Posts from — April 2008

There’s plenty to say about Parkview Hospital’s expansion up north and contraction on State Boulevard, but first, I wanted to address another angle of the proposed Shoppes on Broadway (sits plan shown above).

Why do all new retail developments look like suburban strip malls? Why is the parking lot almost twice as large as the footprint of the building?

A major reason is that every 180 square feet of retail space built in Fort Wayne requires its own parking space.

So the Phase I building at the top with 6,050 sq.ft. of space requires 34 parking spaces. And the Phase II building at the bottom with 10,200 sq.ft. of space requires 57 parking spaces.

The law doesn’t care what kind of stores are in the building. The stores could be low traffic or high traffic. There could be on-street parking, nearby garages or an abundance of pedestrian traffic. You still need a parking space for every 180 square feet of store.

But how often do you see a parking lot so full that you cannot find a space? Maybe, just maybe, the lot fills up on the day after Thanksgiving. But for the rest of the year, the lots are seldom more than half full. It’s parking built for the apocalypse and not for normal day-to-day shopping.

Not only are these hugs empty parking lots expensive, they separate stores from each other, making walking or biking unpleasant and sometimes dangerous.

We shouldn’t seek laws that force developers to create retails centers that shoppers would avoid. Instead, we should seek to loosen the existing, overly strict mid-20th-century zoning laws that are slowly dismantling our urban fabric by forcing suburban parking on inner-city blocks. The Shoppes on Broadway development is a great example of why the city of Fort Wayne should not just ease the rules for downtown development, but also expand such freedoms to other center-city neighborhoods. Downtown isn’t the only part of town that needs help.

If we had believed the workers at the Waynedale Bureau of Motor Vehicles, my son would not be voting in the primary next week.

They kept insisting that 17-year-olds cannot vote in the primary if they turn 18 before the general election in November.

But the following is from the Indiana Secretary of State’s Web site:

Q: I’m turning 18 right before the election. When can I register? When can I vote?

If you are turning 18 before or on the next general election date, you can register. You can vote in both the primary and general election, even if you are not 18 on the primary election date. However, you will not be eligible to vote on school board members, political party precinct committeemen, or political party state convention delegates elected at the primary election. (emphasis mine)

Are BMV workers not trained on the rules of voter eligibility? How many other eligible voters have they turned away?

This comment by Michael Bates of BatesLine in Tulsa was too good to be ignored:

Two generations have been raised to see the tidy segments of the suburbs as normal and the city as a messy mix that needs sorting out. That’s starting to change, and a significant number of people have experienced the pleasures of urban living, either directly, or vicariously through TV shows like Seinfeld and Friends. (And it could be argued that the appealing depiction of urban life on those programs was made possible by Giuliani’s cleanup of New York in the ’90s.)

I think the starting point is for cities like Fort Wayne and Tulsa to create and preserve urban places for the many who already know they want to live there. As these areas thrive, others will see that urban excitement is possible close to home, not just on the East Coast or in Europe. Over time there may be enough demand to redevelop badly aging post-war suburban neighborhoods in a new urbanist fashion.

Politics still matters: You need councilors and planning commissioners with the courage and vision to approve a pilot project for form-based codes or special zoning with design guidelines to protect traditional neighborhood development from suburban-style redevelopment.

But mostly you need entrepreneurial types willing to reuse old buildings in traditional neighborhoods, and others who are willing to build new in a traditional style. Recreating a vital urban core will happen the same way it was destroyed: one building at a time.

– beautiful vintage photo of Fort Wayne posted to Flickr by Zach Klein

This is great news: Revamp of zoning in works — City wants to ease the rules for downtown development

The city hopes to rezone much of the downtown into this district, or a slightly less dense variation, and away from other commercial and industrial zoning.

The rules are more conducive to a downtown, (city planner Sherese Fortriede) said, because they ease parking restrictions and allow for multiple uses. They also allow buildings to be closer to the street, creating more of a dense urban feel. But the rules aren’t perfect, which is why the city also plans to take a closer look at its zoning laws. For example, Fortriede said the city probably shouldn’t allow anyone to just build more surface parking lots downtown when there is already ample parking.

Today’s article at Next American City sets its sights on the Midwest:

Richard Longworth (a senior writer for the Chicago Tribune) wants you to know two things: First, globalization is happening and it will continue to change the world. Second, if you live in the Midwest, you’d better be very afraid about your region’s chances of competing in an increasingly “flat” world.

Contrary to the hoo-ha churned out by the countless chambers of commerce that dot the Midwest, not all is well in Mayberry. In a passionately argued and well-researched new book, Caught in the Middle: America’s Heartland in the Age of Globalization, Richard Longworth takes us through a Midwest that is facing rapid change, as rural economies strain under the increasingly automated and corporate nature of modern agriculture, and as old industrial cities from Canton to Cleveland, Muncie to Milwaukee, struggle to find a new economic niche in a state of permanent deindustrialization.

The article takes us from the lows of Detroit to the highs of Chicago, and then offers a few suggestions:

Longworth offers a few policy suggestions, such as investment in biotech and biofuels, which would leverage the Midwest’s natural strength in food production into becoming a leader in future technologies. He also argues for a regional approach to development, a Midwest conversation on who we are as a region and what we should aim to become.

Read the whole article here. Read a Chicago Tribune review of Longworth’s book here.

– photo of a distressed portion of Detroit by Luca & Vita on Flickr

After seeing the title of this post and the video grab above, did you involuntarily say to yourself, in a tough New Yawk accent, “It’s the plumber. I’ve come to fix the sink”?

If you did, then you are the reason for this blog post.

In case you don’t know, the above picture is from an animated sketch featured on the old PBS children’s show, “The Electric Company.” (You can refresh your memory by watching the video on YouTube. And does the plumber really die at the end?)

In an earlier post titled “What creates community?” I said that shared stories create community, and that sharing happens when people experience the same happening. And although I edited it later, I originally said:

A group of individuals sitting at home watching the same show on separate televisions does not create community.

My dear wife read my post and gently took me to task. Not that unceasing television watching is an automatic good, but she reminded me that among people of our generation, growing up in the late ’70s, there is a certain kind of odd shared TV heritage.

In fact, all through the 20th century, there were different low-culture activities that you pretty much enjoyed alone — such as radio and TV shows, sports and movies — but then could talk about with your friends later.

And yes, books count too, Harry Potter fans.

As with any thing else, overuse of television cuts you off from friends, because you’re spending time that should be social time staring at the screen. But as my wife said, “Television actually can help you make connections with strangers.” Because then you have a shared experience with other people who root for the Colts, are addicted to “Lost” or still struggle with the hallucinogenic effects of watching too many Sid and Marty Krofft shows.

Scott Greider, over on his personal blog, quotes a portion of the San Jose historic design guidelines that addresses the role of modern architecture in older neighborhoods. (If you’re adventurous, you can download the entire 95-page PDF.)

What does San Jose say? It says, “Bring it on”:

Rather than imitating older buildings, a new design should relate to the traditional design characteristics of a neighborhood while also conveying the stylistic trends of today. New construction may do so by drawing upon some basic building features — such as the way in which a building is located on its site, the manner in which it relates to the street and its basic mass, form and materials — rather than applying detailing which may or may not have been historically appropriate. When these design variables are arranged in a new building to be similar to those seen traditionally in the area, visual compatibility results. Therefore, it is possible to be compatible with the historic context while also producing a design that is distinguishable as being newer.

A modern-style home can be a wonderfully contrasting complement to a historic neighborhood. It certainly beats decay and vacant lots, and it also beats a hundred suburban neo-Colonials with three-car garages in front.

I can’t say the modern home above is my style, but frankly, plenty of older, classical homes aren’t my style, either.

The style of the structure is not the main point. Urbanism is site plan more than architecture. If you bring the house close to the sidewalk, put the parking or garage in the back and make the front wall permeable (that is, not a blank wall), you are strengthening a neighborhood, no matter the style of architecture.

– photo of modern townhouse in Lincoln Park, Ill., by Scott Greider on Flickr

The Work Research Foundation’s Comment magazine published a little point of view piece called “Public Arts in the City: with reference to Chicago.”

Not only does the author — Clinton Stockwell, the executive director of the Chicago Semester — give ten positive reasons for considering cities as works of art, he peppers his short essay with great quotes, including these:

“Place is space with historical meanings, where some things have happened which are now remembered and provide continuity and identity across generations.” — Walter Brueggemann

“Art points out to the Calvinist both the still visible lines of the original plan, and what is even more, the splendid restoration by which the Supreme Artist and Master-Builder will one day renew and enhance even the beauty of His original creation.” — Abraham Kuyper in Lectures on Calvinism

Read the essay here.

photo of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue by kitchaboy on Flickr

What creates community? Shared stories.

Shared stories require three things, two of which are obvious:

• A story, or any kind of happening, even a small happening, like a game of cards.
• Some sharing, that is, a group of people who experience the same happening.

But a shared story also requires:

• A first-hand, intimate knowledge that the story is being shared.

A group of individuals sitting at home watching the same show different shows on separate televisions does not create community. But the smallest thing shared with a neighbor does.

An example of a shared story is the above photo, which was taken in downtown Wheeling, W.Va., in 1950. A parade had gone up Market Street — you can see it in the background. Today, downtown Wheeling is almost vacant and you must drive ten miles to a shopping mall to do any substantial shopping.

– photo from the author’s personal collection

That’s the title of a promising event May 7 at the downtown Cinema Center.

Dan Burden, executive director of Walkable Communities, will be leading an event that hopes to answer these questions:

What are the elements that make up a pedestrian and bicycle friendly downtown? Learn what Fort Wayne can do to make our downtown more pedestrian and bicycle friendly. What are other successful communities doing? What are your questions?

Fore more information, check out The Good City’s new events page. When I find out more about what will actually happen at the event — Is it a presentation? A charrette? Very few details are on the city’s press release — I’ll post the information.