October 22 2002
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G U L F C O A S T G
R O W T H N E W S
A publication of the Gulf Coast
Institute
NOTABLE QUOTES
“There is no community in
the United States that has paved its way out of congestion, not one.”
US Rep Earl Blumenauer, speaking
at the Growth Management Leadership Alliance meeting in Chicago
"We literally spend more
collecting the road kill off the nation's highways than we spend on the entire
passenger rail system of this country in one year."
Amtrak Chair John Robert Smith
LIVABLE HOUSTON / SMART GROWTH
INITIATIVE
Next meeting: Toward a Houston
General Plan- Continued
The Blueprint Houston process to
arrive at a vision and a set of values, goals, and priorities for the City of
Houston’s is underway, and the meeting participants will continue to
discuss this throughout the year. There will be a report on where the process
is today and how it will work, and continuing discussion of the kinds of
questions Houstonians want answered. The event, which is open to the public, is
Wednesday, October 23, at 11:30 am at the Houston-Galveston Area Council, 3555
Timmons, second floor. Bring your own lunch. For more about the Houston plan,
click here
REGIONAL NOTES
Blueprint Houston process
funded
A process to achieve a
“Civic Agenda for Houston’s Future” has been funded by the
Houston Endowment, and a portion called Blueprint Houston has been approved by
Mayor Lee Brown. There will be two separate but interactive processes,
one the Blueprint Houston initiative, and a second by the Center for
Houston’s Future. Blueprint Houston will be a broad and fully inclusive
public effort to identify citizen “visions, values, and core principles
for Houston’s future,” and will produce a “compendium of
plans,” one or more public surveys of Houston voters, and a database of
demographics and forecasts. The Center for Houston’s Future will organize
a scenario development process for the entire region that will result in a
series of future scenarios with analysis of impacts and implications of each.
The two efforts will culminate in joint publication of “A Civic Agenda
for Houston’s Future” in September of 2003. An Executive Summary
about the process is available at http://www.blueprinthouston.org.The effort grew out of a 1000 Friends of Houston initiative in
September 2001 that called for the City of Houston to begin a comprehensive
planning process. http://www.1000friendsofhouston.org.
Anti-rail foes bring in heavy gun
Local transit supporters are
concerned that national rail foe Wendell Cox has been engaged to defeat the
coming transit referendum, which could come to voters in November 2003.
Cox is probably the best known and most successful of the anti-rail
warriors, and was a major force in the defeat of light rail in Austin and San
Antonio. Cox’s arguments can be found at http://www.publicpurpose.com. A rebuttal of his arguments is at http://www.cfte.org/images/response_cox.pdf.
Main Street walkability in
question
The grand vision to turn Main
Street into Houston’s “signature boulevard” is off to a rough
start, and some leaders in Downtown and Midtown don’t like what’s
happening. The Main Street Master Plan calls for intense pedestrian
orientation in an urban setting, but the new sidewalks now going in are narrow,
suburban types, often with grass strips between them and the property line, and
many new trees are planted in the middle of the pedestrian right-of-way.
Poles, utility equipment, and even bus stops are being installed in the
sidewalks, and the new Ventana development on Fannin simply removed the
sidewalk altogether near its front door. City Planning has forced the
developer to correct the situation, so now there is a narrow pathway at the top
of the flower garden that some say doesn’t meet American Disability Act
standards, let alone provide pedestian focus.
Inner Katy transit study
presented
The results of the public process
to examine possibilities for new transit service through neighborhoods along
I-10 inside the Loop was presented to the area communities completed last week,
with selection of light rail as the preferred technology. Two alternative
routes were selected, and the preferred one begins at the West Loop Transit
Center, goes east along an abandoned rail line near 6th Street, then goes south
on Yale to Washington and follows it into downtown, meeting Main Street at
Commerce. The study was initiated at the urging of City Council Member
Gabriel Vasquez and managed by City Planning. The project will be handed off to
Metro for further analysis. A Metro spokesperson at the event said it is not
impossible that the project could be included in the upcoming transit
referendum, but the board will decide that.
Houston indicators mixed in new
sprawl index
In a major new study of sprawl
that measures 22 separate indicators, Houston finishes 32nd in the overall
index, and is shown to have significantly a favorable score in the
“mixed” category, probably because of the lack of zoning,
researchers speculate. With 100 as the average score, Houston gets scores of 95
for “density,” 110 for “mixed” 87 for
“centeredness, and 96 for “street network”. The study was
conducted by researchers at Rutgers and Cornell for Smart Growth America.
One interesting surprise that relates to Houston is that climate appears
not to be a significant factor in whether or not people in an area will walk.
The index quantifies how sprawl is linked to a variety of common concerns, from
highway deaths to traffic and confirms that, “in sprawling places, people
drive more, breathe more polluted air, face a greater risk of traffic
fatalities, own more cars and walk and use transit less.” http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
advises against Bayport
In the latest round of comments on
the Port of Houston Authority's proposed Bayport project, the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service (USFWS) holds firm to its position of six months ago - that
the Port should not receive its permit. The USFWS cites the significant
loss of native coastal prairie habitat, the lack of adequate solutions to
replace lost habitat, and the effects of increased stormwater discharge as
reasons for denial. http://www.gbcpa.org
It’s all about downtown
People want to move downtown
– especially in Houston. Between 1990 and 2000, Houston’s
downtown population grew by 69 percent, while the metropolitan area’s
population rose by only 20 percent according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Other
cities such as Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Portland (Oregon), Atlanta, Memphis,
and San Diego also experienced greater population growth in downtown than the
area as a whole. A combination of an influx of young, childless
professionals and a desire to find “culture and convenience” are
some reasons for the flight to downtown said Ronald Ratner, president of the
Forest City Residential Group., Inc. at a recent Urban Land Institute
conference. http://experts.uli.org/DK/Press/ex_Press_PR_028_fst.html
City Council to discuss
Historic Preservation Ordinance in three meetings
The City of Houston’s
current Historic Preservation Ordinance is to be discussed in three upcoming
Neighborhood Protection and Quality of Life City Council Committee meetings.
The current “voluntary” ordinance allows applicants to
Houston Archaeological and Historical Commission (“HAHC”) total
freedom with the proposed building 90 days after application decision, despite
the nature of the HAHC decision. The first meeting will be Monday,
October 21, followed by another Monday, October 28, and possibly Monday,
November 4, if needed. All meetings will start at 9:30 am and take place in the
City Hall Annex, Council Chambers at 900 Bagby. For proposed amendments
to the current ordinance, contact Mike O’Brien with The Houston
Homeowners Association at 281-496-0752 or msobrien@sbcglobal.net. The hearings are open to the public, and the schedule is
at http://www.ci.houston.tx.us/citysec/chamber.htm#October_2002
Cities need “weird and
uncommon”
“Places where the weird and
the uncommon are accepted are places with a social ecosystem that attracts
creative people,” says Carnegie Mellon’s Richard Florida, who will
speak in Houston this week. Believing that America’s economy will
increasingly depend on creative minds, Florida, who is a professor and urban
planner, says cities need to promote venues like gay bars and punk bands in
order to attract the creative types – from the scientist to the artist -
and grow their economies. In his new book “The Creative Class,”
Florida ranks U.S. cities on the basis of their attractiveness to creative
workers, and Houston comes in 7th overall (although it finishes 39th in
“innovation.”) http://www.catalytix.biz/reghouston.htm Florida will speak Thursday, October 24, noon, Hyatt
Regency, 1200 Louisiana Street at the Central Houston Annual Meeting. For more
information, call Kathleen Chisley at 713-650-1470
TEXAS NOTES
Bicycle Coalition will work on
Texas Transportation Plan
The Texas Bicycle Coalition was
chosen as one of 26 industry representatives to work in a
"stakeholder-working" group that will comment on the Texas
Transportation Plan. The plan defines 25-year transportation needs for
Texas. This effort will update the 1994 Texas Transportation Plan.
The Coalition will meet with a working group in Austin on October 24 and
would like to have long-term transportation concerns communicated to Preston
Tyree at preston@biketexas.org or 512/476-7433. Draft materials should be posted soon on http://www.biketexas.org/
Study finds Texas losing the
most farmland
Texas lost more farmland to
development than any other state during the late 1990s, according to a new
study by American Farmland Trust. The U.S. has urbanized more than 6
million acres—an area approximately equal to the size of
Maryland—during the same time period. In fact, the U.S. is
currently losing two acres of farmland per minute – the fastest such
decline in the country’s history. The study concludes that it is
wasteful land use, not growth, that is causing the problem. From
1982-1997, U.S. population grew by only 17 percent, while urbanized land grew
by 47 percent. Over the past 20 years, the acreage per person for new
housing almost doubled and since 1994, 10-plus acre housing lots have accounted
for 55 percent of the land developed. http://www.farmland.org/farmingontheedge/index.htm
Cisneros plans more affordable
housing in Austin
Former housing secretary Henry
Cisneros’s company American CityVista, Ltd., hopes to team up with KB
Homes to develop two sites in Austin’s southeast sector that will produce
500 houses costing between $110,000 and $150,000. Cisneros believes that
price range allows families earning between $32,000 and $42,000 – below
Austin’s median income of $54,000 - to afford the new homes. Source:
Austin American-Statesman Online, September 4, 2002
NOTES FROM OTHER PLACES
PLANNING
Reshaping Urban America
Urban problems have become so
commonplace that we’ve come to expect them, according to Urban Land
Institute (ULI) president Richard M. Rosan. ULI believes it’s time
to change expectations about the quality of life in Urban America.
“Communities should be enjoyed, not merely endured,” said Rosan.
Despite public disillusionment with urban America and heightened security
concerns resulting from September 11, public interest in growth-related issues
remains strong. In a national survey conducted at the end of last year by
the American Planning Association, 67 percent of respondents said preserving
green space and open space was important in their community. http://experts.uli.org/DK/Who/ex_Who_Rosan_10_fst.html
Reality check – planning
for Southern California growth
How do you fit 582 stickers onto a
small map? Two hundred civic leaders meeting at the University of Southern California
tried just that and found it nearly impossible. The stickers represented
6 million new residents and related development over the next 25 years and the
map represented Southern California. The reality that traditional,
low-density housing simply didn’t fit led all participants - from
developers to environmentalists - to reach for the smaller, high-density
stickers. The “visioning” process is designed to help
participants think about reality and make the associated tough decisions.
The process is modeled after the recent Salt Lake City exercise that
changed people’s perceptions about single-family sprawl and led to the
city’s adoption of a growth plan including villages and alternative
transportation. http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-growth11oct11.story?null
Mixed-use development will save
70 percent for wildlife
The Birchwood Acres LP investment
group is beginning construction on a $2 billion mixed use community in Harmony,
Florida (15 minutes away from Disney World) that will preserve 70 percent of
its acreage for wildlife. The site will feature porches, back alleys, and
lakes where personal watercraft will be prohibited. While progressive
developments such as Birchwood are currently difficult to finance, they have
resulted in “some of the highest for-sale housing prices and retail and
apartments in the project’s region,” according to Christopher B.
Leinberger, who wrote a thesis on the topic for the Brookings Institution. http://www.brook.edu/dybdocroot/es/urban/capitalxchange/article3.htm
Source: GlobeSt.com, September 12,
2002
California Governor Davis signs
bills to curb sprawl
Concerned about California’s
loss of 50,000 rural acres a year, Governor Grey Davis signed three bills that
are designed to curb suburban sprawl. According to a recent article in
the San Francisco Chronicle, the bills will require the state to promote infill
and equity in urban areas, protect the environment and agricultural resources,
and ensure efficient development patterns.
Squares instead of cul-de-sacs
Suburban planners in Maryland are
replacing cul-de-sac communities with a grid system for streets, sidewalks, and
stores that follows the New Urbanist philosophy of more intimate and
pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods. The Baltimore Sun article notes that
although grid patterns can provide benefits such as more walkable communities
and more outlets for drivers, some complain that the patterns also increase
traffic on smaller streets. Source: Baltimore Sun, September 29, 2002
Privatizing smart growth in
Maryland
Republican U.S. Senate candidate
George Liebmann (Maryland) recently wrote that Maryland’s current smart
growth practices have reached their limits and that it’s time to
privatize the practice. In an editorial in the Baltimore Sun, Liebmann
suggested that smart growth efforts can be made more effective if neighborhoods
and private sector groups used innovative methods such as inner city private
land pooling rather than the same “centralized, bureaucratic approach to
land conservation.” Source: Baltimore Sun, October 2, 2002
MOBILITY
Congress outlines TEA-3 goals
A leading US House member says
Congress needs to balance the investment in highway, transit, and inter-city
passenger rail, think more about intermodalism, and think of changing highways
so that they help create more livable communities as opposed to more congestion.
Congressman James Oberstar, the Ranking Democratic ember of the Transportation
and Infrastructure Committee of the House, cited obstacles and priorities for
the upcoming “TEA-3”, the re-authorization of the Transportation
Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21), in a recent interview. The Act,
which authorizes highway, highway safety, transit, and other surface
transportation programs, will expire next September. One obstacle Oberstar
mentioned is the President’s proposed $8.6 billion cut from the 2003 TEA
21 budget. http://www.ablinc.net/mir/archive/sep2002b.html
Indianapolis medical center
builds rail system
Clarian Health, a network of three
hospitals in Indianapolis, plans to open an elevated rail system next spring.
The $40 million rail system will connect the three hospitals via an
elevated dual rail line that will run above and beside city streets. Clarian is
designing the system to fit into future rail lines that will lead to downtown,
with potential connections to Indianapolis’s suburbs. The rail line
will transport as many as 1,800 people per hour and is expected to more than
halve the commute time among the three hospitals. Private and public
experts hope the system will boost Indianapolis’s growing life sciences
industry. http://www.indystar.com/article.php?rail09.html
Michigan’s $90 million
highway plan cancelled
After a 15-year debate with local
citizens, the Michigan Department of Transportation has canceled its effort to
build a $90 million, four-lane highway that would have gone through farm fields
and forest in the Lake Michigan coastal city of Petoskey. Instead, the
Transportation Department is handing the transportation planning responsibility
over to local citizens and governments, keeping only the technical assistance and
financing responsibilities for itself.
http://www.mlui.org/projects/transport/petoskeybypass/petbypass.asp
Government transportation
leaders urge transit promotion
Urging cities to promote mass
transit, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said that if more
Americans are to use mass transit, they must not only see transit as
convenient, but also as safe in the post-September 11 reality. Source: Las
Vegas Review Journal September 24, 2002
Auto club warns of crisis in
California
A looming mobility crisis in
Southern California will render longer work commutes, goods and services
delivery delays, and restricted leisure travel according to a report by the
Automobile Club of Southern California, the largest affiliate of the AAA. The
group recommended five steps to deal with the state’s transportation
future – one was finding better alternatives to the automobile. http://www.aaa-calif.com/members/corpinfo/02_qcrisis-10-02.asp
Connecticut chairs call for new
transportation focus
“You can’t build your
way out of congestion,” the co-chair of Connecticut’s Coastal
Corridor Transportation Investment Area board told an audience of lawmakers,
civic, business, and environmental leaders. Talking about how to resolve the
region’s heavy congestion, co-chairman Franklin Bloomer said the area
needed to focus on trains, buses, and ferries and not continual highway
expansion to relieve traffic. Co-chairman Oz Griebel added that the
region’s citizens must decide which type of transportation they prefer
and are willing to pay for. He noted that most federal transportation aid
– or about 72 percent of the state’s transportation budget –
is reserved for highway projects, so the state alone will have to fund most of
its new transit programs. Source: The Hour, October 9, 2002
URBANISM
Demand for density in twin
cities
While many Midwestern cities have
grown more around their edges during the past decade, St. Paul and Minneapolis
have posted stronger population growth inside their downtowns and surrounding
tracts. The University of Minnesota, the arts scene, and regional
policies promoting housing investment in the core are cited as some reasons for
stronger inner-city growth. http://www.startribune.com/stories/1507/3358739.html
Atlanta’s
“mini-city” steams ahead
Atlanta’s Atlantic Station
mini-city continues to clear hurdles. The $2 billion redevelopment of a defunct
steel mill in midtown is intended to create a pedestrian-friendly mixed-use
area with access to transit. The US Environmental Protection Agency recently
approved a bridge over nearby highways despite Atlanta’s non-compliance
with federal clean air standards because developers promised to fund frequent
bus shuttles to the nearby MARTA Arts Center Station and because the
high-density area near downtown would cut the area’s overall air
pollution. Seventy percent of the Atlantic Station office space is pre-leased,
with many prospective buyers and lessees on a waiting list. Source:
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, September 16, 2002 http://www.atlanticstation.com/
ENERGY
The fuel cell car race is
on…
Automobile companies
DaimlerChrysler and Honda are both taking their respective fuel cell cars to
the market in the coming months. Honda appears to have grabbed first
place when it recently announced that the City of Los Angeles will buy five of
its fuel-cell cars by year-end. DaimlerChrysler stands as a close second
as it plans to deploy Mercedes-Benz models in the U.S. Europe, Japan, and
Singapore next year through ventures with companies. DaimlerChrysler is
also selling fuel-cell-powered city buses to public transport companies in ten
major European cities in 2003. Italian carmaker Fiat and the U.S.
Department of Energy are both still in research modes for new models.
http://www.daimlerchrysler.de/news/daily/dailyredir_e.htm
http://world.honda.com/news/2002/4021007.html
http://www.nuvera.com/press/nv_fiat.pdf
http://www.cartech.doe.gov/pdfs/FreedomCar-partnership-plan.pdf
EVENTS
New Partners for Smart Growth,
Jan 30, New Orleans. The main show in the Smart Growth movement. http://www.outreach.psu.edu/C&I/SmartGrowth
Note to readers: If you have news to share or have reports from events,
please let us know at issues@gulfcoastideas.org
Prepared by Catherine Pernot