Planning Commissioners Journal

Local Boy Makes Good

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville:

Dixon, Illinois, is about a two hours' drive west of Chicago. It's the boyhood home of Ronald Reagan. I stopped off in Dixon while driving to Dubuque, Iowa, to speak at the Upper Midwest APA conference earlier this month.

Dixon is understandably proud of its native son. The Reagans lived there from 1920 (when Ron was nine) until 1932.

While they lived in several homes in Dixon, the one they spent the most time in is at 816 South Hennepin. It's maintained by a local non-profit, Friends of the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home. I was struck by how modest the house is.

The two brothers -- Ron and Neil -- lived upstairs, next to their parents' room. Downstairs is a small living room and family room, along with the dining area and kitchen. [The photo above right shows Ron, Neil, and their mother Nancy on a return visit to their old home; the furnishings are not original, but similar to what the Reagans owned at the time].

The house is located on South Hennepin Street, in a pleasant residential neighborhood just a few blocks from downtown Dixon, and a short way from one of the schools Ronald Reagan attended.

The school itself is now the home of the local historical society. They've preserved one of the classrooms where the future president spent some time -- though he didn't see that portrait of himself on the front wall!

There's also a series of wonderful pen and ink drawings by local artist Fran Swarbrick.

One shows Ronald Reagan as a lifeguard -- he had this job for several summers, starting as a high school sophomore. Another captures the feel of downtown Dixon in 1922, you can spot in one section of the drawing Reagan's father Jack in front of the boot shop he managed on Galena Avenue, Dixon's main street.

The historical society is also trying to develop a library collection of Reagan-related publications (though the Reagan Presidential Library is located in Simi Valley, California).

As Reagan wrote in looking back at Dixon, "I think growing up in a small town is a good foundation for anyone who decides to enter politics. You get to know people as individuals, not as blocs or members of special interest groups."

And it's pretty special for a community to have a local boy make good.

Like an Anchor Store for Downtown

Just came across this story about plans for a downtown theater re-opening in Carbondale, Illinois (from the November 14 issue of The Daily Egyptian newspaper):

I was especially struck by the Councilman's remark (quoted above) that "the theatre would be like an anchor store for downtown Carbondale."

Reading this reminded me of what I heard during my cross-country trip this Summer: that theaters and arts centers are vital components of strong downtowns and main streets.

See my post "Hulda's Theatre" on the remarkable theatre restoration completed in the small Indiana city of North Vernon, and  "Behind the Curtains," about the ambitious rennovation still underway in Emporia, Kansas.

Theater restoration projects don't just bring economic benefits to downtown -- in small towns and cities they can help build community through the cooperative efforts needed to accomplish the project. Restoring old theaters (which have often sat vacant) typically requires a major committment from dozens of local residents volunteering their time -- and from local businesses contributing equipment and services. In Emporia, for example, area businesses donated much of the heating, air conditioning, and plumbing-related equipment and services.

Note: if you've been involved in a theater restoration project in your community, let us know about it. Either email us, or post a comment below.

I'm excerpting from a portion of Carbondale Mayor Cole's remarks about the theater in the continuation of this post. At the bottom of the continuation of this post, you can also download a complimentary copy of an article I authored, "Preservation Takes Center Stage," from a special back issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal

Fall 2007 Planning Comm'rs Journal: Crossing America

COAST-TO-COAST ON U.S. ROUTE 50 -- Reports by PCJ Editor Wayne Senville

• Small Cities, Big Challenges. How four small communities have responded to some big-time challenges.
• Rain to Recreation. Selling the benefits of stormwater management.
• Village People. How one neighborhood is part of a national movement designed to help residents age in place.
• First Suburbs. A look at the benefits some "first-ring" suburbs have discovered from coming together.
• Around Town. Bypass highways: welcome or unwanted. A look at three different approaches.

Also in our Fall issue:

• ... In the Beginning. Planning Commissioners Journal columnist Elaine Cogan focuses on why the first few minutes of your planning commission meeting are especially important.
• When Connecting Point A to Point B. Transportation planner Hannah Twaddell on key questions to ask when thinking about the need for a bypass highway. Supplementing PCJ Editor Wayne Senville's Around Town report.
• What It Means When We Say ... . Planning consultant Ric Stephens on why "what we say," "what we mean," and "what they hear" at commission meetings don't always correspond.

If you already subscribe to the Planning Commissioners Journal, you should have received the issue by now (if you haven't, please contact us at: 802-864-9083).

Interested in subscribing? Simply go to: www.plannersweb.com/store/pcjsub.html -- and you'll have our Fall issue in your hands in just a couple of days.

What's Syracuse's Destiny?

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville:

Promotors say it will be one of the most spectacular green building projects in the world ... but some detractors at the national Greenbuild Conference see it as an auto-centric, anti-community, white elephant.

What they're referring to is Syracuse, New York's, ambitious Destiny project, being developed by real estate mogul Bob Congel, founder & managing partner of the Pyramid Companies, a major mall developer.

At Wednesday's Greenbuild Conference in Chicago, a panel of project boosters -- including Congel (on far right in photo) and Syracuse Mayor Matthew Driscoll (second from left) -- laid out the case for this mega-project.

Destiny is being called a "destination retail city." That is, it's planned as an enormous 75 million square foot retail, hotel, and entertainment complex intended to draw visitors/shoppers from well beyond the immediate Syracuse area.

It's location is outside the city's downtown -- expanding on the existing Carousel shopping mall (see photo below). One way to view it as a mall on steroids -- perhaps along the lines of the Twin Cities' Mall of America.

But what makes the project interesting -- besides its unique blend of private, city, state, and federal financing -- is that it's being designed to incorporate a full panoply of green building practices, such as using recycled industrial materials as part of its construction, and having its own 22 MW renewable-energy power plant.

This is in keeping with Mayor Driscoll's vision of Syracuse as "Green Capital of the World." At the Conference, the Mayor spelled out a series of "aggressive" steps the city has already taken to reduce energy consumption, including an ordinance that requires all municipal buildings to be LEED-certified.

Dan Tomson, Managing Director of Citigroup Global Markets (second from right in photo of panelists), which is instrumental in putting together Destiny's financing, said that "we believe in combatting climate change with market-based solutions."

But the project financing relies on a number of state and federal financial "sweeteners," including $228 million in federal, tax-exempt green bonds designated for energy-conserving projects, plus a huge brownfields tax credit.

At the Greenbuild Conference, Congel also announced the latest addition to the Destiny project, a $450 million dollar, 1342-room hotel and conference center, which would make it the largest hotel in New York outside of New York City. (See illustration at start of this post; the hotel is in the foreground).

Congel described how he came up with the design concept for the hotel: "We needed to get an icon type of thing. I wanted to have it look like grass growing up 600 feet." The hotel, which Congel said would meet LEED-platinum standards, would also "change the skyline not just of Syracuse, but of the United States."

So what's not to like about what would be one of the largest green projects in America? One concern raised at the Conference by Ken Kortkamp (on right) a San Francisco-based engineer is the "auto-centric" nature of the project. As Kortkamp commented, "you're not creating a community, let alone a sustainable community." Others also questioned the absence of any residential component of the project, and its dependence on visitors coming by automobile.

In response, Mayor Driscoll said the project "will be a trigger to development elsewhere in the city" and would help fight sprawl. The challenge for Syracuse, he added, will be "how do we take this project and help benefit the rest of the city." For Congel, the project will "create the demand that other private developers will take care of." In terms of transportation, Congel also mentioned the possibility of designing a monorail system as part of the project (hopefully connecting with the Syracuse airport and downtown).

The U.S. Green Building Council is also behind the project, having purchased one of the new federal green bonds issued for Destiny.

For an economically depressed city like Syracuse, Destiny offers an attractive vision. But will the visitors arrive in the number expected? And will Destiny deliver benefits to the rest of the city, including its downtown?

Update posted on 11.26.07: An interesting post on the Veritas et Venustas blog about the transportation-related factors in "green buildings" -- something that came up in questions about the Syracuse project:

"Designers and builders expend significant effort to ensure that our buildings use as little energy as possible. This is a good thing—and very obvious to anyone who has been involved with green building for any length of time. What is not so obvious is that many buildings are responsible for much more energy use getting people to and from those buildings. That’s right—for an average office building in the United States, calculations done by Environmental Building News (EBN) show that commuting by office workers accounts for 30% more energy than the building itself uses. For an average new office building built to code, transportation accounts for more than twice as much energy use as building operation."

See also my post during my cross-country trip about the Chesapeake Bay Foundation "green" headquarters building -- the building that's the focus of the Veritas et Venustas blog entry.

Jamming in Green

From Planning Commissioners Journal Editor Wayne Senville:

The green build movement reached critical momentum this week, as more than 20,000 people: developers, contractors, engineers, architects, planners, students, and assorted elected officials, jammed into the McCormick Place convention center in Chicago for the 2007 International Greenbuild Conference.

Sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council, the Conference featured a keynote address by former President Bill Clinton, and well over 100 workshops and panel discussions. This was in addition to over 800 vendors who packed the exhibition hall (go to a post on Best Green Blogs for more on some of the vendors, including photos).

Wading into the largest lunch line I've ever encountered (see below), I was floored to see such enormous interest in green building practices. Another attendee had a similar reaction. And CNBC reporter Diana Olick reported that "I'm not often shocked, but I am today. And so were the folks running the convention. An unbelievable response, is all I can say. This place is so packed with people from all over the world that the registration line was literally two hours long."

Just across the street from the convention center was a sign bearing witness to the growing interest in green building: a new Chicago condominium project touting to potential buyers its green features.

At the start of the Conference, former President Clinton announced an initiative of the Clinton Foundation that will include:

• partnering with the City of Chicago to enable a "green overhaul" of privately-owned multi-tenant housing across the city, as well as of the enormous Sears Tower and Merchandise Mart buildings;
• a partnership with GE Real Estate to retrofit projects in GE's $72 billion global portfolio; and
• a major effort (with the U.S. Green Buildings Council) to create a "Green Schools" program to reduce energy consumption in K-12 schools, along with a comparable program aimed at colleges and universities.

Clinton noted in his remarks that "when it comes to climate change, the hurdles we face aren't technological, they're organizational ... the solution to the climate crisis isn't far off in the future -- it's in the buildings we inhabit, our civic infrastructure, and the way we organize our lives."

In terms of green building, Clinton observed that "what we have to do is prove that this is not a big bottle of castor oil that we're being asked to drink." Instead, he described green building as an enormous economic opportunity for the nation.

More on some of what I heard during the Conference in my next post.

On Dialogue

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville:

While I was attending the Upper Midwest APA Conference in Dubuque, Iowa, to speak about "Planning Conversations from Coast to Coast" (reporting on my Route 50 travels this Summer), I also sat in on some fascinating sessions.

Several focused on ways in which planners can promote dialogue. A wide array of techniques were discussed, with names like: study circles; world cafe; appreciative inquiry (something I just reported on); future search; and open space technology (and this "open space" has nothing to do with open space and farmland preservation!).

One of the key goals of all these techniques, as David Boyd (a Senior Planner for MSA Professional Services) put it, is to "create trust."

Linda Stoll of the Center for Land Use Education in Stevens Point, Wisconsin, picked up on this, and noted that it's important to be clear on your goals and on the public's role in the process. The worst thing planners can do is sell the importance of public participation and then ignore what people had to say.

Anna Haines, Director of the Center for Land Use Education (photo on left) described the use of study circles in several Wisconsin communities. Community members met informally in small groups of eight to twelve, plus a facilitator, once a week focusing on a specific topic -- in this case, how their communities might become more ecologically oriented. This allowed time for learning -- both from shared resource materials and from each other.

As Haines noted, you can get creative results from bringing a diverse group of people together in this way -- while building a stronger sense of community.

Another technique many of you probably haven't heard of (I certainly hadn't until recently) is called "open space technology."

As Stoll explained, it's a process "wholly owned and run by the participants." Those attending set the agenda for the day, lead the discussions, and come up with the results. In other words, the public runs the show. It can be a dynamic process, Stoll noted, suitable to gatherings of even hundreds of people. The technique works best, she added, "when people feel impassioned about the topic." [for a bit more on open space technology, see a post on the eParticipation blog].

But those in government often have cold feet about sponsoring this kind of "participant-driven" process, Stoll acknowledged, since they "must be willing to live with what the participants create."

Frank DiNovo, of the Champaign County (Illinois) Regional Planning Commission spoke about his county's experience with "deliberative democracy" in a major visioning project called big.small.all. DiNovo stressed the importance of it being a public-private collaboration. He also noted that "what gets people to attend meetings is phone calls, not publicity" -- a good reminder about the value of those time-consuming, but essential, personal contacts.

I came out of both the CommunityMatters and Upper Midwest APA conferences excited to hear that planners and others are thinking creatively about ways to promote community dialogue. I'd welcome feedback from any of you with experience in one of these participatory techniques, either as an organizer or participant. What works ... and what doesn't.

p.s. David Boyd suggested the following Web sites as good resources on dialogue and participatory techniques:

• www.thataway.org (the National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation)
• www.studycircles.org (Study Circles Resource Center)
• www.nifi.org (National Issues Forums)
• www.americaspeaks.org (America Speaks)
• www.publicagenda.org (Public Agenda)

Also see my previous post The Power of Ten about another excellent Conference session

The Power of Ten

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville:

Getting citizens excited and involved in planning for the future of their community: that's the fondest wish of many planners. During the Upper Midwest APA Conference I heard about a great approach to this -- Envision Dubuque.

Nancy Van Milligen, President of the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque described the project. At its heart is a simple, but powerful, bottom line: come up with ten big ideas that could be accomplished by 2010. Notice that small number, just ten -- not the dozens (or hundreds) of ideas that many planning efforts come up with. Also notice the word "big" -- that's another key to the project.

Working with the Dubuque Area Chamber of Commerce, the Community Foundation stressed broad community involvement. Four hundred and twenty Dubuquers showed up for the kick-off breakfast on July 8, 2005 -- the start of the nine month project.

The aim was to generate lots of ideas, and then whittle them down to those with the most support and biggest potential impact.

And that's what happened. Some 2332 ideas made the first listing, generated at a series of community meetings. After the number was reduced to 100, a large community meeting took place where Dubuquers -- using hand-held voting devices -- narrowed the list to 30.

Then a 21-member Selection Committee (11 men and 10 women) representing a cross-section of the community took over, meeting weekly for nine months to get the list of big ideas down to ten. (For more on the Steering Committee). It must have been an exciting time, as Van Milligen called it "the greatest Committee I ever served on." Central to the Committee meetings was "coming up with specific ideas that could be accomplished."

To help ensure follow-up, "the day we announced the 10 big ideas," Van Milligen said, "we had big tables set up, one for each big idea, where committees formed and people committed to working on them."

One of the ten final ideas: move to Phase II of the riverfront development -- including expansion of the Mississippi River Museum; a river research center; a children's museum; a large-screen theater; and additional amenities.

One of the benefits of project, Van Milligen noted, has been "to give legs to the ideas" and build a constituency for them. In fact, the ten big ideas cover a fascinating range of issues. They're listed on the Envision Dubuque web site.

Van Milligen pointed to one of the ten ideas: build a community health center.

This idea had been talked about for years, but nothing much had happened. But as a result of it being named one of the ten Envision Dubuque ideas -- with the support of the full community now behind it -- a major private donor stepped forward to help make the health center a reality, and several grants have been obtained.

Also critically important to the success of the project was extensive media coverage, Van Milligen stressed. Both the daily newspaper and local TV regularly reported on Envision events and the paper included a special insert with information on the ten final ideas.

Getting strong media coverage wasn't taken for granted, Van Milligen noted, and the project sponsors put considerable effort into getting coverage (providing "theater" in the form of exciting events related to the project.) The media coverage, in turn, helped build community involvement and excitement about Envision Dubuque.

The power of ten!

Rollin' on the River in Dubuque

From PCJ Editor Wayne Senville:

I just spent a few days in the Mississippi River city of Dubuque, Iowa. I was invited to speak at the Upper Midwest American Planning Association "Rollin' on the River" Conference about some of what I heard and learned during my Route 50 trip this Summer.

But I also had the chance to explore Dubuque -- at least a bit. Visiting Dubuque brought back to me some of the thoughts I had in writing my Route 50 "wrap up" report Spreading Out; Filling In.

Instead of commercial strip development and big boxes lining U.S. 50, in Dubuque they line U.S. 20. I took this photo about three miles west of downtown.

Downtown Dubuque faces another major challenge -- one resulting from the all-too-typical 1970s urban renewal philosophy of tearing down historic neighborhoods to make way for urban freeways.

In Dubuque, U.S. 61/151 slashes between the Mississippi and the historic downtown core. And add in a freight rail line. In the photo, downtown is to the right (the West), the river is just off to the left (the East).

Yet Dubuque -- with a population of just over 57,000 -- has written off neither its downtown nor its riverfront. Instead, it has made remarkable investments in both -- despite still having this barrier to deal with (by way of an overpass -- see photo above -- and some ground-level crossings).

On the riverfront, there's a new and dramatic conference and convention center; a recently built aquarium; a large new hotel; docking space for the stately Mississippi River paddlewheelers (one of which was docked there on Thursday); and a major casino development under construction to add to the smaller casino already in operation.

The riverfront development has drawn new life and business to the city -- and has helped reconnect the city to the sweeping vistas of the Mississippi.

Here are a few views (you can click on the photos to view them at larger size). Immediately below left is the American Queen; below right is the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. Next below is a photo of construction for the Diamond Jo Casino (across from the Convention Center); and below that a photo of the Mississippi along the Dubuque waterfront the evening I arrived.

Downtown Dubuque stretches north-south between the river and the bluffs -- with the man-made barrier of the highway and railroad tracks I already mentioned.

It's a classic riverfront Main Street -- with many blocks lined with historic buildings. A spectacular courthouse also occupies a prominent site.

Right by downtown is a funky arts and crafts neighborhood, and an elevator/finicular that's still in operation.

There are plenty of cultural amenities downtown -- from the Dubuque Museum of Art to two active theaters: the Five Flags Theater, photo below left, and the Grand Opera House, below right.

As I reported during my Route 50 trip, these kind of amenities are important to communities in attracting -- and retaining -- major businesses, especially those which draw on a nationwide pool of talent.

I was told by Dubuque planners that thanks to years of efforts by Dubuque citizens and elected officials (and planners) downtown has come back in a big way. That visionary work continues, and I'll be reporting in an upcoming post on what I learned about the newest "Envision Dubuque" initiative.