Talking about Why Petaluma Has Potholes

Downtown Petaluma, near the Petaluma River

On Tuesday, September 27, a nationally-renowned expert on municipal economics will visit Petaluma.  Harvard –trained urban planned Joe Minicozzi will talk with the public about how the land uses our zoning codes allow have left us with too little in the municipal till to buy new police cars or to fill potholes.

Minicozzi will present data showing that many of the land-use patterns that we've permitted in our cities, from large-lot single-family homes to strip malls to big box stores with giant parking lots, generate far less tax revenue per acre than downtown buildings.  As land is one of the primary assets available to a city to make life better for its residents, the reduced revenue reduces civic vitality.

Even worse, in a point he often makes jointly with Chuck Marohn of StrongTowns, many of the lower revenue land uses don't generate enough income to pay for the infrastructure maintenance costs and other public services required over their design lives.  These land uses may look financially great in their early years, before the infrastructure repair bills start coming due, but over their design lives they're money losers.

And no business, or city, can lose money on almost all of its activities and remain financially solvent.

It's why so many cities are in dire financial straits these days.  The bills from the low-revenue land uses approved by earlier generations are coming due and we don't have the cash to pay the bills.  And so the potholes remain.

Everyone is encouraged to attend this free talk and to join us for a no-host dinner afterwards.

Key Facts

Who: Joe Minicozzi of Urban3 will speak at a public meeting on the productivity of different land uses.

Another Who: The meetings are being hosted by the Urban Community Partnership.  UCP “believes that transforming our approach to development is key to assuring financially resilient municipalities while promoting a healthier quality of life and reduced environmental impacts.”

A Third Who: Anyone in Petaluma, or elsewhere in the North Bay, who cares about financially sustainable land uses and who hopes to influence the conversation, whether from the dais, at the podium, or through the ballot box, should attend this meeting.

Nor should the audience be limited to those who count dollars and cents.  Open space advocates should note that building productive land uses generates revenue to acquire open space parcels while also reducing development pressure at the urban fringe.

Alternative transportation advocates should note that land-uses with greater revenue per acre are often more friendly to bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders than to drivers.

Those who put climate change at the top of their worry list should note that highly productive land uses require less building and transportation energy than more dispersed uses.

Those who worry about public health should be aware that walkable locations are shown to improve public health.

And all those benefits are on top of pulling our cities back from the edge of financial disaster.

When: The meeting will be Tuesday, September 27, 5:45pm sharp.

Where: The meeting will be at the Petaluma Woman’s Club, 518 B Street, a short distance from downtown.  The location for dinner will be determined the evening of the event.

How: RSVPs are required and can be made on the Urban Community Partnership website.  Click here to RSVP for the Petaluma event.  Many from Petaluma will also attend the Monday, September 26 meeting in Santa Rosa and a few will venture to Windsor on Wednesday, September 28.   Click here to RSVP for the Santa Rosa or Windsor events.

Further Study: For many, the Minicozzi message is unexpected and unsettling.  It overturns the land-use paradigms with which we grew up, resulting in many putting up barriers of disbelief.  Becoming familiar with the facts prior to the meeting can begin dismantling those barriers.

But time is often tight, so three different study length options are provided

A three-minute quick video of the Minicozzi message is here.

A longer, twelve-minute video from a special TED event in Asheville, North Carolina where Minicozzi lives is here.

And an even longer, thirty-minute video that includes much of the material from the twelve-minute version, but goes further with a lot of cool maps is here.

BE THERE!  IT’S IMPORTANT!