-dc-and-should-that-matter/2013/08/12/aadf3dba-0363-11e3-a07f-49ddc7417125_story.html">story</a> in the Washington Post about a small lot redevelopment in Washington DC which illustrated some of the issues that can arise with such projects. It discussed a narrow two-story rowhouse which had recently received a three-story addition, bringing the total height to five stories. The building, which appears to be about 20 feet wide, is located in the middle of a row of two-story houses and thus is quite conspicuous. To top it off, the original home and the addition were re-clad with a modern facade which is in stark contrast with its neighbors.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zywAbBzQaV8/Uku_JfPsuAI/AAAAAAAABEc/IJTPtF8rpQU/s1600/DC+rowhouse+expansion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zywAbBzQaV8/Uku_JfPsuAI/AAAAAAAABEc/IJTPtF8rpQU/s640/DC+rowhouse+expansion.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: The Washington Post)</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The article says that the building is known locally as "The Monstrosity." The author concedes that it is ugly, but wondered if this matters, since DC is in dire need of new housing, and this expansion added two units to the block. Apparently, many have wondered how it could possibly be legal. The <a href="http://dcist.com/2013/03/v_street_pop-up_is_a_big_middle_fin.php">DCist </a>called it "a big middle finger to taste and scale."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, what do you think? Is this a good thing, because it brings some new housing to the metropolitan core? Is it bad for altering the character of the street and standing out so much from its neighbors? Or, does it depend?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I rarely like to give wishy-washy answers to these kinds of questions, but in this case <i>it depends</i>. In evaluating whether this project (or similar projects) was an appropriate thing to do, I would use three criteria:</span><br />
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Location.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <i>I</i></span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">s the site within a comfortable walking distance of transit, employment, and services? </i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Putting our development in the right location is of supreme importance.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> We need to allow as much growth as possible in our m</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">etropolitan cores and other important urban nodes. If it is near an existing or planned downtown or neighborhood center, a good-looking version of this building is good. Away from a downtown or other center, such a disruption doesn't make sense. </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Historic Preservation.</b> <i>Is the building to be replaced of low historic value? </i>The need for new housing development near major streets, transit, jobs, and shops is so important that it may be worth the loss of some older buildings, particularly those of low historic value. In locations which are farther from amenities and services, a project like this probably shouldn't be allowed. Sites away from amenities and services are a less efficient place to place people, and aren't worth the loss of historic homes.</span></li>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Aesthetics. </b><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Is the architectural design compatible with surrounding structures and community tastes?</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When regulating development, it is tempting to avoid architectural style. It is subjective, and architects can be a bit rough on people who question their designs. But beauty matters. "Beauty according to who?" the designer may ask. Frankly, whatever the local people find to be beautiful is valid. If they love brick Colonials, then give it to them. If they love glass and metal Modernism, then give that to them. Neither style is inherently better or more legitimate than the other. The important thing is to do as much as possible to ensure that people already living in the area like the new development (because if they think it is ugly they will work to block future projects), and that potential new residents will like it enough </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to voluntarily move into dense urbanism.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If the answer to any of these questions is NO, then the project may not be a good idea. If the answer to all three questions is YES, then the project is probably worthy of moving forward.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So yes, Incremental Urbanism can be a bit quirky at times. However, it is a critically important part of addressing our economic and environmental challenges, so we must help it happen in the right places, work diligently to make it excellent, and learn to accept its occasional and inevitable quirky features.</span></div>
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-47674373133530561952013-09-20T17:57:00.001-07:002015-05-29T23:11:36.163-07:00To Connect or Not to Connect?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5206/5285601265_9260044674.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5206/5285601265_9260044674.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.themidwoodblog.com)</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps it is a natural territorial instinct to wall ourselves into a protected enclave. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/blakely-fortress.html">Much has been written</a> about the late 20th Century phenomenon of gated developments, but that isn't the only time we block access in our neighborhoods. The lollipop cul-de-sac street patterns of many American suburbs are also meant to block; and sometimes older neighborhoods are retrofitted to block auto access, pedestrian access, or both.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a planner, I see this a lot, but I recently saw it in action in my own neighborhood. I live in an older neighborhood that, for the most part, has a walkable street grid. Slicing diagonally through the neighborhood is a major piece of underground infrastructure. On the surface, some of this land is occupied by parks, some by parking lots, some is incorporated into adjacent private yards (with the caveat that no structures may be constructed over it), and some is vacant and unimproved. Part of it near me was a park, which was ripped out a while ago when the underground infrastructure was upgraded. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our Parks and Recreation Department held a couple of neighborhood meetings to work on a new design for the reconstruction of this park. This all went very well, and the new park is going to be great, but something really stood out to me. The infrastructure corridor continues past the park through a very long block, providing the potential for a direct pedestrian connection to a major street with some great amenities (including one of the best pizza joints in town). Some of us asked for this stretch, which is presently fenced off, to be opened up. Many people in the area have actively fought this connection, though, and it will not be opened.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n_SLgWRJ6UA/VWlUJEPR9BI/AAAAAAAABho/6ZwvlcJXfIM/s1600/keep%2Bout%2Bsign.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="229" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n_SLgWRJ6UA/VWlUJEPR9BI/AAAAAAAABho/6ZwvlcJXfIM/s320/keep%2Bout%2Bsign.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: http://www.safetysign.com)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Why We Block</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why is this done? In a society that is so obsessed with connectedness of the digital variety, why are some of us shunning connectedness in our cities? I have encountered three primary reasons, all of which are rooted in fear.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.playborhood.com)</span></i></td></tr>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Fear of Traffic.</b> People in single-family neighborhoods, despite often driving a lot, are not big fans of traffic. Specifically, they want their residential streets to be free of large volumes of fast moving cars. Some fear the noise that comes with cars, and some fear for the safety of their children. It is very understandable.</span></li>
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<ul><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elpxpMffOkY/Ujvn9MCLoSI/AAAAAAAABCg/T5MZAs_u4Gw/s1600/RC+Mt+Carmel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-elpxpMffOkY/Ujvn9MCLoSI/AAAAAAAABCg/T5MZAs_u4Gw/s200/RC+Mt+Carmel.jpg" width="200" /></a>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Fear of On-Street Parking Jams. </b>Some people worry that by providing connections into their streets, people from other areas will park on their streets and take up all of the on-street spaces. This was one of the main fears in my neighborhood, as the proposed connection would have provided a direct link to a new apartment building which is currently under construction. Incidentally, this probably won't be a problem, as the new building will have a large and convenient garage for tenants and guests. </span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/182rv6uvpy8rtjpg/original.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/182rv6uvpy8rtjpg/original.jpg" height="112" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: www.gawkerassets.com)</span></i></td></tr>
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<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fear of Crime.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Many people fear that connections will allow unsavory characters to wander into their streets and wreak havoc. Sometimes this is due to simple bigotry, other times it is due legitimate concerns based on recent criminal activity in the area. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Problem With Blocking</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While I understand these fears, disconnectedness is not the answer. We must resist the urge to block paths and close off neighborhoods from each other. Blocking connections won't solve any problems, and may create new ones, including:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dangerous Dead Ends.</b> If you're worried about crime, it's hard to understand how creating dead ends helps anything. Interconnected street networks offer many ways in and out, meaning there are escape routes in case of an emergency. Dead ends got their name for a reason.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>No Eyes on the Street.</b> Lack of connectivity means longer walking routes. Longer walking routes means fewer people will walk. Fewer walkers means fewer witnesses (or, "<a href="http://streetswiki.wikispaces.com/Eyes+On+The+Street">eyes on the street</a>" in the words of the great Jane Jacobs), which criminals love. By offering many connections, walking is more convenient, meaning safety is enhanced.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Slower Emergency Response Time. </b>In an emergency, every second counts. Fewer connections means less direct routes to some locations. It also means that some locations will only have one access point; a stalled car or fallen tree can leave these areas inaccessible in a crisis.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>More Traffic Fatalities.</b> A r<a href="http://bettercities.net/article/key-safer-roads-identified-california-study">ecent study</a> by Wesley Marshall and Norman Garrick of the University of Connecticut found that the frequent intersections of a highly connected street pattern calm traffic and increase safety. Sparse street networks with few connections facilitate higher speeds and more deadly crashes.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Jammed Major Streets. </b>While no one wants a lot of through traffic zipping through neighborhood streets, disconnected street networks push nearly every trip, no matter how small, out to the major streets. This often jams them up needlessly. My children's former in-home day care was only 0.7 miles from our house, and yet the disjointed street network of a townhouse development between our homes forced me out to a state highway (which is hopelessly congested), for this minor trip.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>More Vehicle Miles Travelled. </b>Each lost link in the system causes somebody to drive a little farther than they otherwise would have. In isolation, this isn't a big deal, but in the aggregate it is a big environmental problem. Here's an example: Let's say that one <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_d2tcbl8y6g/UjzCApwFxVI/AAAAAAAABC8/HSQe6DIpA-Q/s1600/Extra+CO2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="87" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_d2tcbl8y6g/UjzCApwFxVI/AAAAAAAABC8/HSQe6DIpA-Q/s200/Extra+CO2.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
block of one street is blocked off in a neighborhood. Let's say that it was a lightly travelled block, with only 5 cars using it per hour, over 18 hours of the day. I'll assume that each car has its trip lengthened by just 1,000 feet as they go around the new obstacle. No big deal, right? Well, with the average US car getting <a href="http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2013/0406/Average-fuel-economy-of-US-cars-reaches-an-all-time-high">24.6 miles per gallon</a>, and with the burning of a gallon of gasoline releasing <a href="http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=307&t=10">19.6 pounds of carbon dioxide</a> into the air, the loss of this one link in the neighborhood could result in up to <b><i>5,000 pounds</i></b> of extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere per year. Is it worth it?</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Less Walking.</b> Long blocks and broken connections make walking impractical. A comfortable walk is considered by most to be about 5 minutes, or about 1/4 mile. The more links that you break in the neighborhood, the less of it is reachable within 5 minutes. The graphic below demonstrates this with a hypothetical neighborhood. The red dashed circle represents the area within 1/4 of a mile from the red dot at the center of the neighborhood. The blue area represents the lots that can actually reach the center within 5 minutes. As you can see, the more disjointed the street network, the less walkable the neighborhood becomes.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How to Address Traffic, Parking, and Crime Without Blocking</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We block because we're afraid of traffic, parking jams, and crime... but blocking doesn't fix these problems and only creates additional problems. So what are we do do?</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Traffic: Use Traffic Calming Techniques.</b> There are many proven <a href="http://trafficcalming.org/">traffic calming</a> techniques that can slow neighborhood traffic down to safe speeds without creating a bunch of dead ends. Examples include <a href="http://www.bicyclinginfo.org/bikesafe/case_studies/casestudy.cfm?CM_NUM=25&CS_NUM=503">small traffic circles</a> squeezed into intersections which force drivers to slow down to go around the obstacles, corner bulb-outs which tighten the turning radius, chicanes which strategically narrow the road, and many others. Use designs which slow, but not those which block or divert.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Parking: Park in Your Garage.</b> As <a href="http://daily.sightline.org/2013/07/18/who-parked-in-my-spot/">this brilliant blog post</a> by Alan Durning points out, many people can be quite territorial of the on-street parking spaces in front of their houses, despite the fact that this is community property than can be used by anyone. Some people just don't like the look of a bunch of parked cars (which doesn't jive with their presuppositions of country-like suburban living), but for most folks the on-street spaces are an invaluable part of their parking supply. This is because they do not use their garage for parking, but for storage or extra living space. If folks want a guaranteed private parking spot, then they need to provide it on their own property. Period. If they want to use their property for other things, then they have to deal with the inconvenience of competing for public parking on the street. For areas with a limited off-street parking supply, and big demands on the on-street parking supply, there are ways to manage it which can improve performance which are mentioned toward the end of Mr. Durning's <a href="http://daily.sightline.org/2013/07/18/who-parked-in-my-spot/">post</a>.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Crime: Put Eyes on the Street, and Work with the Police.</b> Crime is terrifying, and I understand the desire to keep it at bay. But the sad reality is that creating dead ends and making walking impossible will not improve crime. Encouraging walking is helpful, and designing new buildings to have windows and doors facing the street goes a long way, too. This creates a lot of opportunities for the natural and causal surveillance of the street. One of the best resources on designing crime out of our neighborhoods is <a href="http://petermoskos.com/readings/Jacobs_1961.pdf">Chapter 2 </a>of The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs. Beyond that, I would suggest block parties to help neighbors get to know one another, Neighborhood Watch programs to report suspicious activity, and working with local police to improve safety in the area.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To connect, or not to connect? Definitely connect. It won't affect traffic, parking, and crime as you may fear it will, and there are better solutions for these issues anyway. More importantly, you'll improve walkability and shorten driving trips, making your neighborhood more convenient and less polluting.</span></div>
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-80879136031393148912013-09-04T23:32:00.001-07:002014-01-08T01:17:28.571-08:00How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Major Streets<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Je4jq6XGlow/UfoEcWoss9I/AAAAAAAAA-8/iS7tB95XQuo/s1600/major+street+still.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Je4jq6XGlow/UfoEcWoss9I/AAAAAAAAA-8/iS7tB95XQuo/s640/major+street+still.jpg" height="300" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: <a href="http://www.urban-advantage.com/">Urban Advantage</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Major streets are usually terrible places. Who wants to stroll along a street like the one above? I certainly don't. Streets like that are noisy, uncomfortable, dangerous-feeling, and uninteresting. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Although this kind of street is a staple of the suburbs, most suburbanites and suburban planners aren't crazy about them. Despite the extreme auto-dependence of the suburbs, suburbanites dislike the noise, fumes, and danger of major roadways that, by necessity, must carry so many cars. Who can blame them? Their usual response is to hide from the monster that they created. They often turn the adjacent development's backside toward the street (creating a terrible tunnel effect) or set buildings back far away from the roadway (creating dispiriting voids).</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2hirMqLtmZQ/Uf815nwPCoI/AAAAAAAABAc/O-8SsXMxZCE/s1600/Tunnel+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2hirMqLtmZQ/Uf815nwPCoI/AAAAAAAABAc/O-8SsXMxZCE/s640/Tunnel+2.jpg" height="240" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Tunnel. Despite the landscaping, this is not a nice place. At all.<br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source: Google Earth)</i></span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Urbanists also rightfully despise such streets. They prefer streets like the one below. This is the dream, right? This is the kind of street where <i>I'd</i> like to hang out. In fact, I have hung out there, and it was great. It was peaceful, comfortable, safe-feeling, and interesting. When urban planners and designers try to create a great street, we usually have something like this in mind.</span><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9eppEJtsnd8/UPtF3hdq55I/AAAAAAAAACo/r2UX9iacepA/s1600/PortlandPearl2010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9eppEJtsnd8/UPtF3hdq55I/AAAAAAAAACo/r2UX9iacepA/s640/PortlandPearl2010.JPG" height="466" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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But...</span></div>
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<a href="" name="more"></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is a very minor neighborhood street. It doesn't carry a lot of traffic, nor does it need to. For most urban streets, this is a good model. However, there always has been and always will be a need for major streets, too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Most </span><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/search/label/Urban%20Glossary" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">suburban</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> areas suffer from a lack of an interconnected street network. By perpetuating a street pattern riddled with long blocks and cul-de-sacs, we have forced nearly every suburban auto trip out to the major streets, jamming them up with ridiculous congestion. To demonstrate an extreme example of this syndrome, someone found two homes in Florida that share a backyard fence, and yet to drive from one to the other requires a </span><a href="http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/02/28/sprawl-madness-two-houses-share-backyard-separated-by-7-miles-of-roads/" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">7 mile drive</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">! With an interconnected network, people can make more direct trips, often avoiding major streets entirely.</span><br />
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But even if suburban street networks had better connectivity, they would still need some major streets. There <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGloeX1SpAU&feature=share&list=PLPBejESNMGp-omUJEK0rR1m4K4FqOY7M1">always has been</a> some streets that are bigger than the rest. People going across town need streets that will carry them there. While we have unnecesarily pushed to many trips out the major street network, we also don't want huge volumes of traffic rushing through small neighborhood streets. Even if we're successful in boosting transit ridership, biking, and walking, and we're able to shorten as many of the remaining car trips as possible, we're going to need major streets. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We can't just give up on them; we have to make them better. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So... what should they be like? Our major streets need a complete makeover. Their land uses, building/site design, and street design need to be completely changed in a way that will allow them to continue to move a lot of people while being transformed into nice places. Here's how:</span></div>
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<b>1. Land Use. </b></span><br />
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First, we need to get the land uses right. It should be pretty apparent that single-family homes do <b>not</b> like being on major streets. The American Dream of single-family home living does not really coincide with the atmosphere of a busy thoroughfare. Homes along major streets are often valued lower than similar homes a few blocks away. Often, maintenance is worse on homes on major streets, or tall fences and hedges are deployed in a desperate attempt to shield the inhabitants from the noise. Newer subdivisions almost always turn the homes completely away from the street, creating stretches of hundreds or sometimes thousands of feet of masonry block walls. When it is possible, don't put single-family homes on major streets. </span><br />
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Whenever possible, land uses along major streets should consist of apartments, services, hotels, and offices. The commercial uses will benefit from the visibility to the traffic, and apartment dwellers are typically much less fussy about noise and appreciate the access to services and transit. At major intersections, retail should also be a part of the mix. I consider myself a faithful New Urbanist, but it is fair to say that retail often isn't New Urbanism's strong point. A large share of the blame for this lies in the impulse to place the retail away form the major street on a narrow, comfortable, quiet street. It doesn't usually work. Retail thrives on traffic... foot traffic, bike traffic, transit traffic, <b>and</b> auto traffic. Commerce has always sprung up at busy crossroads. Why fight this? Let's use it to our advantage and just <b>make the big streets nice</b>. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/07/lessons-from-arlington-virginia.html">Arlington</a>, Virginia understood this. At great expense, they put their Metro line for the Ballston-Roslyn corridor in a tunnel below a major street, and made that street the focus of its housing, office, and retail growth. It has worked fabulously. Contrast their experience to the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">failed traffic bypass schemes of the 1960s. These plans drew traffic away from downtown retail streets, which were often completely <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/02/thoughts-on-pedestrian-mall.html">pedestrianized</a>. These cures very often killed the patients.</span><br />
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<b>2. Building / Site Design.</b> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In a nutshell, don't create tunnels by turning the backside of development towards the street, and don't create harsh voids by setting buildings hundreds of feet back. Buildings must face the street, and present pleasant architecture, windows, and doors to it, and they should be built right up to the back of the sidewalk. This helps to make it a place where people will be willing to walk, and by creating <a href="http://streetswiki.wikispaces.com/Eyes+On+The+Street">"eyes on the street"</a> it will be safe for them to do so. Buildings with ground-floor residential units should provide a bit of privacy for the units along the sidewalk by elevating the ground floor by 4 to 6 feet. Units along the street should have individual entrances directly to the sidewalk, accessed via <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hnuGURVFcD0/URseFHiO-XI/AAAAAAAAAa4/f_caKT0xVsE/s1600/NY+148+GV+stoops.jpg">stoops</a> or <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/02/balconies-patios-and-porches.html#more">porches</a>. Buildings with ground floor office or retail uses should be accessed via <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/getting-small-storefront-buildings-right.html">storefronts</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Transitions from the higher densities on the major streets and the lower density neighborhoods that may be nearby are very important. Building heights should be highest along the major streets, and should step down toward the adjacent residential areas. This makes practical sense; place the most people next to the most amenities. It is also a political necessity; to avoid opposition from concerned neighbors, you'll need to assure them that the impact on the character of their streets will be minimal. Don't worry about creating "canyons." A form-based code which creates the right building forms and frontages will make sure that the tall buildings along the major street feels comfortable.</span><br />
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<tr><td><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8fEsFYhiinU/UfnBn71d46I/AAAAAAAAA-w/BvtIoTCzoJg/s1600/Major+Street+Makeover+2.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-8fEsFYhiinU/UfnBn71d46I/AAAAAAAAA-w/BvtIoTCzoJg/s640/Major+Street+Makeover+2.gif" height="270" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Graceful transitions are essential when urbanizing a major street.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source: <a href="http://www.urban-advantage.com/">Urban Advantage</a>)</span></div>
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<b>3. Street Design</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Most major streets have been so geared up for cars that they don't work for any other purpose. Cars need to be put in check a bit in order to make room for other types of transportation. Major streets must serve more than one transportation function. Moving <i>people</i> should be the primary goal, not just moving cars, which isn't always the same thing. For example, in 1907 the <a href="http://www.streetsblog.org/2011/04/11/the-efficient-past-and-wasteful-present-of-the-brooklyn-bridge/">Brooklyn Bridge</a> moved 426,000 people per day. These folks were on foot, in street cars, and in autos. Today, as an auto-dominated bridge, it only moves 176,000 people, far fewer than in its multimodal heyday. Major streets need to move a lot of people, however they might be getting around. </span><br />
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Bike lanes should be a part of the equation. Consider <a href="http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/08/07/study-cyclists-gravitate-toward-streets-with-protected-bike-lanes/">protected</a> lanes when space permits. Sidewalks need to be ample; 12 feet should be considered the absolute minimum, and 18 feet is better if it fits. The sidewalks need to be equipped with pedestrian scale lighting, and street trees should be large and limbed up above the retail signage level (12 to 15 feet high). <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/02/long-live-on-street-parking.html">On-street parkin</a>g is a must-have item, so find a way to squeeze it in. It helps retailers, and more importantly, it provides a physical barrier between pedestrians and traffic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While it has been overemphasized, moving cars is still important; where else will they go? However, traffic engineers have been too focused on speed. Narrowing lanes can slow traffic without hurting the road's capacity. In fact, because drivers space themselves out as they go faster, a road usually carries the highest number of cars at 30 to 35 miles per hour, which is a speed very compatible with creating a nice place. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Controlled intersection spacing is of critical importance, and is often neglected. The block increment of 200 to 500 feet that makes street networks walkable in general must be respected on major streets. Often, especially in older areas, there are minor streets intersecting the major street at frequent intervals, but don't let the map fool you. If there isn't a traffic signal and crosswalks, there is no intersection in the practical sense. Intersections with signals and crosswalks, meaning one can cross safely and legally, are often placed more than 1,500 feet apart in order to facilitate traffic flow. A 20-foot high wall with barbed wire would only be slightly more effective at creating a barrier. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oZC5dZrywcg/Ui_5cLCIgxI/AAAAAAAABBQ/zabFrzXdx9k/s1600/Fresno+vs+Pasadena.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oZC5dZrywcg/Ui_5cLCIgxI/AAAAAAAABBQ/zabFrzXdx9k/s640/Fresno+vs+Pasadena.jpg" height="238" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Click to enlarge)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The GIF below shows how improvements in land use, site and building design, and street design can transform a bleak place into a nice place.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l-yV3Ri4crM/UfnBmgbEuzI/AAAAAAAAA-o/4xJA-T3S9aE/s1600/Major+Street+Makeover+1.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l-yV3Ri4crM/UfnBmgbEuzI/AAAAAAAAA-o/4xJA-T3S9aE/s640/Major+Street+Makeover+1.gif" height="302" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(Source: <a href="http://www.urban-advantage.com/">Urban Advantage</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">An excellent example in my neck of the woods is King Street in San Francisco. It moves a lot of traffic, transit riders, bike riders, and pedestrians. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Before getting its makeover, it was the site of railroad tracks and abandoned warehouses. Since the year 2000, t</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">his dynamic major street, along with the AT&T Park baseball stadium, has become an impressive </span><a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/nativeson/article/King-Street-is-S-F-s-new-city-center-2474227.php" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">catalyst for development</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">. Also, it is a nice place.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">King Street, San Francisco<br />
It carries a lot of cars, and is a nice place, too.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>(From www.traveljapanblog.com)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For a more dramatic example, look to Paris. Its boulevards move tremendous numbers of cars, and yet they are such nice places that the adjacent real estate is some of the most valuable in the city. This needs to be the model for the major streets of America.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sqRM8Jh0ItQ/UjAVXuDye2I/AAAAAAAABCE/lmUh90oyagI/s1600/Champs_Elysees_Fotor.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sqRM8Jh0ItQ/UjAVXuDye2I/AAAAAAAABCE/lmUh90oyagI/s640/Champs_Elysees_Fotor.jpg" height="478" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(From www.pbworks.com)</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ww7C1n8XF-Q/Ui_9ByIJ28I/AAAAAAAABBc/j4qxwCAtaMA/s1600/Champs_Elysees+www.egyptexpresstvl.com.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ww7C1n8XF-Q/Ui_9ByIJ28I/AAAAAAAABBc/j4qxwCAtaMA/s640/Champs_Elysees+www.egyptexpresstvl.com.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(Source unknown)</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Champs Elysees, Paris</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It carries an insane amount of cars, and is one of the greatest places in the world.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>(From www.besttripadvisor.net)</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Improving our major streets and making them the focus of our downtowns and neighborhoods would bring a lot of benefits: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Housing.</b> First, it would accommodate a lot of the growing demand for multifamily housing in a walkable environment without disrupting stable single-family neighborhoods. These units would be <a href="http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2010/1011.doherty-leinberger.html">the kind that are in demand</a> in the current housing market, but are undersupplied.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Transit. </b>Major streets that receive a makeover like I am suggesting would be the ideal place for</span><a href="http://www.humantransit.org/2009/04/be-on-the-way.html" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> transit routes</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> due to the high concentration of riders and destinations. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Retail.</b> It will do better on the major street, and the walkable urbanism that we are trying to create will benefit greatly from healthy retail.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sustainability.</b> There would also be environmental benefits; people living along the major street would almost certainly walk, bike, and ride transit more often, and some people in the adjacent single-family homes may even begin walking to destinations on the major street on occasion. Also, infill development accommodated along these corridors is development not built over farmland and wildlife habitat.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Neighborhood Amenities.</b> People in the adjacent single-family home areas will be apprehensive at first, but ultimately would be great beneficiaries of such a strategy. They would be able to live in a single-family home, surrounded by single family homes, and yet could walk to a walkable urban street loaded with amenities. It really would be the best of both worlds for them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>City Revenue.</b> In addition to revenue from improved property </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">values stemming from roadway improvements, the new dense and mixed use development will generate <a href="http://bettercities.net/news-opinion/blogs/peter-katz/20397/your-city-next">much more revenue</a> for the municipal government than the old strip mall development did prior to the makeover.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>More Nice Places.</b> Our cities are short on nice places. Any time that we can turn an unpleasant place into a nice place, we all win.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So, while I dislike noisy stinky suburban arterials just as much as the next guy, I learned to stop worrying about it when I realized that retail will work better on busy streets, and that we can make them nice places. My suggestion is this: Don't hide from major streets, and don't pull your downtowns and neighborhood centers away from them. Calm them, improve them, and reap the benefits.</span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-81310105319653752122013-07-23T23:31:00.002-07:002014-04-30T00:10:26.874-07:00Lessons from Arlington, Virginia<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4sAQ1R2NieQ/Uemu8Me4amI/AAAAAAAAA8w/ZyVdxjufz_M/s1600/Untitled+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4sAQ1R2NieQ/Uemu8Me4amI/AAAAAAAAA8w/ZyVdxjufz_M/s640/Untitled+1.jpg" height="356" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arlington, Virginia</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(All images are from the film <i>Arlington's Smart Growth Journey</i>)</span></td></tr>
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I recently watched a great documentary on YouTube (which is embedded at the end of this post) called <i>Arlington's Smart Growth Journey</i>. This hour-long documentary, produced in 2009, chronicles the transformation of Arlington, Virginia into a model of effective urban planning and a model for maintaining a high quality of life in the face of tremendous growth and change.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arlington is across the Potomac River from from Washington, DC. In the 1960s they were a suburban community that found themselves in the path of proposed freeways, a proposed commuter rail line, and a lot of anticipated growth. Rather than fight change, they shaped it and controlled it, and used it to improve their community. They were <b>really</b> ahead of their time. They were practicing <i>smart growth</i> and <i>transit-oriented development </i>before those terms even existed.</span><br />
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<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Here is the story in a nutshell: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Getting The Transportation Right. </b>The leaders of the community rallied the public behind a plan that would push the freeway outside of important commercial and residential areas, while placing the rail (called Metro) right through the middle of a chain of commercial areas. The rail line was placed underground, directly below Wilson Boulevard, which linked all of the commercial areas. The original plan called for the rail line to run down the center of the freeway, but they were wise enough to understand that this would hurt ridership and development potential. Upgrading from the Metro-backed basic freeway median system to a premium underground system was quite expensive, and this extra cost was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">borne by the community in the form of bonds. Incredibly, the bond measure was approved by 70% of the voters.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span></li>
<li><b style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The "Bull's Eye" Development Plan.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> They then developed a "Bull's Eye" land use plan for the station areas that would encourage walking and Metro ridership. The bull's eyes were based on a 1/4 mile radius (which is a comfortable five-minute walk for most people) from the Metro stations, and within that radius an immense amount of residential and commercial growth was planned. In fact, the majority of the County's growth has been focused into this corridor. At the same time, single family residential areas outside of the Bull's Eyes were strictly preserved. Steering growth toward the stations and away from single family homes was not only good planning, but essential to maintaining public support for the program.</span></li>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Arlington's Bull's Eye concept was ground breaking. The 1/4 mile "ped shed" is now a staple of city planning. </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Single family home areas have </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">been aggressively preserved.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Townhouses are often used as a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">transitional building type between </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">high rises and single family homes.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Despite tremendous growth, traffic is lower than the 1970s.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The success of this plan is simply breathtaking. Since the 1970s, Arlington's residential and office populations have doubled, with the lion's share going into the transit corridor. Despite this, traffic is lower than in the 1970s. Metro ridership in the area is up 40% in just the past 10 years, and 75% of Arlington's ridership comes from within 1/4 mile of the stations, demonstrating that the "Bull's Eye" strategy really works.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The rail corridor is now Arlington's economic engine. It is estimated that without all of the tax revenue being paid by the new development, taxes would need to go up by 30% to maintain current service levels. The transit corridor, which represents just 11% of Arlington's land area, pulls in 60% of its tax revenue. Paying the extra cost of the premium underground system has definitely returned huge dividends to the taxpayers of Arlington in the form of higher property values and lower taxes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Said Roy Lowry, a County Board member during the early days of the creation of the plan, "We tried to unite public purpose and private profit. If you can successfully do that in anything, you've got a winner." Have truer words ever been spoken?</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Pedestrian friendliness has been a big focus, especially in recent years.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While the plan was brilliant and the outcomes have been amazing, the transformation wasn't without its challenges. They stuck with the vision and didn't give up, though. A few of the struggles that they had to overcome included the following:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Fear of Change. </b>Some people were opposed or concerned about change in community character and traffic, and raised a bit of a stink about the proposed plan. This seems to have been well managed due to very extensive public </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">participation in the planning process. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Construction Hassles. </b>The construction of the underground Metro line was very traumatic. Wilson Boulevard was completely torn to sheds, which hurt a lot of the existing businesses along the corridor. They were already in decline, and as with all big projects in established areas, it got worse for them before it got better.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Affordable Housing. </b>The original plan didn't focus on affordable housing, because it wasn't much of a problem at the time. The corridor has become so desirable that its housing is primarily high-end, and they have to play catch-up now on on diversifying the housing options near the rail stations. A program now gives developers extra height and density in return for the provision of below market-rate units. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Underwhelming Design. </b>Some of the urban design and architecture from the early stages of the transformation are a little rough. When I visited several years ago, I found parts of Roslyn near the metro station and the Francis Scott Key Bridge to be a bit unpleasant. Newer projects are pretty nice, though. They are definitely paying attention to what works and what doesn't and improving as they go.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is a great plan, a great community, and a great film. I highly recommend that you check it out. </span><br />
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<br />plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-74887465591378034452013-07-14T21:28:00.000-07:002013-07-24T21:39:06.614-07:00Placemaking in the Silicon Valley<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Castro Street, Downtown Mountain View</span></i></div>
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<i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">(www.rofo.com)</span></i></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back in April <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/inside-silicon-valley-radio-interview.html">I was interviewed</a> by the great Russell Hancock for his radio show <i><a href="http://www.jointventure.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=550:qinside-silicon-valleyq&catid=91:inside-silicon-valley&Itemid=493">Inside Silicon Valley</a>. </i>We discussed the ongoing renaissance of Downtown Redwood City and how it came to be. Russ was kind enough to invite me back for another interview. This time it was a double interview with my friend and mentor, Bruce Liedstrand. Bruce was the Community Development Director for Redwood City when things really got under way there, and he was City Manager for Mountain View, California when they revitalized their downtown.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The three of us discussed the success of Redwood City and Mountain View and what lessons they may offer for creating more nice places within the Silicon Valley. Presently, the Silicon Valley isn't known for comfortable, walkable, and vibrant urbanism; rather, it is known for corporate office parks and car-oriented suburban development. There are great places in Silicon Valley, though, and there can be more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a great conversation. Russ is really passionate and knowledgeable of urban planning issues and he did a great job of guiding the discussion and making it relevant and interesting for a wider Silicon Valley audience. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The interview is embedded below. I hope you like it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you're interested in more thoughts on Silicon Valley placemaking from Bruce and me, here are a few links for you:</span><br />
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<li><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/inside-silicon-valley-radio-interview.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My previous interview with Russ regarding the renaissance of Downtown Redwood City</span></a></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/transit-and-urbanism-in-silicon-valley.html">My blog post on Silicon Valley transit and urbanism</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/06/the-new-urbanist-renaissance-of.html">My blog post on the renaissance of Downtown Redwood City</a></span></li>
<li><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/03/city-manager-as-placemaker.html"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bruce's interview with the Urbanism Speakeasy podcast regarding the success of Downtown Mountain View</span></a></li>
<li><a href="http://bruceliedstrand.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bruce's Common Sense Community Design blog</span></a></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Finally, you can listen to past episodes of Russ' show <a href="http://www.jointventure.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=91&Itemid=493">here</a> or at the iTunes store.</span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-11689488256689415762013-07-13T17:43:00.000-07:002013-07-24T19:28:55.094-07:00Will Electric Cars Solve All of Our Problems?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><i>www.smartercharger.com</i></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I recently came across an interesting <a href="http://dc.streetsblog.org/2013/07/01/the-exaggerated-benefits-of-electric-cars/">post</a> over at DC Streetsblog. It calls into question the notion that electric cars are green, and can solve our environmental problems. The article cites research that "considered the full environment costs of electric cars, including the manufacture and disposal of their batteries, which found no benefit compared to conventional cars."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Reading this reminded me of an excellent piece by the late Jane Holtz Kay called <i><a href="http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/219/">No Such Thing! </a></i> that I read in Orion Magazine back in 2001. In it, she handily dismembers the notion that electric car is "green," pointing out, among other things, that even the cleanest cars result in tremendous pollution during production, before they ever hit the showroom floor. Twelve years later, it is still worth a read.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">While they are certainly cool (especially the Tesla!), and we should continue to experiment with them, it is dangerous to look at electric cars as the "silver bullet" cure to all that ails us. In America we love to solve problems by buying a new toy, but this one is not only inadequate but a distraction. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Electric cars don't, and never will, fix following problems:</span><br />
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<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Pollution.</b> The cars themselves do not emit carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, and other unhealthy pollutants. That is nice, because the smoke and soot is not being dumped directly into our neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the pollution is simply shifted to the power plant, and from there it blows around and wreaks its usual <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/health/research/13exhaust.html?_r=0">havoc on our bodies</a>. Worse yet, in states which rely heavily on coal, electric car use may result in MORE pollution than gasoline or hybrid cars.</span></li>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--j_Qk9ZWiDA/Udp2W3n3qPI/AAAAAAAAA7U/pISAJ9CZ3lo/s1600/electric+car.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--j_Qk9ZWiDA/Udp2W3n3qPI/AAAAAAAAA7U/pISAJ9CZ3lo/s640/electric+car.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="text-align: center;"><b>Traffic. </b>Even for people who love cars and driving, traffic is a pain. For those who hate driving but must due to a lack of options, it is a misery. Electric cars don't do a darn thing to avoid or minimize our time stuck in linear parking lots.</span></span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X6Cvjd4zYsk/UeHaIK_T51I/AAAAAAAAA74/iIkoPvlqyNs/s1600/A+few+more+lanes.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-X6Cvjd4zYsk/UeHaIK_T51I/AAAAAAAAA74/iIkoPvlqyNs/s320/A+few+more+lanes.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source unknown)</span></i></td></tr>
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Road Fatalities.</b> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motor_vehicle_deaths_in_U.S._by_year">Tens of thousands</a> of Americans die on the road every year. Simply changing fuel sources won't alleviate this carnage.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Parking. </b>Acres upon acres of <a href="http://www.freakonomics.com/2013/03/13/parking-is-hell-a-new-freakonomics-radio-podcast/">parking</a> dominate our cities. Parking lots </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">take up valuable space that could be used for housing, businesses, and parks. They result in polluted runoff into our waterways. They make cities too spread-out to walk, and they are ugly. Unfortunately, electric cars need just as much parking as other cars.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Highway Costs.</b> Highways, roads, and other car infrastructure are enormously <a href="http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/01/04/actually-highway-builders-roads-don%E2%80%99t-pay-for-themselves/">expensive</a>. Electric cars do nothing to get this unsustainable spending under control.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Sprawl.</b> Switching over to electric engines will do nothing to slow the loss of farmland and wildlife habitat that comes from spread-out car-oriented development.</span></li>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-erjJey0n434/UeHaDXjFR3I/AAAAAAAAA7w/iM_XW_zQC-Y/s1600/One+Asphalt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-erjJey0n434/UeHaDXjFR3I/AAAAAAAAA7w/iM_XW_zQC-Y/s320/One+Asphalt.jpg" width="318" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(Source unknown)</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Electric cars don't solve any of these problems... not even a little bit. Worse, they may delay our solving of these problems by making us feel like we have done enough to deal with the issues. We'll be too busy patting ourselves on the back to do what really needs to be done.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, a war on cars is not the answer (there is no <a href="http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/44173/there-is-no-war-on-cars/">war on cars</a>, by the way). A lot of people really like to drive, and in a free country they should be able to. A lot of people really need to drive, too </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(such as contractors, farmers, people who work in out-of-the way locations that can never be served by transit),</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> and their needs will never be addressed by alternatives. Luckily, we don't need everyone to stop driving to make big strides toward improving the problems that I listed above. Here's what we really need to do:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Increase Transportation Choice.</b> We have to provide transportation alternatives for everyone who wants and needs them. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/14/us/report-finds-americans-are-driving-less-led-by-youth.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">Millions of people</a> are eager to get rid of a car or drive less often if walking, biking, and <a href="http://www.humantransit.org/">transit</a> were viable alternatives. By making cities walkable, bikable, and well-served by transit we can take millions of cars off of the road -- not by force, but by providing choices to people who presently lack them.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Improve Land Use.</b> As we grow, we need to <a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/06/the-new-urbanist-renaissance-of.html">design and locate new development</a> in a way that will make the remaining car trips as short as possible. Housing needs to be placed into business districts to shorten commutes. Retail needs to be decentralized whenever possible, broken into smaller increments and placed closer to housing. All of it needs to feature a walkable grid of small blocks and interconnected streets and sidewalks.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Clean Up the Cars. </b>There's no doubt that the remaining cars (of which there will be many) need to be as clean as possible. Electric may be part of the program (if used in combinations with cleaner power plants), but we also need to continue to improve hybrids, and higher fuel mileage gasoline-powered cars. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we ignore other forms of transportation and land use, then continued sprawl will erase all of the gains made by cleaner cars. A few years ago, The Urbanophile <a href="http://www.urbanophile.com/2010/04/27/chuck-banas-this-is-sprawl/">discussed sprawl in the Buffalo area</a> and found that since 1950 developed land in metro Buffalo had tripled, but the population had not grown at all. </span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yjU4-PHzZbE/UeHx9ynsFBI/AAAAAAAAA8I/GzdnDZM6Ag8/s1600/Buffalo+sprawl+map.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yjU4-PHzZbE/UeHx9ynsFBI/AAAAAAAAA8I/GzdnDZM6Ag8/s640/Buffalo+sprawl+map.gif" width="562" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>(www.urbanohpile.com)</i></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OfMkU_mTeFk/UeHyTHMNm1I/AAAAAAAAA8Q/wmnvccp2hiI/s1600/Buffalo+sprawl+graph.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="376" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OfMkU_mTeFk/UeHyTHMNm1I/AAAAAAAAA8Q/wmnvccp2hiI/s640/Buffalo+sprawl+graph.gif" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: right;"><i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(www.urbanophie.com)</span></i></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the absence of good transit and good urban planning, we will continue to expand outward and overwhelm any gains that we make with technological improvements. So, as we clean up our cars, let's not lose focus of the need for walkable neighborhoods and transit. Only a comprehensive strategy can address our needs.</span><br />
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com274tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-73288434619032321002013-06-10T22:11:00.000-07:002013-07-15T13:39:36.965-07:00Parks: Acres or Access?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QNaCRu6ouAU/UbanpHVeb-I/AAAAAAAAA6U/I5UXKQhglWo/s1600/IMG_0112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QNaCRu6ouAU/UbanpHVeb-I/AAAAAAAAA6U/I5UXKQhglWo/s640/IMG_0112.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://m.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/06/what-we-can-learn-about-city-mapping-its-parks/5794/">A great article</a> just popped up over at The Atlantic Cities about parks. The article highlights work by the Trust for Public Land, which mapped park access in the fifty largest American cities. The article makes the point that cities with lower densities have a harder time providing access to parks, because fewer people are within walking distance of them. It is good, and it is short. <a href="http://m.theatlanticcities.com/neighborhoods/2013/06/what-we-can-learn-about-city-mapping-its-parks/5794/">Check it out.</a><br /><br />Most cities have targets for parks based on acres, not access. Their goals often focus on providing a certain number of acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. The National Park and Recreation Association recommends 10 acres per 1,000 residents. This is the wrong way to look at it. I see three primary problems with this standard: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>It is a view which is very biased against denser neighborhoods. </b>There is only so much land that can be used for parks. So, as density rises, the ratio of park acres per 1,000 residents declines, and the area appears to be failing even if it isn't. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>It implies that more people using a park is bad.</b> This standard seems to penalize cities for placing a lot of people near their parks, perhaps assuming that there is something inherently wrong with a busy park. In fact, the opposite is true; underused parks can be a bit creepy and sometimes outright dangerous. Heavily used parks are safer, are better at building community bonds, and provide a better financial return. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Focusing on acreage doesn't ensure access.</b> Just because you have a lot of parkland, doesn't mean that people can get to it easily. The parks may be too far away from where people live or they could be blocked by barriers such as freeways. In such instances people will not get much enjoyment out of them.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A perfect example of this can be found in San Francisco. In the Trust for Public Land's study, San Francisco ranked 4th in the nation for park access. Here is a map showing San Francisco park access:</span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JZV2QmK00vw/UbauMfCfFcI/AAAAAAAAA6k/JwUljjVR6IU/s1600/sf+parks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="586" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JZV2QmK00vw/UbauMfCfFcI/AAAAAAAAA6k/JwUljjVR6IU/s640/sf+parks.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />Dark green is for parks. Light green areas have good park access. Orange areas have a high need for park access, and red areas have a very high need for park access. Clearly, San Franciscans have great access to parks. However, the National Park and Recreation Association would have you believe that San Francisco is failing, because their acreage ratio is 5.5 acres per 1,000 residents. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was happy to see this Atlantic article, because I have long been a proponent of access over acres. In 2010 I conducted an access study for Downtown Redwood City, which is shown below. I mapped out how many Downtown parcels were within 1, 3, or 5 minutes of a park. I found that <b>every</b> parcel was within a five minute walk of a park. </span></div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SU2JxnWon4M/UbawOuQ2ZgI/AAAAAAAAA60/X5ctF4Piu40/s1600/DTPP+Park+Study_Page_08.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="414" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SU2JxnWon4M/UbawOuQ2ZgI/AAAAAAAAA60/X5ctF4Piu40/s640/DTPP+Park+Study_Page_08.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, there were only about 7.6 acres per 1,000 Downtown residents. Are we failing? I don't think so. We plan on attracting at least 2,500 new apartments to Downtown, about half of which are under way. This is unquestionably good for the area, but it will drop the parkland ratio to less than 2 acres of Downtown parkland per 1,000 Downtown residents. This perfectly demonstrates the problem with the NPRA standard. All of these new residents will be within a 5 minute walk of a range of large parks, small parklets, and urban plazas and these facilities will be better used as people move in to the area. Calling this anything other than </span><i style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">success</i><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> is dubious at best.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So my advice is this: When planning open space, focus on providing convenient access<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.292969); font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to great parks</span> to the most people possible, and don't get too hung up on acreage ratios.</span></div>
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-50025081334059067832013-06-07T13:24:00.000-07:002013-12-04T09:15:00.637-08:00The Renaissance of Downtown Redwood City<i>I wrote the following piece for cnu.org's City Spotlight. The original article can be found <a href="http://www.cnu.org/cnu-salons/2013/06/city-spotlight-new-urbanist-renaissance-downtown-redwood-city">here</a>. CNU's website is packed with good stuff. Check it out.</i><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is unknown to many urbanists, but one of the most dramatic downtown comeback stories of our generation is taking place in Redwood City, California. I have been lucky enough to serve as Redwood City’s Downtown Development Coordinator for the past ten years, and to play a role in its renaissance. This dynamic district, formerly ridiculed as “Deadwood City,” has seen an amazing turnaround due to an aggressive program of code reform, a strong investment in public spaces, and a strategy of using entertainment as a catalyzing force.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br />Founded in 1852 as a port on a creek leading to San Francisco Bay, Redwood City took its name from the redwood lumber that was shipped from there to build Gold Rush-era San Francisco. When San Mateo County was broken off of San Francisco County in 1856, Redwood City was designated the County seat, and the town grew slowly but steadily around shipping and government. It became one of the primary towns on the San Francisco Peninsula and had a strong downtown until the middle of the 20th century. <br /><br />As with so many American downtowns, it declined with construction of nearby malls and other shopping centers. A redevelopment plan was drawn up in the 1960s to completely demolish historic districts, create superblocks, and pedestrianize primary streets. Thankfully, this plan was never implemented, and Downtown Redwood City limped through the late 20th century struggling economically, but physically intact. <br /><br />The citizens of Redwood City had long desired for their Downtown to be revitalized, and steadily demanded that actions be taken to improve the area. Some good steps were taken, such as the the 1989 preservation of the former fire station and its adaptive reuse into the main city library, the construction of a new city hall in 1997, and the development two city-assisted housing projects in 1998 and 2002. Some missteps were also taken, such as the construction of a suburban-style shopping center directly next to the Downtown commuter train station in 1994. However, the turnaround really began in earnest at the turn of the millenium and is now a juggernaut. It has progressed generally as a three-phase process.</span><b id="docs-internal-guid-7430a30e-2047-79bb-245f-0ba166602db5"></b><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-7430a30e-2047-79bb-245f-0ba166602db5"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phase One was the creation of activity generators and great public spaces. By the close of the 20th Century, Downtown Redwood City had become very sleepy place. Businesses struggled to survive due to a lack of foot traffic. It was clear to city leaders that the district needed a big burst of activity. An attraction needed to be brought in that could create a similar effect to an anchor store in a shopping mall: attract large numbers of people ot the area, who could then patronize other businesses in the vicinity. A cinema was determined to be just the thing. Movies attract people fairly steadily throughout the year, and our area was underserved. Redwood City had one 12 screen cinema, and the next closest cinemas were about 10 miles away to the north and south.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />The City’s Redevelopment Agency assembled a site and issued a Request for Proposals for a developer. A development firm with excellent local experience, and a partnership with the only local theater operator, was selected. Selecting this developer not only helped to ensure that a good building would be built, but that the existing Redwood City cinema would be closed, making the Downtown cinema the only place to see movies for miles around. This helped assure its success. A city-operated underground parking garage, ground floor retail, and dramatic streetscape improvements were important parts of the project as well. <br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At the opposite corner of the same intersection was the site of another important key to Downtown’s future. There sat the historic San Mateo County Courthouse, which was built in 1910 in the Beaux Arts style and which featured the largest glass dome west of the Mississippi. You wouldn’t have known it, though, because it sat behind a Depression era annex which not only obscured the front of the building, but which sat squarely in the location of the city’s former town square. The City’s Redevelopment Agency, in cooperation with San Mateo County, demolished the annex, reconstructed the facade of the Courthouse, and created a new Courthouse Square. The square, which is less than ½ acre in size, was designed to serve as the community’s living room. It is a simple hardscaped space that is flanked by fountains and pavilions and that has been used as an additional entertainment venue for Downtown, hosting hundreds of events every year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Phase Two was the complete reconstruction of the zoning regulations and planning approval process for Downtown development. The cinema and Courthouse Square were certain to infuse Downtown Redwood City with a needed burst of activity, but it was understood by city leaders that this wouldn’t be enough to achieve the dramatic revitalization that they desired. They knew that thousands of office workers and residents would be needed to support the retail amenities that the community desired, to nurture a vibrant streetlife, and to create healthy property values and tax receipts. <br /><br />So as construction blazed forward on the cinema and Courthouse Square, planning staff, with the support of New Urbanist firm Freedman Tung & Bottomley (now Freedman Tung & Sasaki), moved forward on a new form-based code for Downtown. The idea was to create a code which would allow privately financed development to be a profitable venture in Downtown area. After the expense of Courthouse Square and the cinema, the City’s Redevelopment Agency didn’t have any capacity left for additional tax-increment financing, and other funding sources weren’t available in significant enough amounts for the city to financially participate in many more projects, if any. If the desired development was to occur, developers needed to be able to purchase site on their own, construct the buildings, lease them out at the going rate, and achieve the profit margins that the needed to make the endeavor worthwhile. <br /><br />This forced the city to deal with the traditionally sensitive subjects of height, density, parking, and architectural style. We started the entire process of creating the plan with a very interactive public process. We used workshops to learn what the public was concerned about, what their hopes were, and what their tastes were. We also used these workshops to educate them about what makes downtowns tick, and how higher concentrations of people can support the amenities that they desired. In the end, density wasn’t even an issue, because people understood the benefits that extra people would bring, and they understood that the most important factor in creating a nice place was the form of the buildings and public spaces, not a number. <br /><br />The final plan included important features wanted by the public, such as heights which stepped down toward single family neighborhoods and design guidelines requiring traditional architectural character in the areas with the highest concentrations of historic buildings. It also had many form-based regulations dear to New Urbanists, such as strict requirements for active frontages, base-middle-top compositions to facades, and hidden parking. <br /><br />The Downtown Precise Plan was adopted in early 2007 with broad community support. Sadly, it was immediately hit with a lawsuit from a disgruntled property owner under the California Environmental Quality Act. The lawsuit alleged that the plan’s Environmental Impact Report did not adequately evaluate the impacts of the plan on historic resources and on shadows. The judge hearing the case agreed and required the plan to be repealed. We created an entirely new EIR for the plan, including an extensive shadow analysis. City staff also reworked the Downtown Precise Plan to reduce maximum permitted heights near historic resources and public open spaces to reduced shadow and aesthetic impacts on them. Since we were modifying the plan anyway, we reorganized it to be easier to use and improved some regulations which had caused confusion. <a href="http://www.redwoodcity.org/preciseplan">The new Downtown Precise Plan</a> was adopted on January 24, 2011 and was not challenged. <br /><br />Phase Three, private development, is now underway. 421 residential units are under construction, 280 more units have been approved, and 471 more are under review. The 1,172 units that have been proposed in the two years since the Downtown Precise Plan was adopted represent more housing than was constructed in the preceding five decades combined. Furthermore, and all of it is privately financed, without a penny of City subsidies. On top of that, 300,000 square feet of office space is under way. All projects have received Planning approvals in six months or less and have had no opposition. </span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This success has come about because developers understand that Downtown Redwood City is place where they can eliminate a lot of the uncertainty that can undermine them in other cities. NIMBY battles don’t exist, because the public meetings to figure out what kind of development was right for our Downtown happened <i>before</i> the plan was created. Now, we are simply reviewing projects against that plan. The regulations in the plan are tough, and often push developers to do things that they otherwise wouldn’t do, but they are very clear, so everybody knows what they are getting into before they submit a development application.</span><br />
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<span id="docs-internal-guid-7430a30e-2047-79bb-245f-0ba166602db5" style="line-height: 1.15; text-align: right;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-7430a30e-2047-79bb-245f-0ba166602db5" style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-family: Arial; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Below are projects which are proposed, approved, or under construction:</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><b>201 Marshall Street</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developer: Raintree Partners<br />Description: 116 Apartments<br />Status: Under Construction</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>145 Monroe Street</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developer: Greystar<br />Description: 305 Apartments<br />Status: Under Construction</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>490 Winslow Street</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developer: The Acclaim Companies<br />Architect: Anderson Architects<br />Status: Approved</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><b>601 Main Street</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developer: Lennar Multifamily West<br />Description: 196 Apartments<br />Status: Approved</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><b>735 Brewster Street</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developer: Classic Communities<br />Description: 18 Condominiums<br />Status: Approved</span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>525 Middlefield Road</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Developer: The Pauls Corp<br />Description: 471 Apartments<br />Status: Under Review</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><br /><b>Redwood Towers</b><br />Developer: Hunter/Storm<br />Description: 300,000 Square Feet of Office Space; 5,000 Square Feet of Retail<br />Status: Under Review</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is more work to be done, but Downtown Redwood City is more active and economically successful than it has been in decades. Retail vacancies have fallen and an eclectic dining and pub scene has materialized. We have emerged as one of the entertainment capitals of our area, with our new cinema becoming one of the busiest in the region, and our summer events bringing in thousand of visitors each week. Tech startups are not only flocking to the district, but they are expanding within Downtown as they grow and prosper. Most importantly, everyone agrees that Downtown is only going to get better, and the public feels great pride in what it has become.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">More information on the resurgence of Downtown Redwood City:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/04/inside-silicon-valley-radio-interview.html">The Renaissance of Downtown Redwood City - Radio Interview</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.plannerdan.com/2013/07/placemaking-in-silicon-valley.html">Placemaking In the Silicon Valley - Radio Interview</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/video/7163253-redwood-city-sees-housing-boom/">Redwood City Sees Housing Boom - TV Interview</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://vimeo.com/68804727">Promotional Video for New Downtown RC Office Building</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/07/23/hunterstorm-kilroy-get-go-ahead-for.html?page=all">Redwood City Gives Approval for Big Office Project</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/05/lennar-joins-housing-rush-into.html?page=all">Lennar Joins Housing Rush into Downtown Redwood City</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.redwoodcity.org/preciseplan">The Downtown Precise Plan</a></span></li>
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plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7448898752702342685.post-92208917828933105902013-05-23T07:39:00.003-07:002013-07-15T13:42:57.899-07:00The Downtown Redwood City Development Boom Continues<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">JK Dineen has a nice piece over at the San Francisco Business Times about the ongoing development boom in Downtown Redwood City. The pace of development is really picking up, and the quality is great. Check out JK's article about it <a href="http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/blog/2013/05/lennar-joins-housing-rush-into.html?page=all">here</a>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>plannerdanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10897742901494138549noreply@blogger.com3