density & diversity: the Kelo decision

Last month's Harper's Magazine had a scary (Halloween?) piece about the Supreme Court's recent Kelo decision. The reported described how often eminent domain is being used (or merely threatened) in order to expidite big box development.

I think Kelo is a bad idea, and I saw John Norquist, hunky head of the Congress for New Urbanism say as much on Lehrer the night the decision went down. I remember seeing him talk about how Kelo, and the large-scale urban redevelopment projects that it engenders, hearkened back to the era of 60’s Le Courbousier garden city disaster. City development ought to be bottom-up and decentralized. It ought to involve many actions by many individuals.

Here's a relevant bit from a recent Philadelphia Inquirer column about the legacy of their mid-century city planner, Kevin Bacon:

Although The Gallery [a shopping plaza] brought shoppers back to Center City, it did not bring them back to Market Street. Instead, it plunked a suburban shopping mall down on three prime blocks, following standard principles of mall design -- one of them being that the public must come inside the building to experience the action. Except at a few corners, the amll presents a blank wall to Market Street. Instead of adding life to the street, The Gallery sucks it into itself.

Or take Society Hill. Although the project succeeded in transforming a rundown neighborhood into a civic jewel, it did so by turning it into a monoculture. Except for a small commercial strip near its center and Headhouse Square at one corner, the entire neighborhood is strictly residential.

Contrast this with neighboring Washington Square West. Its residential side streets are as quiet as Society Hill's, but its main thoroughfares mix residential and commercial activity. Where Spruce Street in Society Hill is silent, in Wash West it hums with life both day and night.

People don't come to the city for a mall experience that they can get in any newly paved farm field. They go because the density and history of cities are palpable.

Except in New Haven. That place is a hole.

tales from the bus: where is that Snyders, anyway?

Late at night, and we’re getting into downtown Minneapolis when this little Italian-looking guy hops up to the very front seat and says, all flippant, “Is there a Snyders coming up here? I haven’t seen one Snyders all along the route. I thought I’d see one.”

A pause.

The bus driver, a big black man, replies, “I think there’s a drug store downtown.”

“That’s a Walgreens,” says the little guy.

A chill-girl of a U of M student, majoring in French I think, pipes in.“Plus that Walgreens closes at 7,” she says.

The little guy is, starting to lose patience. “Where’s the nearest Snyders?” he demanded.

“The closest one I know is Nicollet and 46^th,” she says. She turns back to look out the window.

At this point the little guy takes whatever he was carrying in his plastic bag and throws it on the bench across the isle. To me, it looks like a plastic CD case. He’s slouched down in the bench.

“What’s with this bus. It’s going all over the place,” he whines.

The bus driver keeps his eyes on the road and says, “Look, man… if you’re gonna complain, don’t get on the bus.”

“Why are you stopping all the time?,” he asks. His voice is shrill. “We’re going all over the place.”

“The bus is what it is. That’s how the bus goes,” said the driver. He was getting fed up, and continued, simply “If you don’t like it, don’t get on it. Walk, or ride a bike.”

“You should have more direct routes. You’ve ruined my night,” whined the little guy. He waved his arm up before his face to make the point.

“Then take a cab. Aww, shit.” The driver let it out like a sigh, a day’s worth of driving.

The little guy sulked, slouching back. “I wish I had a car. They’re more convenient.” At this point, his tone was like Matlock closing the book on a docketed wrongdoer, all ipso facto, here’s mud in your eye. He’d proved it, the bus was bad news.

I got off, so I don’t know what happened next.

election reform: MPR covers redistricting inititiaves in Ohio, Calif.

Talk of the Nation had a bit yesterday about the two redistricting ballot initiaves in California and Ohio.

Redistricting is a big deal, and is one of the main reasons why there’s so little turnover (and thus accountability) in federal and state governments. Ohio and California currently have ballot intitiaves up for a vote that would put district boundaries in the hands of non-partisan (or bi-partisan) groups.

It would do much to end gerrymandered districts in both of these states. Ohio is one of the top three gerrymandered states (along with Pennsylvania and Michigan), and passing a ballot measure like the one up for a vote would do a lot to increase democratic (and Democratic) representation in the House.

Unfortunately, neither measure is polling well. According to the MPR guy (Rob Richie, who runs the Center for Voting and Democracy), the plan is falling victim to its own complexity. Apparently the Ohio measure places “competitive districts” as the #1 priority, rather than things like “compactness” or “simplicity.” This emphasis makes proposed districts very complex.

The discussion seemed to suggest that there was no good way to deal with redistricting, though apparently Iowa has the best system. They have a non-partisan committee that draws relatively competitive districts.

Minnesota, for its part, also has a relatively good system: they rely on legislative gridlock, which prevents any one party from drawing over-favorable lines. After a new redistricting bill fails to pass, it gets sent to a (relatively non-partisan) group of judges who decide the new districts. Still, they get drawn up in a way that protects incumbents and helps certain candiadtes, but Minnesota is sill better than most states.

Everyone who knows anything about the issue knows that the real answer is proportional representation. The MPR guy even mentioned that Illinois used to have 3-member districts, which would usually get split 2-1 between majority & minority parties.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: proportional representation will save our democracy.

mpls: new Hennepin & Washington Whole Foods?

As much as I hate Whole Foods... the long awaited grocery store is on the horizon. The Twin Cities Business Journal has a report on a new condo tower being planned for the block just South of Washington & Hennepin.

Here's the article (reg. req'd):

Don Milliken is finalizing details for 250 condos that will sit atop a Whole Foods grocery store at Hennepin and Washington avenues.

…

Although the plans still need city approval, Milliken talks confidently about building a main tower topping out at 30 to 34 stories. The site's location downtown is a prime spot for the "first-class" condos that he expects to sell out long before the last brick is laid, probably sometime in 2009.

The space is currently a mixed group of 2-3 story buildings, including the Jaguar/Range Rover dealership that has that “SUV atop a mountain” pieta.

I forget what else is down there, but this is good news that will improve downtown density and liveability. Plus, it might put a dent in Land Rover sales...

mpls: greenway update

The other day, I spoke with a guy named Kerry (a relative newcomer to the Midtown Public Greenway board) about how the 29^th street bike route is coming along. The project got some bad press lately when a woman got raped there.

Here’s the Strib article

The other assault happened two weeks earlier, about 3:30 a.m. Sept. 16, when a man snuck up behind a 25-year-old Minneapolis woman walking by the 11th Avenue bridge over the Greenway bicycle trail. He dragged her under the bridge near E. 29th Street.

[MPD Lt.] Whisney said the woman lost teeth after being beaten and raped by the man. No weapons were used in either assault, he said, and both victims had cuts and bruises on their faces.

The Greenway, as you know, is the dedicated bike/running path that runs down the 29^th St. corridor. There’s a lot of new development happening along it, particularly the Sears Building complex and the Ackerberg Lagoon Ave 10-story tower.

Apparently, the Greenway is trying to include minorities, who live all along it in large number, on the board and in the planning process. It’s a tall order, but it should be a high priority. There’s a lot of cultural and language barriers, and they certainly have nothing to learn from the DFL, which has a perennial problem with including non-whites.

At the same time, I watched the greenway traffic on a Thursday afternoon, and saw almost equal parts white & asian/hispanic bike traffic, small sample size notwtihstanding.

Kerry also mentioned that a streetcar/train down the Greenway corridor would cost a mere $50 million. Although he's probably lowballing, compare that to the $700+ for the Hiawatha, or the amount being spent on some of Oberstar's roads to nowhere.