Pittsburgh
Oakland-Downtown Pittsburgh transit plan full of promises but short on funding (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
Suburban Pittsburgh leaders push for bicycle lanes (Pittsburgh Tribune Review)
New Ohiopyle Visitors Center offers spectacular views (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
American Theater Magazine looks at Pittsburgh's site specific Quantum Theatre (American Theater Magazine)
Frostburg, Maryland
Two public sculptures unveiled on Allegheny Passage Bike Trail
Pennsylvania
A growing force in PA: Independent voters
Cleveland
The rise of the Cleveland Museum of Art (Belt Magazine)
Ohio Magazine features walkable Cleveland suburb of Lakewood as one of the states best hometowns (Cleveland.com)
Republican National Convention sparks inflated rental market (Cleveland.com)
PlayhouseSquare lights up for Winterfest 2014 (wkyc.com)
Shipping container architecture trend expands in Cleveland (wkyc.com)
Akron
Devo co-founder, Mark Mothersbaugh and film director, Wes Anderson consider concept of surreal theme park in Akron (Time Magazine)
Other Urbanism and Architecture News
Share of first-time home buyers hits 27 year low (Wall Street Journal)
NFL Teams harness stadiums as museums (New York Times)
Great Lakes cities found at the intersection of walkable and affordable (Great Lakes Echo)
Why middle class Americans can't afford to live in liberal cities (The Atlantic)
The case for trailer parks : Pre-fab homes grow as affordable quality housing option (National Journal)
Smartphones vs. taxi drivers (Reason)
Is the U.S. ready for seniors who want to stop driving? (Streetsblog)
Judge slams door on Uber in Nevada (KOLO8 News)
Where are the world's most dangerous transit systems for women? (CNN Travel)
New York City transit ranked safest for women among 16 major metro systems (Metro)
Why Minneapolis' beautiful bike freeways are totally the best (Grist)
Are walkable neighborhoods and bike lanes only for the creative class? (Public CEO)
Tiny houses have a not so tiny problem (Fast Company)
Tiny houses save Orlando owners money (Click Orlando)
Documentary to explore racism in transportation planning
(Streetsblog)
In violent Venezuela bulletproof everything (Yahoo News)
Ten little cities near D.C. with awesome urbanism (Greater Greater Washington)
Other Arts and Archeology News
Alberto Giacometti's Chariot sculpture expected to break record, sell or over $100 million (CNBC)
Chris Ofili's thumping art history lesson (New York Magazine)
The Getty unveils unpublished cache of Joseph Cornell's letters (Hyperallergic)
Columbian art is having a moment (The Art Newspaper)
Documenting caves used in the Irish War of Independence
Basquiat's unseen notebooks coming to the Brooklyn Museum (The Art Newspaper)
Fake Monet forgeries hit the auction block (Artnet)
Crowdsourcing may be transforming the film industry (Wired)
Amelia Earhart plane fragment identified (Discovery News)
Showing posts with label Walkable Streets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Walkable Streets. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 04, 2014
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Was walking the suspicious activity in the Trayvon Martin case?
I probably shouldn't throw this theory out there, but one of the first things after hearing about the tragic Trayvon Martin (most likely murder) case was that it happened outside Orlando, Florida--a place notorious for it's lack of basic urbanism.
People have speculated, that Trayvon was considered a suspect, just because he was black or because he was black and wearing a hoodie (it was raining)Few have noted he was also doing something else, that may have seemed unusual; he was walking in a place most people seem to drive everywhere.
I just heard about the greater Orlando area being ranked as the most dangerous major urban area for pedestrians in the entire country.
Dangerous by Design
From walkscore.com
....................Walk Score........population
Sanford, Florida .... 36 ........... 52,273
Orlando, Florida .... 47 ........... 237,105
Could an place that makes basic daily human interaction so difficult have helped create paranoid fears? Anyway, if you know this area well and have thoughts, please share them.
People have speculated, that Trayvon was considered a suspect, just because he was black or because he was black and wearing a hoodie (it was raining)Few have noted he was also doing something else, that may have seemed unusual; he was walking in a place most people seem to drive everywhere.
I just heard about the greater Orlando area being ranked as the most dangerous major urban area for pedestrians in the entire country.
Dangerous by Design
The new report comes with a listing of the 10 most dangerous urban areas to be on foot (greater Orlando takes the prize as the most hazardous city to walk in) and with an interactive map, showing where fatalities are most likely to occur.
From walkscore.com
....................Walk Score........population
Sanford, Florida .... 36 ........... 52,273
Orlando, Florida .... 47 ........... 237,105
Could an place that makes basic daily human interaction so difficult have helped create paranoid fears? Anyway, if you know this area well and have thoughts, please share them.
Tuesday, March 06, 2012
Cleveland Heights moves to green up it's zoning code
From Green City, Blue Lake
Cleveland Heights is an inner ring suburb just east of Cleveland very close to University Circle.
Sounds off hand to be really great but it's not a done deal.
"The Planning Commission will hold public hearings on the proposed sustainability zoning at 7 p.m. on March 14 and April 11 in Council Chambers at City Hall, 40 Severance Circle. City Council will host a public hearing at 7 p.m. March 26 at the Community Center, 1 Monticello Blvd. The Planning Commission will forward a recommendation to City Council, which is expected to approve the amendments at a regular meeting April 16."
Here are the actual proposed updates
This post is not actively supporting these proposals. If it were up to me, almost all zoning would not exist. (one can still have basic safety-fire regulation) However, if one is to mandate zoning it would be much more logical to allow logical mixed use density and cap the amount of allowed parking, rather than force parking minimums like most zoning codes do. The general thinking here seems right.
Cleveland Heights is an inner ring suburb just east of Cleveland very close to University Circle.
With its new mixed-use zoning designation and new maximums for parking lots, Cleveland Heights looks to set the stage for more infill development—an act to strengthen its traditional, pedestrian friendly districts. New developments can preserve green space instead of parking; by not requiring a minimum number of parking spots tied to retail square footage formula, the city can alter land-use patterns and break the mold on the worst aspects of big development—the one size fits all solution of paving over lots of open space for a too-large parking lot to fit only the busiest day of shopping in the year.
The city is to be commended for encouraging more biking, especially for those short trips which can be avoided by “requiring conveniently placed, well-designed bike parking for new uses and long-term. Covered bike parking with locker and shower facilities will be required for offices, university buildings and hospitals exceeding 25,000 square feet.”
Bike parking has been consistently cited as the biggest impediment to increased trips made by bike, so the security of knowing there will always be a place to lock up is a good first start (the city would make an even stronger case by developing a bike parking design guideline so that its clear which bike racks are of high quality, and to spell out placement, lighting, security and shelter options).
Sounds off hand to be really great but it's not a done deal.
"The Planning Commission will hold public hearings on the proposed sustainability zoning at 7 p.m. on March 14 and April 11 in Council Chambers at City Hall, 40 Severance Circle. City Council will host a public hearing at 7 p.m. March 26 at the Community Center, 1 Monticello Blvd. The Planning Commission will forward a recommendation to City Council, which is expected to approve the amendments at a regular meeting April 16."
Here are the actual proposed updates
This post is not actively supporting these proposals. If it were up to me, almost all zoning would not exist. (one can still have basic safety-fire regulation) However, if one is to mandate zoning it would be much more logical to allow logical mixed use density and cap the amount of allowed parking, rather than force parking minimums like most zoning codes do. The general thinking here seems right.
Sunday, March 04, 2012
Nashville's new downtown zoning code puts human interaction and walkability above cars
The stereotype is that the high growth, "new south" is all about highways and sprawl. Actually, a lot of cities in the region are building out light rail systems and opening up to more sustainable urban design.
Nashville might be taking the lead with it's new zoning code.
From The Switchboard Blog
WOW! SOMEBODY, ACTUALLY APPLYING JANE JACOBS'S IDEAS INSTEAD OF JUST PAYING THEM LIP SERVICE.
One very important thing is that the code is not just aimed at a small area of dowtown, but is aimed at creating cohesive organic connections between a number of core districts.
My experience from NY, is that by real dynamic places can't live alone. To save a downtown, you must create a base of connected core neighborhoods.
One big thing is they are scrapping minimum parking requirements--something Brooklyn still hasn't done!
From Streetsblog
Nashville might be taking the lead with it's new zoning code.
From The Switchboard Blog
“The Plan calls for a ‘thoughtful mixture of uses including residential, retail and office, to ensure that Downtown doesn’t close at 5 p.m. or even after the concert ends or the restaurants close, but is instead a welcoming home for a diverse residential population.’ Multiple stories encourage multiple uses within each building, increasing the likelihood that one of the uses will be active at any given hour. Compare this to one story buildings which lack activity during the off-hours of the single use.
“To be viable, Downtown must accommodate numerous services and functions. By promoting form over use, the DTC allows for a mixture of uses. Because various functions occur at different times of the day – working, shopping and recreating during the day, entertainment and home-life at night – mixed-use, 24/7 neighborhoods use existing infrastructure more efficiently and function in a more sustainable way . . .
“As stated in the Plan, ‘While residential development has flourished in recent years, the creation and enhancement of urban neighborhoods is still a goal. Residential living will thrive in Downtown when residents feel that they are part of a neighborhood, supported by shared public spaces and the services and amenities needed for daily life.’”
WOW! SOMEBODY, ACTUALLY APPLYING JANE JACOBS'S IDEAS INSTEAD OF JUST PAYING THEM LIP SERVICE.
One very important thing is that the code is not just aimed at a small area of dowtown, but is aimed at creating cohesive organic connections between a number of core districts.
My experience from NY, is that by real dynamic places can't live alone. To save a downtown, you must create a base of connected core neighborhoods.
One big thing is they are scrapping minimum parking requirements--something Brooklyn still hasn't done!
From Streetsblog
Two years ago, Nashville scrapped parking minimums completely for its downtown, a fact called to our attention by blogger Charlie Gardner. The elimination of parking mandates in the area seems to have proceeded without controversy, based on contemporary news articles.
New York City, in contrast, is moving toward reducing parking minimums in certain “inner ring” neighborhoods, but it remains to be seen whether they will be eliminated or merely reduced. Here, parking minimums are seen as politically necessary.
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Great Post On Rust Wire On how Surface Parking Kills Cleveland's Downtown
Something like this seems so obvious to me since I don't drive thus tend to see cities on a slower, more intimate level. Rust Wire has a speculation that the core problem with Cleveland's downtown comes from the vast area dedicated to surface parking lots. (As well as atractive but large, "keep off the grass" parks.)
Comparing aerial views of Cleveland and much more successful downtown like Toronto shows just how much space is dedicated to cars.
I'll be really honest, when I visited Cleveland, we pretty much drove everywhere in the downtown. It just wasn't nice to walk.
If this theory is sound, it means that the huge single use venues like football stadiums not only deplete tax dollars, but create masses of parking that subtract life from the city when (95%of the time) they are not used.
Comparing aerial views of Cleveland and much more successful downtown like Toronto shows just how much space is dedicated to cars.
I'll be really honest, when I visited Cleveland, we pretty much drove everywhere in the downtown. It just wasn't nice to walk.
If this theory is sound, it means that the huge single use venues like football stadiums not only deplete tax dollars, but create masses of parking that subtract life from the city when (95%of the time) they are not used.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Part of Historic Strip Produce Terminal To Be Taken Down
Plans are in the works by the owner of the iconic wholesale produce market on Smallman Street to tear down about a third of the building as part of a larger plan to better connect the Allegheny River waterfront.
Plans for the property include constructing a 75 unit residential building as well as offices and retail. The existing-Pittsburgh Public Market which now occupies the space would move to the remaining part of the building.
Generally, I strongly support the plan. People need to appreciate history while being honest about the current Strip which does not work very well for wholesalers (who originally depended on rail terminals) or support thriving retail beyond very limited hours.
Developing a more normal street grid and integrating the Strip better with the river and the Downtown will improve both by making the area more dense and accessible to pedestrians. When will Buncher start to do the same thing with the hideously ugly superblock buildings it owns on Liberty Ave?
It (Buncher) is seeking to tear down a section of the terminal between the 16th Street Bridge and 17th Street, or about 528 feet of the 1,478-foot-long building.
Even as it described the terminal as a "Pittsburgh icon," the URA argued that its length and unbroken nature "inhibits the development of the Allegheny River frontage."
"The combination of the terminal and the 16th Street Bridge creates barriers that limit redevelopment of the area to the 'gated community'-type project, and reduce the opportunity for public access to the river," it wrote in its application to the state.
"Removing a block of the produce terminal allows the riverfront connection, and allows the new development of the riverfront parcel the visual and physical connection to the rest of the city that will allow the new development the greatest chance of success."
Plans for the property include constructing a 75 unit residential building as well as offices and retail. The existing-Pittsburgh Public Market which now occupies the space would move to the remaining part of the building.
Generally, I strongly support the plan. People need to appreciate history while being honest about the current Strip which does not work very well for wholesalers (who originally depended on rail terminals) or support thriving retail beyond very limited hours.
Developing a more normal street grid and integrating the Strip better with the river and the Downtown will improve both by making the area more dense and accessible to pedestrians. When will Buncher start to do the same thing with the hideously ugly superblock buildings it owns on Liberty Ave?
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Jane's Walk Will Happen Saturday, May 1st : Details To Come
Good news, odds are very high that some kind of Jane's Walk will happen in Pittsburgh because at least one other very serious person is willing to work to put this together. Likely, I will be guiding or co-guiding at least part of it.
Stay tuned here for more info and also look for updates here.
Interested in helping--guiding? Email me diggingpitt@gmail.com
From what i can tell so far, fewer cities in the U.S. are doing this than last year, but a good number of these are hosting multiple walks, or rides or other related events.
Also, I think a lot of things will likely pop up in new cities and be listed in the next few days.
Still, no word on progress in Cleveland, but we know people were very interested in the idea on Rust Wire. Momentum and real progress will come for much more activity next year.
Stay tuned here for more info and also look for updates here.
Interested in helping--guiding? Email me diggingpitt@gmail.com
From what i can tell so far, fewer cities in the U.S. are doing this than last year, but a good number of these are hosting multiple walks, or rides or other related events.
Also, I think a lot of things will likely pop up in new cities and be listed in the next few days.
Still, no word on progress in Cleveland, but we know people were very interested in the idea on Rust Wire. Momentum and real progress will come for much more activity next year.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Jane's Walk Update: Short Notice But We May Have One
I was honestly just too reluctant to keep on banging the Jane's Walk drum since I didn't want to put it together. However, it looks like at least one person is very serious about this. I'm taking a chance and cutting and pasting their entire email except the contact email.
If you are interested email me-- John Morris: diggingpitt@gmail.com and I will pass along your email.
There is not much time.
"Hello All,
I am trying to organize an event called Jane's Walk in Pittsburgh for Saturday, May 1st, 2010 and wanted to see who would be interested in helping.
The event is held throughout the US and Canada annually on the first weekend of May, to coincide with Jane Jacobs' birthday. I'm sure all of you have read the classic 1961 book by Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. The tours try to pick up on what Ms. Jacobs did so well; walking the streets, observing the surroundings, listening to stories and meeting neighbors face to face.
For detailed information, please visit the main website: http://janeswalkusa.wordpress.com/.
This will be the first year for the event in Pittsburgh and I'm not sure what to expect; How many neighborhoods will be included, the audience that would turn out, etc.
Since there isn't much time till May 1st, we need to start right away in organizing this in Pittsburgh.
There are multiple ways to get involved: Serve on the Steering Committee to work out logistics in Pittsburgh Volunteer to give a tour of your neighborhood on May 1stForward this information to others who might be interestedDetermine if a local organization would be willing to host this Pittsburgh eventPlease let me know if you are interested.
Thank you for reading and I hope to hear from you soon! Chuck Alcorn"
From the Jane's Walk website:
"Jane’s Walks are best organized by a broad network of people and groups who share a common concern for making cities more livable but a spectrum of approaches and observations about the neighborhood, the city, the past and future are welcomed. As with all community organizing, the wider the network, the lighter the organizational load for everyone.Jane’s Walks are a walking conversation. Tour guides lead the conversation with interesting insights and stories about their neighborhood, but also encourage people to share their own opinions and observations. Participants really enjoy the opportunity to meet neighbors face to face and hear each others’ ideas.A key principle of Jane’s Walk is that it is self-organizing and self-selecting. Anyone can sign up to give a walk by getting in touch with the Jane’s Walk USA team via the web, phone or email.Tour guides don’t have to be familiar with Jane Jacobs’ work to lead a tour, but we encourage people to find out more by reading her books or consulting our website for more links and primers on her ideas."
If you are interested email me-- John Morris: diggingpitt@gmail.com and I will pass along your email.
There is not much time.
"Hello All,
I am trying to organize an event called Jane's Walk in Pittsburgh for Saturday, May 1st, 2010 and wanted to see who would be interested in helping.
The event is held throughout the US and Canada annually on the first weekend of May, to coincide with Jane Jacobs' birthday. I'm sure all of you have read the classic 1961 book by Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities. The tours try to pick up on what Ms. Jacobs did so well; walking the streets, observing the surroundings, listening to stories and meeting neighbors face to face.
For detailed information, please visit the main website: http://janeswalkusa.wordpress.com/.
This will be the first year for the event in Pittsburgh and I'm not sure what to expect; How many neighborhoods will be included, the audience that would turn out, etc.
Since there isn't much time till May 1st, we need to start right away in organizing this in Pittsburgh.
There are multiple ways to get involved: Serve on the Steering Committee to work out logistics in Pittsburgh Volunteer to give a tour of your neighborhood on May 1stForward this information to others who might be interestedDetermine if a local organization would be willing to host this Pittsburgh eventPlease let me know if you are interested.
Thank you for reading and I hope to hear from you soon! Chuck Alcorn"
From the Jane's Walk website:
"Jane’s Walks are best organized by a broad network of people and groups who share a common concern for making cities more livable but a spectrum of approaches and observations about the neighborhood, the city, the past and future are welcomed. As with all community organizing, the wider the network, the lighter the organizational load for everyone.Jane’s Walks are a walking conversation. Tour guides lead the conversation with interesting insights and stories about their neighborhood, but also encourage people to share their own opinions and observations. Participants really enjoy the opportunity to meet neighbors face to face and hear each others’ ideas.A key principle of Jane’s Walk is that it is self-organizing and self-selecting. Anyone can sign up to give a walk by getting in touch with the Jane’s Walk USA team via the web, phone or email.Tour guides don’t have to be familiar with Jane Jacobs’ work to lead a tour, but we encourage people to find out more by reading her books or consulting our website for more links and primers on her ideas."
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
New Suburban Trend: Young Without A Car
Luckily, I don't live in a place like this, but stories are emerging of more and more kids aimlessly hanging out in the suburbs (even more than usual). Recent legal changes and the poor economy have made it harder and harder for kids or their parents to support that second or third car.
Generally, this is all good, except that they live in places where driving is needed for almost all mobility. Where, all this will lead is anyone's guess but a deep transformative moment may be at hand. The sidewalks and corner stores people traded for a bigger TV room might be looking pretty good right now.
Tuesday, February 02, 2010
PA Walks And Bikes Launch Party
OK, you might notice the blog's name change, an attempt to square the blog's name with it's content. Truth in Advertising is a good thing. My fellow contributors didn't vote on this, I did it since as the unpaid poster of the majority of content, I do feel a slight right of control.
A new group is being born allegedly to go beyond Bike Pittsburgh's concentration on urban biking and advocate a more complete view of a practical and sustainable city. Of course, the third leg of such a place-- mass transit is not mentioned. However, IMHO if you really, really get the other two down, transit access becomes much easier.
Another good thing is that it looks like this group intends to operate at the state level, which is very important since most road and transit issues are determined by the state or federal governments.
PA Walks & Bikes Pittsburgh Launch Party
Tuesday, February 2
7-9 PM
PRO BIKES Squirrel Hill
5876 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15217 [MAP]
FREE
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Dangerous By Design
High School Bike Bus from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo.
This video I found on Streetsblog New York about kids who are working together to create a "Bike Bus" to ride safely to High School in Orlando is both moving and sad.
A recent study called "Dangerous By Design", ranked American City's risk level to pedestrians, runners and cyclists. Orlando Wins!
"a recent AARP poll of adults 50 years and older found that 40% reported inadequate sidewalks in their neighborhoods and nearly half of respondents reported that they could not safely cross the main roads close to their home."
The words "by design", tells the story. It took trillions in American city, state and local tax dollars as well as an untold number of eminent domain enabled land grabs, parking mandates, zoning laws and building codes to create the world we have today.
I also have a theory these same policies have helped make the city of Pittsburgh, Insolvent by Design. I'll get back to that later.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Jane's Walk Update
Since I first brought up the "Jane's Walk" idea, there's been a bit more buzz and talk about it,on this blog, Rust Wire and Null Space including several people interested in guiding a walk or helping in some way.
The official "Jane's Walks" are held in early May in cities and towns across mainly North America, so there's plenty of time to plan things out.
The central site's for info are:
Jane's Walk USA
JanesWalk.Net
All walks are free and there are no limits to how many a city can have.
Here's the comment I left on Rust Wire
"If I had to pick one walk, I think choosing an area with a variety of positive and negative issues might be best. For example, a functional or semi functional neighborhood divided by a major highway or a functional street grid cut off by a senseless mega block office park or even a poorly thought out park.
Also from my general knowledge, the issue of minimal concentration and population density is a big issue like it is on Pittsburgh’s North Side and Hill District both of which have big troubles supporting a supermarket, shopping district or mass transit.(even though both once had thriving shopping areas)
Remember, some of Death & Life’s chapter titles.
The uses of sidewalks: safety
The uses of sidewalks: contact
The uses of neighborhood parks
The uses of city neighborhoods
The need for mixed primary uses
The need for small blocks
The need for aged buildings
The need for concentration
The curse of border vacuums
Gradual money and cataclysmic money
Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles
Sadly, I think in both Pittsburgh and Cleveland the best plan might be to walk the streets with a really old person with a memory of their neighborhoods before they were “improved” by government highways and politically organized mega projects.
Stay tuned, it looks like this will happen.
The official "Jane's Walks" are held in early May in cities and towns across mainly North America, so there's plenty of time to plan things out.
The central site's for info are:
Jane's Walk USA
JanesWalk.Net
All walks are free and there are no limits to how many a city can have.
Here's the comment I left on Rust Wire
"If I had to pick one walk, I think choosing an area with a variety of positive and negative issues might be best. For example, a functional or semi functional neighborhood divided by a major highway or a functional street grid cut off by a senseless mega block office park or even a poorly thought out park.
Also from my general knowledge, the issue of minimal concentration and population density is a big issue like it is on Pittsburgh’s North Side and Hill District both of which have big troubles supporting a supermarket, shopping district or mass transit.(even though both once had thriving shopping areas)
Remember, some of Death & Life’s chapter titles.
The uses of sidewalks: safety
The uses of sidewalks: contact
The uses of neighborhood parks
The uses of city neighborhoods
The need for mixed primary uses
The need for small blocks
The need for aged buildings
The need for concentration
The curse of border vacuums
Gradual money and cataclysmic money
Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles
Sadly, I think in both Pittsburgh and Cleveland the best plan might be to walk the streets with a really old person with a memory of their neighborhoods before they were “improved” by government highways and politically organized mega projects.
Stay tuned, it looks like this will happen.
Monday, December 07, 2009
Some Tips On How To Destroy A City
This was something I wrote two years ago on the Pittsburgh Metroblog which seems worth putting up again. It relates to a few future posts.
One bunch of people who are likely to want to come to Pittsburgh are urban planners. This isn’t a complement; Pittsburgh is almost a lab experiment in poor government and bad urban design and It’s kind of famous for it. So,it may be that people may want some tips on how too screw up their towns too. These tips are most useful if you are looking to screw up a city with a small land area (by which I mean -in the city limits) and are great for places with lots of hills, rivers or other barriers.
Here are just a few. I will come back with more.It’s a two part strategy to destroy the value of urban land; quality of life and tax base while at the same time making it easy and cheap live outside the city.It’s proven and has worked great here.
Tear holes in your city and stick in as many highways as you can. Highways that will divide and cut through existing business districts are the best. You must have major highways cutting into your downtown!! Remember, you don’t want people to live in the city especially wealthy people.
Raise Taxes in the city to pay for it and your other plans. Well, just raise taxes for any reason really.
Cut and remove as much mass transit as you can. Transit is needed to have a dense city and you don’t want that.
Add as much parking as you can. You can build huge garages to help waste tax money but you mainly need huge areas of plain old surface lots.
Put huge Sports Stadiums in or near the key areas of the city. Since they are usually empty, they are are like putting extra fancy holes in the town. they waste lots of tax money and best of all they need tons of parking!!! (remember you don’t have mass transit.)The key is to put these holes in or just near the downtown and make sure that a sea of parking lots sit on the most useful city land.
Try to remove as many mixed uses of land as you can. Say that offices should not be near homes or stores etc… This requires more driving, more and wider highways and more and more parking holes in the city. It also will likely cause lots of traffic and pollution which will chase people out of town. Remember to raise taxes or borrow to pay for the roads.
Use all kinds of anti walking policies. Shoppers usually walk and you don’t want that. Get rid of sidewalks and use highways with walls to cut up areas.
Basically, It’s a progressive strategy. You set in motion a chain reaction that requires more and more of the same–more holes and lower densities require more driving and more holes in the city and so on. For example, chances are that your downtown retail will start to die off– so you say you need to add more parking or perhaps pay the retailers to stay. Some people might start to feel bad about their town as you destroy it (by now your suicide rate might be up) so they need cheering up with some other new stadium.
You can do it to!!!
One bunch of people who are likely to want to come to Pittsburgh are urban planners. This isn’t a complement; Pittsburgh is almost a lab experiment in poor government and bad urban design and It’s kind of famous for it. So,it may be that people may want some tips on how too screw up their towns too. These tips are most useful if you are looking to screw up a city with a small land area (by which I mean -in the city limits) and are great for places with lots of hills, rivers or other barriers.
Here are just a few. I will come back with more.It’s a two part strategy to destroy the value of urban land; quality of life and tax base while at the same time making it easy and cheap live outside the city.It’s proven and has worked great here.
Tear holes in your city and stick in as many highways as you can. Highways that will divide and cut through existing business districts are the best. You must have major highways cutting into your downtown!! Remember, you don’t want people to live in the city especially wealthy people.
Raise Taxes in the city to pay for it and your other plans. Well, just raise taxes for any reason really.
Cut and remove as much mass transit as you can. Transit is needed to have a dense city and you don’t want that.
Add as much parking as you can. You can build huge garages to help waste tax money but you mainly need huge areas of plain old surface lots.
Put huge Sports Stadiums in or near the key areas of the city. Since they are usually empty, they are are like putting extra fancy holes in the town. they waste lots of tax money and best of all they need tons of parking!!! (remember you don’t have mass transit.)The key is to put these holes in or just near the downtown and make sure that a sea of parking lots sit on the most useful city land.
Try to remove as many mixed uses of land as you can. Say that offices should not be near homes or stores etc… This requires more driving, more and wider highways and more and more parking holes in the city. It also will likely cause lots of traffic and pollution which will chase people out of town. Remember to raise taxes or borrow to pay for the roads.
Use all kinds of anti walking policies. Shoppers usually walk and you don’t want that. Get rid of sidewalks and use highways with walls to cut up areas.
Basically, It’s a progressive strategy. You set in motion a chain reaction that requires more and more of the same–more holes and lower densities require more driving and more holes in the city and so on. For example, chances are that your downtown retail will start to die off– so you say you need to add more parking or perhaps pay the retailers to stay. Some people might start to feel bad about their town as you destroy it (by now your suicide rate might be up) so they need cheering up with some other new stadium.
You can do it to!!!
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