On the Ides of March, The New Albanian posted a comment on his blog, NA Confidential, which made passing reference to New Urbanism. (The main point of the post was the overdue return of a Human Rights Commission but I'll save that for another day.) In today's Tribune, publisher, John Tucker wrote a column about ill-planned growth. Mr. Baylor's post and Mr. Tucker's column bring out two important points that lead to a third topic of recent discussion, ie. inspection of rental property.
Mr. Tucker correctly identifies the problem Clarksville has created with its no-holds-barred harvesting of development which results in what the disciples of New Urbanism might term a nightmare scenario. While the New Urbanists preach a gospel of livable communities where people can walk a sensible distance for shopping and entertaiment, Tired Sprawlers adhere to a model that is automobile-centric. New Urbanists attempt to build to a human scale Tired Sprawlers think in terms of limited access roadways. Pedestrians and cyclists need not apply.
The nexus of those diametrically opposed planning models in this post is the fact that we in New Albany have the opportunity to create New Urbanist neighborhoods, not from the ground up but rather from existing structures, in existing neighborhoods, with existing streets, and existing sewers, where people would send children to (wait a second don't get carried away) existing schools, and people would attend existing churches, and play in existing parks.
The advantages of using existing infrastructure are obvious:
a) it costs less
b) it uses less resources in several ways 1) exclusively new materials don't need to be invested in the project 2) new land does not need to be consumed for the project or for the ancillary services the project will require such as schools, churces and parks
c) the end result would be what New Urbanists advocate--a livable city
d) commerce follows development and the infrastructure, although currently underused, for commerce is waiting in the wings, ask Mike Kopp.
One of the things standing between a livable city in the New Urbanist mold and what we have in New Albany is our over abundance of poorly maintained houses and, in fact, entire neighborhoods. (The advantage of buying a "fixer upper" is that once it's fixed up you've got a nice place to live, but if the surrounding houses are mired in decrepitude,you've run afoul of the first three rules of real estate, the first of which is "LOCATION"; I'm fuzzy on the other two but I remember "LOCATION" is important.) One of the ways that situation can be turned around is a commitment by the city to increase property values throughout the city by expanding home ownerhip for first-time buyers. The entire city benefits if we can tap the power of their commitment to this new, greater stake in the community. Another way to increase property values is through the rental registration and inspection program. The goal of which should be to get the properties fixed up so they are not a drag on the surrounding houses or to get them on the market so new owners can get them fixed up. As President Kennedy said " a rising tide lifts all boats." In New Albany which way is the tide going?
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6 comments:
Excellent.
Thanks, John, for a well-written and thoughtful explanation of your philosophy of community development. It is obvious that you have spent some time considering the situation and possible solutions. While New Albany is blessed in many ways with gifts that could lend themselves to the development of an exciting, livable and interesting destination including a wealth of historic buildings that survive in good condition.
The condition of the housing stock, and the percentage of homeownership, however, is a challenge that the leadership of the city needs to address. The latest census figures show that barely over 40% of residents in the six inner city Tracts own their own homes. In these same tracts, over a quarter of the population is below the poverty level. In the rest of the county, the ownership rate is well above the state average and the poverty rate is a minuscule 4%. The efforts in community development obviously need to be targeted in the urbanized area of the city.
We are working with IUS and other partners in a property inventory project to identify characteristics of the current housing stock that will help refine the targets of our efforts and also provide baseline data to gauge the results of our efforts.
As you know, and have been instrumental the project so far, the Linden Meadows project is beginning to leverage a great deal of free federal money that, in combination with other developers and with civic leadership to foster, support and encourage the improvement in the housing stock in the targeted areas. Community Housing is grateful for your help in making these projects work for the community.
John Miller, New Albany Community Housing
Thanks Mr Gonder for your support of New Urbanism. YOu are correct NA has just the scale and infrastructure to provide a walkable vibrant city. That's a big reason I bought a property here. Coming from Boston I've been accustomed to many of these New Urbanism principles in practice. I also beleive NA will catch up someday, you just can't create what we already have in the suburbs...especially proximity to the urban core of Lousiville. Eventually, all those cars you see bumper to bumper heading into downtown from the East End will realize it's no way to live. Also my son is attending St Mary's and we, gasp, walk to school. Yes, a good school. Not public, but it's a start.
I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts as campaign season heats up.
John Gonder for Congress.
david t. (your old leadership si classmate)
If the election was today, you have my vote just because of your ideas for a better community to live in.
I commend you for taking your stance on neighborhood enhancement to the next level.
The opints you bring up are very refreshing, but more importantly they are obtainable, not another pie in the sky platform.
Thank you
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