Planning Quote of the Day

alert us to early warning signs

"In January, the Council approved a proposal ... to redevelop Allied Drive. Crime there is down by half since the City acted on my initiative to buy 20% of the housing there. Now we’re starting to see millions of dollars of private reinvestment there, which was exactly what we intended when we bought the property ...

But we are also attempting to do two things that have not been tried much anywhere in America: we are trying to improve Allied Drive without driving out low-income working families and we are trying not to simply force problems into other neighborhoods.

Along those lines, we are working on [an] initiative to develop the Neighborhood Indicators pilot project. Inspired by a program in Charlotte, North Carolina, this is a set of statistics that is designed alert us to early warning signs of stress in a neighborhood. Armed with that knowledge we can go to these neighborhoods and ... attack a problem before it gets out of hand."

-- from State of the City Address, by Madison (Wisconsin) Mayor Dave Cielewicz (April 9, 2008)

inclusionary development policies

"Inclusionary development policies, by considering the impact of public actions on housing availability for all citizens of the community and region, have resulted in significant progress toward the realization of a just society."

-- Laurence Gerckens, FAICP, from the Planning ABC's

a car is like your mother-in-law

"I'm not against cars. But your city doesn't have to be oriented toward them. A car is like your mother-in-law. You want to have a good relationship with her, but you can't let her conduct your life. When a city has good public transportation, it becomes for people and for cars. Imagine a city with 30 percent fewer cars on the streets."

-- Jaime Lerner, former Mayor of Curitaba, Brazil (pop. 1.7 million); Lerner was instrumental in Curitaba making a major investment in "bus rapid transit" systems. From "Imagine a City With 30 Percent Fewer Cars" (interview in Sierra Magazine, Jan/Feb. 2006).

definition: POPOS

"San Francisco’s privately-owned public open spaces ("POPOS") have multiplied in the last twenty years, and as major new development is poised to begin downtown, they promise to become even more common. Taking the form of courtyards, plazas, rooftop gardens, and corporate atriums, fourteen POPOS have been created since 1985. San Francisco’s Downtown Plan enabled developers to build high density commercial development in return for providing spaces that were to be 'open to the public' during certain hours and provide amenities such as restrooms, shade, and protection from the sun and wind.

However, what appears to be win-win for developers, citizens, and open space advocates masks a deeper question: just how 'public' are these spaces?"

-- posted by the COMMONspace project

note: POPOS are increasingly common in cities, as zoning codes authorize the granting of density bonuses in return for providing open space accessible during certain times of the day to the general public.

thousands of store closings

"The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country. ... The International Council of Shopping Centers, a trade group, estimates there will be 5,770 store closings in 2008, up 25 percent from 2007, when there were 4,603."

-- from "Retailing Chains Caught in a Wave of Bankruptcies," The New York Times (April 15, 2008)

"solved" by physical isolation and segregation

"[After World War II] virtually every American problem, real, imagined, or socio-psychopathic, was 'solved' by physical isolation and segregation; from race relationships, to illness, to illegal behavior, to undesired contact with persons of lower income, spatial segregation was the answer -- an answer embodied in and enforced by local zoning ordinances."

-- Laurence Gerckens, "American Zoning & the Physical Isolation of Uses" (in Planning Commissioners Journal #15)

located in an area with urban planning?

"Thinking of selling your house? About one-third of Southern California homes sold in February had been foreclosed since January 2007, according to DataQuick. ... If there are few or no foreclosures in your neighborhood, advertise that. People don't want to buy into an area that is on the downward path. The fears of the suburbs becoming the next slums are very real. Located in an area with urban planning? Use that to your advantage."

-- from "Thinking of selling your house? This is what you're up against." The Home Blog (Mar. 14, 2008).

difficult and time-consuming

"Difficult and time-consuming as town centers are to develop, they can add immeasurably to community pride and satisfaction, while boosting the tax base. Charles Bohl, director of the Knight Program in Community Building at the University of Miami, regards such centers as "live, work, play" settings that answer a wide-spread hunger for community life. "We are still in the infancy of reintroducing town centers after six decades of not building them but destroying them at a rapid clip," he says. The centers that have emerged in recent years are all imperfect. But they point in the right direction -- toward a much-needed rebirth of public gathering places."

-- Philip Langdon, "Creating the Missing Hub" (in Planning Commissioners Journal #62)

note: this article is also available as part of a collection of articles on Downtowns & Town Centers .

I have no time limit, honey

"Mae Smith, the 64-year-old mayor of the teeny Central Texas town of Holland, seized the civic center lectern like a dragon-slayer ascending the throne. In a fiery red pantsuit and a voice that echoed without the help of a malfunctioning microphone, she and her cohorts revealed to a crowd of about 50 souls clad in denim and plaid a little-known weapon against the foe of all in the room: Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor.

The weapon, Smith said, doesn't involve marching on the Texas Capitol, like more than 1,000 did last year, some on tractors and horses. It doesn't involve clever Web sites that have been launched with cartoon characters and screaming rainbow text. And it doesn't involve confronting TxDOT big shots at public hearings across the state, like thousands did last year.

No, the mighty sword revealed by Smith is something called the Eastern Central Sub-Regional Planning Commission. 'It's a mouthful,' Smith acknowledged quickly of the bureaucratically nebulous name. 'You ought to try saying it with a lisp.' "

From, "Putting up a roadblock of questions," by Lisa Falkenberg in the Houston Chronicle (March 19, 2008), posted on the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog.

Note: According to Falkenberg's commentary, Texas law requires state agencies, "to the greatest extent feasible," to coordinate with local commissions to "ensure effective and orderly implementation of state programs at the regional level." As Falkenberg explains, "the law may require TxDOT officials to sit in a room for hours, months, years, maybe even decades, as members of the Eastern Central Sub-Regional Planning Commission dwell on how the corridor might affect their water lines, EMS response times and any unforeseeable impact on their rural way of life. ... ECSRPC commissioners plan to prolong the 'coordination' process until, as Smith puts it, 'they do it right or change their mind. I have no time limit, honey.' "

For more on the massive proposed Trans-Texas Corridor highway/rail project, see: the Texas Dept. of Transportation's Trans-Texas Corridor web site, and -- for opposing viewpoints -- the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog.

as early as 1752

"As early as 1752 one hundred and twenty licensed taverns did business in [Philadelphia] ... . Such houses offered a genuine social solvent. 'I dined at a tavern with a very mixed company of different nations and religions,' recordered Dr. Alexander Hamilton in his Itinerarium in 1744. 'There were Scots, English, Dutch, Germans,and Irish; there were Roman Catholicks, Churchmen, Presbyterians, Quakers, Newlighters, Methodists, Seventh daymen, Moravians, Anabaptists, and one Jew,' gathered in 'a great hall well stocked with flies.' Daytimes, hundreds frequented the London Coffee House at Front and Market streets, opened by William Bradford in 1754, which served as a general clearinghouse for business, news and gossip ... ."

-- From Rebels and Gentlemen: Philapdelphia in the Age of Franklin, by Carl and Jessica Bridenbaugh, (New York: Reynal & Hitchcock, 1942).

For more on the important role that taverns and other "third places" have played in cities and towns, read excerpts from Ray Oldenburg's, "Our Vanishing Third Places" in the Planning Commissioners Journal (complete article is available to order & download).

Take a look also at a post on our PlannersWeb blog, "Exchanging Local News: from Colonial Taverns to Email Networks," that discusses how neighborhood communication has moved from the kind of third places Oldenburg focuses on to email networks. We take a look at one such network: Front Porch Forum. Is this trend something to be cheered, or saddened, by?

the subtle qualities of architecture

"Why is it, do you imagine, that so many people want to live in the lovely old conservation areas of our towns and cities -- the bits that weren’t knocked down in the orgies of destruction in the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s -- or to visit them while abroad on their holidays? Because their essential characteristics of harmonious proportions, of human scale and hierarchy, strike a common chord within our hearts. These are the subtle qualities of architecture that so many people find instinctively beautiful. But their origins lie in shared human psychology; which -- as new research is confirming -- is intimately connected to human well-being."

-- excerpted from Remarks of HRH Prince of Wales (pdf file) on Accepting the Vincent Scully Prize (Nov. 7, 2005)

Note: Having offered three quotes from Vincent Scully this past week, I thought it might be appropriate to follow-up with brief excerpts from remarks of Prince Charles on receiving the Vincent Scully Prize in Washington, D.C. in 2005.

be eternally vigilant

Q. How do you see the developer?

A. Clearly he is the one through whom the money is flowing to build our environment. The kind of thing the developers won't pay for, like low-cost housing, is not being built. I don't mean that developers are sinister, but they do have the power to shape the environment. That's why towns, cities and preservation societies have to be eternally vigilant. ...

-- from interview of noted architectural historian Vincent Scully by New York Times reporter Eleanor Charles (February 7, 1988)

looking so candified

Q. What do you think of the practice of restoring run-down urban neighborhoods as condominiums and shops?

A. Considering the agony of the neighborhoods, I find the brick sidewalks, the cafes, the boutiques and the whole gentrification process a bit ridiculous. Yet I can understand it as a desire to pull people downtown. I just think most of those areas come out looking so candified. They used to be for loading and manufacturing and drinking and fighting and a real tough life. ...

-- from interview of noted architectural historian Vincent Scully by New York Times reporter Eleanor Charles (February 7, 1988)

society will build what it believes in

Q. Is the current wave of preservation too intense?

A. I don't think so. Twenty-five years ago we tore down indiscriminately and cruelly. And I think that the forces that work to destroy buildings will always be strong. Sometimes it's simple greed, but there's usually some kind of social force behind it. Society will build what it believes in. Right now it believes in luxury condominiums.

-- from interview of noted architectural historian Vincent Scully by New York Times reporter Eleanor Charles (February 7, 1988)

Note: this week's three quotes will all be from this insightful 1988 interview. While the interview focused on issues facing Connecticut, Scully's responses were often broader in scope.

the same information

"Whether one is in favor of, or opposed to, a particular development, people whose rights are potentially affected by your decision have a right to access the same information that you, as a planning commissioner, will rely on as a basis for your decision. They have a right to either agree with or dispute that information."

-- Greg Dale, "Bending Your Ear" (in Planning Commissioners Journal #24)

note: this article is also available as part of a collection of articles on Ethics & the Planning Commission . And Greg Dale returns with an ethics column on ex parte communications in the upcoming Spring issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal.

three strands of barbed wire

"Choate listened to a host of requests from planning commissioners and conceded several changes to his plan. Those changes included adding three strands of barbed wire atop an 8-foot-tall perimeter fence, planting more trees and shrubbery around the property, and limiting incidences of outdoor gun-shooting ..."

Note: Any guesses what the quote refers to? How about a plan to develop a rural 200 acre parcel into a "tactical training center" that will include a gymnasium, a covered pool, two classrooms, nine indoor firing ranges, several mock streets to simulate a town, and -- the "bread and butter of the project -- a  "3½-mile urban-style driving track" "nothing like it within 1,500 miles" that "will incorporate urban features such as cul-de-sacs, uneven surfaces and speed bumps." Now how many local planning commissions have dealt with a proposal like that!

From Proposal for security-training center in Homeland advances, by Julissa McKinnon in the Press-Enterprise (Jan. 9, 2008)

bowling alleys on every corner

"Bowling alone is a sign of our times. We could bring it back. We could like, transform the entire society. We could have bowling alleys on every corner. We could have a sense of community together. People setting pins again. End the automation! Get the pin boys back. No telling what could happen."

-- Senator Hillary Clinton, speaking to the press while flying above Pennsylvania, as reported by Katharine Q. Seelye on The New York Times Politics Blog (April 2, 2008).

Note: for more on why bowling is something planners should care about see our post, Bowling Together, on our PlannersWeb blog.

want to be home making dinner

"Feeling guilty that there’s a Department of City Planning meeting in my neighborhood about their zoning/re-zoning plans and I’m not going. I should get involved with the world around me ... But I also want to be home making dinner and singing silly songs at Nano, sorry Community."

-- from "Stuff and Things," on le petit hiboux (the little owl) blog of aspiring New York City writer Krissa Corbett Cavouras.

Note: perfectly understandable -- but we do need you 20 and 30 somethings to eat a bit earlier and get to those planning & zoning meetings! We'll have more in the upcoming Spring issue of the Planning Commissioners Journal about how to involve younger generations in local planning. In the meantime, take a look at our blog post, Call the Shots in Your Neighborhood, to find out how you can feel more comfortable attending neighborhood association meetings.

independence and dignity

"... it has taken us nearly four years to foreclose on thousands of abandoned properties, demolish over two thousand dangerous buildings, and upgrade the infrastructure in our most neglected neighborhoods. ... Now I am asking all homebuilders of Houston to help us build new housing on over seven hundred lots that will be made available at submarket prices, with generous down payment assistance programs, so that many working people can obtain the independence and dignity of owning their own house. The City will work in parallel to continue to build community-based organizations where new homes are built. The whole city will be safer as working families move into neighborhoods which too often had become magnets for crime."

-- From Houston, Texas, Mayor Bill White's State of the City Address (Jan. 25, 2008)

guardian of the public physical environment

"The modern American planning commission is the guardian of the public physical environment."

-- Laurence C. Gerckens, from "Community Aesthetics and Planning," in Taking a Closer Look: Design & Aesthetics, by the Planning Commissioners Journal.

definition: eco-municipality

"An eco-municipality, (also known as an eco-town) is a local government government that has adopted ecological and social justice values in its charter. ... The distinction between an eco-municipality and other sustainable development projects (such as green building & alternative energy) is the focus on community involvement and social transformation in a public agency as well as the use of a holistic systems approach."

-- from Wikipedia, Eco-municipality

Note: for more on the origins of eco-municipalities, and the interest in them by U.S. cities, see the post Eco-Municipalities Step Forward Naturally on our PlannersWeb blog.

do whatever the "politicians" say

"If a planning commission is perceived as simply being a group of 'political cronies' that will do whatever the 'politicians' say, then it will be an ineffective community institution. On the other hand, a planning commission perceived as being interested in the long-term health, viability, and livability of the community, can establish itself as a respected voice."

-- Greg Dale, from "Who Shall Serve: Public Interest vs. Special Interest," PCJ #48.

a city's genius class

"For the creative economy to become the creative society, we need to see people as consumers and citizens and develop an approach that acknowledges both. The greatest barrier to such a shift is the creative economy ideology. If economic prosperity and competitive advantage depend upon a city's genius class, it's hard to make a case for the welfare of ordinary citizens."

-- from an article by Mark J. Stern and Susan C. Seifert, "From Creative Economy to Creative Society," in Progressive Planning (Winter 2007)

not strict enough?

"Do you think that local planning and zoning regulations in your community are too strict, about right, or not strict enough?" The responses: 13% too strict; 49% about right; 31% not strict enough; and 7% don't know.

-- From the 2007 Saint Index (a survey of 1,000 Americans on their attitudes about land development).

For more on some of the intriguing findings from this survey, see today's posting, "Attitudes on Development," on our PlannersWeb blog.

the frequent granting of variances

" ... variances should clearly be the exception, not the rule. ... The frequent granting of variances may indicate a failure on the part of the zoning board to adhere to the ordinance’s criteria for approval of variance requests. However, numerous requests for variances concerning the same standard or restriction of a zoning regulation may highlight a need for review of that standard and its suitability within the affected zone district."

-- from Robert Widner, "Basics of Variances," in Planning Commissioners Journal #50