Nuts. I still can’t share the update on Sonoma
Marin Fairgrounds that I’ve been promising, although progress was made over the
last few days. I’ll continue to push for
having something in my next post.
(For
non-regular readers, I help organize a local urbanist discussion group. The members have been assembling an
independent land plan for a portion of the downtown Fairgrounds here in Petaluma. The plan is proposed for implementation after
the current lease expires in eight years.
I’ve been promising an announcement about the next step in the planning
effort, but the pieces aren’t quite yet in place.)
In the
absence of a Fairgrounds update, I’ll continue sharing moments that caught my
attention at the recently completed 23rd annual meeting of the Congress for the
New Urbanism. (The photo is from a public park near the host hotel.) This post will almost,
but not quite, empty my notebook of shareable moments, although I’ll return in
more depth to the topics addressed at CNU 23 in the coming weeks and
months. (Earlier snippets from CNU 23
are here, here, and here.)
The
Persistence of Infrastructure: I’ve previously written that, even more so
than buildings that can wear out and be replaced, patterns of infrastructure
can persist nearly forever. Build a
bridge connecting two towns and the towns become so intertwined that a bridge
must always remain. Construct a lock to
allow river commerce to an upstream town and it may be years before the lock
can be abandoned. Configure a
subdivision around an assumption that everyone will drive and the multitude of
homes may never allow pedestrian/bicycle/transit-friendly revisions.
Maria
Zimmerman of MZ Strategies phrased it succinctly during CNU 23. ”Infrastructure is a way to make your
great-grandchildren live by your values even after you’re gone.”
Even if our
periscopes toward the future are often foggy and distorted, we should try to
build as timelessly as possible.
The Worldview
of Transit Managers: The discussion of transit systems can often seem bloodless. Fare box recovery, route efficiency, traffic
signal priorities, and paratransit optimization are important, but only
occasionally do those topics evoke passion.
But transit
consultant Jarrett Walker pointed out during CNU 23 that transit managers often
get a different perspective. It’s the
transit managers who sit across from tearful mothers who claim that a fare
increase won’t allow them to deliver their children to schools, causing
Children’s Protective Services to take the children away.
It’s worth
remembering that transit systems aren’t strictly balance sheets, but are also lifelines
on which real people rely.
Not
Everyone Needs a Fishing Pier: Staying with Jarrett Walker, he noted
that some cities structure their transit systems around providing an equal
share of the transit pie to every district.
As he described it, this approach makes about as much sense as giving a
fishing pier to every district regardless of whether the district has a body of
water.
Transit should
be about serving people, not dividing political spoils.
The
World is Different Than When I Finished College: In an updated snapshot
of a point about which I’ve often written, Christopher Coes of Smart Growth
America reported that 64 percent of all college-educated workers between the
ages of 25 and 34 now decide where they want to live and then look for a job in
that place.
For those
seeking economic growth, the message should be clear. Build places where the next generation wants
to live and employers will follow. (And
yes, the Fairgrounds plan noted above follows that dictum.)
Looking
for the Funk: The Dallas-area
firm Ash+Lime Strategies, which was active in the planning of CNU 23,
specializes in the field of tactical urbanism.
Tactical urbanism is the use of small urban interventions in the hope of
triggering bigger ideas. Faced with a
brick hulk of an abandoned factory, some urbanists begin making plans to raze
the building and to build four stories of mixed use. Others bring in a band and a beer trailer to
see what magic happens. The latter
urbanists are tactical urbanists.
Ash+Lime
partner, Amanda Popken, speaking at CNU 23, described
their goal as being “Create the funk that makes a place.”
I suspect
that most North Bay communities have underused places with funks yet to be
exploited. Here in Petaluma, I’ll point
toward the aging industrial area bounded by the Petaluma River, E. Washington
Street, and railroad tracks. So, how do
we create the funk that would make those places?
Next time,
my goal remains to offer a Fairgrounds update.
Failing that, I’ll riff on a way of thinking about transit that was
offered at CNU 23.
As always,
your questions or comments will be appreciated.
Please comment below or email me.
And thanks for reading. - Dave Alden (davealden53@comcast.net)
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